Rian's true name echoed over the burning ruins of Astrea Academy's courtyard, sliced apart by howling magical storm winds laden with ash and embers. The leader of the dark sect—his face now exposed with a horrific burn scar—stared at Rian with a savage expression wrapped in profound shock. The past he had thought safely buried beneath the rubble of Oakhaven Village ten years ago now stood before him in the form of an eleven-year-old boy wielding absolute mastery over primordial darkness.

"So, you're the stray piece of garbage that managed to slither away from the massacre that night," the sect leader hissed, a grotesque smirk stretching across his dry lips as he raised his scythe-staff high. "Perfect! Today, I'll finish off your cursed bloodline with my own hands and complete the ritual for our sect's resurrection!"

Swish!

A brutal clash erupted in a fraction of a second. The sect leader leaped forward with blinding velocity, driving his venomous scythe toward Rian. The collision of black mana waves and death-aspected energy triggered a shockwave that shattered the surrounding marble flooring into a million jagged pieces. Rian didn't retreat an inch; he met the strike with a sweeping arc of pure shadow-forged blade that shrieked loudly, spawning blinding magical sparks across the dark capital sky.

Across the courtyard, the defensive line holding the students and academy knights was teetering on the edge of total collapse. A wave of Abyssal Beasts and dark sect mercenaries pushed the final barricades backward. Several knights fell instantly, while terrified students trapped themselves in the corners of burning buildings.

"Protect the students! Do not let them breach the basement evacuation route!" Professor Vane screamed hoarsely.

The wild-haired, elderly man stood on the front lines, swinging his ancient staff to summon a protective barrier of blue flame that held back the surging pack of monsters. Though advanced in age and lacking the brute physical prowess of front-line mercenaries, Professor Vane’s deep mastery of ancient magic deflected incoming enemy strikes with precise grace.

Yet, there were simply too many. From behind a thick billow of black smoke, a high-ranking dark sect commander—a massive brute wielding a curse-imbued battleaxe—broke through a weak point in the defense.

"Old fossil, time to die!" the hulking brute roared, swinging his massive axe with maximum force straight toward the exhausted Professor Vane.

Professor Vane lifted his staff to parry, but the concussive kinetic weight was overwhelming.

Boom!

The old wizard's barrier shattered into dust. The cursed battleaxe slammed squarely into Professor Vane's chest, tearing through his gray robes and flinging his aging frame backward to crash hard against a pool of blood near the shattered fountain ruins.

"Professor!" several nearby students screamed in absolute hysteria.

Rian, locked in fierce combat with the sect leader at the center of the plaza, felt an unnatural jolt ripple through his meridian pathways. His eyes flicked toward the fallen Professor Vane. He watched the old man hack up fresh crimson, his breathing ragged while corrosive black smoke poured from the wound on his chest, devouring his vitality at an alarming speed.

Disregarding the sect leader's incoming scythe slash, Rian blurred backward using a burst of Shadow Step, abandoning his opponent mid-swing and streaking like lightning toward the dying professor.

He dropped to his knees beside him, lifting the old man's head onto his lap.

"Professor..." Rian's voice, usually flat and icy, carried a faint tremor, laden with raw emotion he had spent a lifetime keeping locked away.

Professor Vane smiled weakly. Fresh blood leaked from the corner of his lips, but his eyes behind thick lenses gazed up at Rian with the profound warmth of a mentor proud of his pupil.

"Rian... you foolish boy..." Professor Vane whispered, his breath catching as he raised a blood-soaked hand with great effort. He clutched a small, crystal-clear blue mana core radiating ancient holy light—a secret artifact he had safeguarded within his robes all these years. "Take this... the pure circulation manuscripts and core relics of the pre-realm era... Take them... let them be your key to destroying these monsters..."

Rian accepted the crystal core with trembling hands. The moment the relic brushed his palm, a wave of warm, pure energy fused seamlessly with his shadow mana, laying an immense burden of responsibility upon his soul.

"I don't need this to kill them, Professor. Just hold on," Rian muttered, desperately channeling his cellular regeneration magic into the old man's body.

But Professor Vane slowly shook his head. The smile on his face faded into a final, profound peace.

"My time... is up, boy... Don't let the darkness swallow your soul whole... Be the judge... who brings true justice..."

Professor Vane’s hand, resting against Rian's, slipped limp and fell to the ground. His final breath faded away, leaving an absolute stillness amid the roaring chaos of the burning battlefield.

The world around Rian seemed to freeze in place.

Losing those dear to him in his first life had taught him bitter grief; but losing a mentor who truly understood the secrets of his soul in this second life ignited something infinitely darker and more destructive. Deep within Rian's chest, the final mental seal holding back the absolute core of the forbidden grimoire shattered completely, leaving not a single thread behind.

Rian slowly lowered Professor Vane's body to the earth. He rose to his feet in a slow, deliberate motion.

He tilted his head back toward the capital sky, now choked by a violent storm of black lightning. The entirety of his shadow energy surged outward in a wild, unbridled explosion, generating a crushing wave of gravity that flattened every remaining structural ruin within a hundred-meter radius.

He parted his lips and unleashed a roar of pure, unadulterated fury that shook the heavens, piercing dimensional boundaries and rattling the soul of every living creature in the vicinity.

The chain reaction of that roar summoned a massive vortex of shadow energy. Thousands of dark tendrils harvested the ambient mana particles in the air, spinning violently behind Rian's back before finally condensing and spreading wide to manifest a pair of colossal, obsidian energy wings blazing fiercely amidst the academy's sea of fire.