The training grounds were meant to be loud.
They were meant to ring with shouts, the clash of Idols, the stomp of boots and the thunder of instruction.
But today, they were filled with a silence so heavy the cadets could hear their own blood rushing in their ears.
The air above the arena rippled like water. At first, it had been just a shimmer, like heat distortion. A few had whispered that maybe Solarius was arriving in some grand fashion, and the unease had flickered with excitement. But then the shimmer twisted. Black veins crawled across the ripple, tearing light apart. The silence grew.
And that silence was worse than any explosion.
---
Three of the instructors stood at the edges:
Reina, her long coat trailing as she scanned the anomaly, jaw tight. Her fire Idol flared faintly, but she didn't ignite it yet.
Hayato, the stoic, hand already on his blade. His eyes were sharp, but even his stance betrayed unease.
Jin, the youngest instructor, fists clenched at his sides, muttering to himself, trying to summon courage he didn't quite have.
They were all thinking the same thing: This wasn't planned.
"Stay calm," Reina barked, though her voice was clipped, almost breaking. "It's—likely an advanced exercise—"
No one believed her.
---
It started small — Ayaka clutching her arms as frost formed unbidden on her skin. Haruto's lightning sparked uncontrolled, jumping from fingertip to fingertip. Yumi's threads lashed wildly, wrapping her own ankles.
Then the shriek came.
Not from the portal. Not from any mouth.
It came inside them.
A scream not heard but felt — a vibration that scraped their bones, chewed at their thoughts, made their Idols spasm against their will.
Mei dropped to her knees, clutching her head. Daigo punched the ground, trying to drown it out with pain. Even Rina's glass shards shattered before they left her palm.
And Akihiro — golden prodigy, untouchable sun — doubled over, clutching his chest. His glow flickered, sputtering like a candle about to die. His teeth ground together as he forced himself to stay standing, but the light in his body trembled with fear.
For the first time since they'd met him, the cadets saw Akihiro afraid.
And that broke something in all of them.
If he wasn't invincible, if even he was faltering, then none of them were safe.
---
The portal tore open.
Black. Jagged. Wrong.
It wasn't like looking into another place.
It was like looking into an absence — a hole where reality had been carved out and left to rot.
And from it crawled the Hollow.
Its body was a twisted silhouette of man and beast, its limbs stretched too long, its "eyes" only pits of dripping smoke. It dragged itself forward in spasms, joints bending the wrong way, its claws raking sparks into the stone as if the world itself resisted letting it through.
Every cadet recoiled. Some screamed. Others sobbed. A few tried to activate their Idols only for them to misfire, bending under the weight of the Hollow's presence.
The shriek came again, this time from its maw. A banshee-wail that split the arena. Haruto's lightning struck randomly into the sky. Tsubasa's wings beat frantically, flinging him into a wall. Renji clapped his hands over his ears until blood trickled from them.
The instructors staggered too. Reina lit her fire in reflex but it guttered against the pressure. Hayato's blade shook in his grip. Jin stumbled two steps back, wide-eyed, whispering, "No… not here…"
The Hollow set one claw on the arena floor. Cracks spiderwebbed instantly, ice-frost-black, reality itself straining.
And then—
---
A second tear opened just behind the Hollow.
And out of it stepped shadows — men and women in ragged coats, scarred faces, eyes wide with fanatic fire. The villains.
The cadets' fear deepened into despair. They weren't just facing the Hollow. They were surrounded.
The first villain to emerge laughed, though it sounded more like choking. "Oh, look at them. The children of Solarius… trembling like leaves."
Another spat at the ground, grinning. "Where's your sun now?"
Behind them, masked figures strolled calmly — the Executors. Their presence made even the Hollow's madness seem almost deliberate. One raised a hand, and the Hollow froze, like a dog waiting for command.
The cadets could only stare, hearts hammering, Idols trembling in their hands. None of them moved.
Even Akihiro, golden light sputtering around his body, stood frozen. Not by cowardice, but by the crushing weight of true fear.
For the first time, the academy's walls felt paper-thin.
For the first time, the cadets saw what heroes really faced.
The Hollow tilted its head, smoke dripping from its sockets.
The villains grinned.
And the sky above them all cracked wider.