The battle raged in the ruined courtyard, though not a single student was present — only stone, steel, and enchanted wards bore the weight of destruction. Reinforced walls trembled as cracks spiderwebbed across the marble tiles, every impact between the combatants shaking the academy's foundations.
Janus stood at the center like a storm incarnate. His presence bent the air, a towering silhouette with an echo whose form blurred between shadow and substance. His voice was a cruel mockery, steady and venomous:
"Ants scurrying beneath my feet… and yet you dare resist."
Aerin Valmont gritted his teeth, spear braced in his hands, his body humming with the resonant power of Will. The sheer arrogance in Janus's words burned hotter than any wound. His eyes flashed as he thrust his weapon forward, voice booming:
"Then hear me! I, Echo Bearer of Will, will make you submit!"
At his side, Meline moved with cold precision. Her twin blades gleamed like crescent moons as an invisible current rippled outward from her body — the binding weight of Servitude. Her oath-bound voice carried across the courtyard, laced with defiance.
"And I, Echo Bearer of Servitude, will bind you where you stand!"
Janus only laughed, the sound deep and unnerving. His hand lifted lazily, and a wave of black aether swept across the courtyard, shattering stone like paper.
Eris stood before Saphine, coat snapping in the wind, arms already glowing faintly as aether threaded across them like molten lines of light. His eyes glinted under his glasses, and in that cold moment he looked less like a student and more like a figure sculpted from myth.
He intercepted the blast with a sweep of his arm, the aether wrapping around his forearm like an invisible shield. The explosion rippled outward, blowing chunks of reinforced marble into dust — but Saphine felt nothing behind him.
Eris didn't turn, didn't flinch. His voice was calm, carried only to her:"Stay close. Look at me. Not at him."
Saphine's chest tightened. She wanted to fight, to prove herself — yet her hands trembled. The fragment at her side pulsed like a heartbeat, its pages fluttering though no wind touched them. She heard it whisper, fragments of words too soft to make sense.
"Why… why now…?" she whispered.
Janus advanced, every step fracturing the earth beneath his boots. His movements were brutal yet deliberate, a predator caging his prey. Aerin lunged with his spear, but Janus swatted it aside like a reed, sending the boy skidding back across the courtyard. Meline blurred forward, her blades flashing in tandem arcs, yet Janus caught them with his bare hand, forcing her down to her knees with sheer crushing force.
The fight was hopeless — and yet, Eris moved.
He stepped into the fray with fluid ease, his arms cloaked in pure aether. Each strike he made against Janus sent shockwaves tearing outward, as though steel had clashed against steel, though his hands were bare. He flowed between Aerin and Meline's rhythms, intercepting every blow that might kill them, parrying with nothing but the weight of his raw willpower.
Saphine's eyes widened — this wasn't the power of a mere Grand Gaze.
"Why is he… fighting like this?!" she thought, heart racing.
Her question barely formed before another blast of black aether surged for her. Eris was faster than thought. He seized her, pulled her against his chest, and whispered to her ear, his voice a low command that pierced through her fear:
"Look into my past."
Her breath caught as the fragment's cover pulsed with blinding light. Almost on instinct, she pointed it toward Eris.
And the book obeyed.
Its pages flew open, quills of ink writing themselves at impossible speed. Words — no, memories — floated from Eris's body, luminous trails spilling into the fragment like water filling a vessel. The very air seemed to hold its breath as time itself slowed… and then stopped.
The battlefield froze. Janus's outstretched arm hung in midair. Rubble suspended in the air like dust trapped in amber. Aerin and Meline were statues of determination, locked mid-motion.
Only Saphine could move.
She staggered, clutching the glowing fragment as the world around her fell into a strange stillness. And then—
A voice.
Warm, soft, and achingly familiar. It felt like a memory she never had, like a lullaby whispered across centuries. She turned — and there, standing before her, was a woman cloaked in light.
She was beautiful beyond words, her presence solemn and unyielding. From her waist unfurled six vast wings, each feather shimmering with pale fire that bent the frozen air. Her gaze was sharp, yet filled with quiet sorrow, as though she had watched the world break countless times.
Saphine's lips parted. "You… are…?"
The woman smiled gently, her voice both near and distant, resonating in the marrow of Saphine's bones.
"I am your echo… the one whose voice has called for you since the moment you drew breath. I am Far Cry."
At the utterance of her name, the fragment shattered like glass. Its pieces whirled in luminous streams before collapsing into Saphine's arms — reforming into a pair of gauntlets, elegant and edged in glowing sigils.
And then time resumed.
An overwhelming tide of aether burst outward from Saphine, crashing like a silent wave across the courtyard. The very wards of the academy screamed as the pressure bent them near breaking. Somewhere, far beyond the academy, powerful figures paused — echo bearers and magicians alike sensing the sudden ignition of something new.
Janus faltered for the first time. His expression twisted, steps staggering under the tidal pressure.
Saphine rose, her figure clad in the newborn radiance of Far Cry. She clenched her fists, the gauntlets gleaming like a dawn no darkness could touch.
And then she moved.
Her body flowed like Eris's had, precise and unyielding, striking with fists clad in pure light. Each blow mirrored his earlier movements — as if his fighting had etched itself into her bones. Janus reeled, his mocking grin gone, as Saphine's gauntleted strikes tore into him with the rhythm of inevitability.
Behind her, Eris finally stepped back, pulling Aerin and Meline to his side. His glasses caught the light, hiding his expression — but his lips curved faintly in something between pride and relief.
"Watch closely," he murmured to them. "This… is hers now."
The courtyard shook, stone rupturing beneath the storm of her blows. Janus roared in defiance, but Saphine's voice cut through his like a blade:
"I am not afraid anymore. I am the bearer of Far Cry!"
With one final strike, her gauntlet blazed — and the courtyard drowned in radiance.