Ashveil Academy towered like a cathedral built atop secrets. Spires spiraled into the overcast sky, wrapped in storm veils that pulsed faintly with warding sigils. Otoku—now under the name Kaen Veylor—crossed the threshold, his shadow trailing behind him like a reluctant ghost.
Gravy had not spoken since they crossed the outer wards. The pup remained curled in Otoku's cloak, his single golden eye dimmed to a flickering glow. Whatever lingered beneath the academy's foundations, it gnawed at the void-bond between them.
The courtyard teemed with students—some cloaked in phoenix-red, others in frost-silver or dusk-green. Their eyes lingered too long on Otoku's cracked hand. He buried it in his pocket.
"First-years to the Trial Gate!" barked a voice. An armored instructor gestured toward a wide archway, beyond which shimmered a veil of water-like magic. The Initiation Labyrinth.
Otoku stepped forward.
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Inside the Labyrinth
Mist clung to his skin like cold fingers. The ground pulsed with an artificial heartbeat. Whispering echoes guided the students down branching paths—designed to separate, test, and reveal. Otoku let the others rush ahead.
He followed the wrong turn on purpose.
The air darkened. Moss grew on the walls like veins. A broken statue waited at the corridor's end—an angel with her wings torn off. Beneath it, a slit in the stone wall whispered a word Otoku shouldn't have known.
"Starborn."
The Codex pulsed inside his cloak.
Magic System Update – "Whispers of the Codex":
Passive Ability: The Codex reveals hidden passages and forbidden truths in ancient ruins or constructs.
Risk: Using it too much causes Otoku's memories to blur with those of past Star-Eaters.
He pressed forward—into a sub-layer the instructors had long buried.
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Scene: The Drowned Hall
The chamber beneath the academy was submerged in ankle-deep water. Chains hung from the ceiling, and broken desks floated like corpses.
And in the center: a boy in dusk-green robes, barely breathing. A faint scar marked his temple—arcane, ritualistic. Otoku recognized it.
Soul Branding.
"Help..." the boy rasped. Then his eyes snapped open—glowing with purple flame. He lunged.
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Combat Sequence: Corrupted Mageborn
Otoku twisted aside. The boy's fingers erupted into chains of cursed glyphs, lashing out. Gravy leapt from his cloak, intercepting them mid-air.
Otoku whispered a forbidden incantation from the Codex. The water turned black—choking the glyphs—and the boy collapsed, gasping.
Result:
Otoku absorbs a fragment of the corruption, gaining a vision of a secret society beneath the academy: The Pale Lantern Sect.
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Chapter End: The Hidden Threat
Otoku dragged the boy out of the chamber. The Labyrinth began to reset. No instructors greeted them—only a blind janitor who smiled too knowingly.
"They always find the broken ones, don't they?" the janitor said, and vanished behind a locked door.
Gravy shivered.
Otoku looked up at the academy spires above.
"This place has deeper graves than I thought."
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Next Chapter Preview:
Chapter 11 – "The Bloodless Duel"
Otoku is forced to publicly challenge a noble student with ties to the Pale Lantern Sect. Meanwhile, Gravy begins to mutate.