The sun pierced Blackthorne skies like divine judgment.
A silver chariot descended from the heavens—no wheels, no exhaust, only light. Pure, blinding, holy.
Students gathered near the academy plaza, murmuring in awe and fear. Teachers halted classes. Even dungeons within range trembled, their mana-reactive crusts flaring red at the foreign energy.
Velarion watched from a rooftop, cloak fluttering, eyes narrowed.
> [Warning: High-Purity Entity Detected.]
[Class: Saintess – Aria Solstice]
[Alignment: Celestial Tribunal – Light Faction, Rank A+]
[Threat Level: Divine-Class]
[System Match Detected: Corruption Opportunity – High Yield Target]
[Initiate Sinful Seed Protocol? Y/N]
He smirked. Oh yes.
She stepped from the light like a vision sculpted by the gods.
Long platinum hair flowed like moonlight. Her white robes shimmered with embroidered holy sigils. Eyes like polished sapphire surveyed the crowd, unblinking. Her skin glowed faintly with sanctified grace.
And yet, Velarion could see past it all.
She was powerful. Devoted. Controlled.
Perfect for corruption.
"She's beautiful," Kira muttered from behind him.
"She's trouble," Selene added coldly.
Nyx said nothing, crouched in the shadows like a panther watching prey.
"She's mine," Velarion whispered.
Aria Solstice stood before the academy's central altar, hands folded in prayer. Her voice rang like silver bells as she spoke to the gathered students and staff.
"We are here because something unholy has awakened beneath this ground. The Celestial Tribunal will not allow it to grow unchecked."
Velarion pushed through the crowd, suppressing his aura completely. He looked like just another student—Adrian Cain, nondescript, silent. No flame. No power. A ghost in human skin.
But when she looked up, her gaze faltered.
Only for a second.
Their eyes locked.
> [Affection Level: 0%]
[Corruption Seed Implantation Chance: 3.1%]
[New Ability Unlocked: Dream Invasion – Passive Probing of Target's Spiritual Defenses via Sleep State]
She frowned, then dismissed the moment. "May the Light guide you, and purge the shadows that taint this place."
That night, the dream began.
She stood in a garden of white lilies, bathed in celestial radiance.
Velarion appeared as a silhouette—half-lit, half-shadowed. He said nothing. He didn't need to.
Aria turned sharply, hand glowing with radiant sigils. "Who dares trespass within my sanctified dreams?!"
"Someone who knows your heart better than you do," Velarion whispered.
Light flared. He didn't move. The divine energy passed through his form like wind through flame.
"You're not real," she said.
"I'm more real than the lie you've built your purity around."
She drew a silver blade from air and slashed—but Velarion caught it with his bare hand. Dark fire surged along the blade's edge, not extinguishing it, but coiling around it.
He stepped closer, close enough to feel the heat of her confusion.
"You tell yourself you are Light," he murmured. "But what is Light without darkness to define it?"
Her breath hitched. Her blade trembled. "You are poison."
"No," he said gently. "I'm the truth no one dares whisper in Heaven."
> [Spiritual Resistance Cracked – Corruption Progress: 2.4%]
[Seed of Doubt Planted.]
[Skill Progress: Dream Invasion – Stage I Complete.]
[New Objective: Deepen Spiritual Conflict During Wake State.]
Aria jolted awake in her chambers, drenched in sweat.
The sigils on her arms pulsed erratically.
Her prayers felt cold that morning.
The following day, she stood before the academy altar again, leading a purification ritual. Incense burned. Light magic shimmered. Dozens knelt before her.
Velarion knelt too.
This time, when her divine light touched him, it rippled unnaturally.
She noticed.
"You…" she said softly, stepping down from the altar. Her expression remained placid, but her voice carried sharp edges. "You were in my dream."
He tilted his head. "Was I?"
"I've seen your soul."
"Then you've seen the part of you that longs for something forbidden."
> [Corruption Trigger Achieved: Verbal Recognition + Spiritual Proximity]
[Affinity Level: 2% – Status: Disturbed]
[Divine Purity Stability: Wavering]
Aria reached for her blade—then stopped.
Her fingers trembled.
"Stay away from me," she whispered.
"I'll be waiting," he said, and vanished into the crowd.
Later that night, in her candle-lit dormitory, Aria wept in silent prayer.
But her hands wandered toward the places he had looked.
And her dreams… were not hers anymore.
> [Corruption Progress: 4.6%]
[System Event Unlocked: Forbidden Confession – Optional Seduction Path Available (Unlock: Divine Blessing Twist + Purity Penalty Bonus)]
Velarion stood atop the cathedral ruins, watching moonlight slice across the city.
"She's starting to break," he said.
Selene scoffed. "You're playing with divine fire."
He looked at her. "I am divine fire."
Night had fallen, but the air in Blackthorne Academy shimmered with pressure—something unholy and divine at war in the very atmosphere.
Velarion returned to the newly formed hall of the Demon Flame Sect, deep within the ruins beneath the academy. Braziers burned with blue infernal fire. Soul sigils floated above a darkened throne-like altar, half-carved from dungeon crystal.
Selene, Kira, and Nyx stood at attention, sensing the shift in him.
"You've seen her," Selene said.
"I did more than that," Velarion murmured, his fingers brushing the jagged armrest. "I cracked her soul's first wall."
Kira grinned. "And I thought I was hard to hack."
"She's resisting," Nyx warned, "but for how long?"
"Long enough," Velarion said. "Because her resistance will be her downfall. Light burns brightest just before it breaks."
> [System Notice: Forbidden Confession Event Progress – 11.8%] [Target: Aria Solstice | Dream Invasion Stability: Active] [Next Trigger: Emotional Shock or Spiritual Crisis]
He turned to them, eyes glowing faintly crimson.
"We prepare for war tomorrow. Her guardian is coming."
The next morning came with thunder in the air—not from weather, but tension.
Blackthorne's plaza had been cleared. Students evacuated. Runes burned on the ground in the shape of an old tribunal seal.
Ezekiel arrived, just as the System predicted.
He looked like a knight out of a divine war epic—armored in white-gold plate, a blazing longsword strapped to his back, wings of light unfurled behind him like divine judgment.
Aria stood at his side, her face unreadable, but her aura unstable—flickering with tiny specks of silver and… shadow.
Velarion walked forward alone, dressed in the academy uniform, completely unassuming.
Ezekiel sneered. "You're the parasite she spoke of."
Velarion raised a brow. "Funny. She didn't use that word when she dreamed of me."
Aria flinched.
> [Emotional Disruption Detected: Aria Solstice – Corruption Progress Increased +3.4%] [Purity Stability: Degraded. Spiritual Duality Phase Initiated.]
Ezekiel's expression twisted. "You demon filth—"
He drew his sword. Light flared like the rising sun.
"Challenge accepted," Velarion said softly.
> [Duel of Fates – Initiated] [Combatant 1: Velarion (Demon Emperor Soul, Suppressed State)] [Combatant 2: Ezekiel (Celestial Champion, Rank A)]
[Restrictions: No allies, no interference, battlefield locked for 10 minutes]
A dome of light and flame sealed the plaza.
Aria gasped as the battlefield became untouchable.
Velarion cracked his knuckles, smirking.
"You want a demon, holy knight?" he asked.
His aura ignited—not red, not black, but a molten purple inferno.
"I'll give you hell."
The battle was chaos made divine.
Ezekiel moved with celestial speed, each strike a beam of light meant to cleanse.
But Velarion danced around him, fire wrapped in shadows, attacking from angles that bent reality.
The sky above the dome cracked. The ground beneath blackened from their power.
Ezekiel struck with a divine barrage—twelve rapid slashes.
Velarion caught the last one.
"Too slow," he whispered, and let loose Infernal Step—vanishing, then reappearing behind the knight.
Boom!
A shockwave ruptured the air as Ezekiel was sent flying across the plaza, smashing into a marble column.
> [Essence Surge: +324]
[Harem Buff Activated: Selene (Frost Stability +10%) | Kira (Radar Disruption -15% enemy accuracy) | Nyx (Shadow Decoy Chance 22%)]
[Skill Chain Initiated – Combustive Grasp > Flame Sigil Bind > Dark Pulse]
Velarion raised his palm. The sigils on it burned like cursed suns.
"Burn."
Chains of fire and shadow wrapped Ezekiel mid-air, dragging him down and crushing divine light with infernal might.
Aria screamed, rushing toward the edge of the dome—but she could not cross.
She stared at Velarion. And in that moment… she saw not a demon, but a king.
A king who bent heaven's dogma to his will.
And part of her… wanted it.
> [Saintess Affinity: 9.2%] [Spiritual Conflict: Heightened | Forbidden Confession Event Stage II Unlocked]
Velarion stood over the fallen Ezekiel.
The divine knight's armor was shattered. Blood trickled from his lips. Still alive… but utterly defeated.
"I won't kill him," Velarion said coldly. "Not yet."
He turned to Aria, eyes burning through the dome.
"I want you to decide what he deserves."
The light cracked.
And she… hesitated.
---
> [Duel Complete – Victor: Velarion]
[Influence Gained: +12 | Demon Flame Sect Prestige +24 | Light Faction Alert +3 Levels]
[Event Trigger: Saintess Vision Fracture – Aria's Nightmares Will Now Be Shared with Host]
As the dome faded, the students slowly returned, confused by the memory-blurring effect Kira had hacked into the surveillance network.
Aria ran to Ezekiel's side.
Velarion walked past them both, his voice a low growl in her ear.
"Your dreams will not save you now, Saintess."
> [Corruption Progress: 18.7% – Trigger Unlocked: Sinful Confession Available Soon]
Back at the cathedral throne, his queens welcomed him in silence.
He looked out over the ruins.
Not just of stone…
But of Heaven's hold.
"The war," he whispered, "has truly begun."
Cliffhanger:
> [System Alert: Celestial Tribunal Enraged – Aria Solstice Placed Under Divine Observation] [Timer: 72 Hours Before Mandatory Purity Trial] [Optional Event: Corrupt the Saintess Fully Before Her Judgment Day to Unlock Divine Sigil Class Skill Tree]
Velarion smiled.
"I'll break her long before Heaven can judge her."