One Year LaterA full year passed, marked by slow mornings, bruises that healed too slowly, accidental breakthroughs, and the quiet satisfaction of becoming better than the person they were the day before. The academy felt different now. The students who once relied heavily on enhancers had all learned to stand on the strength of their own crests, and real missions had shaped them into something far more capable.Kaen changed the most. When he first arrived, his magnetism ability flickered like a weak signal. Some days he could shift a coin across a table and other days it would not even twitch. Now he moved through the training field with calm precision. He could assign magnetic properties to objects with just a touch and adjust the magnetic field around his own body to launch himself short distances or pull weapons into his hands. He had even discovered a technique for creating brief floating platforms by adjusting polarities under his feet. He only used it during missions, but it m

Chapter Ten: Hunt Lira was in the sub-level training pits, sweat stinging her eyes as she drilled combos against a holo-target. The crack of her bullwhip echoed off the reinforced walls, each strike precise, tip snapping inches from the projected aberrant's throat. Ryan spotted her from the weights rack, grunting through his final rep. Enisa perched on a catwalk above, silently fletching arrows with carbon shafts. The alarms hit like a shock baton. Red strobes flooded the pit, and every comm implant in the room buzzed in unison. Priority Alpha. Report to Briefing Chamber Nine immediately. Ryan let the barbell crash to the mat. "Great. Was just hitting my stride." Enisa dropped down beside them, quiver already slung. "Priority Alpha means someone upstairs is panicking. Bet it's another breach." Lira coiled her whip with a flick, hooking it to her belt. "Only one way to find out." They joined the flow of black-clad Hunters moving through the corridors. No one spoke much. Spe

Night had fallen over their makeshift camp, a small clearing ringed by towering heartwood trees whose branches interlocked high above like a living ceiling. A low fire crackled in the center, throwing flickering shadows across the four bedrolls arranged in a defensive square. Enisa's faint kinetic trip-lines hummed invisibly at the perimeter, ready to flare at any intrusion. The air was cool and heavy with the scent of moss and resin.They had chased the alpha for hours after the first skirmish, but the trail had splintered and gone cold as dusk deepened. Rather than risk blundering deeper into unfamiliar territory at night, Ryan had called a halt. Resupply at the outpost could wait until morning. For now, they needed rest and a chance to replenish their crest reserves.Ryan sat with his back against a fallen log, staff across his knees, slowly cycling augmentation energy through his limbs to speed recovery. Kaen lay on his bedroll staring up at the canopy, idly levitating a small iro

The grand auditorium of Academy Prime loomed like a fortress of secrets, its vaulted ceilings etched with glowing crest-runes that pulsed in time with the heartbeat of Noctra itself. Towering stone pillars lined the walls, each carved with the names of fallen hunters, a reminder that the world's order came at a price. At the center stood a massive obsidian table, around which sat the "top guns" of Noctra: the High Council, the unseen architects who pulled the strings of empires, academies, and fates.At the head was a man's silhouette who's name is Xen, known to be the supreme commander of the continent.The anchor was Archon Vesper Kane, Supreme Chancellor of the Academy. Tall and gaunt, with silver hair bound in a severe braid and eyes like polished obsidian, she wielded a crest of pure dominion, the ability to bind oaths and compel truth from the unwilling. Her word was law, her gaze a blade. To her right sat Master Thorne, an enforcer from Goldridge: broad-shouldered, scarred from

Deep within Grimme, where the mountain’s jagged heart throbbed with raw, untamed crest-energy, the council chamber echoed with low growls and restless murmurs. Damp stone filled the air with a cold, mineral scent, mixed with the sharp tang of fresh blood from recent hunts. Veins of crimson light pulsed along the cavern walls, throwing long, warped shadows across the gathered crestbeasts. Battle-scarred alphas stood rigid and alert. Lean scouts watched from the edges, eyes glowing like embers. Massive enforcers breathed slow and heavy, each exhale rumbling through the stone beneath them.At the center of it all sat the Apex Prime, enthroned upon fused cores and broken Academy relics. Its immense frame loomed over the chamber, black fur streaked with glowing ember veins that flared brighter with every measured breath. Golden eyes burned with a fury so intense that the room fell silent before it spoke.The news had come at dawn, delivered by a swift-winged subordinate whose feathers stil