CHAPTER 167: YOU’LL ONLY STAY IN MY WAY

Sun stiffened. His lips curled into something caught between a sneer and disbelief. "You think yourself stronger than Principal Kine?"

Jae didn’t answer. His silence was louder than words. His eyes burned toward the enemy.

The air thickened between them, two wills colliding in silence, heavy enough to bow those nearby. Then another voice cut clean through the weight.

"He’s right."

Byun stepped forward, his own mana surging. "We don’t have time to argue. Jae’s power is different from ours. If he believes he can fight, then we should let him."

Elise followed, her mana flaring bright. Small spheres of light spun into orbit around her hands, each one pulsing like a star in miniature.

The glow they cast pushed back the encroaching darkness, burning away the haze. Her voice was steady, her eyes unyielding.

"If you want to protect the academy, then fight. But don’t waste time blocking the one person who’s ready to face that thing."

Sun’s jaw locked, his fists trembling at his sides. He had no retort that wouldn’t reveal too much.

Jae raised his blade at last. The Dragonfire flared brighter, crimson fire roaring outward along its edge. The heat steadied him, filled him, demanded he act.

His gaze fixed upon the Shadow General, now tearing through another line of defenders. Each step of the monstrous figure cracked stone, shadows flaring like storm winds, yet Jae did not flinch.

"Stay if you want," Jae said calmly. "But I’m not letting this place fall."

Byun moved to his right, obsidian cleaver gleaming in the firelight. Elise to his left, her orbs spinning faster, brighter. Neither hesitated. Together, the three advanced.

Behind them, Sun remained rooted in place. His face twisted, anger warring with calculation, frustration tangled with something colder, darker. He did not follow.

The Shadow General noticed. It stilled mid-motion, its blazing sigil-eyes focusing on the three who dared. The shadows thickened around its frame, coiling tighter, as if the great being itself found amusement in their defiance.

"Who among you will stand?" the General’s voice rumbled, deep and layered, a chorus of thunder rolling from the heart of a mountain.

Jae didn’t answer with words. He raised his blade. The fire flared, painting his face crimson, the light mirrored in his steady eyes.

xxx

The ground trembled beneath their feet as another wave of shadowspawn spilled from the rift. Clawed beasts skittered across the cobblestones, red eyes glowing in the dark like embers scattered across night.

They moved in jerks and spasms, too fast for their size, bodies half-formed from mist and claw, limbs sprouting and reshaping with every lunge.

At the center of it all stood the Shadow General. Towering over the chaos in its monstrous vessel, it was a mockery of a human frame stretched too far, plated in armor that dripped shadow like tar.

Its presence alone weighed down on the defenders, pressing over them like a suffocating fog. Breathing felt harder the closer one drew. Standing against it felt like trying to face a collapsing mountain.

Jae narrowed his eyes. The Dragonfire Blade hummed faintly at his side, restless, eager. Sparks crawled along its edge as though the weapon itself was impatient for blood.

The academy bell tolled again, the iron clang rolling across the grounds. Yet the sound, meant to call courage, was lost beneath the shrieks of shadow beasts.

The battlefield stank of blood and burnt mana, smoke curling across the courtyard where wards had failed.

Byun’s shadows surged outward, thick tendrils lashing and coiling as they seized a lunging pack of beasts before they could reach the students’ line.

The creatures writhed against the bindings, snarling and snapping, until the shadows tightened and tore them apart. Elise stood slightly behind him, hands glowing faint with pale light as her eyes scanned for the wounded.

Already a pair of students clutched their sides, bleeding and staggering; she was moving toward them before they fell.

Sun had surged ahead, his twin swords gleaming with precision. Each slash cut down stragglers cleanly, his movements fluid, efficient, never wasted.

He fought like someone carving through weeds, not enemies, calculated, clinical. The shadows fell under his blades, but his focus never drifted toward the towering figure at the courtyard’s center.

The surge was endless. Every time a creature burst into vapor, two more crawled from the black haze, claws scrabbling on stone.

The rift pulsed as though it breathed, each contraction spitting out another abomination. The defenders were slowing. Wards faltered. The air itself grew heavier.

Jae stepped forward, the Dragonfire Blade flaring to life in his grip. Crimson fire coursed along its edge, spilling heat into the night air.

"Elise. Byun." His voice cut across the chaos like steel on glass. "Clear the smaller ones. Leave this thing to me."

Elise’s head snapped toward him, her eyes wide. Sweat plastered strands of hair against her cheeks, but her hands didn’t waver. "Alone? Jae, that thing isn’t like the others. You can’t..."

"I can." His tone cut sharper than her protest. His lips curled into a smirk, small and almost careless, but his eyes stayed hard, unwavering. "Go. You’ll just get in my way if you stay."

Byun’s shadows twitched as though mirroring his hesitation. His gaze lingered on Jae, a mix of doubt and recognition. "You sure? Because it doesn’t exactly look like something you handle on your own."

Jae tilted his head, brushing his free hand absently through his blond hair. The gesture was light, but the grip on his weapon tightened with silent intent. "I’ll live. Now move before the academy gets buried."

The smile he wore wasn’t reassuring, but it was enough. Elise bit her lip, torn between instinct and trust. Byun gave him a look that was half faith, half challenge, then both turned away to rejoin the fight.

That left Jae standing alone before the Shadow General.

The monster’s burning sigil-eyes locked on him, their red glow pulsing like a heartbeat.

[System Alert: High-Rank Entity Detected – Shadow General]

The vessel’s body rippled, its mass shifting like smoke trying to remember shape. The blend of humanoid form and writhing claws made it hard to tell where armor ended and shadow began.

When it moved, the air itself bent, trembling in distorted waves.

Jae’s grip tightened on the Dragonfire Blade. The fire along the edge flared brighter, smoke curling upward in steady streams. His pulse hammered in rhythm with the hum of his weapon.

Behind him, the battlefield erupted in violence.