The Great Hall of the Academy was packed. It was the night of the 'Rank Advancement Ceremony', and thousands of students and masters were gathered to celebrate the elite. High above, on the floating platform, the Headmaster was preparing to give his speech.
But the atmosphere changed the moment the doors swung open.
Caelum Thorne walked in, followed by a hooded figure that moved like a ghost. Caelum wasn't wearing his student robes anymore. He was clad in a coat of pure shadow that seemed to swallow the light around it.
"Is that... Thorne? The F-Rank trash?" someone whispered from the crowd.
"He looks... different. Look at his eyes!"
The Headmaster stopped speaking. He felt a chill he hadn't felt in centuries. "Caelum Thorne! You were supposed to be in custody! Where are the Enforcers?"
"They are currently experiencing a 'System Error', Headmaster," Caelum's voice echoed through the entire hall, amplified not by mana, but by a direct bypass of the Hall's acoustic system.
Caelum stepped onto the center stage. The ground beneath him rippled like a disturbed pond.
[NOTICE: COMMENCING 'SYSTEM_WIDE_ANNOUNCEMENT'] [RECIPIENTS: ALL_STUDENTS_AND_FACULTY]
"I didn't come here to graduate," Caelum said, looking up at the high-ranking masters with a look of pure disdain. "I came here to tell you that your era of Mana is over. The System is broken, and I am the one who broke it."
Suddenly, the massive Ranking Stone in the center of the hall—a relic that had stood for ten thousand years—began to crack. It didn't break into pieces; it began to dissolve into glowing cubes of data.
[RANKING STONE STATUS: DELETED]
A collective gasp shook the hall. Without the stone, no one could verify their power. The hierarchy of the Academy had just been destroyed in a single second.
"Who do you think you are?!" the Headmaster screamed, drawing a legendary sword that blazed with sun-fire.
Caelum didn't even flinch. He looked directly into the 'camera' of the world's logic. "I am the one who rewrites the ending. I am the Void Architect."
[OBJECTIVE UPDATED: OVERTHROW THE ACADEMY] [CURRENT PROGRESS: 15%]