The word hung in the air between them like an accusation.

Professor Petrova leaned back in her chair, her pale eyes never leaving his face. "I want you to think very carefully about what you witnessed during the Necropolis incident two weeks ago."

Julian’s stomach dropped like a stone. They’d made an agreement—the entire class had—to never speak about what had really happened in that Black Gate. The VHC had reinforced that agreement with official non-disclosure contracts and thinly veiled threats about "compromising national security."

"Professor," he said carefully, his mouth suddenly dry, "we had a deal with the VHC. We’re not supposed to—"

"I’m not asking you to break the agreement," she interrupted smoothly. "I’m not asking you to tell me what happened inside that Gate. I’m asking you to consider the implications of what you already know."

She let that sink in for a moment before continuing.

"Nakano saved Celeste Vance’s life," she said, ticking off facts on her fingers. "He saved your life. He somehow killed an A-Rank Anomaly—a creature that, according to all known records, shouldn’t have even existed in that location. And when the VHC investigation team combed through that Gate afterward, they found... nothing. No evidence. No trace. No explanation."

Julian felt a bead of sweat roll down his spine despite the cool air in the office.

"Professor," he said slowly, "what are you suggesting?"

Professor Petrova opened one of her desk drawers with a soft slide of wood on wood, pulled out a thick manila file folder, and placed it on the desk between them.

"I’m suggesting," she said quietly, "that we are dealing with one of two possibilities. Either Satori Nakano is the single luckiest boy in Valoria’s entire history—" She tapped the file with one finger. "—or we’re dealing with someone far, far more dangerous than anyone in this Academy realizes."

She paused, her eyes glittering with something that might have been respect or might have been fear.

"And I’ve been doing this job long enough," she continued, "to know that luck doesn’t compound that aggressively. Not without help."

She slid the file folder across the polished surface of the desk.

Julian hesitated for a heartbeat, then reached out and opened it.

Inside were photographs. Dozens of them. All time-stamped, all surveillance footage pulled from various monitoring systems scattered across the Academy campus.

Satori Nakano entering the Arboretum Gate alone, his expression grim and determined.

Satori Nakano leaving that same Gate an hour later with Monica Von Astrom at his side, the girl literally glowing with some kind of golden light, looking up at him like he’d just shown her the face of God.

Satori and Celeste Vance in the medical bay after the Black Gate incident, sitting side by side on a hospital bed, their hands intertwined, having what appeared to be an intense and intimate conversation.

Satori surrounded by women—at every meal in the cafeteria, at every training session in the gym, at every quiet moment between classes. Celeste. Monica. Emi Aoyama. Skylar Amane. Akari Miyamoto. Even Isabelle Okoye, the proud queen of the Onyx Hounds, looking at him with something that wasn’t quite respect but wasn’t quite wariness either.

Julian flipped through the photos slowly, his hands starting to shake slightly as the pattern became impossible to ignore.

"He’s building something," Professor Petrova said quietly, her voice cutting through the sound of Julian’s ragged breathing. "And whether it’s a guild, or a cult, or something else entirely, he’s doing it right under our noses. Right under my nose."

She leaned forward again, her pale eyes boring into his.

"So I’m going to ask you one more time, Julian. What do you want to do about it?"

Julian closed the file with more force than necessary, his jaw clenching again. "What do you want me to do?"

"Win."

The word was simple, direct, and utterly uncompromising.

"The inter-guild tournament starts in three weeks," Professor Petrova continued, her tone shifting into something that sounded almost like a battle briefing. "I want you to face whatever team Nakano’s assembled—this little collection of misfits and castoffs he’s turned into a threat—and I want you to break them."

She paused, and her smile was a thing of pure ice and razor-sharp edges.

"And if you can’t break the team—" She let the silence stretch for a beat. "—then break him instead."

Julian stared at her, his heart pounding in his chest. "Professor, he’s... he’s stronger than he looks. Stronger than his rankings show. I’ve seen it firsthand."

"Then you’ll have to become stronger than him," she said simply, as if she were discussing the weather.

"And if I can’t?" The question came out more vulnerable than he’d intended, and he hated himself for it.

Professor Petrova’s expression didn’t change, but something cold and final settled in her eyes.

"Then you’re useless to me, Julian. And I have no need for useless tools."

The words hit him like a physical slap, stealing the air from his lungs.

He stood abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the floor, his jaw so tight it felt like his teeth might crack. He turned and strode toward the door, his vision tunnelling, every muscle in his body screaming with humiliation and rage and something darker that he didn’t want to name.

"Julian."

He stopped, his hand already on the polished brass doorknob, his knuckles white.

He didn’t turn around.

"This is your chance," Professor Petrova said from behind him, her voice softening just slightly—just enough to sound almost human. "Your chance to salvage your reputation. To prove you’re more than just the boy who froze when it mattered most. To prove you’re still worthy of the Valerius name."

Another pause.

"Don’t waste it."

Julian wrenched the door open and left without responding, his footsteps echoing too loudly in the marble hallway as he walked away. His hands were shaking. His chest was tight. And somewhere deep in his gut, beneath the anger and the humiliation and the wounded pride, something cold and vicious was starting to coil.

Satori Nakano had taken everything from him.

His standing. His pride. His future. Even his sense of self-worth.

In three weeks, Julian would take it all back.

Every. Single. Piece.

And if Satori Nakano got hurt in the process? If he got broken beyond repair?

Well.

Julian’s lips twisted into something that wasn’t quite a smile.

Accidents happened in tournaments.

All the time.