"As you already know," Liam said calmly, his voice steady against the quiet backdrop of the rooftop, "the Crescent Kingdom and its people despise my very existence as a dark mage. To them, someone like me is not merely a danger. I am a stain that should have been wiped from the world long ago."
The words hung in the air between them.
For a moment, the wind carried them outward across the open rooftop, brushing along the stone barrier and vanishing into the vast skyline of Grandeur City beyond. The city stretched endlessly below them, its streets alive with distant movement—people walking, carriages passing, merchants shouting somewhere far beneath the height of the academy. From this vantage point, everything looked peaceful, almost idyllic, as if the world below had no awareness of the tension quietly unfolding above it.
Percy did not respond immediately.
