The Imperial Magic Academy had a tradition.
Every morning, the dormitory corridors echoed with sleepy chatter, the smell of burnt toast, and the occasional student running late for class.
Today, the 1st Year halls sounded like a battlefield infirmary.
Groans echoed from every direction.
"I can't move my arm."
"Your arm? I think my mana core cracked."
"Someone tell me that class yesterday was a nightmare."
Students from the freshman dormitory limped through the hallways like survivors of a magical disaster. Several had bandages wrapped around their hands. One boy walked past with half his hair burned off. Another student had frost clinging stubbornly to the edge of her sleeve.
At the center of this chaos stood the group responsible for most of the rumors spreading across the academy.
Lucien Vale's class.
Aiden Stormfall leaned against the wall outside the dormitory staircase, stretching his shoulder carefully. Tiny sparks of lightning flickered around his fingers before fading.
Across from him, Darius Ironblood was cracking his knuckles.
"Worth it," Darius muttered.
"You almost exploded" Aiden stared at him.
"Still standing though" Darius shrugged.
Nearby, two other freshmen whispered urgently.
"That professor is insane."
"Completely insane."
"Who activates a training array on the first day?"
Another student from different class joined the conversation intrigue on the rumors circulating.
"I heard the entire classroom almost collapsed."
"That's nothing, my friend said lightning filled the whole room." someone else said
The rumors began mutating within minutes.
By the time breakfast started, the story had already changed three times. Apparently the theory professor had summoned a lightning storm inside the classroom, then someone added that several students had nearly died.
Then someone else claimed the professor had simply sat there watching the chaos.
The last detail, unfortunately, was completely accurate.
The academy cafeteria buzzed louder than usual that morning, students from every year had gathered around tables, exchanging exaggerated versions of yesterday's class.
A group of second-years leaned across a table toward one of the freshmen.
"So let me get this straight, your professor activated a combat training array?" one of them said.
"Inside the classroom."
"On the first day?"
"…Yes." The freshman nodded weakly. The second-years stared at each other.
"That's not teaching, that's survival training" one of them said slowly
Aiden sat at the edge of one table, pushing his breakfast around with a fork while half-listening to the conversation. His mind wasn't on the rumors, it was on the moment from yesterday.
The professor had barely glanced at his spell before correcting it, one small adjustment to the rune pattern, a tiny shift in the mana flow and suddenly the lightning had stabilized.
Aiden had practiced that spell for years, not a single tutor had noticed the flaw yet Lucien Vale had spotted it instantly.
"…How?" Aiden frowned
Across the cafeteria, Cecilia Ravenhart sat with perfect posture, calmly sipping tea. The noble students around her were deep in conversation.
"I heard that professor is a failed mage."
"A theorist."
"Apparently he couldn't even cast spells properly."
Cecilia did not join the discussion.
Her thoughts were elsewhere. Yesterday's demonstration replayed clearly in her mind. Lucien had rewritten her spell structure in mid-air. He had simply looked at the formation and corrected it.
Her fingers tightened slightly around the teacup.
'That should not have been possible' she think deeply
'Even high-ranking mages needed preparation time to modify a spell structure safely. Yet he had done it with casual ease. Either the man was bluffing with tricks I had not yet understood or...'
Cecilia's eyes narrowed slightly.…'he understood magic at a level far deeper than most professors'
At another table near the wall, Elena Moonveil watched the room quietly.
She had barely spoken since breakfast began, her attention wasn't on the rumors.
It was on a much smaller detail.
Yesterday, during the demonstration, Lucien had cast multiple spells yet Elena had not seen him use a wand, no incantation, no casting focus, just mana and formula.
Her gaze lowered slightly "…Strange guy"
...
The faculty lounge was far less chaotic, but the conversation there was no less lively.
Professor Aldric leaned back in his chair, the wood creaking under his weight. A faint burn scar ran across his right hand, a souvenir from a battlefield long before most of the academy's students were born. He was one of the academy's oldest combat instructors, a veteran mage who had trained battle casters for nearly three decades.
He glanced at the medical report in silence before sighing.
"First-year students," he muttered.
Across the table, Professor Vellian leaned back lazily in his chair. His elegant robes and polished silver ring made his noble status obvious even without introduction. Vellian taught advanced spellcasting to upper-year students and had a reputation for valuing pedigree more than talent.
"Let me guess. Lucien Vale again?" Villian snorted.
Aldric nodded slowly "Mana exhaustion. Several cases."
"That theory rat finally tried teaching real magic" Vellian laughed.
Aldric didn't laugh, his eyes drifted toward the window.
"Maybe, but rewriting an archmage training array overnight isn't something a theory rat can do" he said quietly.
"The theory professor?" Vellian asked
"The same." Aldric nodded once
"That man barely passed practical magic during his academy years."
A few professors chuckled.
Lucien's reputation inside the faculty had never been impressive. Most of them considered him a quiet researcher who spent too much time studying spell formulas and not enough time actually casting magic.
In short, harmless.
"I stopped by the classroom this morning," Mira said.
The faculty lounge had grown quieter over the past few minutes. Several professors sat around the long oak table, reports and tea cups scattered between them.
Professor Mira Ravencrest rarely spoke during these discussions. As the academy's senior researcher in arcane theory, she usually preferred observing rather than arguing with the more outspoken faculty.
So when she did speak, people tended to listen.
A few heads lifted
"And?" someone ask
Mira folded her hands neatly on the table. "The training array built into the desks has been altered."
"Altered how?" Aldric asked.
Mira did not answer immediately.
"That array was installed decades ago," she said instead.
"By archmages" Aldric nodded once
"Yes."
"So? It's old equipment. Someone probably repaired a few lines." Vellian scoffed quietly and waved a hand.
"No" Mira shook her head.
Her finger tapped lightly against the wooden table. "The rune structure is different."
"…Different?" Aldric look up properly.
"The core pattern isn't the one the academy originally installed."
For a moment no one spoke.
"That shouldn't be possible," he said slowly. "Those arrays are tied into the academy's mana grid. You can patch damaged runes, sure. Maybe redirect a mana channel." His eyes narrowed.
"But rewriting the structure itself…" He stopped.
"That's the problem."
Silence settled across the table.
Even Vellian had stopped his high horse play. Because everyone in that room understood the same thing.
Someone had rewritten archmage-level runes...overnight
...
Lucien Vale's office was small, a single desk, bookshelf full of dusty magical texts,and a window overlooking the academy courtyard.
Lucien sat quietly behind the desk, reviewing several student files.
The names on the paper were familiar, too familiar to him
In the future he remembered, those names had carried enormous weight across the continent. Lightning storms that shattered armies. Political masterminds who reshaped kingdoms. Generals who led nations to victory, and assassins who ruled the shadows.
Yet right now they were simply students, and currently incapable of controlling their own spells.
His gaze lowered toward the desk, unfocused. One memory refused to fade.
The betrayal
During the the war, the Imperial Magic Academy had been one of the strongest defensive bastions on the continent. Layer upon layer of barrier arrays protected its walls. Hundreds of mages guarded the grounds.
It should have held. It should have been impossible for the demons to breach the academy so quickly, yet the defenses collapsed within minutes.
The protective arrays shut down, gates opened from the inside, and the demon cult flooded through the academy like a tidal wave of darkness.
Lucien had fought until the end, but even then the question burned in his mind.
How?
Lucien closed his eyes briefly.
In that final battle he had searched the battlefield, the towers, the ritual chambers, every place where the arrays could have been sabotaged.
But the answer never appeared. Even at the moment of his death, he still did not know who had betrayed them.
His fingers tapped lightly against the desk.
-tap-tap-
-tap-tap-
The quiet sound echoed in the room.
"…The traitor was close." His voice was barely above a whisper.
Lucien opened his eyes again, the calm expression returning to his face.
Students. Professors. Staff. Anyone within these walls could have been involved.
But one thing he knew with absolute certainty.
That person had not been a stranger. They had been near him. Near enough to watch everything unfold. Near enough that Lucien had never suspected them until it was far too late.
His gaze drifted toward the stack of student files resting on the desk.
"…And the traitor was around me, that much I'm certain." His eyes narrowed slightly.
Outside the window, the academy bells began to ring for the next class. Lucien slowly reached for the top file.
"If history truly intends to repeat itself… then this time, I will be the one waiting for you."