Griffin remained standing on the academy balcony, his hands resting on the railing as his gaze lingered on the distant mountains. The cheerful voices of students echoed throughout Reikosha Academy, yet somehow they sounded farther away than before.
"...Do you feel that?" Griffin asked quietly.
Shougo stood beside him with his arms crossed. His calm expression remained unchanged, but his eyes had already shifted toward the horizon.
"...Something's different."
The breeze that swept through the academy had become strangely cold. It wasn't enough to alarm anyone, but to warriors who had survived countless battles, even the slightest change in the atmosphere carried meaning.
Below them, students continued their daily activities without noticing anything unusual.
Tyouro threw an arm around Kairo's shoulders with his usual grin.
"So, when are we fighting again? Don't tell me you're scared now."
Kairo laughed awkwardly and gently pushed him away.
"I literally just recovered."
"Excuses."
"They're not excuses."
"They sound like excuses."
Yura walked ahead of them, letting out a small sigh.
"You two argue more than actual enemies."
Tyouro pointed at Kairo.
"He started it."
"I didn't even say anything..."
Kimimaru passed by without stopping.
"...Children."
"HEY!"
Tyouro and Kairo shouted at the same time.
For a brief moment, even Yura smiled.
The peaceful atmosphere returned once again.
Not far away, Lady Chõko sat exactly where everyone expected her to be.
An entire table disappeared beneath countless empty bowls and plates. Fried rice, roasted chicken, dumplings, grilled fish, noodles, desserts—she continued eating as though there was no end to her appetite.
A nearby student stared in disbelief.
"...How is she still hungry?"
"I stopped questioning it months ago," another whispered.
Lady Chõko happily stuffed another dumpling into her mouth.
Then...
She stopped.
Her chopsticks remained suspended in the air.
The laughter around her faded into the background.
Her ears twitched almost imperceptibly.
"...Hmm."
A quiet smile appeared on her face.
"So..."
"...they've finally started talking."
She didn't explain what she meant.
She simply resumed eating as if nothing had happened.
No one noticed.
No one except Shougo.
His eyes briefly shifted toward Lady Chõko.
"..."
For only a second...
He wondered why she had smiled.
Then he dismissed the thought.
Far beyond Reikosha Academy...
Beyond Reishin...
Beyond every kingdom recorded in history...
Stonefang Highlands stood beneath a sky covered by thick black clouds.
Ancient cliffs surrounded a forgotten valley that no map dared to acknowledge. Towering stone pillars, worn down by thousands of years, circled a massive entrance carved directly into the mountain itself.
Raizen stood at the edge of the cliff with Hiroshi and Yurota behind him.
The mountain rumbled.
Small stones rolled down its steep slopes.
Raizen slowly closed his eyes before taking a deep breath.
"...They're awake."
"They're not awake," Yurota corrected calmly. "They're responding."
Raizen smirked.
"Same thing."
"No."
Yurota's eyes never left the mountain.
"If they were fully awake..."
"...this mountain wouldn't exist anymore."
For once...
Raizen didn't argue.
Even he understood what those words meant.
The earth trembled again.
Deep beneath the mountain...
A massive underground sanctuary stretched farther than the eye could see.
Three colossal stone monuments stood in complete darkness, each wrapped in ancient chains engraved with countless glowing symbols. Time itself seemed frozen inside the chamber.
Then...
Crack.
A tiny fracture spread across the first monument.
Another followed.
Then another.
The glowing symbols flickered.
The chains vibrated violently.
An invisible pressure flooded the sanctuary, heavy enough to crush an ordinary human without ever touching them.
A deep heartbeat echoed through the darkness.
Thump.
Silence.
Thump.
The heartbeat came again.
One of the monuments shook.
Dust poured from its surface as another crack spread from top to bottom.
A low voice echoed from inside.
"...How long..."
Another heartbeat.
"...have we slept?"
The surrounding monuments remained silent.
Yet...
Each of them began trembling one after another.
Outside the sanctuary, lightning tore across the black sky.
The ground shook harder than before.
Trees bent beneath a powerful wind.
Animals fled in every direction.
Even the mountains themselves seemed to groan beneath the pressure.
Back at Reikosha Academy...
Kairo suddenly stopped walking.
"...Huh?"
Tyouro looked at him.
"What?"
"I don't know..."
Kairo placed a hand over his chest.
"For some reason..."
"...my heart suddenly started beating faster."
Yura slowly looked toward the western horizon.
"...I feel it too."
Kimimaru's grip tightened around the handle of his Zweihander.
"...Something is coming."
None of them understood what they were sensing.
None of them knew its source.
But every instinct they had developed through battle screamed the same warning.
Something ancient...
Something that had slept for thousands of years...
Was preparing to return.
Far beneath Stonefang Highlands...
The first monument split open just enough for a single beam of pale silver light to escape through the crack.
And from within the darkness...
A single eye...
Opened.