Night fell, heavy and still. The academy grounds were unnaturally quiet. Too quiet.
Yooha stood at the highest balcony, her white cloak fluttering in the wind. Her eyes scanned the darkness below. Jin walked up behind her, silent as moonlight.
"You feel it too?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Something's coming."
Elsewhere—inside the Forbidden Sector
A group of masked figures from Ghost Gordon infiltrated the mana lines beneath the academy.
Whispers echoed.
"Strike before dawn."
"Break their bond. Shatter the lords."
"Especially her. The girl... Yooha must fall first."
They planted curse roots, ancient black tendrils that infected the energy veins.
Back to our team...
Bo was practicing in the shadow hall, spinning blades and humming when suddenly—
the ground cracked beneath him.
"WHAT THE—HEY!! I just waxed this floor!"
Shadows exploded from the cracks. Bo barely leaped away in time.
A masked enemy emerged. "Bo of the Joke. Your time ends tonight."
Bo's grin disappeared. He summoned his blade.
"Oh buddy… you just made the biggest mistake of your life."
Meanwhile, Jin and Yooha rushed to the scene.
All over the academy, alarms blared. Mana burned like wildfire. Students screamed. It was an ambush.
Jin and Yooha reached Bo just in time to block another strike.
Yooha's aura pulsed violently.
"You dare try this before the Seal War?"
The masked assassin smirked. "We do more than dare… We end it."
Then—BOOM.
Xie Luang, Meiqi, and He Wang burst in from the sky, all powered up.
A massive battle broke out between the students and Ghost Gordon's elite shadow squad.
Blades clashed. Mana surged. A section of the academy collapsed.
Bo shouted, "I'm gonna need a whole week of comedy therapy after this!"
But they fought with everything they had.
In the climax of battle…
Yooha was surrounded. Her aura flickered. The curse roots wrapped around her.
Jin screamed, breaking through walls of enemies, reaching her just as—
BOOM
An enemy tried to stab her heart.
Jin took the blade instead.
Blood. Silence. Yooha's scream shook the battlefield.
But in that moment—her dormant power exploded.
Her blade Silent Veil turned pure gold.
"DON'T—TOUCH—HIM!!"
She unleashed a light wave that disintegrated half the shadow squad.
As the enemies retreated, injured but smug, their final words echoed:
"You may have won tonight… but the seal opens in three days. And you'll all die there."
Yooha knelt by Jin, holding him close. His blood stained her hands.
But he smiled.
"I told you… I'll protect you. Even if it kills me."
To be continued…