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A Storm in Uniform
Three days after the formation test, the academy buzzed with rumors.
A black airship had docked at the floating platform above the northern tower—an entrance reserved only for direct agents of the Empire. The kind who didn't bother with formalities or announcements.
They arrived when something needed to disappear.
No records. No trials. Just silence.
Harvey was the first to recognize the pattern.
> "Three knights. One enforcer. A cleanup squad."
> "They're not here for a student," he muttered.
> "They're here for me."
---
Cassien Vire—The Empire's Black Hound
Cassien Vire walked through the academy's central gate like he owned the place.
Clad in dark leather reinforced with runic threads, his coat swept behind him like the shadow of a guillotine. A long obsidian blade rested at his side, its hilt glowing faintly red.
Not from heat—but from blood memory.
He was no ordinary enforcer.
He was the Black Hound of the Arcanum Order.
A Spellhunter whose job was to track and eliminate heretics, defectors, and anomalies that threatened the Empire's magical doctrine.
His presence meant only one thing:
> The Empire suspects Harvey is alive.
---
Memory Shards – Thirteen Years Ago
In the flickering depths of Harvey's memory, Cassien wasn't just a hunter.
He was the last man Harvey fought before dying.
The battlefield had been ash and lightning.
Cassien had cornered him, blade drawn.
> "You've gone too far, Harvey," Cassien had said.
> "The Void Code must be buried with you."
But he hadn't killed him.
Someone else had.
And that hesitation… that single moment of doubt…
Harvey hadn't forgotten it.
---
First Encounter – Present Day
Cassien requested an "open duel" between top students to observe combat proficiency.
The academy granted it—out of fear more than respect.
But Harvey knew better.
> "He's watching my spell signature," he muttered under his breath. "He's checking if I'm really me."
Liora leaned beside him in the shadows of the spectator stands.
> "He's dangerous," she whispered.
> "I know," Harvey replied. "I taught him everything he knows."
The moment Cassien took the stage, his eyes locked with Harvey's.
He didn't smile.
Didn't blink.
Just said one word:
> "You."
---
The Duel That Wasn't
Cassien didn't draw his blade against the other students.
He simply moved.
Every step, every gesture—absolute control.
He unraveled formations before they were cast. He silenced spells mid-chant. And when one overconfident noble cast a forbidden incantation, Cassien nullified it with a flick of his wrist—and left the student unconscious without drawing blood.
A message.
> "This is what you taught me, Master."
> "But I've perfected it."
When the duel ended, he stepped down and approached Harvey.
Face to face.
Voice calm, but ice-cold.
> "You're hiding behind a new face. But your magic? Still rotten at the core."
Harvey didn't flinch.
> "You came all this way just to threaten me?"
Cassien's eye twitched.
> "No. I came to see if mercy was a mistake."
---
Cat and Blade
That night, Harvey sat alone in the abandoned spell lab. A small cube glowed on the desk—recording the mana patterns from Cassien's blade. He had secretly scanned it during the duel.
> "So… he upgraded his arsenal."
> "Runes from the God-Tech Archives. Artificial will embedded into the steel. Autonomous defense logic. They really want me gone this time."
> [System Notice: Target Threat Level – Catastrophic]
> [Survival Protocol Engaged: Use of Void Code is NOT recommended. Memory Seal remains unstable.]
Harvey clenched his fist.
> "Then I'll just outsmart him."
---
Meanwhile – A Soul Awakens
Far from the academy, in a hidden chamber beneath the capital, a sealed sarcophagus began to pulse with light.
Inside, someone stirred.
A boy with silver eyes.
Branded with the mark of the first Spellbreaker.
> "He's alive," the boy whispered. "The First is awake."
> "Then I will rise as the Last."
---