March 14th, 2012 — 12:00 PM
The Grand Celestine — Briefing Amphitheater
Perspective: Elfie
The big bronze bell of the Grand Celestine chimed 12 heavy rings across the water.
1 hour left.
The ship was turning toward the islands. Through the wide glass roof, the dark volcanic cliffs and foggy green trees of the Sunken Isle sat on the horizon like a sleeping monster.
All 75 students sat in curved rows—Class A on the left in white and gold, Class B in the middle, and Class C on the right.
Down on the main floor stood the three homeroom teachers: Columbina, Sukuna, and Aisha.
Beside me, Kai leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed, eyes half-shut like he was trying to nap. I scooted closer against his shoulder, idly running my fingers over the edge of his old red scarf on my lap.
Columbina stepped forward first, her black hair shining under the lights, her blue eyes scanning the room.
"Quiet," Columbina said cleanly. "We will now draw the second Soul Anchor for each class, followed by each class's three wishes."
Columbina tapped a brass glass sphere on the stand. Glowing marks spun in the air, then stopped on a name.
"Class A," Columbina called out. "Your second Soul Anchor is Christian Finch."
Christian Finch: "Wait... me?! Nah, seriously?!"
In Class A's third row, a boy with grey dog ears and a tail almost jumped out of his chair.
A low murmur passed through the room. Christian Finch was a beastkin scout—average grades, but his survival instincts and senses were sharp.
Rose Valentine: "A good decoy anchor. Even if he stays inside the station, he's hard to catch. My squad can move freely."
Columbina looked at Rose in the front row. "Princess Rose, state your class's wishes."
Rose stood up, calm and graceful as always.
She thought back to this morning. Only an hour ago, Beatrice had collapsed with a violent fever, but then it vanished without a trace, leaving her completely fine.
Rose: "I can't let something like that happen again out there."
"Class A's first wish," Rose said, her voice carrying easily. "A full supply of military field medicine, healing salves, and stamina drinks for both our squads."
Columbina nodded. "Approved."
"Our second wish," Rose continued, glancing toward me with a slight nod, "is an Allied IFF enchantment badge. A magic badge that stops allied teams from hitting each other or breaking our alliance."
A badge to keep our pact safe... I thought, letting out a small breath. Rose was making sure Class A and Class C couldn't turn on each other in the thick woods.
"And our third wish," Rose finished, "is a Citadel Barrier around our main Soul Anchor station. A shield powered directly by the anchor's mana."
People gasped across the room.
Victor stood up from Class B, his hazel eyes sharp. "Instructor Sukuna, isn't an unbreakable shield unfair?"
Sukuna leaned against a stone pillar in his black suit, letting out a dry sigh. His red eyes flicked lazily between Victor and Rose.
"The shield is only as tough as the person running it, kid," Sukuna answered, his sharp teeth showing in a dry grin. "If Rose runs out of juice, that shield turns into plastic. It's a battle of stamina. Allowed."
Columbina marked it on the board.
"Class B," Columbina said. "Step up."
Sukuna stepped to the stand, spinning the lottery sphere with one claw.
"Class B's second anchor," Sukuna read, stifling a yawn. "Leif Haxen."
Leif Haxen: "Oh, come on! Me?! Behind a desk?!"
Leif's tail dropped, his ears pinning flat in misery.
Behind him, Sylvia chuckled—a sweet, chilling sound that made Leif shudder.
Sylvia Somerset: "How convenient. A loyal hound makes an obedient decoy."
Victor and Sylvia both stepped into the aisle to speak.
"Class B's first wish," Sylvia said first, smoothing her silver hair with a soft, dangerous smile. "Signal protection and channel switching for our eye visors."
Kaiser: "They're protecting Xeno's 400-megahertz Intel Visors from interference. Predictable."
Sukuna shrugged. "Fine by me. Approved."
Victor spoke next, his deep voice carrying over the crowd. "Our second wish: a chokepoint rule. All narrow passes, arches, and canyon paths in the ruins may only be crossed by two fighters at a time."
I blinked, picturing our plans.
Class A and Class C wanted to use our alliance to rush Class B 12 against 6!
A rule that only lets two people walk through a gap at once breaks our swarm! It splits us into small pairs, right where Class B's brawlers can jump us!
Victor is terrifyingly smart... 🥺
"Granted," Sukuna muttered. "Third?"
"A thick fog across the canopy," Victor said. "An illusion fog that swallows sound and bends light."
Sukuna frowned. "Covering the whole island all day is too much, Sterling. The system will only roll the fog out during random 30-minute blocks."
Victor bowed slightly. "That works."
The island already eats 25% of our mana... I realized with a chill. Thick fog means I can't aim my stars from above! It drags everyone into a blind fistfight where Class B's demons and beastkin will run wild!
Columbina finished writing and turned toward us. Her dark eyes turned icy.
"Class C," Columbina called out.
Instructor Aisha stepped up, her green robes trailing as she twirled a piece of chalk. Her gold eyes looked at the sphere, tapping it with one finger.
Clack. Whirrrr.
The letters locked in. Aisha paused, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Class C's second Soul Anchor," Aisha announced with an amused smile, "is Leena Grelynn."
Leena: "What...?! Me?!"
"Wait, what?!" Leena gasped, freezing in her seat.
Across the room, Sylvia let out a light, mocking laugh behind her hand.
"Oh, my," Sylvia said, loud enough for nearby seats to hear. "The little exiled elf who couldn't even keep her magic pure. How quaint. Class C is already crumbling."
Leena's face lost all its color. Her green braids shook as she stared down at her hands.
"Elfie..." Leena whispered to me, her voice shaking. "I can't be an anchor. I'm a frontline elvian mage! I don't know how to run a sensory link from a locked room!"
"Leena, breathe," I said, grabbing her hands and holding on tight. "We practiced this! Remember our mock runs last week? Your wind-sensing is great!"
"That was practice!" Leena said, tears welling in her eyes. "What if I mess up? What if someone breaks my anchor and the whole class loses because of me?!"
From right behind us, Rigel leaned forward.
His broad shoulders blocked out the noise behind her. His dark eyes locked onto hers, completely calm and steady.
"Leena," Rigel said, his voice low and firm. "Look at me."
Leena turned her head slowly, biting her trembling lip. "Rigel..."
"You aren't going to mess up," Rigel told her, not blinking. "And nobody is breaking that anchor. Unit Two is guarding your door. Novenol has spatial manipulation spells, Rinsha has thread barriers, and I have my blade."
"Rigel, you don't get it," Leena whispered, fists tightening. "Class B has beastkin who can track my scent through the mist! If they get past your line—"
"Then they run into me," Rigel cut in smoothly. "I gave you my word. Nobody touches your station. You just sit inside, breathe, and trust my callouts. Can you do that for me?"
Leena stared into his stubborn face for three long seconds. Slowly, her breathing settled.
"You're an idiot, Rigel," Leena murmured, a tiny, watery smile showing. "You always make promises you have to bleed for."
"Then I'll bleed," Rigel said with a dry grin. "Just hold the anchor."
Aisha cleared her throat from the front, tapping her chalk.
"Representative Elfina," Aisha called out warmly. "Whenever you're ready, sweetie. Class C's three wishes."
I stood up, smoothing down my skirt.
My heart was hammering against my chest. I pulled out my Dwarvian phone.
Last night, while I was resting against Kai's chest under the blue glow of his little lamp, he had typed out our wishes in my notes. He told me to read them word-for-word, exactly as written, no matter how strange they sounded.
I looked at the screen.
Kai always writes things so weirdly... 🥺
I took a deep breath, stepped up to the railing, and looked down with my best polite smile.
"Class C's First Wish," I announced clearly. "The Academy and the system must accept, protect, and enforce our second and third wishes in locked secret code—hidden from all outside eyes, shielded against detection spells, and unlocked only by our class key at the zero-second mark."
The whole room went dead silent.
In Class B, Stolas scratched his horn, while Virian muttered: "Did they just waste a whole wish on a password?! Are they stupid?!"
Victor Sterling's eyes widened, his posture straightening instantly.
Victor: "Brilliant. In a three-way siege where everyone is trying to spy on spells, a hidden rule is far more dangerous than a weapon. You can't prepare for a rule you can't read."
Sylvia Somerset scoffed with cold disgust.
Sylvia: "To waste 33% of your strategic lifeline on smoke and mirrors... Sacrificing concrete advantage for a secret code is the desperation of peasants pretending to be masterminds."
Down at the podium, Aisha broke into a wide grin.
Clack. Clack.
"Sure, sweetie," Aisha said cheerfully, writing on the board. "The system accepts valid secret codes under the Wish Protocol. Send in your files."
I held up my phone, sending the file to the front terminal.
A big glowing screen lit up above the teachers, showing the scrambled letters for everyone to see.
Columbina stared at the screen, her brow furrowing.
"The system confirms the code is valid," Columbina read stiffly. "Wish Two: Registered as a locked letter block—"
She read the letters aloud, unable to make any sense of them:
```text
ZTGVK HQBWP XNROD ULMYF AJEKT
BCZPI WQSVX NDURA FLHMO PKTJE
VWBXY ZNACD GFHKL PQRST UVMNO
```
Sylvia: "Nonsense. A useless wall of random letters."
Sylvia had no clue that those scrambled letters were a rule granting our anchor booths custom metal armor with Kai's mechanical tools built in—tools that didn't use mana, ignoring the island's 25% magic drain completely!
Then Columbina looked at the third wish.
Her voice slowed as the system translated the final line into standard words:
"Wish Three," Columbina read, her voice going flat and cold. "A conditional roster substitution. At the zero-second mark of deployment, Class C's designated knight coordinator, Kaiser Everhart, will be officially removed from Unit One and replaced by a student from Class C's general roster out of 25 students."
The screen flashed with the final 14-letter scrambled word:
```text
[ Z R W E M J I O S V S F Z X ]
```
The room exploded.
"What?!" Axel shouted, leaping up. "Boss is getting swapped out?! Who did this?!"
"They're benching their own guy?!" Cecily gasped from Class A.
"He has zero magic," Aurelius sneered. "Of course they dumped him before the fight!"
Across the room, Rose Valentine's eyes went wide, her head whipping straight toward Kai.
Rose: "Replacing Kaiser...? Why would Elfie take him off the field right before deployment?!"
Down in front of me, Kai didn't flinch. He didn't look upset. He didn't look betrayed at all.
He just leaned back, a tiny smirk on his face as he looked at the ceiling.
Nobody in the room knew what that scrambled string meant.
Nobody knew that beneath those scrambled letters—decrypted only by the private key on Kai's phone—lay a mathematical secret:
`ZRWEMJIOSVSFZX - PROMISETOELFIE = ???`
I sat frozen on the tier, my fingers going cold around the edges of my phone.
My chest tightened until it felt hard to breathe.
Replaced...?
Removed from Unit One...?
I turned my head down toward him, my voice cracking before I could stop it.
"Kai...?" I whispered, my eyes stinging. "What is that? Why are you being taken out?"
Kai didn't turn around. He stayed leaning back, staring up at the glass skylight, his voice completely flat.
"It is what it is," Kai said quietly. "You can pass without me."
The words hit my ribs like a physical blow.
Pass without him...?
A hollow, cold ache rushed straight through my stomach. I had trusted him blindly. When he handed me his phone last night, I hadn't questioned a single line. I had read his words word-for-word because I believed in him with everything I had.
And now, right in front of the whole school, he was letting a random classmate from that cipher replace him. He was walking away from the front line.
"You promised," I whispered, tears blurring the edges of my vision as my hands gripped his red scarf. "Last night... you held my pinky. You promised you would protect me."
Kai closed his eyes for a quiet beat.
"I will," Kai murmured, his tone as still as quiet water. "Even from a distance."
"From a distance?!" My voice trembled, but the teachers were already calling out commands below.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He was staying behind on the ship, or hiding in some observation booth, leaving me alone in that forest.
Across the amphitheater, Victor Sterling rested his chin against his laced fingers, a calm, satisfied smirk touching his lips.
Victor: "Class C is cannibalizing their own leadership before the bell even rings. It doesn't matter who that cipher summons. I've already planted the parasite into their ranks. Every scout path, every formation they draw—we already have it. This island belongs to Class B."
A few seats over, Sylvia Somerset adjusted her lace cuffs, her silver eyes glinting with cold amusement.
Sylvia: "Xeno has the signal trackers calibrated. The lion in Class A is already primed for our strike. Everything is falling into place exactly as planned."
On the far left, Rose Valentine stared across the room at Kai, her jaw tight, her blue eyes flashing with sharp irritation.
Rose: "This is complete nonsense. How can Elfie be so foolish? Anyone with eyes can see Kaiser hides his strength, but Elfie of all people should know that better than anyone! If he stopped holding back, he could destroy Class B with his bare hands. I know what he's capable of—not just his mind, but his speed, his combat, his terrifying precision. I know my brother. So why would she replace him with some random student?! Who in Class C could possibly replace Kaiser?!"
Down on the floor, Instructor Columbina raised her hand, her commanding voice cutting through the noise.
"All remaining students not deployed to the island will be escorted to the primary observation salon," Columbina declared. "Under Class C's validated rules, the observation salon is shielded. You will be able to watch the trial broadcasts, but you cannot communicate with the field, nor can you verify who is participating until the exam fully concludes."
Sukuna stepped forward, his raspy voice chiming in with blunt apathy.
"One more thing, brats," Sukuna added, pointing a clawed finger toward the ceiling. "Fight with everything you've got. Each of you has an emergency seal attached to your collar. The moment you take lethal damage, the seal triggers, drops you from the match, and ports you straight to the medical stasis chambers on this ship. You won't die. So show some spine."
The floor beneath our seats began to hum with deep blue mana.
My heart sank into my shoes.
Five nights. We had spent so many nights preparing. And now, at the zero-second mark, only the 6 active knights would touch that soil.
I never thought he would leave me alone... not like this. 🥺
My stomach still hurts from last night... and now he's not even going to be there.
A strange, quiet darkness settled over my chest. Not all at once, but slowly, like a cold shadow creeping across a bright room. Usually, when Kai was next to me, I could laugh at anything, smile without trying, and feel like the world was full of light. But knowing he wouldn't be walking beside me, I felt a heavy, sickening ache of isolation. Like I was being left behind all over again.
Flash.
The light exploded behind my eyelids. The sound of the amphitheater vanished into a rushing vacuum of wind and spatial static.
When I opened my eyes, the ship was gone.
The smell of damp earth, salty sea air, and burning volcanic stone hit my nose at once.
I wasn't standing in a glorious fortress. It was just a small, round stone booth with a simple desk in the center, surrounded by a faint, humming barrier. Outside the glass slits, giant tropical ferns and moss-covered trees towered high into the sky.
Far to the northeast, through the trees, I could sense the distant hum of the other anchor stations. Leena's wind signature felt miles away.
My communication badge buzzed against my chest.
"Elfie? Can you hear me?" Leena's voice came through the speaker, faint and nervous.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing my voice to sound steady. "I hear you, Leena. I'm okay. Station is secure."
"Man, what on earth is this weird armor I'm wearing?!" Axel's loud, booming voice crackled through the channel. "It feels like I'm wrapped in a boiler plate! But it's crazy light!"
"Yeah, did one of our wishes give us armor?" Sophia's voice asked, puzzled. "I feel like a walking steel statue."
"Yes," I answered softly into the badge. "It's from Wish Two. I designed it... Just focus on scouting the immediate terrain."
"Nah. We should proceed to attack immediately."
The voice that spoke through the channel was strange.
It was sharp, high-pitched, and clearly distorted through an electronic voice changer built into the helmet. It sounded completely unnatural, hiding every trace of the speaker's true tone, age, or accent.
I tapped the terminal on my desk, activating the visual link to Unit One's feed.
My breath caught.
The three knights of Unit One were standing in a small jungle clearing. Axel and Sophia were clad in sleek, matte-grey alloy armor that fit them like a second skin.
And standing right beside them was the third student.
The armor was identical in height, width, and shape. The dark visor hid every inch of their face, the neck guard covered their throat, and the layered plating completely disguised their build and skin. There wasn't a single identifying mark. No voice, no face, no visible mana.
Nobody watching could tell who this 3rd student was. Only the central system knew who had answered the cipher.
Sophia turned toward the figure, her voice sharp. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?!"
"I'm no one," the voice-changer crackled back coldly. "Focus on duties."
I stared at the little screen, my hands resting flat on the stone desk.
Who did Kai choose...?
He was so sure this person would protect me... but I didn't want someone else. I wanted him.
I don't trust anyone else with my life.
My lower lip trembled. But then I squeezed my eyes shut, taking a slow, deep breath, shaking my head hard.
No, Elfie. Stop crying. Be strong.
Trust Kai.
He made a promise to you last night. He told you my station wouldn't take even 1% of damage. Kai has never, ever broken a promise to me. Not once.
So do your best...
I opened my eyes, leaning close to the speaker. "What is your name? Can you tell me?"
"After the exam," the distorted voice replied flatly. "Not before."
I swallowed, nodding to myself. "Understood. Unit One, scout the northern ridge. Watch for Class B's traps."
A massive, island-wide klaxon echoed through the volcanic peaks.
WUUUUUURN—!
The Tri-Labyrinth Exam had officially begun.
---
Back on the Grand Celestine — 1st Floor Dormitory
The private cabins were silent, save for the gentle rocking of the waves against the hull.
On the wooden desk of Room 204, resting beside a half-eaten green apple, a cracked Dwarvian smartphone lay face up.
Its screen was still glowing softly in the quiet room.
On the display was the terminal script that had transmitted Class C's third wish to the academy mainframe an hour earlier, displaying the decrypted equation:
```text
CIPHERTEXT: Z R W E M J I O S V S F Z X
SECRET KEY: P R O M I S E T O E L F I E
----------------------------------------
DECRYPTED : K A I S E R E V E R H A R T
```
Beneath the code, a single status line flashed in green text:
`[DEPLOYMENT CONFIRMED: KNIGHT #3 IS ON THE FIELD]`
Nobody in the academy knew.
Not Class A. Not Class B.
Not even Elfie.
The third knight standing in the island was Kaiser Everhart himself.
---
Beyond Reality — No Place
Perspective: Third-Person
There was no sky. There was no ground. There was no time.
In the center of the boundless, silent expanse known only as No Place, a girl sat comfortably upon a floating seat.
It was shaped like a throne, yet made entirely of shifting, translucent starlight. It constantly reshaped itself beneath her, softening and adjusting to whatever posture brought her the most comfort.
She wore a royal sapphire gown edged in fine white lace. Luminous white hair with soft azure highlights cascaded down her back, and teardrop-shaped ether-crystal earrings swayed gently by her porcelain neck.
Luna rested her cheek against her palm, lazily swinging one slender leg over the edge of the seat.
Around her stretched the infinite abyss—the primordial, omnipotent, and omnipresent awareness of the Void itself.
"You summon my gaze to this singular coordinate, One Above All," the Void spoke. Its voice was not a sound, but a vast, crushing vibration that echoed through every layer of existence. "Yet this trial is a predetermined timeline. Past, present, and future are already inscribed into the foundation. Why observe what you already know?"
Luna let out a light, musical laugh.
"It's not that I don't know, silly," Luna replied, her azure eyes sparkling with playful warmth. "It's that fate has changed."
She raised a single finger, tracing a lazy circle into the dark air.
Strands of celestial light followed her fingertip, writing out scrambled letters that dissolved and re-formed into glowing words:
`T H E L A S T S T E P S`
"Look at it," Luna murmured with a teasing smile. "Tell me what you see, oh boundless mind."
The deep darkness of the Void rippled. Across the endless space, a vast, translucent tapestry of reality opened up, displaying the Sunken Isle, the three classes, and the opening seconds of the Tri-Labyrinth exam.
Silence hung between them for a long moment. Then, the vast awareness shifted, a subtle, profound confusion rippling through the dark.
"This is... incorrect," the Void rumbled, the weight of its voice trembling. "Over the last 13 years, every predestined outcome in this world has drifted from its origin. This exam was never recorded as a tri-fusion trial upon a volcanic island. The roster of Class C does not match the prime chronicle. Several of these mortal entities should have ceased to exist years ago."
Luna giggled, resting her chin in both hands. "Oh? Whatever happened to your flawless omnipresence?"
"No mortal domain possesses the authority to alter every preordained thread," the Void answered solemnly. "The tapestry does not fit what was recorded 12 years ago. How does this divergence persist?"
"Seal 95." Luna whispered softly, her eyes gleaming with distant, ancient knowledge. "Passability. Absolute immunity to rewritten fate."
She pointed toward the image of the third knight standing silently among the ferns of the Sunken Isle.
"Look at him," Luna said.
The Void's vast awareness narrowed onto the grey alloy armor, piercing through the metal, through the flesh, down to the quiet, ticking soul beneath.
A profound resonance shivered through the dark.
"The Creator..." the Void murmured.
Luna chuckled, waving her hand dismissively. "No, no, no. He is mortal now. Don't go digging up the ancient past."
"He has visited my domain only twice," the Void noted, its tone carrying absolute reverence. "Once at the dawn of existence, and once during the Ceres Omega."
"Why did he create you, anyway?" Luna asked, tilting her head with sudden curiosity. "You never tell me the full story."
"I revere you equally as the One Above All," the Void replied with unwavering gravity. "Yet that knowledge is not permitted to be displaced. Even to you."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Luna sighed, rolling her eyes with a light pout.
She turned her gaze back to the glowing projection of the island.
Even here, outside of time, the passive seal anchored to Kaiser Everhart operated silently. It refused any outside fate manipulation from altering his path. His presence meant this trial was completely unbound.
There was no pre-written script.
Only free will.
"Still..." Luna murmured, her playful tone dipping into something cooler, sharper. "Even with free will, the scales are already tipped. Class C and Elfina Lunaris are destined to lose this exam."
"The outcome remains heavily weighted toward ruin," the Void confirmed smoothly. "The Hunter of the Hunt has awakened his singularity. The trap is laid. Class B's parasite has burrowed deep. Defeat is the projected reality."
The Void paused, its formless awareness observing the silent shadow in Luna's starlit eyes.
"You bear a quiet sorrow today, One Above All," the Void noted.
Luna went quiet.
Her gaze drifted past the floating screen, looking out into the cold, empty reaches of infinity.
A memory—faint, sharp, and timeless—echoed in her ears. A voice from a distant past, spoken right before eternity began:
"I will be living forever now. Take care of yourself, and enjoy the infinite happiness you wished upon. I will live my own story and find my own happiness. Goodbye, Astoria."
Luna's fingers curled slowly against the armrest of her starlight throne.
"This is just the beginning, Kaiser Everhart," Luna thought, her lips curving into a bittersweet, dangerous smile. "By the end of this exam, and by the end of this year... you will lose everything. No happy, quiet life under a bridge awaits you. Only judgment for your sins."
Luna closed her eyes for a single second.
A brilliant pulse of celestial azure light flared across the depths of No Place, activating her supreme authority as the One Above All.
The Void watched in silence.
It knew the projected fate. Yet it also knew that the mortal standing on that volcanic island possessed an immutable immunity that defied even the rewrites of destiny—the same mortal who, 12 years ago during the Omega Cells encounter, had mistakenly been addressed as The One Above All by The Void.
The Void did not know who would emerge victorious from the Sunken Isle.
And for the first time in an eternity, it wished to see the truth.
---