CHAPTER 41: UNSETTLED GROUND

[Euphoria—]

Monsters didn’t fear new lands.

They feared the things that followed them there.

The forest of Euphoria lay behind the newly formed camp like a breathing god— ancient and endless, watching everything. The trees stretched so tall they pierced the clouds, their leaves moving even when the wind didn’t blow. Shadows lived in that forest. Shadows that moved.

Strange, beautiful birds circled above with feathers like stained glass. Their melodies were haunting and unreal, like a choir from a dream half-remembered. The breeze rolled in slow waves, carrying with it a scent that didn’t match the land— sweet flowers and clean rain, but layered beneath it was something metallic, something like blood and broken steel. A warning disguised as perfume.

But the students of Monster Academy were too busy building their makeshift camp to notice. Tents were being pitched, weapons unpacked, survival wards activated. Voices rose like a festival— but beneath the noise, tension moved like smoke between them.

Because they weren’t supposed to be here. It was clear Galveston was a lie. Someone had tried to infiltrate them— someone among them or within the school walls. A traitor.

At the far right side of the massive clearing, a group of eight worked like one body, precise and efficient. Valkyrie and her seven closest friends— Soda, Jasmine, Rain, Tekna, Lily, May, and Suki had claimed their space and were already setting camp faster than anyone else. Together, they were known across the Academy by one name:

The Demon Slayers.

"Alright girls," Valkyrie said, driving a metal spike into the ground and anchoring their first tent. Her tone was calm but sharp. "The sooner we finish, the sooner we can rest. And he have to keep our guards up, just in case"

Soda dropped her bag and stretched like she didn’t have a care in the world. "You sound like we’re already at war."

"We might be," Valkyrie replied without looking up. Her hair fell over one shoulder as she pulled the rope tight. Her voice didn’t shake when she made it knom... "Principal Camila didn’t fake Galveston for no reason. Someone here is lying. Maybe more than one person, I can swear they work with Venom."

"Well..." Jasmine cracked her knuckles. "Whoever that person or people may be? I better hope they like pain, cause I’ll be ready to squash some bones..."

May let out the longest, most dramatic yawn in existence. "i better hope they come sooner. I already didn’t want to be here. I’m tired."

Lily tied her hair into a bun and scoffed. "You complain too much, May. How about I call Iyo so you can stop whining? That should motivate you real quick. Huh"

May froze. "Don’t."

Valkyrie paused. "Iyo? Wait—Iyo? You and Iyo have... a thing?"

Lily laughed and covered her mouth. "Oops."

"I knew I couldn’t trust you!" May threw a glove at Lily. "You talk too damn much!"

"Now hold up," Soda said, jumping into the conversation with speed. "We keeping secrets now? Huh? In the Demon Slayer squad? Since when?"

"It’s not a secret," May groaned. "Iyo just pisses me off. He talks too much, smiles too much, does too much. He’s always...ugh...goofy." She shuddered. "It’s annoying..."

"Ohhhh I love a toxic love story," Soda said, instantly locked in. "So how did this tragic saga begin?"

"Miss Vivian made us clean the whole east hallway last Friday," May said, arms flying dramatically. "Iyo left me to do it alone."

"Awww hell naw," everyone muttered.

"Oh yeah," May continued, "he said he was going to get help. Do you know where I found him thirty minutes later?"

"Where?" Valkyrie asked.

"In the cafeteria. Eating donuts. With his boys. Laughing."

A wave of rage washed through the girl group.

"He did WHAT?" Suki finally spoke.

"He left you?" Jasmine hissed like betrayal was personal.

Rain shook her head silently in disapproval.

Soda gasped and clutched her chest. "i would have snapped instantly."

"I swear to God," May muttered, "Iyo boils my blood whenever I see him, the most annoying part of it all, is that he thinks he’s cute..."

"Uhm, well he’s cute May" Rain added, in a smooth voice.

"Rain...? Shut up" may said jokingly.

"Speaking of Iyo," Soda said suddenly, pointing across the camp, "look at him. Having the time of his life like he isn’t pure chaos."

May turned and immediately hissed. Iyo was laughing with another team, tossing fruit in the air, catching it in his mouth, girls blushing around him like he ran a circus.

"See?" May said, disgusted. "Useless."

But then Soda froze. Her smile vanished. Her shoulders lowered, like a predator smelling something wrong. She noticed something as always and couldn’t let go.

"Hey... Val," Soda said, voice low.

Valkyrie didn’t look up. "What?"

"Don’t turn. Don’t make it obvious," Soda said, her voice now deadly calm. "But Sky has been staring at you since we got here."

Everything inside Valkyrie went still.

The rope slipped from her hands. The air around her shifted for a second.

"Where?" Valkyrie asked.

"Left side," Soda said. "Behind the oak. He’s standing with standing Anita. And pretending not to look, but he is."

Valkyrie didn’t react with emotion. She never gave people reactions. Instead, she straightened casually, brushed dirt off her pants, tied her hair tighter. Her eyes scanned the camp slowly. Casually. Silently and Calculated.

Then she found him.

Sky.

He stood there fake laughing with a couple of people. His gold hair, slightly messy in the wind. He is wearing his usual purple Guardian uniform that fit him too well. With his white gloves and boots.

But Soda was right— he wasn’t just standing there. He was watching. Watching her like a storm cloud waiting to drop lightning.

The moment their eyes almost met, he looked away.

Soda’s nose wrinkled. "That is so creepy. Go talk to him before his eyeballs fall out of his head."

"No," Valkyrie muttered.

"Girl," Tekna said, hands on hips, "don’t even start. You told us you were done with him. But he doesn’t look done with you."

"We’re just friends," Valkyrie said flatly.

"Friends don’t stare holes through each other," Soda said. "He looks like he wants to fight somebody just for breathing near you."

"Y’all are overthinking it," Valkyrie said and lifted another spike. "We have bigger things to focus on."

Rain spoke, quiet but sharp: "Sky is a problem. Problems don’t go away when you ignore them."

"Exactly," Jasmine said. "We’re supposed to be watching for enemies but you’ve got a whole ticking time bomb staring at you in the open."

Sky shifted his stance slightly, hands still in his pockets. He had been watching Valkyrie and her squad work, his expression was quite unreadable.

But the moment Soda and the others noticed him, he knew staying any longer would be obvious. Attention was something he liked but when convenient— he noticed the weird gestures among Valkyrie and her friends.

He was about to step forward, either to approach Valkyrie or walk away from the field entirely— when a steady voice came from behind him.

"Sky?"

He stopped and turned. Ball walked toward him— calm, eyes sharp but relaxed. Her red long braid swung behind her as she came to stand beside him, matching his silence rather than interrupting it.

"Uhm..." Sky said with a small nod. "Ball right?."

"Yeah, glad you still remember me..."

"I don’t forget my friends easily...most especially not my mystery friends" Sky said with a step backwards.

********

Valkyrie and her friends on the other side, were busy finishing up their camp but not soda. "Look at her, I don’t trust her one bit..."

The group turned slightly, observing who soda was talking about.

"Who? Ball?" Valkyrie whispered.

"Is that her name?... Well I don’t trust her"

"Soda... You need to chill, Ball seems like a nice girl, she’s just the type that’s cool with everyone" Valkyrie said taking one more glance back at Ball and Sky.

"Hmmm, Cool" she mocked.

*******

A beat passed. Ball watched sky, then smirked slightly.

"So....You’ve been staring at Valkyrie for the past five minutes?"

Sky stunned, he didn’t expect that. "...W—What?" he stuttered. "You should mind your own business"

"That’s not an answer." Ball fired back.

"I wasn’t aware you were asking a question."

Ball narrowed her eyes a little— but not with hostility. More like mild curiosity. "Is she a weakness for you?"

Sky turned his gaze away from Valkyrie at last, eyes settling on the camp construction. "I don’t have weaknesses."

"Everyone does."

"Then that’s where we’re different." Sky snapped.

Ball watched him another moment, analyzing him without making it obvious. Her eyes shifted briefly toward the treeline where guardians were unloading supplies, then back to Sky.

"So... this," she said quietly. "Venom. What do you know about him?"

Sky didn’t flinch, but she saw the slight shift in his expression— interest mixed with caution.

"Not much," he said. "Only fragments. He used to be someone important, someone the Council classified as a high-level threat."

"To who?"

"Everyone."

Ball folded her arms. "Rumor says he helped build Monster Academy."

"Rumor says a lot of things," Sky replied.

"So you don’t believe it?"

"I didn’t say that." He paused. "I believe Venom was trusted once. Respected, maybe even feared for the right reasons. Then something happened and the world decided to call him a monster."

Ball nodded slowly. "And now they keep him locked underground like a rabid animal."

Sky’s gaze hardened. "Not because he’s rabid Ball, because he’s dangerous. There’s a difference."

She studied him for a while then continued "Dangerous to who, though? The world or the Council?"

Sky met her eyes with ease. "Does it matter?"

"Not really..." Ball said. "Just that the council lies. A lot. And anytime someone gets erased from history, I want to know why."

Sky thought about that for a second. "What about you? What do you know about Venom?"

"Only this," Ball replied. "Someone out there wants him free— and they’re willing to tear down Monster Academy to make it happen. Which means whatever Venom knows... it’s worth a war."