The skies over Nova Academia were clearer than they'd been in weeks. Snow still clung to the rooftops, and the distant echoes of the war still lingered in the hearts of the students and Wielders returning home.
Kael stood at the gates with Ryuu, Hana, Tetsu, and Eri at his side. Behind them, injured Wielders were being escorted into the infirmary, while recovery crews cleaned the remnants of the recent battle from the transport docks.
Kaede Mizuno greeted them personally at the gate, bandaged but standing tall."Welcome home," he said simply.
Kael gave a small nod. "For now."
As they entered, Raizen Kurai—still in his old traveler's robe—watched silently from a balcony overlooking the academy's inner courtyard. He gripped a folded message in one hand, sealed with an emblem from the Eastern Zone. His gaze was fixed, thoughtful.
Kaede joined him moments later.
"You felt it too, didn't you?" Kaede asked quietly.
Raizen didn't answer right away. His eyes narrowed. "Something ancient… buried beneath the Eastern Wastes. I sealed it away once. But the fractures are widening."
Kaede sighed. "And Kurojin?"
Raizen closed his eyes. "He hasn't shown his full power. He didn't need to."
Meanwhile, in a deep chamber beneath a blackened temple far away…
Kurojin stood before a cracked monolith pulsing with veins of red energy. Lilith knelt beside him, her arm still burned from the clash with Kael. Veyron stood behind, silent and brooding.
"The boy," Kurojin muttered, running a finger along the monolith's surface, "he's evolving faster than I expected. Just like his grandfather."
Veyron's tone was bitter. "We underestimated them."
Kurojin smiled faintly, eyes gleaming. "No. We tested them. And now we prepare for the real war."
The monolith rumbled—deep and ancient.
"Soon… it will wake," Kurojin whispered. "And the world will remember what true terror feels like."
Back at Nova Academia, Kael looked to the training field where his friends waited.
But something in the air felt… wrong.
Like peace was just a thin veil.And behind it—something was watching.