A few seconds passed.
The dust from the sudden departure had barely settled when the air in the center of the hall warped violently.
Hum.
Space tore open.
Several tall figures emerged from the void, their boots touching the scorched floorboards with silent grace. They wore majestic robes woven from silver thread that shimmered like moonlight, and their faces were obscured by hoods that radiated a cold, oppressive pressure.
They immediately fanned out, their senses expanding to the very limits of the hall, scanning every corner, every shadow, every lingering trace of mana.
One of them, the leader, knelt by the blackened remains of the conduction circle. He ran a gloved hand over the ash, his fingers trembling slightly as he felt the residual energy.
"..."
He stood up slowly, dusting off his hands.
"He is gone."
He glanced at his companions and shook his head grimly.
"Prince Erethiel was thorough. He wiped the coordinates the moment the transfer completed. It is impossible to track him."
"Tch."
The other figures clicked their tongues in collective annoyance. The air grew heavy with their frustration. They had been seconds away, mere heartbeats from intercepting the exile.
"To think he would have a contingency plan prepared in a place like this..." one of them muttered, his voice laced with grudging respect. "As expected of the Fallen Moon."
"Enough," the leader commanded. "He has escaped our grasp this time. We must report this to the High Council immediately. And... The Sunborn... has been awakened."
With a final, lingering glare at the empty space, the figures gathered together.
"Let’s leave."
Voom.
Silver light enveloped them, and in the blink of an eye, they vanished, leaving the hall completely desolate once more.
Minutes passed in silence.
Bang!
The heavy oak doors were thrown open with force.
"Brother!"
Nolan burst into the room, his chest heaving. Behind him, Miss Talien and the others stumbled in, their faces pale and their eyes wide with fear.
"Shaela!" Talien cried out, her voice cracking. "Shaela, are you—"
Her words died in her throat.
The hall was empty.
The oppressive heat had faded, leaving only a lingering warmth and the smell of ozone. The conduction circle was a charred ruin on the floor, but of the people who had stood there—Emory, Shaela, and the bird—there was no sign.
"No..."
Nolan took a shaky step forward, his boots crunching on the debris.
"Brother?"
He scanned the room frantically. He checked the corners. He checked the ceiling. He even checked behind the overturned chairs.
Nothing.
"Where are they?" Talien whispered, clutching her chest. "Where did they go?"
Nolan didn’t answer. He walked slowly toward the center of the room, his gaze fixed on the blackened pattern hidden beneath the floorboards, the second circle Emory had activated.
He fell to his knees.
His fingers traced the burnt lines. The geometry was complex, ancient, and irreversibly destroyed.
His eyes widened in horror.
He recognized this spell.
He had seen it in the royal archives, listed under ultimate escape arts.
It was a One-Time Directional Warp.
It was designed to transport the user to a pre-set location instantly, burning itself out in the process to prevent anyone from following.
It meant one thing.
"He left..."
Nolan’s voice trembled.
"He... he left me."
The realization hit him like a physical blow.
His brother had prepared this. He had planned this. He had taken Shaela and Kai and vanished, leaving Nolan behind without a word, without a warning, without even a goodbye.
Furthermore, this was the second time it happened!
"Why...?"
A sharp, blinding pain erupted in his skull.
"Argh!"
Nolan clutched his head, his vision swimming. The world around him began to tilt and spin. The worried shouts of Miss Talien and the others sounded muffled, as if they were coming from underwater.
His heart hammered against his ribs.
Betrayal? Protection? Abandonment?
His mind couldn’t process it. It refused to accept it.
The darkness crept in from the edges of his vision, swallowing the light. His body felt heavy, too heavy to hold up.
As he collapsed forward, the floor rushing up to meet him, a single, faint whisper echoed in the fading recesses of his consciousness. It was a voice he knew better than his own.
...Goodbye, little moon.
_______ _____ _
Meanwhile, within the grandiose walls of the Orlan Kingdom’s Royal Academy, the Awakening Ceremony had also reached its crescendo.
The atmosphere was electric, charged with the residual aura of hundreds of new awakenings. It had been a year of exceptional harvest. The spectators had already been treated to a spectacle of rare talents, with several students revealing coveted Metal and Blood affinities, while others managed to stabilize the difficult Dual Loci. Under normal circumstances, any of them would have been the headline of the day.
However, three figures stood like titans above the rest, eclipsing the achievements of their peers completely.
The first shockwave arrived with the Third Princess, Clara.
She stood at the center of the stage, bathed in a verdant, pulsating light. She had not only demonstrated mastery over the four basic elements but had stunned the crowd by revealing a Grade 7 Abstract Life Affinity. Coupled with the successful awakening of both Energy and Mental Loci, she possessed the ideal foundation for a supreme healer or a summoner. The recruiters from the Imperial Academy did not hesitate, extending an immediate and prestigious invitation, which the princess accepted without a moment’s delay since she had been preparing to enter it from the start.
Following her was the Second Princess, who refused to be outdone.
A choking, gray haze had enveloped the stage during her turn.
She revealed a terrifying Grade 7 Ash Affinity, supported by Grade 4 Mist and Water Affinities, creating a suffocating combination of destruction and obscurity. With Body and Energy Loci stabilizing her volatile power, she became the subject of a fierce, silent competition between the recruiters. Both the Imperial and the Resonance Nexus Academies offered her tickets, acknowledging her potential as a catastrophic Resonator.
And finally, there was Aurelia’s personal knight, Vance.
His awakening began with confusion.
He displayed no elemental affinity whatsoever and possessed only a solitary Body Locus, a result that would typically be considered a failure for someone of his standing.
But then, his Resonance Gift manifested.
The phenomenon that followed silenced the entire capital.
In a fraction of a second, the midday sun vanished.
The blue sky, the stadium, and the faces of the terrified crowd were swallowed by an absolute, unnatural blackness.
It was not the darkness of night, but the heavy, suffocating void of an abyss.
From the depths of that pitch-black canopy, two colossal, archaic eyes blinked into life.
They hung in the sky, ancient and majestic, gazing down at the trembling mortals with a chilling, indifferent coldness.
They stared for a single, heart-stopping heartbeat before blinking once and fading back into nothingness, restoring the light but leaving a paralyzed, fearful silence in their wake.
Just like the princesses before him, Vance immediately became the center of a storm of solicitation.
Recruiters from both the Imperial Academy and the Resonance Nexus stepped forward, extending their invitations with eager expressions. They recognized a juggernaut when they saw one.
However, they were not the only ones interested.
A representative from the Resonance Haven Academy, an institution renowned for nurturing those with unique and powerful Resonance Gifts, pushed to the front. He offered Vance a direct admission to their elite program, promising resources that could rival royalty.
Simultaneously, a shadowed figure from the Transcendence Academy materialized at the edge of the group, holding out a familiar black token.
The crowd held its breath, waiting for the young knight’s decision.
Vance remained silent.
He turned his gaze toward the eager recruiter from Resonance Haven. With a calm, practiced motion, he raised his hands.
<I am Princess Aurelia’s personal knight.>
His fingers moved, translating his resolve into language.
<I swore an oath. I will follow and protect her until the end of my life.>
A nearby announcer who knew sign language translated his words for others to hear.
The bold declaration stunned the crowd.
The recruiter from Resonance Haven turned a shade of crimson. To be rejected so publicly, and for such a sentimental reason, was an insult to his academy’s prestige. He scoffed loudly, calling it a waste of talent.
In contrast, the representatives from the Imperial and Nexus academies exchanged satisfied nods. Since they had already secured Aurelia’s interest, acquiring her guardian was simply a package deal.
The figure from the Transcendence Academy merely smiled.
"Loyalty is a path to power too."
The recruiter placed the black token into Vance’s hand, closing the young knight’s fingers over it.
"Keep it."
Then, the figure dissolved into mist, vanishing from the stadium.
Aurelia, who had been watching from the side, felt her heart squeeze. She hurried over to Vance, grabbing his arm and pulling him slightly away from the prying eyes of the crowd.
"Vance!" she hissed, her voice trembling. "You... you must choose carefully! Resonance Haven is the best place for your specific gift. You don’t have to be bound to me forever. You should be free!"
Vance looked at her.
His expression was as stoic as stone, yet his eyes held a gentle warmth reserved only for her.
He raised his hands once more.
<I am content.>
He signed slowly, ensuring she caught every nuance.
<And I am free. As long as I am by your side, I am exactly where I wish to be.>
"!"
Aurelia froze.
The heat rushed to her face instantly, turning her cheeks a brilliant shade of red that matched the crimson banners of the arena. She opened her mouth to argue, to scold him, to say something, but the intensity of his gaze made her words evaporate.
"Y-you... fool!"
Overwhelmed, she spun on her heel and ran away toward the exit, her hands covering her burning face.
Vance watched her retreat with a look of confusion.
He then placed the Transcendence token into his pocket, his hand resting briefly over his heart, before following her with long, steady strides.