The world narrowed to the cold, heavy weight of the Aether-suppressing manacles on his wrists. The moment they clicked shut, Ren felt the connection to his Spirit Soul, a bond that was as natural to him as breathing, being forcibly choked off. The thrumming power, the chaotic lightning he had just learned to touch, was gone. He was left with only the latent, passive energy stored in his flesh and the cold, sharp clarity of his own mind.
"Fools! Insects!" Zephyrion's voice roared in his mind, a tempest of pure, impotent rage. "They dare to place the chains of a common criminal on the blood of the Raijin! Release your power! Turn them to ash and dust! Level this entire pathetic academy!"
"I cannot," Ren thought back, his own internal voice a sliver of ice in the storm of the spirit's fury. "The manacles suppress my soul's Aether. My connection is severed."
"Then use the Aether in your flesh! Use the Dominion I have taught you! Sunde the metal! Collapse the floor beneath them! Do something! To allow this indignity is a stain on our line!"
But Ren ignored the ghost's tirade. He understood something the ancient, arrogant Sky-Lord did not. This was not a battle of power. It was a battle of laws, of systems. To unleash his power now would be to prove them right, to confirm himself as the chaotic, uncontrolled monster they suspected him to be. It would be an admission of guilt.
His face remained a mask of calm indifference as the GAMA Enforcers led him from his room. He saw the shocked and fearful faces of other initiates peering from their doorways. He saw Lin Fei, a look of vicious, triumphant satisfaction on his face. And he saw Anya Volkov, her expression unreadable, a complex mixture of clinical curiosity and something else… something that might have been concern.
He was not taken to a common holding cell. He was escorted to the academy's central spire, a building that housed not just administrative offices, but GAMA's official regional headquarters. They descended deep beneath the ground, into a sub-level he had never known existed. The air here was cold, dry, and sterile, the walls forged from a seamless, black alloy that seemed to absorb light and sound.
Chief Technician Prell led the way, his face a grim mask of professional satisfaction. He had found his ghost.
They arrived at a small, bare-walled interrogation room. In the center was a single, heavy chair bolted to the floor.
"Secure the prisoner," Prell commanded the Enforcers.
As they forced Ren into the chair, Prell approached, holding a small, complex-looking device. It was a portable Aetheric scanner, far more sensitive than the academy's public models.
"We will now confirm your identity and catalog your Aetheric signature for the official record," Prell stated, his voice devoid of emotion. He was about to place the scanner on Ren's chest.
It was in that moment that a calm, authoritative voice echoed from the doorway. "That will be unnecessary, Chief Technician."
Every head in the room snapped towards the door. Elder Tian stood there, his simple grey robes a stark contrast to the severe GAMA uniforms. He was alone, but his presence filled the entire room with an immense, ancient pressure. The two GAMA Enforcers instinctively straightened, their hands falling away from Ren.
"Elder Tian," Prell said, his voice tight with displeasure. "This is a restricted GAMA operation. We are processing a high-priority suspect involved in the sabotage of a critical Spirit Lumina Pagoda facility."
"You are processing a student of this academy," the Elder corrected, his voice dangerously soft. "A student who is under my direct guardianship. And you have done so without consulting me, his legal mentor and a sitting member of the GAMA High Council. That is a severe breach of protocol."
Prell's face hardened. "With all due respect, Elder, the evidence linking him to the crime is absolute. We have a signed confession from Baron Von Hess detailing his dealings with your ward, and a forensic match to the materials found at the sabotage site. The case is closed."
"A confession?" the Elder's eyebrow raised. "How convenient that the Baron, after being taken into GAMA custody this morning, so quickly implicated a sixteen-year-old boy. It almost seems as if he was given a story to tell." He took a step into the room. "No, Technician. The case is not closed. It is sealed. By my authority as a member of the High Council, I am invoking Section 7 of the GAMA charter. All materials, evidence, and prisoners related to an ongoing internal investigation are hereby placed under the sole jurisdiction of the Council's disciplinary committee. This prisoner is no longer yours. He is mine."
Prell looked as if he had been slapped. He was being stonewalled, his authority completely usurped by a political maneuver he was powerless to stop. He opened his mouth to protest, but the look in the Elder's eyes, a look as cold and deep as a rift in space, silenced him.
"Release him," the Elder commanded the Enforcers.
Hesitantly, the Enforcers unlocked the manacles. The moment the connection to his soul was restored, Ren felt the familiar, raging power flood his senses.
"Come, Ren," the Elder said, turning his back. "We have much to discuss."
Ren rose from the chair and walked out of the interrogation room, leaving a furious Chief Technician and two bewildered Enforcers in his wake. He had been a prisoner of GAMA for less than an hour. He had not fought, he had not spoken. He had simply waited. And his master, the quiet keeper of the garden, had shown him a new kind of power: the kind that did not need to break chains, because it commanded the men who held them.