The Academy courtyard had never been so still. Not even during a storm. Not even during an execution.
Kaien stood with his back to the broken dueling ring, breath shallow, blood crusted down his temple. Beside him, Ayari Thornveil—flawless prodigy of Solvyr—wiped ash from her cheek with trembling fingers. Around them, embers still drifted like dying fireflies.
The Protocol Observer's glyph-screens flickered erratically. No announcement. No ruling. Just silence.
Kaien didn't feel like he'd won. Not really. He didn't even know what he had become in that moment when Protocol Zero had flared to life like a second heart.
No aura. No glyphs. Just a whisper. And flame that burned through instead of from him.
"The flame must learn to consume without destroying," the whisper had said.
He didn't know if it was a voice in his head or something deeper—older.
Ayari finally spoke. "They'll come for you after this."
He nodded. "Let them."
But he didn't sound brave. Just... resigned.
Later That Night
A small knock rapped against Kaien's dorm door. He sat up from his floor mat, the bandages around his ribs rustling. He expected Ayari—or another challenger. What he got instead was someone unexpected:
Vel Sorein.
One of the students he'd fought during the tier combat trials. One who'd lost. Badly.
The boy smiled with a trace of humility. "Didn't think you'd survive the Thornveil Duel. Let alone... that."
Kaien raised a brow. "You here to challenge me again?"
Vel shook his head. "Not tonight. I came to talk. There's a faction forming. Not officially. But those of us tired of the current order... we see something in you."
Kaien's guard didn't lower. "Why?"
Vel stepped in closer, lowering his voice. "Because you break things. Rules. Expectations. You shattered a tier system that's stood for decades. That matters."
Kaien didn't reply. He wasn't sure he trusted the flattery—or the intent behind it.
But Vel left a message on his desk before slipping back into the hallway:
"Some walls fall from the inside. Others need to be set on fire."
Elsewhere, Hidden in the Shadow Wing
Professor Velle traced a glowing line across a massive celestial chart. Beside her, Nox—still masked—watched silently.
"Protocol Zero," Velle whispered, "is evolving. It's no longer reactive. It's... interpretive."
Nox tilted his head. "Meaning?"
She smiled grimly. "Meaning Kaien Virell isn't just an anomaly. He might be the first rewrite."
Nox said nothing. But his silence rippled like a blade drawn across water.
Back in Kaien's Room
As the candle flickered low, Kaien sat alone.
A note crumpled in his hand. Ayari had left it earlier.
"I believe in you. But that's not why I'll fight beside you. I do it because I want to see what burns brighter—your will, or your fate."
Kaien didn't know what she meant. Not yet.
But he stood, looking into the mirror.
The boy reflected back wasn't a Hollowborn anymore.
Not entirely.
The flame glyph on Kaien's chest pulses once, not with heat—but with heartbeat.