CHAPTER 172: AFTERMATH

The shadow sank into him like molten iron poured into his veins. It seared every nerve, every fiber of muscle, every inch of flesh.

Jae’s back arched as the force hit him, his mouth opening in a scream that ripped raw from his throat. His body convulsed violently, seizing as the darkness burrowed deeper, spreading with unstoppable hunger.

The General’s voice filled his mind again, louder than before. Not a whisper now, but a triumphant roar that rattled his skull.

Yes. Vessel. You cannot fight me here.

The words hammered against his thoughts, threatening to break them apart. His vision swam, drowned in black.

For a heartbeat, he felt his will slipping, his fire flickering, smothered beneath the flood of shadow pouring through him.

But Jae clenched his teeth, forcing sound through pain-wracked breath. "I... won’t... be... yours."

Flames burst outward from his core, golden fire searing the black veins crawling across his skin. The heat lanced through him, light erupting in jagged cracks that tore across his body.

The essence didn’t vanish under the blaze, it fought, clawed, refused. Fire and shadow tangled inside him, two storms colliding in a single vessel, each trying to dominate, each refusing to surrender.

The war raged within. His body became the battlefield. Every second stretched to eternity. His chest split with pain so sharp it threatened to tear him apart.

On his skin, the conflict showed in blazing fissures. Glowing cracks split across his arms, his chest, even his face, lines of light burning outward as though his body could no longer contain the struggle raging inside.

Smoke rose from him in sharp trails. His screams broke into hoarse gasps, each one forcing more fire to the surface.

The courtyard quaked around him. Stone shuddered, broken earth collapsing into fresh fractures.

The shadowspawn that remained shrieked as their bodies unraveled, their shapes collapsing into formless black wisps.

Without the General’s essence to anchor them, they dissolved, undone by the tide of power writhing inside Jae.

Above, the night sky itself rippled. Darkness bent, pulled inward, streams of shadow dragged toward the storm of fire and black energy raging in his body.

The last traces of the General’s form, fragments still lingering, were wrenched into him, swallowed whole as the blaze consumed and bound them.

And then, silence.

The shadows fell still. The voice that had filled his head went quiet, fading like smoke caught in wind.

There was no roar, no hiss, no whisper. Only emptiness where the weight of the General had been.

Jae staggered. His knees shook. His breaths came shallow, every inhale scraping his chest like sandpaper. The fissures across his skin still glowed faintly, golden cracks pulsing with light that spilled out with every breath.

The smell of charred air clung heavy around him, and faint trails of smoke lifted from his body.

The fire dimmed slowly, embers sinking beneath his skin until they were only faint traces, glimmers under flesh. His strength gave out. His legs buckled.

He collapsed, the world going dark before he hit the stone.

xxxx

The courtyard battle was finished, but its cost stretched like a wound across the entire academy.

Stone walls that had once framed the heart of the grounds now lay toppled in jagged heaps, their carved symbols of scholarship cracked beyond recognition.

The air stank of soot and scorched wood, and every gust of wind stirred up dust that clung to raw throats and stinging eyes. Classrooms that had stood proud a few hours ago were open to the night air, their walls caved in, their books charred husks.

The faint glow of lingering embers lit the corners of collapsed roofs, giving the ruins the look of a city smoldering after siege.

The protective wards, old enchantments laid by generations of headmasters, had been meant to safeguard the academy against any disaster.

But even their ancient strength had faltered against the Shadow General’s corruption. In their place, long cracks of dead mana spread like black scars across the ground, veins of unnatural emptiness where no spell would hold.

Anyone who drew near those fissures felt it in their bones: a cold, hollow pull that stripped away warmth and made the soul ache.

Amid the wreckage, the survivors struggled to gather themselves. Students staggered from the courtyard in groups, their robes torn, faces gray with ash.

Some clutched broken arms or shoulders held stiff against cracked ribs.

Others leaned on friends, limping along with their heads down, trying not to see the bodies being carried past them under sheets of white cloth.

The academy guards had rushed in the moment the shadow barrier fell. Their armor was dented and scorched, but their discipline held.

They moved in squads, clearing rubble, steadying walls that threatened to collapse, and hauling both the injured and the dead out of the open.

Orders were barked, ropes pulled, litters passed along. Yet no amount of order could disguise what the academy now resembled.

It was no longer a place of learning. It was a war camp, the courtyard its battlefield, and every wounded student or teacher its casualty.

And at the center of it all was Jae.

His body was carried carefully on a stretcher, four guards holding the poles steady as though afraid the weight might break him further.

Even unconscious, he looked unnatural. Golden cracks still glowed faintly across his skin, as though light itself had seared its way out of his veins and refused to fully dim. Every breath he took shuddered through him, ragged but steady.

The students whispered as the stretcher passed. Awe hung in their voices, but so did fear. They had seen him unleash fire greater than anything taught in their classrooms.

They had seen him consume the Shadow General’s essence, something no mortal should have been able to do and still remain himself.

None of them were certain whether to treat him as their savior or something far more dangerous.

The infirmary had been overwhelmed long before Jae was brought in. Its long hall was filled wall to wall with beds, each one occupied.