The dawn after the battle was eerily quiet.
No cheers. No songs. Only the sound of groaning students and the faint crackle of magic crystals recharging along the Academy walls.
Inside the infirmary, dozens of students lay bandaged, their bodies glowing faintly under the healer's soft blue spells. The smell of herbs filled the air — bitter, sharp, and strangely calming.
Renji blinked awake, his arm still bandaged from the deep cut across his forearm. For a moment, the memory of that beast's roar thundered in his head.
He turned to his side and sighed. "Still alive… somehow."
"Alive and looking gorgeous!" came a loud voice beside him.
Renji glanced right. Of course — Kaito, already shirtless, was striking a pose in front of a metal tray, admiring his reflection like it was a sacred ritual.
"Behold," Kaito said dramatically, "the scars of a warrior! Do you see this line? Proof that I stood against the jaws of death and smirked!"
From across the room, Mira groaned. "You screamed for the healer when she applied alcohol."
"It was… a strategic scream!"
"Strategic?" Eliara, the top-ranked girl in their class, folded her arms. "You nearly kicked the healer in the face."
The room erupted in laughter. Even Renji cracked a tired grin.
Moments like this — the stupid, ordinary ones — were what made them feel human again.
But the laughter faded when Professor Kaelen stepped through the door.
His noble aura silenced the air. Silver hair gleamed like tempered steel, and his presence alone straightened spines.
"You fought well," he said, his tone clipped, formal. "But do not mistake luck for strength."
He paced slowly between the beds, his boots echoing on the marble floor. "The beast you faced was a mid-level corrupted manifestation. It was not intelligent, nor at full power. If one of the higher-tiered Eclipt Beasts had appeared…"
His gaze sharpened, cutting through the silence.
"…you would all be corpses."
Kaito swallowed. "H-he's joking… right?"
"Do I look like a man who jokes?"
Renji said quietly, "He's right."
Kaelen's cold eyes flickered toward him — not with surprise, but faint respect.
"You felt it, didn't you?" Kaelen said. "That pressure. That weight. Eclipt Pressure is what separates life from death. Learn to control your Eclipt, or it will crush you before your enemy does."
Renji looked down at his trembling hands. The memory of that suffocating force pressed on his mind — the way his knees had buckled, his chest tightening. That helplessness burned into him like fire.
He would never forget it.
---
Later that evening, deep beneath the Academy's west tower, the Twelve Instructors gathered in the Council Hall of Light — a grand circular chamber carved from white stone and etched with glowing runes.
Each of the twelve teachers represented a facet of Aurelius: might, knowledge, discipline, creativity, and faith.
At the head of the table stood Headmaster Aldros, his robe marked by the golden crest of the Academy.
"The students survived," Aldros began, voice heavy with both pride and concern. "Barely. We owe their lives to Professor Kaelen's timely arrival."
Lirien — the elegant lady teacher known for her striking figure and calm tone — sighed. "It shouldn't have happened at all. A mid-level manifestation that close to campus? That's not random."
Across from her, Professor Varn, the infamous pervert with wild brown hair, leaned back in his chair. "Well, at least the ladies survived. Be a shame to lose such beauty this early in the semester."
Lirien threw her quill. It hit him square in the forehead.
"Ow—! Lirien, violence doesn't solve—"
"Shut it before I turn you into a toad," she said sweetly.
A few of the other teachers chuckled. Even Aldros' mustache twitched.
The beast-handling instructor, a burly man named Bront, grunted. "Humor aside, this thing wasn't a normal spawn. Its Eclipt energy was… shaped. Controlled."
Kaelen, arms crossed, nodded. "I felt traces of dark resonance. Someone guided it."
The room grew still.
Lirien's voice softened. "You think… it's connected to Him?"
Headmaster Aldros didn't answer immediately. His gaze drifted to the enormous crystal at the center of the table — the Heart of Aurelius, which pulsed faintly with light.
"…The seal that binds the Dark God was weakened once before," he said quietly. "If the enemy has returned, even in fragments, we must be prepared."
A ripple of unease moved through the group.
Kaelen's tone darkened. "Do we contact the capital?"
Aldros shook his head. "Not yet. I've sent word to the Apex Warden. If anyone can trace the residual energy, it's him."
Gasps echoed through the hall.
"The Apex Warden himself?" Bront muttered. "He hasn't left the Zenith Citadel in years…"
Lirien folded her arms. "Then things are worse than I thought."
Varn whistled low. "The 'Second Light' himself… now that's a reunion I didn't expect to see in my lifetime."
---
Far from the academy, beneath a sky veiled in crimson clouds, a figure stood among the forest ruins where the students had fought.
His cloak swayed like liquid shadow.
When he raised his hand, the very air trembled.
"So, even after centuries, the stench of the Zenith Sovereign lingers," the figure murmured. His voice was low and measured — the kind of tone that felt like a whisper crawling beneath your skin.
From the darkness behind him, several hooded shapes emerged, kneeling.
"Lord Morvane," one of them rasped, "the seal pulses again. The world's Eclipt Veins are… shifting."
Morvane knelt, touching the earth. The soil blackened under his fingertips.
"Yes… I can feel it. The great cycle stirs once more."
He smiled faintly — not with joy, but with amusement. "The Zenith Sovereign sealed our god. The Apex Warden guards his throne. And now, a generation of children wield power they can barely comprehend."
A hooded figure asked timidly, "Shall we act?"
"Act?" Morvane chuckled softly. "No… not yet. Let them grow. When they shine brightest, we will shatter them. For light is sweetest when devoured by the void."
The forest wind howled. The shadows around them twisted, forming the faint shape of an enormous chained being — its eyes sealed, its presence monstrous even in slumber.
The Dark God.
And somewhere deep below, the chains began to tremble.
---
Back at the Academy, night had fallen.
Renji sat by the window in his dorm, moonlight painting his face pale silver. The faint ache in his wrist pulsed — right where the Eclipt Beast had struck him.
He rubbed it absentmindedly.
Kaito was snoring so loudly it rattled the glass. "Zenith Sovereign… bow before… Kaito…"
Renji rolled his eyes. "He's gonna end up drooling on his dreams one day."
Mira's voice came softly from the doorway. "You're still awake?"
Renji nodded. "Couldn't sleep."
She stepped in, leaning on the wall beside him. Her eyes looked tired but gentle. "You keep blaming yourself."
"I was useless," he said. "Everyone else fought while I froze."
"Maybe," she said. "But you're the one who saw what others didn't. You warned us before it attacked. That's why we're still here."
Renji looked up, surprised.
Mira smiled faintly. "Don't sell yourself short. You're not special, Renji — but that's what makes you dangerous. You fight like someone with nothing to lose."
He looked out the window again. The moon seemed closer tonight. He didn't notice the faint shimmer crawling beneath the bandage on his wrist — a tiny pulse of dark energy, like a heartbeat.
---
Far away, sitting atop a mountain of glass-like stone, the Apex Warden opened his eyes. His gaze pierced through distance and shadow alike.
"I felt it again…" he murmured. "A pulse in the world's Eclipt flow… and something else. Something old."
He stood, his aura flaring for a brief moment — vast, suffocating, and majestic.
"The Zenith Sovereign's light dims," he said softly. "And in its place… something awakens."
As the wind howled around him, he began his descent toward Aurelius Academy.