Byron rushed to the edge of the cliff, nearly slipping on loose gravel as he skidded to a stop. Pebbles rattled and fell, vanishing into the sea of green far below. He leaned forward, hands on his knees, and peered down through the fractured canopy.
Far beneath them, a lone figure was already moving.
A boy with black hair, a katana at his waist, sprinting across the forest floor as if the rest of the world had ceased to exist. His coat fluttered behind him, his steps light and precise, cutting between roots and fallen trunks like he had walked this terrain a thousand times before.
Straight toward Zone 26.
"No way… No way, no way, no way—!" Byron shouted, voice cracking. "Did he really just leave!?!?"
"It's more like he abandoned us," Alya replied, arms folded, though even she couldn't hide the brief flicker of disbelief in her emerald eyes.
The wind swept across the cliff, tugging at their clothes and rustling the treetops far below. Adam didn't slow. He didn't look back. Not even once.
He had simply… gone.
"…He didn't even say goodbye," Byron muttered weakly.
Elliot gawked over the edge. "Is he insane!? We're supposed to move as a squad! That's literally the point of—of—squads!"
Lily squinted. "He probably decided it was faster without dead weight."
"HEY!" Elliot snapped.
Alya didn't join in. Her gaze had drifted from Adam's disappearing form to the small lion-crested device clutched in Byron's hands.
The Turris.
The weight of it suddenly felt very real.
I probably should take that, she thought. Leaving it with him is… objectively a terrible idea.
"Byron," she said carefully, forcing a calm smile. "Why don't you give me the Turris for now?"
Byron straightened like a soldier being addressed by a general. "I can't do that."
"…Why not?"
"Because Adam gave it to me. Which means he chose me as leader."
Lily raised an eyebrow. "Or he just didn't want the responsibility."
"That's not true!" Byron protested. "Adam's a genius. He's always thinking five steps ahead. There has to be some deep strategic reason he did this."
The three of them stared at him.
No, he really just didn't want to do it, all three thought in unison.
"I am the squad leader," Byron declared proudly, closing his eyes and thumping his chest.
The Turris slipped.
It slid from his fingers, tipped over the edge of his palm, and began to fall.
Time froze.
The small relic spun in the air, the carved lion crest catching sunlight as it rotated once… twice… directly toward the cliff's edge.
Byron's soul left his body.
"NO NO NO NO NO—!"
He dove forward, arms flailing, barely managing to snatch it an inch before it vanished into the abyss. He lay there for a second, chest heaving, fingers clenched so tightly around the Turris that his knuckles turned white.
"…Ha… haha… okay… okay… we're good… nobody panic…"
Then the air behind him changed.
It felt like standing in front of a drawn blade.
Heavy pressure. Sharp. Focused.
Byron slowly turned.
Alya, Elliot, and Lily stood behind him.
Alya's polite smile was gone. Elliot's face was pale with stress. Lily's ruby eyes were glowing faintly, her hands trembling—not with fear, but with barely restrained anger.
"Give. It. To. Me." Lily said, each word squeezed through clenched teeth.
Byron swallowed.
"…I suddenly don't want to be team leader anymore."
He gently placed the Turris into Alya's hands.
Alya exhaled in relief and immediately knelt, unrolling the assignment map on the ground. The others gathered around her.
"This is our current position," she said, pointing. "Adam is already halfway to Zone 26. Before we follow him—or chase him—we need to decide where to plant the Turris."
"Wouldn't it be smarter to scout first?" Lily asked. "We don't know what kind of Djinn we're going to run into."
Elliot nodded. "Yeah, I'd rather not run into something the size of a building without warning."
Alya hesitated.
Far below them—
Adam moved like a shadow through the trees.
"Roboro."
Arcane energy surged through his legs, doubling his speed. The forest blurred. His senses expanded, Sensus rippling outward like invisible sonar, mapping every hostile presence, every flicker of arcane core, every distortion in the air.
Something lunged.
A goblin-sized Djinn burst from the brush, its body flickering like unstable flame.
Adam canceled Roboro.
"Roboro."
This time, the energy flowed into his arm.
He pivoted, stepped in, and punched.
The impact was precise. The Djinn's core shattered, and it dissolved into glowing ash, scattering between the roots.
"A Mugio," Adam muttered
Back on the cliff—
"We can see at least three types from here," Lily said, eyes scanning the distant. "I can see a lot of Mugio's, a few Gigas, and Belua's."
"Mugio. That means Djinns from 5 feet to lower, right?" Byron asks
Alya nods
"Belua's are those that range from 5 feet to 10 feet. Those above that height are called Gigas," Alya confirmed. "We need to be careful because there could also be Exim's, but there's no way to tell them apart from the other types."
The word alone made the air feel colder.
Exims were Djinn who couldn't be identified by size or shape. More importantly, they were far stronger than the others.
"We have to assume the worst," Alya said. "This exam is designed to kill those who are careless and weak."
Byron raised a hand. "So… we're definitely following Adam, right?"
Elliot opened his mouth to argue—
"Roboro."
Alya activated her reinforcement and leapt from the cliff.
The others stared.
"WAIT—!"
Lily cursed and followed. Elliot screamed and jumped. Byron yelped and jumped last, landing in a messy roll.
They regrouped at the forest's edge, staring into the shadows where Adam had vanished.
Somewhere ahead of them, a boy who didn't want to lead was already clearing the path.
The forest swallowed them the moment they descended.
Light thinned beneath the canopy, fractured into pale shards that slid between overlapping leaves. The air grew cooler, heavier, saturated with the metallic tang of arcane residue that lingered wherever Djinn roamed in numbers. Every step crushed damp moss and brittle twigs, each sound unnaturally loud in the tense silence.
Alya slowed them with a raised hand.
"From here on, we move like we're already in hostile territory," she said quietly. "No shouting and do not unleash arcane energy for no reason."
Byron nodded far too seriously for someone who had nearly dropped the most important relic in the exam into a ravine ten minutes earlier.
Lily crouched, brushing her fingers across the soil. "Disturbed recently. Considering the heat radiating from these, they belong to a Djinn."
Elliot swallowed. "So… there's a lot of Djinn's that way."
Ahead of them, the forest dipped and twisted, leading toward the faint, ominous glow that marked the outer edge of Zone 26. Even from this distance, the air shimmered slightly, like heat rising from invisible flames.
Adam was already in there.
That thought alone made their pace quicken.
Elsewhere, deeper within the woods—
Adam slid to a halt atop a fallen trunk, eyes narrowing.
Sensus flared again.
Dozens of signatures entered his Senus range t. Mugios, mostly—small, fast, expendable. He could also tell by the amount of arcane energy that a little farther were some Beluas… And something else.
Something… wrong.
The ground trembled.
A Mugio pack burst from the foliage, bodies of flickering arcane flame given crude, goblin-sized shape, but all different from one another. They shrieked—not with sound, but with pressure, a psychic screech that scraped against the nerves.
Adam didn't draw his sword.
"Roboro."
He vanished.
In a heartbeat, he was among them.
One punch shattered a core. A kick dispersed another. His movements were efficient, but there was something coiled beneath them—tension, like a storm being held back by will alone.
Then the air split.
A beam of compressed arcane energy tore through the forest, vaporizing trees in a straight line, leaving behind a glowing scar in the earth. Adam twisted, barely redirecting it with a blade of condensed Sensus.
The redirected beam carved sideways instead.
A hillside collapsed.
Ancient trunks exploded into splinters. Stone melted and reformed into glass. The shockwave flattened everything within thirty meters, birds and lesser creatures alike reduced to drifting ash.
Adam stared at the devastation for a fraction of a second.
"…That one would've erased a squad."
Somewhere in the distance, students felt it.
Zone 28.
The ground still vibrated faintly when Noah lowered his sword.
"That… wasn't thunder," Arlo whispered.
Neant's jaw tightened. "That was a high-output discharge of arcane energy. The kind that an arch human can't do."
Silence settled between them, heavy and suffocating.
"It's been hours since the scouting team left," Noah said quietly. "If they're not back by now…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
"…They're probably dead," Arlo whispered.
No one argued.
The exam wasn't a simulation. It wasn't a test of skill alone.
It was a culling.
"We won't die," Neant said firmly, though his hands were trembling around the hilt of his weapon. "We have a goal to achieve."
Zone 27 outskirts.
Eve's squad had reached a ridge overlooking a scorched swath of forest. Trees lay snapped like matchsticks. The earth itself was blackened, still smoking faintly.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Eve muttered.
Merena crouched, eyes wide with awe and unease. "What was that?"
Gareth examined the glassy ground. "An attack. An attack from a Djinn, and whoever redirected that attackis something else."
"Redirected? This attack, the Djinn, isn't here?" Eve said.
"No." Gareth answered seriously. "From the look of it, the attack came from zone 26."
Adam… Eve thought worried, "We're heading into the Zone." she said
"Without doing any reconnaissance?" Gareth asks with a smile. "That could be a little dangerous, right?"
"I didn't ask for your opinion. You do remember that I don't trust you at all, right?" Eve says
Gareth shrugs and exhales at the same time
"I don't trust him either, but he's right," Merena says. "We probably should scout the Zone before we go."
"We'll send a team of two to scout the area."" Eve says while looking at the map
She raises her head and points at Gareth, a brown-haired girl, and another young boy
"The two of you will go," Eve says. "Gareth will take the right side, while you'll take the left. If you don't come back before tomorrow, we'll head into the Zone."
Gareth gets up
"In other words, if we're not back tomorrow, you'll come to rescue us," Gareth says while stretching
"Wrong. I'll head inside and kill as many Djinns as possible to avenge you." Eve says while looking at the map. "I'll kill them all."
Gareth and the girl leave
"Isn't that already what you had planned?" Merena asks seriously
Eve looks at Merena
"That's why you wanted to head there without a plan or scouting, right." Merena says. "I understand why you want to go over there quickly, but don't forget that you're our leader."
Eve frowns
"I am not responsible for your lives." Eve says while walking away
Zone 29.
Seleph was exhausted.
Not from fighting.
Not from running.
But from the person clinging to his leg like it was a lifeline.
Lias trembled uncontrollably, arms wrapped around Seleph's calf, face pale as death.
"Why am I stuck with you again?" Seleph groaned, rubbing his forehead.
A presence approached.
"Are you Seleph Leoneo?"
Seleph turned. A beast-like boy stood there—wild eyes, sharp features, aura coiled like a predator ready to pounce.
"That's me," Seleph replied.
Without warning, the boy swung.
Seleph tilted his head just in time, the strike slicing through the air where his face had been. He tried to step back—
"Wai—"
But Lias' grip tightened.
Seleph tripped.
He was about to crash onto his back when a strong hand caught his arm and yanked him upright.
"Are you okay?" the beast boy asked.
"Yeah… I'm fine," Seleph said, blinking.
The boy smiled. "Good."
"Wait a minute—YOU'RE THE REASON I ALMOST FELL!!!" Seleph shouted.
"Really?" the boy tilted his head.
"I don't want to do this!" Lias wailed. "I want to go home!"
The beast boy looked at him, then shrugged. "I thought he'd be good prey… but I changed my mind."
Two more students joined them—a boy and a girl with black hair and eyes, clearly siblings.
"Sorry about him," the black-haired boy said politely. "He's an Ilka. He lived outside the Tower and was only brought back three years ago."
"And who are you two?" Seleph asked.
"My name is Nara."
"Kaga," the girl said.
"What about the other guy?"
"Yasuke Susano," Nara replied.
"Susano… isn't that—"
"He's Ryoma-san's adopted son," Kaga cut in sharply.
Seleph blinked. "He's adopted too?" He glanced down at Lias. "We could be great friends."
"Don't even try to get close to Yasuke-sama," Kaga snapped.
"Suuure," Seleph said, backing off instinctively.
Nara laughed softly. "She's just overprotective."
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" the beast boy roared. "I AM A BEAST! I'M GOING FOR A HUNT! YOU GUYS CAN DO THE COMPLICATED STUFF!"
He sprinted off toward the Zone, arcane energy flaring at his legs.
Kaga suddenly bolted after Yasuke.
"No way…" Seleph muttered.
Nara followed. "Sorry!"
"DAMN IT! I'M THE TEAM LEADER!" Seleph shouted as he chased after them.
"NOOO! WE DON'T HAVE TO GO AFTER THEM!" Lias screamed as he was dragged along.
Back in the upper zones, far from the front lines—
Ryoma stepped out of his hut, yawning, and entered the central command structure—sleek and metallic. Signo Inc.'s technology surrounded them: sealed spheres containing emergency supplies, from which the command center was originally sealed.
"You're late," Theo snapped.
"Oops," Ryoma said lazily.
He sat and checked the tablet.
"…Half the teams gone in one day?" His eyes narrowed. "Are the Djinns stronger… or did something else happen?"
"You told them they could die," Theo said coldly.
"And they should know."
Their arcane energy flooded the room, crushing the space between them like an invisible ocean.
"The reason we don't tell the students about that is to keep them from crumbling while faced with the possibility of death." Theo says with anger
"That's not my problem." Ryoma says with anger. "I'm not gonna keep it a secret if the lives of my subordinates or students are at risk and they were going to panic once they learned that they could die. Wouldn't that be much worse?"
"Both of you, stop!" Loris cried.
Amonet watched calmly.
"If you keep this up," she said sweetly, "I'll teleport you back to the academy… and let the headmaster handle you."
Upon hearing those words, a clear image formed in their mind. A picture of what would happen if they were to be sent back. An image based on past experiences
"Why are you both here? The headmaster asks with a smile. I see. So, just like back then, you both couldn't control your temper. I guess I'll just have to tie you up in your boxers in front of the school just like I did during your second year, huh?"
Both men froze.
Then sat.
Seething with anger.
And somewhere in the zones below, the students moved closer to death.