Chapter 103: “Who Exactly Are You?”

In a desperate attempt, Ethan immediately redirected the burst of spiritual energy surging through his body toward Lumi.

The moment their energies connected, something inside the Mental Sea shifted.

Lumi’s movements suddenly became sharper.

Faster.

More precise.

The little fox darted around the perimeter of the safe shore with a speed Ethan had never seen from her before, every tiny movement perfectly synchronized with the flow of his spiritual energy. The glowing footprints she left behind no longer appeared randomly. They connected in precise patterns, each one reinforcing the next until the protective barrier surrounding them brightened considerably.

"That’s it, Lumi!" Ethan shouted, forcing more of his energy toward her.

"Yip-yip-yip!"

Lumi responded with an urgent cry as she sprinted along the edge of the abyss.

The golden net that had previously been struggling beneath the pressure of the corrupted Mental Sea suddenly became much stronger. Every time the black tar surged toward them, the barrier met it head-on, redirecting the attack instead of simply absorbing the impact.

For the first time since they had entered this place, the abyss was being pushed back.

At the same time, the kiss between Ethan and Xavier changed.

The purification was already complete.

The last traces of black tar clinging to Xavier’s spiritual form had dried and shattered away, leaving his true spiritual form completely exposed. His consciousness had awakened, and the overwhelming flow of spiritual energy between them was no longer being used to cleanse his body.

Instead, it began spreading outward.

From Ethan.

Through Xavier.

And into the Mental Sea itself.

Ethan felt it almost immediately.

His spiritual energy slipped beyond the boundary of their joined consciousness, spreading across the ruined Mental Sea like a brilliant tide of light.

The moment that pure energy touched the corrupted abyss, the entire place reacted.

The black tar rippled.

Then it rose.

Not like an ordinary wave, but like something alive that had suddenly realized its entire existence was being threatened.

Ethan slowly pulled away from Xavier, his breathing uneven as he stared at the enormous mass of corruption rising before them.

"Okay," he muttered, wiping the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. "Purification is done."

His eyes narrowed.

"Now we just have to deal with this fucking place."

The abyss answered him.

A monstrous wave of black corruption erupted from the depths.

Ethan immediately raised his hand.

The wave slammed into the barrier Lumi had created, sending a violent shockwave through the entire Mental Sea.

Lumi skidded backward.

"Yip!"

"Lumi!"

Ethan instinctively reached for her through their connection.

Their energies collided again.

This time, Lumi changed.

The tiny fox’s body suddenly began glowing with blinding white light. Her silvery-white fur lifted as spiritual energy gathered around her, and her body expanded rapidly until she was no longer the tiny creature Ethan had been carrying around.

She transformed into a larger spiritual fox, her enormous ears standing tall and her multiple tails of glowing energy sweeping through the air behind her.

Ethan stared.

"Okay..."

Even in the middle of a life-and-death battle, he couldn’t help himself.

"That is fucking cool."

Lumi let out a powerful roar that sounded nothing like her usual little yips.

The barrier exploded with renewed strength.

The corrupted Mental Sea struck again.

And Ethan fought back.

His spiritual energy had already begun recovering after Xavier’s purification. Somehow, almost half of the energy he had exhausted earlier had returned to him, flowing back through his body as though the successful purification had restored a portion of what he had spent.

Ethan didn’t waste a second.

He gathered the recovered energy into his palm.

Light condensed.

It twisted.

Compressed.

Then hardened into a long, brilliant spiritual blade.

Ethan gripped it tightly.

"Let’s finish this."

The abyss surged toward him.

Ethan swung.

The blade sliced through the incoming corruption, but instead of dispersing like ordinary energy, the black mass split apart and immediately reconnected behind the blade.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

"Of course."

This wasn’t ordinary corruption.

Xavier had never been guided before.

His Mental Sea had spent who knew how many years allowing the corruption to grow unchecked, meaning the abyss wasn’t simply a collection of unstable energy that could be destroyed with brute force.

It had become part of the Mental Sea itself.

Ethan needed to separate it from Xavier without destroying what remained underneath.

Another attack came from behind.

Lumi moved before Ethan even noticed.

Her enlarged body twisted through the air, one glowing tail striking the black tendril and sending it crashing sideways.

"Yip!"

"Nice one!"

Ethan thrust his spiritual blade into the ground.

A wave of pure A-rank energy spread outward from the point of impact, illuminating the dark surface beneath their feet.

The corrupted abyss immediately recoiled.

Ethan noticed something.

Every time his energy spread through the Mental Sea, the corruption reacted differently.

Some parts attacked.

Others retreated.

And a few sections seemed to be desperately protecting something beneath them.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

"Wait..."

He lowered his blade slightly.

It wasn’t just fighting him.

It was protecting Xavier’s consciousness.

The realization changed everything.

"Lumi, don’t destroy it!"

The enormous fox immediately stopped another incoming strike.

"We have to separate it from him!"

Ethan spread his consciousness farther into the Mental Sea, allowing his spiritual energy to flow through the darkness instead of simply attacking it.

The abyss immediately tried to consume his energy.

Ethan gritted his teeth.

"Not happening."

He forced his energy deeper.

The corruption twisted around his spiritual force, attempting to drag it downward, but Ethan continued pushing.

He wasn’t trying to overpower the entire abyss anymore.

He was finding the connection between it and Xavier’s consciousness.

And then he saw it.

Beneath the endless black tar, buried far deeper than Xavier’s spiritual form had been, there was a faint point of light.

His consciousness.

Still there.

Still alive.

Ethan’s heart tightened.

"There you are."

The abyss sensed that he had found it.

The entire Mental Sea erupted.

Massive black tendrils shot upward from every direction, converging on Ethan and Lumi at once.

Lumi roared.

Her glowing tails swept outward, intercepting several attacks before they could reach Ethan.

Ethan raised his spiritual blade and cut through another.

Then another.

But the abyss kept coming.

Every destroyed tendril immediately split into several smaller ones.

Every attack Ethan blocked created another opening somewhere else.

The Mental Sea itself seemed to be fighting them.

The ground beneath Ethan cracked open.

Black tar surged from below.

Ethan leapt backward as the corruption erupted where he had been standing only a moment before.

"Seriously?!"

Lumi lunged forward, biting down on one of the tendrils and tearing it apart with a burst of spiritual energy.

Another immediately wrapped around one of her legs.

"Lumi!"

Ethan sent his energy through their connection.

Lumi’s body flashed.

The tendril shattered.

But another one struck her from the side.

She was thrown across the Mental Sea.

"Yip!"

Ethan’s expression hardened.

He couldn’t let this continue.

They were wasting too much energy fighting the corruption head-on.

He needed to end it.

Ethan closed his eyes.

He lowered his spiritual blade.

Instead of gathering his energy around himself, he opened every channel within his consciousness and released it outward.

His pure A-rank spiritual energy spread through the entire Mental Sea.

The darkness resisted.

The abyss fought back with everything it had.

Ethan felt his consciousness being pulled apart by the pressure.

His knees buckled.

His breathing became ragged.

Yet he continued.

He pushed his energy toward the buried light representing Xavier’s consciousness.

"Come on..."

The black tar wrapped around him.

His vision blurred.

His spiritual energy continued pouring out.

"Come on..."

Lumi landed beside him and immediately pressed her glowing body against his side.

Their energies merged.

The barrier she had created around them expanded one final time.

Then Ethan pushed.

Every ounce of recovered energy.

Every remaining trace of his A-rank spiritual power.

Everything.

He unleashed it all at once.

A blinding explosion of light swallowed the Mental Sea.

For one terrifying instant, it looked as though the burst had taken the very life out of Ethan.

His body went completely limp.

The black abyss froze.

Then—

It shattered.

The entire corrupted Mental Sea broke apart into countless fragments of black light.

The fragments scattered through the endless space before dissolving into nothing.

The darkness disappeared.

The poisonous tar vanished.

The suffocating pressure was gone.

And beneath it all, the original Mental Sea finally emerged.

Calm.

Clear.

Whole.

Xavier’s consciousness stood within it, no longer being dragged into an abyss.

Ethan barely had enough strength left to look at him.

A relieved smile crossed his exhausted face.

"We did it..."

The next instant, his consciousness was violently pulled backward.

Ethan’s eyes snapped open.

He was back in the real world.

The familiar infirmary appeared around him, exactly where they had been before entering Xavier’s Mental Sea.

For a moment, Ethan simply lay there, breathing heavily.

He stared at the ceiling.

Then slowly released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

The guiding had been successful.

Xavier was alive.

His corruption had been cleansed.

His Mental Sea had been restored.

Ethan closed his eyes, already preparing himself for what usually happened after pushing his spiritual energy that far.

He expected the familiar exhaustion.

The dizziness.

Then the inevitable loss of consciousness.

It had happened twice before after his previous guiding sessions with Drey, so Ethan was already bracing himself for his body to shut down.

Except...

It didn’t happen.

Ethan blinked.

"Huh?"

Before he could even process why he was still conscious, his body was suddenly shoved backward.

His back hit the ground.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

A figure towered over him.

Xavier.

His long dark-silver hair fell around his face as he stared down at Ethan, crimson eyes locking directly onto his.

Ethan froze.

Xavier leaned closer, his hot breath brushing across Ethan’s face.

Then, in a low voice, he asked,

"Who exactly are you?" His crimson eyes narrowed as he studied Ethan’s face. "And how were you able to guide me?"