SHATTERED REALM: FORGOTTEN ECHOES-Chapter 159: Battle For Dignity

The next few days were filled with so many intense matches, some students found it even difficult to breathe.

Old wounds reopened, and new seeds of hatred were sown.

A few Academies and institutions were thrown out after losing their chance to participate in the matches.

What kept FP in there was pure luck.

It wasn't the skill of their students that allowed them to move on each day, but the chance they kept getting.

Almost every group they'd encountered was one from a weak academy, which made it very easy for them to pull through.

Only once did they meet a tough school that did not pity them one bit, forcing them into submission. Other than that, they'd had a smooth sailing this year.

IF they lost three matches, they were out, and as of now, they'd already lost one.

A lot of other groups had one chance left, while the top dogs had all their wins to keep them in the game.

While others decided to watch the matches in order to both support their people and friends, Aramith chose to stay inside, cultivating most of the time. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

He'd only been to three matches since he came in there.

And having to share a room with Mozrael made it easier for them to keep each other in check.

She could also stay inside, cultivating without a worry.

For her, she felt growth, but Aramith...he still felt that same sinking pool within his realm he'd felt earlier.

Since they entered Yumaris, he was constantly absorbing Youm from the surroundings, and when he sat down to cultivate, it was even easier for him to cultivate.

He just swallowed the You like it was poured within him.

And though it was a nice feeling, he still felt disturbed in a way.

Something about this didn't feel right.

All the energy went inside him, but he couldn't feel growth.

And worse yet, when he entered his realm, he couldn't get out till a full day in the real world had passed.

Also...he couldn't find Mai anywhere.

Today, he was in his realm again.

The lands were looking more colorful this time, and he could feel the flame was stronger, but—

"Mai!"

"..."

"Hello? Mai!!"

Silence and utter emptiness stared back at him.

He summoned his wolves, who'd now increased to about three hundred.

They spread out in search of anything odd in the realm.

Meanwhile, he himself flew over the lands, searching for Mai or anything odd in there.

To calculate how much time he'd spent in there, he created a small clone of himself—one made of darkness that stood still, counting the time. He'd find it and ask when he needed to know how much time had passed later.

But for now...Mai was his priority.

A few hours passed, and a world howled in his mind.

They found her?

It was day three.

He quickly rushed to the location, which was so far, it took him four hours of moving at top speed to arrive there.

And when he reached where Mai was, he didn't first look at her, and she didn't look at him either.

What he saw confused him more.

A huge crystal stood before them, humming with Youm and darkness, and vibrating the whole area.

Breathing didn't exist in this realm, but he held his breath.

"What's that?" He asked.

Mai shook her head, afraid.

"It appeared some time after you entered the place of the entrance exam," she started, then cast her gaze down, sad and worried.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do my job of caring for your realm."

Aramith told her not to worry, eyes focused on the crystal.

It made sense that she would be worried about something like this.

It was a strange thing.

Not because of the Youma nd darkness mixed in it, but because of what was inside.

It felt and looked familiar, yet foreign.

Something that looked like his wolf form, but not fully formed.

All he could see were the mouth and ears of it, and the darkness that seemed to be forming its body.

But it was still incomplete and growing.

Aramith drew closer, hand raised toward the crystal — but the moment his fingers came within a hair's width of its surface, the entire realm shook.

A crack spread across the crystal.

Mai flinched."Don't touch it!"

But the crack didn't stop there. More fractures spider-webbed across the surface as if something inside wanted out.

Aramith took a step back.

And then — a pulse of darkness exploded outward, swallowing vision, swallowing direction, swallowing sound—

and the realm kicked him out.

His eyes snapped open in the real world.

His reflection jumped in the dim light of the room.

He inhaled sharply, chest rising as if he was gasping from drowning.

Mozrael was already standing, hand on his shoulder, eyes tense."You okay? Aramith, you've been still for nearly a full day."

The faint murmur of people outside the dorms grew louder.

Boots shuffling.Voices rising.

The academy was moving.

Someone was calling names in the corridor.The sound wasn't chaotic, but it carried something tense.

Mozrael glanced at the door."They're gathering to leave soon. The peak students are being told to come down."

Aramith blinked, still shaken, still not fully "here."

But then, he remembered the crystal.

And his heart dropped.

Somtehing is wrong.

And it surely was.

They went downstairs, and there, all the FP students had gathered.

Their tutors were with them, very worried and terrified about what they were going to face.

It was none other than LYnnor's challenge that had caused this to happen.

FOr days now, they'd been taunted and disturbed by so many students from challenging academies that one of their students went berserk and insulted them. This caused a chain reaction, which resulted in that student challenging them to a duel.

They accepted, and now, they were in for a battle in the arena.

It was late, but they had to fight in there before they lost face and their chance to continue.

The city of Yumaris was very strict on these kinds of things, and if one chose to forfeit a match by hiding, it would be counted as a loss in the contest itself.

Very quickly, they made their way to the arena.

A few others had heard of this duel and decided to come watch.

The underdogs were trying to fight the big dogs.

This would make a good show for them.

The student from FP who chose to fight was a young boy using the Earth attribute.

He hated the situation they were in and wanted revenge so badly.

And the student from the Emperor Dragon Academy, who'd been insulted and challenged, came forward calmly.

This would be tough.

The moment the duel began, the fire-wielder from Dragon Emperor Academy didn't waste breath. He launched molten arcs of flame like liquid metal, each one cutting through the air with the whistle of burning iron. The earth user from Forsaken Peak slammed his palms to the arena floor, stone rising to meet flame — pillars and slabs forming in rapid succession, clashing, exploding, cracking apart.

For the first ten seconds it looked balanced.

Earth swallowed flame.Flame melted stone.

The crowd leaned in.

The FP student forced a ridge of jagged earth forward, sculpting it into a low wall — then shattered it, extending shards like flying knives at incredible speed. The Emperor Dragon student simply swept his arm, flames coiling around his arm like a dragon's spine — and every shard turned to dust mid-air, vaporized.

The FP student gritted his teeth and went for brute power.He stomped down.The ground swelled into a spike-field rising like teeth.

The fire user smirked.

He clapped once — and a ring of fire erupted around him — then shot upward in a spiraling column. Not just fire. Compressed flame. A drilling inferno. It bored through every stone spike like a spear.

The FP student froze for a heartbeat — eyes wide.

The fire user didn't let him recover.He stepped through the inferno — and moved like someone who'd just decided the warm-up was over.

He condensed fire into his palm — not wide flame, but a concentrated flare like a star inside his hand — and punched it into the earth user's barrier.

The entire barrier detonated.

Stone fragments shredded the ground, but he hadn't even touched the earth user yet.

He blurred — burst forward — cracked the FP student across the jaw.

The FP student staggered, but created a dome of stone around himself on instinct — thick, dense, layered.

That dome lasted two seconds.

The Emperor Dragon student's flames tore through it like paper.

The FP student screamed as the first wave hit him — his sleeve ignited and his left arm instantly blistered. He rolled, desperate, forming slabs beneath his feet to push himself back — anything — until the fire user was suddenly just there again, hand on his collar.

He lifted him with one hand — flame gathering around the other.

"You should've conceded the moment you saw the crest on my cape," he said — voice calm — like he was about to finish homework.

Then he brought his burning fist down.

The blow didn't just burn — it incinerated.Half the FP student's face blackened instantly — flesh boiling, curling, peeling. His body spasmed.

He tried to raise earth again — a last reflex — more trembling than technique.

A pathetic wall rose.

The fire user stepped past it.

He kicked his ribs.

Bone cracked.

Then again.

Bone snapped.

The FP student collapsed, looking charred, motionless, smoke rising from his body. His face was barely human anymore—one eye melted shut, skin bubbled and torn.

He didn't even make a sound at the last strike.

He was already unconscious.

Only then did the fire user step back, flame dissipating, expression bored and indifferent. As if that entire brutal massacre was nothing more than routine.

And the arena went silent.