⪩⪨ ✦ Cold Spell ✦
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❥: Unable to convince Wooyoung to come to them, the Trix have decided to use an evil creature, which takes over its victims feeding on their fears. This time, the Ainx defeat this danger, only with the help of the school director, Faragonda.
Disclaimer: [WARNING: THIS CONTENT IS A BIT SENSITIVE] Don’t take any of this seriously! I’m not shipping anyone in real life or doing anything inappropriate. This is purely for fun, creativity, and writing AINX AU content. So please, do NOT attack me—thank you! 💖✨
In Wooyoung's dreams, Daphnis's message is becoming clearer. Professor Wizgiz's exam was really unusual, the opportunity to get a top grade without any effort is really tempting. But honesty is the best policy and knowing how to resist the temptation to cheat is the best answer to a classroom assignment.
In Trix's dorms at Cloud Tower, a single black feather drifted through the open window, landing on the obsidian table where Icy traced spell circles. Stormy's lightning flickered across its surface as Darcy whispered forbidden words. The feather absorbed their combined magic, glowing with unnatural violet light.
"All we've got to do now is wait. Wooyoung's mighty power will transfer over to us." Icy's voice was a low, satisfied hum as she leaned back in her chair, her gaze fixed on the glowing feather.
The Trix sisters clasped hands, their voices rising in a dissonant chant that scraped against the stone walls of Cloud Tower. Violet energy snaked from their joined palms, coalescing into a swirling vortex above the obsidian table. The air grew thin, tasting of ozone and burnt sugar. Icy’s knuckles whitened. "Now!" she screamed. The vortex pulsed, sucking light from the torches until only the feather’s eerie glow remained. Then—silence. A deafening crack echoed through the room as the vortex collapsed inward.
Cloud Tower shuddered violently. Books tumbled from shelves, inkwells shattered, and the sisters were thrown backward like ragdolls. Stormy hit the wall with a grunt, Darcy’s glasses skittered across the floor, and Icy crumpled against her chair, gasping for breath. The feather lay dormant, its violet light extinguished. "It didn’t work," Darcy rasped, wiping blood from her split lip. "The Dragon Flame resisted us."
From the shadows near the window, stone grated against stone. A gargoyle, all jagged wings and sunken eyes, peeled itself from the wall where it had been disguised as masonry. It stretched its limbs with a sound like grinding pebbles, then fixed its hollow gaze on the witches. Without a word, it clambered onto the windowsill, its claws scraping deep grooves into the stone.
Icy staggered to her feet, eyes wide. "Where are you going?" The gargoyle paused, turning its head with unnatural slowness. Its voice was a low rumble, like distant thunder. "To find what you cannot steal." Then it launched itself into the moonless night, wings slicing through the fog.
"Horrendous nightmares, custom designed for the sleeper's mind." Icy and the Trix laugh. The gargoyle’s shadow had vanished into the Magix night, leaving the sisters nursing bruises and a gnawing sense of failure.
Back at Alfea, the quad buzzed with the low hum of post-exam relief. Wooyoung led the AINX club across sun-dappled cobblestones, their footsteps echoing against ancient stone arches draped in ivy.
"The parent-teacher meetings are coming up soon" Wooyoung announced, kicking a loose pebble across the quad.
"Time flies, doesn't it?" Seonghwa mused, gently stroking the fur of a winged squirrel that had landed on his shoulder.
"It'll be nice to see my parents together again." Mingi sighed dramatically, adjusting his glittering sun-and-moon brooch.
"Together or not, at least you get to see your parents. Sadly these meetings bring no music to my ears." San plucked a discordant note from thin air, the sound shimmering like broken glass before fading. He caught Yunho's sharp glance and shrugged.
"Maybe, we can make some music of our own. I don't really remember my parents" Yunho hugged San gently, his voice soft as ocean waves. The winged squirrel on Seonghwa's shoulder chittered in agreement, its tiny claws digging into his shirt.
"Something's wrong here. It's as if Mother Nature were upset." Jongho murmured, his hand pressed flat against the ancient oak tree beside them. Its bark pulsed faintly beneath his palm. "The forest is... whispering."
The boys walk along a dark corridor. Yeosang hears something. It wasn't a sound anyone else noticed—just the faintest digital hum beneath the castle's ancient stones, like a corrupted data stream. "Hold on. Did you hear that strange rustling noise?" He froze, one hand snapping up to silence the group.
"Yeosang, it was you. You're just imagining things." Hongjoong rolled his eyes, flexing his shoulders as if ready for a fight that wasn't there.
The boys shuffled into their dorm room, the heavy oak door groaning shut behind them. Moonlight filtered through the arched windows, casting long shadows across the worn velvet couches and cluttered desks piled with spellbooks and discarded energy drinks. Wooyoung collapsed face-first onto the nearest couch, muffling a groan into the cushions, Jongho chuckled lightly.
"I'm exhausted. Me and Hongjoong are going straight to bed, never mind noises and meetings" Mingi yawned, already halfway to his bed, shedding his jacket in a glittering trail. His moonstone pendant caught the light as he moved.
"Night, Mingi" Hongjoong called out, already stripping off his shirt as he headed for his bed.
Mingi slept fitfully, surrounded by flickering candles casting dancing shadows across his face. A sudden, icy gust swept through the room, snuffing every flame into wisps of smoke. The darkness swallowed the dorm whole. Mingi’s brow furrowed, his fingers clawing at the sheets as a low hiss slithered from the corner. The ghoul materialized there—a hunched silhouette with eyes like smoldering coals, its jagged claws scraping the stone floor. Mingi’s breathing hitched, his eyelids fluttering as the nightmare seized him.
In the dream, Mingi stood before a gilded mirror in his parents’ opulent palace hall, adjusting his moonstone brooch. The reflection shimmered—then dissolved into his mother’s tear-streaked face, his father’s stern gaze. They mouthed silent words before vanishing like smoke. The ghoul drifted to Hongjoong’s bed. Hongjoong thrashed, sweat beading on his temples. He was drowning in a flooded cave, water rising to his chin. His parents’ voices echoed from above, distant and distorted. He kicked desperately, lungs burning, but the surface receded further with every stroke. The ghoul swelled, its form bloating with stolen terror, before melting into the shadows.
Hongjoong jolted upright with a guttural scream, gasping for air. Mingi’s shriek followed—a raw, piercing sound that tore through the silence. He scrambled backward, sheets tangled around his legs, eyes wild. "They were gone! Just—gone!" he babbled, trembling.
The door burst open. Wooyoung and Jongho stumbled in first, magic sparking at his fingertips, followed by Yunho and Seonghwa, their hair tousled from sleep. San and Yeosang crowded behind them, squinting in the gloom. "What happened? Why were you two screaming?" Wooyoung demanded, voice tight with alarm.
"Umm, I don't know. We were just dreaming." Mingi stammered, clutching his moonstone pendant. His knuckles were white around the gem.
"You poor things" Seonghwa murmured, kneeling beside Mingi's bed. His hand hovered over Mingi's trembling shoulder as a luminous moth materialized from his palm, casting soft blue light across the room.
"You must have had a nightmare. You guys remember what it was about?" Jongho asked softly, kneeling beside Hongjoong's bed. The air still tasted faintly of ozone and burnt sugar—the same scent from Cloud Tower.
They both shake their head, unable to articulate the visceral dread still clinging to them. Hongjoong wipes sweat from his brow with a trembling hand. "It was much more than just a nightmare, it was as if someone was watching me."
"I've said it before; there's something really strange in the air tonight." Yeosang's voice cut through the heavy silence as he knelt beside Hongjoong's bed.
"Oh well, I don't understand what the big fuss is about. They had a nightmare, so what? Now, if you guys don't mind, I will be going back to bed." San yawned, already turning toward the door. His silhouette looked unusually tense in Seonghwa's moth-light.
Yeosang and San slept fitfully in their shared dorm room, the faint glow of Yeosang's tech-bracelet casting eerie blue patterns on the walls. The ghoul slid beneath their door like smoke, coalescing into a hunched form at San's bedside. Its coal-red eyes fixed on the music fairy as it climbed onto the mattress, claws sinking soundlessly into the quilt. San whimpered, fingers twitching against his pillow as the nightmare took root.
In the dream, San stood in Alfea's moonlit courtyard. His mother sat on the familiar marble bench where she'd waved goodbye on his first day, her silhouette softened by starlight. "Maman?" San breathed, rushing forward—but his footsteps made no sound on the cobblestones. She turned, her smile warm yet distant, and reached out a hand. Just as his fingers brushed hers, she dissolved into shimmering music notes that scattered like frightened birds. The bench stood empty, echoing with the phantom strains of a lullaby he hadn't heard since childhood.
"Juria. Juria!" San says in his dream. The ghoul's shadow shifted, slithering across the floorboards toward Yeosang's bed. It paused, its coal-red eyes narrowing as it climbed onto the mattress, claws sinking deep into the quilt. Yeosang stiffened beneath his sheets, his brow furrowed in sleep. Numbers began to flicker behind his eyelids—endless cascades of binary code, equations scrolling too fast to comprehend. They morphed into thick, glowing bands of light that coiled around his limbs like digital serpents, tightening with each breath until he couldn't move, couldn't scream—yet he did, a choked, guttural sound tearing from his throat as the numbers wrapped him like a mummy in pure data.
The nightmare shifted violently. Yeosang stood in a sterile, chrome-plated cityscape, towers stretching into a sky choked with scrolling binary code. Maya materialized before him—but her eyes were cold LEDs, her smile a flickering hologram. "You're obsolete," her robotic voice droned, metallic fingers snapping into cables that lashed toward him. "Time to upgrade." The wires coiled around his throat, tightening—he wakes up.
"San? What's going on? San? Answer me!" Yeosang shakes San awake, his voice sharp with panic. San jolts upright, tears streaming down his face as he gasps, "Maman... she vanished." His fingers clutch at the empty air where his mother's phantom hand had been moments before in the dream. The raw ache in his voice hangs thick in the dorm room. Yeosang stares, momentarily frozen by the haunted look in San's eyes—a vulnerability rarely seen in the usually composed music fairy.
"Yeosang...she vanished" San cried, his voice cracking. Yeosang stared at the tear tracks glistening on San's cheeks—something he'd never witnessed before. The raw vulnerability in San's eyes cut deeper than any nightmare.
"San" Yeosang breathed, the name catching in his throat. He reached out, fingers brushing San's trembling shoulder. The tech fairy's own nightmare still coiled like cold wire around his ribs—Maya's hollow LED eyes, the suffocating data streams—but San's shattered expression shoved it aside. "How are you feeling?"
"Empty" San whispered, his voice raw. He scrubbed at his cheeks with the heel of his hand, smearing tears across his skin. The vulnerability in his admission hung thick between them—San, whose magic flowed through melodies, laid bare by silence.
Before Yeosang could respond, a sharp knock rattled their door. Jongho burst in, Hongjoong, Wooyoung and Mingi close behind, both pale and wide-eyed. "You screamed," Jongho breathed, taking in San's trembling form.
"What's going on?" Wooyoung pushed past Mingi, his gaze darting between San's tear-streaked face and Yeosang's ashen expression.
"San, your shaking" Hongjoong murmured, stepping closer. His usual bravado was gone, replaced by genuine concern as he took in San's tear-streaked face.
"My beauty sleep!" Mingi complained, rubbing his eyes. "What's all the—" He froze, taking in San's tear-streaked face and Yeosang's haunted expression. "Oh."
"I woke up suddenly, then I noticed something was wrong with San." Yeosang's voice was tight, fingers still gripping San's shoulder as if anchoring him. San shuddered, unable to meet their eyes.
"I was dreaming about my mother. Then the dream turned into my very own worst nightmare, a place with no music." San's voice was barely audible, muffled against Yeosang's chest as he hugged him. Moonlight caught the tear tracks on his cheeks. "She disappeared when I tried to touch her."
"That's strange. I too, was having a horrible dream." Yeosang confessed, his voice uncharacteristically thin. He kept his gaze fixed on the floor, avoiding their eyes. "Numbers... trapping me. Maya... she..." His fingers twitched, phantom cables tightening around his wrists. The admission hung heavy—Yeosang, always the logical one, was undone by digital ghosts.
"First Hongjoong and Mingi, now you two? What's going on around here tonight?" Wooyoung muttered, rubbing his temples.
"Guys, let's recap the situation, shall we? There are too many weird things. First Yeosang hears strange rustling noises, then we have nightmares, finally there's San's world without music." Mingi's voice trembled as he hugged a sequined pillow, his glittering brooch catching moonlight like fractured ice.
"Shhh, quiet fairies. Mirta!" Jongho hissed. His eyes widened.
"What's Mirta got to do with it?" Yeosang frowned, rubbing his wrists where phantom cables had bound him.
Flo, Wooyoung's rabbit familiar, had been sleeping curled on his shoulder, she hops out the room. Her ears twitched violently at Mingi's words. With a sudden, sharp kick of her hind legs, she launched from Wooyoung's shoulder like a tiny fur missile. She landed silently on the polished floorboards and streaked out the door before anyone could react, her light brown tail vanishing into the gloom of the corridor.
"Flo? Where are you going? What's up?" Wooyoung scrambled after her, bare feet slapping cold stone.
"I think Flo's sensing what I'm sensing." Jongho pressed his palm flat against the dorm wall.
The AINX club scrambled after Flo, they moved to the room next room. The rabbit familiar darted through the dim corridor like a white streak, her paws silent on the cold stone. They burst into the dorm's common room and see Pumpkin Mirta.
"Flo is trying to tell us something. It's about Mirta, right Flo?" Jongho whispered, pressing his palm flat against the dorm table.
At Flo's urgent nudging, Jongho knelt beside Mirta's still form. His palm hovered over her forehead, fingers trembling as he closed his eyes. The air thickened with the scent of damp earth and ozone. A ripple of emerald-green energy flowed from Jongho's hand, sinking into Mirta's pumkin form like roots seeking water. Her eyelids fluttered violently beneath closed lids.
"Jongho! Oh, thank goodness you were able to contact me. That creature hasn't been able to get to you yet and Wooyoung, but it did get Yunho and Seonghwa. But I saw it. I saw it creep around in here, and then at the first light of dawn, it just took off. We have to get ready for when it comes back tonight." Mirta disappears.
"Yunho and Seonghwa" Jongho breathed, the emerald glow fading from his palm as Mirta vanished. His hand trembled against the cold table.
Jongho and the members burst into Seonghwa and Yunho's dorm. The scene froze them mid-step. Seonghwa lay sprawled across his bed, sheets tangled around his legs, his face contorted in silent agony. Tears streaked his cheeks, glistening in the moonlight filtering through the window.
"Hwa!" Hongjoong lunged toward Seonghwa's bed.
"Yunho is still having a nightmare" Yeosang whispered, pointing to the other bed. Yunho lay rigid as stone, his chest barely rising. Sweat plastered his blonde hair to his forehead, and his lips moved soundlessly, forming desperate, silent pleas.
Everyone circled around Yunho's bed. Hongjoong gripped his shoulder, shaking him gently at first, then harder. "Yunho! Wake up!" Mingi leaned in, his voice trembling. "Come on, Yunho!" Yunho's eyes snapped open—wide and terrified. He gasped, choking on air, sweat dripping down his temples. "I... I couldn't save you," he whispered, his voice cracking. "The fire... it swallowed everyone." His gaze drifted past them, haunted, unfocused.
"What was your dream, Hwa?" Hongjoong murmured, crouching beside Seonghwa's bed. His fingers brushed damp strands of hair from Seonghwa's forehead—a rare tenderness from the usually brash fairy. Seonghwa shuddered, pulling his knees to his chest. "I was back in Gardenia...walking," he whispered hoarsely. "Every creature...suddenly turned on me...attacking me, including Flo."
"I tried using my power to calm them down, but they dont recognise me and I was left powerless" Seonghwa whispered, his voice cracking as he curled tighter. The nightmare's claws still dug deep—betrayal by the creatures he'd spent his life protecting. Flo twitched her nose, then hopped onto the bed in one fluid motion. Her tiny body pressed against Seonghwa's shuddering chest, warm fur against tear-streaked skin. She nudged his chin with her wet nose, a soft, insistent pressure. Seonghwa froze, then slowly uncurled. His trembling fingers sank into Flo's soft fur, burying themselves as if anchoring to reality. The rabbit familiar didn't flinch. Instead, she nestled closer, her steady heartbeat a silent counter-rhythm to his ragged breaths. A choked sob escaped Seonghwa as he buried his face in her warmth—Flo, solid and real, banishing the phantom fangs of his dream.
"And you, Yunho? Who couldn't you save?" Wooyoung asked softly, kneeling beside Yunho's bed. The air hung thick with the scent of sweat and lingering ozone. Yunho stared at the ceiling, his breath still ragged. "It's not important" He whispered hoarsely, pushing himself upright. Sweat plastered his shirt to his chest. "Just a nightmare."
Yunho's dream had been a suffocating reel of failure. The Trix sisters—icy Darcy, storm-haired Stormy, and flame-eyed Icy—stood silhouetted against Domino's crumbling spires, their laughter sharp as shattered crystal. Behind them, the Ancestral Witches loomed like decaying monuments, their whispers weaving a net of pure dread. Yunho saw himself lunging, magic flaring from his palms in a desperate shield meant to envelop Wooyoung. But the Dragon Flame within Wooyoung—still unstable, untamed—recoiled violently against his ocean magic. The shield fractured like thin ice. Darcy’s shadow tendrils shot past Yunho’s broken spell, wrapping around Wooyoung’s small, struggling form. Yunho screamed soundlessly as Domino’s heart—the Great Dragon—exploded in a cascade of molten rock and dying light, swallowing his baby brother whole.
The guys were sitting down near the Quad, the faires sat down, seriously trying to process everything. "What do you guys think? What could that weird creature want from us?" Wooyoung asked.
"I don't know. What do you think?" San had his head down and his elbows on his legs. He was rubbing his temples. "It's clearly feeding on our fears."
"Mirta saw it come into your bedroom, then it just kept growing in size." Wooyoung shuddered, shifting uncomfortably on the stone bench.
"It's obviously angry at us and so it's taking us one by one." Yeosang muttered, tapping furiously at his wrist-computer.
"Even Flo sensed something. We really ought to be careful. I have a feeling there's a Cloud Tower connection here. It's as if the creature's somehow capable of drawing out our deepest fears." Hongjoong crossed his arms tightly over his chest, glancing toward the dark forest edge where shadows seemed to writhe unnaturally. His shirt clung to him from the nightmare's phantom seawater.
"No kidding. And if I go by what's happened, Jongho's next." Yunho's voice was unusally dark, his gaze fixed on the elegant waterfall in front of them. The memory of Domino's fall—his failure—still coiled cold in his chest. "It’s escalating. Feeding on us makes it stronger."
"I know. All this makes me think about my birth parents." Wooyoung's voice was low, fingers tracing the faint scar on his palm.
"Maybe San can cheer you up, I don't feel so good right now." Mingi whispered, hugging his knees tighter.
"But, Mingi, at least you know who your parents are" Wooyoung murmured.
"Yeah, right, I know who they are, but they don't care much about me. The King and Queen of Solaria, but Prince Mingi, brought up like a perfect stranger." Mingi's voice cracked unexpectedly, and the member's head turned to him sharply. His usual sparkle vanished, replaced by a brittle fragility.
"Hey, why the long faces? I'm way over it by now. The only time they seem to notice me is when I bring home a bad report card. So now I get to dream about my parents." Mingi forced a laugh, twisting his moonstone bracelet until the sharp edge dug into his palm. The pain grounded him—better than the hollow ache behind his ribs.
"Where's Jongho?" Hongjoong's voice cut through Mingi's brittle laughter. He scanned the Quad's stone benches—empty except for their huddled group. Flo twitched her nose violently, ears rigid.
"In his room. He's trying to break the spell that Mirta's under. Ever since the Trix turned Mirta into a pumpkin, it's been Jongho's mission to help her out. He's hoping to find a potion that'll give Mirta back his human shape." Wooyoung explained, his gaze drifting toward the dormitory windows.
"He's been researching non-stop." Yeosang adjusted his glasses, the lenses catching the pale dawn light filtering through Alfea's arched windows.
"Speaking of spells, what ever happened to your princess, Woo?" Seonghwa murmured, his fingers still buried in Flo's fur.
"If you're referring to Jurin, you should know she's just a friend whom I haven't caught a glimpse of in a long, long time." Wooyoung shifted uncomfortably on the stone bench, avoiding Seonghwa's probing gaze.
At Cloud Tower, the Trix sisters huddled near their balcony’s edge, silhouetted against Magix’s bruised twilight.
"I cannot wait for tonight." Darcy leaned back against the cracked obsidian railing, her shadow tendrils coiling restlessly like smoke. "Once we've tired out the other fairies with those horrific nightmares..." Stormy grinned, lightning flickering in her eyes.
"It'll be Wooyoung's turn." Darcy's grin widened, sharp teeth gleaming in the gloom.
"And he's in for a most unpleasant experience" Icy finished, her voice dripping with frost. She traced a clawed finger along the balcony railing, leaving a trail of brittle ice that crackled softly.
Back at the AINX dorms, it has become night. The boys feigned sleep, blankets pulled high, breaths deliberately slow. Only Pumpkin Mirta remained awake, her carved eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. She sensed it first—a creeping chill that wasn't air, a pressure that thickened the silence. Her pumpkin stem vibrated silently, a magical pulse meant for one creature. Flo, curled beside Wooyoung, snapped alert instantly. The rabbit’s ears stiffened, twitching toward the door. She nudged Wooyoung’s cheek urgently with her cold nose.
"Jongho!" Wooyoung hissed, scrambling upright as Flo launched herself off the bed. The rabbit became a white blur, streaking through the open doorway into the hall. Her paws made no sound on the cold stone, but her urgency vibrated the air.
The ghoul materialized above Jongho’s bed like ink bleeding into water—a shapeless void that swallowed the moonlight. Jongho sat bolt upright, gasping, his chest heaving as if he’d been drowning. "Woo, this is it!"
Jongho scrambled upright, magic flaring instinctively from his palms. Emerald vines erupted toward the shadowy mass hovering near the ceiling—but they passed through it like smoke. The ghoul didn't even ripple. It simply flowed, a silent, oily smear retreating under their doorframe and into the corridor. "It's immune!" Jongho gasped, scrambling off his bed, bare feet hitting cold stone. Wooyoung was already moving, flinging the door open wide. Flo shot past his ankles, a white streak chasing the retreating darkness down the hallway. "After it!" Wooyoung barked, lunging after his familiar, the others stumbling out behind him, sleep forgotten.
"It's horrible!" Seonghwa gasped, stumbling into the corridor after Jongho.
"8 got Magiz!" The AINX members shouted in unison, their voices echoing through the corridor as they chased the retreating ghoul.
The boys have transformed into their fairy forms. Mingi throws his ring into the air and it transforms into a scepter. The corridor shimmered as the AINX members unleashed their transformations in unison—a cascade of light swallowing pajamas and replacing them with battle-ready fairy forms. Mingi’s moonstone ring shot skyward, elongating into a crystalline scepter that pulsed with solar flares and lunar coolness. "Let’s illuminate this pest!" he declared, the weapon humming as it settled into his grip.
"Solaria!" Mingi shouted, thrusting his scepter forward. A blinding beam of pure sunlight lanced through the corridor, engulfing the ghoul. Instead of dispersing, the creature shuddered, its form rippling like disturbed water. Mingi gasped as the magic recoiled—not physically, but in his mind. A vision slammed into him: Solaria's glittering throne room, vast and cold. His parents stood regal and distant, their backs turned as Mingi, small and forgotten in ceremonial robes, reached out silently. The ache in his chest was sharper than any blade.
Moonlight washed over the ghoul, cool and silver. The vision dissolved, but the ghoul flowed faster, slipping through a ventilation grate high on the wall with impossible fluidity. Mingi staggered, his scepter dimming momentarily.
"Come on! Let's tail that thing." Wooyoung yelled, his hands igniting with amber fire as he shot after the ghoul's retreating shadow. Hongjoong surged forward on waves of liquid energy, San's sonic trails humming behind him, Yeosang's tech-armor whirring to life—all chasing the dark smear vanishing through the ventilation grate. Only Jongho hesitated, his nature-magic flickering uncertainly. His gaze snapped to Pumpkin Mirta, trembling violently on Seonghwa's nightstand.
He stumbled toward her, emerald energy pulsing from his palms. "Mirta, hang on—"
Her pumpkin form shimmered, dissolving into a translucent vision of her true self—soft brown hair, worried eyes. "Jongho," she whispered urgently, her voice echoing like wind through leaves. "Go. Don't worry about me. It's Wooyoung who's in trouble. You've gotta help him"
In the Hallway of Horrors, the ghoul solidified—a towering mass of swirling shadow and fractured nightmare images. Hongjoong lunged, fists wreathed in liquid energy, but the creature flowed around his punch like smoke. A tendril lashed out, spectral and cold. It struck Hongjoong’s chest. Not flesh, but memory. He gasped, collapsing as the phantom seawater of his drowning nightmare flooded his senses again, choking him. Yeosang fired a containment net from his gauntlet—glowing blue energy threads. The net passed harmlessly through the ghoul. Before Yeosang could recalibrate, a shadowy limb flickered. Digital chains, sharp and biting, materialized around Yeosang’s wrists and ankles, yanking him off his feet. He hit the stone floor hard, gasping as binary code flickered across his vision. San unleashed a piercing sonic scream—pure, discordant magic meant to shatter concentration. The ghoul shuddered, its form rippling… then it echoed San’s own melody back—a twisted, silent version. San’s eyes widened in horror at the soundless void. He clutched his ears, crumpling beside Yeosang, overwhelmed by the sudden, crushing absence of all music.
Wooyoung saw the opening. Dragon Flame roared to life in his palms, twin suns of amber fire. He launched himself forward, aiming a blazing uppercut straight into the ghoul’s shifting core. "Burn!" The flames should have purified the nightmare. Instead, they vanished into the darkness. The ghoul didn’t recoil. It absorbed the fire. And then it struck back. Not physically. Psychically. A torrent of images slammed into Wooyoung’s mind: Mike and Vanessa, his Earth parents, their faces etched with confusion and fear as he tried to explain Domino. Jurin—Cocona—reaching for him, her hand inches from his… then dissolving into shimmering light. The sheer, visceral loss punched the air from his lungs. Wooyoung cried out, a raw sound ripped from his throat, and crashed onto his back, the Dragon Flame flickering weakly around his fists. Mingi, hovering nearby on wings of moonlight, saw Wooyoung fall. "Woo!" He dove, scepter blazing with concentrated solar fury. "Get away from him!" The beam of pure sunlight engulfed the ghoul. Mingi braced for recoil, expecting his own parental abandonment nightmare. Instead, the ghoul shrieked—a soundless vibration that cracked the stone walls. Mingi’s Solaria vision dissolved instantly. The creature recoiled violently, its shadowy form writhing under the relentless solar assault. Mingi pressed harder, teeth gritted. "Yunho! Now!"
Yunho didn't hesitate. While Mingi pinned the ghoul with solar brilliance, Yunho moved with liquid grace. He raised his hands, palms facing upward. The air thickened, shimmering like heat haze over desert sand. Then, with a sharp downward thrust, he unleashed the Infinite Ocean’s pressure—not water, but pure gravitational force. It slammed onto the ghoul like a collapsing star. The creature buckled, its form compressing under the immense weight. Tendrils of shadow flailed wildly, trying to pierce the crushing field. Yunho held firm, his expression grim, sweat beading on his forehead. The hallway groaned under the strain. Mingi’s solar beam intensified, searing the edges of the pinned darkness. "Hold it!" Mingi yelled, wings beating hard against the backwash of power. Wooyoung struggled onto his elbows, Dragon Flame sputtering back to life around his wrists. He saw Yunho’s arms tremble with the effort. The ghoul was weakening, its form flickering like a dying flame under the combined assault.
"Wooyoung! You okay?" Mingi grunts, pouring more solar energy into his scepter. The ghoul screeches silently, shadows boiling under the relentless sunlight. Yunho's arms tremble violently as he maintains the crushing ocean pressure. Sweat drips into his eyes. "Can't... hold... much longer!"
"Guys, what's wrong?" Jongho arrives, breathless, his nature magic swirling like emerald mist around his fists. He sees Hongjoong gasping on the floor, Yeosang pinned by digital chains, San curled up clutching his ears, and Wooyoung struggling to rise. Mingi's solar beam flickers as Yunho's ocean pressure visibly strains him. The ghoul thrashes violently under their combined magic, its form pulsing like a diseased heart.
"We can't do this alone. Last night's horrors have completely tired us out." Yeosang gasped, struggling against the digital chains biting into his wrists. His tech-armor flickered erratically. Jongho's eyes widened—Hongjoong choking on phantom seawater, San trembling in soundless agony.
Mingi's solar beam wavered. "Yunho—!" he cried out, voice strained. Yunho's ocean pressure faltered for a split second. It was enough. The ghoul exploded outward—not with force, but with a wave of pure psychic terror. Mingi screamed as Solaria's cold throne room swallowed him again. Yunho staggered, Domino's flames roaring in his ears. Their magic flickered and died. Mingi crashed to his knees, scepter clattering. Yunho followed, gasping, hands pressed to his temples.
"Come on, Wooyoung, wake up! Snap out of it." Mingi yelled, shaking Wooyoung's shoulder while keeping his moonstone scepter trained on the ghoul. The creature pulsed ominously, feeding on their collective terror. Wooyoung blinked, his parents phantom flames fading from his vision. "Where's the monster? Where did it go?"
"Downstairs. Come on, let's hurry." Jongho looked at Mingi as he had Yunho by his side holding his shaking body. Mingi didn't hesitate. He slammed his moonstone scepter against the cracked hallway tiles. Solar flares and moonlight erupted in a blinding helix, engulfing the battered AINX members. The world dissolved into pure radiance—a sensation like falling through liquid sunbeams. They arrive at the quad.
"Now, where's it hiding?" San hissed, scanning the moonlit Quad. His sonic senses prickled, detecting a faint discordant hum beneath the usual night sounds—like a broken melody. The ghoul was close.
Back at Cloud Tower, the Trix sisters gathered around a swirling vortex of dark energy—a viewing portal conjured within the vacuum of their obsidian scrying orb. Icy leaned in, her shadow tendrils coiling eagerly. The time has come to give our monster a hand," she hissed, her voice echoing faintly in the void. The orb showed the AINX fairies scattered across Alfea's moonlit Quad—Wooyoung disoriented, Jongho supporting a trembling Yunho, Mingi scanning the shadows with frantic eyes.
At the quad, San’s sonic senses screamed. The ghoul erupted from beneath the stone benches—a tidal wave of pure nightmare. It lunged, shadows coalescing into jagged claws aimed straight at San’s chest.
"So, you want to take me on, huh?!" San yelled, wings flaring as he shot skyward. His sonic harp materialized in a shimmer of soundwaves. "Harmonic Scream!" The discordant blast ripped through the air—but the ghoul absorbed the vibrations, swelling larger, darker. Its form rippled, then echoed San's attack back—a silent, crushing wave of anti-sound. San gasped as the void hit him, a physical blow that shattered his concentration. His wings flickered out. He plummeted.
"Oh no! I just can't! I can't do this!" Yeosang screamed as the ghoul's shadowy tendril lashed out.
The ghoul's shadowy tendril lashed out like a whip, catching Yeosang square in the chest. He flew backward, tech-armor flickering violently as he crashed into a stone bench.
Wooyoung saw San fall. Dragon Flame roared to life in his palms, twin suns of amber fire. "Hongjoong! Mingi! Jongho! With me!"
The 4 elements came to life at Wooyoung's command. Hongjoong surged forward on a cresting wave of liquid energy, fists blazing with cerulean power. "Riptide Rush!" he roared, unleashing a torrent that slammed into the ghoul's flank—but the nightmare creature merely rippled, absorbing the watery assault like ink into blotting paper. Mingi's moonstone scepter blazed beside him, solar flares intertwining with lunar beams. "Solar Flare Barrage!" Golden light seared the shadows, forcing the ghoul to recoil with a silent shriek of agony. Jongho didn't shout. He slammed his palms onto the Quad's cracked tiles. Emerald vines thicker than tree trunks erupted, tangling around the ghoul's form like living shackles. For a heartbeat, the creature seemed pinned, thrashing against nature's grip.
Wooyoung saw his opening. Flames ignited along his forearms, casting flickering amber light across the shattered Quad. "Now!" he roared, launching himself forward. Dragon Flame erupted from his palms in twin spirals, searing the air as they arrowed toward the ghoul's core. Beside him, Hongjoong rode a cresting wave of liquid energy, his battle cry sharp as breaking surf. "Tidal Fury!" The pressurized water cannon slammed into the creature's flank just as Wooyoung's fire connected—steam hissed where elements met shadow, but the ghoul absorbed both strikes, its form swelling darker.
Mingi and Jongho didn't hesitate to combine their powers. Mingi's scepter unleashed a helix of solar flares and moonlight, bathing Jongho's emerald vines in liquid gold. The enchanted flora surged forward, wrapping the ghoul in crackling, sun-infused restraints. For a breathless moment, the nightmare creature seemed contained—its shadowy form pinned beneath the combined might of sun, moon, and earth.
Seonghwa stumbled toward Yunho, who knelt gasping near the shattered fountain. "Yunho!" His hands glowed with soft amber light—Animal Whisperer magic meant to soothe. He pressed them against Yunho's trembling shoulders. "Breathe. Just breathe." Yunho's eyes were wild, seawater and phantom flames still dancing in his pupils.
"What in the world is going on? We're all exhausted." Seonghwa gasped, pressing his palms harder against Yunho's shoulders. The soothing amber glow of his Animal Whisperer magic pulsed weakly. Yunho shuddered.
As on cue, the Trix arrive. Stormy’s laughter echoed across the Quad, sharp as shattered glass. She descended atop a whirlwind, flanked by Icy’s glacial chill and Darcy’s shadowy smirk. "Look at them," Stormy sneered, lightning crackling around her fists. "All tangled up in their own fears!"
"I don't know, by the looks of things, you Ainx could still beat us, even if you're all split up." Icy's voice cut through the chaos, crystalline and cold as she materialized beside Stormy. Her pale fingers traced patterns in the air, summoning jagged ice shards that hovered like frozen daggers.
Icy’s glacial gaze locked onto Mingi and Jongho. With a flick of her wrist, jagged ice shards materialized mid-air, whistling toward them. Mingi raised his scepter, solar flares erupting defensively—but exhaustion made him slow. The ice shattered his golden light, spraying frozen splinters. Jongho’s vines whipped up instinctively, tangling around Mingi protectively. Too late.
"Permafrost Embrace!" Icy hissed.
A wave of absolute zero slammed into them. Frost crawled up Jongho’s emerald vines, turning them brittle. Mingi’s wings froze mid-beat, crystalline feathers snapping like glass. Ice encased them both instantly—statues trapped in mid-struggle, expressions locked in shock.
Hongjoong and Wooyoung shot skyward without hesitation, wings beating against the frigid air. Flames roared around Wooyoung’s fists as Hongjoong summoned a swirling vortex of seawater beneath them—a makeshift shield against the Trix’s assault. Stormy’s lightning cracked toward them, jagged and vicious. Darcy’s shadows lashed like whips from below. Icy’s glacial spikes followed, aimed with lethal precision.
"Oh gosh!" Hongjoong gasped, seawater shield buckling under Stormy's lightning strike.
"We must resist" Wooyoung shouted, Dragon Flame flaring brighter—but the ghoul's shadowy tail lashed faster than light. It coiled around Hongjoong's ankle first, yanking him downward with brutal force. Before Wooyoung could react, a second tendril snaked around his waist—icy, incorporeal, yet crushing. Their magic sputtered—Hongjoong's seawater shield collapsed, Wooyoung's flames guttering like dying candles.
Hongjoong thrashed, liquid energy flaring uselessly against the shadowy bindings. "Let go!" he choked out, phantom saltwater filling his mouth. Wooyoung roared, amber fire erupting along his arms—but the flames vanished into the ghoul's darkness, feeding it.
"Well, well, well, looks like your friends can't do anything for you now. You're a prisoner of your own fear." Icy taunted, her glacial smile widening as Wooyoung struggled against the shadowy tendril. The ghoul pulsed triumphantly, drinking deep from their terror.
"What is all the racket about?" Faragonda appears at the top of Alfea's steps, her staff glowing with ancient power. The air crackles as she descends, moonlight bending around her like liquid silver.
The ghoul releases Hongjoong and Wooyoung abruptly. They crash onto the frost-covered Quad, gasping as the nightmare's grip vanishes. Hongjoong scrambles backward, seawater magic sputtering weakly. Wooyoung pushes himself up, flames flickering like a dying candle across his palms—too drained to reignite fully.
"What are you doing to my boys?!" Faragonda's voice cracked like thunder across the Quad. Her staff slammed down. Pure, incandescent light exploded outward—not fire, not magic, but the raw essence of dawn itself. Every window in Alfea Castle blazed to life as if the sun had risen inside its walls. Doors flew open. Sleepy-eyed fairies stumbled onto balconies, rubbing their eyes, gasping at the chaos below. The sudden illumination washed over the frozen forms of Mingi and Jongho. The thick ice encasing them didn't melt; it shattered like fragile glass under the headmaster's power, spraying glittering shards across the frost-covered grass.
"Take this!" Wooyoung and Hongjoong roared in unison, flames and seawater erupting from their palms. The Dragon Flame surged forward, amber and fierce, while Hongjoong’s pressurized water cannon sliced through the air beside it. Faragonda didn’t speak. She raised her staff, and a beam of pure dawnlight—golden and impossibly bright—merged with their assault. The combined power struck the ghoul dead center. For a heartbeat, the nightmare creature absorbed it, shadows swelling darker... then it screamed. A soundless shriek that cracked the Quad’s frost. The ghoul imploded, collapsing inward like a dying star. Shadow tendrils evaporated into wisps of smoke, leaving only the scent of ozone and terror. Before the last wisp vanished, Faragonda was already airborne, robes flaring like wings as she shot toward the Trix. Her eyes blazed with ancient fury. "Enough!"
Stormy recoiled, lightning sputtering around her fists. Darcy’s smirk vanished, replaced by genuine alarm as she melted backward into deeper shadows. Icy stood her ground, but her glacial composure cracked—a flicker of panic in her pale eyes as the Headmistress closed in.
"Retreat!" Icy’s voice echoed from the darkness as they dissolved completely.
"Can someone explain to me what happened here tonight?" Faragonda's voice cut through the stunned silence, her gaze sweeping the devastated Quad—shattered benches, scorched earth, and AINX members scattered like broken dolls. Jongho knelt beside Mingi's trembling form, emerald light flickering as he tried to thaw frostbitten fingers. Seonghwa had Yunho's head cradled against his shoulder, whispering reassurances while Yunho stared blankly at his shaking hands. San limped toward Yeosang, who sat slumped against a fractured pillar, tech-armor dark and silent.
"We don't have a clue, Mrs. Faragonda, except that that strange monster began attacking us." Seonghwa's voice trembled as he helped Yunho stand. The Guardian Fairy leaned heavily against him, seawater still dripping from his fingertips despite the dry night air. Nearby, Jongho rubbed Mingi's frozen arms, emerald light pulsing weakly from his palms. Mingi's teeth chattered violently, his solar wings reduced to faint golden smudges.
"And we don't even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't shown up." Mingi's voice cracked through chattering teeth as Jongho helped him stand. Frost still clung to his eyelashes despite Jongho's thawing efforts. Nearby, San knelt beside Yeosang, gently tapping his chest as Yeosang breathed heavily. "Come on, Sangie. Reboot."
"Ok, Flo, I don't know what to tell you, except you're such a good bunny." San murmured, scratching his rabbit familiar's ears as Flo nudged Yeosang's limp hand. The tech fairy groaned, systems flickering back online. Across the quad, Faragonda's gaze swept the battered group—Mingi leaning heavily on Jongho, Yunho's haunted eyes fixed on distant flames only he could see, Wooyoung's trembling hands still smoking faintly.
"I have a feeling Mrs. Griffin will know what happened, or at least I hope she will." Faragonda's voice softened as she surveyed the battered group.
At Cloud Tower, the rain fell in relentless sheets, turning the jagged parapets into slick, weeping gargoyles. Icy strode through the downpour, her pale hair plastered to her skull, shoulders rigid. Stormy kicked a puddle, sending arcs of filthy water splattering against Darcy’s shadow-cloaked legs.
"What a quintet of airheads. They haven't heard the last of us!" Icy snarled, her boots splashing through deepening puddles as Cloud Tower's jagged silhouette swallowed them whole. Rain plastered Stormy's violet hair flat against her skull, each step kicking up arcs of filthy water. Darcy melted slightly at the edges, her shadow-form bleeding into the downpour.
"At least the weather is kind of nice tonight." Stormy muttered, kicking another puddle that splattered against Darcy's shadowy cloak. The rain fell in icy sheets, turning Cloud Tower's obsidian spires into weeping gargoyles overhead. Icy didn't slow, her boots splashing through deepening puddles as she marched toward the fortress-like entrance. The downpour plastered her silver-white hair flat against her skull, each droplet tracing cold paths down her rigid spine.
"You idiot." Darcy hissed, reforming fully as Stormy's splash soaked her. Her eyes narrowed, scanning the rain-slicked courtyard. "We need a new plan. That ghoul was supposed to break them, not—"
A sudden pressure silenced her. The relentless drumming of rain faded, replaced by a thick, unnatural stillness. The air before them shimmered like disturbed mercury, coalescing into a familiar, terrifying visage. Griffin's face materialized—not projected, not summoned, but present. Her sharp features were carved from living shadow, eyes burning with cold fury that outshone Cloud Tower's gloom. Raindrops passed through her, leaving no trace on her spectral form.
"I've been waiting for you, you stupid girls." Griffin's voice wasn't loud. It sliced through the drumming rain like a blade, colder than Icy's permafrost.
"See, I told you so." Stormy mumbled, shrinking back as Griffin's spectral gaze pinned them in place. Darcy froze mid-step, her shadow-form flickering with genuine alarm. "Eugh!" Icy held her ground, chin lifted defiantly, though her knuckles whitened around her dripping cloak.
"Silence! Thanks to you, I just suffered the humiliation of being scolded by Griselda. I will never forgive you for this and you won't do it again." Griffin's spectral form pulsed with dark energy, making the rain sizzle where it touched her incorporeal edges. Her burning gaze swept over them.
"No, Ma'am, we won't do it again-" Icy began, her voice tight with forced obedience. Griffin's shadow-hand lashed out—not physically, but the air itself cracked like a whip inches from Icy's face. "I said silence!" Griffin's spectral form leaned closer, rain steaming where it met her dark aura. "You won't do it again because you'll never set foot in here again, not tonight, not ever. Now get out of here and hopefully this is the last time I see you.."
"Eugh! A curse on ever single one of those Ainxes, they'll pay dearly for this! I will triumph over them." Icy spat, shaking rainwater from her fists as Griffin's spectral form dissolved into the storm. The dismissal stung worse than Faragonda's light. Stormy kicked a puddle violently, arcs of filthy water soaking Darcy's shadow-cloak again. "Get out? Where does she think we'll go? Some pathetic inn?" Darcy's form rippled with irritation, reforming tighter against the downpour. "Quit splashing, you idiot! We need shelter now." Her shadowy gaze scanned Cloud Tower's forbidding walls—windows dark, doors sealed by Griffin's magic. Rejection hung heavier than the rain.
In the next episode, at XGALX, the Specialists' skills are demonstrated. Wooyoung joins his Jurin (Cocona), but he finds her with a mysterious and beautiful boy, Wumuti. Who is he? Upsetting discoveries about Jurin (Cocona).