The courtyard cracked.
The ground itself seemed unable to bear the pressure of the colossal shadow silhouette half-emerged from the rift. Stone tiles shattered like brittle glass; spiritual wards flickered and swayed; disciples staggered backward, breath stolen by the weight of the entity's presence.
Wraiths poured out like black serpents from an open wound.
Dozens.Hundreds.More than had ever been recorded in a single emergence.
Ilvara reacted first.
"FORM RANKS! ELDER JUNYA—SEAL THE FLANK! KARYON—WITH ME!"
Elders leapt into the air, their robes fluttering like white flames. They cast layers of defensive barriers over the courtyard, but even those barriers trembled, strained, cracking under the pressure of the shadow's resonance.
It wasn't the Echo.
It wasn't the Whisper.
It was the origin of them.
The part of Nocturn that could reach through the Abyss's outer veil.
Ren Xiang stepped forward, defying instinct and sense alike.
"REN!" Mira cried, grabbing his sleeve.
He didn't turn. "Mira, stay behind me."
"Absolutely not!"
"You will."
She clenched her jaw. "You're not… we're not letting you face that alone. Not again."
Taro, who had recovered partially, trembled behind her, clutching his spear upside down. "Ren… I think it knows your shoe size…"
Ren Xiang inhaled.
Two currents surged inside him.
Warm breath from the real meridians.Cold breath from the mirrored ones.
He allowed them to meet.
Dual Breath aligned.
His chest expanded, glowing faintly — half warm, half cold, his skin shimmering with duality.
The colossal shadow silhouette paused.It tilted its head.
"YOU REMEMBER THE END."
Ren Xiang's heart thudded."I do."
"GOOD."
A pulse of dark resonance swept out from the silhouette, blasting across the Sect. Disciples were thrown into walls. Several vomited blood instantly.
Ren Xiang barely remained standing.
Mira was flung back —Ren Xiang twisted, catching her mid-air with one arm, body shielding her.
He placed her down gently.
She stared at him, shocked.His hand trembled — but he didn't crumble.
"Your strength…" she whispered. "It's rising too fast."
Ren Xiang didn't reply.
The shadow giant leaned closer, voice rumbling like a collapsing world.
"I SPARED YOU ONCE.IN PITY."
Ren Xiang's fists tightened.
"You killed me, Nocturn."
Mira inhaled sharply.
Ilvara froze mid-air, stunned.
Karyon's eyes widened.
Taro fainted again.
The colossal shadow silhouette twitched — amused.
"THAT STORY'S END WAS AMUSING.WRITE ME ANOTHER."
It extended a massive hand of swirling darkness, intent on crushing the courtyard.
"REN!!" Mira screamed.
Ilvara hurled her blade toward the hand — but it passed through without effect.Karyon struck with his copper staff — the shadow ignored it.
Ren Xiang stepped forward.
Dual Breath flared — sharp and cold, warm and bright.
His mirrored meridians activated, pulsing with a strange crystalline sheen.
He thrust his palm toward the descending hand.
He didn't strike the hand.
He struck the space in front of it.
A resonance shockwave erupted.
The courtyard shook.
The shadow hand halted —only for a fraction of a second,but it DID halt.
Ilvara inhaled sharply.Karyon almost faltered mid-stance.
Even Nocturn's partial manifestation paused.
"INTERESTING."
Ren Xiang gasped, blood running down his lip from the backlash.The Dual Breath had reacted differently this time — too much power, too little stability.
Mira jumped to his side."Ren! Your meridians—!"
"I know," he breathed.
Another wraith lunged at Mira.
Ren Xiang grabbed its tendril with bare fingers —and with Dual Breath vibrating through him —he shattered it.
The wraith collapsed into static dust.
Mira stared at Ren Xiang with a mix of awe and terror.
"How… how are you doing this?"
Ren Xiang's breaths grew faint. "Dual Breath amplifies everything. Even physical force. But it also…"
He swayed.
"Ren!" Mira grabbed him before he fell.
"It also tears me apart," he whispered.
The mirrored meridians hissed angrily under his skin, fighting the real ones. The real meridians trembled, bruised from the force of the shadow's resonance.
Mira looked up at Ilvara, desperation in her eyes. "ELDER! He can't take another hit!"
Ilvara shouted, "REN XIANG! FALL BACK!"
The colossal silhouette laughed.
The rift widened.
Wraiths erupted in even greater numbers.
Their shapes twisted — now sharper, taller, emitting shrieks that melted nearby spirit wards.
Ilvara cursed."KARYON! SEALING FORMATION—NOW!"
But Karyon didn't answer.
He was staring at Ren Xiang.
"Ilvara…" he whispered. "If he leaves the battlefield… that thing will follow him."
Ilvara's hand shook.
"Then what…? He must keep fighting?!"
Karyon's silence was the answer.
The shadow giant raised its colossal arm again.
"SHOW ME.""HOW YOU DIE THIS TIME."
Ren Xiang inhaled sharply.He felt Mira's hand tighten against his sleeve.
"Ren…" she whispered, trembling.Her eyes were glassy."Please don't."
He turned.
Her voice broke."You just came back. I just… I just saw you alive again. Don't do this."
Ren Xiang smiled — faint, soft.
"I won't die."
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not."
Her breath quivered.
Ren Xiang exhaled.
Time slowed.
He could feel every meridian in his body — real and mirrored — fighting each other. Pulling. Tearing. Resonating out of sync. He could feel the marks the Whisper-Echo left burning like black veins under his ribs.
But he also felt something else.
A presence beside him.
Mira.
Her concern.Her strength.Her defiance.
He placed a hand over hers.
"Mira," he whispered. "Step back. Please."
She tried to hold on.
Her fingers shook.
Her lips trembled.
But she let go.
Just one step.
Enough for the darkness to crash toward Ren Xiang alone.
Ren Xiang inhaled.
Dual Breath.
Two streams of energy — warm and cold — aligned into a single river of force.
His meridians flashed with dual light.His Inner Sea cracked — then stabilized.
His shadow-mark flared.
Ren Xiang lifted both hands.
He bent his knees slightly, channeling resonance into the ground.
He struck.
Not the shadow.
Not the air.
He struck the distortion.
The weak point created by the rift's imperfect manifestation.
A crack of silver-gold light burst from his palms.
Dual Meridian Resonance.
The shockwave ripped across the courtyard, colliding with the shadow giant's hand.
The ground erupted.The sky split with thunder.Disciples fell to their knees.
The shadow giant's hand reeled backward, distorting.
For the first time—
For the FIRST time—
The colossal manifestation reacted with something like surprise.
"…WHAT…?"
Ren Xiang staggered.His chest felt like it tore open from inside.
Blood spattered his lips.
But he didn't stop.
Dual Breath surged again.
The mirrored meridians burned.The real ones ruptured.His Inner Sea splintered at the edges.
This might kill him.
But if he held back—
Everyone else would die.
Ren Xiang screamed and unleashed a second shockwave.
Dual Resonance tore across the courtyard.
The shadow giant leaned back—
The rift trembled—
Cracks began appearing across the shadow's torso.
Nocturn's hollow eyes narrowed.
"ENOUGH."
The giant silhouette lifted BOTH arms.
A massive wave of shadow force unlike anything yet surged toward the Sect — enough to crush every disciple, every elder, the entire mountain.
Ilvara hurled herself forward in a desperate attempt to intercept.Karyon unleashed a barrier so bright it burned the air.
Both were swept aside.
The wave reached Ren Xiang.
Mira screamed —"REN!!!"
Ren Xiang inhaled.
A final Dual Breath.
Perfect.
Flawless.
Light and darkness merged.
Ren Xiang thrust his hands forward.
A blinding explosion of silver and black erupted.
The collision shook the mountain to its core.The shockwave blasted trees off cliffs.The Sect walls cracked.Pillars collapsed.
And finally—
Finally—
The shadow wave stopped.
The colossal silhouette flickered violently.
"YOU… DEFY…"
Ren Xiang's voice cracked as he whispered back,
"I do."
The colossal shadow began to collapse inward —the rift shrinking as if pulled by some invisible force.
Nocturn spoke one last time—
"THIS WORLD HIDES YOU FROM ME.BUT YOU CANNOT RUN FOREVER."
The voice faded.
The shadow dissipated.
The rift sealed with a final, echoing scream.
Silence.
The courtyard was littered with rubble.Disciples lay exhausted.Elders floated shakily to the ground.
Ren Xiang knelt, body failing.
Blood dripped down his chin.
His breath rattled.
His vision dimmed.
He was falling.
Mira sprinted toward him.
"REN—!!"
She caught him just as he collapsed, arms wrapping around his torso desperately.
He whispered weakly, "Did… we stop him?"
Mira grabbed his face. "YES! But you— you—"
Ren Xiang's eyes drooped.
Her voice broke."Stay awake—please—don't leave—don't—"
He smiled faintly.
And then—
His mirrored meridians surged suddenly, violently—
The dual resonance backfired.
Ren Xiang convulsed.
Ilvara and Karyon reached him, shouting desperate incantations.
Mira clung to him, tears welling.
His body arched backward, light flaring uncontrollably.
Dual Breath spiraled out of control.
His meridians screamed.
His Inner Sea—
shattered.
A final surge of mirrored light erupted—
And Ren Xiang's consciousness collapsed into darkness.
Far above the Sect—
The crack in the sky pulsed once.
Then stopped.
**
But in the deepest layer of the Abyss…Nocturn opened his true eyes.
"HE RETURNS TO ME TOO EASILY."
The war had begun.