"The closer you walk toward the light, the deeper your shadow becomes."
The academy was bustling again, as if nothing had happened.
After the clash between Asura and the Thunder General, the student body had returned to training, lectures, and rivalries. But something was different—the air had changed.
A strange chill lingered. Unease whispered in the wind, and even the most arrogant clansmen glanced around more cautiously.
Asura had returned.
And so had something else.
A Quiet Storm Brews
Asura stood at the edge of the Azure Combat Field, where students sparred under the sun. His sword rested on his back, wrapped in black cloth that pulsed faintly with suppressed energy. Despite the noisy training grounds, a circle of silence always surrounded him—none dared come too close unless they wished to be crippled.
Lira, as always, was the only exception.
"You haven't said a word since coming out of the Training Ground," she said, eyes narrowing.
"I saw the enemy," Asura muttered, scanning the students. "He's already here."
She stiffened. "Who?"
"A Demonfang spy. He's taken the identity of a transfer student. Abyssal Blood Sect."
Lira's voice dropped to a whisper. "We can report it—"
"No," Asura interrupted, his voice calm but heavy with killing intent. "The elders won't act without proof. And if he senses we're onto him, he'll vanish or… worse, strike before we're ready."
His Supreme Martial Eyes flared for a moment, analyzing every fluctuation of qi in the area. He didn't need names or rumors—he was watching flows, intent, malice.
And then he saw it.
Across the field, a young man wearing dark academy robes stood motionless. His qi was perfectly ordinary—too perfect, in fact. There were no fluctuations of emotion, no mistakes in breathing rhythm. He was faking his cultivation level.
But Asura saw the truth beneath the veil.
"Found you," he whispered.
The Demon's Fang Revealed
The man's name was Rei Duskvale, or at least, that was the identity he used.
Officially, he was a wandering disciple from the Celestial Kingdom. Good-looking, polite, always middle-ranking in every assessment—never too strong, never too weak.
But Asura saw beyond the surface.
He followed Rei as he left the combat field and disappeared toward the South Pavilion, an abandoned section of the academy. Lira followed without a word, sensing what was about to unfold.
The corridor was silent and dark, moss crawling up cracked walls. Old statues of forgotten martial ancestors loomed in the shadows.
Suddenly, Rei stopped walking.
"I was wondering when you'd come."
His voice was quiet. Smooth.
Asura narrowed his eyes. "You've been hiding well."
Rei turned, smirking. His polite expression melted, revealing red irises glowing faintly, and a thin layer of black mist coiling from beneath his sleeves.
"You've seen through me," Rei said, clapping slowly. "I'm impressed. Not many in this academy can detect abyssal concealment techniques."
"I've seen worse," Asura said, stepping forward, his voice flat. "But I won't let your corruption spread."
Rei's expression darkened. "You think I came alone? Fool. I am the weakest among the shadows sent here. If you strike me down now, you'll only trigger the next phase of the plan."
"You won't be triggering anything."
Realm Severing Spiral – First Awakening
Rei's body erupted with abyssal energy, forming a blood-red blade from his palm. The air warped around him. "Let's see if the rumors about you are true, Asura."
Asura drew his sword slowly.
It gleamed with a light that cut the very essence of the world. His qi spiraled behind him like a hurricane made of starlight.
"I was hoping I'd get to try this," Asura whispered, his Supreme Martial Eyes sharpening.
"Heaven's End: Third Form – Realm Severing Spiral!"
He vanished.
Even Lira, watching from the shadows, couldn't follow the movement.
Rei's abyssal senses screamed too late.
A single arc of light appeared before him, and the space around his left arm bent unnaturally, then collapsed.
His arm was gone.
Rei screamed, staggering backward, trying to regenerate, but the wound wasn't bleeding—it was unraveling, as if that part of reality had been deleted.
"What… what did you do!?"
Asura's voice came cold and calm.
"That technique doesn't cut flesh. It cuts the thread of your existence."
A Warning Delivered
Rei fell to his knees, gasping, shaking as black mist tried to reattach his severed reality. He looked up at Asura, hate burning behind his eyes.
"This… isn't over."
"No," Asura said, raising his hand.
"But you are."
He struck Rei in the chest with a simple open palm strike—but his qi carried divine and demonic energy, fused into a single destructive current that destroyed all internal meridians.
Rei's body went limp. Not dead, but crippled for life.
Asura turned to Lira. "Alert the Headmaster. Tell him we've confirmed infiltration. And there are more."
"And what about you?" she asked.
He looked at the severed limb fading into nothingness. "I'm going to interrogate his soul."
Her eyes widened. "You can do that?!"
Asura grinned. "I'm not your average academy disciple, remember?"
In the Shadows… A Deeper Threat Awakens
Far across the continent, in the heart of the Demonfang Kingdom, an altar cracked open.
An ancient being—sealed for ten thousand years—opened his eyes.
"Someone has touched the Spiral. The boy… he has it."
End of Chapter 91