The Realm of Echoes twisted violently, each student's fear no longer contained to their own space.
Now, those fears were fusing—combining into monstrous abominations.
Jian Mo watched in horror as the laughter of his clan merged with the sneer of Ling Yue's mirror-self. A creature crawled out of the shattered void: half noblewoman, half spectral flame, draped in broken chains.
It screamed with every voice that ever belittled them.
"This isn't my fear alone," Ling Yue said, her sword trembling.
"No," Jian Mo whispered, drawing his blade. "It's all of ours."
From the skies, demonic birds with the heads of elders descended, each crowing: "You will never be enough!"
Xun Fei loosed arrows of light, each carrying a fragment of Han Li's talisman rune. One shot pierced a bird clean through—and it exploded into petals.
"Master prepared us for this," he muttered. "Let's show this place who we are."
—
Outside the mirrors, the elite classes began to gather.
"He sent Class D into that realm?" one sneered.
"They won't last an hour."
But Elder Mu said nothing. He watched Han Li, who now stood with hands clasped behind his back, eyes scanning each glowing mirror.
"Come on, children," Han Li whispered. "Burn it all."
—
Back inside, Ling Yue planted her sword in the ground. "This is our fear, so we shape it."
Light surged from her core—triggering the other talismans.
All around the Realm, Class D's students began to glow, memories burning away doubt.
And somewhere in the deepest abyss of the realm, a new beast was forming.
Something ancient.
Something that remembered… Han Li.