Chapter 40: Ashes of Arkadia


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    The battle was over.


    The Void Rift had collapsed.


    And somehow, I had a new, ridiculously powerful baby monster latched onto my shoulder, purring like it didn’t just erase a Void General from existence.


    I should’ve been relieved.


    But something felt wrong.


    Deep in my gut, an instinct clawed at me.


    Get back. Now.


    I turned to the others. "We need to return to Arkadia. Immediately."


    No one argued.


    And the moment we arrived—


    We understood why.


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    The Fall of the Academy


    Arkadia Academy was supposed to be impenetrable.


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    A fortress of learning. A sanctuary for the strongest hunters.


    Now?


    It was burning.


    Smoke curled into the sky, blackened ruins where grand halls once stood.


    Shattered walls, collapsed towers, the once-powerful barriers now flickering, broken.


    And worst of all—


    No bodies.


    No survivors.


    Just silence.


    Emilia gasped. "No… no, no, no."


    Iris clenched her fists. "What the hell happened here?!"


    Noctis hissed. "This wasn’t a battle. This was a message."


    I stepped forward, my teeth grinding.


    And then—


    I saw it.


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    The Mark of the Enemy


    A single banner, impaled into the academy’s shattered courtyard.


    Dark fabric, stitched with a twisting sigil—something unnatural, something wrong.


    Not Void.


    Something else.


    And beneath it—


    A single, blood-scrawled phrase.


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    "The Forge Must Be Broken."


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    I stared at the words, my pulse pounding.


    The enemy had attacked while we were gone.


    And they weren’t after Arkadia.


    They were after me.


    The tiny eldritch beast on my shoulder growled, sensing my fury.


    Umbra’s voice rumbled in my mind. "Shall we hunt, Master?"


    I exhaled slowly.


    Then lifted Eclipse Fang, my eyes burning.


    "They took our home."


    I turned to the others.


    "Let’s take everything from them."


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