The Iron Flame Pavilion, usually used for grand lectures and major ceremonies, now looked like a war command center. Hundreds of elders and disciples gathered, forming rows under the blazing banners of the academy. Defensive formations spun in mid-air like glowing sigils, and ancient arrays awakened from centuries of slumber.
The air vibrated with tension.
Dev Yadav, now no longer bothering to hide behind his caretaker act, stood at the center of the pavilion—his robes clean, eyes calm, and presence vast enough to make the air heavy.
Disciples who once thought him lazy now looked at him with awe and reverence.
"Who is he really…?"
"The old stories said the founder disappeared 10,000 years ago…"
"Was he… the Ancestor all along?"
Dev glanced around, his voice soft yet reaching every corner.
"Today, I do not speak as your elder. I speak as the one who founded this academy, as one who has seen what lies beyond the stars."
"We are under threat from a realm you do not know—the Void Realm, where time devours light, and hunters move between existence and extinction."
He waved his hand, and the air shimmered to reveal the projection of a Void Hunter—a terrifying silhouette cloaked in swirling shadows, eyes glowing violet with endless hunger.
Gasps rippled through the disciples.
"These creatures cannot be reasoned with. They do not speak. They only consume… Dao, essence, memory, soul."
Lin Feng stood in the back, still pale but upright. He could sense the Void energy far off in the distance. For the first time, he felt small—but also driven.
"Then what do we do?" a senior elder asked.
"We follow the Protocol," Dev replied.
He raised his hand, and a deep rumble echoed as six sealed pillars rose from the depths of the academy, each carved with ancient runes.
"Seal the outer worlds. Release the Nine Gate Array. Unchain the Hidden Division."
Shock surged through the crowd.
"The Hidden Division? Are they still alive?!"
"Weren't they sealed in stasis before the Great Collapse?"
"Ancestor… you can't mean to awaken them!?"
Dev looked at the sky.
"If I don't, this world will be devoured."
Meanwhile, in the Void Realm...
The first Void Hunter broke through the dimensional rift. It looked like a shifting shadow with no true form, but in its center pulsed a beating core—a stolen Dao of a fallen god.
More followed.
Their shrieks silenced stars. They moved with no emotion, no individuality. Their purpose was to erase all that remembered Dev Yadav.
But far behind them, something else stirred—a Void Monarch with nine wings and a crown of shattered realms.
"He defied Heaven. Now… we erase his defiance."
Back at the Academy...
Night fell, but the academy glowed brighter than ever. Every student had been armed. Elders patrolled the skies. Weapons long forgotten were unsheathed.
Lin Feng stood by Dev.
"Master… what happens if we lose?"
Dev smiled faintly.
"Then I erase the concept of loss from this universe."
As the Void cracked open above the horizon, a war horn echoed.
And so, the War of Realms began—not with a scream, but with a flicker in the stars.