Chapter 16: The One Who Watched Him Fall
The Grand Assembly Hall hadn't been used in decades.
Now, it was full.
Headmasters, Arch Tamers, Spirit Judges, and even royal envoys filled the crescent rows—faces pale, records trembling. All of them focused on one name still burning at the top of the hall:
JIN RYO – UNRANKED (EXEMPT)
A title with no place. A status that didn't exist.
And yet… it did. The spirit system had accepted it.
Or maybe… bent to it.
"He's not a threat," Kael said coldly, standing at the center floor. "He's a warning."
Murmurs surged through the hall.
"He destroyed a Gate."
"He unranked the S-class."
"He shattered the Second Chain."
"He should be contained."
"Or crowned," someone whispered.
Silence fell.
And then the doors opened.
Jin entered.
Behind him, Arin. To his left, Kael. To his right… Noctis, cloaked in illusion—visible only to those who could sense what he truly was.
Jin stepped into the light of the crystal circle. Everyone held their breath.
"Say your name," the Head Exorcist demanded.
Jin stared him down.
"You already did."
In the shadows of the hall, a figure watched unseen.
Not cloaked in magic.
Just… forgotten.
A girl with pale eyes, dressed in a faded academy uniform.
A half-broken spirit mark glowed faintly on her palm.
She whispered, to no one:
"So you finally remembered, Jin."
Her fingers traced a worn pendant.
"Now let's see if you remember me."
Later, in the Echo Gardens...
Jin sat on a stone bench, watching petals fall through moonlight. His thoughts were quiet—but his spirit wasn't.
"You felt it too," Noctis said. "Someone was there. Someone old."
Jin nodded. "Familiar."
"Too familiar."
Before Noctis could continue, the air shimmered.
The girl from the shadows stepped out.
Her voice was soft. Cold.
"Hello, Jin."
He turned.
And froze.
"…Yuri?"
She nodded.
Alive.
Older.
And wearing the emblem of the Lost Class—students erased from the records after a failed Awakening Ceremony ten years ago.
"I watched you fall," she said. "And now I'm here to tell you why."