The sky did not just shimmer at the edge of the floating archipelago. It groaned under the weight of the monsters.

Vane stood on the precipice of the southern sky-piers with his midnight-blue training robe snapping in the high-altitude wind. The clouds below the floating island were churning as white mist spiraled into violent funnels. High above, the silhouette of the Academy's guardian Sky-Dragons circled the spires. Their metallic scales caught the sun as they banked, watching the massive intruders rising from the lower atmosphere. Beside him, Ashe was a coil of restless energy. Her obsidian horns were pulsing with a rhythmic crimson light. This was a biological response to the familiar mana-signatures rising from the depths.

Valerica and Isole stood a few paces back, but they were not the only ones waiting.

Twenty paces ahead of them, a phalanx of Academy Knights stood in perfect formation. They were clad in silver and blue ceremonial plate. At their head stood Professor Aris, the Dean of Student Affairs, and Professor Thorne, the head of the Martial Arts department. Both were seasoned Masters, and their presence was a silent signal that the Academy viewed this arrival with the highest level of formal caution.

"They are early," Valerica said quietly. "The Imperial Ironclads are still six hours out. The Western Palaces have not even reached the elevation threshold yet."

"My father does not like to wait," Ashe muttered. "He prefers to be the one who sets the pace."

"It is a show of power, Ashe," Valerica countered. "By allowing the Eastern delegations to arrive first, the Academy forces them to hover at the docks. It makes the Sovereigns of the East wait like petitioners. It is a subtle way of saying that even with your sky-leviathans, you still follow the Empire's clock."

Ashe kicked at a loose pebble on the pier. "I hate it when you are right. It makes the politics feel even filthier than the Labyrinth."

The leading beast finally broke through the cloud layer. It was a Krakos-Leviathan, a creature the size of an Imperial fortress with a shell made of reinforced coral and bone. It did not use engines to stay aloft. It moved by pulsing pure mana through the atmospheric currents, swimming through the air as if the sky were an ocean. Behind it came three more, each carrying the banners of the great Eastern families: the Jin, the Muro, and the Feng.

The air grew heavy with a primal, suffocating weight. Vane watched as the massive gangplank, carved from the rib of a sky-dragon, lowered toward the pier. A group of warriors descended in armor made of dark scales and enchanted silk. At their head was a man who looked like a mountain that had learned to walk.

He was tall, nearly a head taller than Vane, with obsidian horns that were broader and more jagged than Ashe's. He wore a simple, dark tunic that left his scarred arms bare. A heavy blade was strapped to his back. He did not look like a student or even a knight. He looked like a force of nature.

Professor Aris stepped forward, his own Master-rank aura flaring slightly to stabilize the air for the students behind him.

"General Kaito Razar," Aris said, his voice carrying the weight of authority. "On behalf of Headmistress Evangeline and Zenith Academy, we welcome the Eastern Delegation. Your quarters in the Sunrise Embassy are prepared."

Kaito Razar gave a stiff, perfunctory nod. His eyes, the same piercing red as Ashe's but tempered with a decade of war, did not linger on the Professor. They swept over the line of knights and landed directly on the group of students standing at the rear.

Vane focused his intent, his [Usurper] authority pulling the information from the air.

[Target Analysis]

Name: Kaito Razar

Rank: 7 (Master)

Danger: Extreme

Authority: God-Slayer's Heart (SS)

Vane felt a cold spike in his chest. A Rank 7 Master. This man was a tier above Senna, a veteran whose very heart was a conceptual weapon. Vane had no idea what the authority did, but he could feel the weight of the name itself. It felt like a promise of inevitable violence.

"Brother," Ashe whispered.

Kaito stepped past the Professors, ignoring the official greeting party to walk straight toward the Calamity Squad. The Academy Knights shifted as if to block him, but a sharp look from Professor Aris stayed their hands.

Kaito stopped ten feet away. The mana pressure spiked, a physical wave of intent that forced Vane to shift his weight to avoid being pushed back.

"Ashe," Kaito said. His voice was a low rumble. "You look healthy. But the rankings on my tablet tell a different story."

Ashe stiffened. "Kaito, I—"

"You entered this academy as Rank 4," Kaito interrupted, his eyes narrowing. "The pride of the Razar bloodline. Now, after one semester, I see you have slid down to Rank 6. You are being outpaced by your own teammates."

Ashe's jaw tightened, her horns sparking with frustrated red energy. "The rankings shifted because of the Hub, Kaito. Vane is—"

"I am not interested in excuses," Kaito said. He finally moved his eyes to the gold badge on Vane's chest. The number 1 shimmered in the sunlight. "And this is the commoner who took your spot. The one who made the Glacium boy look like a novice."

Vane did not flinch. He stood his ground with the predatory boredom Valerica had drilled into him. "I am Vane. And I did not take her spot, Kaito. I took the top spot. There is a difference."

Kaito's eyes narrowed. The air around him seemed to warp. Vane felt a thrumming in his own chest, a sympathetic vibration that felt like a drumbeat. Kaito took a single step forward and the marble of the sky-pier cracked beneath his boot. The stone spider-webbed out from his heel.

"The East respects strength, Vane of Oakhaven," Kaito said. "But strength without a foundation is just a flash in the pan. My father sent me to see if you were a blade or a toy. So far, you look like a boy in a very expensive suit who has managed to charm my sister into complacency."

"A boy in a suit who owns the top of the board," Vane countered, his voice flat and dangerous. "If your sister dropped in rank, it is not because she grew weak. It is because I am the one leading this squad. If you have a problem with her standing, take it up with me."

The silence that followed was thick enough to cut. Kaito stared at him, his presence pulsing with a rhythm that Vane could now see as a faint, dark-red glow beneath the man's skin.

Then, Kaito laughed. It was a short, sharp sound that lacked any mirth.

"You have eyes like a gutter cat," Kaito observed. "You are hungry. That is good. But the Gala is not the slums. The Sovereigns are coming, and they will not care about your rank. They will only care if your neck is soft enough to snap."

He turned back to Professor Aris, though his words were meant for Vane. "The Razar delegation will be staying at the Embassy. My sister will join us for the evening meal. And she will bring her leader."

Kaito looked back at Vane, his red eyes flashing with a silent challenge. "We shall see if you can survive a Razar war-council without breaking a sweat, Vane. Do not be late."

As the Eastern warriors moved past them, their heavy boots thudding against the stone, Professor Aris let out a long breath. He turned to Vane, his expression a mix of pity and intrigue.

"You have a talent for attracting the most dangerous eyes in the world, Vane," Aris said. "A Razar war-council is not a dinner. It is an interrogation."

Vane looked at the massive sky-leviathans moored at the docks. He felt the weight of the gold badge on his chest. The East had arrived, and they had not brought peace. They had brought a challenge that his silk suit could not protect him from.

"He is a Master," Vane said, his fingers twitching toward the space where his spear should have been. "But he is still just a man. Let's go. We have a dinner to attend."

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