The black feather drifted to my floor like a threat wrapped in a promise.
I didn't move. Didn't breathe. Cold night air rushed through the shattered window, carrying the scent of something burnt and ancient. The feather settled on the carpet, impossibly dark against the red fabric.
[ALERT: HOSTILE MESSAGE DETECTED]
[ORIGIN: FALLEN ANGEL FACTION]
[THREAT ASSESSMENT: PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE]
[RECOMMENDATION: INFORM RIAS GREMORY]
No shit, system. Really earning your keep tonight.
Footsteps thundered in the hallway. My door burst open, and Kiba stood there, sword already manifested, eyes scanning for threats.
"Ryder. Are you-"
"Fine." I pointed at the window. "Just got some mail."
He moved to the window with practiced efficiency, checking the rooftop lines, the shadows between buildings. After a moment, he relaxed slightly. "They're gone. This was just a message."
"What kind of message involves property damage?"
"The fallen angel kind." Rias appeared in the doorway, Akeno and Koneko flanking her. Her expression was carved from ice. "They're telling us they know where you sleep."
Great. Supernatural stalkers with a flair for the dramatic.
Koneko padded over to the feather, studying it without touching. "...Raynare's. I recognize the energy signature."
"She's persistent," Akeno observed, lightning flickering between her fingers. "Shall I go hunting, Rias?"
"No. That's what she wants." Rias moved to the window, staring out at the night. "She's trying to provoke us into leaving protected territory. We won't give her the satisfaction."
I picked up the feather. It was warm. Wrong-warm, like holding something that had been alive seconds ago.
"There's writing," I realized. Faint characters glowed along the shaft. "It says... 'Return what was stolen, or we take everything.'"
Silence.
"Stolen?" Kiba frowned. "You haven't stolen anything."
"They mean his power," Rias said quietly. "The ability to copy. They think it's a Sacred Gear that belongs to them somehow."
"It's not a Sacred Gear," I said automatically.
Everyone looked at me.
Shit. Did I say that out loud?
"I mean..." I fumbled. "The system says it's not. It's something else. Something called..."
[WARNING: INFORMATION DISCLOSURE MAY ALTER FACTION RELATIONSHIPS]
[RECOMMENDATION: MAINTAIN SACRED GEAR COVER STORY]
"...something I don't fully understand yet," I finished lamely.
Rias studied me for a long moment. I couldn't read her expression. Finally, she nodded.
"Whatever it is, they want it. Which means we need to find out what they're planning before they try to take it." She turned to the group. "Tomorrow, we investigate. Kiba, Koneko, you're with Ryder on patrol. Akeno and I will coordinate from here."
"Patrol?" I asked.
"The fallen angels have a base somewhere in Kuoh. An abandoned church on the outskirts." Rias's eyes met mine. "We're going to find out what they're really after."
I didn't sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Raynare's spear descending. Felt the heat of light magic searing my arm. Heard her voice: That boy's power will be mine.
Around 3 AM, I gave up and sat by the window, watching the moon through broken glass.
[HOST CONDITION: FATIGUED]
[RECOMMENDATION: SLEEP]
[HOST RESPONSE: IGNORED]
[...ACKNOWLEDGED]
"You're chatty tonight," I muttered to the system.
No response. Just the usual blue text hovering in my peripheral vision.
I'd gotten used to it over the past few days. The constant stream of information. Stats. Power levels. Threat assessments. It was like having a video game HUD grafted onto reality.
But something felt different tonight.
I couldn't explain it. A pressure in my chest that had nothing to do with fear. A sense of being... watched. Not from outside. From within.
You're being paranoid, I told myself. It's just stress. Near-death experiences. Standard isekai trauma.
I reached for the glass of water on my nightstand, and froze.
My hand had moved before I'd decided to move it. Not much. Just a twitch. But I'd felt it. Something else guiding my muscles for a split second.
[SYSTEM ANOMALY DETECTED]
[ANALYZING...]
The blue text flickered. Glitched. For one horrible moment, it was replaced by something else. Different characters. Older. Then it snapped back to normal.
[ANALYSIS COMPLETE]
[NO ANOMALIES FOUND]
[RECOMMENDATION: SLEEP]
That's not ominous at all.
I stared at my hand. It looked normal. Felt normal.
But deep in my chest, something stirred. Something that had been sleeping.
And I could have sworn I heard laughter.
Dawn came gray and cold.
I stumbled through the morning routine on autopilot. Shower. Borrowed clothes. Breakfast that I barely tasted. The peerage moved around me with practiced efficiency, preparing for the patrol.
"You look terrible," Koneko observed, handing me a rice ball.
"Thanks. Really feeling the support."
"...eat. You'll need energy."
I ate. She wasn't wrong.
Kiba appeared in full combat readiness, which for him meant the same school uniform but with a certain sharpness to his movements. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
We left through the back of the academy, cutting across athletic fields still wet with morning dew. Kuoh Town spread before us, peaceful and ordinary, completely unaware of the supernatural war being waged in its shadows.
"The church is three kilometers northeast," Kiba explained as we walked. "Abandoned for years. Local humans think it's haunted."
"Is it?"
"In a manner of speaking."
Koneko walked slightly ahead, her small form somehow radiating alertness. "...I smell fallen angels. Old traces. They've been using this route."
"Can you track them?"
"...maybe."
We followed her through residential streets, past convenience stores and parking lots, into the older part of town where buildings gave way to overgrown lots and crumbling walls.
The church appeared through the trees like a wound in the landscape.
Gothic architecture. Broken stained glass. A bell tower that leaned at an angle suggesting imminent collapse. The whole structure radiated wrongness, a physical pressure that made my devil instincts scream.
[LOCATION: ABANDONED CHURCH]
[STATUS: CONSECRATED GROUND (DEGRADED)]
[WARNING: DEVIL PHYSIOLOGY WILL EXPERIENCE DISCOMFORT]
[FALLEN ANGEL ACTIVITY: CONFIRMED]
"We don't go inside," Kiba said quietly. "Just observe. Count numbers. Identify patterns."
I nodded, crouching behind a collapsed wall with the others. From here, I could see the church entrance. Two figures stood guard: fallen angels, their black wings folded against their backs.
[ENEMY DETECTED: FALLEN ANGEL (MINOR)]
[POWER LEVEL: 18]
[QUANTITY: 2]
[THREAT LEVEL: LOW-MODERATE]
"Only two guards," I whispered. "That seems light."
"Their main force is inside. These are just sentries." Kiba's eyes narrowed. "Wait. Movement."
The church doors opened. More fallen angels emerged (three, four, five) surrounding a smaller figure. A girl. Blonde hair, nun's habit, being guided rather than forced.
My system pinged.
[SACRED GEAR DETECTED]
[TYPE: TWILIGHT HEALING]
[HOST: UNKNOWN FEMALE, TEENAGE]
[STATUS: UNREGISTERED SACRED GEAR USER]
"That's..." I started.
"A healer," Koneko finished, her voice flat. "They have a healer."
"Why would fallen angels need a healer?"
Kiba's expression darkened. "They wouldn't. Unless they're planning to extract the Sacred Gear."
"Extract?"
"Remove it from the host." He met my eyes. "The host doesn't survive the process."
The blonde girl disappeared back inside. The guards resumed their positions. Peaceful. Normal. Like they weren't planning to murder a teenager for her magic healing powers.
Something hot and angry coiled in my chest.
She's innocent. She doesn't deserve...
[EMOTIONAL SPIKE DETECTED]
[WARNING: FRAGMENT ADAPTATION DESTABILIZING]
[WARNING: UNKNOWN PARAMETER ACTIVATING]
The pressure in my chest exploded.
Not pain. Something else. Like a door I didn't know existed slamming open inside me. The world flickered. My vision went blue, then gold, then something else entirely.
And then I heard it.
Finally.
Not from outside. From within. A voice that resonated in my bones, my blood, my soul.
I was wondering when you'd hear me properly.
"What..." I gasped, clutching my chest.
Kiba grabbed my shoulder. "Ryder? What's wrong?"
I couldn't answer. The voice continued, amused and ancient and terrifyingly present.
Seventy-two hours. That's how long I gave you to adjust. The initialization period, let's call it. Free samples. A taste of what we can accomplish together.
[SYSTEM UPDATE IN PROGRESS]
[REALITY FRAGMENT INTERFACE v1.0 → v2.0]
[NEW PARAMETERS LOADING...]
But the free samples are over now, little thief.
"Who are you?" I managed, not sure if I was speaking aloud or thinking it.
I am what you carry. What you've always carried, since the moment you died and I chose you.
The system notifications changed. The blue text flickered, replaced by something more present. More alive.
[THE FRAGMENT SPEAKS]
I am a piece of something greater. Something older than the gods who rule this world. And you, Ryder Cross, are my host.
"Ryder!" Kiba shook me. "Snap out of it!"
I blinked. The world stabilized. Kiba and Koneko were staring at me with expressions ranging from concern to flat alarm.
"I'm... I'm fine." I wasn't fine. I was the opposite of fine. "Something just... happened."
"Your energy spiked," Koneko said. "...different than before. Older."
She's perceptive, the little cat. I like her.
"Shut up," I muttered.
"...I didn't say anything."
She didn't. I did. We'll need to work on your internal versus external communication.
This was insane. I had a voice in my head. An actual, separate consciousness that had apparently been waiting for the right moment to introduce itself.
[FRAGMENT SYNCHRONIZATION: COMPLETE]
[NEW ABILITY PARAMETERS: ACTIVE]
[NOTE: All future acquisitions will require NEGOTIATION]
[NOTE: Previous "free" copies were initialization gifts]
[NOTE: The Fragment thanks you for your patience]
"We need to go," Kiba said, pulling me to my feet. "Your energy spike may have alerted them."
He was right. The guards were looking our way, wings spreading.
We ran.
Back in Gremory territory, I collapsed against a wall, trying to process what had just happened.
Kiba had reported to Rias. Koneko had vanished to do whatever Koneko did when she wasn't making me feel inadequate. I was alone.
Well. Not alone.
You're taking this rather well, the Fragment observed.
"I'm not taking this well at all. I'm having a breakdown in slow motion."
Fair enough. But you're not screaming or trying to claw me out of your chest, so by human standards, I'd call this progress.
"What are you?"
A pause. When the voice returned, it was more measured.
That's a complicated question with a complicated answer. The short version: I am a Fragment. A piece of something that was shattered long ago. I exist within you now, symbiotic rather than parasitic, and I grant you the ability to copy aspects of other beings.
"The Fragment Adaptation."
Indeed. But there's a cost. There's always a cost.
My blood chilled. "What kind of cost?"
Fragments. Pieces of your existence. Memories. Sensations. Concepts. The price varies based on what you're trying to acquire.
"The copies I already have..."
Were gifts. Initialization. I needed you to survive long enough to be useful. A hint of amusement. Consider them a signing bonus.
"And now?"
Now we negotiate.
The system flickered, displaying something new:
[FRAGMENT NEGOTIATION INTERFACE UNLOCKED]
[CURRENT ECHO LEVEL: 5%]
[NOTE: Echo represents accumulated personality bleed from copied abilities]
[NOTE: High Echo levels may result in identity complications]
Echo. Personality bleed. Identity complications.
Don't worry about that yet, the Fragment said, somehow sensing my spiraling thoughts. At your current level, the Echo is negligible. Small preferences. Minor instincts. You won't even notice them.
I thought about the chocolate cravings I'd developed. The way I sometimes stood straighter, more formally, like Kiba.
...see? Negligible.
"This is insane."
This is power. Real power, with real costs. Would you prefer to be weak?
The blonde girl's face flashed through my mind. The nun being marched into a church to have her magic ripped out of her.
"No," I said quietly. "I wouldn't."
Then we understand each other. The Fragment's voice warmed slightly. I don't want to harm you, Ryder Cross. I chose you because you have potential. Because you might actually survive long enough to become something interesting.
"Interesting how?"
That remains to be seen. For now, focus on the immediate: fallen angels, a girl in danger, enemies who want what we have.
"And you'll help me?"
I'll give you the tools. How you use them is up to you. A pause. Though I do have opinions. So many opinions.
Great. A cosmic entity with commentary. Just what I needed.
"Ryder." Rias appeared in the doorway. "Kiba told me what happened. Are you alright?"
I looked at her. The devil princess who'd saved my life, twice now. Who'd given me a place when I had nothing.
She doesn't know about me, the Fragment noted. You could tell her. Or not. Your choice.
"I'm fine," I said. "Just... system upgrade. Apparently there were features I hadn't unlocked yet."
It wasn't a complete lie. More like an aggressive omission.
Rias studied me. For a moment, I thought she'd push. Demand the full truth.
Instead, she nodded.
"The girl you saw. The nun with Twilight Healing." Her expression hardened. "We're going to save her. Whatever Raynare is planning, we're going to stop it."
"When?"
"Two days. We need to prepare. Plan. Train." Her eyes met mine. "Are you ready?"
Are you? the Fragment echoed.
I thought about the cost. The negotiation. The pieces of myself I might have to pay.
Then I thought about that blonde girl being marched to her death.
"Yes," I said. "I'm ready."
Rias smiled. It was the most dangerous expression I'd ever seen on her face.
"Good. Because tomorrow, your real training begins."
She left.
I sat in the silence, processing everything. The voice. The costs. The war I'd been drafted into.
[QUEST UPDATED: INVESTIGATE FALLEN ANGEL ACTIVITIES]
[NEW OBJECTIVE: Rescue the Twilight Healing host]
[TIME LIMIT: 48 hours]
[DIFFICULTY: HARD]
[REWARD: ???]
[FRAGMENT NOTE: "This will be interesting. Try not to die."]
Try not to die, I thought back. Really inspirational.
I do my best.
Somewhere in the darkness, Raynare was planning something terrible. A girl was going to die if we didn't stop it.
And I had a voice in my head that wanted to trade pieces of my existence for power.
This is fine, I told myself. Everything is completely, absolutely fine.
The Fragment's laughter echoed in my skull.