All Chapters of STAR ACADEMY : Chapter 51
- Chapter 60
224 chapters
CHAPTER FIFTY ONE
The north service gate was dark and unmanned at 2200 hours.Carter slipped through the maintenance entrance Omar had identified, moving carefully to avoid the security camera that Omar had confirmed was currently in a scheduled diagnostic cycle. The fence was old, the lock was rusted, and the gap beneath the gate was just wide enough for a person to squeeze through.He emerged on the other side and found the vehicle waiting exactly as Omar had promised. A battered sedan, nondescript and unremarkable, parked in the shadows of an overgrown maintenance shed.The keys were under the driver's seat.Carter drove north, following Vivienne's handwritten directions through empty streets and deteriorating neighborhoods. The warehouse district had been abandoned years ago, its buildings left to decay when the manufacturing economy collapsed. Now it was a landscape of crumbling concrete and broken glass, illuminated only by the sedan's headlights and the distant glow of the city beyond.He found
Last Updated : 2026-02-11
CHAPTER FIFTY TWO
The arrival of Vanguard and Ace transformed Star Academy overnight.Carter woke on competition minus two to find the campus unrecognizable. Security checkpoints at every entrance. Restricted zones designated throughout the academic buildings. Students from rival academies moving through the corridors in controlled groups, their uniforms marking them as outsiders, their presence fundamentally changing the atmosphere of the institution.The Protocol ran its morning diagnostic:COMPETITION COUNTDOWN: 47 HOURS, 23 MINUTESPHYSICAL CONDITION: MARGINALCOGNITIVE FUNCTION: 81% OF BASELINEPOWER POINTS AVAILABLE: 7NEURAL STABILIZER: ACTIVECOMBAT READINESS: 64%Sixty-four percent. Better than twenty-eight percent. Not good enough.Carter dressed quickly and made his way to the training center. The morning team practice had been moved to accommodate the visiting delegations, rescheduled from 7 AM to 6 AM to avoid conflicts with Vanguard's scheduled facility orientation.He arrived at 5:47 AM.
Last Updated : 2026-02-11
CHAPTER FIFTY THREE
The medical team worked on Carter for twenty-three minutes.Dr. Mora was not present. The competition had its own medical staff, professionals who treated Carter with clinical efficiency and complete indifference. They taped his ribs, applied cold compression to his bruised tissue, administered pain medication that dulled the worst of the damage."Your lung is not punctured," the attending physician said. "Your ribs are cracked but stable. You have significant soft tissue damage throughout your torso. You should withdraw from further competition.""I can't withdraw."The physician looked at him without sympathy. "Then you will continue to accumulate damage. At some point, that damage will become irreversible. That is your decision."She moved to the next injured competitor.Carter sat on the medical table, trying to breathe without triggering pain, trying to ignore the Protocol's insistent notifications about system recovery and combat readiness.His enhancement came back online at 47
Last Updated : 2026-02-11
CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR
Carter did not sleep.He lay in the medical station bed, his body immobilized by bandages and pain medication, his enhancement cycling through recovery protocols. The facility was quiet now, the competition suspended until morning, the arena empty of spectators and competitors.At 2 AM, his phone buzzed.Elena.He stared at the screen for a long moment before answering."Carter." His sister's voice was strained, exhausted. "I've been trying to reach you for days. Your messages said you were busy with something important, that you couldn't talk. I thought maybe you were avoiding me because of Marcus.""I wasn't avoiding you." Carter's voice sounded strange to his own ears. "I've been in a competition. They restrict communications during events.""A competition." Elena paused. "What kind of competition?"Carter couldn't tell her. Couldn't explain about Star Academy, about the Crucible, about the Inter-Academy Competition and his thirty-fourth place finish and the five hundred thousand d
Last Updated : 2026-02-11
CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE
Carter did not sleep.He lay in the medical station bed, staring at the Protocol's new notification, his mind racing through implications and obstacles.TIER 4 FUNCTION: STRATEGIC INTEGRATION.REQUIREMENT: ACTIVE CONSENT FROM ALL PARTICIPANTS.REQUIREMENT: TEAM TRUST.He had lied to every member of his team. Not directly, not explicitly, but fundamentally. He was not Owen Grace. He was not the person they thought they were fighting alongside. His entire presence at Star Academy was a deception maintained through facial surgery and neural technology.How could they trust someone who wasn't real?At 5:47 AM, his phone buzzed.Victor: "Meeting. Team zone. 0630. Do not be late."Carter dressed slowly, carefully, his body protesting every movement. His enhancement was stable now, the new Tier 4 function waiting silently in his neural architecture. He could feel its presence, a potential capability he was afraid to test.The team zone was quiet when he arrived. Victor was already there, stu
Last Updated : 2026-02-11
CHAPTER FIFTY SIX
The car arrived at 4 PM.Carter sat in the back seat, watching Star Academy recede through the rear window. The campus looked different now, transformed by his months of residence into something almost familiar. The Beacon tower. The training center. The medical facility where Dr. Mora monitored his deteriorating neural patterns.He didn't know when he would return. He didn't know if he would return.The Grace family had summoned him for debriefing. The phrase carried ominous weight, suggesting evaluation, judgment, and potential consequences.Reginald met him at the Manor entrance. His expression revealed nothing, as always."Margaret and Edward Grace are waiting in the study," he said. "Your debriefing will be conducted immediately. Do not deviate from your prepared statements. Do not volunteer information they do not explicitly request."Carter followed him through the familiar corridors, past the room where he had undergone facial surgery, past the medical suite where the Protocol
Last Updated : 2026-02-11
CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN
Carter did not sleep.He lay in his dormitory bed, staring at the ceiling, his mind cycling through possibilities, strategies, escape routes. The Protocol remained quiet, its Tier 4 function waiting silently, its power points slowly regenerating.At 3 AM, he reached a decision.He would not accept indefinite servitude. He would not undergo decommissioning with a forty-three percent survival probability. He would find another path, create another option, force another outcome.The question was how.At 6 AM, he began making calls.Dr. Mora first. Her response was cautious but not dismissive."The decommissioning procedure has never been performed on a subject with unauthorized evolutionary modifications. The Grace family's survival estimate is based on theoretical models, not empirical data." She paused. "However, the fundamental risk remains significant. Removing a neural interface that has integrated with your cognitive architecture for months will inevitably cause trauma.""Is there
Last Updated : 2026-02-11
CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT
The car arrived at 1 PM.Carter rode in silence, watching the academy recede through the tinted windows. The Beacon tower. The training center. The medical facility where Dr. Mora had monitored his deteriorating neural patterns and never once exposed his secrets.He didn't know if he would return.The Grace Manor materialized through the trees, its familiar facade now menacing rather than merely imposing. Carter had arrived here four months ago as a desperate con artist facing prison. He was returning as an asset whose utility was suddenly, catastrophically uncertain.Reginald met him at the entrance. His expression was different now, less clinical detachment and more guarded assessment."The family is assembled in the east wing conference room. Margaret and Edward Grace are present. Owen is present." He paused. "Your situation will be discussed and a determination made. Your role in this meeting is to provide information when requested and otherwise remain silent."Carter followed hi
Last Updated : 2026-02-11
CHAPTER FIFTY NINE
Dawn arrived gray and cold.Carter had not slept. His body demanded rest but his mind refused to cooperate, cycling through the previous day's events with obsessive repetition. Owen's surrender. Margaret Grace's fractured composure. Victor's unexpected intervention. Elena's tears.Eight months remaining. Eight months to complete his service, receive his payment, and escape the Grace family's influence.Eight months to survive.At 7 AM, his phone buzzed with a summons from Reginald."Margaret Grace requests your presence at breakfast. 0800 hours. Formal attire."Carter dressed in the clothes provided by the Manor's staff, the same tailored suits he had worn during his initial transformation and training. The fabric felt foreign against his skin, a reminder of how completely his life had been appropriated by forces beyond his control.The dining room was smaller than the formal hall where Carter had endured his first breakfast with the Graces. Intimate, almost domestic. Margaret Grace s
Last Updated : 2026-02-11
CHAPTER SIXTY
The legal documentation took three days.Carter spent those days at Grace Manor, confined to his room except for meals and meetings with Margaret Grace's legal team. The lawyers asked endless questions, presented endless forms, demanded endless signatures. Carter signed everything, his hand cramping from the volume of documentation.Elena's trust fund was established on day two. Carter reviewed the terms carefully, verifying that the resources were sufficient to cover housing, education, medical care, and living expenses indefinitely. The fund was structured to be accessible to Elena immediately, with additional provisions for Eli's future needs.He called his sister that evening."Something arrived today," Elena said. Her voice was uncertain, overwhelmed. "A letter from some law firm. They said a trust fund has been established in my name, that I have access to significant financial resources, that all my housing and medical expenses are covered indefinitely." She paused. "Carter, wh
Last Updated : 2026-02-11