Back in the guild master's office, a general stepped inside and bowed.
"Greetings, sir. May I?"
"Go ahead," the guild master replied.
"I overheard your conversation with General Torn... is it true, what you said about Mister Zacky and his powers?" the general asked carefully.
The guild master sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Yes. It's true. And the most terrifying ability he possesses is the power to summon an ancient beast-a being once worshiped by the Romans as a god. *Caelus.* A colossal entity made entirely of pure mana, capable of raining fire from the skies. If unleashed, it could reduce an entire island to barren ash. Only Zacky has the strength to control it. Michie and Rhody's role is to fuel it further by pouring massive amounts of mana into its form."
The general swallowed, his voice tight. "I see... Forgive me, guild master, I couldn't help myself. Whenever I hear of such things, my curiosity gets the better of me."
The guild master narrowed his eyes at him for a moment, then waved a hand dismissively. "It's a suspicious question, but I'll trust you. And drop the 'guild master' formality. My name is Aaron. I get tired of hearing the title all the time."
That night, as the rain hammered against the streets, Torn slipped into a narrow alley, his steps quick and restless. His phone rang. The screen showed no name, no number. He answered anyway.
A distorted voice came through, low and hollow, like a whisper crawling through static.
"You did well."
Torn's face twisted in anger. "You call that well? You said it wouldn't put me in danger-I nearly died in there!"
The voice chuckled faintly, a sound more unsettling than amused.
"And yet... you live. That's proof enough of success."
"I'm done. I'm not going anywhere near that man again!" Torn growled, his voice trembling despite himself.
"Done?" the voice repeated, stretching the word. "You don't get to decide that. What about Michael... and Rhodius? We felt nothing from them."
"They didn't enter the room," Torn admitted, lowering his tone. "But when that monster-Zacky-pinned us to the walls, I could sense it. The two of them stood untouched. It's possible they're just as strong as him."
The static grew louder, then softened as the voice spoke again, colder.
"Possible... useful... but unconfirmed. We will have what we need. One way or another."
The line clicked dead. Torn shoved the phone into his pocket, his shoulders shaking.
"Damn organization," he muttered under his breath, rain soaking his hood. "One day... they'll push me too far."
Back in Luke's place, at night , Luke sighed as he sat on his bed, flipping open the thick spellbook. The moment his eyes scanned the first page, his expression twisted in confusion.
*"What the-?!"* he muttered. The book was crammed with dense text, diagrams, and overly complicated explanations.
Hours passed. After a futile attempt at reading and trying to understand even a single spell, Luke's eyelids grew heavy. Eventually, exhaustion claimed him, and he fell asleep with the book sprawled across his chest.
The next morning, sunlight pierced through the window, landing squarely on Luke's face. He groaned, half-awake
"LUUUKE!! Wake up!" a familiar voice shrieked. Eve burst into the room like a storm.
Minutes later, at the training grounds, Zacky stood waiting with arms crossed. His voice carried across the field like a drill sergeant:
"Luke! Get over here! Let's see what you've learned."
Luke froze mid-step as realization hit him like a brick.
*Oh crap! The book! I forgot to study!*
He walked toward Zacky, forcing a smile.
"Did you study?" Zacky asked, his tone calm but sharp.
"Y-yeah... totally!" Luke replied nervously, sweat already forming on his brow.
Zacky narrowed his eyes, staring straight at him. "I know you didn't study."
Luke's jaw dropped. "H-how did you know?"
Zacky shrugged, his face flat with disappointment. "I didn't."
Then, without warning, Zacky plucked a sunflower growing nearby and held it out.
"Can you perform a healing spell?"
Luke stared at the flower, guilt written all over his face. "Yeah... I think so."
"HEAL!" Luke shouted at the flower "Crap, it's not working" Luke tried to focus "C'mon, c'moooooon!"
Then Luke's palm glowed golden and the sunflower glowed, Zacky then told Luke to reattach the sunflower to it's stem "Now try to put it back to it's stem."
Luke puts the flower back and successfully reattached it, Luke let a sigh of relief
"Right... guess you're not a spellcaster," Zacky said, a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"What? But I did put it back! C'mon, I wanna be a magic user!"
Zacky stood up. With a casual wave of his hand, strands of light magic whipped through the air, slicing through multiple sunflowers.
With another gesture, a glowing magic circle formed in his palm.
"Heal."
In an instant, every cut sunflower reattached itself, restored as if nothing had happened.
"See that? That's just a fraction of my healing ability," Zacky said.
Luke stared, stunned. What he had struggled to do with all his focus... Zacky had done with a single motion.
"I guess you need more practice in school... not just that book I lent you," Zacky added.
Luke sighed.
"Yeah... the book's too hard to read anyway."
Luke stepped into his house, exhausted. He turned on the TV, where mages were casting spells-healing, burning, and summoning with ease.
In his mind, Luke wondered, "Could I ever become a great fighter... or a magic caster someday?"