Silence fell after the explosion.
Not the silence of peace—
but the silence of a city holding its breath.
Dust drifted across the collapsed Academy hall.
Mana lights flickered weakly.
Students huddled behind cracked barriers.
Everything trembled.
Every living thing felt it.
The birth of something ancient.
The rise of something that should never rise.
Aren slowly pushed himself off the floor.
His arms glowed with twisting void patterns.
His breath steamed with violet mist.
His vision sharpened to impossible clarity.
Voices whispered through his skull—
hundreds of them—
all chanting one name:
"Heir… heir… heir…"
He staggered backward.
"No… I'm not your—"
His voice cracked as the vortex intensified again.
A silhouette began forming inside it—
massive, winged, serpentine, bound in fading chains.
A phantom of the dragon's real form.
Not physical yet.
But close.
Too close.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—
Heavy footfalls shook the courtyard rubble outside.
Soldiers rushed in.
"Instructors! Form a defensive array!"
Mana shields lit up in hexagonal patterns around the hall.
But every soldier froze the moment they saw Aren.
Because his eyes glowed violet.
Because void leaked from his fingertips.
Because he stood at the center of the breach like its anchor.
Kale's voice cut through the tension.
"…He's changing."
Aren didn't even look at him.
Kale tightened his fists, aura bristling.
"You did this."
Kane—blood on his face, armor cracked—limped out from the rubble and shoved Kale aside.
"That's ENOUGH."
Aren's breath hitched.
"Kane… you're alive…"
Kane wiped blood from his jaw.
"Barely. But enough to drag you out if I have to."
Aren's jaw trembled.
"I can't… control it. The void—"
"I know," Kane said. "I'm not asking you to control it. I'm asking you to fight it."
The vortex surged behind them with a thunderous roar—
"ARENNNN."
The dragon's voice hit like a shockwave.
Everyone fell to their knees except Aren.
He alone remained standing.
He alone was rooted to the call.
Kane yelled over the roar.
"Aren! Look at me!"
Aren forced himself to turn—
—and saw fear in Kane's eyes.
Not fear of Aren.
Fear for Aren.
Kane grabbed his collar with trembling hands.
"You are NOT his heir.
You are NOT a puppet.
You are Aren.
You choose your own destiny."
Aren swallowed.
"But the void—"
"THE VOID DOESN'T CHOOSE. YOU DO!"
Aren clenched his teeth—
And for a moment—
the madness in his vision cleared.
But the vortex thundered again.
Chains snapped inside the dimensional breach.
Everyone felt the wave of power sweep across the hall.
Rellin shouted orders:
"Contain the projection! HOLD THE LINE!"
Instructors unleashed spells in coordinated volleys—
Firestorms.
Barrier walls.
Spatial seals.
The phantom of the dragon took every hit without flinching.
Kale charged next, aura blazing gold.
"Titan Fist: Breaker—!"
He struck the phantom's leg.
The impact barely rippled.
Kale staggered back.
"…What ARE we fighting?!"
Rellin said the word no one wanted to hear.
"A king."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
A low, dark laugh echoed through Aren's skull.
"Let them struggle.
None can halt my rise."
Aren shook violently.
"STOP… TALKING… TO ME!"
"We are bonded, Aren."
"We are NOT!"
"You were born for this.
Your evolution is my design.
Your awakening is my gift."
Aren's breath hitched.
"Why me?"
The vortex roared.
The dragon leaned closer.
"Because you carry what I lost."
Aren's pupils shrank.
"What does that mean—?"
But the void king didn't answer.
Instead:
"Come to me, and I will make you whole."
Aren felt himself step forward—
But Kane grabbed his arm.
"No. You're staying here."
Aren trembled.
"I… can't hold it…"
Kane stepped in front of him again, raising his sword.
"Aren. Listen. You have one choice left."
Aren looked up.
Kane's gaze was firm.
"Do you want to stand with people—
or with the thing that's trying to turn you into a weapon?"
Aren swallowed.
He remembered the Herald's plea.
The rival entity's warning.
The dragon's pride.
The screams of the students behind him.
Kane's hand pulling him back every time he lost control.
He whispered:
"…I want to stand with people."
Kane exhaled in relief.
"Then fight the void. Not with power—
with WILL."
Aren closed his eyes.
The void roared.
The dragon screamed.
The vortex shook.
Aren took a breath—
—and stepped away from the breach.
The dragon's voice thundered with rage.
"AREN!"
Aren opened his eyes, glowing violet—
But filled with defiance.
"I'm not coming."
The void markings flickered violently—
then dimmed slightly.
The dragon roared so loud the hall shook.
"YOU DARE DEFY YOUR KING?"
Aren raised his bow.
"…You're not my king."
The phantom lunged.
The hall collapsed.
Kane raised his blade.
Kale charged.
Rellin unleashed a sealing formation.
Aren drew his bowstring—void swirling, obeying him purely out of will.
This was no attack.
This was a rejection.
And Aren whispered the name—
"Void Sever."
He fired.
A violet line cut across the vortex—
—and the projection of the void king froze.
The breach wavered.
The phantom fractured.
For the first time—
The void king was pushed back.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Deep below, in the true chasm beneath the city—
The dragon's roar tore through ancient stone.
"AREN… I WILL HAVE YOU."
But Aren, shaking and exhausted, whispered back:
"…Come and take me."