Atlas stands frozen in the center of the Knight Academy arena, his training sword trembling as a trapped Slime whimpers at his feet while the crowd roars for blood."Strike down the abomination, Vane!" General Kael’s voice booms from the high tribunal, drenched in absolute contempt and echoing off the cold stone walls. "Prove your loyalty to the Aethel Empire, or share its wretched fate!"Surrounding the arena, thousands of spectators rise from their seats, waving imperial banners and screaming for a gruesome execution. To them, the shimmering blue creature curled up on the bloodstained dirt is a mindless parasite, a vile threat born only to slaughter humanity. But to Atlas Vane, standing there with slender limbs clad in a torn cadet uniform and his sharp silver-rimmed eyes wide with horror, the arena sounds entirely different.The Slime is not hissing threats of violence. It is weeping."Please... it hurts so much," the creature's voice vibrates directly inside Atlas’s skull, a high-

The jagged fissure in the stone ripped open with a sound like tearing metal, spewing a cloud of warm, damp vapor that smelled faintly of old earth and sweet nectar."Woah, woah, woah! Easy!" Atlas yelled, stumbling backward as the floor pitched violently beneath his boots.He threw his weight against a nearby pillar of unyielding basalt, struggling to keep his footing while the cavern shuddered with another earth-shaking throb. Dust rained down from the vaulted ceiling, stinging his eyes and matting his sweat-soaked hair."Hold on, you clumsy ape!" Grim snapped mentally, the black, blade-like appendage on Atlas’s right arm shifting into a thick, adhesive anchor that drove itself deep into a crack in the floorboards of the trench. "Stop stumbling around! The ground is moving, but you're shaking worse than a wet dog!""I think a living piece of real estate is trying to swallow us whole, Grim! Excuse me for not doing a graceful waltz!" Atlas retorted out loud, wiping a streak of grimy sw

"Why won't you just listen to me?"That desperate, rumbling question echoed against the cold stone walls of the surface encampment, though thousands of feet above the actual source, carried upward by the thermal drafts of Hell Trench. Standing proudly atop a heavily armored war wagon, General Kael narrowed his eyes, his heavy iron gauntlet pointing down into the yawning abyss of the subterranean chasm."Did you hear that, commanders?" General Kael barked, his voice carrying across the jagged plateau where an elite squadron of imperial knights stood at rigid attention. "The beasts are howling in despair! They know their reign of terror is coming to a definitive end. This is our moment to finish what our ancestors started a thousand years ago!"Lyra Ignis stood near the front of the formation, wearing polished silver armor that gleamed under the harsh, unsparing light of the midday sun. Her expression remained deeply troubled, hidden mostly under the dark shadow of her helmet. Her hand

Before Lyra could even blink against the stinging shower of stone dust, the massive stone vault of the cavern’s upper archway groaned, buckled, and violently caved in. Tons of pulverized granite and glowing crystal cascaded downward like an avalanche, blotting out whatever dim light remained as a colossal mass eclipsed the sky."Get down!" Lyra screamed, dropping her master sword with a clatter as she lunged forward, tackling Atlas by the shoulders and dragging him beneath the overhanging lip of a jagged rock shelf.Grim hissed fiercely, expanding into a shimmering, dome-like canopy of acidic gelatin that caught the falling debris, deflecting jagged boulders away from their huddled bodies while the baby dungeon squeaked in absolute terror, burying its gelatinous head beneath Atlas's boots.Through the choking clouds of grey dust and blinding ash, a shape of unimaginable magnitude settled into the center of the trench floor.The imperial vanguard's advance party, stationed just fifty y

"Nobody exposes the truth and lives!" General Kael’s voice echoed off the cavern walls like a thunderclap, his finger whitening against the trigger as the heavy imperial crossbow hummed with lethal mana.Before the bolt could fly, a mass of indigo velvet erupted from the shadows, slamming into the cavern floor with a wet, heavy thud. Grim expanded instantly, morphing from a whip-like cord into an impenetrable, jelly-like dome that covered Atlas and Lyra from top to bottom. The enchanted crossbow bolt slammed into Grim’s surface with a blinding flash of violet light, sinking halfway through the translucent slime before coming to a complete, quivering halt.‘Nobody calls my summoner a liar while I am digesting dinner!’ Grim’s indignant, squelching thought bounced furiously inside Atlas’s head, vibrating with absolute territorial rage."Get back, you insolent pest!" Kael snarled, gesturing furiously to the dozen elite executioners flanking him. "Concentrated mana-surge! Vaporize that sli