Chapter 4:A-a Rival

The eastern training grounds were silent.

Too silent.

Students had gathered in a wide circle, but no one dared step into the center. The air itself felt compressed, mana humming like a drawn blade.

A figure stood alone.

A girl.

Her hair was jet black, cut short and uneven, as if she’d done it herself with a blade. A crimson sigil burned faintly beneath her left eye, and her uniform hung loosely on her slender frame.

SS Rank — Confirmed
Combat Specialization — Absolute

She opened her eyes.

Gold.

Cold. Calculating.

“So this is the academy that produced an SSS,” she said flatly.

Whispers erupted.

“That’s her…”
“The council’s hound…”
“The Crimson Executor…”

She turned her gaze toward the west tower.

“Come out,” she said. “Balance-breaker.”

The boy felt it before he saw her.

A pressure that didn’t crush—but measured.

“She’s looking at me,” he whispered.

The elf stiffened. “She’s not a student. She’s a weapon.”

Principal Valefor appeared between them and the training grounds in a flash of light.

“Stand down, Executor Lyra,” he ordered.

Lyra tilted her head. “Council decree supersedes academy authority.”

She pointed at the boy.

“SSS-class sovereign vessel. Custody requested.”

The boy’s parents materialized instantly, mana flaring.

“You will not take our son,” the woman said, voice calm—and terrifying.

Lyra’s lips twitched.

“Then this becomes an extraction.”

The sky cracked.

Chains of crimson mana erupted from the ground, locking onto the boy’s shadow.

“Move!” the elf shouted, pulling him back.

Too slow.

The chains wrapped around his arm—

—and shattered.

Pink and blue mana exploded outward, instinctive and wild. The ground fractured beneath his feet as space warped violently.

Lyra slid back several meters, boots carving trenches into stone.

“…Interesting,” she murmured. “Untrained. Reactive. Lethal.”

Council mages appeared in midair, cloaked and masked.

“Suppress him!”
“Seal the Azure eye!”
“Alive, if possible!”

The boy screamed as conflicting mana surged inside him.

“I can’t—control it!”

The woman stepped forward.

“No,” she said. “But you can fight.”

The world slowed.

The man’s voice cut through the chaos, calm and absolute.

“Lesson one,” his father said. “Don’t choose between your eyes.”

The woman continued.

“Lesson two. Let them speak to each other.”

The boy clenched his fists.

Pink mana bloomed from his left eye—warm, flowing, alive.

Blue mana ignited from his right—cold, precise, infinite.

Instead of clashing—

They synchronized.

A perfect spiral formed around him.

The elf shielded his eyes. “He’s stabilizing…!”

Lyra’s pupils contracted.

“So that’s how an SSS fights.”

She drew her blade.

“Show me.”

Lyra moved first.

One step.

The world folded.

She was in front of him instantly, blade descending—

—but stopped mid-air.

The boy had raised his hand.

Not to block.

To deny.

The space between them ceased to exist.

Blue mana erased the distance.

Pink mana reinforced reality.

The blade hovered, unable to advance.

Lyra grinned.

“Good.”

She kicked off, flipping back as the ground detonated where she’d stood.

The boy panted, shaking. “I—I did it?”

His father nodded. “You fought.”

The council mages hesitated.

Lyra sheathed her blade.

“…Extraction aborted,” she said quietly.

She turned her back.

“For now.”

As she walked away, she glanced over her shoulder.

“Get stronger, Balance-breaker,” she said. “Next time, I won’t stop.”

Silence returned.

The training grounds were destroyed.

Again.

The boy slumped, exhausted, and the elf caught him.

“You okay?” the elf asked softly.

“…I think so.”

Principal Valefor stared at the wreckage.

“Class will resume tomorrow,” he announced. “For him… private combat training begins immediately.”

The boy looked up, mismatched eyes burning with determination.

“I’ll learn,” he said. “So no one can take my life away from me again.”

Far above, the council watched.

And somewhere in the shadows, ancient beings smiled.

The game had begun.

If you want next, I can:

TO BE CONTINUED...