​The echoes of Hector slamming into the base of the magistrate’s box lingered over the Central Plaza like a physical weight. Dust settled over the shattered splinters of the crystalline halberd, leaving a long, scarred trail carved straight through the pristine white marble.​No one moved. The prospective academy candidates—heirs who had spent their entire lives surrounded by guards, wealth, and soft praise—backed away toward the gilded pillars, their faces pale as death.​High above the arena, Duke Valerius stepped to the edge of his balcony. His face was no longer just stern; it was twisted into a dark, murderous sneer. The blue silk of his magistrate robes fluttered violently as a dense, icy mana pressure erupted from his body, rolling down the terraced seating like a avalanche of frost.​"Insolent commoner," Duke Valerius spoke, his voice amplified by wind mana to roar through the entire amphitheater like thunder. "You dare shed noble blood on the sacred grounds of the Sky Citadel

​The living quarters of Class Zero were not located within the grand, white-marble spires that housed the rest of the Sky Academy's elite. Instead, they were carved directly into the underside of the floating island—a subterranean ring of dark runic basalt suspended over five thousand feet of empty air and shifting cloud cover.​The air here smelled of damp stone, ozone, and the faint, bitter metallic tang of unrefined mana.​Leo walked down the narrow, torch-lit corridor, his heavy boots making a hollow, rhythmic sound against the basalt floor. His hands were tucked deep into the pockets of his dark tactical coat, his eyes quietly scanning the doorways carved into the bare stone walls.​Unlike the opulent dormitories of the upper spires—which boasted enchanted baths, private training rooms, and dedicated servant staff—Class Zero’s facilities were brutalist and functional. Each iron-reinforced door bore only a simple brass plate stamped with a number.​He stopped in front of Room 04.

​The passage down to Floor 4 was not a staircase; it was a vertical fissure torn through the bedrock of the floating island, slick with black grease and dripping with concentrated conceptual rot.​Leo dropped through the opening without waiting for a rope or ladder. He hit the floor two hundred feet below with a localized earthquake that shattered the surrounding stone, leaving a two-foot crater beneath his steel-toed boots.​[WARNING: Entered Breach Zone — Floor 4: 'The Obsidian Foundry'.][Environmental Hazard: Concept Flame 'Hell-Forge' Active.][Environmental Hazard: Gravitational Pull 8x Baseline.][Impact Force: 320 (EXCEEDS ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD!)]​ZZZZZZT-BOOM!​The moment his boots touched the obsidian floor, a wave of liquid crimson fire rolled across the chamber, slamming into Leo's chest with the force of a battering ram. The heat was blinding—hot enough to instantly vaporize standard A-Rank steel armor—and the 8x gravity pulled at his joints like iron anchors.​[CRITICAL DA

​The passage descending to Floor 6 was not stone, iron, or bone. It was a vertical drop through a churning vein of thick, iridescent Abyss mercury that clung to the skin like heavy liquid lead.​Leo fell through the dense, silver fluid without resisting the drag. Beside him, Chen was forced to thread her obsidian needles into a protective cocoon around her limbs, while Bram’s blue sealing runes burned white-hot, hissing against the volatile liquid density.​BOOM!​They broke through the membrane of the ceiling, crashing onto a platform of dark polished quartz that floated amidst a sea of pure, liquid void.​[WARNING: Entered Breach Zone — Floor 6: 'The Mirror of Shattered Stars'.][Environmental Hazard: Concept Weight 'Abyssal Pressure' Active.][Environmental Hazard: Gravitational Pull 15x Baseline.][Impact Force: 850 (EXCEEDS ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD!)]​ZZZZZZT-CRACK!​The moment Leo’s feet touched the quartz deck, the 15x gravity combined with the atmospheric pressure smashed down on h

​The shaft leading down to Floor 8 was not a physical opening. It was an absolute gravity well—a dark, screaming void where light curved and the air itself was crushed into dense, glowing violet crystals.​Leo dropped into the abyss without taking a single breath, his bare, silver-sheened shoulders cutting through the crushing atmosphere like an obsidian wedge.​Behind him, Bram and Chen fell through the howling air, held together only by the absolute limit of Bram's glowing blue runes and Chen's protective shroud of razor-sharp black mana.​BOOOOOOM!​Leo struck the floor of Floor 8 with a seismic impact that sent shockwaves rippling across miles of pitch-black quartz bedrock.​[WARNING: Entered Breach Zone — Floor 8: 'The Sovereign's Seat'.][Environmental Hazard: Abyssal Pressure 50x Baseline.][Environmental Hazard: Concept Collapse 'Null-Space' Active.][Impact Force: 2,500 (EXCEEDS ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD!)]​ZZZZZZT-CRACK!​The 50x gravity struck Leo like a falling sky. The quartz d