The Youngest Wizard

"The youngest Wizard to ever roam these halls. Would you believe it—he still skips class."

…

Katsu stood within the glyph's burning circle, magic buzzing beneath his skin, hands clenching and unclenching

He felt… changed. Like something in him had cracked open, a power not entirely his own.

"…Mother," he whispered, the word sliding out before he could stop it.

He stepped out of the light, not looking back as the crowd erupted. Sydney and Rei moved to intercept, but Katsu slipped away, vision blurring—until the world melted pink, and he found himself inside the dream-haze again.

There it was: the sphere, humming with chained hunger, and within it, the unmistakable coil of the Leviathan's presence.

He reached for her. "Did my mother's spell reseal you?"

No answer. The sphere pulsed, just a tremor.

"You spent years gnawing at that seal after she vanished. All that effort, just so you could whisper in my head. And now you're back at zero."

The sphere barely shifted.

Katsu exhaled, pulse pounding.

"Voruun esh sa'el Narathuun.

Seventh Prince of Envy, come forth."

The air split. The Leviathan tumbled out—no, launched herself, arms locked around Katsu's neck, legs clamping his waist.

She buried her face in his shoulder, squeezing him with a desperation that almost bordered on obscene.

"Ohmygod, it was SO dark in there—why did that witch seal me again—no—" She stiffened, anger flaring. "How did she seal me with a memory?"

Katsu groaned, voice dry. "Something tells me you're supposed to stay sealed. Maybe it's that she sent you back…"

"No one but Velthra himself ever managed that. None of his descendants—none of them could keep me chained. Oh, gods, I get it… She embedded her mana into you. So when I push too hard, or you do, bam—I'm sealed. And your latent power wakes up for your own safety."

He gave her a flat look.

"And you just figured that out now?"

She rolled her hips against him, smirking.

"I'm over a thousand years old, darling. I've watched your bloodline rise and fall—thirty, maybe forty generations? Time blurs together in the dark."

"Sounds like hell."

"Oh, shut up! Just because you've got the upper hand doesn't mean you get to mouth off—"

"Bow," Katsu snapped, enjoying the reversal.

She dropped to her knees with theatrical speed, eyes glinting. "Yes, my king."

He blinked, not sure if he liked how easily she played her part. "…Are you really that scared of the seal?"

Her voice dropped, earnest for once.

"Yes. You wouldn't want to feel it. It's like… blindness. Close your eyes, then try to see through your elbow. You can't—there's nothing, just… sorrow. I didn't deserve to be locked in your family, but… meeting you hasn't been all bad. I did get to enjoy you, my king."

She grinned wide, lips curling wicked, winking with one gold eye. Sticking her tongue out and licking her lips at Katsu. His breath caught.

She made submission look lewd.

"Get off your knees,"

He muttered, heat prickling his ears.

"What, really? You sure you don't want me to take your—"

"No."

"Come on! You'll love it. Female demons—"

"Leviathan."

"—humans love when their soul gets—"

"Oh my god Levii, stop. Talking."

He groaned, pressing a hand over his face, turning away as she pressed her body closer, pouting.

The Leviathan smiled.

"Levii? I have a pet name?"

"Are you serious right now?"

She only grinned.

"Absolutely. You should let me worship you a little. You may enjoy it… I don't like lying. You WILL enjoy it—I mean it's literally—"

He blinked out of the dream before she could finish, her laughter chasing him.

She almost rolled.

Laughing until she couldn't.

She floated in this realm.

Stretching out her body.

She smiled, really smiled.

He didn't unseal her because he needed her… no. He unsealed her because he wanted her.

That thought.

That idea.

Make her heart shift.

"My hero…"

…

Katsu blinked back into the waking world. The ghost of Leviathan's touch still tingling along his skin. His feet carried him down the hall in a fog.

Until a sudden blaze snapped him from his thoughts. A wall of fire crackled up in front of him, cutting off his escape.

The heat bit at his cheeks, bathing everything in gold. He barely had time to stop before Sydney came striding through the flames, face flushed and eyes blazing with the same fire.

"Hey! What the hell was that back there?" she demanded, stepping up until the heat between them had nothing to do with magic.

Rei was right behind her, expression measured but intense, gaze flicking from the dying embers to Katsu's face. He crossed his arms, leaning in.

"You disappeared. Glyph still smoking, and you're nowhere. You hiding more secrets, Nori?"

Katsu hesitated, the echoes of dream and power still tangled in his mind. The fire's light made it too easy to remember the Leviathan's embrace, her teasing laughter reverberating in his bones.

He forced a shaky smile, meeting Sydney's eyes first. "Just… got a little lost. That test was rougher than I thought."

Sydney's eyes narrowed, searching his face for the lie she half expected. "Lost, huh? You looked like you'd seen a ghost."

Katsu shrugged, hands in his pockets.

"Maybe I did."

Rei studied him, silent for a beat, then spoke, voice lower. "Don't push us out, Katsu. Not now."

Sydney nodded, the edge softening just a little.

"We're your team, remember? If something's after you, or in you… we don't run."

The fire wall flickered and vanished, heat giving way to cool, ordinary air.

Sydney and Rei exchanged a final look with him before melting back into the crowd, both still shadowed by questions.

Their absence left a quiet ache, but also a freedom Katsu hadn't felt in weeks.

Two classes remained on his schedule.

Normally, he would have slipped away—vanished before the final bell, let his mind drift somewhere safer than a classroom.

But today, the Academy halls pulsed with energy: everywhere, students jostled for a chance to test their magic levels, laughter and anxiety mixing in the air.

For once, he thought about staying.

Maybe it was time to learn a few new spells.

Maybe it was time to stop running from what he could become.

And he knew, as the crowd thinned and he walked alone, that he'd need to get in touch with Virenth soon.

Kairos had been right—he couldn't keep fighting bare-handed. He needed a weapon.

But not just any weapon.

The only blade he would ever trust—

The only one he would wield—

Was his father's sword.