"Power is not always the threat. Sometimes, knowledge is the true catastrophe waiting to unfold."
The academy was quiet.
Too quiet.
Rain danced across the stone tiles of the Hidden Pavilion, where torches flickered and shadows stretched long into the night. Asura stood inside, his back straight, face grim. The body of Rei Duskvale—the traitorous Sword Clan inner disciple—lay lifeless before him.
But it wasn't over.
Not yet.
"I don't have time to play by the rules anymore," Asura muttered. "There's something far worse beneath all this."
He reached into his robe and pulled out a scroll sealed with golden flame—an artifact his mother had entrusted him with before he left for the academy.
"When you begin to see the strings behind the shadows, use this. It will let you hear their whispers."
He unsealed it.
Golden light surged from the scroll, and the air grew heavy, almost sacred.
The scroll morphed into a floating ancient sigil, made of intersecting rings etched with runes in an unknown language. It floated mid-air above Rei's corpse, humming, then descended into his chest.
Asura stepped forward, eyes glowing violet with a touch of black—a sign he was calling upon the Ancient Gods' Relic embedded deep within his soul.
"Let the soul's veil be lifted—show me everything."
The pavilion vanished.
Into the Soul Abyss
He was suddenly falling.
No, descending.
Down, down into the soul realm of Rei Duskvale. The world became murky and oppressive, a twisted reflection of the real one—a place where every regret, every memory, and every sin manifested into reality.
Asura landed on blackened soil beneath a blood-red sky. Wind howled with whispers. Chains floated mid-air, broken and swinging with no anchors.
He took a step forward.
Every step echoed with a scream.
Rei's voice rang out, distorted and monstrous:
"So you came, Asura. The demon child. The Flame Son."
A shadow rose from the ground—a monstrous version of Rei, fused with abyssal elements. Horns twisted upward. Black mist oozed from his body. His left eye was missing, replaced by a floating rune, pulsing with malice.
"You were never just a student," the demon-Rei hissed. "Even before the relic awakened, your soul was different. They feared you."
Asura didn't respond. He raised his palm. The rune mark on his forehead, normally dormant, began to burn—revealing an ancient inscription in celestial and abyssal languages interwoven.
"Soul Realm Command: Mirror of Endless Truths."
A towering obsidian mirror appeared, taller than mountains, reflecting Rei's entire soul—the good, the vile, the corrupted.
Lightning cracked across the skies. The mirror spun once… and the visions began.
The Memories Unfold
Scene 1 – The Pact:
A blood ritual in the heart of the Demonfang Kingdom. Rei, as a child, stands trembling before a shadowed figure—a Demon Elder wearing the cloak of Vraxxion's Cult.
"Drink from this chalice, and forsake your fate. You will not die a blade. You will live as a weapon."
He drinks.
Chains wrap around his soul. His fate is sealed.
Scene 2 – The Academy's Target:
Rei, now older, listens during a covert briefing within the Demonfang embassy.
"The Sword Clan balances the internal power of the academy. Break it. But most of all… watch the boy from the Flame Kingdom. If he ever awakens the True Flame, stall him. Or if needed... bring him back, dead or alive."
Scene 3 – The Council of Ten Abyssal Lords:
Shadowy figures debate around a floating sigil of Vraxxion.
"He carries the Relic. The same one sealed by our god. If we can corrupt it before it matures, the Flame Son will become our vessel. The gods will fall, and the seal on Vraxxion will shatter."
Internal Realization: Asura's Struggle
The visions end.
Asura breathes heavily. His hands tremble slightly.
He sees himself—trapped between fates. One path leads to him being the savior, the other to becoming a vessel of destruction.
"They don't just want to kill me," he whispers. "They want to make me into their god."
A silence falls.
Until another voice speaks—deep, ancient, from within his own soul.
"They fear you, Asura… but they also admire you. Even now, your flame calls to those buried deep beneath existence."
Asura turns.
Floating before him is a fragment of the Ancient God of Flame, cloaked in golden fire.
"You were never meant to walk a mortal path. Your fate is one of convergence. Gods. Demons. Men. All will meet their end… or their beginning… through you."
Return to Reality
Asura snaps back into the real world with a gasp. The runes on his skin burn momentarily, then fade.
Rei's body begins to wither—his soul completely devoured by the interrogation.
Lira rushes in. "What did you see?! What happened?!"
Asura turns slowly.
"The Demonfang Kingdom isn't just trying to corrupt the academy. They're trying to bring back… Vraxxion."
Her eyes widen. "The Forgotten Demon God?! That's just myth—"
"No. It's history we've tried to forget. But they're planning his resurrection, and I'm at the center of it."
The Shadow Flame Division Is Born
That night, under the starlit sky, Asura summoned the only people he could trust.
Lira – His companion. Heart like steel, eyes like lightning. She vowed to follow him into war.
Kai Ironwind – From Earthshard Kingdom, skin like armor, soul like granite. A tank with loyalty unmatched.
Yue Lin – The quiet healer with a hidden bloodline tied to celestial realms. Her hands bring life. Her past hides death.
Xian of the Night – Shadowfall Kingdom's ghost. Once expelled for assassination, now reborn as Asura's eyes in the dark.
Together, they stood around a burning brazier.
Asura looked at each of them.
"From this day on, we are no longer just students. We are hunters of the abyss. If Vraxxion awakens… the world ends."
He held out his palm. The others placed theirs over his.
"We are the Shadow Flame Division. We don't follow rules. We follow truth."
Flames roared upward.
Their pact was sealed.
Final Scene: The Pulse of the Demon God
In a forgotten cavern deep beneath the Demonfang Kingdom, a floating heart made of obsidian pulsed violently.
Ba-dump.
Ba-dump.
Each beat shook the earth slightly.
The heart glowed—and a crack formed across its surface.
A single eye opened.
"He awakens. My vessel… My Asura…"
End of Chapter 92