CHAPTER 116: I SAW THE ABYSS STARING BACK AT ME

Slowly, the King exhaled, the awe fading from his expression until it was once more neutral.

Principal Kael leaned heavily on his staff, while High Magus Edric’s gaze never left Noah.

Cillian was the first to break the quiet that had filled the office. "Noah Webb... tell me. What is your side of the story of the incident with... Juniper Rowe?"

Noah’s shadows stirred faintly at the question, hissing at the edges of the room, but his face remained blank. He lifted his chin.

"I had nothing to do with her disappearance." He said evenly. "I have an alibi, which... they... didn’t want to check. I spent that day with Arlo."

Cillian’s eyes narrowed, his stare digging into Noah’s as if searching for cracks. The silence stretched, thick enough to choke.

Noah didn’t look away. He let the King see the abyss in his eyes. The hollow, the fire, the hatred muted beneath the calm.

At last, Cillian leaned back, his jaw tight. He dropped the matter with an exhale, and the tension in the room lessened by a fraction.

Instead, the King’s voice grew heavier, carrying the burden of his throne. "Noah. The reason you and your classmates were summoned here from your world was not for chance."

"It was because of you. Because Camelot needed someone like you. Someone with the potential to reach beyond any mage in our kingdom. Someone who could face the Demon King... and cast the demons back into the abyss once more."

The words filled the room, and Kael inclined his head in grave agreement. Edric’s eyes gleamed, as if he was already envisioning Noah in battle against the abyss itself.

But Noah did not bow, nor pledge, nor allow awe to touch his face. Instead, he tilted his head and spoke, his voice almost casual.

"What’s in it for me?"

For a moment, silence reigned. Noah didn’t think he’d ever seen a more surprised bunch before.

The King blinked, Edric stiffened, Kael’s brows shot upwards. None of them had expected that.

To them, the idea of serving Camelot, of becoming its savior, was reward enough.

Recovering first, Cillian straightened, his crown catching the light as his voice rose. "What do you want, Noah Webb?"

Noah’s shadows whispered in delight, their voices curling like smoke, but Noah only shrugged faintly. "I’ll decide that when I hear what becoming your Hero would actually entail."

Kael coughed into his hand, stepping forward quickly to fill the silence. "Then let me explain. With your potential, it would be a crime to leave you shackled at the bottom."

"First, a team of expert ritualists will be summoned to the academy. They will study, research, and prepare every ritual necessary to push you up to SSS-rank, to the very peak your race allows. Every resource will be bent to that purpose."

Edric’s deep voice rumbled in agreement. "You will be given the finest education, the greatest instructors, and the full attention of Camelot’s most powerful minds. The abyss will see what kind of weapon we have forged."

Kael moved to his desk, rifling quickly through its compartments. His fingers closed on a small gilded box, which he brought forward with care.

He flipped the lid open, and within sat a crystal token that shimmered like diamond, pulsing faintly with magic.

"This," Kael said, offering it reverently, "is a diamond spell token. With it, you may enter the spell vaults of the academy as often as you wish. It has no limit. Any spell, any rank, any affinity within those stores is yours to claim."

The room seemed to lean in as Kael extended it. Noah’s hand closed over the token. It was surprisingly cool to the touch.

His shadows writhed with hunger at the magic humming within it, whispering a hundred plans all at once.

He slid it into his pocket with a small nod. "When I have something in mind," Noah said calmly, "I’ll come ask."

The King studied him, then finally inclined his head in approval. "So be it. But one more thing."

His voice hardened. "Your true potential must remain a secret. If word spreads that you are SSS-rank, every enemy of Camelot will move against you, and against us, before you are ready. If anyone asks, you are S-rank potential. Nothing more."

Noah bowed his head just enough to show acknowledgement. Inside, his shadows laughed in triumph.

Cillian turned back to the High Magus, already speaking with Edric in low tones of the plans they must make. Kael dismissed Noah with a weary wave of his staff.

And so Noah left the office, a small smile on his face.

For them, he would be their hero. For himself, he would be something far worse.

The heavy doors of the office clicked shut behind Noah, and Cillian turned slowly, his piercing gaze locking onto Principal Kael.

His voice was low, simmering with restrained fury. "If I remember correctly, Aldred Kael... your grandson is also called Arlo Kael."

The old man inclined his head, his long white hair falling over his shoulders. "You remember correctly, Your Majesty. The boy you speak of is indeed my grandson."

Cillian’s eyes hardened. "Then tell me why. Why in the King’s name did you not bring Noah out months ago through that connection?"

"You had a direct link, Aldred. You had your own blood at Noah’s side. And yet, the boy was left to rot under Osiris Lawless."

Kael’s grip on his staff tightened. His face, though calm, carried a faint weariness. "You do not understand, Cillian. Osiris is not a man easily swayed. He is... unreasonable."

"My grandson’s testimony would not have been enough to pry Noah from his grasp. Not when Osiris had already made his judgment."

"If I had pushed harder, he would have twisted it into an accusation of bias, of favoritism toward my family. Or worse, as me being an accomplice. The Council would have sided with him, and then..." He shook his head. "Then Noah would have been lost entirely."

The King’s fist slammed onto Kael’s desk with such force that the inkpot rattled and spilled. "Damn your caution, Aldred! Do you not see? Your inaction may have cost us everything."

"That boy, our summoned hero, looked at me with eyes that should have been bright, but instead..." Cillian’s voice dropped, anger layered with regret. "...instead, I saw only darkness. A darkness that Osiris planted there while you stood idle."

Kael met his gaze without flinching, though his lips thinned. "And yet, the boy lives. He has awakened to his true potential. For that alone, the chance remains."

"Chance?" Cillian snapped, rising to his feet, his cloak swaying with the sudden movement. "I saw more than chance in him, Aldred. I saw the abyss staring back at me."

"Whatever Osiris did to him, it has carved something dangerous into his soul. We summoned a savior, and in your hesitation, we may have forged something worse."

For a moment, silence fell again.

Edric, who had been leaning quietly on his staff, finally spoke. "The King is not wrong. The boy’s aura was... fractured. What remains to be seen is whether that fracture can be turned toward Camelot’s ends, or if it will one day turn upon us."

Cillian drew a breath, before straightening to his full height.

"Osiris will answer for this," he said, his voice hard. "I will have his head on a pike if he cannot account for the boy’s condition. He has overstepped, and Camelot will not suffer his brand of madness unchecked."