**The Detonation’s Crescendo**
Dick’s body had become a fissure of light, every muscle fiber unraveling into threads of pure energy. The Bck Earth trembled as his voice echoed through the colpsing realm, softer than falling ash:
"*At least... I’ll clear this obstacle for them...*"
Qin Hong’s scream tore through the inferno. "**STOP!**" He lunged forward, Voidcutter raised—but the bde disintegrated mid-swing, its spatial edge unable to pierce the supernova blooming before him.
The bomber’s final smile lingered like a ghost as his form dissolved. "*Wish I could’ve... fought Guan Lan...*"
White consumed everything.
---
### **The Koi’s Omen**
A thousand miles away, moonlight pooled like liquid mercury in the courtyard’s koi pond. Guan Lan knelt at the ritual’s epicenter, his blood staining the raked gravel in Rorschach patterns. The *Soul-Tether Hand* protruding from his chest pulsed like a parasitic worm, its obsidian cws buried deep in J-Teacher’s fbby torso.
*Plop.*
The golden koi’s desperate flips sent water droplets arcing through the air—each containing a distorted reflection of Guan Lan’s agony. Shan reached for the gasping fish, her silk sleeve snagging on a jagged stone.
"Leave it," Guan Lan rasped. Blood bubbled at his lips with each word. "The Gate... demands bance."
As if summoned, the koi froze mid-flip—its scales dulling to the color of tarnished brass. A heartbeat ter, Guan Lan’s spine arched violently. Ribbons of crimson erupted from his eyes, nose, and mouth, painting Shan’s horrified face in macabre brushstrokes.
"**Shut it down!**" She whirled on J-Teacher, who stood wringing his jade-studded hands.
The necromancer’s jowls quivered. "Can’t! The Soul-Tether’s crossed the threshold! Either we pull his friend through, or—"
Guan Lan’s ughter cut through the gurgling sounds in his throat. "Or I become the toll."
---
### **The Puppeteer’s Gambit**
J-Teacher’s beady eyes darted between the convulsing summoner and Shan’s heaving chest. His tongue darted out to wet lips cracked by decades of dark rituals. *Once the fool bleeds out,* he thought, *that woman and her assets will be mine to—*
"**What’s so amusing?**"
The voice froze the necromancer’s blood. Guan Lan’s head had rotated 180 degrees, neck vertebrae popping audibly. The eyes staring back were no longer human—pupils slit vertically like a serpent’s, swimming with primordial darkness.
*Crunch.*
Five obsidian talons erupted from Guan Lan’s back, spearing through J-Teacher’s chest with the sound of tearing parchment. The fat man’s scream harmonized with the koi’s final death throes as the cws retracted, dragging him toward the shimmering Soul-Gate.
"**Redirection protocol,**" Guan Lan intoned, his voice yered with something ancient and hungry.
---
### **The Bridge of Regret**
Shan watched in horrified fascination as the ritual inverted. Guan Lan’s stolen vitality snaked through J-Teacher’s twitching form, transforming the necromancer into a screaming battery. Violet energy coalesced into a bridge spanning the Soul-Gate’s threshold—a grotesque parody of the Milky Way, each star a captured memory:
- *Apo handing Guan Lan a stolen cigarette behind the academy dorms* - *Their first (disastrous) attempt at brewing stamina potions* - *The way Apo’s ugh lines crinkled when he called Guan Lan an idiot*
"**Almost... there...**" Guan Lan’s remaining eye rolled back, revealing webworks of ruptured capilries.
The Soul-Gate rippled.
---
### **The Ghost in the Machine**
He stepped through exactly as remembered—white linen suit immacute, hair tousled by an invisible breeze. Even the scent was perfect: sandalwood soap and the faint tang of sea salt from their st beach trip.
"**You look like hell.**" Apo’s smile held its trademark crooked charm.
Guan Lan’s remaining teeth gleamed crimson as he grinned. "Says the guy who—"
The illusion shattered for Shan. Her *Soul-Sight* revealed the truth: Apo’s form flickered like a corrupted hologram, his mouth moving out of sync with Guan Lan’s desperate dialogue. Beneath the pristine suit, maggots writhed in empty eye sockets.
"Stop this!" She smmed against an invisible barrier, nails breaking against its surface. "That’s not him!"
J-Teacher gurgled through punctured lungs. "The Gate... mirrors... the heart’s poison..."
---
### **The Poisoned Dialogue**
"—and Boros?" Guan Lan asked, oblivious to the necrosis creeping up his arms.
Apo’s spectral hand passed through Guan Lan’s shoulder. "Says you’re still his worst student.And you should forgive Lias..."
The courtyard’s cherry blossoms began falling upward.
"Liar." Guan Lan’s chuckle sprayed blood across the gravel.
The tether pulsed—once, twice.
Apo’s form began dissolving. "Time to go."
"**NO!**" Guan Lan’s scream tore his remaining vocal cords. The Soul-Tether fred brighter, drinking directly from his lifespan.
"Take good care of yourself and don‘t come into my world so soon."
---
