While the student orientation for the freshers was concluded by Professor Caldrin, the setting was heavy with silence in the Principal’s office.
Principal Aelthar’s office was more of a war room than a study, with maps sprawled across a long crystal table, enchanted pins marking Demon sightings, Orcish skirmishes, and fragile trade arteries.
Shelves brimmed with tomes of mana theory, but tonight, they were untouched.
Candles burned low, shadows crawling along the walls.
Major Pain stood by the window, still bandaged, his massive frame dark against the moonlight. He wasn’t drinking nor was he resting, he was just staring out at the sprawling city of Arcanum Nexus, jaw tight.
Across from him, Aelthar finally broke the silence. "The three Demon Lords... Malgar, Ulfar, and Serika, they’ve grown stronger since the last time I saw them".
He chuckled. "Considering how long their lifespan is and how long they’ve lived, it says a lot about how fast our civilization have grown to even look at them as equals".
"There was once a time that the Demon Lords looked like insurmountable mountains to me, and after a time I began to see them as equals," he sighed. "But..." he looked at Major Pain. "This time, even you couldn’t crush them outright."
Pain’s lone eye gleamed. "You make it sound like I lost."
"You didn’t," Principal Aelthar shook his head. "But you didn’t win either, and that’s the problem."
They moved to the table, gazes settling on the red pins marking the Demon incursions.
Aelthar tapped Malgar’s mark. "The Demons no longer hide behind border raids or proxy skirmishes. This time, they struck at the heart of humanity, at our Academy. That was not just an assault, it was a message."
Pain’s voice was low, iron scraping against stone. "It’s a psychological ploy. They want us afraid, they want us divided."
"Then to a degree, they must have succeeded," Aelthar’s eyes narrowed. "And not just us".
"They’ve calculated every race. The Orcs fall into civil war, tearing themselves apart for territory. The Elves retreat into their forests, muttering that Demon ambition is a human problem. And the Dwarves..."
Pain snorted. "The Dwarves think themselves untouchable in their mountains".
Aelthar’s tone hardened. "Every race underestimates the Demon Lords, but we’ve seen them. Their ambition is world conquest, nothing less. They won’t stop until every race kneels."
"Besides, the Demon King..."
He didn’t have to say more, the weight of the unsaid words settled heavily.
With another sigh, he gestured as the holographic map shifted, glowing blue markers that filled the human domain.
Aelthar spoke. "We still have the Union, humanity’s backbone. With ten S-Ranked Heroes at its peak, they’re still the strongest organization and the ruling force of humanity. The President himself, Hero Rank No. 1, holds us together".
"He may not be an SS-Ranked Hero yet, but I firmly believe that he’s among the most powerful existences in the world".
Major Pain didn’t argue against that, he just listened silently.
The human domain has the Union, the overlord power of humanity with 10 S Ranked Heroes in their board, including the President, the no. 1 Ranked Hero, but it was not the only backbone of humanity.
Apart from the union, humanity has multiple guilds rated bronze, silver, gold, and platinum grade guilds.
There are countless bronze grade guilds in the human domain, with fewer silver grade guilds, and even fewer gold grade guilds.
As for platinum grade guilds, there are only 6 of them across the human domain. The one common factor among platinum guilds is that they all have at least 1 S Ranked Hero, and most platinum guilds have multiple S Ranks.
Not as much as the Union, but still enough to make every single one of them a force to be reckoned with in the human domain.
Principal Aelthar looked at his Head Combat Instructor some more before walking up to his window with his hands intertwined behind his back. "The President called an emergency summit meeting after the Demon attack, the first in decades."
Pain’s eye flicked toward him. "And what do you think they’ll decide?"
"Mobilization most probably, a long war," Aelthar’s fingers drummed the table. "But politics will slow them". He added with a sigh.
"The guilds will bicker, the nobles will worry about coin, and the platinum guilds may hesitate to commit. Six guilds, each guarding their own territory, their own S-Rank Heroes. It won’t be unity, it’ll be chaos."
Pain grunted. "Then we carve order through chaos."
For a moment, there was only silence as Aelthar studied his colleague, the faint glow of runes across the bandages still binding Pain’s ribs.
"You’ve changed," Aelthar said softly. "That battle... it proved it". He smiled faintly. "I thought it would take at least 2 more decades, but you’re stronger than me now."
Pain finally turned, his scarred face half in shadow. "Strength isn’t glory, Aelthar. It’s survival. I bled for every inch of it."
"And for it," Aelthar continued, "the Union adjusted the rankings. You’ve risen, twelfth place now".
Considering that he was ranked 67th in the Hero Ranking before, rated as one of the very weakest S Rank heroes in the human domain, a direct increase to 12th position was a crazy jump, but Pain didn’t care about it at this moment.
His eye narrowed. "Titles mean nothing, numbers mean nothing. If Malgar had struck harder, if Serika’s illusions lasted longer, if Ulfar hadn’t been restrained, I’d be ash on the floor". He clenched his fists.
"And yet you’re not," Aelthar’s voice grew firm. "That is why they fear you now."
They both fell silent, the crackling candles filling the space between them.
Finally, Aelthar spoke again. "The Union meets in three days, the President will be there. Every S-Rank Hero humanity can muster will be there, and the world will watch what we decide."
Pain gripped the windowsill, knuckles white. "Then let’s make sure the world remembers what it means to fight humanity."
Aelthar’s gaze hardened, his white robes glowing faintly in the dim light.
"This is no longer preparation, Pain. The war has already begun."
Principal Aelthar’s wizened gaze panned out through the window, watching the sprawling lights of Arcanum Nexus below flickering like fragile stars under a looming darkness.
"Tomorrow, in the Union’s council chamber...," he muttered. "The fate of humanity will be rewritten."