Drakemount Academy stirred with electric anticipation. The towering halls buzzed with banners and visiting students from allied academies. This was the Inter-Academy Summit — a time when knowledge, magic, and strength were shared, but more often tested.

  In one of the sprawling observatories converted into a preparation chamber, Kagami leaned against a marble pilr, arms folded, his dark eyes watching the others from his squad as they prepared. At his side stood Arven Vale, pale green eyes behind crystalline lenses flicking through a mana-scroll filled with magical schematics. His ash-gray hair was messily tied back, a sure sign he hadn't slept much.

  “Another mana-fusion trap array?” Kagami asked with a half-smile.

  “Improved version,” Arven replied dryly. “Based on your st ‘overload incident.’ You're welcome, by the way.”

  Kagami chuckled. He appreciated Arven’s support, even if the boy never stopped thinking in schematics and diagrams. The two had grown close over the years, ever since their bunkroom days — Kagami often training in silence while Arven muttered incantations in his sleep.

  A sudden hush fell as Seraphina Duskvale entered.

  Cd in ceremonial crimson and silver robes, her aura fred with tent power. A high-ranking student and the official President of Drakemount Academy, Seraphina was renowned for her Quadraelemental Affinity — thunder, wind, earth, and fire — a terrifying combination even among faculty.

  Her sharp violet eyes locked onto Kagami. “Try not to fall behind today, will you, kid?”

  Kagami’s brow twitched, then rexed into a smirk. “Three years, and you still use the same provocation.”

  “Three years, and you still haven’t surpassed me,” she replied smoothly, stepping past him.

  Their rivalry had burned ever since Kagami enrolled at age six. Seraphina, already one of the top students at the time, saw his arrival — with strange chakra-like control and unusual mana — as both a curiosity and a challenge. Kagami, naturally defiant and driven, refused to bow before her reputation.

  “Still counting ranks, Sera?” he called after her. “Maybe I’ll win the summit and give you my autograph.”

  “You can try.” She didn’t even turn around.

  Arven nudged Kagami, deadpan. “Do you flirt with all your rivals or just her?”

  “She started it,” Kagami muttered.

  Later that afternoon, the Inter-Academy Summit began in the Grand Atrium. Headmaster Maeron Elowen Thalore, regal in her glistening Elemental Convergence robes, stood beside visiting officials. Her eyes swept across the rising generation with quiet intensity.

  As students from foreign academies entered, murmurs filled the air. Names, reputations, challenges.

  But Kagami’s focus was already set.

  This was no longer just about magic. The dark mage group loomed beyond the academy walls, and every rival, every ally, every duel could shape the war to come.

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