The sudden silence in the canyon was heavy, almost suffocating. With the leviathan's body dissolved into thin air and Max's terrifying presence vanished into the sky, the true morning sun finally broke through the lingering bank of sea mist. Golden rays hit the sheer walls of black basalt, melting the fine layer of frost into trickling streams that glinted like liquid glass. The air lost its stagnant smell of deep-sea rot, turning crisp and cold once more, rich with the piney tang of mountain soil.
King Ariston exhaled a thick cloud of white vapor, his bare chest settling into a calm rhythm. He turned his broad shoulders toward the ledge, his heavy footsteps crunching over loose stone and slick moss as he approached the four teenagers.
His dark eyes narrowed as he looked down at his son. "Kairo... why did you skip your college class today? The same goes for the rest of you."
Akio swallowed hard, his skin pale under the damp fringe plastered to his forehead. He stepped forward, his head bowed in immediate regret. "I am sorry, My King... it was my idea to bring him here. I dragged him out."
Ariston stopped, his thick eyebrows lifting in mild surprise as he looked at Akio's trembling hands and resolute posture. The King's posture relaxed, a soft, almost remorseful expression softening his severe features. "It was you? Ah... my child, I am sorry for being rude to you. You were only looking out for my boy."
Kairo remained on his knees, his hands buried deep in the cold, wet emerald moss. The ground beneath his palms felt icy, vibrating with a strange, high-pitched hum that only he seemed to hear. He pushed himself up slowly, his fingers clawing at his forehead as a sharp, blinding headache flared behind his temples.
"Father..." Kairo muttered, his voice raspy, strained, and entirely stripped of its usual quiet composure. "Tell me... what are you guys hiding from me?"
A sudden, sharp stillness fell over the group. Daichi leaned forward, his brow furrowed in confusion, while Renji took an instinctive step back into the shadow of the cliff.
"Wait, what?" Renji whispered, looking between them. "What are you talking about, Kairo?"
Kairo's knuckles pressed hard into his temples, his breath coming in jagged, desperate hitches. The golden sunlight hitting his face seemed to burn his skin. "No... you guys are all the same! Uhh!" He shoved his hands outward, staggering back toward the slick stone edge above the turquoise pool. "Just leave me alone! Just let me die, you fools!"
Daichi rushed forward, his boots skidding over the damp gravel as he reached out a hand. "No! It's not... wait, it's not Jins!"
Rhydian Vale raised his silver-topped cane, stepping smoothly in front of his son to gently check his momentum. The chief detective's sharp eyes were fixed entirely on Kairo, his expression unreadable, calculating every subtle shift in the boy's body language.
"Well," Rhydian said softly, his voice smooth and terrifyingly calm against the roar of the distant waterfall. "It seems it is something from the past... his lost memories. Max's ultimate enemy... is standing right in front of us."
Daichi froze, his head snapping toward his father. "Where is he, Father? Where is the enemy?!"
Rhydian raised his gloved hand, his long index finger pointing directly at the trembling prince. "It's him. Kairo."
King Ariston's jaw dropped, a rare, visceral shock breaking across the King's battle-hardened face. "What are you saying?!" Ariston roared, taking a massive step forward, the stone cracking under his weight. "How can my son be the one who has an enemy like Max?! Uhh... fine! Let me go and kill Max, the Conqueror of the Seven Seas, right now if it means protecting him! But tell me... why do you think it is him?!"
Rhydian took two slow, measured steps toward Kairo, adjusting his dark cuffs as the mountain wind whipped his wool coat. "Because the one you are looking at right now... is not Kairo anymore."
Rhydian leaned in, taking a closer, precise look at the faint, shimmering black veins beginning to pulse beneath the skin around Kairo's neck and eyes—a residual signature of an ancient, terrifying mana structure. "Just as I expected..."
Renji gripped his dark sleeves, his breath rising in panicked bursts as the atmospheric pressure on the ledge began to warp again. "Uhh, god damn it! I can't wait anymore! Tell me, what is happening to Kairo?!"
Before Rhydian could answer, Kairo threw his head back toward the sky, his hands clutching his skull as an agonizing, inhuman scream tore from his throat—a sound that shattered the surrounding rocks and sent the turquoise pool churning into wild, violent waves.
The Echoing Canyon fell into a heavy, fragile calm. The blinding discharge of raw mana that had erupted from Kairo slowly receded, pulling back into his chest like a tide returning to the deep ocean. The black, pulsing veins beneath his collarbone faded into pale skin, leaving behind only the sharp, cold smell of scorched ozone and wet moss.
Kairo sat slumping against the basalt rock, his fingers digging into the damp earth as his lungs dragged in air in ragged, shallow gasps. Sweat plastered his fringe to his forehead.
Beside him, Akio let out a long breath he seemed to have been holding for ten minutes. His knees buckled slightly, and he slid down to sit directly on the slick stone, resting his elbows on his knees. "Man... my heart is pounding like a war drum."
Daichi walked over carefully, his sharp eyes scanning Kairo's face before he crouched down, his dark wool trousers brushing the moss. He offered a small leather flask of freshwater. Kairo took it with a trembling hand, drinking deeply, the icy mountain water burning his raw throat.
Renji emerged fully from the shadows of the cliff face, his dark cloak pulled tight around his shoulders. He looked around at the scorched basalt and the quiet turquoise pool, then looked at the three of you.
"Is it... over?" Renji asked softly, his voice still carrying a faint tremor. "Is that guy really gone?"
"For now," Daichi said, standing back up and crossing his arms. He looked toward the sky where the massive sea beast had been cleanly severed just moments ago. "My father and King Ariston have already moved toward the lower gates to enforce the perimeter quarantine. We have a brief moment before the academy proctors lock down the upper terraces."
Akio wiped his brow with the back of his sleeve, leaning his head back against the cliff wall. "Okay... can someone make sense of what just happened? Max—a guy who literally cuts leviathans in half with a blade built into his arm—is terrified of someone hiding inside our borders. And your father, Daichi, thinks Kairo's lost memories are somehow connected to it?"
Kairo lowered the flask, his knuckles white against the leather casing. "I don't remember any of it. But when Max spoke... when he talked about the creature that took his arm... my chest felt like it was being crushed by a iron weight. It wasn't fear. It felt like... recognition."
"Think about the timeline," Daichi said, his analytical mind taking over as he began pacing the narrow stone ledge. "Max said he was attacked years ago in the outer currents of the archipelago. He described his attacker as someone with no name, someone who possessed terrifying battle intelligence and strength that defied normal mana structures. But why would a monster like that come to Harmony? Why hide in an inland kingdom?"
"Maybe he isn't hiding," Renji said quietly, his eyes fixed on the misty canyon floor below. "Maybe he came here because of us. Or because of something buried beneath the academy foundations."
"Or maybe," Akio added, his usual playful smirk returning, though his eyes remained serious, "he came here because he knew King Ariston was the only person alive who wouldn't immediately surrender to him."
Kairo pushed himself up from the ground, his legs still slightly numb from the sheer strain of his mana awakening. He looked out over the vast, peaceful valley of Harmony, where the morning sun was finally burning away the last of the ocean mist.
"Whoever he is," Kairo said, his voice flat and resolute, "he made a captain of the seven seas give up his fleet. If he's inside our land... we aren't just facing a fugitive. We're facing a shadow that's been waiting for the right moment to surface."
Daichi nodded once, turning back toward the dark tunnel that led back to the academy grounds. "Then we need to move. My father expects us at the main investigation hall before the lockdown goes into full effect."
The morning air in the old mountain forest was thick and heavy, smelling of damp fern, decaying leaves, and the sharp, mineral tang of lingering rain. Sunlight filtered down through the dense canopy in pale, broken beams, illuminating the swirling mist that clung to the moss-covered trunks of the ancient pine trees.
Kairo stopped near the base of a massive, split oak, his shadow stretching long against the forest floor. He wiped a hand down his face, his voice quiet as he looked at the three boys standing in the damp underbrush. "Well then... you guys must go home. I think your parents will be worried about you."
Daichi paused, a slight, knowing smile breaking across his sharp features despite the tension hanging in the woods. "Okay. Well, if you see that traitor... scream like a girl, just like Akio does. That will be our signal."
Akio's head snapped up, his arms crossing defensively over his chest. "Uhh! You didn't have to mention my scream!"
Renji stepped forward, his dark cloak rustling against the wet ferns as he looked at Kairo with genuine concern. "Also... you can rest too, Kairo. Don't overwork yourself. You really need to take a break after what happened back there."
Daichi glanced around at the towering, shadow-draped trees, his brow furrowing as he took in their surroundings. "Yeah... also, we are in the middle of a forest. We haven't reached home yet. Why are you saying goodbye as if you've already made it back?"
A sudden, uncomfortable silence fell over the glade.
Daichi, Akio, and Renji all shifted their gazes toward Kairo, their expressions slowly morphing into profound disbelief. The air between them grew brittle and cold, the gentle rustle of the wind through the pines suddenly feeling hostile. The realization settled over them like a heavy fog: Why is he trying to send us away right now?
Daichi took a slow, deliberate step back, his boots crunching on dry pine needles. "Uhh... Kairo. You know the strict laws of this kingdom, don't you? If a man or a traitor does injustice to someone... he will be killed. Even if he is the King's own son. Over one hundred kids of King Ariston have died because of this law throughout history."
Kairo froze, his amber eyes widening as he looked at Daichi. "One hundred...? What do you mean?"
Renji nodded slowly, his voice dropping into a solemn whisper. "Yeah. You think King Ariston didn't have any children before? He didn't have a single heir for two hundred years... until Aria was born right when you arrived."
Akio didn't laugh this time. He stepped back beside Daichi, his jaw tight as he stared at his friend. "If you keep talking like this... if you keep acting like you're hiding something... there's a real chance you will die by the King's executioners."
Daichi's sharp eyes narrowed, tracking the strange, lingering black pulse deep within Kairo's irises. "Maybe... maybe someone has already cast magic on you, Kairo. Maybe you're already in his control."
Kairo looked at his three friends—their guarded postures, their hand movements resting near their weapons, the stark suspicion etched into their faces. A sharp, icy coil of fear gripped his chest. His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird.
He didn't answer. He couldn't.
Kairo raised two fingers to his lips and let out a sharp, piercing whistle that echoed wildly through the dense forest canopy.
The canopy above violently parted. A sudden, howling gale swept down through the trees, snapping dry branches and sending a torrent of golden leaves spiraling through the mist. Out of the swirling vortex of compressed air emerged Wind—Kairo's magnificent, pale-white stallion, its mane streaming like liquid silver.
Without waiting another second, Kairo vaulted into the leather saddle. He dug his heels in, and the horse launched forward, its hooves barely touching the mud as it rode the compressed air currents, surging through the dense timber at breakneck speed and leaving his stunned companions behind in a cloud of swirling leaves.
Daichi in frustration thinks
"Wait a minute are we separated from each other??."
"Was it my fault or his?"