Alden von Astra — POV
The door looked ordinary.
Dark, polished mahogany. Iron bands running across it, humming with a low, steady mana frequency. If you didn't know better, you'd think it led to a private study or some rich professor's office.
Not an execution chamber.
But I knew better.
The air near the threshold tasted like ozone and something metallic—like old blood that had been scrubbed clean but never really left. My [Astra Dominion], which usually moved under my skin like a violent river waiting to overflow, was barely a trickle right now.
Something on the other side was suppressing it. Not aggressively. Not loudly.
Just… existing harder than me.
I turned to Alisia.
She stood less than a foot away, back against the corridor wall. Rigid. Controlled. Her silver eyes had darkened into that faint violet shade I'd learned to associate with incoming catastrophe.
Frost crept up the stone behind her in delicate fractals.
Tink.
Tink.
Hairline cracks spread through the masonry.
She wasn't looking at the door.
She was looking at me.
And she looked ready to freeze the entire Academy down to its foundation stones.
"Alden," she whispered.
The way she said my name hurt more than the fear in my stomach.
I reached out and took her hand.
Cold.
Not cool. Not chilly.
Cold enough to burn.
I didn't let go.
"Listen to me," I said quietly. Calm voice. Steady tone. Pretend you're not seconds away from being spiritually dissected. "Even if something major happens… even if alarms go off, or mana spikes, or the building starts shaking… promise me you won't step forward."
Her eyes narrowed instantly.
"You are asking me to stand still while you walk into a trap."
"I'm asking you to trust me," I corrected gently. "I'll handle it."
"You cannot handle an Inquisition Sifting alone," she hissed. Her grip tightened. I felt bone creak under pressure. "They will strip you bare, Alden. If they see—"
"If you intervene," I cut in, squeezing back, grounding her, grounding myself, "then it stops being an audit and starts being a rebellion. And I can't talk my way out of a rebellion."
That hit.
We both remembered.
The unspoken one.
She searched my face like she was looking for cracks. For fear. For lies. For bravado.
I gave her calm inevitability.
Nothing else.
The frost behind her receded. Slowly. Not gone. Just… leashed.
"Okay," she said.
It sounded like glass snapping.
She stepped back. One slow step at a time. Eyes never leaving mine. Then she turned the corner and vanished into the shadows.
I exhaled.
Long. Shaky. Useless.
"Right," I muttered. "Showtime."
I grabbed the iron handle.
Cold.
And pushed the door open.
The second I crossed the threshold, gravity changed.
Not metaphorically.
Not dramatically.
Just… reality adjusting itself to accommodate something superior.
My knees buckled.
It felt like someone dropped a mountain on my shoulders. My vision swam. Grey spots flickered at the edges. Inside me, [Astra Dominion] flared violently—like a candle in a hurricane—
And went out.
Suppressed. Completely.
'No way…'
I gritted my teeth and forced mana into my legs manually. Locked my joints. Refused to fall face-first onto polished marble like some extra in a courtroom drama.
Sweat broke out instantly.
"Impressive."
The voice was smooth. Polished. Cultured.
Like velvet wrapped around a blade.
I looked up.
The room was circular. Massive. Lined with absorption panels that devoured mana signatures like black holes.
In the center: a single chair.
Behind a sleek white desk: a man who looked bored.
Pale skin. Copper-toned hair. White suit so pristine it felt offensive.
Liam von Ravel.
The SS-rank recluse.
The man who supposedly hadn't left his spire in a decade.
"You didn't crawl," Liam observed, watching me struggle upright. His eyes were wrong. Completely black. No sclera. Just void. "Most A- ranks are flat by now. You… stumbled."
I straightened.
It felt like lifting a collapsing building.
"I have good balance," I wheezed.
He smiled.
It didn't reach his eyes.
"You're a weird specimen."
Specimen.
Not student.
Not suspect.
Not human.
Specimen.
Something hot flared in my chest. Fear, yeah. But under it—something uglier. The transmigrator's pride. The guy who already died once and didn't feel like kneeling twice.
"Specimen?" I scoffed. "You're talking like I crawled into your maze."
He tilted his head.
The pressure in the room increased slightly. My ribs protested.
"Are you not?" he asked mildly. "You walk where you shouldn't. Bite harder than you should. Exist in a bracket that cannot explain you. What is that, if not a rat in a maze?"
I stared directly into those void-black eyes.
'Don't look away.'
"Maybe," I said slowly, "I'm the one designing the maze. And you're just the janitor."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
If Edwin were here, he'd faint.
If Sarah were here, she'd cry.
Liam stared at me.
Then he chuckled.
"Janitor," he mused. "No one has insulted me in twenty years. Refreshing."
He stood.
Pressure shifted.
"Let's see if your soul is as loud as your mouth."
He gestured toward the chair.
"Sit. Or be seated."
I walked to the chair.
Sat down.
Metal clamps snapped around my wrists and ankles instantly. Runes flared alive:
[Anti-Mana]
[Cognition Lock]
[Soul Tether]
'Well. That's comforting.'
Liam circled the desk holding a jagged crystal glowing sickly purple.
"The Sifting is usually gentle," he said calmly. "We scan. We check for demonic residue. We sign paperwork."
The crystal touched my forehead.
Ice. Fire. Both.
"But for you…" he leaned closer. "We dig."
Phase 1: The Body
The crystal hummed.
Mana flooded my nervous system.
My arms jerked. Legs seized. It felt like thousands of ants crawling under my skin, mapping every fiber.
'Pain is data. Pain is temporary.'
"[Physicality: Elevated]," Liam narrated while watching a holographic display. "Muscle density near peak A-rank reinforcement. Bone structure reinforced by… starlight?"
He tapped a rune.
Phase 2: The Core
The sensation changed.
The ants vanished.
A hook sank into my chest. Not physical. Not metaphorical. Something else.
It latched onto my mana core.
And pulled.
I gasped. My back arched violently.
This wasn't pain.
This was violation.
[Mask of the Void] activated automatically.
'Block it. Hide it. Now.'
My core spun, layering void mana into a decoy structure. A fake core. Bland. Unremarkable.
Liam frowned.
"Resistance? No… layered distortion."
He pressed harder.
"Open up."
Pressure slammed down.
[Stellar Mental Resistance] flared desperately.
Crack.
Shattered.
His mana flooded in.
"Oh?" he murmured. "Capacity immense. Purity irregular. Traces of Void… corruption… and—"
He leaned closer.
"Starlight."
I grit my teeth. My resistance felt obliterated. My mind blurred under the weight.
Phase 3: The Soul
"Now," Liam said softly. "The truth."
The crystal turned black.
'This is it.'
The hook went deeper.
Past flesh.
Past mana.
Into me.
Pain vanished.
A mirror replaced it.
Memories flickered.
The tournament.
The Garden of Chaos.
My first life.
Loneliness.
Betrayals.
Hospital bed.
The moment I opened my eyes in this body.
'NO.'
I screamed internally.
I am Alden.
I am Alden von Astra.
I belong here.
System warnings exploded across my vision.
[CRITICAL ALERT: SOUL SCAN DETECTED.]
[COUNTERMEASURES FAILING.]
[AUTHORITY GAP TOO LARGE.]
Liam's eyes widened slightly. The void rippled.
"Found you," he whispered.
The hologram turned crimson.
[ANOMALY DETECTED]
[SOUL SIGNATURE: MISMATCH]
[PARASITIC ENTITY IDENTIFIED]
The crystal lifted.
I slumped, gasping. Sweat dripping onto pristine marble.
Silence.
Liam looked at the screen.
Then at me.
"A parasite," he said. No curiosity now. Just cold disgust. "You are not the original Alden."
"I am," I rasped. My throat burned. "I am him."
"You are a thief wearing a corpse."
He pressed a button.
The door slammed open.
Boots thundered in.
Clamps released.
Replaced instantly with Inquisition shackles that burned like acid against my skin.
[Astra Dominion] tried to surge.
Violent. Instinctual. Kill everything.
'Don't.'
'Alisia is outside.'
'If I fight, she fights.'
'If she fights… she dies.'
I went limp.
"Take it to the Black Cell," Liam ordered, already turning away. "Prepare the implements. I want to know what it is before we burn it."
I was dragged out.
As we passed the corridor, I forced my head slightly toward the shadows where Alisia had disappeared.
'Stay there.'
'Please. For once. Just stay there.'
A bag was thrown over my head.
And the world went dark.