Opening Scene: Academy Courtyard - Evening
The sun dipped below the towering spires of the Grand Academy, casting long shadows across the ivy-laced stone walls. Kieran leaned against a tree, his book resting half-forgotten on his lap as he stared across the courtyard. A breeze stirred the petals of the enchanted lumiblooms, bathing the walkways in a soft golden glow.
Yet his mind was far from the Academy.
"They're ready."
The voice echoed in his head—Elira's calm, sharp tone carried through the telepathic Crown Crest network. It had been only three days since they completed the Hidden Valley fortress, yet the girls were already impatient to act.
"Good," Kieran murmured under his breath, standing and walking slowly toward the dormitory as if he were any other student winding down the day.
But beneath that unassuming step, his mind spun with dozens of threads—plans, strategies, future recruits… the birth of a legend that no one would see coming.
Scene Shift: Hidden Valley - Command Hall of the Hidden Crown
In the heart of the subterranean city, the newly built Command Hall buzzed with quiet energy.
A vast, obsidian table shaped like a crown sat in the center. Around it stood the 15 Crowns—each in their respective ceremonial coats, tailored to suit their personalities. Magical crystals floated above the table, displaying live mana scans of various regions across the continent.
Elira Virelle stood at the head in Kieran's absence. Her spirit threads danced subtly through the air, picking up even the slightest motion from the others.
"We will begin Phase One tonight," she said. "Our target locations are mapped. Each squad will receive encoded mission scrolls and a list of potential candidates."
Talia stepped forward, tapping a rune-covered orb. "I've rigged short-range warp beacons and cloak patches. They'll hide us from magical surveillance up to Tier Seven. I recommend limited use until we upgrade the relay towers."
"Let's hope we don't need them," Rhea growled, cracking her knuckles. "But I'm ready to smash some slaver dens if I have to."
Each Crown received a shimmering obsidian token—a Crown Authority Sigil—from Elira. It pulsed softly with system-bound mana.
"With these, you may bestow provisional skills, basic jobs, and emergency summons from the Hidden Crown treasury… under strict hierarchy."
The Hierarchy:
Kieran — Supreme Authority
15 Crowns — Core Command (Level 0)
Level 1–10 Recruits — Based on contribution, skill, and loyalty
"Let no one know of our name," Elira whispered. "Let them feel only the tremble in their bones when they realize who watches from the dark."
Scene: Kieran's Room – Academy Dormitory (Late Night)
Kieran sat by the window, his gaze distant. He opened the System Interface, scrolling through dozens of reports:
Recruitment Candidates Tagged: 47
Slaver Ring Locations: 3 marked
Orphanage Contacts: 12 (across 3 kingdoms)
Magical Anomalies Detected: 2 (one deep in Voltria Swamp)
He allowed himself a small smile.
"Let the world sleep easy… under our shadow."
Reminiscence about the past:
"Where no one dares look, the Crown will reach."
Scene: Outskirts of Velmorin Village — Midnight
The air was thick with damp mist, clinging to crumbling rooftops and wilted trees. A once-prosperous mining village, Velmorin had been erased from maps after a curse swept through its wellspring a decade ago. Locals now whispered of it as a ghost haunt, a place where only desperate men and dying beasts wandered.
But tonight… something stirred in the fog.
A flicker of shadow darted from tree to tree, silent as moonlight on water.
Sylvie Mirelle crouched low behind a moss-covered boulder, her aquamarine eyes gleaming faintly. She whispered into the water droplet hovering before her lips.
"Target perimeter scouted. No hostile mana signatures in two clicks. Proceeding."
A voice chimed back into her mind.
"Understood. Keep distance. Yui and Rhea are moving from the south. Extraction priority is the girl. Secondary objective: curse analysis."—Elira Virelle
Sylvie nodded and vanished again into the mist.
Scene: Ruined Chapel at the Village Center
Beneath the broken stained glass and rotting pews, a girl sat quietly, hugging her knees. Her silver hair was matted with grime, and her skin had the pale sheen of someone who had not seen the sun in weeks.
Her name was Irene Solveil, marked by a curse of entropy.
Around her, the floor was covered in frost and dead roots. Magic twisted and withered wherever she lingered. The village had driven her here, locking her inside, calling her a "Witch of Collapse."
"They said I ruin everything I touch…" she whispered to no one.
But tonight, change had come.
Scene: Outside the Chapel – Moments Later
Rhea crouched atop a collapsed archway, watching the cursed chapel.
"Damn, the mana around her is dense… and not the nice kind," she muttered. "No wonder the village dumped her here."
Beside her, Yui Nocthollow stood with her arms crossed, face unreadable under her dark hood. "She hasn't lashed out. That's control… or complete surrender. Either way, she's Crown material."
Sylvie's whisper came through the link again.
"Entry route mapped. Yui—take north window. Rhea—ready a containment veil. I'll speak first."
The girls nodded and moved like clockwork—perfect synchrony built from weeks of training and unspoken trust.
Scene: Inside the Chapel
Irene barely looked up when the door creaked open. She was used to monsters now—beasts, ghosts, or hallucinations.
But the figure that entered wasn't like any of them.
A soft voice. Light footsteps. No fear, no anger.
"Irene… right?" Sylvie said gently, stepping into the glow of a hovering crystal. "I came to offer you a choice."
The girl blinked. "You're not afraid?"
Sylvie knelt, keeping her hands in sight. "I've seen worse. I've been worse. We don't fear curses. We find the truth behind them."
Silence.
Then the door behind Sylvie opened and Rhea stepped in, fire aura barely flickering as she wrestled her instinct to destroy the chaotic mana inside. Yui appeared in the shadows behind the altar, barely a whisper.
"I have nothing," Irene whispered. "No one."
"Now you do," Sylvie said. She extended her hand. "Come with us. Let the world call us monsters. We'll build a kingdom beneath their feet."
Scene: Hidden Crown HQ – Later That Night
A stream of light spiraled through the warp gate as Irene stepped onto the marble floor, eyes wide with disbelief.
The other Crowns waited quietly at the gate, watching the new girl. Kieran's voice echoed softly in her mind through the Crown Crest.
"You are not broken. You are rare. You are ours now."
As the Crown Crest marked itself on the back of her neck, the curse that had bound her twisted… then obeyed.
New Skill Awakened: Entropic Bloom (Mythic)– Converts curse energy into magic barriers and anti-magic fields.– Can disrupt enchantments and slowly absorb ambient spells.
Elira offered her a cloak.
"Welcome to the Hidden Crown, Crown No. 11… Irene Solveil."