The orb trembled before asking. "What… What was his name…"

"Odin."

Angra Mainyu trembled even more, and it was then that Reinhard could feel it. Saying Odin's name had given the being evidence, which led to Angra Mainyu becoming conflicted and confused.

"Something like that happened to him… Is that why he could make a choice when some of us couldn't…"

Reinhard stepped closer, but the heat that should have increased with proximity did not. Instead, it felt neutral; it didn't burn or harm him, and there was no pain, as if the flames forgot that they should harm him.

"Tell me this." Reinhard's voice dropped to a soft whisper. "Are the sins, terrible, and disgusting actions of all beings... All you really want to see?"

The flames stilled completely.

"And aren't you curious?" Reinhard continued, words flowing naturally rather than feeling rehearsed. "Why do people continue to move forward even after making so many mistakes? Why did all those people risk their lives to end the Dark Silence?"

He gestured at the space where warriors had stood before dissolving into light.

"Why were they willing to sacrifice the peaceful and beautiful dream you gave them... Just to save strangers they'd never met?"

The fire quivered.

"And most important of all, don't you want to see the beautiful things the world has to offer instead of the ugly side?"

A shimmer passed across the surface.

A whisper came, barely audible above silence.

"I... I am..."

It was an incomplete statement, displaying how it was caught between truth and fear of speaking it.

The flames wavered.

Reinhard stepped forward again, stopping just before the edges of the Orb, of the silhouette, and the surrounding flames. For a moment, the silhouette stepped back, as if unsure how to deal with him after he got so close.

"Then come with me." Reinhard extended his hand. "I won't lie to you. You will still see many familiar ugly things, many terrible acts, and see people making mistakes again… But you will also see the beautiful things. You will see people having fun, creating beautiful things, helping each other, and working together to create a beautiful future."

Angra Mainyu trembled even more as the silhouette paused before slowly raising its hand.

"I can guarantee you will see those, all you need to do is grab my hand and let's go see it together."

Two words carrying weight beyond their simplicity, this led the silhouette to back up and hit the orb.

Leading to its breaking down, while the orb seemed to move back a bit, but then Reinhard noticed the serpent's curious gaze.

"Leave a fragment of yourself on me, and then watch the world through. You will see what I am talking about and slowly begin to understand why I was able to change."

The flames shook violently, and ripples spread through the entire area.

"You don't need to limit yourself to what you've always been. You can be like Odin, and choose to be something else or change." Reinhard's voice dropped to a near-whisper. "You're no different from us humans."

A flare burst outward.

"We all have a choice in what we can become."

The crimson-black orb trembled harder than ever.

Before then, a single flicker of flame detached from the orb. It trembled like a newborn creature taking its first breath, floating unsteadily toward Reinhard's outstretched palm.

The ember drifted across space between them in hesitation and uncertainty. It approached slowly, pausing multiple times as if reconsidering a decision before it finally touched his hand.

Contact created no burning or pain, only a warm glow.

The voice that followed was not a roar nor a snarl, not a proclamation or threat. But a soft tone filled with curiosity and wonder.

"...Then show me."

The ember quivered against Reinhard's palm before the orb sank down to the ground and spread out like an ocean. The sea of crimson-black swirled around him and his siblings, and then the tiny flames spoke up.

"Show me what it means to carry the legacy, the will, and the belief of others."

It was a request rather than a demand, a far cry from how things were before.

Reinhard closed his hand around the tiny flame. His fingers curled gently, creating shelter rather than a cage, and he said. "I will."

The ember glowed against his palm, and then Reinhard felt the emotions of excitement or fear or both mixed together.

A tremor ran through the entire realm before cracks tore across the sky. Then the ground shattered like glass, and revealed a black void beneath, from where Reinhard was. He blinked in surprise before the waves of light surged outward from his closed hand.

White-gold radiance expanded in rings, each one pushing back crimson gloom. The light pierced through the darkness like dawn breaking through eternal night.

The crimson-black flames roared before it slowly began fading away as Reinhard looked around the collapsing realm. It was folding inward towards a swirl down from him, all while Klein and Anna clung to him.

Their small bodies pressed against his legs, arms wrapped around whatever they could reach. He felt their trembling through contact, sensed their fear despite the reassurance offered.

The last thing he saw as the world dissolved was a massive sea of fire. The ocean of accumulated evil, consciousness formed from billions of curses and sins and sorrows.

Not recoiling from light spreading across its surface. Not fighting the transformation occurring, but reaching toward it.

Flames stretching upward like hands seeking embrace. The Source of All Evil is choosing curiosity over certainty for perhaps the first time in existence.

Then white-gold brilliance consumed everything, and the realm ceased.

…

Crimson-black flames continued surging around like a sea before a hand shot up through it and then grabbed onto the roots.

Then Reinhard began pulling himself up from the sea, climbing up the roots as flames scattered off his body. None of it hurt him or burned his clothing as he continued pulling himself up.

The crimson-black tide continued flowing below. Not reaching for him now, but present, waiting as the malevolent flames that had consumed dozens of Inquisitors no longer sought his destruction.

They simply existed, watching his ascent with something approaching patience.

Reinhard hauled himself over the final edge with his chest pressed against solid ground, something he was thankful for. His legs followed, boots scraping across stone as he rolled away from the tide's boundary. He lay flat on his back for three seconds as he stared up at the sky, and then lightly chuckled.

"I didn't think I would make it out of there." Reinhard muttered before he then blinked and glanced around.

But to his surprise, he couldn't find the golden cloak that Dune gave him. He fell into thought for a couple of seconds before sighing as he realized it must have protected him. It's because of the cloak that he didn't appear in the realm looking like the other warriors.

They really saved me this time, or well again.

Reinhard sat up slowly with his right hand pressed against the ground for support before he then blinked at the mark on his skin. He raised his hand, turning it palm-up, then rotating to examine the back.

A new Beast Spirit symbol had appeared.

The markings displayed a crown on top of a sun split perfectly in half, with a featureless mask that covered the division. A serpent looped over everything with its scaled body, creating a circle that enclosed the design. Then a chain wrapped around the serpent and everything as well, binding it all together. And then two wings spread outward from the back, each feather visible despite its small scale.

The symbol glowed crimson-black light before fading into black with only the wings, serpent, and chain colored crimson.

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