The sky cracked open at dawn
No birds no chants no morning bell
Just silence heavy like fog
Azel moved through the shadowed hallway of Dorm C
Echo beside him blades tucked quiet
Sera followed her steps light her aura flickering from the healing rune
They passed the courtyard fast
Students lined up for the so-called trial
Instructors wore blank masks
Puppets in flesh
The real trial was above
Inside the clock tower
They slipped through the servant tunnel
Behind the west greenhouse
A path only Azel knew
Used once by smugglers long gone
The tower rose like a spine through the academy
Black stone walls ticking with ancient enchantments
Each floor pulsed with mana
Each tick closer to control
Azel reached the bottom stair
Paused
He felt it
A pulse not from the tower
From within
Kyren's magic
They climbed fast
Two guards at the second floor
Elite rank silver pins
Sera raised her fingers
Three flicks
Sleep spell sharp and precise
The guards slumped silently
Third floor Echo vanished
Then reappeared behind a rune barrier
Cracked it with his palm
Gate open
By the time they hit floor five
The ticking grew louder
Like a heartbeat out of sync
Azel pulled a scroll from his belt
Unrolled it midrun
Activated the ink
The tower's time froze for three seconds
That's all they needed
They burst into the main chamber
Kyren stood in the center
Hands raised above an altar
Dozens of crystal cores floating
Each glowing with student essence
Behind him five masked figures
Their robes bore the gold and black crest of the Marionette Order
Kyren smiled
I hoped you'd come Azel
I taught you well
Azel didn't reply
He walked forward as Echo circled left
Sera raised a spell behind them
Kyren kept speaking
This system was always flawed
You're here because you know it too
Join me
Or vanish with it
Azel stopped ten steps away
His eyes never blinked
You trained me to see through masks
Yours just cracked
He raised his hand
Magic surged
But not toward Kyren
Toward the clock gears above
They shattered in an instant
The tower screamed
Time magic unraveled
The ritual glitched
Crystal cores flickered
Sera launched a silence seal
Echo struck first
The real war started then
Not for grades
Not for merit
But for the right to break what enslaved them