The violet islands of the Obsidian Realm were silent, save for the rhythmic hum of the starlight nebula above. Vincy, his body still flickering with the unstable "sync" from Piet, moved through a grove of crystal-barked trees that chimed like bells when he brushed against them.
"Piet, the 'Glitch' is getting worse," Vincy whispered, his voice echoing in two registers. "My feet... I can't feel the ground anymore."
"The frequency of the realm is pulling at your soul," Piet replied, his voice sounding more physical than ever. "Think of it like a magnet. But we have company. Stop. Three o'clock, behind the singing quartz."
Vincy froze. A blast of heat, sharp and sulfurous, cut through the cool starlight. From behind a jagged crystal pillar, Cyrus and Baron stepped out.
Baron's arm was still in a sling, his face twisted in a sneer of pure loathing. Cyrus, however, looked different. His eyes were bloodshot, and his Crimson Forge Qi was no longer just a glow; it was a roiling, black-edged flame.
"No more games, Sparrow!" Cyrus roared. He ignored the warnings of the realm, channeling every ounce of his life essence into a final, forbidden move: The Solar Decimation Strike.
"He's burning his foundation to kill you," Piet noted, his voice turning icy. "Vincy, if we don't end this now, his instability will cause a chain reaction that will shatter this island. I am taking the reins."
Vincy didn't have time to argue. His eyes flared a brilliant, piercing violet. The "Glitch" stabilized into a terrifying aura of ancient authority. As Cyrus lunged, a pillar of black fire trailing behind him, Piet-Vincy simply raised a single finger.
"Collapse," Piet commanded.
The air didn't explode; it imploded. The black fire was sucked back into Cyrus's own chest. A shockwave of violet energy rippled outward, snapping the crystal trees like toothpicks. Cyrus and Baron were thrown back, their meridians shattered, their cultivation leaking out of them like smoke.
As the brothers lay broken on the violet soil, gasping for air that felt like needles in their ruined lungs, a soft tapping of boots echoed against the stone.
"Help... Seraphina... help us..." Baron wheezed, reaching out a trembling hand as the Lady of the Inner Court stepped into the clearing.
Cyrus coughed up black blood, his eyes wide with terror. "The boy... he's a demon... save us... our clan will reward you..."
Seraphina didn't even look down at them. She stepped over Cyrus's reaching hand as if it were a piece of refuse. Her gaze was fixed entirely on Vincy—specifically on the flickering, regal shadow that stood behind him.
"You've made a mess," she said calmly, her voice devoid of pity. "But then again, tigers shouldn't complain when they hunt a dragon disguised as a rabbit."
"You... you're not going to help them?" Vincy asked, the violet light in his eyes fading as he regained control.
"Why should I?" Seraphina asked, her silver-scaled armor catching the starlight. "They were tools of a dying era. Their failure is their own. I am more interested in the fact that you just used a high-level Gravity Collapse technique while being in the Body Refining stage."
She reached into her robes and pulled out a fragment of a mirror that pulsed with a rhythmic, heartbeat-like glow.
"The exit portal is an ambush, Vincy Sparrow. Lord Vane and the Shadow-Stalkers are waiting to peel your soul from your skin," she said, stepping closer. "I don't care who you really are, or what spirit you carry. But I know that the Myriad School is a sinking ship, and I don't intend to go down with the captain."
"What do you want?" Vincy asked, his voice shaking.
"Cooperation," Seraphina replied, holding up the mirror fragment. "I have the Lunar Refraction Mirror. With it, I can mask your signature so you can bypass the 'impurity filter' of the exit gate. In exchange, you will help me reach the Star-Scripture Altar in the heart of the realm. I need a drop of that violet energy you possess to unlock my own bloodline."
"She's ambitious," Piet chuckled in Vincy's mind. "And dangerous. But she's the only one with the key to getting us out of here without a fight that would level the city."
Vincy looked at the broken brothers, then at the calculating Lady of the Inner Court. The storm wasn't just coming; it was already here.
"Fine," Vincy said, reaching out to touch the mirror. "Let's go find your altar."