A few days later…

The private training ground behind Aurora's academy was quiet, bathed in the soft morning light.

Tall stone pillars surrounded the open courtyard, engraved with runes that glowed faintly whenever mana was channeled.

In the center of the field, Aurora stood gracefully, her long auburn hair swaying gently in the breeze as she held a practice sword in her hand.

Gray stood a few meters away, his posture straight but lifeless. His black eyes were dull, almost empty, as if the light behind them had been extinguished.

Aurora observed him for a long moment before speaking.

"Since you have now developed Soul Chasing Qi within your body, we can finally begin the real practice of the Soul Chasing Extremities sword art," she said, gesturing with her sword.

"The first move you learned was only the foundation: 'Severing Pursuit'. It allowed you to chase and sever the soul's connection to the body. But the second move… is where the true essence of the art begins."

She took a slow step forward, demonstrating a simple stance.

"The second move is called 'Soul Binding Trace'. Once you have severed the connection with the first move, you use this technique to bind the soul's lingering trace: to track it, to lock onto it, and to prevent it from escaping into the cycle of reincarnation or hiding within the void. It is not just a sword strike, but a declaration of ownership over the soul itself."

Aurora swung her sword in a slow yet elegant arc.

Fwish!

A vivid red mana followed the blade, forming faint chains that shimmered in the air before fading.

"You must circulate your Soul Chasing Qi through your meridians while maintaining absolute focus. The moment your blade touches the target, your qi must invade their soul and leave a mark... a binding trace that you can follow no matter where they try to hide."

She stopped and looked at Gray directly.

"Do you understand the concept?"

"Yes," Gray nodded once, replying with a flat voice.

Aurora studied him for a moment, her vivid red eyes narrowing slightly.

She could sense the emptiness in him, although she didn't exactly know the reason.

"Gray," she called out, her tone softening slighly, "your mind is not here. If you practice in this state, you will only injure yourself. The Soul Chasing Extremities demands perfect focus. One mistake and the qi backlash could damage your soul."

Gray didn't respond immediately.

He simply raised his rapier, and without a word, he took a single step forward and executed the second move of the Soul Chasing Extremities.

He had only seen Aurora demonstrate a faint fragment of it moments ago.

Yet he completed it perfectly on his own.

"...Soul Binding Trace."

Swip!

The rapier moved in a smooth, flowing arc.

The Soul Chasing Qi surged through his meridians with terrifying precision, forming invisible binding traces in the air.

Crack!

The technique manifested as faint black-red chains that wrapped around the training dummy in front of him, locking onto its very soul essence before tightening with a strong crushing force.

The dummy didn't even have time to react.

It shattered from the inside out, reduced to nothing but fine powder as the soul-binding trace completely erased its existence.

Gray lowered his rapier and turned his cold gaze toward Aurora.

"You were saying?" he asked flatly, raising a bored eyebrow.

Aurora stared at the destroyed dummy for a long second, then let out a soft laugh. Her lips curled up into a seductive smile as she slowly approached him.

"You only make me want you more~" she purred, licking her lips sensually.

She stopped right in front of him, close enough that her massive breasts nearly brushed against his chest.

She reached out and gently lifted his chin with two fingers, forcing him to look directly into her vivid red eyes.

"How about it?" she whispered, voice dripping with honeyed temptation. "Can't you just be mine~? I'll make sure to spoil you a lot, don't worry~"

Gray stared at her with those same hollow, emotionless black eyes.

He simply shook his head.

"You're not strong enough for me to belong to you," he stated directly, voice cold and flat.

Aurora's pursed lips twitched slightly at his blunt rejection. She didn't pull her hand away from his chin, but her smile gained a sharper edge.

"Then how strong do I need to be?" she asked, crossing her arms while still looking at him with intense interest.

"…I'm not too sure," Gray replied, looking a little thoughtful.

"But strong enough to say that you are the strongest in the central continent."

'…At least, at the peak of the Immortal Sovereign realm,' he added inwardly.

Aurora's red eyes flickered with surprise for a brief moment before she clicked her tongue in clear annoyance.

"The strongest of the central continent?" she mumbled to herself, a hint of frustration slipping into her voice. "Tsk…"

She finally stepped back, lowering her hand from his chin. Her expression returned to its usual, elegant, composed state, though the possessive glint in her eyes remained.

"We're done today," she said with a light shrug.

"After all, you mastered my second move with just a glance… As for the third one, you need to at least reach the Peak of the King Realm."

Aurora turned away from him, her long auburn hair swaying as she began walking toward the edge of the training ground.

"Rest well, Gray," she called back without looking at him.

"You'll need it."

Gray stood motionless in the center of the courtyard, watching her elegant figure disappear behind the tall stone pillars.

The moment she was completely out of sight, the faint trace of her presence vanished from the training ground.

Only then did Gray move.

He reached into his dimensional storage and pulled out a handful of high-grade spiritual crystals, their surfaces shimmering with dense, pure mana.

Thwack, twack!

Then, he quickly placed them in a perfect circular pattern around him.

His fingers traced complex runes in the air, and dark, occult energy flowed from his fingertips into the crystals.

"Rise."

A faint, nearly invisible barrier formed around the entire training ground... an occult array designed to hide his presence completely.

To anyone looking from the outside, the courtyard would appear empty, as if no one had been there for hours.

Then, he slowly raised his rapier lightly.

"Authority of Destruction…"

A surge of pitch-black energy erupted from his body and flooded into the blade.

The dark power was dense and terrifying, the very essence of destruction given form.

The air around the rapier warped and cracked as if reality itself was being corroded.

Gray closed his eyes for exactly two seconds, letting the authority fully synchronize with his weapon.

Then, without a word, he swung the rapier in a clean downward diagonal arc.

Crack!

The occult array he had just created shattered instantly.

The high-grade crystals exploded into black wisps of smoke, the entire formation disintegrating into nothingness as if it had never existed.

The dark energy from the Authority of Destruction left no trace behind.

Gray lowered his rapier and stared at the fallen black wisps drifting across the ground.

"…More than enough to one-shot a Peak Sovereign person."

He stood there for a few more seconds, then turned and left the training ground without another word.

The occult array had already dissolved completely, leaving no trace of what had just occurred.

The walk back to his new dormitory was silent.

The corridors were empty, the evening light casting long shadows across the polished floors.

When he reached the door, Elárien was already waiting inside, standing near the window with her usual expressionless face.

Her long silver hair gleamed under the soft lamplight, her golden-green eyes calm and unreadable.

"Welcome back," she greeted him with her usually elegant and pleasing voice.

Gray gave her only a small nod in response.

Elárien stepped closer, her movements graceful as always.

She gently lifted a hand and adjusted a few strands of her hair, tucking them behind her pointed ear with delicate care.

That small, simple gesture made Gray freeze for a split second.

Grip!

Without a single word, he grabbed her wrist.

"Ah..."

His fingers tightened around her slender arm, the pressure firm enough to make Elárien frown slightly in pain.

But she didn't pull away, and simply looked at him with those calm golden-green eyes as he led her straight to the bedroom.

He pushed the door open and threw her onto the bed.

Elárien landed on her back with a soft gasp, her silver hair spreading across the sheets like moonlight.

Before she could say anything, Gray was already on top of her, slamming his hand down on the mattress right beside her face with enough force to make the bed creak.

He leaned down, his lips crashing toward hers in a fierce, almost desperate motion.

"Mhm!!"

But the moment his vision cleared, reality shattered him.

It wasn't Lyra.

It was Elárien.

The silver hair spilling across the sheets like moonlight.

The golden-green eyes looked up at him with quiet, accepting calm.

The elegant, elven features that belonged to the princess who had waited for him, who had cared for his body while he was lost in meditation, who had offered herself without demand or condition.

The illusion broke.

Lyra was gone.

She had left because of him because he had pushed her too far.

Because he had been too weak to find another way.

The girl who had loved him with every fiber of her being, the one who had cried, screamed, and threatened to chain him to her side, was now somewhere far away, training to become stronger in a place he couldn't reach.

A sharp, suffocating pain tore through Gray's chest.

His breath caught in his throat as if invisible hands were strangling him. Tears, hot, bitter, and completely unbidden, burned at the corners of his eyes.

He had lost her.

And in that moment of weakness, he had almost used someone else as a replacement.

His body trembled slightly.

The emptiness inside him cracked open wider, revealing the wound beneath.

He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting the tears that threatened to spill, but one still escaped, soaking into the fabric of her clothes.

Elárien remained perfectly still beneath him, her hands hovering near her chest, ready to accept whatever he needed.

Her voice remained soft and gentle.

"I-I'm okay…" she mumbled, her cheeks flushing a faint pink.

"I-If you want… it's okay…"

She didn't push him away or reject him. She simply offered herself, as she always had, without any expectation whatsoever.

Gray's fingers dug into the sheets on either side of her head. A single tear slipped free and soaked into the fabric of her clothes.

He hated himself more in that moment than he ever had before.

"…Fuck."

He buried his head into Elárien's massive breasts, biting his lip tightly.