The morning sun bathed Valhalla Academy in golden light.
Training grounds echoed with clashing wooden swords.
Mages practiced spell circles.
First-year students hurried between lectures.
To everyone else...
It was just another ordinary day.
For Squad Seven...
It wasn’t.
Noah stood outside the dormitory window.
The bronze Bell of Returning rested on his desk.
Beside it...
The black journal of the Sixth King.
He hadn’t opened it.
Not yet.
A knock interrupted his thoughts.
Knock. Knock.
"Come in."
The door opened.
A second-year student stood outside wearing the academy’s messenger insignia.
"Noah Blackwood?"
"Yes."
"The Headmaster requests your presence."
Noah’s expression remained calm.
"...Now?"
The messenger nodded.
"Immediately."
A few minutes later...
Squad Seven met outside the dormitory.
Eric folded his arms.
"So..."
"The Headmaster already wants to see you."
Luna smirked.
"You’ve been back less than twelve hours."
Sophia looked worried.
"Do you think something happened?"
Damien answered quietly.
"No."
"If it had..."
"...the entire squad would’ve been summoned."
Noah nodded.
"I’ll go alone."
The Headmaster’s Tower stood at the highest point of Valhalla Academy.
Its white stone walls reached into the clouds.
Students rarely entered.
Even instructors needed permission.
Noah climbed the spiral staircase.
Each step echoed softly.
Until...
He reached a pair of enormous oak doors.
Before he could knock...
They opened on their own.
Headmaster Alaric stood beside a large circular window overlooking the academy.
Golden sunlight surrounded him.
On the table nearby...
Professor Astrid was already waiting.
Professor Ingrid stood with her arms crossed.
"Come in, Noah."
Alaric’s voice was warm.
Noah bowed respectfully.
"You wished to see me, Headmaster."
Alaric smiled.
"I did."
He gestured toward an empty chair.
"Sit."
The room fell silent.
For several moments...
No one spoke.
Finally...
Professor Astrid placed Noah’s mission journal onto the table.
"We’ve read your report."
Professor Ingrid added,
"Every page."
Astrid looked directly at Noah.
"You left out several details."
Noah didn’t flinch.
"I did."
Eric would’ve panicked.
Most students would’ve apologized.
Noah simply answered honestly.
Professor Ingrid’s lips curved upward ever so slightly.
"Good."
Noah blinked.
"...Good?"
Astrid nodded.
"You were told to tell no one."
"You followed that instruction."
Alaric walked toward the window.
"The fewer people who know about the true shrine..."
"...the safer this academy remains."
He turned around.
His golden eyes settled on Noah.
"Tell me."
"Did you trust Lucien?"
Noah thought carefully.
Then answered.
"No."
"Did you believe him?"
"...Partially."
Alaric smiled.
"The correct answer."
Professor Astrid folded her hands.
"Truth..."
"...rarely belongs entirely to one side."
Noah remembered Sophia saying the same thing.
Perhaps...
That lesson had been more important than he realized.
Alaric’s gaze shifted toward Noah’s satchel.
"You brought it."
Noah carefully removed the Sixth King’s journal.
And the Bell of Returning.
Placing both upon the table.
The moment the bronze bell touched the polished wood...
A faint chime echoed through the tower.
Ting...
Professor Ingrid quietly lowered her head.
Almost unconsciously.
Alaric looked at the bell for a long time.
Then gently smiled.
"I haven’t heard that sound..."
"...in over forty years."
Noah looked surprised.
"You’ve seen it before?"
The Headmaster’s smile faded.
"...Once."
Silence.
Professor Astrid finally asked the question Noah had been expecting.
"The Keeper."
"...What did he teach you?"
Noah didn’t reveal everything.
He spoke only of the lessons.
About purpose.
About strength.
About questioning history.
He said nothing about the being beyond the sky.
Nothing about the silver rune.
Nothing about the promise.
When he finished...
Alaric nodded slowly.
"He chose well."
Before Noah could ask what that meant...
A loud knock echoed through the tower.
BANG! BANG!
An academy knight rushed inside.
Breathing heavily.
"Headmaster!"
"What is it?"
"The Ranking Hall..."
"...someone broke into it."
Professor Ingrid’s expression hardened instantly.
"Who?"
The knight swallowed.
"We don’t know."
"But..."
"...nothing was stolen."
Astrid frowned.
"Nothing?"
The knight nodded.
"Except..."
He hesitated.
"...the records."
"What records?"
Alaric asked quietly.
The knight’s voice nearly became a whisper.
"...Every document..."
"...about previous Key Bearers."
The room fell completely silent.
Alaric slowly closed his eyes.
As though...
He had expected this day to come.
The Headmaster’s office became deathly quiet.
No one spoke.
The academy knight remained kneeling, breathing heavily.
Alaric slowly opened his eyes.
"...Repeat that."
The knight swallowed.
"The intruder ignored everything else."
"Ancient relics."
"Student records."
"Treasury keys."
"They took none of them."
He lowered his head.
"They only took the archives concerning the previous Key Bearers."
Professor Ingrid’s expression darkened.
"They knew exactly what they were looking for."
Astrid stood immediately.
"When did this happen?"
"Approximately thirty minutes ago."
Alaric looked toward Noah.
"...Stay here."
Noah nodded.
"Understood."
The three instructors left the office without another word.
The heavy doors shut behind them.
For the first time...
Noah was alone in the Headmaster’s office.
Silence settled over the room.
Outside the enormous windows...
Students continued their daily routines.
Completely unaware that something significant had just happened.
Noah’s eyes wandered across the office.
Bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling.
Maps of forgotten kingdoms decorated the walls.
Ancient swords rested inside glass cases.
Nothing appeared out of place.
Then...
His gaze stopped.
On a framed painting.
It showed the founding of Valhalla Academy.
The Headmaster stood among dozens of instructors.
Students gathered proudly before them.
A symbol of peace.
Yet...
Something felt wrong.
Noah stepped closer.
The rusted iron key beneath his shirt grew warm.
The painting shimmered.
Only for a heartbeat.
One figure standing in the background...
Was missing.
Not painted over.
Removed.
As if someone had carefully erased that single person from history.
Noah frowned.
"...Again."
Just like the mural inside the shrine.
A soft voice came from behind him.
"You noticed."
Noah immediately turned.
Headmaster Alaric stood in the doorway.
Alone.
"I thought you left."
"I did."
Alaric walked slowly toward the painting.
"The Ranking Hall is already secured."
He looked at the empty place in the painting.
"Tell me."
"What do you see?"
Noah answered honestly.
"Someone was erased."
Alaric nodded.
"Yes."
He gently touched the empty space.
"There were originally..."
"...eight people in this painting."
Noah’s eyes narrowed.
"...Eight?"
"One chose to disappear."
Before Noah could ask another question...
The office doors opened once more.
Professor Astrid entered.
She carried a small wooden box.
"We found something."
She placed it on the table.
"It was left behind intentionally."
Alaric opened the box.
Inside...
Rested a single silver mask.
Featureless.
Smooth.
Identical to those worn by the Circle of Ash.
Except...
Words had been carved into its forehead.
We remember what you buried.
Silence.
Professor Ingrid entered moments later.
"There were no signs of forced entry."
"No witnesses."
"No mana traces."
She frowned.
"The intruder walked through every academy barrier."
"...without triggering a single alarm."
Even Alaric looked surprised.
"...Impossible."
Astrid slowly shook her head.
"Apparently..."
"...not."
Noah studied the silver mask.
It wasn’t a threat.
It was...
A message.
Alaric carefully closed the wooden box.
"Lock this away."
Astrid nodded.
Then...
The Headmaster looked directly at Noah.
"I had planned to wait until your second year."
He sighed softly.
"But our enemies..."
"...have accelerated the board."
He walked toward another bookshelf.
One Noah hadn’t noticed before.
He pulled a single book.
Click.
The bookshelf slid aside.
Revealing a narrow passage.
Beyond it...
A staircase descended into darkness.
Professor Ingrid looked at Noah.
"Only Headmasters..."
"...and two instructors..."
"...have entered this place."
Astrid finished the sentence.
"Until today."
Alaric picked up a lantern.
Then smiled.
"...Welcome..."
"...to the Academy’s true foundation."
Far below Valhalla Academy...
Hidden beneath centuries of stone...
An ancient door slowly came into view.
Unlike every other door Noah had seen...
This one bore only a single symbol.
A rusted key.