Chapter 25: Shadow

In the classroom’s darkest corner, beyond the moonlight’s reach, pure darkness began to writhe, as if alive.

It squirmed and gathered, seeping from the wall’s base, forming a vague human outline in the room’s center.

No facial features, no clear limbs—just pure, twisting, folding shadows, like a walking, three-dimensional silhouette.

It was exactly the indescribable monster Chen Dongyang had described.

The shadow monster appeared, ignoring Chen Dongyang’s protective stance, Jiang Yuxin’s cold glare, and Yin Xiran’s wary expression.
Its ethereal form paused mid-air, then lunged without hesitation toward Yin Qingle, trembling and mentally fragile.

Jiang Yuxin reacted instantly.
Her spread mental power contracted like a net, transforming into countless sharp blades piercing the monster’s consciousness.

But it was like stabbing a void.
No thoughts, no emotions, no memories—not even primal instincts.
Just dead silence, emptier than any comatose or deceased mind she’d ever probed.

‘It has no heart,’ Jiang Yuxin concluded.
This wasn’t a living being driven by mind or soul but a phenomenon, acting under specific conditions.

Her abilities were nearly useless against it.

“Stand back,” Yin Xiran said calmly, stepping in front of her trembling sister.
Her bright eyes showed no fear, only focus.
She extended her fingers and clenched them toward the approaching shadow.

The air solidified instantly.
The shadow monster froze, locked in an invisible cage, unable to move.

“Success?” Chen Dongyang exhaled, but the scene cut his relief short.

The monster didn’t struggle or resist.
Like ink in water, it began to “melt,” its outline blurring, seeping through the solidified air’s cracks, reforming outside the cage.

Physical constraints had little effect.

In a split second, the freed shadow monster surged toward Yin Qingle, faster than before.

“Don’t come near me!” Yin Qingle screamed, her mind blank, raising her hands instinctively.

A heart-pounding energy wave erupted from her, crimson light flaring.
Violent, chaotic, burning with searing heat and disorder, it formed an unstable, spinning ball before her, casting a blood-red glow on her tear-streaked face.

The shadow monster sensed the threat, its ethereal form pausing for the first time.

Too late.

Buzz!

No deafening roar—just a dull thud, as if the air itself was drained.
The crimson ball became a piercing beam, engulfing the shadow with overwhelming force.

Desks and broken instruments touched by the crimson energy silently decomposed, evaporating without ash.

The shadow monster offered no resistance.
Half its massive form vaporized instantly, dissipating into nothing.

The crimson energy’s aftermath spread, threatening to engulf the classroom and the entire building.

“Qingle!” Yin Xiran shouted, raising her hands.
An invisible force field compressed the rampant energy and its explosive noise, pinning it in place.

Sweat beaded on Yin Xiran’s forehead.
Suppressing her sister’s uncontrolled power and its aftermath was a massive strain.

The damaged shadow monster melted into a flowing shadow, vanishing into the floor at blinding speed.

The crimson energy, like a raging tide, hummed under Yin Xiran’s force field, straining to break free.

“Jiang Yuxin!” Yin Xiran called urgently.

Jiang Yuxin shifted her focus, sending a single command into Yin Qingle’s subconscious: ‘Quiet.’

Like muting a blaring concert hall, Yin Qingle’s trembling calmed visibly.
Her dilated pupils refocused, fear and despair fading into a dazed calm.

“I’m…”

As Yin Qingle stabilized, the crimson energy before her lost its source, decaying and dissipating.

Yin Xiran exhaled, releasing her force field.
Her face was pale from the effort of containing the chaotic energy.
She rushed to her sister, supporting her shaky frame.

“Thank you,” Yin Xiran said sincerely to Jiang Yuxin.

“Just a transaction,” Jiang Yuxin replied, scanning the classroom.
The monster was gone, its whereabouts unknown.

Chen Dongyang’s expression shifted suddenly.
No time to explain, he shouted at Yin Qingle, “Three o’clock, corner by the floor, now!”

Still dazed, Yin Qingle reacted instinctively to his voice, raising her arm and unleashing her power in the direction he indicated.

A slender crimson beam shot out.

The corner was empty, but the shadows twisted, revealing the monster re-emerging silently from the darkness.

It appeared at the perfect moment, as if meeting the destructive beam head-on.

The crimson energy pierced it.
Its shadowy body trembled, cracks spreading from the impact point, covering its form.

Under their gazes, the shadow monster disintegrated, shattering into fragments that scattered and vanished into the air.

The ceaseless, mournful music stopped abruptly.