The frost wave surged toward Lauri.
It wasn't violent.
It wasn't angry.
It moved with the cold certainty of a royal decree—inevitable, polite, and merciless.
Mei stepped in front of him and shattered the frost mid-air with a burst of jade fire.
"Back off."
Her voice wasn't loud.
It didn't have to be.
Prince Xier paused.
For the first time, a crack formed in the measured cadence of his breath.
"You defy a royal claim."
Mei's aura flared, lighting the hall in jade-green crescents.
"I defy nonsense."
Yanmei stepped beside her, broken sword raised.
"The Pavilion stands with him."
Elder Yao murmured anxiously,
"Master… this is becoming rebellion—"
But the Pavilion Master did not move.
Their eyes were fixed on Lauri's chest, on the black thread pulsing faintly beneath the frost scars.
"The Devourer's mark…" they whispered.
A tremor shook the air.
Not from Lauri.
Not from the prince.
From outside.
The entire Pavilion vibrated—rooftops rattling, frost lanterns swaying, snow powder falling like dust onto the stone floors. Disciples stumbled, bracing themselves against pillars.
Yanmei's expression sharpened instantly.
"That's not a reaction to the royal decree."
Mei grabbed Lauri's arm, instincts blazing.
"It felt him. The enemy felt him."
Prince Xier's aura tightened.
"That's impossible. The Pavilion's outer barriers—"
A BOOM split the sky.
Outside, light burst against the pavilion walls—
not white
not jade
not frost
but black.
A claw of shadow raked across the main barrier, cutting through it like fingers through wet paper.
Another BOOM.
And another.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the dome protecting the sect.
Mei's face drained of color.
"It's here already—? No, it shouldn't be able to cross multiple realms so quickly—!"
The Pavilion Master raised their sleeves, frost spiraling upward to reinforce the dome.
"Prepare yourselves! The Devourer is testing our wards!"
Yanmei shouted toward the hall's entrance:
"Disciples! Battle posts—NOW!"
A thunderous chorus of "YES, MASTER!" echoed through the mountain corridors.
Prince Xier took a single step back, cloak fluttering in the rising storm of qi.
"This is no longer a matter of sect or throne. This enemy… breaches the very laws of our realm."
Another claw strike.
This one stronger.
The light inside the hall flickered.
Mei pulled Lauri close, her eyes wide with fear she tried — and failed — to hide.
"We can't let it inside," she whispered.
"If the Devourer enters the Pavilion, it will consume every soul‑thread here. It doesn't fight. It feeds."
Lauri swallowed hard.
The black thread in his chest pulsed faster.
Harder.
Like a beacon.
Like a call.
He pressed a hand over his sternum. "It's reacting to me…"
Prince Xier's eyes narrowed behind the jade mask.
"Then you must be removed. Now. If we distance you from the Pavilion, the beast will follow you instead."
Mei spun around.
"No. That is suicide."
Yanmei glared at the prince.
"Send him out alone and he dies within six breaths."
The prince responded coldly:
"Send him out with company and more will die. Your sect cannot house him."
The Pavilion Master lifted a hand.
Silence fell.
"Prince Xier," they said slowly, "you assume the enemy wishes to claim him."
"Does it not?" the prince countered.
The Master's gaze drifted to Lauri.
"No. It does not want to claim him."
They paused.
"It wants to complete him."
A silence so deep it felt like drowning filled the hall.
Mei grabbed Lauri's hand, nails digging into his skin.
Yanmei's eyes widened with something that looked disturbingly like dread.
Prince Xier stiffened.
"Complete him? Explain."
The Master did not answer.
Instead, they walked to the center of the hall and activated the Pavilion's hidden array.
A surge of frost-light erupted across the floor, revealing a swirling map of qi currents, realm-lines, and soul-thread trajectories.
At the center of the map
—an outline of a human figure—
was Lauri.
Half white.
Half… black.
The black portion pulsed.
The Pavilion Master's voice was quiet.
"Lauri Kallio contains a dormant aspect of the Devourer.
Not infection.
Not possession.
Heritage."
Mei trembled.
"No…"
Yanmei whispered, "So the sovereign told the truth…"
Prince Xier exhaled sharply.
"This is worse than we feared."
Then—
BOOOOM.
The Pavilion barrier shattered.
A screech roared across the mountain—
cold
hungry
triumphant.
The Devourer had arrived.
Disciples screamed.
Lanterns burst.
The sky above turned black, as if the stars themselves fled.
The creature descended—
a mass of shadow and fractured reality, limbs shifting between forms, eyes like inverted constellations.
It didn't look at the Pavilion.
It didn't look at the disciples.
It didn't look at the prince.
It looked
directly
at Lauri.
Mei stepped between them.
Yanmei raised her broken blade.
Prince Xier summoned frost spears.
The Pavilion Master lifted their hands, summoning a blizzard.
The Devourer extended one hand—
not to attack
but to reach.
A voice spoke inside Lauri's mind.
Not loud.
Not violent.
Soft.
"Come home."
Lauri gasped, knees buckling.
Mei screamed his name.
Yanmei lunged forward.
Prince Xier moved to intercept.
But it was too late—
The Devourer's shadow touched Lauri's chest.
And the world
blinked
out.