The main amphitheater of the **Academy of Shattered Nightmares** vibrated with restrained anticipation.
Today, the volcanic glass walls did not merely reflect light—
They *burned* with it.
Murals of the **Blazing Sovereign Chain** flickered across the obsidian surface, illusory flames crawling through carved fractures like living fire trapped beneath ice. Adjacent to them, the fragmented sigils of the **Despair Sovereign** devoured that light, shadows thickening unnaturally in the corners.
Fire raged.
Night swallowed.
The contrast alone made breathing feel heavier.
Even the island's essence felt sharpened—as if the Academy itself leaned closer… eager to witness what would unfold.
---
Instructor Harlan stood at the podium.
His crystallized dread stump caught the ward-light like black ice, jagged facets refracting fear into the air.
Beside him stood Instructor Vale.
Silent.
Observing.
His perception Dominion layered the space strangely—like multiple versions of the lecture coexisted in overlapping realities only he could fully see.
"Comparative embodiment," Harlan announced, voice rough as grinding stone.
"We examine two shattered Sovereign Chains."
He gestured.
Holographic arrays ignited.
On the left—
A colossal sovereign wreathed in eternal flame. Essence roared outward in violent bursts, igniting the air itself.
On the right—
A cloaked monarch of endless night. Shadows spiraled inward, devouring light without spectacle.
"Blazing Sovereign," Harlan said, indicating the inferno.
"Path of rapid consumption. Terror essence ignites instantly—embodiment explosive, overwhelming. Rift-clearing capability is among the fastest recorded."
The flames flared brighter.
"But brightness accelerates backlash. Overreach…"
A pause.
"The fire turns inward. The bearer becomes fuel."
---
Vale stepped forward smoothly.
"Despair Sovereign," he said, gesturing to the shadowed figure.
"Path of accumulation."
The shadows pulsed slowly, rhythmically.
"Instead of burning terror away, it recycles it. Turns dread back upon its source—mind before body."
The sovereign's cloak expanded, swallowing the projection's edge.
"Embodiment is subtle. Often undetectable. Depth approaches limitless thresholds."
A slight tilt of his head.
"But isolation is the cost."
"The bearer risks dissolving into the void they command."
---
Students shifted uneasily.
Zuo Flameheart sat rigid in the front row, pride radiating off him like heat haze.
"The Blazing path is superior," he declared. "My clan has embodied it for generations. Rapid clears. Rift dominations. Shadows hide because they lack the courage to burn."
Harlan's gaze remained impassive.
Vale tilted his head slightly.
"Courage," he said softly, "or folly?"
"Flame reveals position."
"Nightmare… endures."
---
Xia Ying raised his hand from the middle rows.
Calm.
Measured.
"Instructor Vale—does the Blazing Chain allow reversal of consumed essence? Or only expulsion through flare?"
Vale's eyes met his instantly.
A perception probe brushed Xia Ying's aura—
—and dissolved into shadow without resistance.
"Primarily expulsion," Vale replied. "Reversal is unstable. Rarely survivable."
"And the Despair path," Xia Ying continued, voice even, "can it sustain embodiment without visible spillover? Evading detection entirely?"
A faint smile curved Vale's lips.
"Yes."
"Shadows conceal their own hunger."
"Detection requires piercing the veil…"
A pause.
"…which is difficult when the veil cooperates."
Zuo scoffed loudly. "Hiding isn't strength. It's cowardice."
Harlan's voice cut like a cleaver.
"Both paths destroy those who misunderstand them."
"Flame burns out swiftly."
"Nightmare claims slowly."
A beat.
"But completely."
---
Xia Ying's internal smile was glacial.
They frame balance where none exists.
One rages.
One inherits the ashes.
My Dominion is neither flame nor nightmare.
It is the Sovereign reborn.
---
### Assignment Period — Private Library Carrels
Students dispersed into warded study alcoves.
Independent comparison analyses were due soon—evaluations tied directly to rank mobility.
Zuo claimed a prominent central carrel, spreading clan-sealed tomes with deliberate visibility.
Determined.
Defiant.
Desperate to reclaim prestige after the project humiliation.
His quill scratched furiously across parchment.
---
Elsewhere, Xia Ying sat alone in a distant alcove.
Outwardly studying.
Inwardly extending.
Enhanced **Shadow Tendrils** uncoiled from beneath his seat—filaments thin as spider silk, phasing through ward seams with practiced delicacy.
They slipped into Zuo's carrel undetected.
First phase:
Tampering.
Key passages on stable flame embodiment subtly replaced with fragmented nightmare contradictions.
Ink smears blurred citations.
Forged annotations inserted—false references leading to dead-end lore.
Blazing purity… quietly undermined.
---
Second phase:
Seeding.
Pinpoint **Terror Aura pulses** embedded directly into Zuo's cognitive rhythm.
Stored.
Timed.
Activated.
Zuo paused mid-sentence.
Frowned.
This citation… wrong?
Impossible.
He crossed out lines.
Rewrote.
Stopped again.
Doubt deepened.
Pages tore under rising frustration.
A fist slammed down—flames scorching parchment before he hastily extinguished them.
From afar, Xia Ying observed through a shadow link—his **Adolescent Phantom** merging with a nearby darkness, borrowing sight.
Paranoia is a chain he forges himself, Xia Ying thought calmly.
Passive resentment bled into the air—harvested effortlessly.
Zuo's submission would be rushed.
Flawed.
Inferior.
The quiet war tilted further.
---
### Evening — Dormitory Corridors
Ward-lights cast elongated shadows across polished stone.
Xia Ying walked alone after training.
A figure emerged from an alcove.
Ren Stormcaller.
Former lackey to Kai.
Wind Dominion.
Eyes bloodshot with sleepless rage.
"You," Ren spat. "Kai's broken because of you. Shadows twisting minds."
A small audience gathered at corridor ends.
Xia Ying stopped calmly.
"Grief speaks loudly," he said. "Walk away."
Ren's aura flared—gusts shredding the air.
"Fight me proper."
Wind blades formed around his arms as he lunged.
---
Xia Ying guided the clash subtly—Tendrils nudging Ren toward a semi-private lounge.
Crowd trailing at distance.
There—
He released **Refined Dread Projection** layered with **Terror Feedback**.
---
Ren's reality fractured.
He stood alone inside an endless tempest.
A single leaf in a world-devouring storm.
His own wind Dominion inverted—gusts shredding his body piece by piece.
Cohort faces formed in the storm.
Laughing.
Mocking.
"Forgotten."
"Weak."
Winds flayed skin.
Howls carried abandonment.
Ren froze mid-attack.
Convulsing.
"Stop—make it STOP!"
Winds erupted wildly—shattering furniture before collapsing inward.
He fell sobbing, curled into himself.
Projection duration: longer.
Sharper.
Controlled.
Harvest: immense.
Isolation terror tasted deeper than Kai's rage.
His core pulsed in satisfaction.
---
Onlookers whispered in fear.
"Another breakdown…"
"No one even touched him…"
Xia Ying approached gently.
"Ren—easy. I've got you."
He escorted him toward healers.
All while seeding faint unease into witnesses.
Association forged:
Challenge Xia Ying…
Ruin follows.
---
### Night — Rooftop
Storm seas roared below volcanic cliffs.
Wei Jun appeared beside him without sound.
"Productive day," he said dryly.
"Always."
Wei Jun leaned on the railing.
"Clan movements escalating. Flameheart especially—they fund half the restricted wings. Pressuring instructors. Securing essence allocations."
"Zuo?"
"Private tutors incoming. Accelerated push."
Xia Ying's gaze remained on the horizon.
"Broader trend," Wei Jun continued. "Clans treat the Academy like a draft pool. High-potentials get recruited… or suppressed."
A glance sideways.
"Your profile's rising fast."
"Vale?"
"Resists pressure. Reports directly to the headmaster. But scrutiny on you is deepening."
Xia Ying handed him a folded Chain note—restricted perception flaw parallels.
Wei Jun pocketed it with a nod.
"Watch the clans," he said. "They chain from outside what the Veil chains within."
He vanished into shadow.
---
### Dormitory — Midnight Refinement
Zuo absent again.
Likely venting fury in private arenas.
Xia Ying sat cross-legged.
He refined the day's harvest:
Lecture resonance.
Sabotage fallout.
Ren's terror.
Clan tension.
All compressed inward.
His Aura pulsed deeper.
At the mention of the **Despair Sovereign**, something ancient stirred within his Dominion—
Recognition.
Not echo.
Memory.
Flame rages… reveals its position.
Nightmare waits… claims the remnants.
Let clans scheme.
I will turn their influence to ash.
---
Outside, dread tides rose around the island.
Inside, Xia Ying's shadow deepened—
Sovereign.
Patient.
Ascending.