The academy had not fully recovered from the previous attack.
Cracks still marked the northern wall. The air felt heavier. Even the wind carried a strange stillness — as if something unseen was watching.
Arjun stood alone on the upper terrace of the training tower. The Broken Sky fragments hovered around him in slow orbit, glowing faintly.
They were restless.
"Observation intensified," the system whispered inside his mind.
"Unknown entity focusing directly on host."
Arjun clenched his fist slightly.
"He's getting closer… isn't he?"
The fragments pulsed in response.
Below, Harshil was speaking with Instructor Sebastian about increasing security patrols. Students moved in tighter formations now. No one laughed loudly anymore. The academy had changed.
And so had Arjun.
Without warning, the clouds above twisted violently.
But this time — no rift opened.
Instead, the sky itself darkened in a circular pattern, like an eclipse forming directly over the academy.
A voice echoed.
Not loud.
Not shouted.
But it was everywhere.
"So… this is the one."
Every student froze.
Harshil looked up sharply. "That voice—"
Punya stepped out from the shadow of a pillar, her eyes trembling. "It's him."
Godly's calm expression hardened slightly. "Direct manifestation confirmed."
Arjun felt the system flare violently across his arm.
"Primary threat identified.
Entity: Ruin.
Threat level: Unquantifiable."
The darkness above began to condense. Not into a monster.
Into a silhouette.
A tall, distorted figure formed within the sky itself, its edges shifting like broken glass.
Ruin had not come through a rift.
He was speaking directly.
"You adapt well," Ruin's voice echoed.
"Faster than expected."
Arjun stepped forward.
"You've been watching."
"Watching. Calculating. Adjusting."
The fragments around Arjun spun faster.
Ruin's silhouette tilted its head.
"But adaptation without understanding leads only to collapse."
Suddenly, the ground beneath Arjun fractured.
Not physically.
Mentally.
The world around him blurred.
The academy disappeared.
Harshil. Punya. Godly.
Gone.
Arjun found himself standing in a vast empty space of broken light.
Floating fragments surrounded him — but they were cracked.
Unstable.
The system flickered violently.
"External interference detected.
Core stability compromised."
Ruin's voice echoed through the emptiness.
"You rely too much on it."
A wave of dark pressure struck.
The fragments around Arjun shattered outward like glass.
Pain shot through his arm — not physical pain.
System pain.
For the first time since awakening the Broken Sky System…
It was losing control.
Arjun dropped to one knee.
The fragments flickered weakly.
"Emergency protocol… failing…"
Ruin's silhouette appeared in front of him.
Closer.
Larger.
"What are you without borrowed power?"
Silence filled the broken space.
For a moment…
Arjun almost hesitated.
Then he stood up.
Not because the system told him to.
But because he chose to.
"I'm not just your experiment."
The fragments twitched faintly.
"I'm not just a host."
A faint glow returned.
"I'm the one who decides how this power evolves."
The cracked fragments began slowly reassembling — but differently.
In a tighter, more focused orbit.
Controlled.
Intentional.
"Host intent detected…
Manual synchronization initiated."
The Broken Sky System responded — not automatically.
But in alignment.
Arjun raised his hand.
No spinning storm.
No automatic defense.
Just a single blade of condensed light forming slowly.
Precise.
Sharp.
Stable.
Ruin's silhouette flickered slightly.
"Interesting."
Arjun stepped forward.
"I don't need you to test me."
He slashed.
The blade tore through the empty space, cutting through the distortion itself.
The broken void cracked.
Light flooded back.
The academy reappeared.
Students gasped as Arjun suddenly staggered — then steadied himself.
The dark eclipse above trembled.
Ruin's silhouette distorted.
"You resisted direct pressure."
The fragments now orbited Arjun calmly — smaller in number, but brighter.
Stable.
Focused.
Godly spoke quietly, "He achieved partial independence."
Punya exhaled slowly. "He separated his will from the system."
Harshil rushed forward. "Vale! What just happened?!"
Arjun looked up at the sky.
Ruin was fading.
But not defeated.
"You are evolving incorrectly," Ruin said.
"This will require correction."
The darkness dissolved.
The sky cleared.
Silence returned.
The system pulsed again.
"Evolution Stage Updated.
Host autonomy increased.
System reliance reduced."
Arjun stared at his glowing arm.
Ruin hadn't attacked physically.
He attacked the connection itself.
And Arjun survived.
Not by overwhelming power.
But by control.
Harshil looked at him seriously.
"That wasn't a monster."
"No," Arjun replied quietly.
"That was Ruin."
And this time…
He wasn't just watching.
He was preparing to intervene fully.