"...and then we survived that tournament only because Silarias sacrificed his life. But he pulled through because of heritage," Apollo spoke with a deep, trembling resonance lacing his voice. He let a heavy, weighted silence hang over the space. Not a single word was wasted on what that heritage entailed. The forgotten bloodlines, the raw origins... it all remained shrouded in cold mystery, exactly as it belonged. "Bottom line, he and his cousin return. And his cousin is completely insane. Then we got selected for GO..."
Athena cut him off clean. Her sharp, ice blue eyes broke away from Apollo, fixing directly on the entire group. The magical purple glow flowing up from the deepest vaults cast sharp shadows across her face, accentuating the deep scars etched into her armor.
"Mmm... so you found what you always wanted, didn't you?" she spoke with a cold, quiet undertone that blew away the last traces of noise on the stone floor in a single breath. "How does it feel... being completely away from Dad? He still nags me constantly with his ravens and what not."
Apollo froze for a fraction of a second. His eyes narrowed, but within a heartbeat, he recovered. He gave a quick shrug, plastered a crooked, meaningless smirk across his face, and stared straight at the far side of the room.
"You know him," Apollo muttered curtly.
The conversation died on the spot. The underlying tension between the two royal bloodlines was almost tangible in the frigid cellar air.
Athena spun on her heel, her heavy, battle scarred mantle billowing from the sudden draft.
"Keep up," she instructed Apollo and the Goats with a sharp, commanding hand gesture.
She led the group deeper into the subterranean fortress. Step by step, they descended a wide, steep marble staircase. With every meter they dropped, the sound of churning machinery and the hushed chatter of analysts grew louder. Finally, they arrived at the absolute heart of the Ciphers: a colossal, elevated stone disc upon which a titanic, mesmerizing frequency map was engraved.
Purple, blue, and golden streamlines pulsed in a steady, rhythmic cadence through the deep marble, as if the stone itself were breathing. The map displayed not only the contours of the academy, but also the surrounding mountain ranges and border territories.
"This is what we do," Athena explained. She stepped to the ledge and rested her broad, muscular hand flat on the stone rim. The instant her skin made contact, the engraved lines flared brighter. "We gather, filter, and verify all hidden intelligence in this academy. And not just here, but every danger lurking out there in the shadows as well. Nothing escapes the Ciphers. No whispers in the corridors, no unusual energy ripples on the grounds."
Voltus and Humos stepped forward from the shadows. Voltus, a scrawny boy with bright, twitchy eyes, manipulated a series of floating crystals with rapid finger movements. Humos, a broad, silent figure, exhaled a thick, smoky mist across the central section of the map with a deep breath.
"Look here," Humos grunted in a low, raspy voice, pointing a calloused finger toward the edge of the map. The mist coalesced at that exact spot into a miniature depiction of a massive university.
"The Thung Zu university," Voltus added, his voice sharp and rushed with tension. "Their magical spy beetles are feeding off our outer borders. Look at these specific deflection waves. They are systematically testing the academy's barrier. Pulse by pulse. Wave by wave. Searching for a weak point to break through."
The calm purple frequencies on the map suddenly began to shudder. Small, brilliant red shockwaves flashed across the stone like an alarm echoing through the hall.
Silarias took a slow step forward. His dark eyes mirrored the red, pulsing light. The mental image of the unstable barrier cut through his thoughts. The chaotic battles of the past few hours, the threats looming from every side... it all converged. He felt in every nerve that waiting passively was a death sentence. They needed power. Their own structure. An unshakeable block of authority.
In the deepest depths of his consciousness, the name of the organization he wanted to found took shape: Order of the Unnamed.
The atmospheric pressure around Silarias shifted instantly. A heavy, almost suffocating weight seeped outward from his body. Nyx, Aurelius, Lila, and Faustus immediately picked up on the sudden shift in his aura. They exchanged brief, bewildered glances.
Silarias did not look back. His voice sounded cold, deep, and razor sharp as he broke the silence: "For those few hours we have seen out there... I already know we need to grow stronger. We have to protect everyone. And we need to know everything. I see no better option than this."
Nicola, standing at an angle behind him, stared straight at Silarias' broad back. A razor sharp, proud smile slowly curled across his face. He gave a single, very slow nod. It stunned him how outrageously far ahead Silarias was thinking, while most were still processing their first impressions.
Athena stared at Silarias. Her golden eyes widened in sheer surprise. She stood motionless for a second, then suddenly burst into a loud, booming laugh. The sound clattered loudly against the high stone vaults of the hall.
"Hahaa! That may be true, but there are strict restrictions on what makes a squad a real squad!" she said, crossing her heavy arms tightly as she paced a slow, calculating circle around Silarias. "Factions at this academy need actual objectives. They need a fixed, physical location. You have to find a painting, a secret chamber, or an ancient space to establish yourselves. The Order chooses you, kid. Not the other way around."
Silarias clenched his fists invisibly inside his pockets. That name... The Unnamed... doesn't just have a ring to it, he thought to himself. This is not a coincidence. It is a calling. But he did not let his expression flicker, speaking the thought aloud with a cold edge.
"Mmm... you are probably right," Silarias said shortly. "I need to think about this. I will get back to you."
Without waiting for further responses, Silarias turned on his heel and walked out of the hall with a rigid, unbothered stride. The rest of the Goats fell into formation behind him in one seamless motion.
As they walked through the echoing, dark corridors toward the exit, Nyx quickened her pace. Her light boots tapped swiftly against the stone until she was matching him step for step. She tilted her head toward him, her voice low and laced with suspicion.
"What is it, Sil?" she whispered. "You have that look again."
Silarias' sharp glare did not waver. He kept staring straight ahead into the darkness of the hallway.
There is too much we do not know, he thought bitterly to himself. And if we all stay together...
They reached the familiar zone of the Goats. The heavy, grotesque stone door loomed ahead. With a deep, grinding groan, the massive stone parted. They passed through the opening, walking past the flower strewn breach in the wall where the raw scent of iron and ancient earth still lingered. With a heavy, dull thud, the darkness of the hallway sealed behind them.
Out on the central courtyard, the evening air hung pregnant with tension. Davinci and Solomon stood shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the plaza, deep in conversation regarding the realignment of the new intake.
"Ahh, there they are... right," Davinci said in his deep, creaking voice. He shifted his massive, oak staff and turned his gaze toward the approaching group.
Silarias and the others walked up in a wide, impressive formation. The atmosphere among them was strangely charged. They traded quick glances, their expressions suggesting they had just secretly pulled off something that could not bear the light of day.
Solomon took an imposing step forward. His sheer presence alone forced the entire group to a dead stop.
"Your class... is magnificent," Solomon began, his heavy, authoritative voice carrying effortlessly across the stone courtyard. "Strong. And gigantically strong in numbers. But pure numbers do not make an efficient army. Regrettably, we must split the class into three strategic units: G1, G2, and G3."
He let a long silence fall. His sharp gaze swept past every face in the group.
"The designated pairs are as follows," Solomon continued in a matter of fact, unyielding tone. "Aurelius and Jane. Nicola and Lyn. Apollo and Beat. Ren and Miki. Balamore and Izamaro. Vulkan and Valeria. Zax and Bonk. Renuardo and Faustus. Lila and Kaelid, recently paired... and not to forget: Silarias and Nyx. From these pairs, we will forge three separate groups."
Solomon was about to list the exact distribution for each unit, but Silarias did not let him finish the sentence. He took a fast, resolute step forward. His glare was fixed and fearless upon the two masters.
"Sure. What must be done, must be done," Silarias interrupted directly. "But we want to start our own squad."
Solomon froze on the spot. His eyes widened in absolute shock. He looked sideways at Davinci. Davinci's wrinkled, ancient face split completely open, his eyes glowing with pure, intense curiosity.
"A squad? ...What kind of squad?" Solomon and Davinci asked almost in exact unison.
Silarias' rigid posture hesitated for a brief second. He looked Solomon dead in the eye and opened his mouth to explain the name echoing through his mind, but his voice stalled. The massive weight behind those words could not easily be translated into a simple explanation. He could not find the right words.
Nicola caught the hesitation immediately. Without a shred of doubt, he stepped up directly alongside Silarias and took the floor to cover his leader.
"What Silarias meant to say," Nicola spoke in a clear, powerful, and persuasive voice, "is that we want to bear the name Order of the Unnamed. He wanted that name because it gives us the exact objective we need. For us, it is the fastest path to growing stronger. And the Ciphers just came forward themselves to form an alliance with us for intelligence."
BAM!
Davinci slammed the base of his massive wooden staff onto the stones of the courtyard with a thunderous impact. The deep cracks in the stone briefly ignited in a brilliant golden glow. Solomon nearly jumped out of his skin from the shock.
"BRILLIANT!!" Davinci roared with a raw, booming laugh that echoed across the entire courtyard.
Solomon quickly recovered, adjusting his spectacles with a trembling finger, staring at Silarias with extreme intensity. "But that name... Silarias. How in God's name did you arrive at that specific name?"
Silarias offered no answer, his jaw locked tight. He could not even explain it to himself. It was not a calculated strategy; it was an ancient urge surging subconsciously from the absolute bottom of his soul.
Davinci and Solomon exchanged a look. A slow, deep glance of unspoken knowledge passed between the two old masters. A look that said more than a thousand words. Both began to chuckle softly. Without wasting another word on Silarias or the group, the two turned around and walked toward the main gates of the courtyard.
Halfway there, Solomon stopped beside a heavy, oak table standing at the edge of the plaza. With a dull, definitive thud, he slammed a massive, gold embossed hourglass onto the wood. The black, magical sand at the top immediately began its steady flow downward.
"YOU HAVE EXACTLY TWO DAYS!" Solomon shouted over his shoulder, his voice echoing heavily against the high academy walls. "TWO DAYS TO CONVINCE US! GIVE IT YOUR ALL!"
With a gust of swirling wind and a flash of light, the two masters vanished into thin air without a trace, leaving only a light cloud of dust on the stone.
Total silence held over the courtyard for two full seconds. Nobody moved.
"Yep! And those two are out of sight!" Izamaru suddenly yelled, interlocking his hands lazily behind his head.
The courtyard erupted immediately. Cheers, loud laughter, and boisterous celebrations surged through the entire group of Goats. They clapped each other on the shoulders, roared with joy, and celebrated the freedom they had just secured.
"But... is not that way too much work?!" Miki and Ren suddenly screamed in high, childishly panicked unison through the cheering.
The atmosphere on the plaza flipped a hundred and eighty degrees in a single microsecond. The laughter died instantly. Reality crashed down like a sledgehammer. Everyone froze. Eyes went wide. Arms that had just been draped over shoulders slowly slid down.
Damn it. How in God's name are we going to do this? Where are we setting up? We do not even have a room!
"Mmm... Sil," Kaelid's modest, slightly raspy voice sounded from the rear of the group. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I... well, I might have a place worthy of the Goats for meetings. Haha."
He glanced around quickly and timidly. "To be honest, it is still just a rough draft, it does not amount to much yet..."
"What did we say?" Lila cut him off in an ice cold, bone dry tone. She did not even look at him as she walked past with her arms crossed. "It is beautiful, do not act so modest."
Kaelid stood frozen for a split second, his mouth wide open, staring at her back. His eyes were wide as he practically drooled in broad daylight at her words. He shook his head violently, turning bright red as he quickly fell into step.
"This way!" Kaelid called out in an exaggeratedly masculine voice.
He guided the entire crowd toward the absolute rear of the grounds, deep behind the domain of the Goated Outcasts. There, a single, heavily enchanted torch hung from a weathered, ancient cliff face. Kaelid pressed his hand against a seemingly solid stone and pushed. With a deep, low rumble, the rock wall split open, revealing a hidden labyrinth of winding, descending paths.
They descended dozens of meters into the depths. The stale, warm air of the surface world gradually yielded to a fresh, magical current rushing through the stone tunnels. The deeper they dropped, the more gorgeous and intense the illumination became.
When they rounded the final sharp turn, the breath left every single person in the group.
The path did not merely end in a subterranean cave, but atop a carved cliff overlooking a visually breathtaking sanctuary. Kaelid had not simply renovated the terrain; he had obeyed nature and bent it to his will.
Beneath them stretched a titanic, sunken amphitheater that appeared to float upon a bed of living, golden green moss and glowing ferns. Instead of a cold stone pit, the heart of the space was formed by a deep, circular ravine bed. Within it flared no ordinary flames, but a colossal, spiraling sea of hell blue and golden magical fire, dancing upward without smoke to illuminate the giant stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
Winding around this blazing core was a massive round table carved from a single piece of pitch black obsidian. The surface of the obsidian was polished to such a high sheen that it reflected the blue flames like a frozen ocean. Etched into the stone of the table were shimmering runes and detailed maps, inlaid with liquid, glowing silver that moved in pulsing sync with the heartbeat of the flames.
Flanking the edges of the obsidian were heavy, throne like benches, hollowed out from the raw rock and upholstered with the deep black hides of magical beasts. Directly behind the seating, the space transformed into an overgrown, botanical wilderness. Giant, ancient trees with glowing purple leaves rooted themselves deep into the stone walls. Swarms of thousands of golden fireflies and floating, ethereal light orbs flowed like a liquid river of light through the branches, creating a spellbinding contrast against the dark shadows of the cliff walls. Cascading down the walls were small waterfalls tumbling into illuminated, crystal clear basins, carrying a soothing, echoing murmur through the hall.
This was no simple meeting space. This was a majestic, unshakeable headquarters. A synthesis of a royal war council, a forgotten sanctuary, and a tactical command center.
Silarias and Aurelius remained glued to the edge of the cliff. Their eyes took in every insane detail.
"You have truly... outdone yourselves," Silarias muttered, his voice thick with deep respect. Aurelius gave a firm nod beside him, completely speechless for the first time in memory at the sheer scale of what he was witnessing.
In the background, Miki and Ren could be heard sprinting down the stone steps like wild children. "Ooh! Look at that black stone! Look at those floating lights! It is like a dream world!" they squealed in awe, running along the perimeter of the obsidian table and reaching for the floating light orbs.
Kaelid stepped onto the platform of the obsidian table with a proud, confident stride. He turned to face the ledge, looked up at the group, and spread his arms wide.
"Follow me. Take your seats, every Goat present..." Kaelid spoke, his voice echoing through the massive cavern, heavy and charged with authority. "We need to have a serious talk."
The exact moment the feet of the Goats crossed the threshold of the amphitheater, the magical pressure across the entire hall shifted. The torches along the high cliff walls flared wilder and brighter with a sharp crack. The hell blue fire in the central trench shot meters into the air, casting dancing, towering shadows against the imposing stone walls.