Noah Stirling, a disgraced noble heir, fails his Dark Core response test and is publicly declared a 'dead core.' His cousin cruelly taunts him before his fiancée, a woman from the Ashcroft family, publicly ends their engagement, stating she will not marry a failure. Under pressure, Noah is ordered to kneel, renounce his title, and surrender his family heirlooms. Instead, he accepts the annulment but defiantly keeps the ring and challenges the superior 'Silver Star,' Aiden, to a duel at the Stipricus Academy in three months. Aiden mockingly accepts, setting the stage for a seemingly impossible confrontation.