---
The night after Arlen's lecture, the Academy couldn't sleep.
Rumors of Harvey's performance spread like wildfire. Whispers filled the halls. Not just admiration or envy this time—fear.
Spellbreaking wasn't just rare. It was forbidden.
Only those who lived through the Heresy War or descended from vanished bloodlines even knew the term. And Harvey had made twelve master-level spells fall apart like children's scribbles.
Some said it was a trick.
Others said it was a message.
But only Harvey knew the truth:
This was just the beginning.
---
Inside the Shadows
Harvey sat alone in the corner of the abandoned library wing, back against the worn stone wall, watching candlelight dance across dusty shelves. The System's interface hummed faintly.
> [You have 1 unread message.]
[Encrypted. Unknown sender. Code ID: X-056 | Verified.]
[Message auto-deletes after reading.]
He narrowed his eyes.
"X-056," he muttered. "The code from... then."
He opened it.
> "You're not the only one who remembers. Come to the old observatory tower at midnight. Come alone.
—V"
Harvey stared at the flickering message before it dissolved. V.
He hadn't heard that codename in over a decade—not since his erasure, when all traces of his identity were wiped from the world.
> "Either a trap or an opportunity," he whispered.
"But I'll take either."
---
Liora's Suspicions
Elsewhere, Liora paced in the dorm courtyard.
Something was off.
She'd spent years cultivating her instinct for magical deception, and the aura that clung to "Professor Arlen" reeked of hidden agendas. He wasn't just interested in magic theory—he was watching Harvey.
And Harvey hadn't flinched.
> "Just who are you really?" she muttered.
She considered confronting him. She'd seen the spellbreaking firsthand—no regular student could've done it. But something in Harvey's expression that day had stopped her.
That chilling calm… like someone staring down death with no fear.
---
The Observatory Tower – Meeting 'V'
Midnight.
The observatory tower hadn't been used in decades. Once a center for stargazing and dimensional readings, it now stood half-buried in creeping vines, the lenses shattered and domes cracked.
Harvey entered in silence.
He felt it before he saw anything. A presence, cloaked but heavy. Not hostile. Not welcoming. Just… watching.
Then a voice spoke from the shadows.
> "You've changed, Harvey."
He stepped forward, gaze locked on the silhouette seated in the moonlit corner of the broken dome. They wore a black hood and a half-mask, voice distorted by magic.
> "Not enough," Harvey replied. "I'm still here."
The masked figure chuckled.
> "They said you'd be erased. That your soul was shattered beyond retrieval. But I knew better."
> "Get to the point."
The figure tossed something through the air. Harvey caught it. A small, polished obsidian cube—an Imperial Memory Lock.
Inside were fragments of classified missions. Deleted battle records. Testimonies. Truths erased from history.
> "The Empire still fears you," V said. "But not because of what you did."
Harvey turned the cube slowly.
> "Because of what I will do."
> "Exactly."
---
Flashback Fragment – The Betrayal
As Harvey activated the cube with his system's override, flickers of memories not his own played across his mind.
A council chamber bathed in cold light.
His name spoken in anger and fear.
A sentence passed: "Harvey Alzahar is declared heretic. Execute Erasure Protocol."
And in the shadows—a familiar face among the traitors. One he'd once trusted.
His breath stilled.
So that was it.
> They hadn't feared his power.
They feared what he knew.
---
Return to Present – A New Target
V stood, cloak brushing the ground.
> "There's a banquet next week. A masquerade hosted by the Royal House. Many of your old 'friends' will attend. Including the one who signed your death order."
Harvey's eyes gleamed with the light of frozen fire.
> "Good," he said. "Then it's time I returned the favor."
> "You'll need allies. You're powerful, but not untouchable."
> "I don't need allies," Harvey said coldly. "I need witnesses."
V laughed softly, a sound without amusement.
> "You really haven't changed."
> "No," Harvey said, stepping back into the moonlight. "I've just stopped pretending."
---
System Notification – New Quest Triggered
> [MAIN QUEST UNLOCKED: The Broken Banquet]
Infiltrate the masquerade. Identify the Council Member who betrayed you. Survive the assassination attempt.
Reward: Access to Forbidden Archive (Tier-3). System Evolution Fragment.
> [Optional: Spare no one.]
Harvey closed the window.
He wouldn't need the optional hint.
---