PART I: THE STORM OF NEFRUS
"Attention to all confederates. Return to your quarters for security measures. Nefrus Storm in progress. I repeat: Nefrus Storm."
The control voice echoed through the walls of the headquarters, cold and metallic. In the back of his room, Wistert looked up from his book. The ambient lights turned a deep, dense blue—the visual signal that danger lurked outside the Jaws.
Wistert approached the balcony. The sky was a chaos of electric clouds; Nefrus's thunder enveloped the forest like the roar of an ancient beast. In a moment of distraction, the book he was holding slipped from his hands, falling toward the lower levels.
"No! Willem's book..." he whispered in anguish.
It was his only refuge. In recent months, his classmates had treated him like a specter. Every time he tried to get close, they withdrew, fearful of the strange pressure emanating from his lineage. That book was a gift from Linnert, the only thing keeping him sane in that crystalline solitude.
Wistert ran toward the door, but the security systems had locked it due to the storm. He was trapped. As he pounded on the door, his mind traveled back a few weeks, to the day everything seemed to change.
PART II: THE AWAKENING OF THE KATANAS
"I am Superior Confederal Mikas," announced a woman of imposing stature in front of the class. "Today, you will learn that magic is not everything. If you face a Level 0A demon, your magic will be useless. Only direct magical weapons can save your lives."
On the table lay pieces of metal glowing with their own light. "These are katanas, a gift from the Human World, from a nation called Japan. We are going to fuse your mana with these blades."
Wistert searched for a place to sit, enduring the usual poisonous whispers. "The weird kid," "the cursed Moon." He resigned himself to working alone, until a boy jumped out from under a table, startling him completely.
"Hi! A new classmate!" the stranger exclaimed.
Wistert fell to the floor in fright, causing Superior Mikas to turn around. After recovering, the boy offered his hand with a radiant smile.
"I'm Lurgen Shiguin, from the Shihuiner merchant family. I don't know how to talk to people very well yet, I'm new. And you?"
"Wistert... of the Royal Court of the Ninth Blue Moon."
"Incredible! One of the primary Moons!" Lurgen showed no fear, only genuine curiosity. "My father says your domains are legendary. Let's be friends—not for politics, but because you seem like a good person. What do you say?"
Wistert felt a strange warmth in his chest. For the first time, someone didn't pull away. "I accept," he replied with a small smile.
PART III: THE EYE OF THE DEMON
The teamwork began. Lurgen, with an affinity for electricity, designed the mana conduction lines on the blades, while Wistert, using his control over primordial energies, fused the crystals and gold.
"I want my katana to have lights that clash, like the Blue Moon and the Red Moon moving with the wind," Wistert said, focused.
However, the final test would not be easy. They had to face the teacher's twin: Viik.
"Be careful with your mindset," Mikas warned. "Despair only brings certain death."
Wistert observed Viik with his analytical eyes. He noticed something the others ignored. "Lurgen... look at her right eye. It has concentric rings."
"Decoration?" Lurgen asked.
"No. It's a Demonic Eye. It allows her to predict our movements before we make them."
The combat was a massacre of illusions. Team A attacked with infernal roots and electronic explosions, but Viik moved like smoke. In a blink, she appeared behind the students, knocking them down with an invisible blow that didn't harm the skin but made their internal organs burn.
"It's called 'Wind Stealth,'" Viik said with a twisted smile. "I move in sync with your own pulse. Your own attack is what hurts you."
PART IV: THE WARNING FROM THE SHADOWS
After class, exhausted but excited, Lurgen approached Wistert.
"We did it!" Lurgen laughed. "Hey, Wistert... high five!"
Lurgen extended his hand. Wistert was about to respond to the gesture, eager for that first contact of friendship, when a cold, deep voice resonated directly in his brain. A voice that did not belong to the physical world.
"Oh, my little self... if I were you, I wouldn't touch the hand of someone who is going to hurt you."
Wistert froze. He looked at Lurgen, but the boy was still smiling innocently. Fear ran down his spine.
"I'm sorry, Lurgen... I feel shaken," Wistert said, backing away abruptly. "I have to go to my room. See you... another time."
Wistert fled, leaving his only friend confused in the hallway. Meanwhile, in the shadows of the academy, an entity named Siert watched from the void.
"I don't want my chess pieces to be damaged," the entity whispered, eyes fixed on the boy. "Especially not you, my dear Wistert. The end of the game is still a long way off."