As Vincy stepped through the shimmering veil of the gate, the world behind him vanished into a pinprick of light. He found himself standing on a floating island of violet soil, suspended in a sky filled with three moons and a nebula of swirling starlight.
"Don't just stand there gaping at the scenery, Vincy," Piet's voice warned, now sounding strangely resonant, almost as if he were standing right next to the boy. "The Qi here is thick enough to drown a normal person. Breathe slowly, or your lungs will turn to crystal."
Vincy took a shallow breath, his chest tightening. "Piet... how does the Myriad School own this place? If it's as powerful as you say, why hasn't the Royal Palace or the Solis Empire just... taken it?"
"They've tried," Piet chuckled, a sound like clashing swords. "But the Myriad School doesn't 'own' the Obsidian Realm; they are its Jailors. This realm is anchored to the world by a Soul-Bind Formation laid down by the Sect's founder. It's a dead-man's switch. If any outside power tries to forcibly seize the gate, the anchor snaps, and the entire realm—along with the city the school sits on—implodes into a void."
"The King tolerates the school because they hold the 'Key' to the void," Piet continued. "It's a stalemate of mutually assured destruction. The other powers don't snatch it because they don't want to be the ones holding the bomb when it goes off."
While Vincy navigated the violet islands, the atmosphere at the Gate back in the mortal world was festive in a macabre way. The "Merchant Guards" and the "Shadow-Stalkers" were no longer even trying to hide. They had set up small camps around the exit point, sharing wine and sharpening their blades.
"He's in," one of the Solis assassins whispered, a cruel smile stretching his scarred face. "The boy thinks he's escaping into a treasure house, but he's just entering a slaughter-box. Once he comes out, we don't even have to hide his body. We'll just say the 'Secret Realm' claimed him."
In the Royal Gallery, Lord Vane watched the gate with a cold, predatory glee. He had already signed the warrant for Vincy's "Protection Custody." To him, it didn't matter if the boy was a genius or a vessel; once Vincy stepped through that exit portal, he would be property of the Crown, or he would be a corpse. There was no third option.
Vincy, however, was currently dealing with a problem neither the assassins nor Lord Vane had anticipated. As he moved deeper into the realm, the violet starlight began to react to the Primordial Star Scripture in his soul.
"Piet... my hands," Vincy stammered.
His fingers were flickering. One moment they were solid, and the next, they were made of the same translucent violet light as Piet's ghost.
"The realm recognizes me!" Piet's voice was filled with a wild, manic energy. "The density of the Qi is so high that the barrier between our souls is dissolving. We aren't just 'two souls in one body' anymore, Vincy. We are overlapping."
Suddenly, Vincy's body jerked. He didn't stumble; he blurred. In a single heartbeat, he crossed a hundred yards, his feet barely touching the floating stones.
"I'm moving too fast!" Vincy yelled, but the voice that came out was a terrifying harmony of his own frantic tone and Piet's arrogant baritone.
"Stop fighting it!" the Piet-part of the voice commanded. "If we can synchronize our frequencies, we won't just survive the exit ambush—we'll walk right through them as if they were made of smoke. But first, we need to find the Lunar Refraction Mirror. It's in the heart of the 'Glitch Zone,' where the physics of this place have completely unraveled."
Vincy looked ahead. The islands were no longer floating; they were spinning like a giant, celestial clockwork, and at the center, a pillar of pure, white light reached toward the moons.
"The tigers are waiting for the lamb at the gate," Vincy muttered, his eyes flashing with a sudden, violet intensity that wasn't entirely his own. "But what happens when the lamb doesn't come back alone?"