Gilded Ashes-Chapter 311: As If Nothing Happened

The chaos settled way faster than Raizen expected.

In only a few minutes, instructors had already cleared the platform - three of them, moving quicklty, looking exactly like people who have dealt with this many times before. They checked the students first - quick assessments - a hand on a shoulder, a question, a nod, then move on. Then the beasts - or what was left of them. Most of the shredded Eon constructs had already dissolved, leaving nothing behind except faint gold residue on the wood. The instructors noted the damage, exchanged a few words, and started directing students back to their stations.

That was it.

No emergency meeting. No evacuation. No announcement. Just a brief disruption in the schedule, handled and filed away. The students moved back to their drills slightly dazed. After all, they’ve been scared ten minutes ago and were now being told to act like it didn’t happen.

Raizen watched. The training platform was already returning to something that looked like normal - students forming pairs, beasts being re-summoned, instructors calling out corrections. The golden ashes from the Nyx had mostly settled or blown away. A few still drifted in the high branches, catching light.

The bird hadn’t caused much real damage, he realized. A few gouged lines in the platform’s surface, not much deeper than those of some Eon beasts. Some bent railing on the east side. The student beasts it had shredded were temporary constructs anyway – they would be rebuilt in minutes, if the student had enough Eon and stamina. And above, where the Nyx had been crashing into branches and trunks - it had actually cleared out some of the lower canopy. Dead limbs and overgrown vines that had been cluttering the space were gone now, snapped clean. The platform felt better, more open than before.

Nobody was hurt. That was the important thing.

Raizen let out a slow breath. The adrenaline was slowly fading, leaving behind the dull, heavy feeling of a body that had been running on too little sleep and too much urgency. His ankle still ached from the way Saffi fell. His clothes were all dried, but somehow his body held that stiff, uncomfortable feeling of soaked fabric.

And underneath all of his thoughts, buzzing quietly behind every other thought - the black blur. The red thread. The pieces clicking into place.

He pushed it aside. Not now. He had something more immediate to be curious about.

The special lesson. Whatever Kenzo had planned - whatever had been important enough to drag them to the Academy this morning - it was still happening. Presumably. Unless a rampaging Nyx counted as a substitute curriculum.

Raizen and Saffi made their way across the platform to where Kenzo and Atman were standing. The two men were side by side near the railing - Kenzo leaning against it with his arms crossed, Atman standing straight with his hands in his pockets. Both still riding the aftermath.

They were blabbing to each other. Not about the Nyx. Not about strategy or damage reports or threat assessments. Just the loose, aimless back-and-forth of two people who’d been through something together and were now processing it through the least productive method possible.

"- and the way it just flopped when I grabbed the tail" Kenzo laughed out loud, gesturing with both hands. "Like a fish. Did you see that?"

"I was on the ground" Atman said flatly. "I couldn’t have possibly seen that."

"Right, right. But the throw, though. You have to admit the throw was cool."

"It was... Deffinetly powerful..."

"Adequate. I threw a three-meter Nyx off a platform with my bare hands and you’re giving me "Deffinetly powerful."? How high are your standards, man?"

"The form could have been better."

"The form – I didn’t even have my hammer!"

Raizen and Saffi reached them. Both wore expressions of mild disappointment - Saffi’s was subtler. Raizen’s was less subtle.

Neither of them commented.

Kenzo and Atman didn’t notice. They were still going - something about technique versus power, a debate that had clearly been running between them for years and would continue running for years more, regardless of audience or context.

Raizen looked around. The platform was almost fully back to normal now. Students drilled. Instructors paced. New beasts flickered to life in bursts of golden light, held for a few seconds, then dissolved and reformed. The rhythm of the Academy - interrupted briefly, now restored.

As if nothing had happened.

It said something about Ukai, Raizen thought. About what these students were used to. A three-meter Nyx had crashed their training session, shredded their constructs, nearly taken someone’s head off - and fifteen minutes later, they were back at their stations, summoning new beasts, running new drills.

He wondered if Neoshima’s students would recover that fast. He honestly doubted it.

Raizen shifted his weight from one leg to the other, waiting. He was patient - or trying to be. But the curiosity was getting harder to manage. Kenzo had promised a special lesson. Had talked about it with the kind of vague excitement that meant it was something significant. And now he was standing here arguing about throwing form with Atman while Raizen stood five feet away, sleep-deprived and disappointed, wondering what exactly they’d come here for.

He almost asked, already opening his mouth. But he closed it. Decided to wait.

Kenzo and Atman’s conversation wound down - not to a conclusion, but to the natural entropy of two stubborn people who’d both decided they were right. Atman made a dismissive sound. Kenzo shook his head. They stood in comfortable silence for a moment.

Then Kenzo turned.

His hands landed on Raizen’s and Saffi’s shoulders at the same time - heavy, warm, the grip of someone who was about to enjoy the next few seconds very much. The bickering energy was gone. The grin on his face was different from the one he’d used for the crowd. At least this one was honest.

Saffi flinched under the sudden weight.

"So" Kenzo said. "Are you ready?"

Raizen looked at him. "Ready for what?"

The grin widened.

"For trying to create a beast."