Kael's knees buckled as the intruder's strike caved into his ribs. His vision blurred. The taste of iron coated his mouth. His body trembled, broken under the relentless storm of blows.
He staggered forward with trembling fists, but another punch to the jaw hurled him sideways. He crashed to the ground, his golden flames sputtering into dying embers.
Students shouted his name. Elders clenched their fists. Sylara's knuckles turned white on her sword hilt.
But none moved.
Arathor's words held them back: "Let him rise. Or let him fall. Either way, this moment belongs to him."
---
The Breaking
The intruder's shadowed fist drove down again and again. Each strike hammered Kael deeper into the ground until the stone floor cracked beneath him.
Kael's blood pooled around him, his body trembling too much to rise.
Master… his mind whispered, fading. Didn't you say… never to fight rashly? Didn't you say… always control my spirit?
He coughed blood. His vision swam.
Am I going to die here again?
The thought pierced deeper than the wounds in his flesh.
This is the last regression… the last chance. If I die now, it ends. Everything ends.
His chest heaved. His eyes blurred with tears of blood and pain.
Why? Why won't you stop this, Master Sylara? Why won't you intervene, Academy Master Arathor? Can't you see… I can't hold much longer…
The intruder loomed above him, cold and merciless. "Is this it, boy? All that fire, just to die in the dirt?"
The next kick sent Kael's body sprawling. His consciousness dimmed.
And then — darkness.
---
The Spirit Realm
He floated.
There was no ground, no sky. Only endless darkness, the void between death and life. His spirit drifted in silence.
"So… this is it…" Kael's voice trembled in the void. "I'm dead again. Failed again. Forgive me… Sylara. Forgive me… everyone… I… I couldn't—"
His voice cracked. Tears spilled, though they fell into nothing.
"This was my last chance. And I wasted it…"
His knees buckled even in spirit form, his body folding in despair. For the first time in countless regressions, reincarnation, he felt truly helpless.
"I'm sorry…"
---
The Light
A pulse.
Sudden. Blinding.
The void split apart as a light burst into existence above him. It was so bright Kael shielded his eyes.
And then he realized — it wasn't coming from within him.
It was coming from the box.
Back in the trial grounds, students gasped as the mysterious black box clutched by the intruder erupted in divine light. The intruder himself staggered back, his mask cracking.
"What is this?!" he roared, trying to hold on. But the box tore itself free from his hands, breaking through his aura as though his power meant nothing.
The box rose into the air, glowing brighter, brighter — until it shattered with a thunderous crack.
From within, a golden book emerged. Its pages radiated with ancient light, script flowing across them like rivers of fire.
Arathor's eyes widened. His calm expression finally cracked. "That… is the Immortal Book."
Sylara froze. "The one the Shadow Clan sought…"
The intruder screamed. "No! That's mine—"
But the book ignored him.
The Immortal Book shot across the chamber, cutting through the battlefield in a beam of golden radiance, and dove straight into Kael's broken body.
---
The Awakening
In the spirit realm, Kael lifted his head as the light descended.
"Huh…?"
The book floated before him, its cover gleaming, its pages fluttering though there was no wind.
"What… is this…?"
A voice filled the void, ancient and vast, not male, not female, but eternal.
"You who defy fate. You who burn regression,reincarnation itself. I choose you."
The book dissolved into golden particles that streamed into Kael's spirit, searing into his soul, his veins, his bones.
His scream echoed through the void.
Back in the trial ground, his body convulsed as the divine light sank into him. Every cell in his body seemed to ignite. His broken bones knit. His shattered meridians reforged. His organs thrummed with new life.
Students shielded their eyes from the brilliance. Elders fell silent.
Arathor whispered, "He's… fusing with it."
Sylara's eyes filled with awe. "Impossible… that book was said to rewrite the very foundation of existence…"
---
Transformation
Kael's body rose from the ground, hovering as golden light wrapped him like armor. His veins glowed, his heart beat like a war drum, his flesh reforged into something beyond mortal resilience.
His aura surged, no longer a flame of desperation but a controlled inferno. His spirit no longer wavered — it towered, steady and unyielding.
The intruder staggered back, shielding himself with his arms. "No… NO! That book belongs to the Shadow Clan!"
Kael opened his eyes.
They burned gold.
"No," he said, his voice steady, filled with power. "It belongs to me."
The golden light condensed into his fists, the aura-farming technique roaring to new heights. Every scrap of shadow qi in the chamber bent under his presence.
---
Return from the Dead
Kael dropped to the ground, steady on his feet, no longer broken. The students who had thought him lost now gaped in disbelief.
"He… he's alive?"
"His wounds… they're gone!"
"His aura… it feels like… like Tier Three…"
The intruder roared, his mask cracking further. "No matter what power you steal, boy, you're still beneath me!"
Kael raised his fists. Golden fire swirled around him, brighter than ever.
"Then come," he said. "And let me show you the harvest of my will."
The battle was not over. It was only beginning.