The moment the Astral symbol flared in the sky, a shudder passed through the coliseum like a living pulse. Cultivators with battle-hardened senses reached for their weapons instinctively.
Nico stood frozen, staring at the shards of the Resonance Orb glittering around his feet. His hand still glowed faintly, silver veins flickering under his skin like constellations.
"What the hell...?" he whispered.
A loudspeaker boomed across the arena.
"All students, return to your dormitories immediately. Faculty, secure the area. Headmaster Rin in Command Protocol Alpha—now!"
Around him, dozens of instructors rushed toward the stage, most keeping their distance like he was a bomb about to explode. Nico took a cautious step back, eyes darting for Lexanna in the crowd. He found her, standing halfway up the stadium steps, frozen in shock.
Then she moved—rushing toward him.
Security tried to block her, but she leapt over them effortlessly, landing beside him with grace only a top-tier cultivator could possess. She grabbed his wrist.
"You need to leave. Now."
"What? Lex, I don't even know what just—"
She pulled him close, her voice urgent but trembling. "This isn't just a rare path, Nico. The Astral Devourer is a forbidden lineage. A myth. Cultivators on that path don't just grow stronger. They consume power—realms, stars, sometimes even time."
He stared at her. "But I didn't do anything—"
"They won't care," she said. "And it's not just the school. The Galactic Cultivation Alliance will come. The Astral Path was wiped out because it was too powerful. If they think you're its successor—"
Suddenly, a dozen armored faculty cultivators dropped from the air, surrounding them in a formation that radiated lethal intent.
"Nico Sol," said a tall woman in dark robes. "You are to be detained under Article 77 of Interstellar Cultivation Law. Resist, and we will use force."
Lexanna stepped in front of him.
"You'll have to go through me."
"Don't tempt us, Liora girl," the woman snapped. "Your family might be ancient, but even your elders voted in favor of the purge."
Nico felt something rise in him—slow at first, like water boiling.
And then—
A pulse.
Time slowed. Colors inverted. The wind around him froze in place.
He looked around in stunned awe as the world melted into a field of stars.
Every person, every object, every word turned to flickering light.
Only Lexanna remained solid, though even she seemed... slightly translucent.
"Nico..."
A voice echoed in his mind—not Lexanna's, but something older. Vast. A cosmic whisper that reverberated through his bones.
"Awaken."
Then, reality snapped back.
Nico opened his eyes, gasping.
A ring of silver fire pulsed around him, and every faculty member was thrown back by an invisible wave.
Lexanna caught his arm before he collapsed.
"What was that?" he breathed.
She looked at him with wide, shaken eyes. "I think... your core just formed."
Lexanna had taken him through the back alleys of the city, avoiding scanning drones and automated patrols. Her knowledge of the hidden paths beneath the city stunned him.
Eventually, they reached a hidden garden beneath an abandoned observatory—an ancient place that shimmered faintly with moonlight. She sealed the area with a protective formation, glyphs flaring at her fingertips.
"You're safe here. For now," she said, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.
Nico slumped against a marble bench, still dazed.
"This is insane," he murmured. "I was supposed to be average. Unremarkable. Not some... galactic threat."
She knelt beside him. "You were never unremarkable, Nico. The world just didn't know what it was looking at."
He turned to her. "Why are you helping me? Really?"
She looked down, then back up at him, eyes shimmering. "Because I love you. Because when I was drowning in expectations and duties, you saw me—not the Liora name, not the rank, not the cultivation. Just me."
He stared, heart thudding.
"I love you too," he said softly.
And in that moment, the stars above shimmered like they were listening.
That night, as Nico drifted into sleep in the hidden garden, his dreams were not dreams at all.
He stood in the void of space, surrounded by broken moons and shattered swords floating through nothingness. In front of him stood a man with silver hair and glowing eyes, his robes swirling like nebulae.
"You have awakened the Devourer Path," the figure said. "One that leads beyond time, beyond mortality. But beware—the same stars that empower you will try to erase you."
"Who are you?" Nico asked.
"I was like you. Once. Before the Council burned my name from the records."
He pointed at Nico's chest.
"Your core is unique. It doesn't cultivate qi in the traditional sense. It draws from the cosmos itself. Emotion. Memory. Dreams. Pain. Love."
Nico blinked. "Love?"
"It's the strongest fuel of all," the figure said. "But it burns the soul."
The dream faded, and Nico woke with tears in his eyes.
Lexanna was sleeping beside him, leaning against the bench.
He whispered, "I won't let the world take you away."
And the stars flickered again.