The ethereal skull manifested from Alvin Ward''s dark energy technique loomed before me, its hollow eye sockets fixated on my position. Each time it struck, I felt my qi draining away, as if the very essence of my life force was being siphoned from my body.


    "What is this?" I gasped, dodging another attack that nheless grazed my shoulder, sending a wave of coldness through my arm.


    The skull, translucent and wreathed in swirling darkness, made a horrible keening sound that seemed toe from everywhere and nowhere at once. I tried striking it with a qi-infused punch, but my fist passed through the apparition like it was smoke. Yet when it attacked me, the pain was devastatingly real.


    "You can''t fight it physically," Ward sneered, his hands moving inplex patterns that controlled the skull''s movements. "The Devouring Phantom Skull is an ancient technique passed down through generations. It doesn''t just attack your body—it consumes your life essence!"


    I retreated, gaining distance to analyze the situation. The skull pursued relentlessly, its jaw opening wider with each lunge, revealing a bottomless void that seemed to pull at my very soul. My energy reserves were depleting rapidly. At this rate, I''d bepletely drained in minutes.


    From the corner of my eye, I caught Leopold Shepherd''s horrified expression as he watched from the safety of our damaged car. Beside him, Alistair Northwood''s face showed a different emotion—a strange, almost reverent faith.


    "He''ll find a way," I heard Alistair whisper. "He always does."


    The skull dove at me again. This time, I didn''t try to attack or dodge. Instead, I observed its movement pattern carefully. There was a rhythm to its attacks—a slight hesitation after each strike as the energy it drained from me was pulled back toward Ward.


    That was it. The connection.


    The next time the skull attacked, I deliberately allowed it to graze me. Pain shot through my body as I felt my energy being pulled away, but I focused intently on that sensation, on the flow of energy leaving me.


    "You''re finished, Knight!" Ward''s voice was triumphant. "No one has ever survived this technique. Your power will be mine, and then I''ll take what belongs to me!"


    But I wasn''t listening anymore. I had identified the thread of energy connecting the skull back to Ward—a dark, pulsing channel that temporarily formed whenever my energy was being drained.


    "Let''s see if this connection works both ways," I muttered.


    When the skull attacked again, instead of resisting the drain, I actively directed my remaining qi toward it. Then, at the precise moment when my energy began flowing back to Ward, I attempted something that shouldn''t have been possible—I reversed the flow.


    For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then the skull froze in mid-air, its attack halted by my counterintuitive maneuver.


    "What are you doing?" Ward''s confident expression faltered. "Stop that immediately!"


    I didn''t answer. Concentrating with every ounce of my willpower, I continued pushing against the energy flow, forcing it backward through the connection. The skull trembled, caught between Ward''s control and my resistance.


    And then something extraordinary happened. The dark energy that had been draining from me began to flow in the opposite direction. Instead of Ward feeding on my energy, I was now absorbing his.


    "Impossible!" Ward''s face contorted with shock and fear. "No one can reverse the Devouring Phantom Skull!"


    But I was doing exactly that. The dark energy rushed into me like water finding a new channel. It was cold and alien, yet somehowpatible with my own energy systems. My earlier sess at absorbing Ward''s attack hadn''t been a fluke—my body seemed designed to process this dark power.


    The skull''s form began to waver, its ethereal structure destabilizing as I continued drawing energy from it rather than letting it feed on me.


    "Stop!" Ward screamed, his skin turning ashen as his own life force began to drain. He fell to one knee, his hands trembling as he tried to maintain control of his technique. "You''ll kill us both!"


    "Then break the connection," I advised calmly, continuing to absorb the dark energy.


    Ward''s eyes bulged with terror and rage. "I... can''t. The technique isn''t designed to be interrupted. You''ve corrupted the energy flow!"


    I found myself smiling grimly. "Then I guess we''re seeing this through to the end."


    The dark energy flowing into me was exhrating, filling me with a cold power unlike anything I''d experienced before. It didn''t conflict with my qi or Inner Strength—instead, it seemed toplement them, creating a harmony of opposing forces within my body.


    Ward''s body began to wither before my eyes, his life force draining rapidly as I continued to absorb the energy. His handsome features sagged, skin wrinkling and hair turning white as his vitality was stripped away.


    "You truly are a chaotic body," he gasped, his voice bing raspy and weak. "A vessel that can contain opposing energies... such a thing hasn''t existed for centuries."


    "You keep saying that," I replied, maintaining the energy absorption. "What exactly is a chaotic body?"


    Ward''s eyes shed with a mixture of fear and admiration. "A monster... or a miracle. One who can walk all paths of cultivation simultaneously. You shouldn''t exist."


    His physical form continued deteriorating, but suddenly his expression changed from desperation to calction. With a look of grim determination, Ward made aplex hand gesture. The skull shuddered violently, then began to dissolve.


    "I won''t die here," Ward hissed. "Not to an untrained chaotic body who doesn''t even understand what he is." <em ss="meta-ref-static">Love this story? Show your support on *.</em>


    Before I could respond, Ward''s body convulsed. His mouth opened impossibly wide, and a stream of ck shadows poured out, twisting and writhing in the air. The physical form that had been Alvin Ward copsed to the ground like a discarded puppet, while the shadows rapidly dispersed in all directions.


    The skull disappearedpletely, the connection between us severed. The flow of dark energy stopped, but I had already absorbed a significant amount—far more than I''d lost initially.


    Leopold and Alistair cautiously emerged from the car, approaching with wide eyes.


    "What just happened?" Leopold asked, staring at Ward''s copsed body. "Is he..."


    I walked over to check. The body on the ground looked like Alvin Ward but aged several decades in minutes. There was no pulse, no breath—just an empty shell.


    "The real Alvin Ward fled," I exined, straightening up. "Whatever was controlling him—or whatever he really is—escaped as those shadow entities."


    "Will hee back?" Alistair asked nervously.


    I nodded slowly. "Eventually. He wants the artifacts too badly to give up. And now he knows what I am—whatever that means."


    Leopold gestured to the lifeless body. "We should leave before someone connects us to this."


    "Agreed." I took onest look at the husk that had been our enemy. Whatever Alvin Ward truly was, he was powerful and dangerous—and now he had a personal grudge against me.


    As we hurried back to the damaged car, I could feel the dark energy I''d absorbed settling within me, finding its ce alongside my other energy systems. It felt right, as if my body had been designed to amodate these opposing forces.


    I nced toward the horizon, where the shadows had fled. "But this is enough. With so much dark energy, it should be enough to support me in reaching Foundation Building Stage 3."