Interlude: The Watchers MoveLocation: The Ninth Gate - Beyond the Known World
A sea of silence.
No wind. No breath. Just the steady rhythm of fate ticking forward like a dying clock.
In the void between realms, where forgotten stars flickered and faded, seven cloaked figures knelt in a ring of cracked obsidian. Their faces were hidden beneath veils of black flame. Each bore a sigil—some ancient rune, others marks long erased from divine record.
A circle carved from voidglass pulsed beneath them. At its center, a throne of bone.
Upon it, The First Watcher stirred.
"A tear has formed... in the seal of the Codex Nullum."
One figure raised her head. Her voice was neither young nor old.
"Impossible. That gate was sealed with the blood of gods."
Another, draped in iron-chained vestments, rasped,
"And yet, the Scholar has returned."
They all turned toward a rippling illusion—the blurred silhouette of Ren Kamizuki, standing at the heart of the Library of Forgotten Tomes. The Codex floated before him, pages fluttering as if breathing.
"He is incomplete," whispered the Watcher of Mirrors. "But awakening."
The First Watcher stood.
"Then we move. Not to kill... but to test."
"The Trial of Nine Awakenings must begin."
A flare of runes ignited across the circle. Their purpose was clear: surveillance, interference, extraction—if necessary.
As the realm twisted and folded around them, preparing to cast their shadows into the mortal world, the First Watcher uttered a final command:
"If he fails... erase the academy."
Darkness swallowed the chamber. The Watchers moved.