The Academy's evacuation sirens wailed across the city.
Students poured through the corridors in panicked streams.
Instructors shouted orders.
Barricades collapsed under quakes from below.
The ground shook again.
Dust rained from the ceilings.
Kane grabbed Aren's wrist.
"We have to go—NOW!"
Aren stood frozen, staring at the cracked courtyard behind him.
Smoke rose from the fissures.
Violet light pulsed faintly beneath the rubble.
The rival voice still echoed in his skull:
"Choose."
Kane tugged harder.
"Aren! Move!"
Aren followed—reluctantly—eyes still scanning the courtyard as they raced toward the main evacuation route.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Inside the main hall, chaos reigned.
Students crammed together, arguing with soldiers.
Some cried.
Some stared blankly in shock.
Some demanded answers no one could give.
The city-wide alarm blared:
"UNDER-CITY MANA BARRIER CRITICAL.
ALL CIVILIANS EVACUATE TO FORTRESS SHELTERS IMMEDIATELY."
Aren felt eyes turning toward him again.
Whispers spread like wildfire.
"That spike was because of him."
"He triggered the chains again."
"Is he cursed?"
"Is this whole attack his fault?"
Aren's chest tightened.
He clenched his jaw and walked faster.
Kane noticed.
"Don't listen to them," he muttered. "Fear makes everyone stupid."
But Aren kept hearing the voices.
Not the students.
The ancient ones.
The dragon's voice rising from the depths—
"My heir…"
And the rival's whisper fading like wind—
"…my shield…"
Two forces tugging at him.
Two choices he didn't understand.
He stumbled.
Kane caught him.
"Aren—"
"I'm fine," Aren said.
He wasn't.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Ahead, the evacuation line stopped abruptly.
A wall of soldiers blocked the exit.
Rellin stood at the front, cape fluttering with energy.
Kale was there too—bandaged from earlier, but aura blazing with adrenaline and anger.
When he saw Aren, he stiffened.
"You—"
Kane shot him a warning glare.
"Not now."
Rellin raised her hand for silence.
"We have a problem," she announced.
A holographic projection flickered to life beside her, showing the underground mana barrier.
It looked like a sphere of blue light protecting the city's foundations.
Now it was cracked.
Fractured.
Bleeding violet energy.
The researcher beside Rellin pointed to the center.
"Two entities are active beneath the city."
"Both ancient. Both void-aligned. Both trying to break the barrier."
The crowd erupted.
"What does that mean?!"
"We're doomed!"
"Demons will flood the city!"
Rellin's expression hardened.
"Worse than demons," she said. "If the barrier fails, the ancient beneath the Academy—whatever it is—will break free."
Aren's heartbeat stopped.
The dragon.
Its final chain.
Everyone looked terrified…
Except Kale.
He stared directly at Aren.
Slowly, realization dawned on his face.
"…It's you. They're after YOU."
Aren didn't reply.
Kale stepped forward, voice rising with fury.
"You brought this here! Those creatures, those spikes, those warnings—every disaster since your awakening started with YOU."
Kane blocked him instantly.
"Back. Off."
But Kale wasn't listening.
His eyes burned with fear and resentment.
"You're connected to that thing. You're putting the entire city at risk."
Students murmured, some agreeing.
Others shrinking away from Aren.
Aren felt their fear like needles against his skin.
He felt the void pulse inside him.
He felt the dragon beneath the city grow stronger with every second.
Aren whispered:
"I didn't choose this."
Rellin raised a hand.
"Enough. Aren is not responsible for the ancient entity—"
The ground exploded beneath their feet.
BOOOOOOOM—!!
Stone shattered.
People screamed.
A shockwave ripped through the hall.
A chunk of the floor collapsed, opening a jagged hole into the depths below.
The destruction came from the undercity, not the Academy.
Rellin shouted orders.
"Everyone OUT! Evacuate to the northern shelters!"
Kane grabbed Aren.
Kale glared.
The soldiers formed protective lines.
But Aren wasn't listening.
Because rising through the smoke-filled hole…
Were voices.
Dozens of them.
Not human.
Not demon.
Voices made of void.
"Heir…
Heir…
Come…"
Aren staggered backward.
"No—stop—just STOP—!"
Kane held him.
"Aren. Look at me. Stay with me."
But the void surged inside Aren's veins like molten fire.
The rival voice whispered weakly:
"Don't… answer… him…"
And then—
The dragon roared.
Aren screamed—
—and the entire Academy trembled.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Deep beneath the earth, the final chain cracked.
"Come, my heir.
It is time."