The academy did not return to normal after the battle.
There were no celebrations. No speeches about victory. No banners raised in pride. What remained instead was silence—heavy, cautious silence. Broken stone still marked the outer walls. Scorched ground and shattered training fields told the story better than any announcement ever could. Students walked more quietly. Instructors spoke in lower voices. Even the wind seemed careful as it passed through the towers.
War had touched the academy.
And it had not come as a lesson.
It had come as a warning.
Phael stood at the edge of the training grounds, staring at the place where Lord Vaelis had fallen. The stone had already been repaired, but the memory remained. He could still feel the moment in his body—the crushing pressure, the breaking point, the awakening of something deeper inside him. Level Twenty. A new element. A stronger body.
But also—
New enemies.
Behind him, Ryn exhaled slowly. "They really did it. They attacked the academy in daylight."
Soren crossed his arms. "And failed."
Darian's voice was quiet. "Failure doesn't end a war. It just changes how it's fought."
Aeris hugged her staff close. "People were hurt… not badly, but… this wasn't a mission. This was real."
Rielle stood beside Phael, eyes fixed on the ground. "They were willing to destroy a school just to reach you."
Phael did not answer right away.
"I know," he said finally.
He did not sound angry.
Only aware.
The political response came quickly.
Not from the academy.
From the world.
By evening, sealed messages arrived from multiple factions. Some expressed concern. Some demanded explanations. Some quietly asked whether Phael would now reconsider his earlier refusals.
And some were far less polite.
"Certain clans are calling what happened an 'unfortunate escalation,'" Instructor Vale said during the closed-door briefing. "Others are accusing the academy of harboring a destabilizing asset."
Asset.
That word echoed in the room.
One of the elders folded his hands. "They mean you."
Phael met his gaze calmly.
"They're not wrong," the elder continued. "You have become something the current order does not understand. And when power is not understood… it is either controlled or erased."
Ryn bristled. "So what now? You hand him over?"
The elder did not look at him.
"No," he said. "Not after what they did."
Instructor Vale's voice was firm. "The academy will not surrender a student. But do not misunderstand this. Protection has limits. The more you rise, the more the world will test those limits."
Darian leaned against the wall. "Meaning the attacks won't stop."
"They will become… more subtle," the elder replied. "More political. More personal."
Rielle's fingers tightened at her side.
Phael did not flinch.
"What about my ranking?" he asked.
Instructor Vale paused. "It will not move for now. Officially, you remain within the top ten. Unofficially…"
She met his eyes.
"You are no longer being measured against students."
The following days were tense.
Classes resumed, but they felt hollow. Training grounds were quieter than usual. Many students avoided Phael's group—not out of fear of them, but out of fear of what followed them. Some looked at Phael with awe. Others with resentment. A few with something colder.
New enemies were forming.
Not loudly.
But carefully.
Ryn noticed first. "People from other top groups keep watching us."
Soren nodded. "Not like rivals. Like scouts."
Aeris whispered, "Do they… want to challenge you?"
"Some of them," Darian said. "Others want to understand you. And some…"
He did not finish.
Rielle did.
"…want to find a weakness."
Despite everything, one thing became clear.
Phael could not continue like this.
Not with power changing inside him.
Not with a new element he barely understood.
Not with his body evolving faster than his control.
He felt it during every training session.
Fire was still sharp, still strong.
But water—
Water moved differently.
It did not answer like fire did.
It flowed.
Slipped.
Resisted being forced.
Sometimes when he tried to shape it, it spread instead. Other times it vanished completely, as if rejecting his intent.
"You're trying to command it the way you command fire," Myra said quietly after one failed session.
Phael exhaled. "And it doesn't listen."
She shook her head. "Water doesn't obey. It responds."
Rielle watched him from the side, her expression thoughtful.
"And your body," she added softly, "it's stronger… but it's not used to it yet. You move like you're still in your old limits."
She was right.
Sometimes his steps cracked stone when he did not mean to.
Sometimes his strikes carried too much force.
Sometimes he held back without realizing how much power he was suppressing.
He was changing.
But he was not yet in control of what he had become.
The message arrived three days later.
Not from the elders.
Not from the clans that had attacked.
From a name Rielle had not spoken since her first day at the academy.
"Summoner Rielle of the Aurelion Line," the sealed notice read. "You are to present yourself at the Inner Training Hall at dawn. Bring Phael of Group Seventeen. This is not a request."
Rielle's eyes widened slightly.
"The Aurelion Line…" Ryn muttered. "That's your clan, isn't it?"
She nodded slowly.
"One of the elite summoner clans," Soren said.
Darian raised an eyebrow. "They're stepping in now?"
Rielle looked at Phael. "This isn't just about me."
He met her gaze.
"They've been watching," he said. "And now they're moving."
The Inner Training Hall lay beneath the academy.
Older than the towers.
Older than the ranking pillar.
A place reserved for high-tier instruction, sealed from ordinary students by layers of ancient wards.
At dawn, Phael and Rielle stood at its entrance.
The air felt different here.
Heavier.
Deeper.
Like the world itself was holding its breath.
The doors opened without a sound.
Inside, the hall was vast and empty, the floor carved with intricate summoning arrays and elemental symbols that glowed faintly beneath the stone.
At the center stood a single figure.
A woman in pale silver robes, her presence calm yet overwhelming, like standing beside a still ocean that could rise into a storm at any moment.
Her eyes were sharp.
But not unkind.
"So," she said, her voice smooth and clear, "this is the boy who made the world uncomfortable."
Rielle's breath caught.
"Aunt… Aelira."
The woman inclined her head slightly. "You've grown."
Her gaze shifted to Phael.
He did not feel hostility.
He felt evaluation.
Not like a weapon.
Like a student.
"You reached Level Twenty," Aelira said. "Unlocked a second element. Survived a direct clan assault."
She walked slowly around him, studying not his posture, but his breathing, his stance, the way his mana subtly moved beneath his skin.
"And yet," she said quietly, "you are not in control."
Phael did not deny it.
"No," he said.
She stopped in front of him.
"Good," she said. "That means you are still teachable."
Rielle blinked. "You… you're going to train us?"
Aelira's lips curved faintly. "Not 'us.' You."
She looked at Phael again.
"My clan does not interfere lightly," she continued. "But the world has already decided you are something that must be shaped. If others will try to break you…"
Her eyes hardened slightly.
"…then I will make sure you do not break the wrong way."
The air in the hall seemed to tighten.
Not with threat.
With promise.
Outside the sealed chamber, the academy continued its uneasy routine.
Clans repositioned.
Enemies whispered.
Alliances quietly shifted.
But beneath the stone, away from the eyes of the world, something new was beginning.
Not war.
Not politics.
Training.
Not the kind meant to polish a student.
The kind meant to prepare something that should not exist—
For the world that would one day try to crush it again.
Phael stood in the center of the hall, facing Aelira.
Rielle remained at his side, silent but steady.
"Your fire is strong," Aelira said. "Your water is newborn. Your body has outgrown your habits."
She met his eyes.
"If you wish to survive what is coming… you will have to unlearn who you were."
Phael felt the weight of those words.
Then he nodded.
"I'm ready."
And in that quiet, sealed hall beneath a shaken academy, the path toward true mastery finally began.