Thick, purple poison fog slithered relentlessly across the white marble floor of Astrea Academy's courtyard, dissolving every blade of grass and scorching the stone pillars it touched. Beneath a capital sky torn apart by black lightning, the screams of terrified students and the clashing of steel fused into a symphony of absolute despair. The final defense lines established by the academy instructors had already collapsed; most of them lay broken and helpless in pools of blood, while dark sect monsters rampaged fiercely toward the residential dormitories.

Amidst the massive chaos and choking clouds of smoke, a small cluster of lower-class students—including Lyra and Garon, who struggled to herd the younger pupils—were cornered near the wall of the stone fountain. Looming directly before them, an Abyssal Beast twice the size of an elephant roared furiously, parting razor-sharp jaws and preparing to slaughter its prey without mercy.

Lyra clamped her eyes shut, pressing tightly against Garon’s side while raising a trembling hand to summon a fractured, emergency alchemy shield. Garon braced his staff with the last ounces of his strength, though he knew deep down that the barrier wouldn't withstand a fraction of the monster's onslaught.

This is it, Garon thought in utter despair.

Yet before the beast's claws could tear through the air, the unhurried sound of footsteps broke through the howling storm wind.

Tap... tap... tap...

The footsteps weren't rushed, yet every impact carried a perfectly steady rhythm, resonating directly against the heartbeat of everyone who heard it.

From behind the thick curtain of smoke and the licking flames consuming the left-wing building, a small silhouette stepped forward. The figure wore a black coat with a low cowl shrouding his face, but the aura radiating from him caused the surrounding fires to suddenly dim, bowing submissively beneath an invisible gravitational crush.

Rian.

He halted precisely ten paces in front of the Abyssal Beast. Without hesitation, Rian pulled his right hand free from his coat pocket. For the first time since setting foot within Astrea Academy, Rian chose to stop concealing his true identity.

Hiding power while enemies come to level this home is the ultimate form of stupidity, Rian thought coldly.

The mental seal deep within his meridian pathways cracked wide open. Instantly, an eruption of pitch-black mana surged violently from his frame, forming a colossal shadow shield dome that enveloped every cornered student around the fountain. When the torrent of poison fog and enemy fire smashed against the dome, the destructive energy was entirely absorbed, leaving not a single student harmed.

Lyra and Garon snapped their eyes wide open, staring in dumbfounded disbelief at the back of the young boy standing on the frontline.

In the distance, surviving academy knights and senior instructors watched the scene with slack jaws. They had thought the eleven-year-old lower-class boy was merely a lucky scholarship student, but the manifestation of pure shadow magic blanketing Rian's entire body far eclipsed the power of the grand archmages on the steering council.

The Abyssal Beast before Rian snorted angrily, sensing an absolute threat radiating from the tiny creature facing it. The monster leaped high into the air, swinging its massive claws with full force to pulverize Rian's head into paste.

Rian didn't flinch an inch. He didn't even draw a weapon.

He simply raised his left hand and slowly curled his fingers into a tight fist.

Swish!

Thousands of sharp shadow spikes shot upward from the earth beneath the monster's paws in a blink, piercing straight through the Abyssal Beast's thick scales from every conceivable angle. Before it could even hit the ground, the giant monster's body shattered into pieces of black smoke and vanished without a trace.

Rian turned slowly to face the students still shivering behind his protective dome. His voice was flat, yet echoed with unyielding authority through the noise of the battlefield:

"Those of you who can stand, fall back to the main library basement. Protect the wounded. The rest... leave to me."

Hearing that command of absolute sovereign composure, Garon swallowed hard before nodding firmly. He grabbed Lyra’s hand and helped the remaining underclassmen retreat in an orderly fashion away from the main combat zone. Rian had transformed utter despair into an organized first line of defense.

Rian pivoted back toward the center of the courtyard, where the dark sect commander stood atop the ruins.

Up above, the horned iron-masked sect leader stopped his raspy laughter. He lowered his scythe-staff, fixing a piercing glare upon the hooded boy standing majestically amidst the sea of fire and shadow.

The closer Rian stepped forward, the stranger the energy vibrations felt to the sect commander. That mana circulation pattern... that shadow resonance frequency... everything felt hauntingly familiar, stirring dark memories from a remote village massacre ten years prior.

The commander reached up, grasping his horned iron mask, and slowly ripped it away, tossing it onto the burning ground below. He revealed an ashen face marred by a jagged burn scar cutting across his left cheek. His eyes bulged wide, locking onto Rian with a volatile mix of disbelief, deep-seated hatred, and profound shock.

He lunged forward, pointing a shaking finger directly at the boy through the air, and choked out his true name with a gravelly voice boiling over with venom:

"No... impossible... You... You're Rian Oakhaven! The boy from that ruined village! How in the hells is the vessel of that damned curse still breathing after ten years?!"