The second year at Arcanum Bellator was drawing to a close, and for Phantsin Dawnfire, each passing day felt like a march toward damnation.
The nocturnal "tutoring sessions" with Magister Grimshaw in the lower levels of The Athenaeum were destroying him.
Grimshaw ordered him to channel the energy of the Aegis under the guise of "learning to master it." Yet, Phantsin felt the professor wasn't teaching him to control the beast, but rather sharpening its claws. Every time the violet metal spread across his skin, the armor grew greedier, harder to retract.
He walked down the crowded corridors of the east wing, wearing his standard Ignis uniform.
His head throbbed. His peripheral vision was constantly obscured by the runic thread of the symbiotic helmet, which now refused to power down completely, projecting data onto his retinas even when the armor lay dormant.
[STATUS: HOSTILE AGITATION]
[DOPAMINE LEVELS: LOW / ADRENALINE: CRITICAL]
[SUGGESTION: PURGE ENVIRONMENT]
Phantsin gritted his teeth, rubbing his eyes.
The Star-Iron ring on his right hand was hot to the touch. It was failing. The leash was breaking from the inside.
The hallway bustled with hurried students changing classes.
A burly third-year cadet, sporting the green tie of Terra, turned sharply to speak to a friend. His shoulder slammed hard into Phantsin's chest, making him stumble.
"Watch where you're walking, rookie," the Terra cadet growled.
It was a mere brush of shoulders. A mundane incident in any military academy.
But the HUD in Phantsin's eyes erupted into a blinding red.
[PHYSICAL THREAT DETECTED!]
[HOSTILE INTENT CONFIRMED]
[EXECUTING LETHAL COUNTERMEASURE]
The Aegis acted for him.
An inhuman growl escaped his throat. His left hand shot forward at imperceptible speed. He seized the Terra cadet by the throat, hoisting him off the stone floor with a single hand.
Hexagonal plates of purple metal tore through Phantsin's shirt, crawling up his arm and encasing his fist.
The cadet's eyes widened in terror; he choked and kicked at the air as his face turned a deep shade of purple.
The students around them screamed and backed away, forming a circle of sheer panic.
"Die!" Phantsin hissed, but his voice sounded distorted, dual-toned, layered with a metallic echo.
"ALPHA, NO!"
A gray and purple blur leapt from the crowd.
Rikka, who had been stealthily tailing him, lunged at him. The stray wolf-girl was terrified. Her ears were pinned flat against her head, and the stench of void and death emanating from the armor made her tremble, but her loyalty proved stronger than her survival instinct.
Rikka clung to Phantsin's armored arm, trying to drag it down.
"Let him go, Alpha! That thing is controlling you! You smell like bad blood!"
Phantsin snapped his head toward her. The HUD did not immediately recognize the Umbra girl. It only saw an obstacle.
[NEW THREAT. TACTICAL INTERFERENCE]
"Dawnfire, stop!" shouted another familiar voice.
Eliana Dawnshield shoved her way through the students, unsheathing her steel sword. She leveled it at him, ready to invoke her Aether magic to incapacitate him if necessary.
"You're losing control, Phantsin. Put him down right now!" Eliana ordered, her voice steady but her eyes wide with panic.
The sight of Eliana's blade and the sheer desperation in Rikka's golden eyes pierced the red haze clouding Phantsin's mind.
What am I doing? he thought, and human terror clawed its way through the metal. I'm killing an innocent. I'm terrifying my pack.
With a monumental effort and a cry of agony, Phantsin tried to unclench his fist. The Aegis resisted, squeezing tighter. In a sharp, violent spasm to break free from the armor's influence, Phantsin hurled the Terra cadet against the wall and leaped backward.
But in that violent, jerky motion, his armored arm struck Rikka squarely in the chest.
The Aegis-enhanced force was brutal. The wolf-girl was sent flying through the air, crashing hard against a marble column.
Rikka hit the floor with a sickening thud.
A trickle of blood began to seep from a gash on her forehead, staining her gray hair. She coughed, clutching her ribs as she struggled to stand, staring at Phantsin with a mix of pain and absolute shock.
Eliana dashed to Rikka's side and dropped to her knees to protect her, raising her sword between the wounded girl and Phantsin.
Phantsin stared at his purple-metal-clad arm. Then, he looked at Rikka's blood.
He had broken his only promise. He had hurt the one person who trusted him blindly.
[THREAT NEUTRALIZED. SCANNING FOR NEW TARGETS...]
"I'm... a monster," Phantsin whispered, backing away, horrified at himself.
Before Eliana could utter a word, Phantsin spun around and fled. Running at supernatural speed, he shattered a hallway window and vaulted out onto the Academy rooftops, seeking the darkness, yearning to disappear.
Phantsin ran until his lungs burned and his legs gave out. He collapsed in the deepest, most abandoned levels of The Veil, the semi-subterranean domain of Umbra.
It was a labyrinth of damp stone and moss. He backed himself into a corner, clutching his head.
The armor pulsed beneath his skin, refusing to retract. The Star-Iron ring scorched his finger—like a prison that was turning against him.
"Don't cry, little Knight. Tears rust the metal."
Phantsin's head snapped up.
From the absolute shadows of the cavern, Isolda the Pale emerged. Her black Umbra robes seemed to absorb what little light remained.
"Did you... did you cause this?" Phantsin growled, attempting to stand, though mental exhaustion anchored him to the floor.
"I did nothing," Isolda said, approaching with slow, deliberate steps. "It was your 'tutor,' Grimshaw. He has been opening the valve, letting the armor drink from your Void. But the real problem isn't him. The real problem is that stupid ring on your finger."
Phantsin looked at his hand. The Star-Iron glowed red-hot.
"The ring protects me..."
"The ring is suffocating you," Isolda interrupted, kneeling before him. "Listen to reason, boy of Ignis. That ring is designed to block your mana, your fire. Your humanity. But the Aegis doesn't need your fire; it feeds on pure Void and violence."
Isolda pointed at Phantsin's chest, where the purple plates writhed.
"By wearing that ring, you've killed the Ignis inside you. You have no life force left to counteract the armor. You are an empty vessel being filled by the parasite. That's why you lost control. That's why you hurt your little wolf pet."
Phantsin closed his eyes, the image of Rikka bleeding burning into his memory.
"What do you want me to do?" he whispered, utterly shattered.
"Take it off," Isolda purred. "Unleash your own fire. Yes, the Void will pour out, but you are the Spark of Ignis. You'll be able to fight the metal on equal footing. Take back control of your body, Phantsin. Or keep the leash on, and let the armor wake up tomorrow and kill the Aether princess too."
The HUD in Phantsin's eyes flickered frantically.
[WARNING: IMMINENT SYSTEM FAILURE]
[HOST INTEGRITY: CRITICAL]
Phantsin raised his right hand.
The ring had been his sacrifice. He had accepted being weak in order to protect them. But now, that very weakness had allowed a monster to take the wheel.
He stared into Isolda's empty, pitch-black eyes. He knew she was a creature of darkness, but her twisted logic made terrifying sense. If he reclaimed his original magic, perhaps he could force the armor into submission.
With trembling fingers, Phantsin Dawnfire gripped the searing Star-Iron ring and pulled, sliding it off his finger.
[RESTRICTION REMOVED] [IGNIS CORE: RELEASED] [VOID RESONANCE: UNLEASHED] [INITIATING COMPLETE ASSIMILATION]
A burst of crimson energy, suppressed for almost a year, detonated in the depths of The Veil.
A torrent of absolute power erupted within Phantsin. The hexagonal plates beneath his skin expanded instantaneously.
A shockwave of violet energy swept through the subterranean corridor, freezing the moisture in the air and extinguishing the nearby torches.
Phantsin stood up, his body wreathed in shadows and cold fire. His eyes glowed with the ruthless, purple light of the Aegis.
Isolda the Pale rose to her feet, gazing at the dark majesty of the boy before her. For the first time in years, a genuine smile grazed her pale lips.
"Welcome home, Knight," she whispered to the shadows.
The second year was over. And Phantsin Dawnfire's true nightmare had only just begun.