Chapter 13 — The Burden of Shadows.
Chapter 13 — The Burden of Shadows.
The invisible gravity field was not just a physical barrier; it was a grinder designed to weed out those who had exhausted their reserves in the arena. Every step felt as though Kaelen were wading through fresh concrete, the heavy air pressing down on his skull like a dull ache.
"Kaelen... I can’t take it anymore," she whispered, her voice barely a thread.
"My legs... they won’t hold..."
Kaelen feigned a heavy stagger, falling onto one knee as if he too were on the verge of collapse. He let out a harsh, strained grunt, burying his face toward the stone to hide the cold, calculating focus that shone in his eyes.
Ahead of them, Tsubaki-iwanome was nothing but a sliding silhouette halfway down the long corridor, his back straight, his steps deliberate. He did not turn back, but Kaelen knew the prodigy’s sharp senses were tuned to the slightest sound behind him. If Kaelen suddenly displayed the strength necessary to carry Lyra through this gravitational hell, his cover would instantly fly into pieces.
"I must cheat," Kaelen thought.
Keeping his head low, Kaelen let his right hand drop flat against the damp pavement. He closed his eyes and whispered within his mind.
"System. Activate Passive Divine Flow. One point three percent."
An icy, thick chill ran down his spine. Beneath him, where the golden light of the ceiling didn’t quite reach the ground, Kaelen’s shadow slid. It detached itself from his boots, stretching across the stone like an ink stain until it merged with Lyra’s trembling shadow.
The moment their shadows connected, Kaelen activated the grounding properties of his dark energy. Instead of lifting Lyra, his shadow acted as a microscopic gravity sinkhole, absorbing the intense pressure that crushed the young girl’s body to redirect it deep into the rock beneath the castle walls.
For Lyra, it felt like a divine miracle. The crushing weight on her chest suddenly vanished, replaced by an strange sensation of lightness.
"What?" she gasped, her eyes wide open.
She believed her desperate wind mana had finally stabilized, giving her a second wind.
"Don’t waste it," Kaelen groaned through grit teeth, maintaining his act of agonizing struggle. "Run fast..."
Grabbing Kaelen by the forearm, Lyra hauled him upward with renewed strength. Together, they surged forward, stumbling past three nobles lying face-down on the ground who were weeping and cursing. In a final, desperate burst of speed, they crossed the arched threshold at the end of the corridor, collapsing onto the floor.
A heavy iron gate slammed down behind them with a metallic crash, sealing off the rest of the corridor.
Out of the twenty survivors, only ten had managed to pass. The ten others remained trapped on the other side, condemned to spend the night on the frozen stone of the outer courtyard. Kaelen and Lyra had just claimed the ninth and tenth places.
Standing near the grand staircase, Tsubaki slowly turned his head, his sharp silver eyes locking onto Kaelen.
His brow furrowed slightly, a silent question floating in his gaze. He knew Kaelen should have collapsed. He did not expect this. Yet, this rat had survived again.
The inner lobby of the elite dormitories was a grand hall of dark stone and velvet drapes. At the center stood a stern, elderly warden holding a ring of gold keys.
"Congratulations, top ten," the warden droned in a flat voice, completely devoid of warmth. "Each key corresponds to a private chamber equipped with a high-grade mana-replenishing bed. However, we have a minor administrative... setback."
The warden held up only nine keys.
"It seems the room is undergoing magical maintenance. Two of you, the commoners, will have to share, or one must forfeit his bed to sleep in the freezing storage room at the end of the corridor."
Immediately, a tall noble covered in bruises, one shoulder bandaged, stepped forward. He was the son of a high-ranking lord who had barely scraped into the top eight.
"There is no setback," the noble sneered, pointing a finger at Lyra. "It’s the commoner girl who sleeps in the storage room. I am the son of the House of Vane. My recovery will not be hindered by sharing a roof with such vermin."
Lyra’s hand tightened around her bow, her jaw clenching instantly. She was too exhausted to fight, but the injustice burned in her eyes.
Before she could speak, Kaelen stepped in front of her. He bowed his head, his shoulders slumped, playing his card of submission to perfection.
"Please, My Lord, the anger is not necessary," Kaelen said, his voice trembling slightly.
"My companion fought bravely. I am but a humble servant who got lucky. I will gladly take the storage room in her place if you allow it. A hard floor is, in any case, far more than a commoner like me deserves, My Lord."
The noble was surprised by Kaelen’s immediate submission before letting out a mocking laugh.
"Hahahaha! At least one of you knows his place. Hand him the key, warden," the noble said.
The warden handed the key to the noble, then tossed a heavy, rusted iron key toward Kaelen.
"The storage room is all the way at the end of the West wing," the warden said coldly.
"And do not forget, do not wander the corridors after the authorized hours."
As Kaelen caught the rusty key, a cold smile played at the corner of his lips, hidden by his messy hair. He had memorized the layout of the wing the moment they entered. The storage room was not a simple closet; it shared an ancient, thin, hollow stone wall directly with Room 1, the master suite assigned to the first of the race.
Tsubaki-iwanome.
Midnight struck. The deep, resonant chime of the Academy’s great bell echoed through the dark corridors, signaling the start of the strict curfew.
Inside the narrow, dusty storage room, Kaelen was sitting cross-legged on a pile of old burlap sacks. The room was freezing, but his mind was entirely focused on the glowing holographic interface hovering in the darkness before his eyes.
[ WARNING : Time remaining before sunrise: 05 hours, 42 minutes. ]
[ Current Target: Tsubaki-iwanome. ]
[ Mission: Steal the fragment of the magical relic. ]
[ Penalty in case of failure: Death. ]
Kaelen closed his eyes, extending his senses through the thin stone wall behind him.
He could hear the slow, rhythmic breathing of Tsubaki. The swordsman was asleep, but his breathing was too controlled, too precise. He was a trained killer; his subconscious remained alert to the slightest physical noise, the smallest movement of air, or the tiniest squeak of the floorboards.
Sering in physically through the door was suicide.
"I must go through the shadow," Kaelen decided.
He took a deep breath, concentrating his mana.
[ System. Activate Shadow Phase. Consumption: 15 Raw Energy. ]
Kaelen’s physical body did not move, but his consciousness slipped entirely into his shadow. Like a pool of spilled ink, his dark form glided silently along the floor, passing beneath the crack of the stone wall to penetrate the luxurious suite of Tsubaki.
The bedroom was bathed in the pale light of the moon. Tsubaki was lying on the massive canopy bed. His silver hair was spread across the pillow, and his hand rested lightly on the pommel of his silver sword, which lay bare on his chest. Even in his sleep, he was ready to strike at any moment.
Kaelen’s shadow glided silently across the floor, avoiding the bed. His eyes locked onto the nightstand.
There, resting on a velvet cloth, was the eye-shaped pendant. Up close, its violet pulse was intoxicating, radiating a cold, ancient power that made Kaelen’s shadow-form vibrate with a dangerous resonance.
Slowly, Kaelen stretched out a hand made of pure, dark mist. His fingers hovered just millimeters away from the relic.
He braced himself, ready to grab it and slip back into the wall.
But at the exact fraction of a second his shadow-flesh made contact with the cold stone of the pendant, a violent jolt of static magic surged through him.
"Gling!"
A silent, mental alarm shattered the quiet of the room. The carved eye of the black pendant snapped open, its pupil taking on a brilliant, burning violet hue that illuminated the entire bedroom.
At the exact same millisecond, Tsubaki’s silver eyes flew wide open.
Without a sound, his hand gripped the hilt of his sword, and a flash of silver steel sliced through the darkness, aiming straight at the heart of Kaelen’s shadow.
The silver blade split the black mist. It didn’t spill any physical blood, but a bright, burning color reverberated directly into the real body of Kaelen sitting in the storage room, drawing a gasp from her.
In the darkness, Tsubaki’s eyes narrowed, including a blinding silver light to disintegrate the shadow, the system’s red interface flashed frantically in kaelen’s mink.
[ ALERT: Destabilization of the shadow form.]
[Forced recall initiated in 3...2...1.]
In a violent mental jolt, Kaelen’s shadow was thrown back through the wall, taking refuge in the darkness.
Back in the freezing storage room, Kaelen suddenly opens her eyes. He coughed, a thin trickle of dark blood escaping from his lips. He looked down at her trembling Hand. He had failed to steal the eye-shaped pendant, but clutched in his fist was a broken silver chain swaying with a faint residual purple glow.
On the other side of the world’s stone wall, Tsubaki’s slow, heavy and deliberate steps were heading straight for the door of the storage room.