Inside the central monitoring chamber, Professor Helene Draven stood with her grey eyes fixed on the floating holographic screens that lined the walls. The room was enormous — a circular chamber with rows of technicians hunched over consoles, their fingers flying across interfaces, their voices low and urgent.

Screens covered every surface, each one showing a different part of the Sealed Valley — candidates fighting, candidates running, candidates dying.

The light from the screens cast pale blue shadows across her dark skin, and her silver hair was pulled back from her face in a tight, severe bun that made her look even more tired than she felt.

She had been standing there for days, watching children hunt children.

She watched the purple plague crawl from candidate to candidate, turning friends into murderers. Her hands curled into tight fists at her sides, her nails digging deep into her palms.

She should have known something was wrong when the test changed.

When the Headmaster announced that the exam would be held in the Sealed Valley instead of the controlled training ground they had used for decades.

When the Astra Union approved the change without hesitation, without any of the usual political maneuvering. When the families were told nothing, and the candidates were sent into a Forbidden Zone with no warning, no preparation, no chance to say no.

She should have spoken up. Instead, she had stood in this room, watching the body count rise, doing absolutely nothing.

"How many?" she asked, her voice dangerously flat.

A technician behind her swallowed audibly. "Three thousand and twelve dead, ma’am. Four thousand and forty-seven teleported out. The rest are still fighting." His voice trembled on the last word, as if he wasn’t sure "fighting" was the right term anymore.

Helene’s jaw tightened. "And the monster?"

"The Grade 5 Mid — the Weeping Knight, has been destroyed, ma’am."

"By who?"

"Leo von Celestial, ma’am." The technician’s voice was careful, measured. "He killed it, with help from Lady Amelia."

Helene turned back to the screens. Her eyes found the white-haired boy almost immediately — unconscious now, his head in the lap of a girl with silver-violet eyes, his white hair spread across her torn robes like spilled moonlight.

His katana lay beside him, dark and still, the black lightning that usually danced along its edge nowhere to be seen. His chest rose and fell in shallow, uneven breaths, but he was alive. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Against all odds, he was alive.

He killed a Master rank monster while being Elite rank, she thought. A feat that should have been impossible. A feat that has never happened before in the history of the Academy.

First he survives the Path Trial after seven months, something no one has done before.

Now this.

She zoomed in on the knight’s remains. The black stone was cracked, shattered, crumbling to dust like old bones. But beneath the stone, hidden deep in the core, she saw something that made her blood run cold.

A purple glow, faint, dying, but unmistakable. A seed of corruption that had been planted in the monster’s heart.

Someone — something — was pulling its strings.

"How many other high-grade monsters are in the valley?" she asked.

The technician’s face paled. He typed frantically at his console. "We’ve detected another Grade 5 High, ma’am. But its core readings are fluctuating wildly. It’s evolving right now. It’s pushing directly toward a Grade Six."

Helene’s blood turned to ice. A Grade 5 High pushing toward Grade 6 — that was Grandmaster territory. A monster that strong could wipe out entire parties of candidates without breaking a sweat.

"And the candidates?"

"They’re being overwhelmed, ma’am. The bracers —" The technician stopped. His face went white. "The emergency teleport function isn’t working anymore. We don’t know why. We’ve tried to override it, but something is blocking the signal. The valley is totally sealed."

Helene crossed the room in three strides, grabbed the technician by the collar, and lifted him off the ground. Her grey eyes blazed with fury. "Why wasn’t I told this sooner?"

"We only just confirmed it, ma’am—"

She threw him back into his chair. He scrambled to straighten his robes, his hands shaking. The other technicians in the room had gone still, their eyes fixed on their consoles, pretending not to see.

The Headmaster, she thought. He will have answers.

She left the monitoring chamber without another word.

The Headmaster’s office was at the top of the highest tower, a circular room with windows that looked out over the entire academy. The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and red and gold, but the Headmaster was not looking at the view.

He was sitting behind his desk, reading reports, his golden eyes tired and ancient and heavy with centuries of memory. His silver hair fell past his shoulders, and his hands, gnarled with age but still strong, rested on the papers before him.

He didn’t look up when the heavy doors slammed open.

"You knew," Helene said, her voice dropping into a low, dangerous register as she approached his desk.

He set down the papers and sighed. "...I knew."

"You knew there was a Grade 5 monster in the valley. Controlled by something worse. You knew candidates would die. You knew the bracers would fail. You knew everything, didn’t you?"

"Yes."

She stepped closer, her hands shaking, her grey eyes blazing. "Why? Why are you doing this? Do you want all the candidates to die? Do you want to watch them tear each other apart?"

"The Astra Union made the decision," he said quietly. "I cannot refuse them."

Helene’s face went pale. The Astra Union. Of course. Only the Astra Union had the power to change the exam without warning. Only the Astra Union could override the Academy’s authority. They would sacrifice children for the greater good.

She should have known. She should have spoken up.

But she hadn’t.

"But still!" she shouted, slamming her hand on his desk. The impact sent papers flying. "Do you want all those children to die? Is that not too much? How are they supposed to defeat something like that — a monster that shows them their worst memories, controls their minds, turns them against each other? They’re just kids, and you’re sending them to die."

The Headmaster did not answer.

"How can you be so cruel?" she whispered.

He finally raised his eyes. His golden pupils flashed, and a sudden wave of Transcendent aura descended upon the room.

The sheer gravitational weight of his presence hit Helene’s shoulders, instantly cutting the breath from her lungs and forcing her to go rigid. It wasn’t an attack — it was a silent, terrifying reminder of the absolute gap in their power.

He stood up and walked to the window.

The sun was almost gone now, the sky darkening, the first stars appearing like pinpricks of light in the vast darkness. He looked out at the horizon, the distant mountains, the Sealed Valley hidden somewhere in the shadows.

"You want the truth, Helene?" he said quietly. "Then listen."

He turned to face her, his golden eyes heavy with centuries of grief.

"One month ago, the Oracle had a vision. A warning. She has not woken since — the vision took too much from her. But before she fell, she left a recording. A prophecy."

His voice dropped lower.

"The seals are cracking. Not because someone shattered them, but because they were never meant to last. The Abyss King stirs beneath the earth. The Fallen are rising, the same cult that orchestrated the Great Gate Incursion twelve years ago. They have been dormant. They are no longer dormant."

Helene’s face went white.

"The war is coming, Helene. Sooner than we hoped. The Seer said the world will end not with thunder, but with a whisper. And no one will hear it coming."

He paused, letting the weight of his words settle.

"The exam was never just an exam. It was a crucible. A filter. We need survivors. We need weapons, not students. The candidates who die in that valley... would have died anyway when the war comes. At least this way, their deaths serve a purpose. They prepare the ones who live."

Helene’s throat tightened. Her arguments crumbled in her chest.

"I am well aware of the cruelty, Helene," he continued, his voice softer now. "But peace has made the human domain weak. Sometimes, we must sacrifice the weak so the strong can rise."

"So their lives simply don’t matter to you?"

"They matter," he said. "But the future matters more."

He turned back to the window. "Do you remember the Great Gate Incursion twelve years ago?"

She nodded. Everyone remembered. The gate that had opened in the Frozen Cross. The demons that had poured through. The demon general who had almost killed everyone.

"Then you remember what that demon said about the Abyss King. How he would return and the world would burn." He gestured to the window, to the darkening sky.

"The crack in the sky was the first sign. I saw the first Descent eight hundred years ago. I was there. I watched empires crumble. I know what it looks like. And this, this is the same. The same crack. The same mana flood. The same beginning."

Helene’s face paled.

"The Goddess choosing an Apostle. The gates opening more frequently. And now the Seer’s warning."

He turned back to the window. "We need survivors, Helene. We need weapons, not students. If the Seven Demon Generals break through the veil alongside their King, who stops them? The incursion twelve years ago was just a prince — a demon general, and we barely survived. There are seven. Seven. And the Abyss King himself."

Helene’s arguments died in her throat. The sheer weight of the looming dark made her moral outrage feel incredibly small.

"The Union has known about this for weeks," the Headmaster said. "The High Seats met in secret. The domain leaders were summoned. Everyone who needed to know... knows."

He picked up a file from his desk and held it out to her.

"The Oracle’s prophecy. The Union’s contingency plans. The threat assessment of the Fallen. Read it if you want. It will not make you feel better. But it will make you understand."

Helene stared at the file. She did not take it.

"Why didn’t you tell me sooner?" she whispered.

"Because you would have tried to stop it," he said simply. "And I could not afford to be stopped."

"And my brother?" Helene’s voice cracked. "Damon sits on the High Seats. He knew. He must have known. Why didn’t he tell me? Why did everyone hide this from me?"

The Headmaster was silent for a moment.

"The Seer has been hidden from the world for decades," he said quietly. "The domain leaders know she exists, they know the Union has an Oracle. But they have never seen her. They only know her name. The world doesn’t know about her. The Union has kept her safe, guarded, hidden in a place no one can find. Her visions are the most closely guarded secret we have."

He paused.

"When she saw what was coming, the seals cracking, the Abyss King stirring, the Fallen rising, the High Seats made a decision. No information would leave that room. Not a single word. Not to family. Not to friends. Not to anyone who was not already in that chamber."

His golden eyes met hers.

"Your brother was bound by that oath, Helene. We all were. It was not his choice. It was not my choice. It was necessity. If the world knew what the Seer saw, the true extent of what is coming — there would be panic. Empires crumbling before the enemy even arrived."

"So you lied," she whispered.

"We omitted," he said. "There is a difference. And yes, I knew you would try to stop the exam if you knew the truth. You would have protested. You would have gone to the families. You would have done everything in your power to save those children."

He shook his head slowly.

"And you would have failed. The exam would have happened anyway. The Union would have overruled you. The only difference is that you would have been outside, screaming at walls that were never going to listen. At least this way... you are here. Watching. Ready to act when the survivors emerge."

Helene’s hands trembled. Her eyes burned.

"...You took my choice away," she said.

"I did," he admitted. "Because your choice would have changed nothing except your own peace of mind. And I could not afford to let you break yourself against a decision that was already made."

"This generation has been forced into a corner," the Headmaster said, picking up a file from his desk. "That is why the Union has officially classified them under a specific project name. The Marked."

He held the file for a moment, but he did not open it. He just stared at the cover, his ancient fingers pressed against the worn leather.

Then he sat down heavily, the weight of eight hundred years pressing on his shoulders.

Helene stood there for a long moment. Her hands were shaking. Her chest was tight. But she had nothing left to say. She turned and walked toward the door, her footsteps echoing in the silence.

The Headmaster sat alone in his office, the photograph in his hands. The sun had finished its descent. The room was dark now, lit only by the pale glow of the mana-lamps.

He looked down at the papers. At the top of the stack was a photograph — a white-haired boy with ocean-blue eyes, his face pale, his expression cold. Beneath it, one word was written in bold black letters.

Anomaly.

"I am sorry, Helene. I know you would not have wanted this. But this is the only way."

He set the photograph down and looked out the window at the stars.

"The world watches," he murmured. "...And soon, the world will choose."

Somewhere in the valley, a white-haired boy remained unconscious, his head in Amelia’s lap, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths.

The battle was over.

But the war had just begun.