The Academy's halls hummed with layered energy — like every step Rei took disturbed not just space, but time.
He felt like he was being watched. Not by eyes. By concepts.
Classrooms floated in midair.Stairs shifted when unobserved.Students whispered in tongues only half-existent.A boy passed him with a second mouth blinking open in his palm.
Caelira guided them deeper through the Cortex Halls — the living heart of the Academy.
She didn't stop walking as she spoke.
"Your bond with the Smiling Shadow is unstable. You may believe you're in control — but you're not."
"Which is why, before it's too late, you'll undergo an Auxiliary Grafting Trial. You'll be offered a compatible Emergent Thread."
Rei's steps froze.
"You want me to bond with another entity?"
Caelira shrugged. "Better a Dreamer than a Devourer. If it helps stabilize you, it's worth the risk."
And that's when everything broke.
A wave of pressure burst from Rei's body.
The floor cracked under his feet.The lights stuttered.Every reflection in the corridor began to smile.
"You presume to overwrite me," said a voice — his voice, doubled."To tie me to children of progress?I have existed since the first corpse smiled."
Rei's body trembled.His eyes were wrong. Too wide. Too empty.The Smiling Shadow was bleeding through.
"You are insects chewing on dreams. I am laughter made god.Do not chain me to lesser madness."
Caelira stepped back, eyes narrowing. "It's resisting open speech. That shouldn't be possible at this distance—"
Then came a sharp crack.
Aira slapped Rei across the face.
The sound echoed — clean and final.
Rei staggered, gasping. The pressure collapsed.The mirrors cleared. The smiles vanished.
Aira's hand trembled slightly — but her eyes were hard.
"Rei," she said. "You're not its puppet."
He collapsed to his knees, breathing hard. A drop of blood fell from his nose.
"I… I didn't even say anything," he whispered. "It just moved through me."
Aira crouched beside him.
"That's why we're here. To learn how to fight that thing from the inside."
Caelira exhaled slowly. "You're lucky," she said, glancing at Aira. "Most vessels who push that far into manifestation without sigil anchoring… melt."
She tapped her communicator.
"Tell the Principal he was right. We'll need an emergency Containment Rite before sunrise."
She turned back to Rei.
"You're going to undergo the Trial of Alignment.No Emergent Threads. No external fusion. Just you… and your Shadow."
"And if the thing inside you wins—""Then kill me," Rei said, eyes burning. "Before it does."