The air in Professor Eldrin's ruined classroom didn't just smell like dust; it tasted like a lightning strike that had gone sour.
Jagged shards of the observation window littered the floor like diamonds in the dirt. A gaping hole in the ceiling revealed a New York sky that still seemed to pulse with the aftereffects of Junior's awakening. The deep, resonant bells of Veridia Academy began to toll, a mournful sound that signaled a Level 5 Magical Emergency.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
Alex Ferguson stood frozen near the back wall. The Diamond-ranked "prodigy" looked like he'd seen a ghost. His usual smirk was gone, replaced by a pale, trembling lip. He stared at the scorch marks on the floor—the exact spot where a "Bronze-ranked loser" had just rewritten the laws of physics.
"What... in the name of the Prime Elements... was that?" Eldrin whispered. The Gold-ranked professor pulled himself up from the wreckage, his uniform torn and his pride shattered. He looked at his shaking hands, realizing that if he had been a foot closer, he would have been vaporized.
"Junior! Where is he?!" Jason's voice cracked as he scrambled through the debris, his fingers bleeding as he clawed at a splintered desk.
Jada pointed a trembling finger at the empty air. "He just... vanished, Jason. The air folded in on itself and swallowed him whole."
Jenny Sakura stood in the center of the room, her protective barrier finally flickering out. She stared at the empty space where Junior had stood. A chilling realization washed over her. That wasn't just a spell gone wrong, she thought, her heart hammering against her ribs. That was something ancient. Something that shouldn't be in a classroom.
Beside her, Abi Magochu closed her eyes, her brow furrowed in a scrying trance. "The energy... it's not fading," Abi murmured, her voice tight with pain. "It's chaotic. It's primordial. And there's an echo, Jenny... like a thousand voices crying out from a place that hasn't seen the sun in a millennium."
Junior Kaito hit the ground hard.
The stone was cold, damp, and smelled like a mixture of old coins and rotting wood. He gasped, his lungs burning as if he'd inhaled a cloud of needles. Every bone in his body ached, and his head felt like someone was using it for target practice with a sledgehammer.
"Where... where am I?" he croaked.
He wasn't in the classroom anymore. He was in a vast, echoing cavern that felt as if it belonged at the center of the earth. Thick, rusted chains hung from the darkness above, disappearing into a ceiling so high it was invisible. Luminescent moss clung to the walls, casting a sickly green light that made the shadows dance like living things.
Junior looked at his hands. They were still tingling. Faint, multi-colored sparks danced under his skin, refusing to fade. The memory of the power surge was a blur—a terrifying, exhilarating mountain of energy that had almost torn his soul apart.
I survived, he thought, his chest heaving. But I don't think I'm in New York anymore.
A faint, translucent shimmer caught his eye. A spectral figure, wispy and distorted, materialized a few feet away. Its face was locked in a silent, agonizing scream, and its eyes were hollow pits of silver mist. It reached out toward him with a hand that trailed off into smoke.
Junior scrambled backward, his back hitting the cold rock wall. "Get away! What are you?!"
Back at Veridia, the atmosphere shifted from panic to absolute dread.
Director Kaido appeared in the center of the ruined classroom in a blur of distorted space. He didn't say a word, but his mere presence made the air go still. Even the dust seemed to stop falling.
"Seal off this wing," Kaido commanded. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried the weight of a death sentence. "No one enters. No one leaves. Locate Kaito—now."
He turned as a stern, imposing woman stepped through the doorway. Sakura Hoshino. She wore the dark, austere uniform of the Emberguard, and her eyes were as sharp as the blade strapped to her waist.
"The resonance is deep, Director," Sakura muttered, her scrying device pulsing with a panicked amber light. "It's not just an awakening. It's a breach. The Veil is thinning around this boy."
In the cavern, the ghost was getting closer. Its mournful wail began to fill Junior's ears, vibrating inside his very skull. It wasn't a sound; it was a feeling of pure, unadulterated grief.
"Stay back!" Junior yelled. He didn't mean to attack. He just wanted the sadness to stop. He threw his hand forward, expecting another explosion that would bring the cave down.
Instead, a wave of soft, shimmering energy flowed from his palm. It didn't burn. It didn't blast. It felt... warm like a memory of home.
The energy passed through the spirit, and the ghost's contorted face suddenly relaxed. Its scream died down into a long, peaceful sigh. Its silver eyes met Junior's for a split second—a look of profound gratitude—before it vanished into a soft white mist.
Junior stared at his palm. I... I didn't destroy it. I healed it?
"Well, well, well," a crackling voice echoed from the stalactites above. "Look what the Aether dragged in. A new playmate for the lost souls."
A small, fiery orb zipped through the air, settling on a nearby rock. It transformed into a mischievous little creature made of crackling orange embers and flickering smoke. Leo Vance. His eyes sparkled with an ancient, dangerous amusement.
"Took you long enough, Spirit Monarch," Leo said, his voice sounding like dry tinder catching fire.
Junior blinked, his brain short-circuiting. "Spirit... Monarch? Who are you? And what was that ghost thing?"
Leo chuckled, a sound like popping coals. "That was just a lost echo, kid. A fragment of someone who forgot how to die properly. And me? I'm Leo. Your friendly neighborhood guide to the abyss." He gestured into the darkness behind him, where more shadows seemed to be stirring. "And you, Junior Kaito, are the anomaly of the millennium. You didn't just 'spark' a fire spell. You cracked the veil between the living and the dead."
Junior's blood went cold. "The dead?"
"Yep," Leo said, his flames flickering with a sudden hint of sharp worry. "And darling, some of the things on the other side? They aren't exactly happy you left the door open."
A deep, guttural growl echoed from the depths of the cave. The ground beneath Junior's feet trembled, a rhythmic thudding that sounded like the heartbeat of a god.
"Sounds like someone found our little gateway," Leo whispered. "And they aren't here for a chat. We need to move, kid, before something truly nasty decides to eat the 'Monarch' for breakfast."
Back at the surface, the ground beneath Veridia Academy shuddered violently.
In the main hall, Student Council President Olivia gripped a marble railing as the floor buckled. "Maintain calm!" she shouted, her Platinum-ranked aura flaring in a brilliant white light to stabilize the ceiling.
Jason, Jada, and Jenny stood together, their eyes fixed on the center of the room.
"He's nearby," Abi gasped, her eyes glowing with an intense scrying light. "But he's... under us. Miles under us. And there's something else down there. Something old. Something that hasn't breathed air in a thousand years."
Director Kaido felt the energy spike. He looked down at the floor, his eyes narrowing until they were mere slits. Sakura Hoshino's device turned from amber to a panicked, pulsing red.
"The breach is deepening!" Sakura yelled. "Something is trying to force its way through from the other side! It's reacting to his presence!"
Deep in the cavern, Junior looked at Leo, then at the shifting shadows in the darkness. The terror finally hit him. He wasn't just a student who failed his fire spell. He was the center of a storm that could drown the world.
"What do I do?" Junior whispered, his voice trembling.
Leo's eyes glowed with a fierce, ancient heat. "Run, Monarch. Or fight. Because the Abyss is officially open for business, and you're the only one with the keys."