Professor Agrona stood tall in the midst of chaos, her arms raised as she focused intently on stabilizing the swirling portal before her. Winds screamed through the clearing, dragging leaves and dust into a spiraling frenzy as the atmospheric pressure warped under the portal's volatile energy. Her robes fluttered like battle flags, her hair rippling around her shoulders in elegant disarray.
"Professor, your timing is impeccable," Roy said in a strained voice, his body bruised and stained with scion blood. "I wouldn't have known what else to do if you hadn't come through."
He stood amidst a graveyard of twisted corpses, blackened blood soaking into the dirt at his feet. Even though his aura blazed at mid Rank 2, the scions had begun evolving far too quickly—growing more aggressive, more intelligent, more dangerous. They weren't just monsters anymore. They were soldiers.
Roy's breathing was heavy, controlled. He held his blade steady, the once-silver metal now dulled with ichor. Around him, his teammates leaned against trees and rocks, battle-worn and exhausted, with Nicole huddled behind Galen's trembling shield.
"It looks like the scions stopped attacking," Roy muttered, scanning the treeline. "I guess you already found the traitor among us."
Agrona nodded, the corner of her lips curling into a soft smile. "It took a bit of effort. Tracking the energy released from the corrupted barrier at the gate led me to an artifact—once I located that, identifying the Ember was trivial."
She stepped forward, her heels clicking softly against the shattered stone and scorched soil, then crouched beside Nicole. Her hand reached out and rested gently on the girl's shoulder. The warmth that spread from her palm was almost maternal.
Nicole felt her breathing steady, the fear in her chest ebbing away like water from a broken dam. Agrona's presence was like sunlight piercing through a storm.
"Fortunately, I had the foresight to bring a portal crystal," Agrona said with a smile. "Outside this portal should be where the others are. You'll be safe there."
She stood and guided Nicole toward the rippling gateway.
"Excuse me, ma'am," Nicole asked softly.
"Yes, love?" Agrona adjusted her glasses, her expression kind and composed.
"Is my brother there yet?"
"Not yet," Agrona replied, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "But he should follow through soon enough. You can count on me."
Nicole smiled faintly. "Well then, Roy—if you see him before I do, tell him I'm safe and he shouldn't worry."
She vanished into the portal, her silhouette dissolving into light.
Agrona turned to Roy, her expression suddenly stern. "Roy, we must make haste. You're likely the main target of this entire attack."
Roy blinked. "Wait—me? Why would they target me? I haven't done anything yet that should draw that kind of attention." His grip on his sword tightened, a flicker of violent intent flashing in his eyes.
"You think you haven't," Agrona said calmly, "but your talent alone is enough to terrify them. Emberfall doesn't wait for threats to rise—they destroy them before they bloom."
She reached toward him to usher him through the portal.
But before her hand could touch him, a crimson whip coiled around Roy's upper torso and yanked him backward, pulling him away from the portal.
"Which is why you're trying to kidnap him," said a deep voice from the shadows.
Dame burst into the clearing like a missile, his massive frame blazing through the forest. His fist surged forward like a cannon, slamming into Agrona's quickly raised mana shield. The shield, hastily conjured, shattered in a shower of glass-like shards, and Agrona was sent flying backwards through the trees.
Branches snapped. Trunks splintered. A cloud of dust exploded into the air.
"Instructor Dame! Miss Zara!" Roy shouted, confused and stunned. "What are you doing? Why are you fighting her?"
"She's the traitor, Roy!" Dame growled, standing in front of him protectively. "Don't be fooled by her lies. All of the instructors had our cores sealed—we've been fighting with our bodies alone. But hers... hers wasn't sealed."
Zara stepped beside him, whip in hand, her eyes blazing. "We were meant to fight together—but not all of us were fighting for the same side."
The dust cleared, revealing Agrona, now visibly injured. Her right arm hung limp, fractured. Part of her elegant robe had been torn away, and her unique glass lens lay shattered at her feet.
She didn't look enraged.
She looked disappointed.
"Shame," she muttered, straightening herself. Her bones cracked as her arm began to heal rapidly, sinew and muscle weaving back together. "I knew a mere Rank 3 mana shield wouldn't hold you back, Dame. That's why I tried to end this quickly and cleanly."
Roy stared in disbelief, the pit in his stomach growing heavier.
He remembered her kindness. Her lessons. The way Denwen once admired her. The time she caught them sneaking out and simply warned them rather than punish them. The quiet encouragements, the warm smiles.
None of it made sense now.
"Roy," Agrona said again, her voice calmer, quieter. "Come with me. If you do, no one else has to die."
Zara's whip lashed toward her. "No one else is going to die, you Ember-loving snake!"
Agrona raised her hand, a ripple of telekinetic force shooting forth, deflecting the whip mid-air. She floated upward, flipping elegantly to avoid Dame's follow-up punch. Their battle resumed instantly—brutal, swift, unforgiving.
Roy stood frozen.
Memories played like echoes in his head—Denwen's praise for Agrona, her guidance, the times she taught them about evolution and control. His chest felt hollow, as if something vital had been ripped away.
Tears dripped onto his blade.
'Ar…'
The voice was faint, like the whisper of a god in a void.
He remembered Emberfall's attacks. The towns razed. The people lost. His uncle's dying words. Nicole's innocent smile and her final words before she walked through the portal.
'Arise…'
Agrona turned to him. "Roy, please—"
But he couldn't hear her anymore.
He could only hear the voice.
His hand clenched tighter around the hilt of his blade.
The essence within his body began to rumble.
"Arise, Blade Sovereign. Arise and vanquish your enemies."
Roy's head lifted, his pupils shining like molten gold. His aura expanded outward like a typhoon, his sword gleaming as if reborn by divine flame. Dame and Zara paused mid-motion, turning to look at him.
"I am…" he whispered.
The air trembled.
"I am the Blade Sovereign."
A sharp crack echoed through the clearing as his essence surged. His core evolved, breaking through Peak Rank 2, the mana roaring through his veins like a holy storm. The dungeon itself groaned, the very laws of space bending around his presence.
"I am the Blade Sovereign," Roy said again, raising his blade toward Agrona. "And I will vanquish my enemies."
Agrona stared at him, eyes wide. Her smile returned, but now there was tension beneath it.
The portal behind them flickered violently, destabilized by the wild energy Roy's awakening had summoned. Essence surged uncontrollably, pulsing like a wounded heart.
Cracks appeared in the chains surrounding Zara and Dame's dantians.
And then—
Snap.
The chains shattered, like glass beneath a hammer.
Their cores—long suppressed—roared back to life.
Zara's crimson aura ignited like wildfire. Dame's essence exploded outward in a dome of raw force. Their battle stances shifted instantly, refined, elevated.
Agrona didn't have time to think as with a quick burst of speed Dame and Zara moved, their crimson red essence flowing through their body, as with the might of a peak rank 4 and a mid-rank 4, the forest behind was cleared and barren, the dungeon vibrating dangerously as it became unstable, unable to contain their strength or long.
"Boy," Dame muttered with a grin, "your breakthrough just saved us all. And it looks like you finally figured out the name of your gift."
The trees behind them were flattened by the shockwave. The dungeon itself began to shudder, the environment destabilized by the release of such raw energy.
"Roy, go," Zara commanded. "Find your classmates. We'll clean up this mess. But we have to leave before the dungeon collapses."
Roy nodded, turning to run.
But then—
A twisted, maniacal laughter rang through the clearing.
From the broken trees, Agrona emerged.
Her once-pristine hair now flowed wild and tangled. Her robes hung in tatters. Her eyes were bloodshot. And her aura…
It was changing.
What had once been a steady, cold purple now began to shift, warping into crimson, flickering erratically like a fire that couldn't decide whether to die or devour.
"Hahahaha… amazing," she laughed, arms spread wide, essence swirling like a vortex. "Roy… you and your friend Denwen… you just might be the keys. The final pieces we need to ascend. To evolve!"
Her voice cracked as her laugh turned unhinged, madness crawling across her features.
She no longer resembled a professor.
She resembled something far more dangerous.