The Academy’s siren wailed, a deep metallic roar that reverberated through the fractured concrete skeletons of South Arena.
The very instant its echo faded into silence, reality itself seemed to buckle.
Director Mazen Nazari had made no dramatic gesture from the observation balcony.
He had merely folded his hands behind his back.
Yet to Tariq, it felt as though an invisible mountain had suddenly been dropped onto his chest.
The air grew impossibly heavy, while the colors of the devastated urban battlefield dulled beneath an oppressive haze.
A topological distortion had descended across the Arena, crushing the natural frequency of every student’s Spirit beneath an overwhelming mathematical authority.
Even breathing demanded effort, as if the atmosphere itself had become hostile to their existence.
Kaïs collapsed onto one knee, gasping for air with both palms pressed against the dust-covered pavement.
“What…
the hell is this…?” he growled, desperately attempting to summon the smallest spark into his palm.
A pitiful crackle answered his call before dying in a thin ribbon of smoke, his connection to his own Spirit feeling crippled, smothered beneath an immense veil of foreign calculations.
Squad Four had been deployed into the Arena’s Eastern Sector, a maze of artificial alleyways blocked by overturned buses and collapsed storefronts.
Every escape route looked identical, every corner concealed another blind spot.
The battlefield had been engineered to punish hesitation just as mercilessly as recklessness.
Goman Arashi was the first to force himself back onto his feet.
Sweat already beaded across his pale face, but his pride refused to allow his body to yield.
“Eighty percent suppression,” the heir spat as he brushed the dust from his jacket.
“Nothing but a minor inconvenience for pure blood.
The beacon is at the center, extraction lies to the north.
I’m not wasting my time babysitting any of you.
If you can’t keep up, stay hidden and pray I finish the mission myself.” Without sparing the others a single glance, Goman burst into the main avenue, sprinting at astonishing speed despite the crushing gravity imposed by Mazen’s Domain.
He intended to force his way through using nothing but his physical conditioning, convinced that sheer talent could compensate for overwhelming suppression.
“Hey!
Wait!” Tariq shouted, his voice strained beneath the pressure.
“Vang said if one of us goes down, the entire squad gets eliminated!” His warning vanished into empty streets, because Goman had already disappeared behind the corner of a ruined apartment block.
Tariq cursed beneath his breath before turning toward the rest of his squad, searching for solidarity, searching for structure.
Instead, all he found was fragmentation.
The team was already falling apart before the exercise had truly begun.
Kaïs had pulled himself upright and immediately seized Leila by the arm, dragging her inside the gutted shell of a destroyed convenience store.
“We’re staying under cover,” he ordered, his eyes darting frantically across the rooftops in search of threats.
“We’re not moving into the open until we adapt to this pressure.
Leila, you’re staying behind me no matter what happens.” “Kaïs, we have to move toward the beacon,” the young woman protested, though she allowed herself to be pulled deeper into the shadows of the building.
“We move once we’re sure we won’t get wiped out in the first five minutes!” he snapped.
At that moment, instinct had completely overtaken the logic of the examination.
The beacon no longer mattered to him.
Only Leila’s survival did.
Tariq let out an exhausted sigh before turning toward the remaining members of the squad.
Raad and Soura were gone.
His eyes widened in disbelief as he caught a final glimpse of Soura’s boot vanishing into the collapsed ventilation shaft of a simulated subway station, with Raad slipping silently in after him like a shadow.
The two boys had exchanged no words whatsoever.
A single glance had been enough to synchronize their intentions.
In less than forty seconds, Squad Four had fractured into three completely independent groups, each driven solely by its own survival instincts.
Tariq remained standing alone in the middle of the street, his thoughts racing.
If he joined Kaïs, they would remain pinned down indefinitely.
If he chased after Goman, he would expose his own flank completely.
He slowly raised his eyes toward the distant observation platform towering above the Arena.
This is exactly what they wanted us to do.
High above South Arena, a cool wind swept through the long coats of the supervising officers.
Captain Thiago Vane stood silently before the holographic tactical displays projecting every student’s position in real time.
Beside him, Jin Arashi casually munched roasted almonds from a small paper bag, watching the unfolding disaster with obvious amusement.
“Well now,” Jin chuckled as he pointed toward the blinking red marker representing Goman.
“My dear cousin hasn’t changed at all.
Reckless.
Arrogant.
He’s genuinely convinced the Arashi crest grants immunity to cardiac arrest.
Ornella’s going to slaughter him in…
what, two minutes?” Thiago ignored the provocation completely.
His gray eyes continued analyzing the remaining sectors, eventually settling on Squad Seven.
Issa’s team was advancing at an agonizingly slow pace, maintaining a perfectly disciplined formation under the young Kaneshiro’s meticulous tactical instructions.
“So you actually recruited him,” Jin continued smoothly, effortlessly changing the subject while shifting his gaze toward Soura Sayal’s signal.
“The unregistered boy.
That was a bold decision, Captain.
Especially while you’re investigating the biggest internal security breach in Academy history.
Bringing in a street kid who doesn’t even exist in the Commission’s records…” Thiago folded his arms, the chains hidden beneath his sleeves giving off a faint metallic chime.
“Are you suggesting he might have ties to Morgen’s escape, Jin?” “I’m not suggesting anything,” the young noble replied with an innocent smile and a playful wink.
“I’m simply pointing out that while we’re dissecting professors’ communications, the real traitor could be absolutely anywhere.
Someone who understands the city’s blind spots.
Someone who knew exactly how Morgen walked out of the Academy without using a portal.
The undercity has its own kings, Thiago.” “If there is a connection between the traitor and the slums,” Thiago answered coldly, “Sayal will lead us to it, whether he realizes it or not.
That’s precisely why he’s on this field.
I’m evaluating him.
I suggest you spend your attention evaluating your cousin instead.” Down below, inside the Arena, the temperature suddenly plummeted.
Or rather…
the light itself died.
Tariq felt it before he saw it.
A black, viscous mass of impossible density began creeping across the surrounding buildings, swallowing walls like living tar.
It was Captain Kei’s shadow.
It did not move quickly, yet it consumed every surface with the nauseating sound of heavy liquid sliding across concrete, devouring sunlight wherever it spread.
The battlefield itself was shrinking.
A scream suddenly echoed from the west of Tariq’s position.
It was Goman.
Without hesitation, Tariq sprinted down the adjoining alley, his own Spirit reduced to nothing more than a faint aura swirling weakly around his ankles.
He burst into a ruined plaza where Goman lay sprawled across the ground, desperately trying to erect a shield of atmospheric pressure.
His hands shook violently.
His Spirit refused to answer.
Perched atop the rusted hull of an abandoned armored vehicle stood an enormous hawk forged entirely from incandescent embers.
One of Captain Ornella’s familiars.
The blazing predator radiated no outward heat whatsoever, proof of terrifying thermodynamic mastery.
Every ounce of its thermal energy had been compressed into its talons alone.
The hawk released a piercing shriek and dove directly toward the Arashi heir.
Goman squeezed his eyes shut.
His crippled Spirit stammered helplessly, utterly incapable of stopping the attack.
He was seconds away from being “virtually” killed, which would eliminate the entire squad less than four minutes into the examination.
“You damn idiot!” A concentrated bolt of electricity erupted from an open manhole nearby.
The lightning lacked the power to destroy the ember hawk outright, but it slammed into the creature’s flank with enough force to throw off its trajectory.
Instead of tearing through Goman, the familiar crashed into the concrete barely a meter away, exploding into a shower of blazing sparks.
Raad emerged from the sewer opening with gritted teeth, fading arcs of electricity crackling weakly around his fingers.
Behind him, Soura climbed out more cautiously, silently observing the battlefield with sharp, calculating eyes.
“We just saved your ass, noble boy,” Raad spat, breathing heavily after expending so much effort for a single shot under Mazen’s brutal suppression.
Goman rolled aside before struggling back onto his feet, his face twisting first with shock…
then with fury.
“I never asked sewer rats to save me!” he roared.
“Take that or we all fail!” Tariq shouted as he rushed into the plaza.
He never had the chance to continue.
A second scream echoed across the battlefield, this time unmistakably feminine.
It came from the building where Kaïs had taken shelter with Leila.
Kei’s overwhelming shadow had seeped through the shattered windows, creeping across the floor like liquid darkness, threatening to crush the legs of anyone foolish enough to remain stationary.
Tariq felt his heart hammer violently inside his chest as the true equation behind the examination revealed itself with merciless clarity.
Their instinct to protect themselves, to split apart, to prioritize personal survival over coordinated action…
that was the very weakness the Commission had engineered this entire trial to exploit.
The ember hawk was already reforming atop the cracked pavement, fixing Goman with eyes made of glowing ash while Kei’s shadows slowly encircled Kaïs and Leila.
They were divided.
They were weakened.
And if they failed to change their entire way of thinking within the next thirty seconds, Squad Four would become the first team expelled from Central Academy.