Katsu stood at the lake's edge, hands clasped behind his back, the early morning mist curling around his boots. His eyes tracked the slow ripples across the black water. "…Hmph."
Soft footsteps rustled the grass behind him. Sydney and Rei joined him, drawn by the quiet intensity around Katsu.
"Why are you staring at the lake like it insulted you?" Sydney asked, her tone light but her eyes searching, serious.
Katsu didn't answer immediately. The silence stretched, heavy as the leaden sky.
Rei let out a resigned sigh, crossing his arms. "He's wondering if he could freeze it over again. Like he did back in Wildglow."
Katsu's eyes flicked sideways, a ghost of a smirk on his lips. "You think I can?" His hand dropped to rest on the hilt of the old sword at his hip—his father's sword, worn but steady.
Rei eyed him levelly. "Maybe. But you'd drain your mana pool dry. You'd be a walking corpse by the time you finished."
Katsu's grip tightened on the hilt. "Would pulling it off be a Master-level feat? Or still Wizard or Witch level?"
Rei's gaze lingered on the lake, measuring its scale. "Archmage," he said, certain. "You pulled it off with raw instinct at Wildglow. Now, with control? You could do it again. But…" He stepped beside Katsu. "I've never seen you as someone with endless mana. You burn bright, but you burn fast."
Katsu let out a dry, humorless chuckle. "That's always been the problem."
Sydney shifted uncomfortably at his other side, eyes darting between the two boys. "So what—you're just going to stand here and drain yourself dry to prove something?"
Katsu didn't answer. His hand dropped from his sword. Mist curled at his boots.
Behind them, the crisp snap of boots on stone announced Master Uiscel's arrival. His presence swept across the lakeshore like a cold wind, silencing the morning birdsong.
"You three," Uiscel called, voice carrying across the water with effortless authority. "Form up."
Katsu straightened immediately, hands dropping to his sides. Rei tensed beside him, posture snapping military-straight. Sydney hesitated a breath, then fell in line, shoulders squared.
Master Uiscel emerged from the treeline, his dark cloak drifting behind him, boots crunching softly on frost-hardened grass. His gaze flicked over each of them—measuring, weighing, unflinching.
"So," he said at last, voice low but resonant, eyes narrowing on Katsu. "You're wondering if you can freeze the lake again. I'd caution you to remember the cost of your last demonstration."
He stepped closer, the morning light catching the silver threads in his hair. "But if you truly wish to test yourself, then you'll do it under my eye. Here, in this class. With the others watching."
The mist thickened around Katsu's feet, curling up his legs like grasping hands. His pulse thundered in his ears.
Master Uiscel swept an arm back toward the treeline. Dozens of students stepped into view, spreading along the lakeshore in a silent, expectant crescent.
"This is your lesson today," Uiscel declared, voice rising. "Control. Power. And the wisdom to know when one becomes the enemy of the other."
He folded his hands behind his back, eyes settling on Katsu with quiet, merciless intensity. "Begin."
The world seemed to hold its breath. The lake's surface stilled, perfectly glassy, as Katsu stepped forward—alone—every eye on him.
He lowered himself to one knee, hand slipping beneath the lake's icy surface. The chill bit into his skin, but he barely felt it. Instead, he chased the memory—the rush of power, the certainty of saving them all, the moment Wildglow bent to his will.
The water responded, shivering under his palm. Cold radiated outward in a widening circle. Frost laced the surface, spidering veins of white across the dark mirror of the lake.
His breath came sharp and ragged. The lake's temperature plunged; frost began to form—then a violent tremor tore through him.
Katsu staggered, back arching as a wet cough wracked his chest, blood splattering across his glove and into the water.
The Leviathan's eyes narrowed, golden and hard as coin. Her voice dropped, lethal and soft.
"Belphegor."
Katsu hunched over, one arm braced on the bank, the other clutching his ribs. To the others, he looked frozen—motionless, eerily still.
"Shit…" he rasped. "Levi, what is that…?"
The Leviathan materialized, half-shadow and half-flesh, one hand catching his shoulder as he swayed. Her gaze never left the dark forest beyond the lake, her words edged with quiet fury.
"You woke up a Demon. I thought the rumors were only old whispers. But it's true. The Soryuun bloodline is tied to Belphegor—the Demon of Sloth."
A hush fell over the clearing. Wind stirred, carrying a deep, unnatural cold.
Sydney's eyes widened, panic rising in her voice. "…What's happening to Katsu?"
Rei stepped forward, eyes narrowed in focus, seeing past the shivers, the blood, the unnatural stillness. His voice dropped to a whisper only Sydney could hear "…He's hurt. Bad."
The bells tolled overhead, their somber peals fading into a hush that settled heavy over the lakeshore. From the great stone doors of the Academy, she stepped forth—barefoot, each step soundless yet carrying the weight of something ancient and unshakable.
She was arresting: tall, barefoot, with skin pale as moonlight and a thick white braid over one shoulder. Slitted emerald eyes, sharp and feline, swept lazily across the students—daring anyone to look away, openly amused by their discomfort.
Finally, her eyes fell on Katsu, kneeling at the lake's edge. His back turned to the group.
Her lips curved into a slow, knowing smile, the kind that suggested she'd always expected to find him brought low before her.
Rei's breath caught audibly. His voice was a raw whisper. "That's… Juju von Soryuun. The heir."
Meanwhile, Katsu's body trembled violently, his breath ragged. Frost spread beneath his knee in fine, delicate webs, the ground itself recoiling from the unnatural cold coursing through him.
The Leviathan's arms wrapped around his chest, dark and protective, her hair spilling over his shoulder like a curtain of midnight.
She pressed a hand to his ribs, mana sparking around her palm as she tried to stem the hemorrhaging power draining from him.
But every pulse of her magic sputtered, crushed by the sheer, suffocating weight of Belphegor's presence.
"Stay with me," she hissed into his ear, voice trembling with fury. "Don't you dare let this bastard of Sloth take you."
Juju stepped forward from the threshold, bare feet whispering across frostbitten grass.
Her emerald gaze glittered, lazy and unhurried, yet every eye fixed on her as if drawn by an unseen hook.