The world dissolved.
Light twisted into threads.
Sound stretched like an echo dragged through a long corridor.
The floor beneath Avin's feet vanished, replaced by a weightless void of silver fog.
Then—
Everything snapped into place.
A landscape formed around him.
Except it wasn't the academy.
It was somewhere older.
Somewhere he had never been… yet knew too well.
Avin stood in the middle of a quiet road. The stones were cracked, moss slipping through the gaps. Houses lined the street—old, wooden, their lanterns extinguished. A cold wind blew through empty windows.
Silent.
Abandoned.
Forgotten.
Avin's heart trembled.
Why does this feel familiar?
A small voice echoed somewhere behind him.
"Brother…?"
Avin froze.
He turned slowly.
A little girl stood there—white dress stained with soot, barefoot, clutching a broken wooden toy. Her hair was silver-black, shimmering like his own shadows. Her eyes—bright, innocent—looked straight into his.
Avin stepped back unconsciously.
"Do I… know you?"
Her lips parted.
"You left us."
The world trembled.
Flames erupted behind the houses—black fire, silver smoke curling upwards as screams echoed faintly in the distance.
Avin staggered back. "I don't… remember this. I don't know who you are."
The girl tilted her head sadly.
"You will."
Her form flickered like a glitch.
Then evaporated into dust.
The flames surged, consuming the entire village.
Avin clutched his chest as the second heartbeat pulsed violently.
Boom—boom.
Boom—boom.
He felt it trying to respond—recognizing this place, these memories, this pain.
"No… not now."
He forced the power down—
But the illusion shifted again.
The burning village melted into a dark field.
Avin stood alone.
The sky above turned ink-black, swirling with silver rings. Shadows moved around him like living serpents.
Then he saw them.
Kai.
Rei.
Sarene.
Lyra.
All standing a few meters away, staring at him.
"Avin?" Sarene called softly.
Lyra cracked her knuckles. "Why are you covered in smoke—"
A pulse exploded from Avin's chest.
BOOM.
Silver mist erupted violently, forming tendrils that wrapped around the ground, splitting the earth.
Kai screamed, "BRO—WHAT DID YOU EAT—STOP EXPLODING—"
But Avin couldn't stop it.
His own body moved without his permission—shadow threads stretching out like claws.
He reached toward Sarene.
"No—NO—stay back!" Avin shouted.
But the shadows ignored him—
—lunging toward the people he cared about.
Sarene's figure flickered with fear.
Rei stepped back, trembling.
Lyra raised her fists but faltered.
Kai shouted, "BRO DON'T TURN ME INTO A FRIED POTATO!"
Avin's throat tightened.
"No… I would never…"
His own hands, consumed by silver shadowlight, reached out uncontrollably.
"STOP—PLEASE—STOP!"
He tried to pull back his arm—
—his own power refused.
The shadows surged—
Just before they reached his friends—
A voice cut through the illusion.
"…You fear yourself more than you fear death."
The world cracked like a mirror.
Everything shattered—
Except the voice.
Silence.
Pure, suffocating silence.
The burned village…
The collapsing ground…
His friends' terrified faces…
All gone.
Avin stood alone in a void of swirling silver and black mist.
Then—
A figure emerged.
Tall.
Hooded.
Cloaked in shadows so dense they swallowed the light around them.
The face hidden.
The presence overwhelming.
Silver eyes opened beneath the hood.
Not bright.
Not angry.
Just ancient.
Familiar.
"You."
Avin's breath hitched.
He didn't know the figure.
But every instinct in him whispered—
This is your blood.
Your family.
Your past.
Your truth.
The figure stretched a hand toward him.
Silver veins pulsed across the shadowy palm.
"Take my hand, Heir."
Avin's heart throbbed painfully.
The second heartbeat pounded at his ribs, desperate to respond.
"No… no… I don't even know you."
The figure's head tilted.
"You do.
Your soul remembers even if your mind does not."
The mist around them trembled.
Then the figure spoke again—
its voice layered with countless whispers:
"Awaken… Nightblade."
The silver mist surged toward Avin—
He stumbled back, choking—
The figure's hand was inches from his chest—
When suddenly—
Everything shattered.
The world fractured like broken glass.
And Avin fell—
Not physically.
Mentally.
He was being pulled out, dragged back to reality.
But before he fully escaped, the Hall showed flashes—
the illusions of his group.
LYRA stood in a ruined arena, surrounded by shadow versions of herself—faster, stronger, mocking.
"You pretend to be strong."
"You hide behind fists."
"You're afraid of losing."
Lyra's eyes burned with fury.
"SHUT UP!"
She fought herself alone—
a vision of someone who feared being powerless.
Rei was sitting in a classroom of shadows.
Pages fluttered violently.
Books screamed knowledge he couldn't grasp.
A monstrous silhouette made of words and ink towered over him.
"You are nothing without knowledge."
"You are weak without information."
"You will always be behind."
Rei covered his ears.
"No… I'm not… I'm NOT—"
A single light appeared above him—
his determination glowing faintly.
Kai's illusion was… chaotic.
He stood in a field of giant lightning chickens.
"WHY ARE THERE SO MANY OF YOU?!"
They clucked menacingly.
One charged him, wings sparking.
Kai screamed,
"I DIDN'T PET YOUR MOTHER, I SWEAR!"
But beneath the comedy—
Kai's real fear appeared:
A shadow version of himself, standing tall, laughing.
"You pretend to be foolish.
Because you're scared of failing seriously."
Kai froze.
Even he couldn't laugh at that.
Sarene stood alone in a frozen palace corridor.
Her father's silhouette loomed over her.
"Your destiny is political."
"You cannot choose who you care for."
"You are a Frostvale.
You are not allowed to love freely."
Sarene clenched her fists, frost glowing around her eyes.
"I choose for myself."
Her chains shattered—
Her gaze turned determined.
While the illusions played inside…
Outside, the other students watched the glowing walls.
Teacher Nyra stood with arms folded, amethyst eyes fixed intensely on Avin's glowing chamber.
Deputy Headmaster Hale murmured,
"He's reacting more strongly than expected."
Nyra's lips parted slightly.
"This boy… his mind is layered. Shielded. His fears aren't personal—they're ancestral."
Hale raised a brow.
"You see it?"
She nodded slowly.
"His illusion is rewriting itself.
This only happens when the soul carries two sources of mana."
Hale inhaled sharply.
"Dual affinity?"
Nyra whispered,
"No.
Dual origin."
She stepped closer, eyes narrowing.
"And something inside him is trying to break free."
Inside the Hall, Avin stumbled through collapsing illusions.
The Nightblade figure still lingered in fragments.
The silver mist curled around his ankles, pulling him back.
The voice echoed again—
"Accept me."
Avin shook his head violently.
"No.
Not yet.
I don't understand you.
I won't take your hand blindly."
The figure's silver eyes narrowed.
"Then we wait.
But remember—"
The world broke around him—
"—You are never alone."
And the illusion shattered completely.
Avin collapsed onto the Hall floor, gasping for breath as the world solidified around him.
Lights flickered.
The room blurred.
His friends lay scattered nearby, each recovering from their own illusions.
Kai crawled toward him.
"Bro… did you see chickens too—WAIT. YOU LOOK LIKE YOU FOUGHT GODS."
Rei held his head. "My brain hurts…"
Lyra lay on her back, fists still clenched.
"That was exhausting."
Sarene kneeled beside Avin immediately.
Her voice soft—
"Avin… what happened?"
He opened his mouth—
Then froze.
Nyra was watching him.
Not casually.
Not curious.
Studying him.
Analyzing him.
As if she knew exactly what he saw.
Avin lowered his gaze.
"…I'm fine."
Sarene didn't believe him.
Nyra stepped forward, her boots clicking on the stone floor.
"Group Four… you handled the Hall decently."
Her eyes lingered on Avin again.
"But some of you revealed… interesting traits."
Kai snapped to attention.
"If it's about chickens, that was NOT my fault—"
Nyra ignored him completely.
Her eyes fixed on Avin.
"I would like to speak with you privately later… Avin Renn."
The room went silent.
Students whispered.
"Why him?"
"Did he do something?"
"Did he break the Hall?"
Kai whispered dramatically,
"BRO… YOU'RE SCREWED."
But Avin wasn't listening.
Because the second heartbeat inside him whispered back—
so faintly he almost missed it:
"…The seal weakens."