The world reformed in a blink. One moment, stone floors trembled beneath their feet as the academy quaked apart next, there was only light, then silence.

When their vision returned, the students found themselves in a vast field beneath a sky unlike their own. It stretched too wide, too bright, painted with strange constellations unfamiliar to Veyl. A forest of pale, skeletal trees swayed in the distance.

Confusion rippled through them. Teams gathered into clumps, whispering. Echo beasts stirred uneasily, hackles raised. The silence was thick, broken only by the rustle of grass.

Shigeo Motome stood off-center, hands in his pockets, shoulders slouched. His sharp eyes, half-lidded with indifference, studied the horizon. The faintest frown touched his lips.

Kaen's voice split the stillness.

"WHERE ARE WE REALLY!!" His fists burned faint sparks, fire crackling from his Shinrei instinctively.

Saya, standing beside him, crossed her arms, her crimson eyes narrowing. "Shigeo. What really happened? It's like you already know."

Dozens of eyes turned toward him. Rael's gaze in particular was piercing, cold calculation behind his words.

"If someone sent us here… it wasn't random. If Khael is missing, then something must be happening back at the academy."

Lira bit her lip, clutching her healer's staff close. "What could be happening… and who would even have the power to do this?"

Shigeo finally sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck, voice carrying that habitual laziness that grated nerves even when he was right.

"Tsk. What a complicated world."

"Stop saying that and tell us!" Kaen barked, stepping closer.

Ceyla crossed her arms, her storm-gray eyes sharp. "Where is Khael?" Her voice was softer than Kaen's but carried the same urgency.

Kaen nodded, his fire surging hotter. "Yeah! Where is he?"

All eyes locked on Shigeo now. His slouch deepened, but for once, he didn't deflect immediately. He looked at each of them, Lira's trembling resolve, Rael's steel, Kaen's stubborn fire, Saya's sharp glare.

Finally, he muttered, "Tsk… it's only a possibility. But if I had to bet, it was Khael who sent us here."

Gasps and murmurs spread across the rookies. Anaya clutched her notebook tighter. Damon scowled. Toran shouted too loudly, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SENT?!"

Rael folded his arms, eyes narrowing. "If Khael went that far, then something is attacking the academy. Something he thought we couldn't face."

Baek Suwon swallowed hard, paling. "You mean… worse than Ceyla?"

Ceyla rolled her eyes, but her voice dropped to a whisper. "Idiot. This isn't a joke."

Lira stepped forward, her lavender gaze anxious. "If Khael stayed behind… then he's alone right now."

The words silenced the field. Every rookie felt the weight of it.

Shigeo tilted his head toward the sky, exhaling. His voice was as flat as ever, but something heavy lingered beneath it.

"Tsk. What a troublesome idiot. He probably thought he was protecting us. And now he's out there, facing whatever it is… without us."

Kaen clenched his fists tighter, fire swirling like restless embers around him. His voice broke with both fury and determination.

"Then we find him. We don't just sit here while Khael fights alone. I don't care where this place is, or what monster is waiting back there. He's our teammate. He's my friend. I won't let him fight by himself!"

The rookies stared at him some fearful, some doubtful, but most felt their chests stir with the same stubborn flame. Kaen's words struck the one truth they all felt but hadn't spoken: they were rookies, yes. But they weren't helpless.

Saya's lips curved into the faintest smirk. "Hmph. Typical Kaen. Always charging ahead… but this time, maybe you're right."

Lira flinched at his shout but stepped beside him, hands clasped at her chest.

"Kaen… if you rush in blindly, you'll only…"

"I don't care!" Kaen snapped, his eyes burning, Shade stirring faintly beneath the fire. "I won't abandon him! I won't!"

Rael watched him for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then he sighed again, softer this time, almost weary.

"…Tsk. Idiot. No one's abandoning anyone. But yelling won't get us answers."

Lira's healing staff glowed faintly, her resolve hardening. "Then we fight for him. For everyone left behind."

Shigeo sighed again, pressing two fingers to his temple. "Tsk… what a complicated world." But this time, a shadow of a smile touched his lips. "Fine. Let's start thinking. If Khael really sent us here, then he must've left us a way back. We just have to find it… before it's too late."

The rookies fell silent. Even Kaen, trembling with fire and fury, bit down hard on his lip and said nothing more.

For the first time since they arrived, the chaos dimmed. And every gaze whether frightened, stubborn, or burning with defiance turned to Shigeo.

The lazy genius who hated complications.

The boy who suddenly looked like the only one capable of leading them through this uncertain void.

….

The courtyard was a graveyard of broken stone and blood. Two teachers already lay fallen, their bodies dragged away by the panicked few who still clung to survival. Pride stood at the center of it, wounds torn across his arms and chest yet even as crimson dripped, the rents in his flesh stitched themselves back together, Shinrei knitting bone and skin as though he had never been touched.

Khael's chest heaved, his breath ragged, but his eyes never left the Eclipse Lord.

"How are you so strong!!"

His voice cracked between disbelief and fury.

Inside, his heart hammered.

(Impossible… his power… it should only match Crimson Veinwalker level… not exceed it. So why—why is he healing so fast, fighting like this?!)

Pride tilted his head, lips curling in a grin too calm for the carnage around him.

"By evolving."

The word fell like a death sentence.

Khael's blood ran cold.

(Evolving… then it must be—the Hollow Nine. They're behind this.)

Behind him, the surviving teachers stood in a shaky line: Shaia Maien, her sharp scholar's eyes narrowed in calculation; Drevan Hask, storm crackling faintly across his scarred hands; Torvak Renn, his spear trembling like it wanted to leap into the storm itself.

Shaia's voice cut through the chaos.

"Khael! Get back here!"

He didn't move. His draconic blood roared in his veins, whispering of fire, storm, and sorrow.

He turned his head slightly, his voice low but sharp enough to slice through disbelief.

"Don't be surprised… teachers."

Shaia's brow furrowed.

"What?"

And then—

The Fifth Gate ignited.

It was not a burst, but an eclipse—an unholy convergence of flame and shadow, sorrow and rage. The ground cracked beneath his feet as veins of light and darkness snaked outward like molten rivers.

Khael's body transformed. Silver-black scales crawled across his arms, merging into a breastplate of starlit armor. Flames feathered into wings, storm-fire spiraling outward, scorching the air with every beat. His eyes blazed with a draconic glow, an abyssal orange threaded with sorrow.

The winds screamed as though in reverence.

He stepped forward, and the world seemed to bow with him.

Eclipse Dragon Knight.

Shaia's breath hitched. Her scholar's poise shattered, replaced with awe.

"What… this… this is familiar…"

Drevan whispered, lightning crawling up his arm as though trying to answer the impossible sight before him.

"A… dragon knight."

Torvak's spear rattled in his grip, his voice hoarse.

"I thought it was myth. Just… myth."

Even Pride faltered. The grin slid off his face, replaced by something rawer—fear. His crimson eyes widened as recognition carved into him.

"A Dragon Knight… in this era… impossible!!"

His thoughts churned, spiraling between disbelief and cold calculation.

(No. He's still a child. His power isn't ripened yet. If I kill him now—before he grows into the true monster the legends speak of—then the myth dies here. I have to.)

All around them, survivors who had been paralyzed by despair finally looked up. Their whispers spread like wildfire through the ruined courtyard.

The battlefield did not stand still.

Even as Pride faltered at the sight of Khael's impossible transformation, the other front was drenched in violence.

Gluttony roared, its body a grotesque fusion of swollen muscle and endless mouths, each drooling threads of Shinrei corruption. The two remaining teachers strained to keep its fangs and claws at bay, their shields cracking under the pressure.

And before the beast, holding the line like a wall of fire, was Faron Deymir—Twinfang. His dual blades burned red with flame Echo, arcs of heat slashing open every limb that dared reach too close.

"Pig!" Faron spat, his voice hoarse from the strain. "You're fighting us!!"

He spun his blades in a fiery cross, carving through the black ooze that spewed from one of Gluttony's side-maws. The stink of rot filled the air, but he didn't flinch.

The three Crimson Veinwalkers behind him were already bloodied, their armor in tatters, but their eyes blazed with grim focus. They were hunters born in nightmare, and even so, Gluttony's presence was suffocating.

And then—

The world shifted.

The light of Khael's transformation seared across the battlefield. The shockwave of his Fifth Gate tore through the stones, rattling even the hulking body of Gluttony. The storm-fire wings stretched across the sky like a second dawn.

Everyone turned because they couldn't not.

The teachers, battered and gasping, froze mid-stance.

The Crimson Veinwalkers, bred to suppress awe, still faltered, their crimson eyes widening.

Even Faron, scarred and unyielding, lowered his blades for just a fraction of a second, the reflected glow of Khael's scales dancing across the steel.

His scarred lips parted.

"…Dragon Knight."

The words left his mouth like a prayer.

Gluttony lurched backward, its many mouths shuddering with an almost human sound. A hiss. A stutter of disbelief.

"No…" the beast rumbled, its hunger faltering for the first time. "This taste… this light… it's not supposed to exist anymore."

The air was carved in two.

On one side: Pride, caught between fear and arrogance, staring down a boy who bore the impossible title of Dragon Knight.

On the other: Gluttony, halted mid-feast, facing Faron and the Crimson hunters, yet no longer hungering for flesh only staring at the blaze that broke the myth of extinction.

And across both fronts, survivors whispered, voices trembling between awe and terror:

"The myths are alive…"

"If a Dragon Knight has returned…"

"Then maybe… maybe we can survive this."

For a heartbeat, the chaos froze.

The battlefield had divided itself two fronts, two clashes yet bound by a single revelation.

And at the center, Khael's storm-fire wings burned like a verdict on heaven and earth.

To be continue