Darkness.
It wasn't cold.It wasn't suffocating.It just… was.Still and suspended, like the world had taken a breath and forgotten to exhale.
Kael drifted in that silence.Weightless. Unmoving.His heartbeat echoed faintly—like a distant drum lost in a dream.
There was no pain.No fear.No sound.
Just void.
Then—something cracked.
A voice broke through, muffled at first, like it traveled through layers of water and glass.
"...He's alive!"
The darkness shattered.
A flood of light.A rush of breath.Kael gasped—violently.
His eyes snapped open.
He was staring at a ceiling embedded with glowing blue lines—soft pulses of mana flowing through metallic veins. The ceiling curved with sleek elegance, unfamiliar and sterile. He was lying on a raised medical bed that hummed with energy beneath him, slowly knitting torn muscle and broken mana channels.
Pain returned. Not sharp—but dull and ever-present.
He tried to sit up and groaned.
"Easy," said a calm, clipped voice.
An instructor in silver-trimmed robes stepped forward, holding a glowing clipboard. A mana HUD floated above it, pulsing in rhythm with Kael's vitals.
"You've been unconscious for seven hours. The healing wards have stabilized your core and mended most of the physical damage. But…" The instructor's eyes narrowed, "...you pushed your body far beyond safe thresholds."
Kael blinked, groggy. His voice rasped.
"Reks? Laziel?"
"Both alive. They're in recovery pods across the hall. You'll be allowed to visit them shortly."
Relief crashed over him like a tide. Kael slumped back into the bed, exhaling deeply.
They'd survived.
No—they'd won.
They took down an evolved, high-tier Veyrith.
Not by luck alone—by working together. A perfect storm of timing, instinct, and desperation.
"We got lucky," Kael muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "If we hadn't injured it before the full mutation, we'd be dead."
Observation Hall
The Council Hall sat high above the central spire of Arcanis Academy—a glass-paneled chamber laced with pulsing mana runes. It overlooked the vast training grounds, dormitories, and the distant shimmer of the Verdant Mana Forest, but no one inside was admiring the view.
They were all watching the same replay.
Kael Ardyn's strike.The evolved Veyrith's collapse.Three battered Spark-ranked students, barely standing.
The final frame lingered on screen.
Silence followed.
"They're Spark-ranked," said a woman in crimson and gold robes, her voice crisp with disbelief. "First-years. With no formal squad certification."
"They coordinated like Ascendants," murmured another. "Reks Valorin—confirmed triple-mana user. Laziel, tactical command and support. Kael Ardyn… raw combat instinct beyond classification."
"Especially him," Overseer Varn said at last, his voice low and thoughtful. The eldest present, his gaze was fixed on Kael's every movement in the recording. "That kind of control at his level—it's unnatural."
The air tightened around those words.
"But he's still Spark-ranked," said a younger member, tone skeptical. "Talent means nothing if it isn't backed by cultivation."
"He has that too," Varn replied firmly. "Watch the way he reads the battlefield—predicts, redirects, conserves mana mid-strike while maximizing fatal intent. That isn't luck. That's talent… forged through something we haven't seen."
The crimson-robed woman folded her arms. "We've seen flashes of brilliance in prodigies before. But not like this. Not this calm. This refined."
"So what now?" another councilor asked. "Do we reward them? Promote them?"
"We can't ignore it," said Varn. "But rewarding freshmen like upper-years will break precedent."
A second voice cut in, firm and frustrated. "They saved hundreds of students' lives. That Veyrith breached our defenses. If they hadn't acted, we'd be counting bodies. Is precedent worth more than that?"
Suggestions filled the chamber.
Restricted training clearance.Mentorship under elite instructors.A rank skip in internal assessments.Even a formal audience with the Headmaster.
But one stood out—symbolic. Personal.
"We could forge a token," Varn proposed, "from the Veyrith's core. A single piece for each of them. Custom, inscribed. No elevation of rank, no academy privileges, just something meaningful. A mark of survival—and excellence."
"And what about their Arena Ranking?" someone asked.
Varn smiled faintly. "We raise it. Slightly. Platinum Tier. Enough to turn heads, not break order."
The vote passed—unanimous.
Academy Dormitory – Evening
Laziel floated above his bed, hands tucked behind his head, his hoverboard humming beneath him with soft levitation.
The door creaked open.
Kael stepped in slowly, half-buttoned academy coat slung over his shoulders. He looked pale, bruised, but awake.
Laziel smirked. "Well, well. Look who decided to rise from the dead."
Kael managed a faint smile. "Can't let you hog all the dramatic flair."
Laziel drifted down and stood. "Reks is still out. But he's stable. Crashed so hard he broke a reinforced pillar." He chuckled. "Swears he meant to do it. I give him a week before he starts calling it a heroic sacrifice."
Kael sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing his eyes. His mind was still spinning from everything.
"We weren't supposed to survive that," he said quietly.
Laziel's smile faded.
"No. We weren't."
A long pause stretched between them.
Then Laziel said, with rare softness—
"But we did."
Kael looked down at his hand—the same hand that had ended a high-tier monster just hours ago.
"If the fight had started with it fully evolved," he asked, "do you think we could've won?"
Laziel laughed. "We barely made it out alive. If it had been at full strength from the beginning?"
He shook his head.
"Toasted. Extra crispy."
Kael exhaled through his nose.
Then I have to change. I have to become far more than I am now…
Before the thought could settle, Laziel grinned again.
"I know that look, Kael." He extended a fist. "Let's become stronger. Together."
Kael looked at him—and this time, truly smiled.
He bumped the fist. "Together."
The next morning
The dorm door slammed open.
"I'm back, baby!" shouted a very alive, very loud Reks, arms flung wide like he just conquered death.
He posed dramatically in the doorway, wrapped in bandages with one arm in a sling.
"Did you two miss me, or did you already start crying?"
Laziel groaned. "We were actually hoping you'd stay asleep. It was so peaceful."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "I was more worried the Academy would rebuild the pillar you broke and name it after you."
Reks grinned proudly. "Hey, I softened the landing for that pillar."
Laziel blinked. "...The pillar?"
Reks shrugged with a lopsided grin. "Yeah, well. It broke my fall too. Mutual destruction."
Kael shook his head. "We save the academy from a high-tier Veyrith, and this is our reward."
Reks flopped onto his bed with a wince and a sigh. "No regrets."
Laziel stretched his arms. "I'm giving it three days before he claims the Veyrith died from sheer intimidation."
Reks grinned. "I was the first one it tried to kill. Maybe it knew I was the real threat."
Kael smirked. "Or maybe it just liked the idea of peace and quiet."
They all laughed.
The war outside could wait.For now, in this small room of half-bandaged, overachieving first-years—there was nothing but warmth.
And silence, finally earned.