The morning after the academy’s trial felt unusually cold.

Shane stood frozen in his small dorm bathroom, staring deeply into the glass after training his core and talking with Arthur.

His mind was flooded with the horrifying image he saw in the mirror the day before.

He had been stuck in a trance like this in the past.

While most of the illusions were just a cruel way to break a student’s mind, a few things felt way too real to ignore.

Seeing his own face suddenly merge with six red eyes gave him a terrible feeling in his gut.

’Something’s wrong,’ Shane thought to himself, splashing cold water on his cheeks.

’That was not just a trick of the light. The cult is actively trying to summon him into my body.’

Now, standing in front of Principal Boros’s heavy office door, Shane really did not know whether he should go through with his crazy idea or just walk away.

’Fuck it,’ Shane muttered under his breath.

He raised his knuckles.

Knock. Knock.

"Come in," a deep voice answered from the other side.

Shane opened the door, walked inside the spacious office, and sat down in the chair directly in front of the old man’s desk.

"What happened, Student Shane?" Boros asked, looking up from his paperwork with a polite smile.

"Did you come here to officially receive your trail’s gift?"

Shane let out a long sigh before explaining his situation.

He did not confess that he was a regressor living his second life.

That would sound like madness.

Instead, he framed the truth as a magical premonition.

He explained that he had seen vivid visions inside the trial while fighting the monsters, and he knew something terrible was going to happen to him very soon.

"Oh," Boros said, his smile fading.

The old principal leaned back in his chair and thought for a while.

"If you are truly being targeted by the cult, we must protect you. As long as you do not move out of the library or the elite dorms, it should be fine. I will immediately inform the high-level Awakeners in the capital to visit us and search for any hidden cult traps inside our academy grounds."

"No," Shane refused quickly, shaking his head.

"Excuse me?" Boros raised an eyebrow.

"Playing it safe is not going to get us anything, sir," Shane explained, leaning forward.

"The vision I saw showed all of my friends brutally murdered. It showed you being drained of all your mana and disappearing into nothing. Hiding behind guards will just delay the slaughter."

Boros did not react to the grim prediction.

He just sat still and listened to what the young student had to say.

"I will play along with their trap," Shane proposed, his eyes turning cold.

"I will let them take me so we can find their real base."

"Absolutely no. That is far too dangerous for a freshman," Boros countered firmly.

"Sir, I am sure you know this, but the Demon King is immortal," Shane argued, his voice rising just a little.

"No matter how many times the heroes kill him, he will just resurrect from the very beginning. And someone in the shadows is actively helping him skip the waiting period. If we do not catch the puppet master now, we lose everything."

"That will be the duty of the stronger Awakeners, not you," Boros stated, his tone leaving zero room for debate.

"This conversation is over, Shane."

Boros did not want to risk the life of a promising student for the greater good.

The old man had seen too many kids die in his long life.

Shane understood the principal’s stubborn stance.

He stood up from the chair, pretending to accept the defeat and preparing to exit.

But before he reached the door, he turned back around.

"Alright. But the thing about the reward for gaining first place in the trial," Shane started, changing the subject smoothly.

"I have finally chosen what I wanted from the royal inventory."

Boros nodded, pulling out a golden ledger.

"Name it."

"I want the Soul-Stitcher."

Boros paused, his pen over the paper.

The Soul-Stitcher was a highly restricted, ancient artefact.

It was a small, bug-like ornament originally used by the first human Awakener.

Its original purpose was to physically split a person’s magical core into two separate halves, allowing the user to train two different powers without their chest exploding from the pressure.

But Shane did not want to train two elements.

He wanted to build a quarantine zone inside his own soul.

’If I let the cult capture me someday,’ Shane thought to himself as Boros signed the approval form, ’I do not know if my mind is strong enough to fight off the Demon King’s possession. But if he does take over, I really cannot fight back from the outside.’

So Shane took the tiny artefact and placed it on the side of his neck.

The ornament dug deep into his flesh, leaving a permanent scar.

The Soul-Stitcher acted exactly like a magical prism inside his chest. The moment the Demon King’s soul entered his body during the cave ritual, the artefact activated.

It hit the invading energy and forced a strict bifurcation of the core, which splits the spiritual cores into two distinct rooms.

This failsafe meant Shane’s original soul was not instantly crushed or devoured by the evil.

Instead, his consciousness was safely stitched into the secondary core, retaining his own power and memories without merging as one single entity with the demon.

He was locked securely in the seat, surviving the hostile takeover and waiting for his perfect chance to strike back.

Back in the present, the bright morning sun shone through the tall windows of the academy classroom.

Azrael sat lazily on the bench right near Melissa.

The demon king lifted his hand and absentmindedly rubbed the side of his neck.

He traced the small scar left behind by the artefact, feeling a slight itch under the skin and assumed it was just a remnant of the physical torture the boy had endured the night before.

Boros erased the memory of installing the artefact from Shane’s mind just like he asked.

Standing at the front of the classroom, Principal Boros’ eyes locked onto the quiet boy sitting in the back row.

Using his unique sensory trait, Boros looked deep into the boy’s spiritual centre and saw two entirely different cores beating inside one chest.

They were not split naturally but artificially separated by a familiar magic.

The dark, roaring sun of the Abyss occupied the main chamber, driving the physical body.

But tucked safely away in the corner, a small, bright ember was still glowing with quiet defiance.

Boros understood it instantly.

He remembered the request in his office just yesterday.

The being controlling the body was not Shane anymore.

’You reckless fool,’ Boros thought to himself, a tiny spark of hope igniting in his old chest.

The principal gripped his staff tighter.

He knew he had to keep Azrael distracted and comfortable in this fake student life, buying enough time for Shane to break out from the inside.

If they kill him now, Azrael will just go back to his real body while Shane dies.

[A/N: Add it to your collections and donate Golden Tickets if you liked it. Leave a gift if you want bonus Chapters. Thank you for reading:)]