Erwin's successful, highly publicized return from the grueling trial in Feldringen had cast a beautiful, lingering warmth over his entire inner circle. His friends were endlessly proud of his incredible achievement, and Aoi was visibly radiating a profound, quiet happiness that had entirely erased the lingering shadows of Helena's previous insults.

  By completely shattering the corrupt corporate timeline and successfully freeing an innocent young farmer from a life behind bars, Erwin had done something truly extraordinary for a student of his age.

  He had conclusively proven to the deeply cynical academic world that a brilliant, highly calculating advocate could actually wield the complex tools of the law while still fiercely holding onto an unshakeable moral compass. He had demonstrated that pure, unadulterated justice and ruthless legal tactics were not mutually exclusive.

  It was a beautiful, deeply idealistic concept. It was the exact kind of hopeful theory that countless elite legal scholars and tenured university professors had cynically declared utterly impossible to achieve in the real, bloodthirsty corporate world. Yet, Erwin had achieved it flawlessly on his very first try.

  However, despite the massive, intoxicating emotional high of his very first federal courtroom victory, Erwin was deeply, painfully aware that his long, grueling journey was far from over. The impending, massive war against GreenForm Incorporated was looming darkly on the horizon, but so were his immediate, heavy academic obligations.

  He still had at least two full, agonizing years of rigorous, mind numbing study left before he could officially graduate from the prestigious university and earn his formal credentials to practice law independently.

  He still had to survive an endless barrage of brutal, exhausting examinations. He had to completely research and write a massive, flawless final thesis. And eventually, he would have to face the terrifying, suffocating pressure of a thesis defense panel, an oral examination composed of the most ruthless, unforgiving legal minds in the entire country who would try to tear his arguments to shreds. He absolutely could not afford to let his recent, incredible victory make him lazy, complacent, or arrogant.

  Morning finally arrived on the sprawling, beautifully manicured university campus. It was exactly fifty-six minutes past eight on a beautiful, remarkably clear, and brightly sunny Monday morning.

  However, the bright, cheerful spring weather outside the large glass windows stood in incredibly stark, depressing contrast to the suffocating, tense atmosphere currently choking the interior of the academic faculty buildings.

  It was the official start of the final semester examinations week. It was a terrifying, exhausting period that routinely pushed the brilliant, highly driven students of Hohenwald to the absolute breaking point of their mental sanity. Today was the very first day of the grueling gauntlet, and the subject was the notoriously unforgiving, incredibly complex field of Advanced Criminal Law.

  Inside the massive, beautifully constructed amphitheater style lecture hall designated as Room D.304, the air was incredibly thick and heavy. It smelled faintly of stale, bitter coffee, expensive fountain pen ink, and the undeniable, sour scent of collective nervous sweat.

  Dozens of young law students were frantically flipping through their thick, brightly highlighted textbooks and heavily annotated spiral notebooks. They were desperately trying to cram one last obscure federal statute or complex legal precedent into their exhausted brains before the dreaded professor arrived to lock the heavy wooden doors.

  Sitting closely together in the middle rows of the grand lecture hall, Erwin's fiercely loyal inner circle had formed a tight, highly focused huddle. Erwin, Marek, Samuel, Felix, Jonas, and Ryo were currently engaged in a rapid, highly animated, and incredibly intense legal debate.

  They were desperately trying to dissect and solve a series of highly complex, convoluted hypothetical criminal scenarios that their professor had casually handed out as study guides during the final lectures of the semester.

  "I am telling you, the prosecution would have absolutely no legal grounds to stand on in a real courtroom," Marek argued passionately. He aggressively tapped his index finger against his open notebook to emphasize his main point. "If an individual receives a sealed package of high grade narcotics in the mail, but they have absolutely zero prior knowledge that the package actually contains illegal substances, it is legally impossible to hold them criminally liable."

  Marek crossed his arms, looking completely convinced of his own logic. "The fundamental element of criminal intent simply does not exist in that scenario. You cannot punish someone for being a victim of circumstance."

  Felix immediately let out a loud, highly skeptical scoff. He leaned forward over the wooden desk and shook his head in complete disagreement.

  "That is an incredibly naive, overly simplistic way to interpret the federal statute, Marek," Felix countered smoothly, his voice rising slightly in competitive, academic irritation. "You are completely ignoring the established legal doctrine of willful blindness. From a purely logical and investigative standpoint, any reasonable, rational adult should be immediately suspicious of receiving a massive, heavy, anonymous package."

  Felix tapped his pen against his chin, building his counter argument. "If they sign the delivery clipboard and bring the unknown package inside their private home without questioning the sender or contacting the authorities, the state prosecutor will absolutely argue that they assumed the legal risk of possessing whatever was hidden inside the box."

  The two friends glared at each other across the desks, neither of them willing to back down from their entrenched, heavily researched legal positions. Realizing they were completely deadlocked and rapidly running out of precious time before the actual exam started, Ryo let out a long, exasperated sigh.

  He immediately turned his head and looked directly at the quiet, perfectly calm young man sitting at the absolute center of their group.

  "Alright, enough arguing before we all get massive, throbbing headaches before the test even begins," Ryo pleaded, gesturing widely toward their quiet friend. "Erwin, you are the only one sitting here who has actually faced down a real, bloodthirsty prosecutor in a federal courtroom. How exactly would you handle a messy, logistical nightmare like this if it actually landed on your desk?"

  Erwin slowly looked up from his perfectly organized, neat stack of sleek black pens and spare ink cartridges. He did not look nervous, sleep deprived, or frantic like the rest of the panicking students in the large hall. He radiated an aura of absolute, terrifying serenity that naturally drew people in.

  He leaned back comfortably in his wooden chair, his dark, highly calculating eyes calmly assessing the hypothetical scenario his friends were tearing their hair out over.

  "Marek is actually entirely correct in his foundational assumption, though his specific reasoning is a bit too broad and lacks statutory support," Erwin explained calmly.

  His deep, smooth baritone voice instantly commanded the absolute, undivided attention of his entire friend group. They all leaned in slightly to listen to his breakdown.

  "If you look closely at the highly specific, meticulous language written in Law Number Eight of the year Two Thousand and Nine, specifically located within Article One Hundred and Fourteen, Paragraph One, the legal parameters are actually incredibly clear and rigid regarding this exact type of blind delivery," Erwin continued.

  He didn't even need to open his thick textbook to reference the obscure, complex law. He had completely, flawlessly memorized it during his long nights of studying.

  "The federal statute explicitly states that if a person receives a package containing illegal narcotics in a completely unconscious or ignorant state of mind, meaning they possess zero prior knowledge of the shipment, zero solicitation history with the sender, and absolutely no contextual reason to suspect the contents, then they cannot be legally processed or indicted under any circumstances," Erwin recited smoothly.

  He looked directly at Felix, politely dismantling his friend's counter argument. "The state must possess definitive, undeniable proof of active, knowing participation in the smuggling ring. A simple signature on a delivery courier's clipboard does not legally equate to criminal intent or willful blindness under current supreme court interpretations."

  Hearing the flawless, completely irrefutable recitation of the specific federal law, Marek let out a loud, incredibly triumphant laugh. He aggressively slammed his open palm down onto the hard wooden desk, creating a sharp, echoing crack that briefly cut through the nervous chatter of the hall.

  "Ha! Read it and weep, Felix!" Marek gloated cheerfully, pointing an accusatory finger at his highly annoyed friend. "You officially owe me three expensive, large coffees from the campus cafe for losing that bet."

  Felix just rolled his eyes in defeat, grumbling quietly under his breath as he took his pen and aggressively crossed out a massive, incorrect paragraph of notes in his heavy binder.

  Suddenly, the heavy, double oak doors at the very front of the grand lecture hall swung open with a loud, ominous creak.

  The chaotic, frantic buzzing of a hundred nervous law students instantly died out, completely replaced by a terrifying, suffocating silence. It was as if all the oxygen had been violently sucked out of the massive room in a single second. Professor Falkenberg had finally arrived.

  The elderly professor was a towering, deeply intimidating figure who was widely feared and universally respected across the entire university campus. He walked down the central aisle with slow, highly measured, and incredibly deliberate steps. His sharp, predatory eyes scanned the terrified faces of his students over the thick rim of his reading glasses.

  He was closely trailed by his nervous, sweating young teaching assistant, who was visibly struggling to carry two massive, incredibly heavy stacks of sealed, official examination booklets.

  As the intimidating professor made his slow way toward the main wooden podium, Helena Weissman, who was sitting two rows directly in front of Erwin, slowly turned her head around.

  She was wearing a highly expensive, flawlessly tailored designer outfit that looked entirely out of place in a stressful, sweaty exam hall. She desperately tried to catch Erwin's eye, her posture projecting a mixture of elite arrogance and hidden desperation.

  "Erwin," Helena whispered softly. Her voice carried a pathetic, lingering trace of elite desperation trying to mask itself as casual friendliness.

  She desperately wanted him to look at her. She wanted him to acknowledge her existence, to somehow bridge the massive, icy, and completely silent chasm that had formed between them over the past few weeks.

  But Erwin did not even blink. He kept his dark, beautiful eyes locked entirely on the front of the lecture hall, his handsome face completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever.

  He completely, utterly ignored her pathetic, whispered attempt to gain his attention. The disastrous, deeply insulting incident that had occurred in the hotel room back in Justenau, combined with her recent, venomous verbal attack on Aoi in the campus courtyard, had permanently and irreversibly frozen her out of his life. He simply did not care about her anymore.

  Helena bit her lower lip hard, a quick flash of deep, bitter humiliation crossing her beautiful, heavily contoured face. She was forced to turn back around in her seat, staring blankly at the empty wooden desk in front of her, her pride stinging violently from the absolute, silent rejection.

  Professor Falkenberg reached the heavy wooden podium and dropped his battered leather briefcase onto it with a loud, echoing thud. He offered a curt, silent nod to his teaching assistant. The young man immediately began to scurry up and down the narrow aisles, rapidly distributing the thick, terrifying examination booklets face down onto every single wooden desk in the hall.

  "Listen to me very carefully, ladies and gentlemen," Professor Falkenberg announced.

  His voice was not overly loud, but it carried a cold, deeply intimidating resonance that easily and clearly reached the very back rows of the massive hall.

  "You are all sitting in this room today because you foolishly believe you have the intellectual capacity, the extreme dedication, and the moral fortitude to practice the sacred, unforgiving art of criminal law," the professor continued coldly. "This final examination will ruthlessly test that arrogant belief. I expect absolute, unbroken, and perfect silence from this moment forward."

  The professor leaned forward slightly, resting his large hands heavily on the edges of the podium. His piercing, hawkish eyes swept over the pale, terrified faces of his students.

  "Do not even entertain the foolish, pathetic thought of cheating in my classroom," Falkenberg warned them, his tone dropping into a dangerous, lethal register. "If my assistant or I catch a single wandering eye, a single whispered word, or a single hidden piece of paper, the consequences will be utterly catastrophic for your academic careers."

  He paused, letting the heavy threat sink into their minds. "And let me make one thing perfectly clear. If someone is caught cheating, the severe, unforgiving punishment will fall equally upon the student who stole the answer and the student who foolishly allowed their paper to be copied. There is absolutely no mercy, and no room, for thieves or their weak enablers in the legal profession."

  Hearing that terrifying, absolute threat of mutual academic destruction, Marek and Felix simultaneously gulped loudly. Their faces turned a slightly sickly shade of pale as they instinctively shifted their chairs slightly further apart from each other, ensuring there could be absolutely no misunderstandings.

  However, sitting right next to them, Erwin and Samuel remained completely unfazed by the dramatic threat. Their postures were perfectly straight, their expressions entirely relaxed and confident.

  They had spent the entire previous week engaging in highly intense, deeply exhausting, and incredibly thorough study sessions. They had completely locked themselves in the quiet corners of the campus library to relentlessly master every single obscure nuance of the criminal code. They had absolutely nothing to fear from a piece of paper, and they certainly didn't need to steal answers from anyone else.

  The sweating teaching assistant finally finished distributing the very last booklet to the back row and scurried back to the front of the room. Professor Falkenberg looked down at his antique silver pocket watch, noting that they still had exactly two minutes before the official start time. He closed the watch with a sharp click and looked directly into the middle rows of the lecture hall.

  "Before we begin this gauntlet, I wish to take a brief moment to address a rather unusual, highly impressive occurrence that took place outside of this academic institution over the weekend," Professor Falkenberg stated. His normally harsh, unforgiving tone softened just a microscopic fraction.

  He locked his sharp eyes directly with Erwin. "Mr. von Stahlberg. I was informed by highly reliable federal sources that you successfully closed your very first major case while serving under the legal internship of Dr. Alaric Hohenberg."

  The professor nodded slowly, a sign of genuine, rare respect. "I was told that your team managed to completely shatter a corrupt state prosecution, expose a massive perjury conspiracy, and free an innocent man facing a life sentence."

  A collective, shocked gasp rippled quietly through the massive lecture hall. The hundreds of students all turned their heads to stare at Erwin with a complex mixture of profound awe, deep professional jealousy, and immense, undeniable respect.

  Suddenly, Samuel started clapping his hands loudly. Marek, Felix, Ryo, and Jonas immediately joined in with massive, proud smiles on their faces. Within seconds, the entire lecture hall erupted into a loud, genuine, and thunderous round of applause for their brilliant, high achieving classmate. Even the notoriously strict Professor Falkenberg allowed a small, highly approving nod of respect from the podium.

  Erwin felt a slight, unfamiliar flush of heat touch his cheeks. He was entirely unused to receiving such loud, public praise, especially from a man as terrifyingly demanding as Professor Falkenberg.

  He slowly stood up from his chair, offering a deep, highly respectful, and incredibly polite bow to the professor, and then a slightly smaller bow to his cheering classmates.

  "Thank you all very much," Erwin said smoothly, his deep voice carrying a tone of absolute, grounded humility. "I deeply appreciate the moral support. But I assure you, I merely played a very small part in a much larger, highly coordinated team effort."

  He sat back down gracefully, internally validated by the respect, but entirely focused on the monumental task sitting face down on the desk in front of him. He pushed the praise out of his mind, completely locking into his analytical zone.

  The massive analog clock hanging on the white wall at the front of the hall finally clicked loudly, the long black hand striking exactly nine o'clock.

  "The time is now nine," Professor Falkenberg announced coldly, the brief moment of warmth and celebration completely vanishing from the room in an instant. "You may turn over your examination booklets. You have exactly three hours. Begin."

  The loud, collective rustling of hundreds of thick paper booklets being flipped over simultaneously echoed through the silent room like a sudden, violent gust of wind. Every single student immediately picked up their pens, their eyes desperately scanning the dense, incredibly complex blocks of text printed on the very first page of the exam.

  They all knew they had to read every single hypothetical scenario with absolute, microscopic precision, desperately searching for any hidden loopholes, contradictory precedents, or fatal legal traps the brilliant professor had meticulously woven into the wording.

  Sitting near the front row, Helena Weissman stared down at the very first question of the exam. Her perfectly manicured fingernails tapped nervously against the wooden desk as her eyes scanned the dense, terrifyingly confusing paragraph.

  The question presented a highly complex, incredibly nuanced maritime smuggling scenario. It described a young man working as a low level, entry tier cargo inspector aboard a massive commercial shipping vessel. His strictly defined contractual duty was to visually inspect the massive steel shipping containers one by one as they were slowly loaded onto the deck of the ship.

  However, his official employment contract explicitly, in bold lettering, forbade him from breaking the federal customs seals or looking deeply inside the cargo itself to verify the contents. He was only legally authorized by his corporate superiors to check the exterior structural integrity of the metal boxes for dents or rust.

  The hypothetical scenario continued, explaining that midway through the international voyage, the commercial vessel was suddenly intercepted and aggressively boarded by armed federal maritime authorities acting on an anonymous tip.

  Upon forcefully breaking the seals and searching the cargo hold, the authorities discovered a staggering two tons of highly illegal, tightly packed narcotics hidden deep inside one of the containers the young inspector had previously signed off on with his clipboard.

  The young sailor was immediately arrested, violently thrown into federal custody, and formally indicted by a ruthless state prosecutor on severe charges of international drug smuggling and massive criminal trafficking.

  The final sentence of the question demanded a conclusive, legally binding answer supported by case law. It asked, based on the federal maritime statutes and the strict, documented limitations of his employment contract, is the low level cargo inspector legally guilty of the severe criminal charges brought against him, or is he entirely innocent?

  Helena felt a cold, paralyzing wave of pure, unadulterated panic completely wash over her body. She stared blankly at the words blurring together on the page, her mind spinning in terrified, chaotic circles.

  She absolutely didn't know the answer. She couldn't remember the specific maritime precedents regarding international waters, and she had absolutely no idea how to legally weigh the strict contractual limitations of a corporation against the massive, overwhelming weight of the federal drug charges. She felt completely lost, entirely overwhelmed by the brutal, unforgiving complexity of the scenario.

  Meanwhile, sitting just two rows directly behind her struggling form, Erwin von Stahlberg was reading the exact same complex, convoluted paragraph. However, unlike Helena and the rest of the panicking students sweating in the hall, Erwin did not feel a single ounce of fear or confusion.

  As his dark, calculating eyes smoothly scanned the dense text, he felt an incredible, profound sense of absolute, terrifying calmness wash entirely over his mind.

  As he read the words printed on the cheap exam paper, the crowded, noisy, and stressful lecture hall completely faded away from his consciousness. He was no longer a student sitting at a wooden desk in a university.

  In his brilliant, highly focused mind, he was standing directly in the center of a massive, echoing federal courtroom. He could vividly see the terrified young sailor sitting at the heavy wooden defense table, his hands shaking in cuffs. He could clearly see the aggressive, arrogant prosecutor standing at the podium, pointing an accusing finger. He could feel the heavy, oppressive weight of the judge's biased gaze bearing down on him from the high bench.

  Erwin knew exactly how to completely dismantle this specific trap. He understood the intricate, deeply hidden nuances of this exact type of corporate logistics nightmare perfectly, because he had spent the last several months being rigorously, brutally trained by Dr. Alaric Hohenberg himself.

  The legendary ghost advocate had relentlessly drilled it into Erwin's brain that in highly complex, multi layered federal cases exactly like this one, the corrupt prosecution always tries to rely on the sheer, terrifying shock value of the massive drug quantity to blindly force a quick guilty verdict from an emotional jury.

  But a true advocate never falls for the cheap emotional theatrics. A true advocate always remains cold, and relentlessly attacks the foundational paperwork.

  Erwin smiled a very faint, incredibly dangerous smile that did not reach his eyes. He knew with absolute, unshakeable certainty that the low level cargo inspector was completely, unequivocally innocent of the massive smuggling charges.

  The prosecution's entire argument was fundamentally and fatally flawed. The sailor was merely following the incredibly strict, legally binding procedural inspection protocols explicitly mandated by his corporate superiors. These strict limitations were undeniably codified and cemented within the legal parameters of his employment contract.

  Because he explicitly did not possess the legal authority to break the customs seals, he could not legally verify the contents. That single, undeniable contractual fact completely eradicated the foundational requirement of knowing criminal intent or willful blindness. You cannot be willfully blind if you are legally forbidden from opening your eyes.

  Erwin uncapped his sleek black pen and pressed the fine tip firmly against the lined paper. He didn't hesitate for a single, microscopic second.

  He began to write out his answer with incredible, flowing speed and devastating, flawless legal precision. He meticulously broke down the entire complex scenario piece by piece, citing the exact federal maritime statutes from memory. He brilliantly dissected the absolute supremacy of the employment contract limitations over the vague assumptions of the state, utterly destroying the imaginary prosecutor's weak legal arguments with cold, hard logic.

  He wrote paragraphs upon paragraphs of brilliant, irrefutable legal analysis, explaining the exact, microscopic nuances of strict corporate liability versus low level procedural compliance.

  As his pen glided smoothly across the white pages, completely filling the empty space with complex, highly structured legal arguments, Erwin felt a profound, heavy sense of personal responsibility settle over his shoulders.

  He finally understood exactly why Professor Falkenberg made these exams so incredibly difficult and utterly ruthless. In the safe, sterile environment of a university classroom, a wrong answer simply meant a failing grade marked in red ink on a piece of paper.

  But out there in the real, unforgiving world, in the dark, terrifying courtrooms where men like Dr. Alaric fought their bloody, high stakes wars, a single, tiny misstep in legal logic could easily cost an innocent human being their entire life and freedom.

  Erwin absolutely refused to ever make a misstep. He wrote his answer flawlessly, completely ready to prove to the entire world that he was a terrifying, unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

  Question by question, case by case, the brutal examination was systematically dismantled by Erwin's brilliant mind. Professor Dietriech Falkenberg had absolutely no intention of providing his students with easy, straightforward legal scenarios. The elderly academic tyrant demanded nothing less than absolute perfection. He forced his aspiring lawyers to analyze incredibly complex, multi-layered federal indictments with a microscopic level of precision.

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  Falkenberg knew that in the real, unforgiving world of the justice system, a single, tiny misinterpretation of a criminal statute could easily result in an innocent human being suffering behind bars for a crime they did not commit. Erwin understood that terrifying reality better than anyone else in the room. After successfully saving Emmanuel from the gallows in Feldringen, Erwin absolutely refused to let a single loophole slip past his sharp, calculating eyes.

  Meanwhile, on the complete opposite side of the sprawling university campus, the atmosphere inside the grand Faculty of Psychology was equally tense and suffocating. The terrifying weight of the final semester examinations was not an exclusive burden carried only by the law students. The psychology undergraduates were also fighting their own desperate, exhausting academic battles.

  Walking hurriedly down the brightly lit, sun-drenched corridors of the faculty building were Aoi and her energetic roommate, Kana. They were marching straight toward the examination halls, deeply immersed in a rapid-fire, highly stressful academic review.

  Aoi was clutching a massive, heavy textbook to her chest, constantly throwing out complex psychological terms and behavioral theories to keep Kana's exhausted mind sharp before they entered the room.

  "Alright, let us try one more scenario before we reach the classroom," Aoi suggested. She flipped to a dog-eared page in her textbook, her dark eyes scanning the dense paragraphs as they walked. "If a young patient exhibits highly aggressive, disruptive behavior exclusively in a controlled school environment, but remains completely docile and withdrawn at home, what is the primary diagnostic focus?"

  Kana groaned loudly, rubbing her tired temples with her free hand as she struggled to recall the specific lectures from three weeks ago. "Oh, come on, Aoi. My brain is already completely fried from memorizing the developmental stages," Kana complained, her voice trembling with nervous exhaustion.

  She took a deep breath, trying to piece the answer together while navigating the crowded hallway. "Is it... is it a form of localized oppositional defiant disorder triggered by academic stress?"

  Aoi let out a bright, musical laugh, shaking her head gently as she closed the heavy textbook. "You are incredibly close, but that is technically incorrect," Aoi explained patiently, her voice carrying the warm, soothing tone of a natural counselor.

  "The primary focus shouldn't immediately jump to a behavioral disorder. You have to investigate the home environment first," Aoi detailed smoothly. "The sudden shift in behavior is usually a massive red flag for hidden domestic trauma or emotional neglect. They act out at school because it is the only place they actually feel safe enough to express their negative emotions."

  Kana let out a dramatic, frustrated groan, throwing her hands up in the air in pure defeat. "I am going to completely fail this exam," she whined pathetically, making Aoi laugh even harder at her friend's exaggerated despair.

  As Aoi turned her head to offer Kana a comforting smile, completely distracted by their academic banter, she failed to notice the tall figure walking directly out of the adjacent seminar room. Aoi crashed squarely into the student's chest.

  The sudden, unexpected impact knocked the wind out of her lungs and sent the massive stack of heavy psychology textbooks tumbling out of her arms. The thick volumes hit the polished marble floor with a loud, echoing thud, scattering her meticulously organized notes everywhere across the corridor.

  "Oh my goodness, I am so incredibly sorry," Aoi gasped, her cheeks flushing with immediate embarrassment. She quickly dropped to her knees, frantically scrambling to gather her scattered papers and heavy books before they got trampled by the passing crowds. "I was not looking where I was going at all. Please forgive me."

  "There is absolutely no need to apologize. It was just an accident," a very calm, incredibly gentle, and sophisticated male voice replied from above her.

  Aoi looked up, her hands pausing over her scattered notes. Kneeling gracefully on the marble floor right across from her, already picking up her heavy textbooks with gentle, careful hands, was Erick Adlerhart.

  Erick was a highly prominent, incredibly well-known figure across the entire university campus. He was the sole heir and brilliant son of the powerful family that owned the largest, most prestigious mental health foundation in the entire nation of Hohenreich.

  The Adlerhart family had built an unimaginable fortune through groundbreaking pharmaceutical developments and elite neuropsychological research. However, unlike the arrogant, toxic corporate elites of Erwin's dark world, the Adlerhart family was widely beloved by the public.

  They were famous for using their massive wealth to generously fund completely free, high-quality psychological clinics specifically designed to treat the impoverished working-class citizens who could not afford proper healthcare.

  Erick possessed a kind, highly approachable face, with soft, intelligent eyes that always seemed to radiate a deep, genuine sense of human empathy. He gathered the last of Aoi's notes, organizing them neatly before handing the heavy stack back to her with a warm, polite smile.

  "I have absolutely no doubt that you are going to pass this semester with incredibly high marks, Aoi," Erick said softly, his voice carrying a soothing, melodic quality that instantly put people at ease. "You are always studying harder than anyone else in our cohort."

  Aoi felt a slight blush touch her cheeks at the unexpected, genuine compliment from the wealthy heir. She accepted the heavy books, clutching them safely to her chest as they both stood back up.

  "Thank you very much, Erick," Aoi replied with a bright, appreciative smile. "I certainly hope the professors agree with your assessment."

  The three of them began walking down the busy corridor together, navigating through the chaotic sea of nervous, cramming students. Erick walked with his hands casually tucked into the pockets of his expensive but understated cardigan. He glanced sideways at the massive, back-breaking stack of reading material Aoi was carrying.

  "I do have to ask, though," Erick began, his tone polite but genuinely curious. "Why do you always insist on carrying an entire library with you to every single class and examination? Surely you cannot read all of those pages before the professor hands out the test."

  Aoi let out a soft, slightly embarrassed sigh, shifting the heavy weight of the books in her arms. "It is honestly just a terrible nervous habit of mine," she admitted openly, looking down at the thick spines of the textbooks.

  "I always feel this overwhelming need to bring all the reference materials with me. I feel like if I constantly review the data, I can understand all the important variables," Aoi explained, her brow furrowing slightly. "The problem is, my mind has been incredibly clouded and distracted lately, making it very difficult for me to think clearly and process the raw logic of the theories."

  Kana, walking closely on Aoi's other side, immediately nudged her friend sharply in the ribs with her elbow. Kana didn't say a single word, but the highly expressive, knowing look on her face screamed the absolute truth.

  Kana knew perfectly well that Aoi's recent inability to focus had absolutely nothing to do with academic stress, and everything to do with a certain tall, handsome law student named Erwin von Stahlberg who constantly occupied her every waking thought.

  Erick noticed the subtle exchange between the two girls, but he politely chose not to pry into her personal life. Instead, he stopped walking for a brief moment, turning to face Aoi directly. His intelligent eyes softened, offering her a piece of profound, deeply personal advice that went far beyond the standard university curriculum.

  "You are a brilliant student, Aoi," Erick told her, his voice incredibly soft and remarkably sincere. "But I think you are putting far too much unnecessary pressure on yourself to memorize raw data. What you actually need right now is not to memorize every single theory, but to truly understand and internalize the human element behind them."

  Erick gestured gently toward the heavy books in her arms. "In the delicate, incredibly fragile world of psychology, raw logic and statistical data can only take us so far. What our patients truly require from us is genuine sympathy, and above all else, a profound, unshakeable sense of human empathy."

  He looked at her earnestly. "When we finally graduate and walk out into the real world, we are going to face countless broken individuals, each possessing completely different, highly complex personalities and hidden traumas. We cannot just rely on heavy books to fix them, right?"

  He offered her a kind, reassuring smile. "When you are sitting across from a crying patient whose entire world is falling apart, you absolutely cannot just rely on reciting paragraphs from those textbooks. You have to feel their pain. You have to connect with them on a purely human level."

  Aoi stood completely still in the middle of the bustling hallway, the profound weight of his incredibly wise words sinking deep into her heart. She suddenly realized the massive, fundamental mistake she had been making all week.

  She had been desperately trying to process human emotions using nothing but cold, rigid logic. She had been trying to analyze her own complicated feelings, her anxieties about Helena, and her overwhelming love for Erwin, as if they were just mathematical equations to be solved.

  "You are absolutely right," Aoi whispered, her dark eyes widening with a sudden, beautiful clarity. "I have been relying entirely on logic and ignoring the emotional core of the subject. Thank you, Erick. That is exactly what I needed to hear today."

  Erick smiled warmly, visibly pleased that his advice had reached her. However, before they parted ways, a subtle, uncharacteristic hesitation flickered in his intelligent eyes. He shifted his weight slightly, his tone becoming just a fraction more careful and deliberate.

  "Since the semester is officially coming to a close this week," Erick asked, trying to keep his voice entirely casual, "do you happen to have any special plans for the upcoming holiday break, Aoi?"

  Aoi blinked in genuine surprise, completely caught off guard by the sudden, highly personal question. Her eyes widened slightly as she instantly realized the subtle, underlying implication hiding just beneath his polite, sophisticated words.

  It sounded very much like the wealthy, highly respected heir was gently attempting to ask her out or invite her somewhere during the upcoming break.

  Aoi immediately felt a powerful, protective warmth bloom inside her chest as the handsome, tired face of her boyfriend instantly filled her mind. She thought about the beautiful, unbreakable promise they had made on the train platform under the starlit sky, and the tickets to Altkanz he was currently purchasing.

  "I am actually going to be traveling," Aoi explained softly but with absolute, unshakeable firmness, ensuring there was no room for any romantic misunderstandings. "I already made a very important promise to someone, and we are going to be spending the entire holiday together."

  Erick's gentle smile faltered for just a microscopic fraction of a second, a fleeting flash of quiet disappointment crossing his eyes. However, true to his incredibly polite, well-bred nature, he recovered instantly.

  He offered a gracious, understanding nod, completely respecting her boundaries without pushing any further. "I understand completely," Erick replied smoothly, his tone remaining incredibly warm and supportive. "I truly hope you have a wonderful, relaxing trip. You certainly deserve a break after all your hard work."

  Before the conversation could linger any further, Kana urgently tapped Aoi on the shoulder. Kana frantically pointed down at the digital clock glowing brightly on the screen of her smartphone. The numbers clearly indicated that they only had three minutes left before the heavy doors of the examination hall were permanently locked.

  "We really have to go right now, Aoi, or we are going to be completely locked out of the exam!" Kana panicked, grabbing Aoi by the wrist and physically pulling her down the hallway toward Room C.307.

  Aoi stumbled slightly as she was dragged away, turning her head to look back at the wealthy heir. "Thank you again for the wonderful advice, Erick! Good luck on your exams!" she called out over her shoulder.

  "Good luck to you as well, Aoi!" Erick called back, waving politely as he watched the two girls disappear into the chaotic crowd of rushing students.

  The heavy, terrifying ticking of the wall clocks echoed mercilessly through the examination halls across the entire university campus. Hour after agonizing hour slowly dragged by, turning the bright morning into a tense, exhausting afternoon.

  Inside the heavily monitored confines of Room C.307, Aoi and the rest of her tight-knit study circle were fighting for their academic lives. They sat hunched over their small wooden desks, their hands cramping painfully as their pens flew across the blank white pages of their examination booklets.

  Aoi had managed to navigate the first half of the brutal exam with relative ease. She answered all the rigid, theoretical questions flawlessly, providing incredibly detailed, comprehensive explanations for the standard psychological concepts. Her memory served her perfectly for the clinical definitions.

  However, as she finally turned the page to tackle the final section of the test, she hit a massive, terrifying mental wall. The last two questions were incredibly complex, highly convoluted case studies involving deeply traumatized patients.

  The hypothetical scenarios were written in a confusing, ambiguous manner, completely lacking the clear, defining symptoms she had memorized from her thick textbooks. The clinical reference books she had dragged around all week offered absolutely no clear, logical solution to these specific, messy human problems.

  Aoi stared blankly at the page, a cold knot of rising panic tightening in her stomach. The clock was ticking, and her logical, analytical mind was drawing a complete, terrifying blank.

  But then, as she took a deep, shaky breath, she suddenly remembered the gentle, incredibly wise words Erick had spoken to her in the hallway just a few hours ago.

  She remembered his advice to stop relying entirely on raw data and to truly internalize the human element of the pain. She needed to stop trying to solve the patient like a math problem, and start feeling their trauma like a human being.

  Aoi closed her eyes tightly. She pushed all the rigid academic theories, the complex statistical data, and the strict clinical definitions entirely out of her mind. She tapped into her own profound, boundless well of human empathy, visualizing the hypothetical patients as real, breathing people sitting across from her, crying out for help.

  The absolute second she abandoned cold logic and embraced pure, unadulterated emotional empathy, the massive mental block completely shattered. The confusing, ambiguous symptoms listed on the paper suddenly made perfect, heartbreaking sense.

  The answers began to flow into her mind like a gentle, illuminating river. She opened her eyes, uncapped her pen, and began to write with incredible, unstoppable fluidity, detailing a beautiful, highly compassionate, and deeply effective psychological treatment plan.

  At that exact same moment, far across the sprawling campus, sitting in the terrifying, dead-silent lecture hall monitored by Professor Falkenberg, Erwin von Stahlberg was experiencing a completely different kind of academic triumph.

  While the rest of the aspiring law students in the room were sweating profusely, silently cursing the professor, and completely buckling under the suffocating, terrifying pressure of the complex criminal scenarios, Erwin was absolutely thriving.

  He had already completely dismantled and solved every single brutal legal trap on the paper. He sat perfectly still in his wooden chair, his dark eyes scanning over his flawless, incredibly detailed answers with a profound sense of absolute, terrifying satisfaction.

  While the other students viewed these complex legal cases as an exhausting, cruel academic punishment, Erwin saw them as something entirely different. He found the intricate, deadly chess game of the law to be incredibly fascinating.

  The sheer, ruthless complexity of finding the hidden truth buried beneath mountains of corporate lies and manipulative state indictments completely exhilarated his brilliant mind.

  He placed his pen down softly on the wooden desk, a cold, highly confident smirk playing on his lips. The brutal exam was supposed to break them, but all it did was make Erwin violently hungry for more challenges. He was completely, undeniably ready for whatever massive, bloody corporate war awaited him next.

  The heavy, suffocating weight of the academic gauntlet had finally lifted completely from the sprawling, sun-drenched campus of the university. The final, echoing bell had rung across the historic courtyards, signaling the absolute, definitive end of the brutal examination week. A collective, massive sigh of profound physical and mental relief seemed to wash over the entire student body of Hohenwald, completely chasing away the lingering clouds of stress and sleep deprivation.

  For Erwin and Aoi, the beautiful transition from grueling academic terror to pure, unadulterated freedom was nothing short of intoxicating. The terrifying criminal law scenarios and the complex psychological case studies were officially behind them, locked away in the grading folders of their strict professors.

  The warm, golden light of the late afternoon sun was currently pouring through the large glass windows of Aoi's modest campus apartment. The gentle spring breeze carried the sweet, floral scent of the blooming cherry blossoms from the courtyard below, filling the small living space with a deeply comforting, peaceful atmosphere.

  Aoi was standing near her open canvas suitcase, carefully folding a collection of thick, comfortable knitted sweaters and soft cotton dresses. A bright, incredibly genuine smile was completely plastered across her beautiful face, entirely erasing the dark, exhausted circles that had plagued her eyes just a few days prior.

  "I honestly still cannot believe we actually survived that horrific week," Aoi laughed softly, her musical voice completely filling the quiet apartment. She placed a neatly folded scarf into the corner of the suitcase, shaking her head in lingering disbelief. "When I opened the final page of that psychology exam and saw those two massive, convoluted case studies, my heart practically stopped beating. I genuinely thought I was going to fail the entire semester right then and there."

  Erwin was sitting casually on the edge of her unmade bed, completely stripped of his usual intimidating, formal legal attire. He was wearing a simple, incredibly soft dark grey cashmere sweater and comfortable trousers, looking more relaxed and at peace than he had in months.

  He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his sharp, handsome features entirely softened by a look of profound, unconditional adoration as he watched her happily pack her belongings.

  "But you didn't fail," Erwin reminded her, his deep, soothing baritone voice vibrating with immense pride. "You completely conquered it. You stepped back, you evaluated the human element of the trauma just like Erick advised you, and you solved the clinical puzzle flawlessly. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that you are going to receive one of the highest grades in your entire cohort."

  Aoi turned around to face him, a soft, beautiful blush touching her cheeks at his unwavering confidence in her brilliant mind. She walked over to the edge of the bed and gently wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, burying her face into the crook of his warm neck.

  "And what about you, Mr. Ruthless Advocate?" Aoi teased gently, her breath ghosting warmly against his skin. "Did Professor Falkenberg finally manage to completely break your incredibly stubborn, calculating spirit with his infamous maritime smuggling scenarios?"

  Erwin chuckled softly, his large hands reaching up to gently wrap around her slender waist, pulling her even closer against his chest. The deep, rumbling sound of his laughter was the most comforting melody in the entire world to her.

  "The old academic tyrant certainly tried his absolute best to corner us," Erwin admitted casually, resting his chin delicately on top of her dark hair. "He wove a very clever, highly deceptive trap regarding corporate liability and willful blindness. But unfortunately for him, Dr. Alaric spent the entire month aggressively drilling those exact same obscure federal statutes into my skull until I could practically recite them backwards in my sleep. The exam was brutally long, but the logic was entirely flawed from the prosecution's side. I dismantled it completely."

  Aoi pulled back just slightly, looking deeply into his dark, beautiful eyes. She saw the lingering spark of fierce, competitive intellect shining there, but it was completely enveloped by a massive, overwhelming ocean of pure, protective love for her.

  "You are absolutely incredible, Erwin," Aoi whispered softly, gently reaching up to trace the sharp line of his jaw with her thumb. "You saved Emmanuel from a life in federal prison, you destroyed a multi-billion derhom corporate conspiracy, and then you casually walked into an exam hall and aced the hardest criminal law test in the university. Is there absolutely anything you cannot do?"

  Erwin leaned into her gentle touch, a soft, incredibly genuine smile completely transforming his usually stoic, intimidating face. He reached up and gently caught her hand, pressing a soft, lingering kiss against the inside of her palm.

  "I cannot wait another single second to leave this noisy, chaotic city and finally be alone with you," Erwin replied, his voice dropping into an incredibly intimate, deeply romantic register that made her heart flutter wildly against her ribs.

  He stood up from the bed, wrapping his arms securely around her waist. "The train tickets to Altkanz are already safely tucked into the inner pocket of my coat. The luxury cabin is completely reserved. We are going to spend the next two entire weeks surrounded by beautiful snow-capped mountains, drinking hot cocoa by a warm fireplace, and completely forgetting that the rest of the world even exists."

  Aoi beamed, her dark eyes shining with pure, unadulterated joy. She leaned up and pressed a sweet, passionate kiss perfectly against his lips, pouring all of her profound love and overwhelming gratitude into the simple, beautiful contact.

  "Then we better finish packing these bags right now," Aoi murmured against his lips with a playful, breathless smile. "Because if we miss that train, I am going to hold you entirely personally responsible for ruining my mountain vacation."

  "I would absolutely never let that happen," Erwin promised her, his dark eyes filled with absolute, unwavering devotion.

  While the young, beautiful couple laughed and packed their suitcases in the warm, golden glow of the late afternoon sun, completely wrapped in their own peaceful, romantic universe, a deeply sinister, suffocating darkness was quietly and deliberately gathering far above the bustling streets of the capital city.

  In the very center of the elite commercial district of Hohenwald, piercing straight through the clouds like a massive, terrifying spear of dark glass and cold steel, stood the towering headquarters of Stahlberg Industries.

  It was the absolute apex of extreme corporate power, a physical, undeniable monument to ruthless, unchecked capitalist domination. And sitting at the very top of that terrifying tower, inside a massive, sprawling penthouse office that looked out over the entire sprawling city, was Klaus von Stahlberg.

  The air inside the massive, luxurious office was incredibly cold, sterile, and entirely devoid of any human warmth. The sprawling floor was covered in expensive, imported black marble that gleamed like a dark mirror, and the massive floor-to-ceiling windows offered a dizzying, terrifying view of the microscopic people scurrying like insignificant ants on the concrete streets far below.

  Klaus von Stahlberg was sitting perfectly still behind a massive, custom-built desk carved entirely from a single block of polished black obsidian. He was wearing an impeccably tailored, three-piece charcoal suit that cost more than a normal citizen's entire house. His silver hair was perfectly swept back, and his sharp, aristocratic features looked as if they had been coldly chiseled from a solid block of freezing ice.

  The heavy, soundproof oak doors of the penthouse office suddenly opened with a soft, expensive, and highly controlled click.

  Stepping into the freezing, intimidating silence of the massive room was Elias Thorne, the chief intelligence director and head corporate fixer for the entire Stahlberg conglomerate. Elias was a tall, unnervingly quiet man wearing a dark suit, his eyes completely devoid of any moral hesitation. He was the man Klaus called when massive problems needed to quietly, violently disappear.

  Elias walked across the black marble floor, his expensive leather shoes making absolutely no sound at all. He stopped exactly three feet away from the edge of the obsidian desk and offered a stiff, highly respectful bow.

  "Sir," Elias began, his voice completely flat, professional, and entirely devoid of any emotion. "I apologize for the sudden interruption, but we have a highly significant, rapidly deteriorating situation currently developing in the rural agricultural sector. It requires your immediate, undivided attention."

  Klaus did not look up. He continued to elegantly sign a massive, multi-million derhom acquisition contract with his expensive silver fountain pen, his hand moving with ruthless, practiced precision.

  "Speak, Elias," Klaus ordered. His voice was a low, terrifying rumble that carried the absolute, unquestionable authority of a corporate monarch. "I do not pay you millions of derhom every year to speak in vague, mysterious riddles. Give me the exact intelligence."

  Elias reached into his dark jacket and pulled out a thick, heavily classified leather dossier. He placed it carefully onto the pristine surface of the obsidian desk, sliding it gently toward his ruthless employer.

  "The intelligence report details the catastrophic, highly public collapse of the GreenForm Incorporated land acquisition strategy in the city of Feldringen," Elias reported smoothly, stepping back into a rigid, professional posture. "Their carefully constructed murder trial completely imploded in a federal courtroom yesterday afternoon."

  Klaus finally stopped writing. He slowly capped his silver fountain pen and placed it down onto the desk, his cold, calculating eyes slowly shifting toward the thick leather folder.

  "GreenForm is a massive, multi-billion derhom energy conglomerate," Klaus stated coldly, his tone dripping with an elitist, condescending disdain for failure. "They utilized highly paid, heavily connected local prosecutors and successfully bribed two primary state eyewitnesses. They essentially owned that entire rural courtroom. How exactly does an airtight, heavily funded corporate conspiracy like that completely and totally collapse?"

  "They were completely outmaneuvered and systematically destroyed by the defense team, sir," Elias explained, his flat voice betraying a faint, microscopic trace of professional awe. "The defense managed to illegally hack and secure encrypted municipal transit footage, perfectly proving the defendant's geographical alibi to the absolute second. They then aggressively weaponized federal constitutional procedures to entirely paralyze the biased judge."

  Elias paused for a brief, heavy second before delivering the ultimate, devastating blow. "The sheer psychological pressure they applied was so intense and terrifying that the two paid corporate witnesses completely broke down. They openly confessed to the bribery and committed perjury directly on the official federal record. GreenForm's CEO is currently in a state of absolute, unmitigated panic. Federal subpoenas are already being drafted."

  Klaus slowly picked up the leather folder, opening it with deliberate, unhurried movements. His sharp eyes scanned the highly classified intelligence reports, reading the exact details of the brutal courtroom slaughter.

  "Dr. Alaric Hohenberg is certainly a massive, irritating thorn in the side of the corporate elite," Klaus murmured softly, his eyes scanning the dense text. "I am not entirely surprised that the old ghost advocate managed to find a clever loophole in their sloppy, arrogant strategy. GreenForm always was a blunt, unrefined instrument."

  "With all due respect, sir," Elias interrupted gently, knowing that he was treading on incredibly dangerous, explosive ground. "According to our heavily embedded sources inside the courtroom, Dr. Alaric did not actually deliver the killing blow."

  Klaus stopped reading. He slowly lifted his head, his terrifying, ice-cold eyes locking directly onto his intelligence director with a gaze that could physically freeze blood.

  "Explain yourself, Elias," Klaus commanded, his voice dropping into a dangerously quiet, lethal register.

  Elias swallowed hard, maintaining his professional composure under the crushing, oppressive weight of his employer's terrifying gaze.

  "It was your son, sir," Elias revealed the absolute truth, his words hanging heavily in the freezing air of the penthouse. "Erwin von Stahlberg was the primary architectural mastermind behind the entire collapse. He was the one who meticulously calculated the fatal time discrepancies. He was the one who utilized the offshore banking transcripts to completely terrorize the state prosecutor into absolute silence."

  Elias gestured toward the open folder. "Dr. Alaric merely provided the legal cover and the theatrical stage. Erwin was the hidden blade that actually slit GreenForm's throat in that courtroom. He has forged himself into a terrifyingly effective, incredibly lethal legal weapon."

  Klaus stared at Elias for a long, heavy, and absolutely silent minute. He didn't scream. He didn't slam his fists against the heavy obsidian desk in a fit of rage. He didn't throw the expensive leather folder across the massive room.

  Instead, a profound, chillingly calm realization completely washed over his sharp, aristocratic features.

  For the past several months, Klaus had genuinely, arrogantly believed that Erwin was merely throwing a prolonged, childish, and pathetic tantrum. He had assumed his son was simply playing a foolish, idealistic game of defense attorney for the poor and impoverished, a brief rebellion that would eventually crumble under the harsh, starving realities of the real world.

  He had assumed Dr. Alaric was just using the powerful Stahlberg name as a cheap, political prop to annoy the corporate elite.

  But reading this detailed, highly classified intelligence report, looking at the sheer, brutal, and flawless destruction his son had just casually unleashed upon a massive energy conglomerate, Klaus suddenly realized he had made a massive, fatal miscalculation.

  Erwin was not playing a game. He was not a lost, rebellious child throwing a tantrum. Erwin had completely absorbed the ruthless, cold, and highly calculating predatory instincts of the Stahlberg bloodline, but he had aggressively turned those lethal weapons directly against the very corporate empire that created him.

  If Erwin was brilliant, cold, and ruthless enough to single-handedly dismantle and destroy the entire GreenForm executive board on his very first attempt, it was only a matter of time before he turned his terrifying, unblinking legal crosshairs directly toward Stahlberg Industries.

  Erwin was no longer just a disappointing, runaway heir. He had officially crossed the invisible line. He was now an active, highly lethal, and existential threat to the entire elite corporate ecosystem that Klaus had spent his entire life building with blood and dark money.

  A deeply sinister, freezing cold darkness completely swallowed Klaus's eyes. The brief, lingering traces of paternal leniency entirely vanished from his soul, completely replaced by the terrifying, monstrous survival instincts of an apex corporate predator. You do not allow a wild, uncontrollable fire to spread near your empire. You extinguish the spark with extreme, absolute prejudice before it burns the entire forest to the ground.

  "Leave me, Elias," Klaus ordered softly, his voice completely devoid of any human emotion.

  Elias offered a deep, silent bow of absolute obedience. He turned around and walked briskly out of the massive office, the heavy oak doors clicking shut behind him, leaving the corporate monarch entirely alone in his freezing, glass tower.

  Klaus stood up slowly from his heavy leather chair. He walked with slow, highly deliberate steps across the gleaming black marble floor, stopping exactly at the edge of the massive, floor-to-ceiling glass window.

  He looked down at the sprawling, bustling capital city of Hohenwald far below him. The city looked incredibly small and insignificant from his towering vantage point. He could see the tiny, distant trains moving along the tracks, completely unaware that his son was currently preparing to board one of them for a peaceful, romantic holiday.

  A cold, utterly terrifying, and deeply sinister smile slowly curved the corners of Klaus's lips. It was the smile of a monster completely ready to devour its own young to protect its hoard of gold.

  Klaus reached into the inner pocket of his tailored charcoal suit and pulled out a sleek, heavily encrypted black smartphone. He bypassed the standard corporate networks entirely, dialing a highly secure, untraceable private number that only a handful of the most dangerous, ruthless men in the entire country possessed.

  He held the phone to his ear, listening to the hollow, echoing ring tone as he stared blankly out at the darkening horizon. The line finally clicked open, connecting him to a dark, unseen entity hiding deep within the criminal underworld of the capital.

  "It appears my wayward son has entirely forgotten his place in the natural order of this world," Klaus spoke into the encrypted receiver, his voice echoing with absolute, terrifying authority. "He genuinely believes he can play the righteous hero and disrupt the corporate ecosystem without facing the absolute, devastating consequences."

  Klaus placed his free hand flat against the freezing, thick glass of the window, his dark eyes narrowing into lethal, predatory slits.

  "It is officially time to brutally remind him exactly who truly rules this city, and who controls his absolute destiny," Klaus commanded softly, giving the dark, unforgiving order that would completely shatter his son's peaceful life and ignite a massive, bloody war. "Prepare the hounds. Burn his little shadow vanguard to the ground, and take away everything he holds dear. Leave absolutely nothing left but ashes."