Alvian pointed at the screen.

"The Syndicate," Alvian said, his voice dropping to a dangerous low. "They realized they couldn't win with a soldier."

"So what are they doing?" Valeria asked, stepping up beside him.

"They're flipping the table," Alvian said. "They're trying to crash the island."

He turned to the exit.

"Subject Zero was a distraction. The real bomb is still ticking."

He looked at his new dagger.

"Let's go cut the wire."

The message on the Genesis Forge console pulsed with a rhythmic, ominous red light.

[Alert: Core Destabilization Imminent.]

[Time to Critical Failure: 48 Hours.]

Alvian stared at the countdown. Forty-eight hours. Two days before the floating island of Overlords Academy, home to fifty thousand students and the last bastion of humanity's future, fell out of the sky.

"Sabotage," Alvian stated, his voice devoid of panic but heavy with intent. "They're overloading the mana reactor that keeps us afloat."

Seraphina moved to the console, her fingers flying across the holographic keys. Her mechanical eye whirred, scanning the data streams.

"This code... it's ancient," she muttered. "It's bypassing the modern security protocols. It's injecting raw chaos mana directly into the levitation matrix. If this continues, the anti-gravity field will invert. We won't just fall; we'll be crushed."

Valeria slammed her fist into her palm. "The Vice-Headmaster is in jail. Who is doing this?"

"The Syndicate is a hydra," Alvian said, turning away from the screen. "We cut off the head, but the nervous system is still firing. They have a failsafe."

He walked toward the exit of the Forge.

"Where is the Deep Core?" Alvian asked.

"It's below the Undercroft," Seraphina replied, pulling up a schematic. "Below the Blind Spot. It's the physical heart of the island. But Alvian, it's sealed. Only the Founders had access. Even Rogge couldn't get down there."

"I have a key that opens anything," Alvian said, patting the [Voidpiercer] at his hip. "Or rather, a knife that cuts through the 'Impossible'."

"We need a plan," Valeria said. "We can't just march down there. If they're sabotaging the Core, it's going to be guarded by things worse than Chimeras."

"Agreed," Alvian stopped. "We need intel. Seraphina, can your Watchers scan the lower levels?"

"I can try," Seraphina said. "But the interference is high. I'll need to get close to the access shaft."

"Do it," Alvian ordered. "Valeria, gather your Vanguard elites. But tell them it's a drill. We don't want mass panic. If the students know the island is falling, the chaos will do the Syndicate's job for them."

"Understood," Valeria nodded. "I'll have a strike team ready in an hour."

"And you?" Seraphina asked.

"I'm going to pay a visit to our friend in the dungeon," Alvian said coldly. "The Vice-Headmaster. He knows the access codes. He just needs a little... persuasion."

The Academy Prison was a fortress of silence. Located in a separate floating spire, it was guarded by Golems and high-level Wardens.

Alvian didn't sneak in. He walked to the front gate.

"Stop!" The Warden shouted. "Restricted area!"

Alvian held up his [Godslayer] title badge. The golden light made the Warden squint.

"I'm here to interrogate the prisoner," Alvian said. "Headmaster's orders."

It was a lie, but with 20 Charisma from the [Hero of Silverwood] title, it sounded like gospel.

The Warden hesitated, then opened the gate. "Five minutes. He's in isolation."

Alvian walked down the sterile white hallway to Cell Block A.

Inside a glass box suspended over a void, the former Vice-Headmaster sat. He was stripped of his robes, wearing simple grey prisoner garb. He looked broken.

Alvian stepped up to the glass.

"Hello, traitor," Alvian said.

The Vice-Headmaster looked up. His eyes were hollow, but a flicker of hate ignited when he saw Alvian.

"You..." he hissed. "You ruined everything. The Master... he will feast on your soul."

"Your Master is dead," Alvian said, tapping the glass. "I turned him into loot. But now his leftovers are trying to crash my school."

"The Fall is inevitable," the Vice-Headmaster laughed, a dry, rasping sound. "The Core is already singing. Can't you hear it? The Syndicate doesn't lose, boy. If we can't have the Academy, no one can."

"How do I stop the overload?" Alvian asked.

"You can't," the prisoner sneered. "The catalyst is already in place. The 'Heart of the Void'. It's eating the core. Unless you can kill a Shadow Dragon, you're dead."

Alvian froze.

"Shadow Dragon?"

"The Guardian," the Vice-Headmaster grinned, revealing rotting teeth. "The Syndicate didn't just send soldiers. We planted an egg. It hatched. It's feeding on the Core's mana. It's a Calamity, boy. A real one."

Alvian stared at him. A Shadow Dragon. High Calamity Class. A creature of pure stealth and destruction.

"Inefficient," Alvian muttered.

"What?"

Alvian activated [Voidpiercer].

"[World Step]."

He teleported inside the glass cell.

The Vice-Headmaster shrieked, backing away. "How did you—"

Alvian grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the glass.

"Thank you for the intel," Alvian whispered. "Now sleep."

He squeezed. The prisoner fell unconscious.

Alvian teleported back out.

He walked out of the prison, his face grim.

A Shadow Dragon was eating the Core. It wasn't just sabotage. It was an infestation.

He activated his comms.

"Seraphina. Valeria. Change of plans."

"What is it?" Valeria's voice crackled.

"We aren't fighting soldiers," Alvian said, looking up at the peaceful sky that was about to turn into a battlefield.

"We're fighting a Dragon."

----

The war room was not located in the pristine halls of the Student Council, nor the fortified bunkers of the Vanguard. It was in the back of the campus cafeteria, in a private booth shielded by Seraphina's sound-dampening artifacts.

Alvian sat at the head of the table. Valeria sat to his right, fully armored. Seraphina sat to his left, her mechanical eye whirring as she processed data. Professor George sat opposite, looking pale and clutching a cup of tea.

"A Shadow Dragon," George whispered, his hands shaking. "In the Deep Core. It explains the energy fluctuations. The creature is phasing in and out of reality, eating the raw mana. It's destabilizing the magnetic field that holds the island up."

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