Vale’s gaze moved down the row again, deliberate this time, no longer just cataloguing threats but explaining exactly why each of them qualified.
"A newly-bonded Resonance artifact is about as unclaimed as power gets, it is literally near infinite power that is untested, supremely unpredictable and not yet folded into any established system."
A pause as Vale considered the rest of them.
"The reason both the royals are here because both of you haven’t inherited the responsibility of a crown yet, which means the generations of accumulated power that is coursing throgh your veins are free to do whatever it wants."
Milena next.
"Then there’s the old, possibly the oldest in Zimovian history, cursed bloodline nobody outside its own family understands, having accumulated such great potency through the generations that It’s impossible to look past."
Milena had gone very still again, though this time she didn’t argue.
Vale looked at Darrow for a while, hesitating, and let out a long sigh.
"I’m sorry Darrow, I’m going to have to tell them."
Darrow didn’t say anything, And Vale didn’t even wait for a reaction before she continued.
"The reason Darrow, the nobody, a simple commoner is among you is because he is literally the most dangerous, and the most powerful person among the five of you right now. This kid sitting here could, without doubt, end up being the first person in history to consistently summon ninth circle spells without having to sacrifice his life for it."
Darrow opened his mouth to say something, but Vale interrupted him with a raised hand.
"And I don’t say that lightly, having thoroughly researched the few recorded cases of eighth circle spells being casted in history, more than half of them which is credited to my name, the only living Grand Magus. I’ve been taking care of this child before he enrolled into Lucenhall, and I can bet my entire reputation on him without a single doubt that he’ll be able to do it. That’s not even considering the fact that he can already do third circle spells, consistently at that."
Darrow sighed, when the four of them turned to him, eyes wide open in surprise.
"You didn’t have to tell them that Master. I’ve already told you, I’m never going past the fourth circle."
There was obvious agitation in her voice when she replied.
"Because you don’t want to try, all that is ever in your mind is flying under the radar, not even recognizing the fact that most people that had the chance to interact with you is either scared of you, or thinks of you as some kind of once in a generation talent."
A pause.
"The five of you aren’t valuable to them as individuals," Vale continued, quieter now.
"You’re valuable as fuel, literally. You are the kind of fuel that burns clean, because nothing’s claimed you yet to complicate or taint the ritual, no responsibility, no flag or name to be loyal to."
The silence that followed was different from the earlier ones.
It was heavier, colder, settling into the arena like something physical.
"That’s..." Elian’s voice came out rougher than he intended. "That’s why they killed seven people for... Twenty-four years ago?"
"Yes." Vale didn’t soften the blow.
"They didn’t finish the ritual then, because I interrupted it just in time. But the seven bondholders were dead before I even got there, and whatever they attempted was on the brink failing already, which is the only reason any of us are standing here having this conversation instead of dealing with whatever they were trying to bring through."
Her eyes held Elian’s, steady.
"I don’t know why it was failing, but I know that i made sure it did. I also know they’ve had twenty-four years to figure out what went wrong, and I’d rather assume they’ve learned something than assume they haven’t."
Darrow let out a slow breath through his teeth.
"So we’re just ingredients, in this... soup they’re trying to use to summon a dead demon."
"Crudely put. But accurate." Vale allowed the bluntness to sit there rather than dress it up.
"Which is why I need every one of you to understand this isn’t a hypothetical threat you’ll face eventually, only once you’re older and better trained. It’s why Reyes is right to be furious about how young you are for this."
A pause.
"It’s also why neither of us gets to wait until you’re ready."
Rudra was the first to break the silence that followed.
"What happens if it succeeds this time?"
"I don’t know," Vale said, honest in a way that felt more unsettling than any confident answer would have.
"Nobody alive does other than the Davidians themselves, because it’s never actually finished. Which I’m aware is not comfortable to know. But It’s the truth."
Oizys’s composure had returned, but something underneath it had shifted, sharpened.
"Then the training changes you mentioned... what does that actually look like, starting tomorrow?"
"Considerably less theory, considerably more of what you already showed me you’re capable of today, refined instead of accidental."
Vale glanced toward Reyes.
"He handles conditioning and combat fundamentals properly, on a real schedule, not squeezed between other students’ placements, I’m going to talk to the principal to give you exemption from it. I handle everything else—circle progression, Resonance theory where it applies, and anything Davidian-specific I can verify rather than guess at."
"And the rest of the school?" Darrow asked. "They don’t know any of this?"
"No. And they won’t, not from any of you."
Vale’s tone left no room for negotiation.
"The five of you will carry this quietly. Not out of shame, out of necessity—the fewer people who know exactly what you represent, the harder it is for the Davidians to plan around you specifically."
Milena’s hand had drifted, unconsciously, to rest against the bloodfang curled at her shoulder, like she needed something solid to hold onto while she processed it.
"And if they come for one of us specifically before we’re ready?" She said without specifically mentioning any one of them, but Elian had the horrible feeling that she was talking about him.
"Then the rest of you will be the reason they don’t get what they came for." Vale said it plainly, no reassurance dressed over it.
"It’s the most honest answer i can give you right now, and I’d rather give you those from now on than the version that lets you sleep easier tonight, considering the sense that Callan here talked into me."
Nobody spoke for a long moment.
Elian looked around at the four of them—Milena’s guarded stillness, Rudra’s sharp, focused attention, Oizys’s careful composure holding steady under visible strain, Darrow’s usual looseness entirely absent, turned into visible discomfort of having been exposed—and felt, for the first time since the vault, like the weight of everything happening to him had finally found company instead of just sitting alone in his own chest.
"Okay," he said quietly, mostly to himself.
Vale’s eyes found his, something almost gentle underneath the exhaustion in her expression.
"Okay?"
"Whatever training you need to start tomorrow." He straightened slightly, staff still loosening after a conscious effortl. "I’d rather be ready and never need it than the alternative."
A small, tired ghost of a smile crossed Vale’s face, there and gone.
"Good," she said. "That’s the right answer."
She let out a long, steadying breath.
"Now go eat something, all of you, before I have five collapsed teenagers on my conscience along with everything else."
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