A week after Arian Solvace entered Resonance Academy…
Everyone began to get used to his presence.
Or at least…
That was how it seemed.
He was the ideal new student.
His grades were excellent.
His behavior was calm.
He stayed out of trouble.
And he never tried to draw attention to himself.
Even the students who had been suspicious of him at first…
Began to treat him like any other student.
But there was one person who never stopped watching him.
Lisasara Fein.
Or as everyone inside the academy knew her: Professor Celine.
Inside her laboratory…
She was sitting before a desk piled high with books.
In one hand was a cup of coffee.
And in the other…
A small folder.
Bearing a single name across the top.
Arian Solvais
Lyra appeared behind her, floating upside down in the air as usual.
She glanced at the folder.
Then she pouted.
“I don’t like him.” Lisasara didn’t raise her eyes.
“Why?” Lyra held up a finger.
“Because he smiles too much.” She paused.
Then she said: “People who smile too much are creepy.” Lisasara looked at her.
“You smile all the time.” Lyra pointed to herself.
“I’m a special case.” “I’m a calamity.” Lisasara sighed.
“That is not a valid reason.” Lyra moved closer to the folder.
“There is something he is hiding.” She fell silent.
Then said: “And you know it.” Lisasara gave a faint smile.
“Yes.” “But that isn’t the only thing he’s hiding.”
The Ruins of Valeron
Three days later…
The students of Resonance Academy arrived at their first field mission.
The location: The ancient ruins of Valeron.
A city that had vanished hundreds of years ago.
Nothing remained of it but stone structures.
Broken towers.
Faceless statues.
And empty streets.
But the problem wasn’t the antiquity of the city.
Rather, it was its location.
It was close to the Void zones.
The places from which the monsters threatening the modern world first began to emerge.
Inside the carriage…
Everyone was excited.
Some talked about adventure.
Others talked about proving themselves.
But Sami…
Was sitting near the window.
Silent.
As always.
Myra approached him.
She was one of the few who had never stopped treating him like an ordinary person.
She said: “You are always looking outside.” Sami looked at her.
“Is that strange?” She shook her head.
“No.” Then she smiled.
“But it makes you look like you are thinking about something dangerous.” Sami looked up at the sky.
And said: “Maybe I just don’t know what to think.” She was taken aback.
“You?” “Yes.” She laughed softly.
“Strange.” “I thought you knew everything.” Sami smiled.
“I’m just good at making people believe that.”
Arian was sitting behind them.
Listening.
As usual.
And in his mind, he wrote a note: Sami Koh does not act like someone confident in his power.
Rather, like someone trying to understand himself.
After hours…
They arrived.
Valeron was silent.
The silence there was not normal.
It felt as though the city…
Was holding its breath.
The supervising professor said: “Do not wander off.” “This area is unstable.”
But after an hour…
Something happened.
Sami stopped.
Suddenly.
Myra noticed it.
“Sami?” He didn’t answer.
He was staring at the ground.
He said: “There is something here.” Arian approached.
“How do you know?” Sami replied: “I don’t know.” Silence.
“Just…” “I felt it.”
Then…
The earth shook.
The old streets cracked.
And stones shattered open.
The students screamed.
“Get back!”
From beneath the city…
Something emerged.
Something that shouldn’t have existed.
A massive body.
Yet it had no fixed shape.
Its skin shifted constantly between black and gray.
A single eye would appear and then vanish.
Too many limbs.
As if the monster had not been created within the laws of this world.
One of the professors shouted: “A Void Beast!” But his expression changed a second later.
“No…” “This is different.”
The monster raised its head.
It sniffed the air.
Then…
It smiled.
“A scent…” “An ancient one.” Everyone retreated.
But the monster didn’t look at them.
It was looking directly at Sami.
“Finally.” “I found you.”
Sami froze.
“You know me?” The monster laughed.
“No.” It drew closer.
“But I know the thing inside you.”
Inside Sami’s consciousness…
Valdrak opened his eyes.
“This creature…” Elyon said: “It knows the truth.”
The monster lunged.
In an instant…
It vanished.
It reappeared right in front of one of the students.
It was a young first-year boy.
He couldn’t move.
But before the claw could reach him…
Sami appeared.
He caught the strike with his bare hand.
The ground beneath his feet shattered.
But his body did not budge.
The monster looked at him.
Then it laughed.
“You?” “Trying to protect them?” Sami shoved his hand forward.
The monster stumbled back.
Sami said: “Get away.” The monster smiled.
“Orders?” “From you?” It stepped closer.
“You carry the Emperor’s power…” “But your heart is weak.”
Sami’s face had not changed.
Until now.
Then…
He looked behind him.
He saw Myra.
She was standing in front of the young student.
Despite her fear.
She was trying to protect him.
Something shifted.
Seraphine said inside his consciousness: “Sami.” “No.” Valdrak said: “Let him be.”
But Sami didn’t listen.
For the first time…
He wasn’t angry because he was insulted.
Nor because someone challenged him.
He was angry…
Because someone tried to hurt another person right in front of him.
He opened his eyes.
Their color changed.
Crimson.
Even the monster took a step back.
Arian said in a low voice: “…What is this?”
It wasn’t an Aura.
And it wasn’t a full Domain.
It was something in between.
Behind Sami…
The space began to crack.
A garden appeared.
Red and black roses.
A crimson sky.
A distant palace.
Red Angel Palace Garden.
For just one second.
But that single second…
Was enough.
The monster froze.
Because it saw something behind Sami.
Four figures.
Valdrak.
War.
Lyra.
The smiling calamity.
Seraphine.
The pestilence that makes disease itself afraid.
Elyon.
The silent death.
The monster’s smile dropped.
For the first time…
Fear appeared.
“No…” “Impossible.” It looked at Sami.
Not just at him.
But at the shadows looming behind him.
“You…” “You are not the Emperor.” Silence.
“But why…” “Why are they behind you?”
Sami didn’t answer.
The monster said in a trembling voice: “I thought I was standing before a mere bearer of power.” It retreated.
“But I am standing before a will…” “The will of the person who made the calamities themselves kneel.” Then, it fled.
Sami didn’t move.
But behind him…
Valdrak shifted.
“Shall I let him go?” Sami looked at him.
“Yes.” Valdrak paused.
Then he smiled.
“As you wish.”
After the danger passed…
Everyone was silent.
Myra approached.
She was looking at him.
Not with fear.
But with bewilderment.
“Sami.” He turned.
She said: “You were scary.” He was quiet.
Then he said: “I’m sorry.” She was surprised.
“Why are you apologizing?” He lowered his eyes.
“Because I made you see that side of me.” She looked at him.
Then she smiled.
“The strange thing is…” “The person who scared me the most…” “Is the very person who tried to protect me.” Sami found no answer.
Farther away…
Arian was standing.
Motionless.
In his mind…
All calculations had collapsed.
He hadn’t seen a monster.
He had seen someone carrying a terrifying power…
Who was afraid to use it on others.
At night…
Arian sat inside his room.
He opened the Imperial crystal.
He began the report.
He paused for a long time.
Then he wrote:
Target: Sami Koh Status: Undetermined Note: “The target does not resemble the monster you described.”
He stopped.
Then added: “Today I saw a power that makes monsters run away.” “But I also saw someone apologizing because he scared others.”
Then he wrote: “The real danger is not Sami Koh.” “The real danger…” “Is what will happen if this person loses the reason that makes him protect others.”
He closed the crystal.
And at the very bottom of the page…
He wrote a single sentence: “I do not know if the Empire should fear him…” “But I am certain…” “That the monsters do.”