Chapter 5: The Academy of Light and Lies
The Arcellia Magic Academy stood like a monument to perfection silver towers that shimmered in the sun, floating crystal lamps, and banners enchanted with flowing light. Every noble family in the kingdom sent their best here.
To most, it was a dream.
To Cid, it was a cover.
He walked through the gates with a quiet, unreadable smile, blending into the crowd. Students boasted about bloodlines, magical talent, and family prestige all the noise of surface life.
Cid only cared about what lurked beneath it.
> "Another day of pretending to be average," he murmured, slipping his hands into his pockets.
A Game in the Shadows
During his first week, Cid played the part of the ordinary student perfectly. He scored decent grades, showed "good but not exceptional" sword skill, and deliberately lost sparring matches when convenient. Even the instructors labeled him as normal.
Exactly how he wanted it.
But when night fell, the real game began.
He slipped into the forest behind the academy, where shadows whispered and hidden threats lurked. There, a group of cloaked figures waited seven women, their eyes faintly glowing with mana.
They knelt before him.
> "Lord Shadowbane," the first one said softly. "The Cult of Diablos has been sighted in the western district."
Cid's lips curved into a faint smile.
> "Good. Move at your own pace. Strike only when they think they're safe."
They vanished into the mist. His Shadowbane Order, born from what he once thought was imagination, was now acting as a real force. He still treated it like a game, but the enemies they hunted were painfully real.
A Mysterious Transfer Student
Two weeks later, a new student joined Cid's class Iris Noctra, daughter of the Duke of Noctra. Her crimson eyes and calm confidence drew attention immediately.
But Cid sensed something unusual faint traces of demonic energy hidden within her aura.
He said nothing, keeping up the façade of normalcy, though his instincts were on high alert.
That night, he followed her.
She slipped out of the dorms, hooded and silent, heading toward the academy's old chapel the one rumored to be haunted.
Inside, she met a man in robes marked with the sigil of Diablos.
> "The ritual will begin soon," the man whispered. "The vessel must be ready."
Cid's eyes narrowed in the dark.
> "A ritual, huh? Looks like the Cult's not just a story after all…"
The First Shadowbane Hunt
He moved before they could react.
Black mist erupted around him, shadows moving like living weapons. The cultist crumpled before even realizing what struck him.
Iris spun, eyes wide.
> "Who… are you?"
Cid stepped from the darkness, his face partially hidden beneath a hood of swirling shadows.
> "Just a background character," he said calmly, voice echoing like a whisper in a tomb, "who happens to hate the lightless."
He vanished as suddenly as he appeared, leaving only the broken sigil of Diablos behind.
The next morning, rumors spread throughout the academy of a hooded figure saving a noble girl from a dark cult. No one knew who it was.
Cid returned to class, half-asleep, pretending to follow the lecture on elemental theory.
> "Shadowbane Order… sounds like something out of a story," he thought, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"Funny how sometimes, the story becomes reality."