Music for chapter: D.G. Yola - Ain't Gon Let Up
The teleportation portal faded, and the main courtyard of Kirin Academy materialized around them. Familiar, yet somehow smaller.
Aullie staggered slightly on arrival, catching himself with a wince. Sora was at his side instantly, steadying him with a hand on his back. Her touch lingered longer than it used to.
Slowly making their way through campus they all couldn't help but notice the unfamiliar quiet, so different from the usual hustle and bustle.
No cheers or fanfare. Just the hushed clatter of boots as instructors herded students into triage zones.
Mayu strode ahead without ceremony. Other faculty met her at the top of the stairs. Whispers followed in her wake.
"...demon breach?"
"...too soon to call."
Aullie felt the weight of eyes. Not the usual stares he'd grown used to, but something colder, they were assessing, calculating.
He didn't care, all he wanted to do was lay down and figure out where to go from here. One thing he was certain of, was that he needed power, to not only protect himself, but those around him he cared for.
The hospital room was dim. He slumped into a chair near the bed, one hand on his side, the other hovering over the call crystal. The alert rune glowed faintly.
With a breath, he activated it.
His mother's face appeared in the projection above the crystal, flickering slightly.
"Aullie."
The word came out like she'd been holding her breath since the academy sent the emergency notification.
"Hey, Mum."
"Oh, thank God." Her hand went to her chest, and he could see her physically deflate with relief. "You're okay. You're actually okay."
"Yeah, I'm... well, mostly okay." He tried for a smile, but it probably looked as tired as he felt.
Her copper hair was escaping from what had probably started as a neat braid that morning, and her green eyes, the same shade as his, were red-rimmed. "The academy sent an alert, but they wouldn't tell me anything. Just said there were casualties and that all families would be contacted. I've been going out of my mind."
"Six dead," he said quietly. "Bunch more hurt. It was demons, Mum."
The color drained from her face. "Jesus. Were you…how badly were you hurt?"
"The demons claws got jammed into my side, cut me pretty good, but don't worry, Sora immediately helped and we got the wound covered fast, it'll be good as new in no time." He touched his side automatically. "Could've been a lot worse."
She nodded, clearly trying to hold herself together. "Good. That's good. I really like that girl, Sora's always been sensible."
"One of the instructors showed up right after everything went to hell. Dane Cartwright. He's been... I don't know, keeping an eye on things. Helping out."
His mother went very still. "Dane? Dane Cartwright?"
"Yeah, you know him? Tall guy, blond, looks like he could benchpress a car?"
She let out a laugh that sounded somewhere between surprised and sad. "We grew up together in London. Best friends from about age seven until..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "Until his dad got some big job in LA when we were sixteen. Always said he'd come back, but then the barriers fell and everything went mad."
"You didn't stay in touch?"
"For a while, but after I moved to Japan to be with your father, and with everything that was happening in the world..." She shrugged. "Life got complicated. I figured he'd probably forgotten all about some girl from his childhood."
Aullie studied her face. "He didn't mention knowing you. Maybe he thought it would be weird, trying to use that connection or something."
"That sounds like Dane," she said softly. "Always worried about doing the right thing, even when it made things harder for him."
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts.
"I'm proud of you," she said finally. "What you've been through, what you're dealing with... it would break most people."
"Some days I'm not sure it hasn't broken me."
"But you're still standing, still giving it your all. That's what matters." Her smile was fierce and proud. "You're tougher than you think, love. You get that from both sides."
He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, suddenly feeling every hour of sleep he'd missed. "I was thinking... maybe I could come home for a few days? Bring Haru, Aki, and Sora? I know it's short notice—"
"Of course you can come home. And obviously bring your friends, Haru's family anyway, and you know I adore Aki and Sora."
"Just wanted to make sure. And give you fair warning that we might eat you out of the house."
She laughed, and it sounded more like herself. "I'll stock up. Now get some sleep, you look dead on your feet."
"Love you, Mum."
"Love you too. And Aullie? Stay safe until you get home, yeah?"
The projection faded, leaving him alone with the quiet hum of the crystal powering down. He stared at the spot where her face had been for a moment, then finally let his eyes drift closed.
Aullie had barely dozed off when someone knocked on the door. A healer poked her head in, looking apologetic.
"Sorry to wake you, but I need to check that wound one more time."
He groaned but hauled himself up, following her to the small medical bay down the hall. The antiseptic smell hit him immediately, that sharp, clean scent that somehow made everything feel more serious.
"Shirt off, up on the table," she said, already pulling on gloves.
He perched on the edge of the examination bed while she unwrapped his bandages, humming something under her breath. Her fingers glowed with a soft blue light as she traced along the wound, and he felt the familiar warm tingle of healing magic.
"Well, you're not going to die," she said after a moment, rewrapping him with practiced efficiency. "Which is more than I could say a few hours ago."
"Great. That's exactly the kind of confidence I was hoping for."
She snorted. "You want me to lie and say you look fantastic? Because you look like you got trampled by a very large, very angry something."
"Fair enough."
The healer was packing up her supplies when Instructor Mayu appeared in the doorway. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, but some of the shell-shocked tension had left her shoulders.
"How's he doing?" she asked the healer.
"He'll live to make more questionable decisions."
Mayu almost smiled at that. The healer gathered her things and left, closing the door behind her.
"You did good yesterday," Mayu said, leaning against the doorframe. "All of you."
Aullie looked down at his hands. "Doesn't feel like it."
"It never does when there's casualties." She was quiet for a moment. "But you kept others alive when it mattered. And you kept your head when everything went to hell, that's commendable."
He met her eyes. "You kept all of us alive. If you hadn't made the calls you did..."
She nodded once, sharp and brief. "Get some rest. Real rest this time."
And she was gone, leaving him alone with the antiseptic smell and the ache in his ribs.
The courtyard felt smaller than usual with everyone packed in. Students clustered in uneven groups, nobody quite standing at attention but nobody relaxing either. You could feel the nervous energy crackling through the crowd like static electricity.
Headmaster Inoue's projection flickered to life above the central platform, and the scattered conversations died instantly. He looked different; older, maybe, or just tired in a way that went deeper than missed sleep. His usual measured calm was nowhere to be found.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this," he said without preamble. "What happened in the Shinkyo Wilds wasn't some random demon incursion. It was deliberate. Calculated. They were testing us, seeing how we'd respond, how well we're training you, whether we're actually preparing you for what's coming."
Aullie felt his stomach drop. Around him, he could see the same realization hitting other faces. The attack hadn't been bad luck. It had been planned.
"Based on what they learned," Inoue continued, "I'm making changes. Effective immediately."
Someone coughed. Someone else shifted their weight, armor creaking. The silence felt heavy enough to crush someone.
"You're not students anymore. You're soldiers in training, whether you feel ready or not." His eyes swept across the crowd, lingering on the faces still marked with bandages and healing cuts. "Because ready or not, they're coming."
Sora grabbed Aullie's wrist, her grip tight enough to hurt.
"Here's what's changing," Inoue said. "Affinity specialization starts tomorrow, no more general training. You know your path, now master it. Summon integration increases to three sessions per week. Combat exercises will now be done in pairs, with live weapons."
Murmurs started rippling through the crowd, but Inoue wasn't finished.
"And we're adding a new mandatory course." He paused, letting that sink in. "Demon Studies. Real demon studies, not the theoretical garbage you've been getting. The instructors are all frontline veterans, people who've fought these things and lived to tell about it."
"Sir," someone called out from the back, voice cracking slightly. "How mandatory is mandatory?"
"If you want to graduate from this academy alive, you'll take it," Inoue said flatly. "If you want to survive your first real encounter with a demon pack, you'll pay attention to every word those instructors say. They've seen what happens when people don't."
The silence that followed felt like a held breath.
"Classes start tomorrow. Dismissed."
The projection cut out, leaving them standing in the afternoon sun that suddenly felt too bright, too normal for the conversation they'd just had.
"Well," Haru said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. "That's terrifying."
"Sign me up," Aki said immediately. "For all of it. Every class, every drill, every nightmare exercise they want to throw at us."
Sora nodded grimly. "After what we saw out there? I want to know everything they're willing to teach us."
Aullie looked around at his friends, at the other students slowly dispersing with shell-shocked expressions. Some were crying. Others looked angry. Most just looked scared.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Whatever it takes."
Because the alternative, being caught unprepared again, watching more people die because they didn't know enough, weren't strong enough, weren't ready enough, that wasn't an option anymore.
The academy's old rooftop had become their unofficial meeting spot partly because it was quiet, because nobody else wanted to climb five flights of stairs to sit on a dirty rooftop. The sunset painted everything orange, which was pretty, but none of them were really paying attention to the view.
Aki was perched on the ledge, swinging her legs like she was trying to kick her anxiety away. "Alright, real talk, how completely fucked are we with this whole 'summon integration' business?"
"Martin hasn't left my collar in two days," she continued without waiting for an answer. "I think he's convinced the world's ending."
"Wood's been demolishing the training dummies," Haru said, watching his lava-beaver waddle around the rooftop in the distance. "Like, completely obliterating them. I've never seen him this aggressive."
Aullie rubbed his forehead. "Queenie's been hissing at mirrors. All mirrors. I caught her having a staredown with the bathroom sink this morning."
That got a laugh out of them, tired, slightly hysterical, but real. It faded quickly though, leaving them sitting in the kind of silence that felt heavy with unspoken thoughts.
"It's different now, isn't it?" Haru said finally. "Before all this happened, it felt like... I don't know, like we were playing at being warriors or something."
"Yeah," Sora said quietly. "Like it was all theoretical. Now they're looking at us like we're actual soldiers."
"Because we are." Aullie leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Whatever's coming next, it's not going to be a training exercise. And we're not ready."
He looked at each of them in turn. "So we get ready. However we have to, whatever it takes. And we stick together."
"No matter what," Haru said, holding out his fist.
Aki bumped it with hers. "Even when it gets insane."
"Especially when it gets insane," Sora added, putting her hand on top of theirs.
Aullie completed the circle, his grip solid and warm. For just a moment, sitting there on that rusty rooftop with the sun going down and their summons scattered around them like strange pets, it actually felt like they might be able to handle whatever came next.
Even if none of them had any idea what that was going to be.
Aullie sat in the courtyard, turning the bronze lockpick over in his hands, not practicing, just fidgeting. Shinku lay nearby in panther form, ears flicking at every distant sound.
"You're quiet," Aullie said.
"Listening," Shinku replied.
Aullie glanced at his wrist. The Void bead glinted faintly. On the other arm, the darkness bead pulsed, slow and steady.
"Something's off," he muttered.
Shinku's tail twitched. "Demons don't just show up for no reason, something's brewing."
Aullie sighed, rubbing his thumb over the lockpick's edge. "I just got my footing, now it feels like the ground's shaking under me."
"Then move with it."
Aullie clenched the pick, then stood, rolling his shoulders like he was bracing for a hit. "In the end, I guess it doesn't matter if I'm ready, because I sure as hell am not running."
Shinku rose beside him, silent as a shadow.
The courtyard was still.
But the air? The air hummed.