Shadow Dragon: The Fallen Angel Is My Teacher

Liora Daelthorn (Provisional Head of House Daelthorn) POV

Fifteen Minutes Ago

Liora was seated behind her desk, signing papers.

The room was quiet except for the faint scratching of her pen.

Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw one of the altar candles flicker.

Her hand stopped.

She looked toward the altar.

Six candles burned there.

Each of them represented one of the six Gods bound to House Daelthorn.

Two of them shone brighter than the rest.

One of those bright candles flickered again.

It flickered once more.

And then, it went out.

Liora froze.

Her expression shifted instantly from calm to alarm.

She snatched the telephone from the desk and dialed a number.

"Code Red!" she barked. "Thalwen has disappeared from the Vault! Get an Elder to check it right now!"

The air around her grew tense.

Code Red was a big thing.

It meant a Level 4 emergency, and signified an outside attack that could cause massive casualties to the House.

She dialed more lines one after another.

"Check the perimeter."

"I want every record of who entered the Estate today."

"Third Eye, start scanning for disguise or illusion users."

"Prepare all Exorcists for immediate combat readiness."

"Send reinforcement requests to the Hall Family and House Vellcroft. Tell them it's Code Red!"

That single signal would alert their allies that if House Daelthorn was under attack, they might be next.

It also told them to watch for something capable of destroying an entire House.

Another phone rang on her desk.

Liora grabbed it at once.

"What?" she asked quickly.

Her eyes narrowed.

"The forest near the estate is showing a buildup of Positive Energy? Inhuman-level concentration?"

She paused, thinking fast.

"Open the satellite feed. Keep diagnostics running. If there's corruption or interference, shut it down immediately."

The line went dead.

She immediately made another call.

"There's a huge cluster of Positive Energy near our borders. I'll send the coordinates. Take a team and investigate the location."

She hung up, muttering under her breath, "Two incidents at once? Is this a two-front attack... or is Thalwen's disappearance connected to that energy surge?"

Without wasting time, she turned toward the large monitor on her table.

Her fingers moved swiftly across the keyboard.

The House's surveillance satellite connected with a soft beep.

The feed showed the forest near their estate.

A lone figure stood there.

A young man.

He looked calm.

He was handsome, white-haired, blue-eyed.

He was staring at the night sky with a smile.

Then, his lips moved slightly.

Even without sound, Liora could read his lips and know what he said.

"I wonder if the Houses have activated their surveillance satellites."

Her expression hardened.

He knew.

"He knows about our surveillance systems... he might be from one of the Prime Five."

The Prime Five.

The five illegal Exorcist organizations powerful enough that even the Exorcist Union couldn't destroy them yet.

The computer began scanning his image, running facial recognition.

Nothing came up. There was no match.

That made it worse.

Blue eyes. White hair.

Those two features were only carried by the bloodline of the Legion.

Suddenly, the feed flashed bright.

Liora shielded her eyes for a second before the image stabilized.

A massive rune array covered the ground beneath the young man's feet.

Her jaw tightened.

Another window appeared on the monitor. It was the satellite readings.

The rune array wasn't small.

It was carved across the entire Alps region.

"How did no one notice something that massive..."

Her voice trailed off as light filled the entire screen.

And then, a divine figure appeared.

Liora's eyes widened.

"Thalwen…" she whispered.

The God of Forest. The God of Clothes. The Hunt. The Beast. Protection. Abundance.

One of their strongest divine seats.

The screen trembled under the sheer energy being transmitted.

It wasn't meant to capture something of that scale.

The image broke several times, but even through the distortion, it was clear.

It was him.

The God of House Daelthorn stood before that young man.

They seemed to be talking.

The man was holding out a cloth—plain white—and Thalwen was blessing it.

The telephone rang again.

Without taking her eyes off the monitor, Liora picked it up.

"Third Elder Magnus Daelthorn speaking," came a deep voice. "I checked the Vault. Thalwen's not there. His seal isn't hiding him or masking—"

"I found him," Liora cut in sharply. "He's in the forest near the estate. I'll send you the coordinates now."

Magnus didn't waste a single second. "Understood."

The line disconnected.

Liora watched from the corner of her screen as the House's energy sensors detected movement.

There was a massive surge moving away from the central building.

Magnus was already running.

Her lips pressed together. "Uncle Magnus should reach Thalwen's location in thirty seconds."

She started preparing the combat units.

Orders flew from her mouth as she spoke to multiple lines.

"Prepare sealing teams. Gather the Rank 3 and higher rank Exorcists. I want a defense perimeter ready before Magnus arrives. Evacuate civilians from all nearby cities."

Her face stayed grim.

She knew what Thalwen could do.

If left unchecked, the God of Forest could —and likely would — destroy two cities before they even reached him.

And once the capture battle began, three more cities would likely fall. That is if they were lucky.

If they failed to contain him, the damage would be catastrophic.

Covering it up afterward would be nearly impossible.

Her thoughts kept circling back to one question.

How had anyone managed to summon him?

Thalwen was locked behind their most secure seal, guarded by layers of ancient enchantments.

Whoever that young man was, he was dangerous.

But there was no time to think about that now.

She needed to act fast.

Her hands moved across the desk, setting up channels, sending out battle signals.

The House's main defense system began activating.

The lights dimmed slightly as the estate's mana veins were redirected.

Then, the monitor flickered again.

Liora's eyes shot to it.

The screen zoomed in on Thalwen and the young man. A strange distortion surrounded them.

"What is that…" she whispered.

The image broke apart, glitching and reforming.

For a moment, Thalwen's body began to blur.

His outline was dissolving, his divine aura collapsing inward.