The pain hit without warning.
Not an explosion—a shift.
The carefully suppressed elements inside Kurogane slid out of alignment for less than a second. That was all it took.
His breath caught.
The ground beneath his feet cracked—not violently, but sharply, like stone snapping under sudden stress. A thin arc of blue-white lightning flashed across his forearm before he could stop it.
The arena went silent.
Raien staggered back a step, eyes wide—not in fear, but recognition.
Lightning.
It vanished instantly, leaving only the smell of ozone and a faint tremor in the air. Kurogane dropped to one knee, teeth clenched hard enough to hurt.
"Stop the match!" the instructor shouted.
Too late.
The pressure continued to build inside Kurogane's chest, unstable and tightening fast. The suppressive talisman at his side heated violently—then shattered.
High above, Mizuki Yukihana moved.
She was beside him in the next heartbeat.
Cold mist wrapped around the arena as her power slammed down like a floodgate. Water sigils flared beneath Kurogane, forcing the surge inward, compressing it before it could discharge outward.
Kurogane screamed.
Not loudly—but sharply, as if something inside him was being twisted back into place against its will.
The lightning collapsed.
Silence returned.
Mizuki knelt, one hand hovering just above his sternum. Her eyes had lost all softness now. This wasn't assessment.
This was confirmation.
"So," she said quietly. "That's it."
Raien stared, breathing hard. "Master Yukihana… that wasn't fire."
"No," Mizuki replied. "It wasn't."
She stood slowly.
"To everyone else," she announced, "this incident is classified as elemental backlash. You will speak of it to no one. Classes are dismissed."
Students didn't argue.
They never argued with a Seventh Seat.
Kurogane tried to push himself up—and failed.
Mizuki looked down at him, her expression unreadable.
"You," she said softly, "will come with me."
They brought him to a sealed chamber deep beneath the academy.
No windows.No decorations.Just smooth white stone and ancient wards layered thick enough to suffocate mana.
Mizuki watched as healers stabilized Kurogane and quietly dismissed them.
When they were alone, she spoke.
"You are not unstable," she said. "You are misunderstood."
Kurogane's vision swam. "Am I… in trouble?"
Mizuki didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she looked almost… troubled.
"There is a reason lightning was erased from the curriculum," she said at last. "A reason its theory survives only in fragments."
She stepped closer.
"And a reason only one child in twelve thousand years has manifested it again."
Kurogane's stomach tightened.
"You know about Raishin," he said weakly.
Mizuki's eyes sharpened.
"So," she murmured. "He's found you already."
That was answer enough.
Her gaze hardened.
"This ends now," she said. "Either you tell me everything… or the next time this happens, the council won't try to stabilize you."
She leaned down, voice dropping to a whisper.
"They will contain you."