Chapter 10: The Unseen Assessment

The deep forest had been unnervingly quiet that morning.

Kōya returned from his grueling, solitary training before the sun had fully climbed over the eastern ridge, his small clothes carrying the sharp, metallic smell of crushed leaves, damp soil, and the faint, lingering ozone of expended mana. His young body still ached viciously from the previous day’s brutal encounter with the rogue demon, deep bone-bruises throbbing with every step, but he had quickly learned not to complain. Complaining was a luxury for ordinary children.

He had learned something else, too. Something that bothered the dormant Destruction King immensely.

Coming home felt fundamentally different now.

Before, during the early years of his reincarnation, he had simply returned to the cottage because he physically possessed nowhere else to go. It was a tactical necessity. A barracks.

Now, whenever he broke through the tree line and saw the warm, smoke-curling chimney of the house waiting for him, a tight, cold knot inside his chest involuntarily loosened.

Mizuki would usually be standing near the hearth, humming quietly as she prepared breakfast, the scent of baking bread filling the air.

Seiya would be outside in the yard, practicing flawless, deadly katas with his sword or splitting heavy timber with impossible ease.

Sometimes, they would bicker playfully over something utterly meaningless—a dropped plate, a muddy boot on the floorboards.

Sometimes, they would laugh together, a bright, unbroken sound that filled the small rooms.

And Kōya, despite his ancient, hardened soul, had slowly, agonizingly begun to understand that those mundane, meaningless, fragile moments were exactly what made a family.

He still carried a deep, burning resentment toward Seiya Amane.

He couldn’t simply erase the catastrophic memory of his empire falling to ash. He couldn’t erase what had happened to Mirei, or the physical sensation of the holy sword piercing his heart.

But after everything he had witnessed in this new life, after seeing the quiet, fierce way Seiya protected this home, Kōya could no longer look at the Hero as the singular, absolute villain of his story.

The treacherous Demon Peers had betrayed Raizen. The kingdom had fractured from within. Mirei had willingly sacrificed herself out of love. And Seiya... Seiya had simply been a desperate man fighting a bloody war to protect his own family from the dark.

Kōya still couldn’t forgive him. Not completely. The scars on his soul were far too deep for that.

But blinding hatred was no longer the absolute only thing he felt when he looked at his father.

Kōya stepped out of the heavy shadows of the forest and into the sunlit yard.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

Two completely unfamiliar, highly dangerous people were standing near the front porch.

One was an older human man wearing flowing, meticulously tailored academic robes of deep crimson and gold. A heavy, intricately carved staff rested casually against his palm.

The other was a woman.

Kōya’s dark eyes immediately narrowed into slits of pure, calculating assessment.

She had wild, untamed hair, piercing golden eyes with vertical, feline pupils, and a pair of unmistakable, tufted animal ears rising sharply from the crown of her head. A long, muscular tail moved lazily, rhythmically behind her.

Two viciously curved, unadorned swords rested securely at her waist.

Her appearance was predominantly human, but there was something distinctly, dangerously beastlike about the way she held her center of gravity.

And despite the relaxed, almost bored way she stood leaning against the porch railing, Kōya’s veteran eyes immediately noticed the scars.

Old ones. Faded silver lines. Small, lethal strikes carefully hidden beneath her light armor and clothing.

The kind of scars left behind only by decades of surviving close-quarters slaughter.

*She’s strong,* Kōya’s internal voice noted coldly. *Extremely strong.*

His sharp gaze shifted to the older professor.

*So is he.*

Kōya’s expression became deeply suspicious, his tiny hand drifting instinctively toward the wooden practice sword at his hip.

*Why the hell are two people this dangerous standing casually outside my house?*

Seiya, wiping sweat from his brow with a towel, noticed him.

"Kōya!"

Kōya walked slowly across the grass toward them, his guard entirely up.

Seiya smiled warmly. "You’re back early."

Kōya nodded curtly. Then, he looked directly at the two imposing strangers, skipping the pleasantries.

"Who are they?"

Seiya laughed, a deep, booming sound. "Straight to the point, huh? You’re getting more anti-social every day."

The older man stepped forward, leaning slightly on his staff.

"I suppose we should properly introduce ourselves to the young man."

He bowed slightly, a perfectly executed, aristocratic gesture.

"My name is Professor Eldren. I teach advanced theoretical and combat magic at the Royal Academy in the capital."

Kōya studied him with the eyes of a warlord.

A combat mage. Not merely a dusty scholar hiding in a library.

His internal mana was tightly controlled, incredibly dense, and perfectly coiled. The staff wasn’t a fragile, ornamental piece of wood, either. There were several highly advanced, lethal magical inscriptions carved deeply into its surface. It was a siege weapon disguised as a walking stick.

Kōya’s gaze shifted back to the Beastwoman.

She smiled, a sharp flash of predatory teeth. "And I’m—"

Kōya stepped forward, closing the distance between them.

She stopped speaking, raising a curious eyebrow.

His dark eyes meticulously examined the twitching of her ears. Then the dilation of her feline eyes. Then the worn leather wrapping of her twin swords. Then the specific, coiled tension in her calves and shoulders.

He slowly, silently circled her once, analyzing every single physical vulnerability.

She watched him, rotating slightly to keep him in her peripheral vision, with growing, genuine amusement.

Kōya stopped directly behind her.

He reached out toward her twitching, muscular tail.

And grabbed it firmly with his tiny hand.

The Beastwoman’s golden eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated shock.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

**BOOM!**

Her reaction was faster than lightning. Her fist struck Kōya square in the chest with the force of a battering ram.

He went flying backward through the air.

He crashed violently into the trunk of a large oak tree, the impact shaking leaves loose.

Mizuki, hearing the commotion, immediately rushed out of the front door, her eyes wide with panic. "Kōya!"

She sprinted across the yard and picked him up off the grass.

Kōya groaned, rubbing the back of his aching head, entirely unfazed by the sheer violence of the interaction.

"I was simply examining her physical reflexes," he muttered, dusting off his tunic.

"You do not examine people by grabbing their tails, Kōya!" Mizuki scolded, though she was checking him frantically for broken bones.

Kōya looked up at her, genuinely confused by the outrage. "But I wanted to know the exact tensile strength of the appendage."

The Beastwoman stood on the porch, staring at the tiny boy in utter disbelief.

Then, she threw her head back and burst into loud, raucous laughter.

Seiya couldn’t stop himself either. He laughed so hard he actually had to turn away and lean against a wooden post for support, wiping tears from his eyes.

Kōya glared at his father. "What is so amusing?"

Seiya wiped his eyes, struggling to catch his breath. "Now I finally understand."

"Understand what?" Kōya demanded coldly.

Seiya grinned, a massive, annoying smile. "Why you keep disappearing into the deep forest every single day."

Kōya’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "What are you talking about?"

"You must be out there aggressively searching for a wife."

Kōya stared at him, his infant brain completely short-circuiting. "...What?"

Seiya pointed a teasing finger toward the still-laughing Beastwoman. "And not just any ordinary village girl, either." He laughed again. "A pretty, highly aggressive Beastfolk woman, apparently. You like them dangerous."

Kōya’s face went completely, terrifyingly blank.

"I was absolutely not looking for a wife," Kōya stated, his voice devoid of any inflection.

Seiya continued mercilessly. "I’ve traveled across half the known world, Kōya. I’ve fought alongside and seen plenty of Beastfolk." He looked down at his son, grinning. "But I have never, ever seen anyone with such unusually direct, suicidal taste in courtship."

Kōya’s expression tightened into a scowl. "I was studying her combat anatomy."

The Beastwoman suddenly stopped laughing. She ran a scarred hand through her wild hair, shifting the heavy locks over her shoulder, striking a deliberately dramatic pose.

She gave Kōya a playful, predatory smile. "Perhaps the bold little boy really is captivated by my wild beauty."

Kōya stared at her, thoroughly unimpressed.

Seiya snorted loudly. "Pretty?"

The Beastwoman’s head snapped toward him, her smile vanishing instantly. "Excuse me?"

Seiya shrugged casually, leaning against the post. "Don’t make me laugh. You have the charm of a cornered badger."

Her golden eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "What did you just say to me, Amane?"

Mizuki immediately stepped smoothly between the two veterans, radiating an absolute, terrifying maternal calm.

"Enough."

She smiled pleasantly, though the temperature in the yard seemed to drop. "Let’s all go inside, shall we?"

Then she looked at the two visitors, wiping her hands on her apron. "I’ve made lunch. It’s getting cold."

The Beastwoman’s aggressive posture instantly evaporated. Her ears perked up. "Lunch?"

Mizuki nodded. "Roast boar and spiced potatoes."

The woman smiled, her fangs showing. "Now you’re speaking my language."

Kōya stared at her as she marched eagerly toward the door.

*These people are utterly insane.*

But as everyone filed inside the warm house, Kōya lingered in the yard, his dark eyes remaining fixed on the backs of the two visitors.

*They’re both strong. Anomalously strong.*

His deep, paranoid suspicion violently returned.

*Why did Father bring two elite combatants to our hidden home?*

Lunch was, shockingly, surprisingly pleasant.

The Beastwoman ate with a terrifying, carnivorous enthusiasm that Kōya found incredibly difficult to understand, tearing through the roast boar as if she hadn’t eaten in weeks.

Professor Eldren was considerably more refined, cutting his meat into precise, calculated squares.

Seiya talked freely, sharing old, exaggerated academy stories and trading insults with the Beastwoman.

Mizuki occasionally laughed at inside jokes Kōya didn’t fully comprehend, pouring tea and keeping the chaotic table in check.

For a little while, sitting in the warm kitchen, Kōya almost forgot about his dark suspicion.

Almost.

He quietly watched Professor Eldren lift his porcelain cup.

His long, wrinkled fingers were perfectly steady. His internal mana barely fluctuated, remaining locked in a state of absolute, passive defense.

*Experienced. He’s anticipating an ambush even while drinking tea.*

Then, Kōya looked at the Beastwoman.

She was eating casually, laughing with her mouth full, but her tufted ears twitched and rotated with microscopic precision whenever anyone at the table spoke, tracking the exact location of every voice in the room.

Those ears...

Kōya remembered the deep forest. He remembered what it felt like to be hunted by the rogue demon. To sense lethal danger in the air long before physically seeing it.

This boisterous woman seemed to possess that same hyper-lethal awareness completely naturally.

*Could they know?*

The terrifying thought returned, freezing the blood in his veins.

*Could they have somehow discovered who I really am? Did that idiot Seiya accidentally leave a trail?*

His tiny grip tightened slightly around his wooden cup, the wood groaning softly under the pressure.

*Did that absolute fool somehow discover that the Supreme Demon Lord survived and is currently living inside his own son?*

Kōya shot a dark, lethal glare toward Seiya, who was currently laughing with his mouth full of potatoes.

*You wouldn’t be stupid enough to bring executioners here to expose your own son... would you, you damn fool?*

Seiya suddenly looked across the table directly at him, his golden eyes catching Kōya’s glare.

Kōya quickly looked away, staring intensely at his plate.

After lunch was cleared away, Seiya finally placed his empty cup down on the wood with a dull thud. The casual atmosphere in the room instantly evaporated.

"Well."

Everyone at the table looked toward him.

"I suppose it’s time to explain exactly why they’re here today."

Kōya straightened his spine, his hands resting on his knees, preparing for a fight.

Seiya smiled warmly at his son. "Kōya, I’ve arranged a highly exclusive place for you at the Royal Academy."

Kōya blinked, completely derailed. "...The academy?"

"Yes."

Seiya leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "I spoke with a very old friend of mine in the capital. He happens to be the principal there."

Professor Eldren nodded gracefully. "Your father has helped the academy, and the crown, many times during his active years as the Hero. We owe him a great debt."

Seiya waved his hand dismissively. "That makes it sound far more impressive than it actually was. I just cleared out a few basements."

Kōya looked fiercely between the two men. "And I’m supposed to just... attend this school? With human children?"

"That’s the idea," Seiya said proudly.

Kōya wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about it.

An academy.

New, irritating people.

New, modern magic theories.

New, highly exploitable opportunities.

But then, Seiya raised one calloused finger, his expression turning serious.

"There is a condition, however."

Kōya’s expression instantly sharpened. "What condition?"

Professor Eldren smiled, leaning forward over the table. "Which is precisely why we came all this way."

He stood up smoothly, adjusting his crimson robes.

"Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, and after that truly excellent lunch..." He bowed his head graciously toward Mizuki. "...which we thoroughly enjoyed."

Mizuki smiled politely. "I’m glad."

Eldren looked back toward Kōya, his eyes losing their grandfatherly warmth, replaced by the cold calculation of an examiner.

"We would like to see exactly how well you use your abilities in a live combat scenario."

Kōya slowly stood up, pushing his chair back.

Eldren continued, his voice echoing in the quiet room. "The Royal Academy is one of the most prestigious, ruthless institutions in the kingdom. Our students are trained rigorously in combat magic, weapons mastery, battlefield tactics, and advanced magical theory."

He tapped the base of his inscribed staff against the wooden floorboard. A faint ripple of mana spread through the room.

"Naturally, we cannot simply accept someone into our elite ranks purely because the legendary Hero recommends him. Nepotism breeds weakness."

Seiya raised a defensive eyebrow. "Hey."

Eldren laughed softly. "It is the truth, Seiya. Even the Hero’s own flesh and blood must prove himself worthy of the uniform."

Kōya looked silently toward the open window, gazing out at the wide, scarred training ground behind the house.

The professor followed his gaze, reading his mind.

"Do not worry, boy. We do not expect you to actually defeat me."

Eldren smiled condescendingly. "You’re still far too young for that."

Kōya remained dead silent, his dark eyes fixed on the yard.

"We simply want to see your raw potential," Eldren explained softly.

He raised his staff, the inscriptions glowing faintly.

"Your baseline power."

"Your emotional control."

"Your physical technique."

Then, the professor’s expression became distinctly predatory.

"And most importantly..."

He pointed the glowing tip of his staff toward the training ground.

"We need to see exactly how you react when things do not go according to your plan."

Kōya’s eyes narrowed into slits.

That specific sentence instantly reminded him of the dark forest. The rogue demon. The blood soaking into the moss. The lethal projectile that had nearly severed his head.

He had survived that encounter because he ruthlessly adapted. Not because he was overwhelmingly stronger.

Kōya nodded slowly, his face devoid of fear.

"I understand perfectly."

He turned toward the back door, intending to head to the training ground.

Before he could cross the threshold, Mizuki approached him quickly.

She smiled warmly and knelt down, gently straightening the collar of his tunic.

Kōya looked at her, confused by the delay. "Mother?"

Her fingers stopped moving.

She leaned closer, her lips brushing his ear. Her voice became barely audible, carrying a terrifying, absolute authority.

"Do *not* use that technique."

Kōya’s expression froze.

The demonic slash.

She was explicitly warning him not to reveal his dark mana to the academy examiners. If Eldren saw the blue flame, Kōya would be executed on the spot, not enrolled.

He gave the absolute smallest, imperceptible nod.

"I know."

Mizuki’s warm, motherly smile instantly returned. "Good."

She patted his chest, fixing his collar one last time. "Now go show them what you can do."

Kōya walked out into the sunlight toward Seiya.

His father was standing near a wooden weapon rack beside the house. Two freshly carved, perfectly balanced wooden swords rested there.

Seiya picked one up and tossed it to him. "I made these yesterday. Specifically for this."

Kōya caught it out of the air.

He tested the grip. The weight was excellent. Balanced perfectly for his short reach. Familiar.

He smiled faintly, a genuine expression of approval. "Thank you."

Seiya nodded, crossing his arms. "Don’t break this one. It took me three hours to sand."

Kōya looked up at him, his eyes flashing. "I make no promises."

Seiya laughed, stepping back to give them space.

Kōya stepped out into the absolute center of the clearing.

The training ground behind the house was enormous. The green grass had been worn down to bare dirt in wide circles from months of relentless, brutal practice.

The massive oak trees along the edge of the property carried dozens of deep, violent scars. Broken, splintered branches lay scattered near the forest line.

The family had always casually blamed the destructive marks on wandering monsters.

Kōya knew much better. He had made almost all of them himself during his secret, demonic training sessions.

Professor Eldren walked slowly to the exact opposite side of the clearing, his robes billowing slightly in the wind.

The Beastwoman remained behind on the porch, leaning against the rail. She was currently eating an apple she had stolen from the kitchen.

She took a loud bite and looked directly at Kōya.

"Don’t embarrass yourself, Little—"

She suddenly stopped speaking.

Kōya was staring at her. The look in his dark eyes was so ancient, so utterly devoid of childhood innocence, that her combat instincts flared, the hair on her arms standing up.

She forced a cocky smile, chewing slowly. "...Nothing."

Kōya narrowed his eyes and turned away from her, dismissing her as a non-threat.

Professor Eldren raised his heavy staff, planting it firmly in the dirt. "Ready?"

Kōya raised his wooden sword, sinking into a flawless, textbook defensive stance. "Ready."

Eldren smiled, a spark of genuine excitement in his eyes.

"Then let us begin."

He lifted his staff effortlessly with one hand.

"Fireball."

A condensed, roaring sphere of bright orange flame shot from the tip of the staff, tearing across the yard directly toward Kōya’s chest.

Kōya moved instantly.

He didn’t retreat. He didn’t dodge.

He stepped aggressively *into* the attack, violently turning his wooden sword at the precise angle of impact.

**WHOOOM!**

The roaring fireball was flawlessly deflected, driven directly into the dirt at his feet.

Flames scattered harmlessly across the grass, dying out in seconds.

Professor Eldren’s bushy eyebrows rose in genuine surprise. "Interesting."

Kōya reset his stance instantly, his breathing perfectly steady.

Eldren smiled, adjusting his grip on the staff. "You definitely have some potential, boy."

He glanced over his shoulder toward Seiya, who was leaning against the porch. "Perhaps it comes naturally from your father’s bloodline."

Seiya grinned proudly. "Obviously."

Kōya ignored the Hero completely, his eyes locked on the mage.

Eldren raised his staff again, aiming higher this time. "Let’s see exactly how you deal with this, then."

Four massive fireballs appeared in the air simultaneously.

Then five.

They began rapidly circling one another, a chaotic orbit of heat and light. Their flames twisted together, superheating the air in the yard.

The individual spheres merged violently into one enormous, roaring ball of condensed fire. It hung ominously in the air above Eldren like a miniature, angry sun, radiating intense heat.

Kōya stared up at it, his grip tightening on his wooden hilt.

That’s significantly powerful. A Tier-3 compression spell.

Eldren thrust his staff forward with a shout.

The massive fireball exploded mid-air, fracturing into dozens of blazing, high-speed projectiles that rained down like artillery fire.

Kōya ran.

Flames tore through the clearing, scorching the earth where he had just been standing.

He ducked smoothly beneath one projectile, feeling the heat singe his hair.

Another roared just inches over his head.

He aggressively turned his wooden sword, violently deflecting a third strike into a nearby tree trunk, which instantly caught fire.

Eldren rotated smoothly on his heel, tracking the boy’s movements perfectly, maintaining the exact distance required for optimal casting.

Kōya sharply changed direction, sprinting in a zig-zag pattern.

Eldren followed effortlessly.

Flames struck the ground continuously right behind Kōya’s heels, exploding clumps of dirt into the air.

Kōya sprinted faster, pushing his small legs to their absolute physical limit.

Then, one erratic projectile clipped his side.

THUD!

The kinetic force of the spell picked Kōya up off his feet. He flew sideways through the air.

He crashed into the grass, rolling violently across the dirt to disperse the momentum.

For a terrifying moment, he didn’t move.

Then, his small palm struck the ground hard.

He violently pushed himself up. Using the momentum, his body flipped backward, creating distance.

He landed perfectly on his feet in a crouch, his sword raised, coughing through the smoke.

On the porch, the Beastwoman’s golden eyes sharpened in deep appreciation.

Incredible recovery for a child.

Kōya breathed heavily, wiping soot from his cheek.

His grip tightened furiously on his wooden sword.

A faint, ghostly purple aura—a heavily suppressed manifestation of his demonic mana—began creeping slowly across the grain of the wooden blade.

Professor Eldren noticed the unnatural light immediately.

"A spell?" Eldren asked, intrigued.

Kōya didn’t answer.

He rushed forward, closing the distance with terrifying, explosive speed.

Eldren raised his staff horizontally to block, surprised by the boy’s sheer velocity.

BOOM!

Their weapons collided with the force of a thunderclap.

The impact was immense. Professor Eldren, a fully grown combat mage, was physically pushed backward several steps, his boots sliding in the dirt.

Eldren’s eyes widened in sheer shock. What kind of physical strength is this?

Kōya didn’t hesitate. He swung again, a vicious, upward arc.

A dark, compressed crescent of kinetic force tore through the air from the wooden blade.

Eldren, reacting purely on veteran instinct, slammed his staff down and raised a thick, roaring wall of solid flame.

The dark slash struck the fire wall.

BOOM!

A massive explosion of steam, smoke, and displaced air filled the center of the clearing, blinding everyone.

Eldren peered through the thick gray smoke, coughing slightly.

A ranged slash... from a wooden sword?

On the other side of the smoke, Kōya stood perfectly still, staring at the enormous, residual fireball still hovering high behind Eldren, acting as a secondary light source.

Kōya’s breathing slowed. His ancient tactical mind raced.

I can’t attack him directly. His defensive casting speed is too high. His barrier is absolute.

His dark eyes darted rapidly across the battlefield.

Professor. Fireball. Scared Trees. Ground composition. Distance.

Deep inside his chest, his demonic mana surged violently, demanding to be unleashed. He wanted to summon the blue flames. He wanted to burn the mage to ash.

But he vividly remembered Mizuki’s terrifying whisper.

He violently suppressed the dark mana, forcing it back down into his core until his chest ached.

Raw power isn’t enough. I have to use the environment.

He started running again, sprinting toward the perimeter of the yard.

Eldren frowned, tracking him through the smoke. "Running away?"

Another massive wave of concentrated fire followed Kōya, tearing up the grass.

Kōya reached the edge of the forest. He planted his boot firmly against the scarred trunk of a massive oak tree.

BOOM!

Using the tree as a springboard, he launched himself violently sideways through the air.

The wave of flame missed him completely, incinerating the spot where he had just been.

He landed heavily on the thick branch of another tree.

Then leaped to another.

He used the absolute edge of the forest as a rapid series of elevated platforms, moving faster than Eldren could track.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Professor Eldren finally looked upward, realizing his mistake.

Kōya was directly above him, silhouetted against the sun.

His wooden sword glowed with that strange, faint purple aura, saturated with kinetic force.

Kōya violently twisted his small body in mid-air to maximize torque.

Then, he descended like a meteor.

SLASH!

He didn’t aim for the professor. He aimed perfectly for the massive, condensed fireball hovering above the mage’s head.

The wooden sword, reinforced by sheer willpower, struck the core of the spell.

The enormous fireball perfectly split in two.

For one agonizing, terrifying second, absolutely everything in the clearing became dead silent. The physics of the spell broke.

Then, the destabilized fireball catastrophically exploded.

BOOOOOOM!

A massive shockwave of concussive force and fire ripped through the yard.

Kōya was violently thrown backward by the blast, flying through the air like a ragdoll.

He crashed heavily into the trunk of a tree, sliding down into the dirt, groaning in pain.

When the smoke finally cleared, Professor Eldren was still standing in the center of the yard, perfectly protected by a glowing, spherical barrier of pure mana.

However, his ornate, wide-brimmed academic hat had been caught by the absolute edge of the explosion.

Eldren slowly reached up and removed the hat.

A large portion of the expensive brim had been completely burned away, leaving a smoking, charred edge.

Eldren stared at the ruined hat for a long moment.

Then, he looked across the yard at the bruised, panting boy sitting in the dirt.

"...I genuinely liked this hat," Eldren muttered, his tone entirely deadpan.

On the porch, Seiya burst into loud, uncontrollable laughter, clutching his stomach.

Kōya groaned, using his wooden sword to slowly push himself up to his feet, refusing to stay down.

Professor Eldren sighed and raised his staff.

A powerful, controlled wind swept through the clearing, blowing away the remaining leaves, smoke, and dust, restoring visibility.

Then, the professor casually used a basic levitation spell.

Kōya suddenly rose three feet off the ground, his legs kicking uselessly in the air.

"What?" Kōya demanded, gripping his sword.

He floated helplessly across the yard, pulled magnetically toward the professor.

Eldren lowered him gently back onto his feet directly in front of him.

The tall mage leaned down, studying the boy with intense, analytical eyes.

"That slash... that wasn’t ordinary, atmospheric magic," Eldren stated softly, for Kōya’s ears only.

Kōya remained utterly silent, his face a mask of stone.

Eldren looked down at the battered, smoking wooden sword still gripped in the boy’s hands.

"And the specific energy signature you used to reinforce the wood..."

The professor paused, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

"It reminds me of something very old. Very dark."

Kōya’s heart tightened painfully in his chest.

He knows? He recognizes the demonic frequency?

Eldren continued, rubbing his bearded chin. "But I have never, in all my years of teaching, seen anyone your age manipulate that kind of raw kinetic energy in such a volatile way."

Kōya watched him carefully, not daring to breathe.

Then, Eldren smiled, a genuine, impressed expression.

"Whatever your unique affinity is, boy, it is highly unusual. And exceptionally dangerous."

He slowly lowered his heavy staff, the glowing runes fading to dull wood.

"But you have demonstrated more than enough today."

Kōya blinked, confused by the sudden end to the combat. "Enough?"

Professor Eldren nodded firmly.

"You’ve passed the assessment. Welcome to the Royal Academy."

For the very first time since the brutal test began, Kōya let out a long breath and physically relaxed, lowering his wooden sword. He had done it. He had secured a path to power without exposing his true identity.

Behind him, however, on the shadowed porch...

The Beastwoman had completely stopped eating her apple.

She was standing perfectly still, staring directly at the back of Kōya’s head.

And there was something very, very different in her golden feline eyes now.

It wasn’t amusement anymore.

It wasn’t casual curiosity.

It was intense, predatory interest.

She slowly, silently stood up from the railing, letting the half-eaten apple drop to the wooden floorboards.

Sensing the shift in killing intent, Kōya turned around.

She smiled, revealing her sharp fangs.

"Well, well..."

Her tufted ears twitched, locking onto him.

"I have excellent hearing, little boy. I’ve heard absolutely everything you’ve muttered to yourself out there in those woods."

Kōya completely froze, the blood draining from his face.

She took one slow, deliberate step toward him, descending the porch stairs.

"You have nowhere to hide now."

Her smile widened into something terrifying and ancient.

"And nowhere left to run."

Kōya’s expression hardened into pure, demonic fury, his grip tightening around his sword.

The woman stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

For the first time, she properly introduced herself.

"My name is Kaela Veyrin."

Her golden feline eyes narrowed.

"Remember it, little boy."

Kōya stared at her.

Kaela Veyrin...

He had no idea yet that the woman standing before him would become one of the most important teachers of his new life.

Kaela smiled.

"Now come on."

She reached for the sword at her waist.

"Show me what you’re really hiding."