Volume 2, Chapter 46: The Parasite and the Spire
The Anito Academy's Central Pagoda smelled like old paper and lemon-scented floor wax.
A group of Federation officials in sharp gray suits stood in the main lobby. They looked angry, clutching data pads and demanding answers. They wanted to know why a twenty-year-old student possessed a soul spirit that could freeze a city block. They wanted to run tests.
Mu En sat in his wooden wheelchair at the center of the hall. The Dean of the Academy looked incredibly frail, like a strong breeze might knock him over. He took a slow sip of his jasmine tea.
"The boy's cultivation is a matter for the Hall of the Phoenix," Mu En said. His voice was quiet, but it carried a strange resonance. The Radiant Holy Dragon didn't need to shout to fill a room. "At Anito Academy, a student's soul is their own sanctuary. We do not pry, and we certainly do not hand them over to politicians because you got scared of a little ice."
"Dean Mu, the Federation—" the lead official started.
"The Federation is a guest in this Hall," Mu En interrupted, setting his teacup down. It made a sharp, final clack against the saucer. "Good day, gentlemen."
Yuhao watched the exchange from the second-floor balcony. He felt a weird mix of relief and exhaustion. He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to massage a knot out of the muscle. His body was still heavy from the Titan's bloodline, and standing still actually hurt more than moving.
Ma Xiaotao leaned over the railing next to him. She bumped her shoulder against his. Even though she was the same age as him, Bei Bei, and Tang Ya, she always carried herself like she owned the building.
"Ultimate Ice," Xiaotao said, her red hair tied back in a messy ponytail. "You didn't just show off, Yuhao. You almost gave my Phoenix a cold from across the arena."
"I was aiming for the Sun Moon team," Yuhao said defensively.
"Sure you were." She grinned, a spark of real fire flashing in her eyes. "Next time we spar, I'm not holding back. Let's see if your big ape can handle a real burn."
Behind them, Tang Ya was weaving a strand of Blue Silver Grass around Yuhao's damp sleeve. The Baybayin marking ᜉ (Pa) glowed faintly on the back of her hand. A warm, radiant pulse flowed through the vine, pulling the lingering frost out of the fabric and purifying it into harmless vapor.
Bei Bei stood a few feet away, entirely ignoring the conversation. He was staring at a blank wall, tracing the sharp, angular motions of a Gunting strike with his bare hands. He was visualizing the next match.
Down the hall, a loud crash echoed from the Combat Department's training rooms. Xu Sanshi was yelling something about an illegal Dumog throw, followed by Jiang Nannan shouting that he just had terrible balance. It was loud, chaotic, and completely normal.
"Alright, break it up."
Professor Lakas walked down the corridor. He looked worse for wear. He was holding a crushed paper cup of coffee and his tie was undone. He looked like a man who had spent the last three hours arguing with brick walls.
"Bureaucracy is the real enemy of the people," Lakas muttered, tossing the empty cup into a nearby bin. He looked at Yuhao. "The paperwork to classify your new 'pet' as a legal combat asset is going to take a year. Come with me. You and I need to talk before the finals."
Lakas didn't take him to an office. He took him to the roof.
The elevator ride to the top of the Phoenix Pagoda took two full minutes. When the doors opened, the wind hit Yuhao like a physical wall. The sky over the Capital was turning a bruised, deep purple.
Below them, the sprawling complex of the Anito Academy hummed with life. Yuhao could see the massive, glowing exhaust vents of the Phoenix Forge. Even from up here, he could hear Xian Lin'er, the High Architect, screaming at Yan Shaozhe. Lin'er was arguing that a new Crystalline Circuit could handle a ten-times overdrive, while Shaozhe was loudly protesting that the human vessel would turn into soup at that speed.
Lakas walked to the edge of the roof and leaned against the cold metal railing.
"I don't like heights," Ah Tai grumbled in the back of Yuhao's mind. The Titan was curled up in a corner of the All-Seeing Library, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "Mountains are fine. They have dirt. This is just a metal stick pointing at the sky. It lacks dignity."
Deal with it, Yuhao thought back, walking up to stand next to Lakas.
"Chen Feng is hiding," Lakas said, looking out at the city lights. "The Hall of Shadow has trackers out, but Long Xiaoyao's people keep losing the trail near the old Slaughter City dimension. It makes sense. That place is a dead zone. The perfect spot for a parasite to grow."
"You said his power is eating the world," Yuhao said. He leaned his forearms on the railing. The metal was cold, but compared to his own core temperature, it felt like nothing. "How? I saw the stats he pulls up. It looks like it just gathers loose energy."
"That's the lie," Lakas said. He turned his head to look at Yuhao. "Think about the Law of Resonance. Everything vibrates. Everything sings. Even the dirt, the trees, and the people who don't have martial souls. They produce a background hum. It's what keeps the planet alive."
Lakas tapped a finger against his own chest.
"The world thinks humans are inefficient. It sees all that background noise and thinks it's wasted energy. So, it gave Chen Feng a tool to harvest it. The power doesn't generate itself, Yuhao. It steals the quiet between the notes. It rips out the foundation to build a taller tower."
Yuhao thought about the news reports. The empty, catatonic villagers. They hadn't been killed. They had just been unplugged.
"If he wins tomorrow," Lakas continued, "the power will reach a critical mass. It will lock its roots into the planet's core. The Federation, the Sun Moon tech, the Spirit Mechas… none of it will matter. The world won't end in fire. It will just stop vibrating. A permanent, gray pause."
"So I hit him harder," Yuhao said. "Ah Tai's strength, the Spirit Eyes, the Life Guardian Blade. I have the tools."
"You can't punch a vacuum, kid," Lakas said, shaking his head. "If you hit him with the Titan's absolute zero, the power will just absorb the kinetic shock and convert it into more grey decay. If you use raw power, you're just feeding him."
Lakas reached out and grabbed Yuhao's wrist.
His grip was terrifyingly strong. For a split second, Yuhao felt the sheer, crushing weight of a Level 99 mortal shell. Lakas wasn't using godhood; he was just using a perfectly tuned, flawless human vessel. It was like being clamped in a steel vise.
"You don't fight a parasite by cutting the body it's feeding on," Lakas said softly. "You fight it by making the body reject it."
Lakas let go of his wrist. He held his hand flat in the air.
Soul power began to gather at his fingertips. It wasn't violent or flashy. It was a warm, earthy brown, glowing with a steady, beating rhythm. He traced a new symbol in the cold wind. It had a curved base and a sweeping, upward stroke.
ᜋ (Ma).
"This is Muling-sumibol," Lakas explained, his eyes reflecting the brown light. "It means to sprout again. To restore. It is the Baybayin of returning to the origin."
Yuhao stared at the glowing symbol. His Spirit Eyes recorded every microscopic fluctuation in the energy. "Fascinating," Electrolux murmured from within the Life Guardian Blade. "It is not a spell of healing. It is a spell of memory. It reminds the damaged tissue what it used to be."
"Exactly," Lakas said, though he couldn't hear the Necromancer. "Chen Feng's power severs the connection between a soul and the world. This marking forces the connection back open. Tomorrow, when you face him, he's going to try and pull you into his Void. He's going to try and silence you."
Lakas pushed the glowing marking forward. It sank into Yuhao's chest, right over his heart.
The feeling was entirely different from the heavy, frozen weight of Ah Tai or the sharp, clinical presence of Electrolux. It felt like waking up from a long nap. It felt like taking a deep breath of clean air after a rainstorm. The Crystalline Vessel inside Yuhao hummed in agreement, locking the marking into his core.
"Don't attack his armor," Lakas ordered. "Don't try to break his shield. Use the Life Guardian Blade. Focus the Ma marking into the edge. When you strike him, you aren't trying to cut his flesh. You are trying to cut the tether between him and his power."
Yuhao nodded slowly. The task was massive. He was basically being asked to perform metaphysical surgery on a moving target who wanted to kill him.
"And what if it doesn't work?" Yuhao asked.
Lakas smiled. It was a cynical, tired smile, but there was a spark of real danger behind it.
"If it doesn't work, then you hit him really, really hard with the giant ice ape," Lakas said. "And I'll step in and handle the paperwork."
Lakas turned and walked toward the elevator. "Get some sleep, Yuhao. Tomorrow, the whole Federation is going to be watching. Let's make sure they see something worth remembering."
Yuhao stayed on the roof a little longer. He watched the lights of the Capital flicker against the dark horizon. He felt the green blade hanging at his waist. He felt the Titan grumbling about the cold wind.
He was ready.
End of Volume 2, Chapter 46