C297: Sera’s ResolveKnock!Knock!Ryan stirred awake, his eyelids heavy with the remnants of sleep, the sound pulling him out of the liminal space between dreams and consciousness. His gaze drifted toward the bed beside him, finding Chaollete still curled under the blankets, chest rising and falling in slow, steady breaths.With a soft exhale, Ryan swung his legs over the side of the bed, the wooden floor cool beneath his feet, and moved toward the door. As his hand met the doorknob and twisted, a figure stood framed in the threshold: Sera.She was clad in a white gown that hung loosely around her frame, the fabric faintly catching the dim morning light, giving her an ethereal glow that contrasted sharply with the sharp, almost unnatural redness lingering in her eyes. Sleep had eluded her, leaving her gaze resolute, and though her expression was calm, every line of her body radiated intent.Ryan’s eyes flicked to Chaol

Chapter 300: Bound by Challenge “I’m talking about facing my granddaughter, Noelle, in the Summoners War right before her graduation,” Sullivan’s voice carried the weight of command and expectation, firm yet tinged with the faintest trace of pride, as if he were outlining a ritual that had been long foretold, something meant to shape not just the outcome of a duel but the trajectory of his family’s legacy. Ryan’s eyebrows knitted together as he tried to process the magnitude of the request. “Facing Noelle before her graduation?” he repeated, the incredulity in his voice undeniable, each word steeped in disbelief. “Are you serious? You do understand the gap in our strength, right? Do you realize how vast the difference between her and me truly is?” Sullivan inclined his head slightly, a gesture that was calm, deliberate, and yet somehow unnerving. “Yes, I am serious,” he replied with an almost clinical precision, as if the consideration of risk had already been calculated and dismis

C302: The Dioki DilemmaBefore heading back to the villa, Ryan didn’t bother wasting time with the others, and instead returned straight to his own room like a man who had already decided the next few weeks were going to be absolute hell.The door shut behind him with a clean, heavy click, and the sound alone made the room feel smaller.Quieter.More dangerous.Ryan exhaled slowly, rolled his shoulders once, then raised his hand as Dioki began to stir inside his veins, not like warm mana, but like an ancient current of cold starlight slithering through bone and marrow.The air in the room shifted.The temperature dipped.The walls almost seemed to tighten.Then he summoned them.A pulse of Dioki surged outward like an invisible tide.Whoosh.The space rippled, and the first to emerge was Sphinx, landing with a heavy presence, his paw pressing down on the floor like he was mark

C304: Ashes of Plan CThe moment Ryan’s question left his mouth, the air inside the room seemed to change.Not because of some dramatic pause, not because of suspense, but because the old man sitting at the head of the table did not answer with words.He answered with pressure.Dioki erupted from his body like a floodgate breaking, invisible at first, then suddenly thick enough that it felt like the entire world had been dunked into deep water. The candles lining the stone walls flickered violently, their flames bending sideways as if terrified. Even the fabric banners hanging from the ceiling fluttered like they were being strangled by an unseen hand.It was not heat.It was not wind.It was domination.The kind of Dioki that did not need a spell or a chant, because it was already a statement, a threat, and a punishment all in one.The men and women around the table stiffened, their breathing

C306: Whispers Before the Fourth GateThe night inside Frexia Academy felt strangely quiet, the kind of quiet that did not come from peace, but from exhaustion, the type that crawled into your bones after too many days of training, too many near death fights, and too many moments where you realized the world would gladly chew you up if you ever slowed down.The air was cold, but not naturally cold, it was cold in the way Dioki always made things cold when it gathered in the atmosphere, as if the energy itself carried an ancient frost that belonged to another age.Ryan leaned back on the chair, arms crossed, eyes half narrowed as if he were staring at an invisible battlefield floating in front of him, and in his mind he was already sorting through names like a man counting bullets before a war.Sera sat nearby, fidgeting like she was trying to stay calm but failing miserably, because no matter how much she tried to act tough, the idea of summoning a new demon still felt like gambling w