February 16, 8:15 AM
Academy Dorms — Courtyard Path
Perspective: Elfina Lunaris
My ponytail whipped against my neck as I sprinted down the main cobblestone path of Asura Academy.
My lungs burned, and the heavy wool of my academy uniform felt twice as warm as usual.
I turned the corner, my boots skidding on the damp gravel.
Why didn't Kai wake me up today?
He had left a plate of mushroom cream toast on the kitchen counter, but the space next to my bed had been empty.
No morning headpats...
We were supposed to walk to class together!
I ran past the tall glass windows of the Class B wing.
Dozens of faces immediately pressed against the glass, their eyes tracking me as I flew past.
I pushed faster, passing the Class A building, and it was the same thing.
Students leaned out of the open corridor windows, whispering and pointing at me.
Why are they all looking at me?
Did I mess up my uniform? Is there lipstick on my cheek again?
I reached the Class C building, throwing the heavy oak doors open and gasping for breath.
I checked the brass clock on the wall.
It was 8:15 AM.
Homeroom didn't start until 8:30 AM.
I'm 15 minutes early.
I slumped against the doorframe, trying to catch my breath as I walked into the classroom.
The first thing I saw was Kaiser.
He was sitting casually at his desk near the wall, his eyes closed, chin resting in his hand as if he were daydreaming.
Behind him, Rigel and Leena were laughing at something on a phone screen.
He left me breakfast, but he still deserves to be pinched.
Leaving me alone on the path is a crime.
As I took 3 steps toward my seat, a sudden wall of bodies blocked my way.
"Elfina!" Vivienne Hartwell clicked her silver pen rapidly, her notebook already open. "Did you really shut down all the electricity in the capital two nights ago? Was that your spell?"
"I-it was just a minor coincidence," I stammered, stepping back.
"The stars were aligned perfectly." Xavier muttered, clutching his notebook and adjusting his glasses. "It was... it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! How did you stabilize the tectonic mana flow?"
"I didn't think about the tectonic flow... or the stars... I was just trying to make a pretty illusion." I said, my face burning.
Mira Ashveil swiveled her silver cat ears toward me, spinning a small chain around her finger. "My ears were ringing all night from the sudden silence when the streetlights died. But the view was nice. Very cozy."
"My Dear Moonlight!" Axel pushed through the crowd, his oversized trench coat billowing behind him.
He stopped a safe 2 meters away from me, his eyes wide with a mix of awe and lingering terror.
He cleared his throat, trying to strike a cool pose while keeping his hands visible.
"As the wolf of this class, I must declare your stargazing display to be... absolutely stunning! Not that I was intimidated. I'm actually never shaken. But it was... impressive."
"Thank you, Axel." I said,
He is still keeping his distance because of the dungeon boss incident.
At least he isn't asking for feet pictures anymore.
Leena walked over, a bright smile on her face. "The entire school has been talking about nothing else, Elfie. You're literally on everyone's mind today."
Daniel and Roman tried to squeeze past Axel to get closer to my desk.
"Elfina, you really have the most..." Daniel started.
"Don't say feet pics, you idiot," Roman hissed, nudging him.
Before they could reach me, a heavy hand grabbed the backs of their uniforms.
Milo Sterling dragged both of them backward, his green eyes flashing with intense irritation.
"What did I say about simping in my presence?" Milo growled, throwing them toward their desks. "Go sit down. You're making the class look pathetic."
Milo looks like he wants to punch a wall.
He's probably mad that I'm the center of attention.
I finally made it to my desk and slumped into my seat.
Kaiser opened one eye, a small smirk playing on his lips.
"Did you know this would happen?" I whispered, leaning close.
"You blacked out a long chunk of the capital," Kaiser said, his voice quiet and smooth. "Of course I knew. You looked very cute being the center of attention, though."
My face flushed hot. "You did this on purpose. You made me stay off my phone all day yesterday."
"I was protecting your peace." he murmured, closing his eye again.
He wasn't protecting my peace.
He just wanted to spend the whole day in my room without my phone buzzing.
But having over 147 unread notifications and friend requests is definitely his fault.
The classroom door opened, and Instructor Aisha Olyvra walked in, her heels clicking sharply on the stone floor.
"Take your seats, everyone," Aisha announced, setting her lesson plan on the podium.
The students scrambled to their desks, the room falling quiet.
Aisha looked across the room, her gaze landing directly on me.
"Classes will continue normally from today, and you all need to begin preparing for the second monthly exam," Aisha said.
She paused, sighing as she rubbed her temples.
"But before we do roll call, it is better if we clear the matter at hand. Elfina, please stand up."
I slowly stood up, my fingers clutching the hem of my uniform skirt.
"Yes, Instructor?"
"The rumors around the capital are that a Class C student took the entire city's power grid two nights ago," Aisha said, her eyes locked on mine. "Care to explain?"
"It wasn't the entire capital," I mumbled, looking down. "Just parts of it. A small radius."
"A 50-kilometer radius is not small, Elfina. And what about the sky? The entire galaxy appearing out of nowhere?"
"A minor light-refraction illusion," I excused, my voice squeaking. "Just warping the atmosphere's moisture. It didn't affect anyone's health."
"You shut down the capital's mana-based lighting and created a artificial meteor shower," Aisha deadpanned.
"It was... a Valentine's Day project..." I whispered, my face burning.
Aisha stared at me.
Then, her stern expression softened into a warm, bubbly smile.
"It was a breathtaking sight, Elfina. The entire capital is grateful for it. Personally, I think it was beautiful. Thank you."
"Y-you're welcome," I stammered, blinking in surprise.
"However," Aisha's tone turned serious again, "the imperial family and the academy board are not as easily pleased. They demanded an explanation from Director Valerius."
My heart did a little flip. "The Director?"
"Director Valerius asked me to tell you to be prepared," Aisha said, leaning against the podium. "He has scheduled a serious conversation with you for next week. You should be very thankful to him. He is currently handling dozens of meetings to shield you from the board's inquiries."
"I understand," I said quietly.
"Good. Be prepared for it. Sit down, Elfina," Aisha said, opening her register.
I sank back into my chair, my heart beating fast.
A meeting with Director Valerius.
That sounds scary.
Around me, the students were staring at me with wide, grateful eyes.
Even Milo was looking out the window, his jaw tight but silent.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Kai laughing silently, his shoulders shaking.
I reached under the desk and pinched his thigh as hard as I could.
Kaiser didn't flinch.
Instead, he play-kicked my shin beneath the desk, his smirk widening.
I glared at him, mouthing the words:
Once we get back to the dorms, you're finished.
Aisha let the silence sit for a moment.
Then she rolled her sleeves back, placed her hands flat on the podium, and looked at the class.
"Alright. Given everything we've been through with the dungeon exam, I think it's time we had a proper conversation about where we all stand as mages."
She raised one hand and summoned a wide panel of pale blue light in the air before the room.
It stretched from one wall to the other, hovering just above our eye level like a floating chart.
"The 9 Tiers of Magic." she said. "Every mage in the known world falls somewhere on this scale. Every rank represents a fundamental shift in what you are capable of, not just in power, but in how your magic interacts with the world around you."
She tapped the bottom of the panel.
---
"We start here. At the bottom. Rank 9: the Novices."
A small section of the panel illuminated in faint grey.
"These are the unranked. Students who have just touched mana for the first time. They can generate heat in the palm of their hand, maybe crack a thin sheet of ice. Their magic is entirely instinctive and completely uncontrolled. If you held your wand to a Novice and told them to demonstrate their magic under pressure, most of them would faint from the output strain before they ever cast a single spell."
She paused, glancing across the class.
"Think of them as someone who just learned they have legs. They can walk. But they have never once tried to run."
---
"Rank 8: Initiates. The trained beginners."
The panel shifted slightly brighter, the next tier illuminating in a dull copper.
"Initiates have moved past raw instinct. They can cast basic spells consistently. A fire Initiate can hold a small flame for a few minutes without burning their hand off. A water Initiate might be able to redirect a stream. They know the theory, they've passed their first formal tests, and they no longer completely exhaust themselves from a 10-minute training session."
She held up a finger.
"Here is the gap you need to understand: between Novice and Initiate, the difference is training. That gap closes with time and effort. Between every other rank above this? The gap stops being about training and starts being about something deeper. About the core structure of who you are."
---
"Rank 7: Scholars. The learned mages."
The panel lit to a clear amber.
"This is where all of you sit."
She let that land for a second.
A few people shifted in their seats.
"Scholars have real, functional magic. You can cast multiple spells in sequence, sustain them under light pressure, and begin to apply them tactically. Most of you demonstrated this in the dungeon exam. Scholar-level magic is capable of dealing meaningful damage, meaningful defense, and meaningful utility in a real fight."
She tapped the tier again.
"But here is what Scholar-level magic cannot do. If a Scholar-level fire mage threw everything they had at a reinforced stone wall, they could char it. If an Adept did the same, the wall would not exist anymore. That is the gap. And the Scholar standing there would not understand how the wall disappeared, because the method used is entirely outside their frame of comprehension."
She looked around.
"This is where most graduates peak. This is where most working mages in the empire retire. It is, by any reasonable measure, enough to live a safe and useful life. But it is not enough for what this academy is trying to build."
---
"Rank 6: Adepts. The skilled practitioners."
The panel moved up, lighting in a warm gold.
"Adepts have crossed the first real threshold. Their mana has deepened in a way that cannot be replicated by additional training alone. It is a qualitative shift. An Adept water mage doesn't just redirect a stream. They can stop a river. Pull moisture from the air itself. Sustain a high-intensity spell for over an hour without collapse. They begin to read the flow of mana in others during a fight and react to it before the spell is even cast."
Aisha folded her arms.
"The example I give every cohort: if a Scholar-level archer and an Adept-level shield mage stood across from each other, the Adept would stop every single arrow before it left the bow. Not because they were faster. Because they had already processed the archer's mana output before the decision to release was even made. That is the Adept's edge. They think in magic the way you think in language."
---
"Rank 5: Sorcerers. The elite practitioners of the magical arts."
The panel glowed in a clear, rich blue.
"A Sorcerer is not just more powerful than an Adept. They are categorically different. Their spells interact with the fundamental composition of matter, not just its surface. A Sorcerer-level lightning mage doesn't just throw a bolt of electricity. They restructure the ambient ionic charge in the air around their target, making the lightning arrive from every direction simultaneously. There is no dodge. There is no shield. The attack already exists inside the space the target occupies."
She let a beat pass.
"In the dungeon exam, Instructor Theodore is a Sorcerer. Most instructors at this academy are Adepts. The combat instructors who run the advanced courses? Sorcerers. If any of you had found yourself alone in a corridor against one of them in that exam, the result would have been over before you raised your hand."
---
"Rank 4: Luminaries. The shining lights of magic."
The panel brightened sharply, a pale silver-white.
"Luminaries are a phenomenon. There are fewer than 40 known Luminaries alive in the entire empire at any given time. Their magic can reshape terrain. A Luminary-level earth mage doesn't cause a rockslide. They cause a mountain range to restructure itself. A Luminary-level healer doesn't mend injuries. They reverse the physical state of a body to a prior point in time, erasing mortal wounds as if they were never dealt."
She said it flatly, no drama, which somehow made it worse.
"The Asura Empire has 3 Luminaries on active military assignment. Their presence in a battlefield doesn't change the outcome of a fight. It ends the fight before it begins. No sane enemy commander has ever given an order to engage when a Luminary is present on the opposing side."
---
"Rank 3: Ascendants. Those who rise above the world."
The panel shifted to a deep, vibrant violet.
"Ascendants are the upper boundary of what we consider achievable within a single lifetime. An Ascendant doesn't cast magic at the world. They are magic. The mana in their body has fully integrated with their cellular structure. They don't channel. They don't concentrate. Every breath they take is an act of environmental restructuring."
Aisha paused for a moment.
"There is a known account of an Ascendant-level wind mage who was ambushed by a regiment of 800 Sorcerer-level soldiers during the Third Border Collapse. Every single soldier was found the next morning precisely where they had been standing. Not injured. Not dead. Simply relocated. Three hundred kilometers away, in the center of the Iristhorn Desert, still in their exact attack formations. The Ascendant was not seen in the area again. No one knows when the spell was cast, because no mana output was detected. It simply happened."
The room was dead quiet.
"There are 5 known Ascendants in the world. All of them are diplomatic assets, not combatants. No empire, no matter how powerful, has been willing to provoke an Ascendant since the Third Border Collapse. The political cost is impossible."
---
"Rank 2: Transcendents. The near-divine."
The panel pulsed, a deep, molten gold.
"A Transcendent is no longer operating within the framework of conventional magic theory. Their magic does not follow the rules we teach in this academy, because the rules we teach were written around what is physically possible for everyone below them. A Transcendent operates outside that bracket entirely."
She tapped the panel slowly.
"We have 1 confirmed historical record of a Transcendent-level mage engaging in direct combat in the past 10 years. The account is incomplete because every witness died. The physical evidence left behind was a continuous glass crater stretching 60 kilometers across a former continent that no longer exists. The Transcendent in question reportedly described the event afterward as a disagreement that got out of hand."
She let that sit.
A few students laughed nervously.
Aisha did not laugh.
---
"And then, at the very top."
The entire panel ignited in a brilliant, blinding white that made the room feel smaller.
"Rank 1: Beyonders. Those who transcend mortal limits."
Her voice dropped slightly. Not dramatic. Just quieter.
"Beyonders are the pinnacle. The absolute ceiling of what magic, life, and the concept of power can produce in a single being. They are the ones who exist so far past what we can measure that the measuring system itself becomes irrelevant. There is no framework for a Beyonder. They are not 'stronger than a Transcendent.' They are not simply further up the scale. They are a different category of existence entirely."
She waved a hand and the panel cleared.
"Let me give you 3 things a Beyonder can do with raw magic alone."
She held up 1 finger.
"They can restructure the physical laws of a region. Not bend the laws. Not work around them. Change them. A Beyonder could decide that gravity in a region now pulls sideways instead of downward and make it so. Temporarily as long as they are in the region. Everything in that area — the rock, the sky, the air, the blood in your body — would comply, because the Beyonder has overwritten the rule that governed them. They would then walk away and the change would remain long after they were gone for days."
2 fingers.
"They can rewrite memory at a species level. Not just one person. Not just one city. An entire race's shared memory of a specific event can be extracted, altered, and reinserted, so that no individual in that race has any recollection of the original. It happened. The physical evidence still exists. But no one in that species — not one person — remembers it. The Beyonder chose to remove it. So it is gone."
3 fingers.
"They can perform what we call a Nullification Event. They can reach into the concept of a spell — not the cast spell, not the mana powering it, but the abstract concept — and remove it from the world's magical framework permanently. Imagine a Beyonder deciding that the concept of fire magic no longer exists. Every fire mage on the planet would lose their magic simultaneously in the range of the Beyonder's presence. The elemental laws governing combustion in mana form would be deleted from the world's physics. Every fire spell ever written in every grimoire on every shelf would become words that describe something that no longer happens. Permanently."
The room was absolutely still.
Aisha let the silence breathe for a full 5 seconds.
"They are immortal in the sense that age does not touch them. Beyonders do not age. A Beyonder who has existed for a thousand years looks exactly as they did the day they crossed the threshold. They cannot be killed by conventional means. They cannot be worn down. They exist in a state that is simply not comparable to what we call life."
She walked slowly to the side of the podium.
"They are bound by a pact. A Beyonder cannot interfere directly in mortal affairs unless they personally choose to break the pact. This is the only thing that keeps the balance of the world intact. Without that pact, the concept of kingdoms and wars and political alliances would be meaningless, because a single Beyonder could resolve any conflict in any way they wished in under a minute."
"They exist to maintain the balance between races and to ensure the protection of the Asura Empire. Every Beyonder alive was born on Asura soil. Every single one of them. That is not a coincidence. That is something no scholar has ever been able to fully explain."
She looked across the class, her expression very level.
"They are feared and worshipped in equal measure by their races. To meet one is not a privilege. It is an event. People who have stood in the same room as a Beyonder describe it as the single most overwhelming moment of their lives, not because of anything the Beyonder did or said, but because of what they are. Because of what your body recognizes before your brain catches up."
She took a breath.
"There are 5 Beyonders in Asura. I am going to introduce them to you now."
---
The panel reappeared.
This time, it was different.
It was dark and deep, like looking into still water at night, and the images it produced were not flat diagrams.
They were rendered projections.
Vivid, still, impossibly detailed.
As if Aisha were pulling them from memory with careful hands.
--"First: Ace. Human. Age 23."
The projection filled the panel, and I sat a little straighter without meaning to.
A young man.
23 years old.
That was the first thing that threw me, because he did not look like someone standing at the top of the world's most terrifying ranking.
He looked like someone who had never once needed to try particularly hard at anything, and who had long since stopped thinking about whether that was fair.
Broad-shouldered, lean. Silver hair, close-cropped at the sides and longer and slightly swept at the top, catching the light of the projection in a way that made it look almost metallic.
His jaw was sharp and clean.
His eyes were a deep, electric violet — the kind of colour that didn't reflect light so much as produce it, like something live was running behind them.
He wasn't smiling in the projection.
He looks intimidating.
He absolutely does not look like someone who can drop a star onto a continent.
That is somehow the most frightening thing about him.
His coat was dark. No insignia, no markers, no rank insignia of any kind. High collar, silver trim at the cuffs, worn open at the neck the way someone wears something when they know no one on the planet is going to tell them to button it.
"Ace commands Celestial Singularity magic — what we call the Cosmic Void. His magic governs gravitational celestial mechanics. He does not generate force. He summons the mathematical pressure of collapsed stars. A localized gravitational singularity — a miniature black hole — can be anchored anywhere within his line of sight. The object it touches doesn't get pushed. It gets compressed. Everything that enters its radius undergoes structural collapse at the atomic level."
Aisha's voice stayed completely even.
Celestial magic.
That's — that's close to what I do.
I use gravity. I warp space. He summons a miniature black hole and points it at things.
These are not the same thing.
"At his absolute limit, he can alter the orbital velocity of the planet. He can drop a micro-star onto a continent. The result is not an explosion. It is immediate atmospheric vaporization and crust liquefaction. The land becomes glass. The sky ceases to exist. Ace is 23 years old."
I stared at the projection.
23.
He is 23 only.
---
"Second: Elijah Drakehart. Dragonic. Age 28."
The projection shifted, and I felt the change before I processed it.
He was the kind of person you noticed before you'd fully registered what you were looking at.
Tall. Broad. Built in a way that made the projected frame feel too small to hold him properly.
His skin was a deep burnished copper, and there were faint scale patterns along his jaw and the backs of his hands — not reptilian, not harsh, just present. Like the heat that was clearly somewhere underneath the surface was marking itself in the only way it could.
Dark auburn hair, worn loose to his jaw, slightly curled at the ends.
His hair curls because his body runs hot enough to affect his own hair.
That's a detail that should not be as alarming as it is.
His eyes were molten gold. The colour of something that had been burning for an extremely long time and had simply never run out of fuel.
"Elijah commands Plasma Genesis and Atmospheric Fusion. His body is a walking nuclear reactor. He doesn't breathe fire. His body breaks matter down to its subatomic components and restructures it as plasma. He can manipulate the energy state of any material at the molecular level — turning rock to superheated gas, compressing gases until they reach solar temperatures, heating the air around a target until every breath they take becomes a burning. He does this without casting. Without gesturing. He thinks it and it occurs."
Without gesturing.
He just thinks about it.
The fire mages in this building spend weeks learning to concentrate their mana output, and he just thinks at the air and it becomes plasma.
Aisha let the projection linger a moment longer, like she was giving the room time to absorb it.
"At full scale, Elijah can superheat the planet's ionosphere. He can ignite the ambient gases in the atmosphere across the entire globe. The result is a worldwide firestorm that sweeps across oceans and continents, erasing the ozone layer completely. Every living organism on the surface would be exposed simultaneously. Elijah Drakehart's last name means the Core of the Dragon. It is not a metaphor."
---
"Third: Zayn Malakor. Demon. Age 21."
The projection changed.
And the atmosphere in the room shifted with it.
I noticed that before I could articulate why.
He was lean — the kind of lean that suggested he had never once needed to use his body as a weapon, because his body was not the weapon.
His skin was a deep near-black charcoal grey, the colour of volcanic ash, smooth and flawless with a faint iridescence to it, like deep shadow caught in firelight.
His hair was pure white. Straight, worn to the jaw, with a curtain of it falling across one eye so only one was visible.
The eye that was uncovered was a pale, flat silver.
Not reflective.
Just still.
Like a mirror that decided it was done with the whole exercise.
He was sitting in the projection. Hands loose in his lap. Not looking at anything in particular.
He looks calm.
He is the most alarming projection on this panel and he looks calm.
His surname translated from ancient demonic: The Architect of Ash and Ruin.
"Zayn practices Psychosomatic Conceptualization — what the academic text calls Demonic Anti-Matter. His magic does not operate on the physical world. It operates on the mind, on fear, on the interior landscape of consciousness. He takes abstract horrors — nightmares, collective trauma, the specific shape of what someone fears most — and materializes them as physical, reality-obeying anti-matter constructs. If you fear drowning, he produces it. If you fear darkness swallowing you whole, it arrives. The manifestation cannot be blocked by any conventional shield, because it is not a spell being cast at you. It is your own mind given physical form and turned loose."
I swallowed.
My worst fear, made physical.
I don't even want to think about what that looks like.
I really, genuinely do not want to think about it.
Aisha paused before the next line, which I noticed.
She never paused.
"At full scale, Zayn can access the collective subconscious of the entire human race simultaneously. He can cast a global illusion called The Feast of Phantoms, forcing every living being on the planet to experience their worst nightmares as lethal physical entities. Alternatively, he can erase a concept from the conscious experience of every living mind — specifically the concept of hope, or sleep — and drive the entire global population to collective madness and extinction within a week. Zayn Malakor is 21 years old and has a pact with no one."
Has a pact with no one.
She said that last part very specifically.
That was a deliberate choice of words.
I did not look away from the projection.
---
"Fourth: Scylla Avernal. Elf. Age 120 — she appears to be 26."
The panel shifted again, and I think I heard Leena go very quiet behind me.
Scylla Avernal.
120 years old.
She looked mid-twenties. She looked exactly as I would expect an elf of 26 to look — which was the point, and the problem. 120 years of watching everything around her age and die and be replaced, and she looked like she had somewhere to be after this.
Tall. Still.
Not the kind of still that comes from patience. The kind that comes from someone who had simply made a private decision that urgency was a concept that applied to other people.
Her hair was dark — a deep green-black, the colour of forest shadow at midnight — straight and heavy, worn long and loose down her back with 2 narrow silver pins holding it from her face.
Her skin was a cool, muted ivory with a faint undertone of deep silver, the kind of colouring that only appeared in elves of very old blood. The kind that made you instinctively speak a little quieter.
And then there were her eyes.
Pale amber. Almost golden.
Old.
Not old the way a person can look old. Old the way a forest looks old — the kind of depth that has watched a thousand cycles of the same things happen and has simply put all of it somewhere you are never going to reach.
Her ears bore 3 small silver rings on the outer shell of the left one, and nothing on the right.
She was not wearing academy colours. A long dark green outer robe, silver at the sleeve cuffs, worn with the total ease of someone who has not once thought about what she is wearing.
She looks like she could be my sister.
That is the most unsettling thing about her.
She is an elf. She looks like us. And she can end the world's food supply in 1 second.
"Scylla's surname, Avernal, translates to the primordial abyss — something that existed before the empire, before the current era, before the name was needed. She commands Chronostatic Genesis, Elven High-Life Alteration. Her magic is intrinsically tied to time and the organic lifecycle of all living matter. She can reverse or accelerate the timeline of any physical organism or material substance. She can age a soldier's body forward 80 years in 3 seconds, or reverse a mortally wounded man to his physical state from 10 years prior, removing the wound entirely because his body hasn't experienced it yet. She can grow a forest where there is bare rock. She can turn a forest into bare rock. Not by destroying the trees — by accelerating their timeline past the point of existence."
Aisha's voice was quieter for this one.
I noticed that too.
"At full scale, Scylla can cast a worldwide effect called The Great Wilting. She forces the entire planet's agricultural and plant life to age forward by ten thousand years simultaneously. The globe becomes a dead desert in a single second. Every food source, every crop, every forest — gone. Not burned. Not cut down. Simply aged past the point where anything biological can sustain itself. Alternatively, she can reverse the evolutionary timeline of every living species on the planet back to primordial microbes. She has existed for 120 years. She has made clear she has no plans to stop. The Elvian Kingdom did not produce her. She was born on Asura soil, and the Elvian Kingdom has never once stopped regretting that."
Born on Asura soil.
Like me.
I stayed very still with that thought.
---
"And last: Nadia Solari. Human. Age 18. The youngest Beyonder in recorded history."
The projection settled.
And the room went quiet in a specific way.
Not the polite quiet of students paying attention. The other kind. The kind that happens when something arrives and everyone in the room needs a moment to process the fact that it exists.
Nadia Solari.
She was 18, and she looked it, and that was somehow more striking than if she had looked ancient.
She had a face that was clean and open and completely, unshakeably composed. Not performing softness. Not performing severity. Just — present. Like a fact.
Her hair was pure gold.
The deep, warm, unambiguous colour of metal at its highest temperature, worn in a long heavy braid over one shoulder, with several wisp-thin strands free at the jaw.
Her eyes were a deep luminous blue.
Settled.
Her skin was warm, deeply golden, flawless in the way that had nothing to do with effort.
Her surname — Solari — derived from the ancient solar crests. Of the Sovereign Sun.
It suited her the way things suit people when the name was made for them, not the other way around.
She wore a white outer robe over the standard academy colours. No rings, no pins, no accessories of any kind.
She doesn't need them.
She is 18 years old and she doesn't need a single thing to announce herself.
She just is.
"Nadia commands Macro-Elemental Dissolution — what the older texts call The World-Eater. Her magic governs the absolute peak of elemental capability: Molecular Deconstruction. She doesn't affect how elements behave. She affects what elements are. She can strip the kinetic energy from a continent, dropping the temperature of millions of square kilometers to absolute zero simultaneously, inducing an instant localized ice age. She can agitate tectonic plates across the globe at the same time. She can remove the oxygen from the atmosphere of a 100-kilometer radius in under 4 seconds, creating a perfect, airtight vacuum in open sky."
Aisha let the projection hold a beat longer than the others.
"At full scale, Nadia can trigger a Global Cascade — simultaneously awakening every supervolcano on the planet while stripping the surrounding atmosphere of oxygen. Entire civilizations suffocate while the ground tears itself apart beneath them. She is 18 years old. She is the youngest Beyonder ever documented. And she is the one, among all 5, that scholars consistently describe as the most difficult to look at directly, not because of her magic, but simply because of what she is."
The panel went dark.
Because of what she is.
Not what she does. What she is.
I understood that, looking at the space the projection had just occupied.
"No one can tell you who is strongest among the 5. Their power exists at a level where the comparison becomes meaningless. They are simply 5 things that the world produced and has not yet needed to fully reckon with."
Aisha lowered her hands.
"Take a moment. Sit with that."
---
We are Scholars.
We are Rank 7.
There are 6 more ranks between us and a Beyonder.
6 gaps, each one representing a qualitative shift that can't be closed by studying harder or sleeping less or training until our hands bleed.
I have celestial magic. I blacked out the capital 2 nights ago and thought I was doing something extraordinary.
Scylla Avernal could age the entire planet's agriculture into extinction before I finished that sentence.
I exhaled slowly.
There is a version of this that is terrifying. And there is a version of this that is deeply inspiring. I haven't decided yet which one I'm living in.
I leaned toward Kai and kept my voice low.
"What did you think?"
He had his elbow on the desk, chin resting against two fingers, eyes still half-forward.
"Scylla feels the most threatening." he said, like he was answering a casual question about the weather. "She's the most experienced. 120 years of existing with that kind of power and still choosing not to use it takes a specific kind of discipline most people couldn't maintain. That's the part that's genuinely dangerous. Not what she can do. How long she's decided not to."
He turned in his chair toward Rigel's desk.
"Right, Rigel?"
Rigel straightened up from where he'd been sitting with his arms crossed, clearly having processed the entire lesson the way he processed everything.
"Yeah," Rigel said. "Scylla is the most experienced by a factor that dwarfs the others. A century of perfect restraint. That level of control is not something you just have. That's something built over a lifetime we can't even imagine. She's the most dangerous precisely because she's the most measured."
Leena was nodding along beside him, her braid falling over one shoulder.
"Back in the Elvian Kingdom, Scylla Avernal was spoken about like a ghost story," Leena said quietly, her voice going a little distant the way it did when she was remembering something uncomfortable. "The elders called her name like a warning. Not with pride. With regret. There were nobles who said openly they wished she had been born in elven lands. That she was wasted on Asura."
Kai made a small sound that wasn't quite a laugh.
"Rigel." he said, his voice shifting to something lighter. "I was actually asking if you think Nadia was pretty."
Rigel stared at him.
A beat passed.
"...What."
"Nadia Solari." Kai said, completely unbothered, gesturing vaguely toward where the panel had been. "The projection. I thought she was beyond gorgeous. Genuinely."
Rigel opened and closed his mouth once.
He looked like someone had switched topics mid-sentence and he hadn't been given warning.
"I — we were talking about threat potentials." Rigel said flatly.
"And now we're talking about Nadia Solari." Kai said.
Leena pressed her hand over her mouth, shoulders shaking with quiet laughter.
"She was really beautiful!" Leena admitted, dropping her hand and smiling brightly. "Genuinely. 18 and the youngest Beyonder ever recorded, and she looks like that. That's almost unfair. All that power and she gets to look like the sun as well?"
I glared at Kai.
He isn't wrong.
He is absolutely not wrong, and that is somehow worse than if he had been wrong.
I pressed my fingertip very gently into the side of his arm.
Not a pinch. Just a reminder.
He glanced down at my finger. Then back up. His expression didn't change.
The beauty of Asura.
The pinnacle of magic.
And Kai said it with that same flat, unbothered voice he uses for everything.
I don't know if I want to be annoyed or if I just want to agree with him.
...I agree with him. She was genuinely stunning.
But I am absolutely still going to make him suffer for this when we get back to the dorms.
---
Aisha cleared the dark panel with a wave of her hand, the blue light dissolving back into the air.
She walked back behind her podium, resting her hands on the wooden edge.
"Does anyone have questions about the tiers or the Beyonders?" Aisha asked, her eyes scanning the desks.
Delyra Nysira raised her hand first, her posture straight and formal as always.
"Instructor, you mentioned a pact binds them," Delyra said, her violet eyes serious. "Who enforces it? If a Beyonder chooses to break the pact, is there any authority in Asura or the empire that can actually stop them?"
Aisha shook her head slowly.
"No physical authority can stop them, Delyra. The pact is self-enforced by the collective presence of the other Beyonders. If 1 breaks it, the others will intervene to maintain the balance. The only thing that stops a Beyonder is another Beyonder."
Xavier Reyes raised his hand next, his fingers twitching slightly against his leather-bound notebook.
"Instructor," Xavier stuttered, clutching his notebook to his chest. "The... the Nullification Event. You said they can delete a concept of magic. If a Beyonder deletes a magic concept, does the mana within the environment transform into something else, or does it just become dead weight?"
"The mana remains in the atmosphere but becomes completely inert to that specific frequency of manipulation," Aisha explained. "It is like trying to breathe water. The element is there, but your body no longer possesses the mechanism to process it. The concept itself is simply gone from the world's physics in their domain."
Milo Sterling leaned back in his seat, his arms crossed over his chest, his green eyes narrowing.
"Instructor," Milo grunted, his voice rough. "You said they've never lost a 1v1. But what if they're caught off-guard? What if someone catches them sleeping, or uses a curse before they can react?"
Aisha looked at Milo, her expression turning slightly grim.
"A Beyonder's perception operates on a scale that doesn't allow for simple surprise. Their mana signature is constantly fused with the space around them. Trying to sneak up on a Beyonder is like trying to sneak up on the ground you are standing on. It knows you are there before you make the step."
Milo gritted his teeth but remained silent.
Aisha walked to the front of the podium, looking at the entire class.
"Let me ask you all something," Aisha said, her voice carrying throughout the quiet room.
"Look at yourselves. You are 12. You are 13, 14, and more. You have years of growth ahead of you. Do you believe that with enough time, enough training, and enough willpower, you can one day stand where those 5 stand?"
She paused, letting the question hang in the air.
"Who here believes they can reach the rank of Beyonder?"
I want to be strong.
I want to protect Kai.
If they can do it, why can't I?
I raised my hand first, lifting it high above my head.
Aisha smiled, looking at me.
Slowly, other students began to follow my lead.
Milo raised his hand, his eyes flashing with a competitive fire.
Kayla Caroline raised her hand, her face cold and logical but her hand steady.
Scarlet Hearst looked at me, then raised her hand sheepishly but firmly.
Delyra raised her hand, her posture perfect.
Soon, almost every student in the classroom had their hand raised.
Leena Grelynn leaned over her desk, whispering to the boy sitting next to me.
"Kaiser, aren't you going to raise your hand?" Leena whispered.
"I'm dreaming right now," Kaiser replied, his eyes closed as he rested his head in his hand.
I reached under the desk and nudged his ribs with my elbow.
"Kai, raise your hand." I whispered, glaring at him.
"No." Kaiser said, not even opening his eyes. "I can't be a Beyonder. I have no magic."
He is so annoying.
Always being so realistic... Why can't he just hope like a normal person?
Aisha looked at the sea of raised hands, a warm, proud smile returning to her face.
"Good," Aisha said, nodding. "That is the spirit I expect from Class C. A mage who does not aim for the top is just a scholar reading someone else's work."
Then, her expression turned entirely serious.
She crossed her arms, her gaze going cold.
"However, we must look at reality. The truth is, most of you — perhaps even all of you — will never reach that level. The gap is not a mountain you can climb. It is a different sky."
The students shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
"So let me ask you a different question," Aisha said, her voice dropping to a low, quiet tone.
"If you went up against one... do you think you can survive a Beyonder?"
The room went dead silent.
Murmurs and doubt spread through the desks.
"Do not look so surprised," Aisha said, her eyes scanning the quiet room. "If a war ever breaks out where the pact is shattered, you will not have the luxury of choosing your opponents. But to defeat a Beyonder, you cannot rely on conventional magic. You cannot throw more fire or build stronger walls."
"You would have to create a magic specifically designed to bypass the laws they govern," she continued, her voice echoing in the silence. "A spell that exists outside the framework of this world's physics."
"Or you would have to invent something that can be considered god-like," Aisha said.
"A weapon or a concept that doesn't just damage their body, but tears their connection to the world's mana apart."
"Something that defeats a Beyonder must be known as a god killer," she said, her voice grim. "And currently, no such magic or weapon exists in our empire. Or the entire world."
The students looked at each other, the weight of her words sinking in.
"Throughout history, the only documented deaths of a Beyonder have been from 2 things: old age, or being taken on by multiple Beyonders at once," Aisha explained. "They have never lost a 1v1. Not once. A single Beyonder possesses the capacity to shatter entire continents if they choose to release their restraint."
She let the silence sit for 2 seconds.
"And do not think Asura is the only place with this power. Celestine's Elven Kingdom and the Demonic Kingdom both possess Beyonders of their own. Valerion has them too. If the balance ever breaks, the world will not be fought with armies. It will be fought with entities."
She looked at the class again, her voice clear.
"So I ask you again. Can you survive a Beyonder?"
Slowly, the raised hands began to drop.
Milo's hand fell first, his jaw tight with frustration.
Kayla's hand dropped, her expression remaining neutral.
Scarlet's hand fell.
Delyra's hand dropped.
One by one, every student lowered their hand.
The last hand to fall was mine.
I don't want to lower my hand.
But looking at those projections... I know the reality.
Right now, I am nothing compared to them.
I can barely hold my own gravity spell for more than a few minutes.
But one day... I want to be that strong. I want to stand beside Kai and not feel like I'm the one being protected.
Slowly, my hand dropped to my desk.
Aisha looked at the quiet, downcast room, her voice softening into an encouraging tone.
"Do not be disengaged or feel loss of passion," Aisha said, her smile returning. "You are Scholars. You are at the beginning of your path. The fact that you cannot fight a god today does not mean you are weak. It means you have room to grow. Focus on your own potential, and let the future handle itself."
She paused, looking at the desks with a teasing glint in her eyes.
"Did any of you actually believe you were capable of killing a Beyonder all alone?"
Just then, a hand raised up next to me.
It was Kaiser Everhart.
My jaw dropped as I stared at him.
His eyes were still closed, his chin still resting in his hand, but his arm was raised straight in the air.
Aisha stared at him, her eyes wide with surprise.
The entire classroom went completely silent, every student turning to look at the back row.
"Kaiser," Aisha said, her voice dropping. "Stand up."
Kaiser slowly stood up from his chair, completely unbothered by the sudden shift of the room's attention.
I looked around the classroom and felt my stomach drop slightly.
Almost every student had a mocking look on their face. They were whispering, casting annoyed glares at him, clearly thinking he was just trying to grab attention again.
But as I looked closer, I realized not everyone was mocking him.
Axel was staring at him, his dark eyes serious and completely devoid of that usual glare.
Scarlet was looking at him with worried eyes, her hands clutched together.
Kayla Caroline kept her gaze fixed on him, her expression neutral and calculating.
I turned around to look at the desks behind us.
Even Leena and Rigel were staring at him with wide, surprised eyes.
Why are they looking at him like that?
Does Kai actually think he can kill a Beyonder?
Without a single drop of magic? How?
"Sit back down, Laggard," Milo scoffed, waving his hand dismissively. "You don't even have a single drop of mana in your body. Stop trying to get attention."
Novenol Dexus chuckled, his silver-blonde hair catching the light as he tilted his head with an aristocratic sneer.
"Indeed, a rather pathetic display," Novenol said, his voice carrying that quiet, melodic condescension. "A commoner human with no gift trying to insert himself into a conversation of gods. Sit down before you embarrass yourself further."
"Quiet down, both of you." Aisha commanded, her voice firm and echoing in the classroom.
She turned her attention back to Kaiser, her gaze searching his face.
"Kaiser. You do not possess magic. Why do you believe you can kill a Beyonder without it?"
"Magic isn't the sole weapon of this world," Kaiser replied, his voice calm and steady.
Aisha shook her head, contradicting him.
"Magic is the fundamental law of this world, Kaiser. It is the sole and strongest weapon we possess. It dictates gravity, time, elements, and the very structure of life. Without it, you are trying to fight a storm with a stick."
She leaned forward on her podium, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Every advancement of civilization, every war won, and every boundary broken has been done through magic. To suggest otherwise is to ignore history itself."
"The most dangerous form of blindness is believing that your perspective is the only reality." Kaiser said, his voice flat.
He leaned slightly against the edge of his desk.
"We shouldn't play fair in a game where everyone cheats. The Beyonders, and anyone beyond an Adept, are just born gifted. What Beyonders possess is sheer violence of everything around them. But sheer violence only works if you're smart enough to use it. If their opponent is smarter and more experienced than they are, that violence can be turned against them."
The classroom went entirely quiet.
A few students still held a hateful glare, but the mockery had faded into a tense silence.
Aisha stared at him, her arms crossing over her chest.
"And that is why you think you are capable of killing a Beyonder? Through not magic, but any means necessary?"
"Eh?" Kaiser blinked, looking at her with a confused expression. "What? When did I say that?"
Aisha frowned, her eyebrows drawing together.
"Didn't you raise your hand knowing you are capable of defeating, no, more than that, killing a Beyonder? And gave me your explanation based on that?"
Kaiser shook his head slowly.
"Uh, no. Everything I said so far, I made it up as I went on for dramatic build-up."
He gestured with his raised hand toward the door.
"As for why I raised my hand, I wanted to ask if I can go to the restroom."
Aisha stood frozen for a second, then raised her hand to her face and let out a long, heavy facepalm.
I burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer.
The rest of the class followed, the tension in the room instantly shattering into loud laughter and giggles.
Aisha shook her head, a smile breaking through her annoyance as she giggled.
"Fine. Go ahead, Kaiser."
"Thank you." Kaiser said, walking out of the classroom door with his usual slow, unhurried pace.
As the door clicked shut behind him, Aisha cleared her throat, though she was still smiling.
"Let that be a reminder," Aisha said, her voice returning to its normal volume. "Defeating a Beyonder is not something you can dramatic-talk your way out of. They are far beyond what you can imagine."
"He isn't even capable of being a Novice, let alone fighting one!" one of our classmates laughed, waving his hand.
I drifted off into my own thoughts, staring at the empty doorway.
He made it up as a joke.
But his words... they weren't stupid.
He analyzed their power as 'sheer violence'.
If Kai actually had mana, if he knew how to fight, how strong would he be?
No, even without magic, he sees things none of us do...
---
Most of the morning classes went that way, a blur of lectures and notes, and soon the bell rang for lunch time.
The classroom cleared quickly as students rushed toward the cafeteria.
I packed my books into my bag and looked over to Kai, where he was still sitting trying to sleep.
"Stop daydreaming and come for lunch!" I said, tapping his desk.
He blinked, turning to look at me.
"You need to stop daydreaming and sleeping in class." I reminded him as we walked out into the corridor. "You made an embarrassment of yourself joking and confusing Instructor Aisha earlier."
Kaiser walked beside me, his hands in his pockets.
"What if it wasn't a joke?" he muttered, his voice very quiet.
I blinked, stopping in the middle of the corridor to look at him.
He stared back at me for a second, then a small grin broke across his face as he laughed it off.
"Yeah, it was a joke."
He is definitely hiding something.
Or maybe he just likes seeing me confused.
Either way, I am not letting him off the hook that easily.
---
I grabbed his arm, dragging him along the corridor as he let out a long, lazy yawn.
As we walked, I couldn't help but notice the stares. Dozens of boys in the hallway were watching us, their eyes darting from me to Kaiser, casting sharp, jealous glares in his direction.
"Why are they all staring at you like that?" I whispered, leaning closer to him.
"They think of me as their love rival," Kaiser said, completely casual.
I stopped walking, looking at him in surprise.
"Their... what?"
"A love rival." Kaiser explained, walking at his usual slow pace. "With how popular you've become after the Valentine's display, half the boys in our year want to get close to you. And the girls are envious because you're the center of attention."
"That's ridiculous," I huffed, crossing my arms. "I don't care about any of them."
"Doesn't change the fact that they're staring," he said, looking at me. "You're the most wanted girl in our year, Elfie. They're bound to look."
"And that doesn't bother you at all?" I asked, my voice rising slightly.
"Why would it bother me?" Kaiser asked, raising an eyebrow. "I like it. Finally more of the academy can feel your beautiful grace."
"You're unbelievable!" I hissed, slapping his shoulder. "Shut up!"
He is so casual about this.
How can he just stand there and smile while other boys stare at me?
I don't even like the thought of another girl standing within 3 feet of him, let alone staring.
Does he really not feel even a tiny bit of jealousy?
It makes me want to pinch him until he admits it.
Before I could say anything else, a familiar figure walked toward us from the opposite end of the hallway.
Rose Valentine.
She carried herself with her usual royal grace, her long hair flowing behind her.
"Good afternoon, Elfina," Rose said, offering a warm smile.
"Rose! Hello," I replied, my annoyance melting away for a moment.
Kaiser stood beside me like a complete NPC, hands in his pockets, staring out the window with his eyes half-closed.
Rose looked at him, her smile widening.
"Hello, Kaiser." Rose said.
I blinked, looking between the 2 of them in shock.
Wait.
How does she know his name?
I remember her mentioning she knew him, but seeing them actually talk is weird.
"You two... know each other?" I asked, looking back and forth.
Rose chuckled softly.
"We met briefly a few weeks ago." Rose said, her eyes twinkling. "He had some trouble paying for his ice cream."
My face immediately burned with embarrassment. I glared at Kaiser, my elbow finding his ribs.
"Kai! You didn't take a loan from her too, did you?" I hissed.
"Of course not," Kaiser said, raising his hands in mock surrender. "I will pay it back soon... maybe."
"I'm so sorry on his behalf, Rose," I said, bowing slightly. "He has a habit of... well, being himself."
"It's completely fine, Elfina." Rose said, waving her hand. "He was actually quite polite."
Kaiser looked at Rose, his gaze briefly focusing on her face.
"It seems you two have things on your mind." Kaiser said, stepping back. "I'll go secure us a seat in the cafeteria before it gets crowded. See you there."
He turned and walked away, leaving us to walk together.
As we made our way toward the cafeteria, Rose looked at me, her expression curious.
"So, how does it feel having so many admirers?" Rose asked.
My face contorted in disgust.
"It's awful." I muttered. "I hate the staring. Why can't everyone just look at their own desks?"
Rose laughed, her voice light.
"You think that's bad? Your situation is actually much worse than mine," Rose warned.
"A boy in my class has gotten highly interested in you."
"He's been asking about you constantly since the dungeon exam and the Valentine's Day incident."
"I've heard rumors spreading through Class B and Class C too."
"But... isn't that normal for you, since you're a princess?" I asked.
"It is," Rose admitted. "But the difference is, most boys know it is completely impossible to get close to me because of the royal family."
"For you, they think they have a chance."
"In fact, with your popularity, you could easily build a harem."
My jaw dropped.
"A... a what? What does that word even mean?"
Rose giggled, tapping her chin.
"A reverse harem, Elfina."
"It means having multiple boys competing for your affection, all of them following you around like loyal subjects."
"That sounds like a nightmare!" I gasped.
"Well, good luck to you." Rose said, patting my shoulder as we entered the cafeteria. "You're going to need it."
I stood speechless in the middle of the crowded cafeteria, my mind racing.
A reverse harem?
Is she insane?
I can barely handle 1 Kaiser Everhart, and now I'm supposed to have a crowd of boys following me around?!
I would rather fight a Transcendent-level mage with my bare hands.
This is all Kai's fault.
He wanted other boys to find out and steal my attention just so he could sleep in class.
Look at him.
Completely unbothered, while my life is turning into a chaotic mess.
I glared across the room, finding Kaiser sitting at a corner table, calmly eating a sandwich.
I pray to the heavens that none of this actually happens.
Just then, the murmurs in the cafeteria shifted, a quiet wave of whispers spreading through the tables.
A student entered the cafeteria, walking with an effortless grace that immediately drew everyone's eyes.
He was strikingly handsome, with long, wavy golden-blonde hair falling past his shoulders, tied back in a loose, elegant half-ponytail. His sapphire-blue eyes were warm as he looked around, wearing a custom-tailored white-and-gold variant of the academy uniform adorned with a silver crest.
The girls in the cafeteria stared in shock, while the boys glared with irritation, realizing someone was moving before any of them.
The boy walked straight past the tables, heading directly toward me.
He stopped a few feet away, bowing slightly with perfect noble poise.
"Good day, Lady Elfina." he said, his voice silver-tongued and polished.
"I had hoped I might find you here. The cafeteria is quite crowded today... would you mind if I shared a lunch with you?"
He offered a warm, charming smile, his sapphire eyes bright.
"I've been quite eager to speak with the star of Class C since the dungeon exam."
No.
Please tell me this is not happening...
Kaiser!!!
I turned to look at him smirking and enjoying his sandwich.
Please say something, Kai!
Don't just stand there like an idiot!!!