Morning sunlight washed over the tall towers of Alfea College for Fairies.
The academy was already alive with activity. Fairies flew above the gardens in small groups while others practiced spells in the courtyards. Bright flashes of magic lit the air as students hurried between classes.
Near one of the stone walkways overlooking the main courtyard, a small group had gathered.
Their attention was fixed on one person.
The outsider stood quietly beside the railing, watching the campus below. His posture was relaxed, but his eyes moved constantly, measuring distances, exits, terrain.
It was the way someone looked at a battlefield.
Not a school.
Beside him stood Bloom, who had been explaining the situation to her friends.
"And that's basically what happened," she finished. "He just… appeared."
The others studied him with curiosity.
The first to step forward was Stella, folding her arms as she looked him over again.
"Okay," she said. "I've been wondering about this since Bloom and I found you in the forest."
She pointed at him.
"You're definitely not a normal mage."
The archer didn't respond.
Bloom smiled awkwardly.
"Stella's been trying to figure you out since yesterday."
"Well obviously," Stella replied. "You fell out of the sky and carry weapons that appear out of nowhere."
She leaned a little closer.
"That's suspicious."
Behind her, Tecna adjusted her glasses as she analyzed him carefully.
"His magical energy pattern is highly irregular," she said thoughtfully. "It does not resemble fairy magic or witch magic."
Flora looked at him with quiet concern.
"But it feels stable."
"That doesn't make it normal," Stella said.
Leaning against the railing nearby, Musa had been watching him silently.
Then she spoke.
"You fight."
The archer glanced at her.
"…Yes."
Musa nodded slowly.
"Thought so."
Bloom tilted her head.
"How could you tell?"
"The way he stands," Musa replied.
There was a short pause.
Then Stella suddenly raised a hand.
"Wait."
Everyone looked at her.
She turned toward the archer again.
"I've been wondering something."
She pointed directly at him.
"How old are you?"
Bloom blinked.
"That's your big question?"
"Well yeah," Stella said. "He looks about our age but fights like some kind of veteran."
Tecna nodded slightly.
"That is a relevant inquiry."
The archer was silent for a moment.
Then he answered.
"…Sixteen."
Stella frowned immediately.
"Really?"
He nodded once.
Outwardly, the answer was correct.
His body had been forced into the shape of a sixteen-year-old when the Archer Class Card synchronized with him.
But the truth was quieter than that.
Before the card.
Before the weapons.
Before the battles.
He had only been ten.
The transformation had not asked for permission.
It had simply remade him into something capable of fighting.
Stella studied him suspiciously.
"You don't act sixteen."
The archer didn't respond.
Beside them, Musa crossed her arms slightly.
"…You don't feel sixteen either."
Before anyone could continue questioning him, a calm voice approached from behind.
"Good morning."
They turned.
Walking toward them across the courtyard was Faragonda.
Her eyes rested on the archer.
"I was hoping to speak with you."
He straightened slightly.
"…About my abilities."
Faragonda smiled faintly.
"Precisely."
A short time later they stood on the training grounds behind the academy.
Floating targets drifted above the grass while several magical constructs waited silently for combat practice.
The Winx stood at the edge of the field as Faragonda addressed the archer.
"You described your power as a tool," she said calmly.
"Yes."
"I would like to understand it better."
The archer stepped forward.
"…Very well."
The field grew quiet.
Fairy magic demonstrations were common at Alfea.
But something about this felt different.
The archer slowly raised his hand.
His voice was calm.
"Trace… on."
For a brief moment, faint blue lines spread across his arm like glowing circuits.
Then steel appeared.
Two swords materialized in his hands.
Twin blades.
One black.
One white.
Kanshou and Bakuya.
The Winx froze.
Stella's eyes widened.
"Wait—did he just make those?"
Tecna stared in fascination.
"That is not energy-based magic."
Flora stepped closer, studying the blades.
"They feel real…"
Faragonda watched carefully.
"Projection magecraft."
The archer lowered his stance slightly.
Faragonda raised her hand.
A training construct rose from the ground—humanoid, reinforced with layered spellcraft.
"Strike it."
The archer moved.
No dramatic charge.
No burst of magic.
Just a single step.
The twin blades crossed once.
Then twice.
The construct shattered instantly.
Fragments of magical energy scattered across the field.
Silence followed.
Stella blinked slowly.
"…That was supposed to last longer."
Tecna knelt beside the broken fragments.
"The blades were fully structured objects," she said.
"They were not simple magical constructs."
Bloom stared at the archer in amazement.
"You're really strong."
He said nothing.
The swords dissolved into light.
Then suddenly—
The archer stopped.
His gaze shifted toward the distant mountains.
Toward Cloud Tower.
A surge of unfamiliar magical structure had appeared there.
Complex.
Calculated.
Carefully built.
He recognized the pattern immediately.
Lust.
Faragonda noticed his reaction.
"What is it?"
The archer answered quietly.
"…She's begun."
Far away, inside the dark towers of Cloud Tower—
A circle of glowing runes illuminated the stone floor.
And at its center, Lust continued her experiment.