Chapter 10 - Shadows on the Horizon
The name Sebastian Raizen remained unmoved at the peak of the rankings. Yet beneath that still surface, tremors had begun to stir.
Whispers echoed through the halls of the Academy—about Garet's sudden rise, about the subtle shifts in the Eastern Wing, and more recently… about Zone Zero.
Only the top of the top knew of that place.
And fewer still could enter it.
---
The sky burned a quiet gold as the day bled into evening. Students from across the five universes filed in and out of training halls, the usual bustle of the Academy continuing like clockwork. But those with sharp eyes began noticing a pattern.
Sebastian's presence had become rare.
No duels.
No class demonstrations.
No casual strolls through the Courtyard of Might.
Yet somehow, his presence was felt stronger than ever.
Each day, a new record was shattered in the Neural Sync Platforms—by a ghost that no one saw.
Each morning, professors found minor updates uploaded to their systems—refinements in technique, analysis of movement, weaknesses exposed in even the highest-level simulations. The data signature was always the same:
RZN-01.
---
In the Observatory Tower, Luna Blossomveil stood with her arms behind her back, watching the Academy below. Her violet eyes shimmered under the interface of the Mirrorlink Node.
Next to her, her reflection flickered as if uncertain whether it belonged.
Then came footsteps.
"Still watching him?" a calm voice said.
Jovhan Raizen—Sebastian's younger brother—approached, fingers still stained with ink from his latest runic revisions.
Luna didn't flinch. "He's gone quiet. Which means he's louder than ever."
Jovhan exhaled through his nose, his gaze lowering to the Arena District where students trained like ants under magnification. "He's not training to prove a point."
"No," Luna said. "He's preparing for a world that hasn't arrived yet."
Jovhan tilted his head. "And you think it's coming?"
"It always does."
They watched in silence as a duel erupted in the courtyard below—one of the top 20 nobles clashing against a wild-eyed commoner, spells and swordplay rippling across the stone floor.
Neither spoke again for several minutes.
Then Luna's lips parted.
"What percentage do you think he's at right now?"
Jovhan's eyes narrowed. "Maybe five."
Luna nodded. "That's what I thought too."
---
Underground: Zone Zero
Zone Zero wasn't just hidden. It was sealed—a fragment of space folded between the laws of the five universes. Only one path led to it, and even that was locked behind layered permissions, ancestral blood, and data access keys.
Sebastian stood alone, facing a wall of energy.
His coat hung on a nearby rack. His torso was bare—runes lining his back like scars that refused to fade. In his left hand, he held a Neural Combat Chip, glowing softly with crimson veins. His right hand moved in delicate, surgical motions, coding new sequences mid-air.
The AI interface hovered before him.
[Simulation Complete. 1% Profile: Eridia Duskborne. Rank: Unknown. Match Duration: 03:18. Efficiency: 77.62%.]
[Warning: Neural Fatigue Detected.]
Sebastian closed his eyes.
"Again," he whispered.
[Simulation Resetting…]
The space bent. Another figure emerged.
This one—taller, clad in robes of abyssal thread, its eyes a mirror of nothingness.
Sebastian surged forward before it even finished forming.
This wasn't training.
It was reconstruction.
Every move he made was adapted—refined—folded into memory like a blacksmith folding steel. The figure attacked. A flash of shadow tore the space above him.
Sebastian pivoted, not with magic, but instinct.
Crack—
A palm-strike shattered the incoming arm. His elbow rotated clean through the enemy's guard, embedding a knee into the gut hard enough to make the illusionary air quake.
[Percentage Detected: 9%.]
The combat zone flickered.
[Simulation Terminated.]
[Efficiency: 84.90%. Pattern Progression: 14% Mapped.]
Sebastian exhaled, slow and deep. His body buzzed with suppressed force.
They're not just strong… they're erratic.
He reached for the chip again, inserting another record—this time, marked only with a sigil no one outside the circle should possess.
[Simulating… "The Whisperer of Crownless Realms." Initiating…]
The chamber fell into silence once more.
---
Aboveground: 12th Rank Training Chamber
Garet Caelren's breath came out slow but ragged. Sweat rolled down his forearms as he spun his spear in a reverse grip, then stabbed toward the Neural Sync Target.
Clang!
Clang!
His movements had grown sharper—less flourished, more brutal.
Watching from behind the glass observation deck, a noble girl scoffed.
"He's definitely not graceful," she murmured. "But he hits like a monster."
Behind her, two other students—lesser nobles—nodded in agreement. They didn't like him. But they didn't look down on him anymore.
"Isn't he still twelfth?" one asked.
"Yeah. But he's not plateauing."
"Who's he aiming for?"
No one answered that.
Garet's final strike broke the Sync Target in half.
---
Elsewhere: Academy Intelligence Subdivision
Inside a dimly lit chamber filled with ancient runes and flickering holo-screens, four instructors sat in silence.
One of them—Professor Enra, a senior analyst from Nova Terra—leaned forward, fingers steepled.
"Raizen's recent movements indicate targeted combat prep. Not sparring. Not dueling. War."
Another professor spoke, this one from Verneville. "Do we intervene?"
"Intervene how?" Enra snapped. "You want to tell the strongest student in Academy history to slow down?"
The others fell silent.
"We monitor him," Enra continued. "That's all we can do. For now."
Then the room dimmed further as a fifth presence joined.
A projection. Cloaked in gold and black.
"Sebastian Raizen is not preparing for a duel," it said. "He's preparing for an event. One that hasn't been documented yet."
"What kind of event?" a professor asked.
The projection responded only with static.
---
That Night
Sebastian stood alone on the Southern Wall, wind brushing past him like whispers from another world.
In the distance, the lights of the Academy flickered like stars.
Behind him, someone approached—quiet, but not quiet enough.
"Still don't sleep?" came Jovhan's voice.
"I do," Sebastian replied. "When my work is done."
"Should I be worried?"
Sebastian didn't answer.
Jovhan stepped up beside him. "I saw the data leaks. The instructors are nervous."
"They should be," Sebastian said, eyes on the horizon.
Jovhan looked over. "Are you?"
A pause.
Then:
"No."
Far across the boundaries of space and law, deep in a chamber older than the universes themselves, a voice stirred.
"You feel it?" the creature rasped.
Another voice replied. "He's moving faster than predicted."
"Will you act?"
"No. We wait. Until the shadows converge."
A third voice, sharp as steel, spoke last.
"When Raizen crosses 25%… we'll begin."