The Tidecutter carved through harbor waters with the precision of Nathan's practiced hand, turning what should've been careful docking into something closer to a controlled disaster. Smoke billowed from Sylvarus's main courtyard, and the crowd fleeing from it moved with the panicked energy of people who'd just discovered something was very much on fire.

  "What the fuck is happening?" Diana had her Manascript out before Nathan even finished bringing us alongside the smaller pier.

  A figure in black robes swept toward us across the dock before we'd finished tying off. Marco Graves looked exactly like someone had told a costume designer to make "intimidating magic professor" and then cranked every dial past reasonable. The cape billowing behind him would've been funny if his expression wasn't so severe.

  "Ah, Grand Mistress," Marco said, his voice carrying that tone of delivering bad news while trying not to sound pleased about it. "It seems Lana Glass has started a fight with a new arrival."

  Diana's head snapped up from her Manascript. "With who, Marco?"

  He pursed his lips, clearly savoring the dramatic pause.

  "With fucking who, Marco?" Diana's voice dropped to something dangerous.

  Katie appeared at the gangplank's top with Red, both looking concerned at the chaos unfolding in what was supposed to be a prestigious magic academy.

  "Katie, stay close," I said immediately as we disembarked. Another explosion rocked the courtyard, sending a fresh plume of smoke into the air.

  She shot me a look but didn't argue, falling into step beside Malcolm and me as we sprinted toward the courtyard. Diana and Cass moved ahead, their enhanced speed leaving us in the dust.

  My mind raced through possibilities. Had Arryava arrived and somehow started a fight? That didn't track—if Arryava was as powerful as Diana claimed, Lana wouldn't stand a chance. The Albinus Vildar was only a Master Runebinder. She'd been at Diana's mercy this whole time, not to mention Grace and the Oathbound, who were staggeringly powerful by comparison.

  We rounded the corner just as one of the large alabaster buildings decided it had had enough of standing upright from whatever fight was happening. The entire structure groaned, tilted, and began collapsing toward us with the slow inevitability of an avalanche.

  Valor screamed a warning through my aura. Diana and Cass blurred out of the path of destruction, their speed carrying them to safety in a heartbeat. Malcolm moved, his enhanced reflexes kicking in…

  But Katie was between us and the collapsing building. She'd frozen, eyes wide with shock at the tons of stone thundering toward us.

  Time seemed to stretch. The chunk of masonry heading our way was the size of a small house, and physics didn't give a shit about magical enhancements when that much mass was involved. Malcolm might make it out. I probably would too if I burned mana hard enough.

  Katie wouldn't.

  "Shit!" Blue flames erupted from me as I lunged forward, putting myself between Katie and the avalanche of stone. I ignited a mana burn, shoving every drop of power I could muster into my right shoulder and bracing my feet. The refined mana in my left eye seemed to respond—not to danger this time, but to desperate need. That white thread of power got sucked into the torrent of energy flooding through my pathways, merging with the mana burn itself and transforming the enhancement into something else entirely.

  Something surged into my shoulder and feet that felt less like mana enhancement and more like absolute certainty. An unshakeable conviction that nothing——was going to touch her.

  For half a heartbeat, something deep inside my soul resonated with the feeling, and suddenly the tons of stone hurtling toward us was meaningless. It might as well be sand.

  She was behind me. That was all that mattered.

  I was Unbreakable

  The massive slab crashed into my reinforced shoulder with the force of a landslide.

  The impact should have crushed us both.

  Instead, a shockwave erupted from the point of contact, rippling outward in a perfect sphere of compressed air. The ground beneath my feet cratered, stone flowing into liquid as incredible force transferred through my body and into the earth. But the slab itself?

  It exploded. Detonated as if someone had planted shaped charges inside it. Chunks of alabaster stone the size of my torso rocketed away from the impact point, punching through the remains of the collapsed building and embedding themselves in structures across the courtyard. One piece carved a perfect hole through another building's wall before disappearing into the distance.

  I hardly felt a thing.

  I stood there in the settling dust, my shoulder tingling slightly from what should have been a devastating injury. Behind me, I could feel Katie's presence through my aura—unharmed, safe. Then the mana burn returned to its normal enhancement, and I realized everyone was staring at me.

  "What the fuck was that?" Cass shouted.

  Katie's hand found my arm, steadying herself. "Ben... how did you..."

  "I have no idea," I admitted, still processing what had just happened. The refined mana, Valor, the absolute certainty that I wouldn't let anything hurt her—it had all merged into something I didn't understand but had felt completely natural in the moment.

  Before anyone could press further, another explosion drew our attention to the actual fight.

  Lana Glass hovered ten meters in the air, and she looked absolutely nothing like the cold, analytical instructor I'd met weeks ago. The white-furred Vildar was practically a miniature sun, red and blue flames wreathing her small form in a display of power that made my recent feat look like a party trick. Her Sylvarus instructor robes were intact despite the inferno, and her signature goggles gleamed over her eyes as she glared down at her opponent.

  The man she faced looked ancient in the way some people carried age as armor. Tanned skin weathered by centuries, long white hair pulled back in a ponytail that emphasized his bald crown, and a beard that had been carefully maintained. A tribal-looking tattoo covered his left eye—definitely not Gaian script, something older and more primal.

  Lana launched a concentrated jet of fire that should have reduced him to ash. The old man flashed—for an instant—with blue light, and the attack sailed harmlessly past where he'd been standing.

  No, that wasn't right. He hadn't moved. Or rather, he had, but not in any way that made physical sense. Dawn's understanding flooded through my consciousness, her absolute mastery of Light recognizing something in his technique. He was using light itself to... shift? Redirect? The concept was there, but the words for it weren't.

  "Fascinating," Malcolm whispered beside me, and I realized he was seeing the same thing I was, minus Dawn's insight.

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  Lana screamed in rage—a sound I wouldn't have thought the composed Vildar capable of making—and threw herself at the old man with shocking violence. Her meter-high frame was deceptive; she exploded off walls, the ground, even seemed to push off the air itself as she attacked from every possible angle.

  The old man flowed around her strikes. Several times he seemed to bend over at exactly the right moment to avoid a strike, or suddenly turned to examine something interesting as Lana's claws passed through where his head had been. It was either the luckiest series of coincidences in history or a masterclass in making your opponent look foolish.

  "My, my," the man said, his voice carrying a casual amusement designed to infuriate. "For someone with such a temper, you certainly stay focused. It would almost be impressive if you scored a single hit."

  The taunt worked perfectly. As Lana’s flames intensified, the heat forced us all back several steps as the stone beneath her melted into what looked like molten honey. She gathered herself for what looked like a final, devastating attack…

  Diana moved.

  I felt it happen more than saw it. One moment she was beside us; the next, she stood directly between Lana and her target. The speed was so absolute that my brain simply refused to process it as movement.

  "Empty

  The Soulcry hit as if reality itself slammed a door shut on everyone. Every drop of mana in the courtyard simply... stopped. Valor flickered and died, a candle being snuffed out. The air went dead, the background hum of magical energy I'd grown used to vanishing completely. Lana's flames died instantly, leaving her suspended in mid-air for a heartbeat before gravity remembered she existed.

  "Now, Lana," Diana said conversationally as the Vildar dropped toward the ground. "Time to go cool off."

  Diana's hand shot out, catching Lana by the scruff of her robes. With a motion that looked almost casual, she pivoted and hurled the Vildar toward the harbor. Lana hit the water once, twice, three times—each impact sending up spectacular sprays—before finally disappearing beneath the surface about a kilometer out.

  "And you," Diana turned to the old man, who was watching the proceedings with obvious amusement. "Stop antagonizing my instructor, Gregory. A duel will determine her fate after the Tournament rounds. Until then, she's a member of my staff."

  "I know," Gregory said, straightening his linen clothes with practiced ease. "But I wanted to see what made her so special that my daughter would feel it necessary to enlist her help last month." He shrugged. "Turns out, I have no idea."

  "Grandpa?" Malcolm's voice cracked slightly on the word.

  The old man's face transformed, severe lines softening into genuine warmth. "Malcolm! There you are, boy. About time you got your shit together and went to school. Now we can finally teach you how to be a proper Valerian." His eyes gleamed with something between pride and mischief. "Like Gaius was."

  My brain stuttered to a halt. Gaius Valerian. The founder of the Monster Hunters. The legend who'd established the organization over a thousand years ago. And Malcolm was his... great-great Grandson? How many ‘greats’ were in a millennium? I hadn’t really made the connection.

  Diana rubbed her temples as if fighting off a migraine. "He arrived several days ago," she explained, shooting Gregory a look that promised future violence. "Well before the news about Arryava—which was literally today, by the way, Gregory, so we've got that to look forward to. He wanted to teach Malcolm and knew perfectly well that he'd follow Ben here."

  "Plus," Gregory added, his attention shifting to me with uncomfortable intensity, "I've heard the Breaker here specializes in Light. He could probably learn a thing or two when I'm teaching Malcolm." He smiled, and something about it reminded me of a cat that had spotted something interesting to bat around. "You know, the Greatwood really isn't as dangerous as people say. You should come visit me more often, Malcolm."

  Red chose that moment to pad forward, sniffing at Gregory with his tail wagging. The old man's expression shifted to something I'd never expected—pure, childlike delight.

  "Well, look at you!" Gregory dropped to Red's level without hesitation, seeming to forget entirely about the destruction around us. "I haven't seen you in an age and a half. I heard the kid had a familiar, but I didn't think it'd be you!"

  I stared at them. "Wait, you know him?"

  Gregory's grin widened. "Our paths have crossed twice, actually. Interesting thing, a Seeker keeping a Beast King as a familiar."

  The courtyard went silent.

  "A what now?" I asked, though everyone else seemed to understand immediately. Cass's eyes had gone wide; Malcolm looked as if someone had just told him Red was a demon, and even Diana seemed taken aback.

  Hadn't Arryava called Gu Li, the giant Komodo Dragon Mana Beast, a Beast King?

  Gregory chuckled, straightening with a theatrical groan. "Well, this has been delightful, but I should probably go see what accommodations Diana has arranged for a visiting instructor in the tower now that it's official." He winked at Malcolm. "We'll catch up properly later, my boy."

  As he strolled away through the destroyed courtyard—taking a pleasant walk through a garden—Red shot him a deeply disapproving look that somehow conveyed years of annoyance.

  "Red," I said. "what the hell is a Beast King?"

  Through our bond came a wave of emotion so complex I could barely parse it. Embarrassment, fear, hope, and underneath it all, a desperate need that made my chest tight.

  , he sent, but I could feel him trying to make himself smaller, less significant.

  "Red..."

  . The admissions came in a rush, as if he were ripping off a bandage.

  The fear beneath the words was heartbreaking. He genuinely thought this would change things between us.

  "Why would I not want you around?" I asked, dropping to one knee, so we were eye level.

  I looked at this ridiculous, cheese-obsessed, water-loving goofball who'd been by my side since literally day three of this insane adventure. Who'd fought monsters with me, comforted me when I was homesick, and stolen more food than I could calculate. Who was looking at me now with those big brown eyes full of worry that I might reject him for being something magical in a world full of magic.

  "Red," I said, scratching behind his ears in that spot that always made his leg twitch. My voice fell to a whisper. "You're the most doggy dog I've ever met. Hell, you could be some kind of dragon or something and you'd still be my dog."

  , he sent back, indignant despite his worry. .

  "Damn right you are."

  His tail started wagging again, slowly at first, then with increasing enthusiasm until his whole back end was wiggling. The relief flowing through our bond was almost overwhelming.

  A splash from the harbor announced Lana's return. She hauled herself onto the dock with decidedly less dignity than her usual composed demeanor, water streaming from her fur in rivulets. Her goggles were askew, and she looked absolutely murderous.

  "That decrepit fossil..." she started, then seemed to notice the destruction for the first time. Her expression shifted from rage to something more horrified calculation. "The structural damage to the academy is..."

  "Extensive," Diana finished. "And guess whose department budget is paying for it?"

  Lana's ears flattened against her skull. "That seems inequitable, given that Gregory..."

  "Started nothing," Diana interrupted. "He stood there. You threw fire at him. Multiple times. In front of witnesses."

  "He was deliberately provocative!"

  "He's a fucking Valerian," Diana said, as if that explained everything. Even Malcolm shrugged in agreement. "They're all the same. It's genetic or something. Now, are you going to play nice with the other instructors, or do I need to have Grace explain the situation to you? Again?"

  The mention of Grace seemed to deflate Lana completely. "I will... endeavor to maintain professional distance from Gregory Valerian."

  "Good. Now go dry off and figure out how we're going to explain this to the other students. Tell them it was a practical demonstration or something."

  As Lana squelched away, leaving wet footprints across the stone, I turned to Malcolm. "So your grandfather is..."

  "Old, powerful, and has a reputation for being impossible to hit in duels before he retired," Malcolm supplied. "He's also been living as a hermit in the Greatwood for the last decade, which is why we never see him. Some think he's a Rune Warden in secret."

  "He's an asshole," Diana added, and we couldn't help but laugh.

  "Why'd he come out of retirement?" Cass asked.

  Malcolm's expression grew complicated. "Apparently to teach me. And Ben, I guess."

  Diana snorted. "Gregory Valerian does nothing for one reason. He's here because of the tournament, because of Malcolm, and probably six other things we haven't figured out yet." She surveyed the destroyed courtyard with resignation. "Well, that building you sent a boulder through, Ben, was your dormitory. So I guess you get to stay in the tower for now."

  Katie finally spoke up, her voice quiet. "That thing you did... when the building was falling. You didn't hesitate."

  I looked at her, finding no easy words. "Yeah, well. Couldn't exactly let you get crushed, could I?"

  Her expression was complicated—gratitude mixed with something else I couldn't quite read. Before she could respond, Diana cleared her throat meaningfully.

  "We should probably get moving before another building joins the fun," Diana said.

  As we made our way through the rubble, Red pressed against my leg, his presence reassuring and familiar. Beast King or not, he was still Red. Still my partner. Still the dog who'd eat an entire wheel of cheese if I let him, wax and all.

  ? He sent hopefully through our bond, apparently following my thoughts.

  "Later," I promised, and felt his tail wag against my leg. "Somewhere with ventilation."

  The dog was incorrigible.