CHAPTER 169: THE DRAGON FLAME’S PROPOSITION

Sun’s scowl deepened as another beast closed in. He pivoted, his blades whirling in tandem to sever its neck. Black vapor curled around his arms, but his movements stayed precise.

"I’m saving it. For the one that matters." His voice was clipped, hard. His gaze flicked past Byun, lingering on the towering silhouette of the Shadow General.

There was something in that look. Something too sharp, too measured.

Byun, drenched in sweat, nodded without hesitation. "Fair enough. Makes sense." He turned back to his shadows, throwing himself deeper into the horde.

But Jae noticed. Even as he squared his stance before the General, his smirk thinning into something colder, he caught Sun’s eyes. The way they lingered too long. The way his words didn’t quite carry the heat of resolve, but something heavier.

Suspicion burned at the back of Jae’s mind. The thought whispered like a serpent. Did Sun actually want the shadow army to win?

xxx

The clash of spells and steel in the academy grounds shuddered to a sudden halt.

A ripple tore through the air, coiling outward from the Cult Master as his shadow swelled. Tendrils of darkness erupted around the courtyard, linking together until they formed a seamless wall. The barrier locked into place with a thunderous pulse, cutting Jae off from the rest of his classmates.

Byun hammered against it immediately, his shadows twisting like spears. They struck the wall, only to sink in and vanish without a trace. Elise pressed her palms against the surface, light flaring around her hands, but it flickered weakly and died. On the other side, Jae caught her wide-eyed stare.

"Jae!" Her voice cracked, muffled through the wall.

He gave a tight smirk, lifting his hand in a calm gesture. "I’ll manage. Stay back."

Then he turned to face the one waiting for him.

The Cult Master’s figure was almost unrecognizable, his body drowned in shifting black fire. What had once been flesh was now a vessel. In his hands burned a weapon that mirrored Jae’s own blade—only its flame was sickly and black, shadow licking its edges like tar.

The sight of it sparked heat in Jae’s chest. His Dragonfire Blade flared to life, seething golden-red, its weightless edge humming with restrained force.

For a moment, there was only silence. The two stood across the courtyard, their flames burning in opposite hues.

Then the Cult Master moved.

He launched forward, his corrupted blade cutting the air with terrifying precision. Jae twisted and parried, sparks scattering as fire struck shadowfire. The clash rattled the courtyard stones.

The enemy pressed hard, each strike a reflection of Jae’s own style but sharpened, crueler. Where Jae’s blade left heat in its wake, the Cult Master’s left trails of withering frost, a cold that gnawed into the stone.

Their blades collided again, and Jae pushed forward, only for an invisible force to slam him downward. The courtyard cracked under the sudden weight. His knees buckled, breath strained, as the Cult Master’s corrupted gravity bore down.

Jae’s eyes narrowed. Heat burned across his body, searing against the pressure until the stone beneath him began to melt. With a grunt, he forced himself upright, dragging his blade upward to meet the shadowfire slash screaming toward him.

The impact cracked the air like thunder. The Cult Master barely staggered, but Jae’s arm jolted numb.

He pressed forward again, his blade carving arcs of golden fire through the air. Each swing was faster, harder, desperate to push past the suffocating pressure. But every strike met its twin in shadow, mirrored almost mockingly.

A sudden flare of movement—phantom arms burst from the Cult Master’s body, each formed of condensed shadow. They lashed at Jae, claws raking through the air. Jae leapt back, fire sparking beneath his steps as smoke trailed behind him. One claw caught his shoulder before he cleared the range. Pain lanced through him, the wound sizzling under corrupt flame.

The Cult Master tilted his head, his grin distorted by the shadows crawling across his face. "Every flame you raise, I will smother. Every strike, I will turn against you."

Jae’s smirk flickered, sharp even through his ragged breathing. "You talk too much."

He darted forward, his blade a streak of light as he drove it toward the enemy’s chest. For a moment, his fire pierced through, the golden glow consuming the black. But then the Cult Master’s free hand crushed downward again, gravity tripling, pressing Jae to the ground.

Stone cracked under him. His blade trembled in his hands.

And for the first time, doubt pricked at the edge of his mind.

The corrupted blade rose for the final strike.

But the world around him melted.

The courtyard dissolved into ash, the barrier into smoke. In its place stretched a vast wasteland, skies burning red, towers collapsing into seas of shadow. The air was heavy with ruin, as if the whole world had already fallen.

And in the center of it all, wings spread wide, stood the Dragon Spirit. Its scales glimmered faintly gold, though cracked and scorched, its body immense even within the mindscape.

Jae froze. His grip on the blade tightened, breath caught in his chest. "...What the hell?"

The dragon’s molten eyes burned into him. Its voice was not sound but resonance, filling his skull with each word.

"You falter. And if you fall here, this world will follow."

Images seared across Jae’s mind—Elise reaching for him through the barrier before shadows swallowed her whole, Byun lying broken on the ground, the academy drowned in endless dark.

His throat went dry. "You’re in my head...? No. You’re..." He looked at the Dragonfire Blade in his hand, its glow faint in comparison to the beast before him. "...You’ve been in here all along."

The dragon stepped closer, the ground trembling with its weight.

"I am the spirit bound to your flame. My power slumbers within you. But as you are, you cannot overcome him. He mirrors your strength, twists it against you. Alone, you will fall."

Jae’s chest tightened. "Then what? You want me to... what, unleash you? Hand myself over?"

The dragon lowered its massive head, heat radiating like a furnace.

"Not hand over. Merge. Flesh and spirit. Two flames as one."