Chapter 24 – The Rift Opens
The air over Azure Sky Academy had changed.
Students whispered of sudden earthquakes, of lights flickering in the night, and of beasts in the forest acting strange.
But none knew the truth — that the sky itself had begun to fracture.
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The Omen
In the central courtyard, Baifang leaned on his spear, watching as a group of instructors sealed off the northern sky gate.
A faint, swirling void shimmered above it — dark as ink, whispering like a heartbeat.
> "That's not normal wind," Baifang muttered. "Feels like… something breathing."
Chaein stood beside him, her twin tails faintly visible in the moonlight, frost gathering at her feet.
> "It's not wind," she said quietly. "It's a tear."
> "A tear?"
> "Between realms." Her eyes darkened. "The Rift… it's opening again."
Baifang's expression tightened.
> "Then where's Yin Jin?"
---
The Hidden Chamber
Deep beneath the academy, in the sealed Hall of Starlight, Yin Jin knelt alone.
Around him floated dozens of fiery orbs — fragments of the Nebula Memory Core — orbiting him like dying stars.
His shirt was torn, his body drenched in sweat.
The black-gold flame within him refused to calm. It pulsed and hissed like a living thing, whispering words that weren't his.
> "You are the heir… to a fallen realm…"
"Reclaim the flames… reclaim the sky…"
He pressed his hands against his chest, pain flashing across his eyes.
> "Get… out of my head!"
The orbs shattered.
Flames erupted around him, turning from gold to pitch-black, licking across the walls like devouring shadows.
Elder Xu Liang burst into the chamber, his expression sharp.
> "Stop! You'll burn the seal!"
But Yin Jin's eyes had already changed — swirling gold and abyssal black, the mark of the Nebula Demon Bloodline awakening in full.
> "Elder…" Yin Jin said, voice trembling between two tones — his own and another, ancient and cold.
"Something's calling from beyond the Rift."
Xu Liang's pupils shrank.
> "Then it's begun sooner than we feared."
---
The Fracture
High above the academy, thunder cracked.
The sky split open like glass, and a storm of colorless lightning poured through the rift — tearing clouds apart.
Students screamed and scattered as instructors raised barriers, their qi flaring to contain the anomaly.
But in the heart of it, a single shadow descended — humanoid, but its form flickered like smoke and fire.
Its voice rumbled through the mountain:
> "Descendant of Shen Luo… return what was stolen."
Chaein's frost flared to life as she stepped forward, twin tails snapping behind her.
> "Not while I'm here."
She thrust both palms forward — Twin Moon Frost: Lunar Chains!
Silver frost burst from her hands, binding the shadow midair. But the void creature only laughed, its body melting through the chains like mist.
Baifang appeared beside her, lightning screaming down his spear.
> "Then how about this?! Heaven's Roar — Thunder Collapse!"
The impact cracked the ground, yet the shadow still stood, its form distorting with every strike.
> "Futile… without him."
Then — a roar.
Yin Jin burst from the hall below, his aura blazing like a dying sun.
His body was wreathed in black-gold fire, his feet no longer touching the ground.
The sky bent around him as he looked up, eyes glowing with otherworldly fury.
> "You came from the Rift…" he said slowly.
"Then I'll send you back there myself."
---
The Heir of the Nebula
The entity lunged.
Yin Jin's fire exploded outward — no longer mere flame, but starfire, threaded with void lightning. The world turned to light and shadow as they clashed midair.
Every strike tore the sky apart — gold against black, frost against thunder.
Baifang and Chaein fought beside him, but it was clear — the creature's true target was Yin Jin.
> "You cannot resist forever, child of the Nebula…"
"The fallen realm awaits…"
> "Then let it wait!"
Yin Jin's aura surged. Flames twisted into wings of pure gold and black — vast, divine, demonic.
His hair turned silver at the ends, his blood igniting.
> "Nebula Flame Art — Fallen Star Rebirth!"
The sky detonated in a torrent of black-gold fire.
When the light faded, the shadow was gone — consumed.
But the Rift above pulsed, still open, still hungry.
Yin Jin fell from the air, barely caught by Baifang.
> "You idiot," Baifang said, voice shaking. "You almost blew up the mountain!"
Yin Jin's lips curved faintly.
> "At least it's still standing."
Behind them, Chaein looked up at the sky — where the Rift slowly began to seal itself.
> "Th
at… wasn't just an attack," she whispered. "It was a message."
> "From who?" Baifang asked.
She turned to Yin Jin, her voice soft, almost afraid.
> "From your ancestors."