The Hall of Concord was built for diplomacy, not war — yet the air inside hummed with restrained tension.
Marble pillars carved with clan sigils lined the vast chamber, and a ring of luminescent wards pulsed faintly along the ceiling. Around the oval table sat the leading instructors of the Academy, each wearing their formal crests. At the head of the table stood Lord Hi'orei.
Tall, composed, and draped in a dark-blue mantle, he looked every inch the ruler of an ancient house. Yet his expression was shadowed.
"Thank you for coming on short notice," he began. His voice carried easily, calm but heavy. "What I am about to share does not leave this hall."
The instructors exchanged uneasy glances.
The Headmaster folded his hands. "The summons mentioned an anomaly?"
Lord Hi'orei nodded. "We have reason to believe the Gate phenomenon has reawakened."
A ripple of shock went through the table."The Gates were sealed centuries ago," someone whispered.
"Sealed," Hi'orei agreed, "but not destroyed. And this seal —" he raised a glowing crystal shard — "has begun to fracture. Our readings spiked last night, centered here… within the Academy."
A silence fell over the room. Even the wards seemed to dim.
The man continued, "Until we confirm the nature of this disturbance, the Academy is to remain under restricted communication. No letters out, no visitors in. You will act as if nothing has changed."
The Headmaster frowned. "And the students?"
"Uninformed. Panic is the last thing we need. Maintain normal operations. Patrols will double around the dungeon perimeter."
He paused, eyes hardening."If a Gate truly manifests… containment comes first. Rescue second."
*****
The first tremor came as a whisper — barely enough to stir the grass outside the courtyard.
Asher was looking outside the classroom window, eyes half-lidded, without the glasses. A subtle pulse in the air, a rhythm he had come to recognize in the weeks since the dungeon incident with Lilith.
The others were still joking about Fiona when his head tilted slightly, his gaze drawn toward the distant edge of the academy grounds. His fingers twitched once, unconsciously. Then the faintest smile touched his lips.
It's time.
He didn't wait for questions. In the next instant, his presence vanished — gone as though the space he occupied had folded in on itself.
Ronan blinked. "—Asher?"
Kael looked around. "Did he just—?"
Before any of them could finish, the ground shook again — harder this time. A low hum rose beneath the academy floor, followed by a distant roar that sent dust cascading from the ceiling beams.
Students screamed. Alarms flared to life as mana lines across the walls lit up in warning crimson.
"Evacuation protocol!" someone shouted from the hall. "All first and second years, outside—now!"
The courtyard filled with running footsteps and the clamor of mana shields activating. From the far end of the compound, a surge of light burst upward — violent, unstable.
The Gate had opened.
Not the dungeon's massive stone arch that everyone knew to avoid, but a smaller, wandering one — the kind whispered about in old records, remnants of the first calamity. A floating rift of warped mana and shadow, pulsing with violet flame at its core.
Ronan and the others reached the outer courtyard just in time to see prefects assembling defensive lines. Third-years took up positions behind barrier wards while professors barked distant orders through echo crystals.
"Everyone outside!" a voice yelled. "Go, go!"
The first and second years poured through the south gates in terrified clusters. Prefects counted heads, stabilizing wards, redirecting stray mana currents that rippled through the air.
One prefect, a girl with black hair bound into a sharp braid and golden accents on her uniform, stood at the gate, scanning the crowd with cold precision. Her mana pressure was calm but commanding — unmistakably Hi'orei blood.
"Report!" she called. "Are all accounted for?"
A third-year aide saluted. "Almost! Last check says we're missing one!"
Before she could respond, Lilith's voice rang out from behind her — breathless but loud. "Senior! Asher's still inside!"
The prefect — Seren Hi'orei — turned sharply at the name. Her expression flickered for the briefest second.
"Asher… Ernstein?" she asked, voice low.
Lilith nodded quickly. "He was right behind us before the quake — then he just vanished!"
Seren hesitated, her hand tightening on the edge of her spear. Then she looked over her shoulder, her tone clipped and controlled."Anyone else missing?"
Silence. Only the distant rumble of the unstable Gate answered her.
"Good," she said quietly. "Stay here. Keep the barrier steady."
And with that, she turned and sprinted back into the academy — her cloak snapping behind her as the mana-charged air swallowed her form.
Lilith cursed under her breath and followed without hesitation. Kael shouted after her, "Lilith—wait! Damn it!"
She was already gone.
*****
Just beyond the physical Dungeon Gates, something else had appeared.Not a gate in the usual sense — but a tear in space. A portal, hovering like a wound in the air.
It was completely black, yet alive.Thin strands of crimson energy pulsed around its edges, flickering like veins under skin. The air around it trembled, thick with pressure. A normal person wouldn't have lasted seconds near it — the energy was so oppressive it could make anyone with weak mana control vomit from sheer strain.
The temperature seemed to drop. Even the light from the torches dimmed, as if the darkness of the portal was swallowing it.
But the third-years didn't flinch.
Forming a half-circle before the Gate, they held their ground — blades, staves, and talismans ready. The faint hum of defensive enchantments filled the air. They had trained for this kind of emergency, but the reality was heavier, sharper, realer than any mock drill.
Every Hi'orei in the academy stood among them, their family crests glowing faintly in preparation. Someone had already been sent to alert the instructors.
And at the front, where the tension was thickest, stood Lauren Hi'orei, expression firm, alongside her stepbrother Ziriah.She was the one giving orders now — clear, calm, commanding.
"Hold the line. No one crosses that boundary unless I give the signal."
The third-years nodded in unison. The faint rumble of the portal continued to fill the silence, its energy like a heartbeat too big for the world around it.
Ziriah leaned closer, his voice low enough that only she could hear.
"Is this what he meant by 'be ready for battle'?""Seems this was expected, don't you think?"
Lauren's gaze didn't waver.
"I don't know," she said flatly. "But stay focused."
A gust of wind swept through the training grounds, carrying the smell of burnt ozone. And then — from atop one of the distant rooftops — a faint glow appeared.
Two violet eyes gleamed through the darkness.
Asher.
He sat crouched on the edge of the roof, watching in silence. His expression was unreadable, the faintest smile curling his lips as he studied the defensive formation below.
"So it's finally here…" he murmured."Let's see what these people are capable of."
He didn't move. Just observed — every stance, every shift in mana. His eyes caught every detail as the energy within the portal began to fluctuate more violently.
Then, all at once, it happened.
A low, unnatural hum filled the air — deep, resonant, almost like the world itself was holding its breath. The sound vibrated through the ground, through their bones, through the very air around them.
The portal pulsed once.Then again — stronger.And with the third pulse, a sound split the night open.
A roar — not of an animal, but of raw energy, tearing through reality itself.
The battle had begun.