**"Wake up, you little chickens!"**
The voice exploded in my head like a deafening thunderclap tearing through silence. My body jolted violently from the depths of sleep, my heart pounding as if trying to burst out of my chest. A blinding, white light—sharp as lightning—pierced through my closed eyelids, while outside the window, the sky remained dark, studded with stars in its deep, endless night.
*Where is this light coming from?*
"Who's there?!" I shouted, already leaping from bed, my sword in hand before I even realized what I was doing. Ember woke too, a faint flicker of flame dancing at her edges, as if warning of imminent danger.
"I am your new, honored trainer!" The voice came with excessive confidence, sharp as a knife's edge. "Captain Crusher Bonebreaker, of the 12th Imperial Elite!"
He entered the room without knocking—as if the door had never existed. A man over two meters tall, his body a mass of taut, bulging muscle, a deep scar cutting across his face from forehead to chin, as though time itself had carved its battles onto his skin. His black leather armor gleamed under the eerie light, and the massive sword strapped to his back looked capable of splitting stone in half.
"How dare you enter like this?!" My voice trembled—not from fear, but from shock.
"The door was locked, so I took the window." He replied in a cold, flat tone, as if commenting on the weather. "Now get dressed and gather your comrades. You have five minutes."
"Five minutes? But the sun hasn't even risen yet!"
"Real warriors don't wait for the sun's laziness!" His voice thundered. "Four minutes and thirty seconds… start counting!"
I sprinted outside, waking the others from their heavy slumber. Everyone woke in a state of utter bewilderment—swollen eyes, tangled hair, faces openly betraying confusion.
"Who is this madman?!" Elayna snapped, hastily fastening her sword belt.
"A new trainer who apparently forgot that humans need sleep," Dracon muttered, fumbling in the dark for his blade.
But Selia… she was different.
She stepped out of her room as if being welcomed to a royal ceremony. Her clothes were perfectly arranged, her hair neatly styled, and her smile bright as morning sunlight. Not a trace of fatigue, not a hint of surprise.
As if it had all been expected.
After a run that drained every last drop of energy from our bodies, we returned to the training yard, where another surprise awaited us.
"Hello, my little ones." The woman's voice was calm, yet carried a hidden threat. In her forties, thin as a blade, her black hair cut with military precision, and her gray eyes cold as winter ice. "I am Master Vera Ghostblade, expert in assassination arts and covert combat."
"Assassination?!" Elayna froze in place.
"Of course, dear," Vera replied with chilling calm. "Your enemies won't invite you to a fair duel under sunlight. You must learn every form of death—noble and vile."
"But we're not cold-blooded killers!" Dracon protested.
"Sometimes, the line between an honorable warrior and a professional killer is as thin as a spider's thread," she said, locking eyes with him. "Especially when innocent lives hang in the balance."
We spent two hours learning things I never imagined I'd need: how to move without a sound, how to dissolve into darkness, how to drop an opponent with a single strike to the back of the neck.
"Fair combat is beautiful in epics," Vera said, demonstrating a rapid paralysis technique. "But on the real battlefield of death, the only goal is to return home… alive."
And Selia… was extraordinary.
She moved with terrifying silence, like an unseen ghost. She melted into the shadows as if born from them. Even the most brutal killing techniques looked natural in her hands.
"Exceptional!" Vera exclaimed. "You have a natural talent for silent killing."
"Thank you," Selia replied with feigned modesty, her words sweet as poisoned honey.
But something in her tone sent a chill down my spine.
Then came the third trainer.
"Good morning, future heroes." An elderly man, his white beard flowing like a waterfall, his eyes glowing with ancient wisdom. "I am Archmage Eldon Wisefire, and I shall guide you in the secrets of advanced combat magic."
Finally! Something I actually understand.
"The magic you learned at the academy is suitable for exams," Eldon said. "But real battles require techniques far more… bloody."
He taught us a technique called "Chain Mana Burst"—a way to gather all magical energy within the body and unleash it in a series of devastating explosions.
"But beware," Eldon warned. "This technique is a double-edged sword. Draining mana beyond your limits… will kill you before you kill your enemy."
"Great," Ash muttered sarcastically. "A technique that kills us if we miscalculate."
"Powerful weapons are always double-edged," Eldon smiled. "Risk and power are inseparable twins."
And once again, Selia excelled. She mastered the technique on her third attempt.
"I can't believe my eyes," Elayna whispered in my ear. "Is she a genius… or something else?"
"Or something entirely different," I whispered back, my suspicions growing like a forest in the night.
That evening, as we sat exhausted in the hall, eating in the silence of the dead, I noticed something.
Marcus asked Selia about her village.
"It's called Silverstone. Very remote and isolated."
"I've never heard that name."
Marcus shook his head.
"I told you, it's isolated."
She replied—but her smile cracked for a moment, like fractured glass.
That night, sleep wouldn't come. Everything about Selia was perfect… too perfect.
Her skills, her timing, even the way she answered.
Ember shared my unease, fluttering around me in anxiety, hissing softly whenever Selia drew near.
I decided to follow my instinct.
I slipped into the academy library in the dead of night.
Using the "Sacred Spirit Eye" to see in the dark, I searched the records for "Selia Moonstar."
Nothing.
No enrollment. No personal file. No application.
"A ghost student."
Then I searched maps for "Silverstone."
It didn't exist.
"Another lie… in a long chain."
I was about to leave when I heard footsteps.
I hid behind a bookshelf and watched as Selia entered—accompanied by a man shrouded in shadows.
"The report?" he rasped, his voice disguised.
"The group of seven is developing at an alarming rate," Selia said—her voice transformed: cold as ice, calculated as a machine. "Especially Lian Shadowwind. His abilities are growing at an abnormal rate."
"Excellent," the man said with terrifying satisfaction. "That will make them more valuable when we harvest their powers."
My blood turned to ice. Selia was a spy.
"When do we begin the final phase?"
"Very soon. The Master is waiting for the perfect moment. And when it comes, you'll be in the perfect position to deliver them to us… bound and helpless."
"And the academy?"
"It will burn with everything else." His voice was colder than death. "Everything will collapse when the Master regains his full power."
*The Master? Who is he?*
"Understood," Selia said. "I will continue monitoring."
"And Selia…" The man paused at the door. "Beware discovery. If they uncover you too soon…"
"It won't happen." She smiled with nauseating confidence. "I am an expert in the arts of acting and deception."
They left, leaving behind only the scent of black magic and the horrifying truth.
Selia wasn't just a spy.
She was a member of the Red Shadow Organization.
And worse… we had trusted her.
We shared our secrets with her. Trained beside her. Slept beside her… while she plotted our destruction.
I returned to my room like a condemned man. My mind raced: How could I expose her without her knowing I knew? How could I protect my friends from a danger that breathed the same air as us?
That cursed night, I slept with a sword beneath my pillow, and Ember guarding the door with sleepless eyes.