2025-04-11 21:32:02Richard's Pov
"I’m alive.", the thought flashed through my head as I woke up. Light seeped through my eyelids, followed by the sterile scent of antiseptic and the soft beeping of monitors. I opened my eyes slowly. I was in the academy infirmary, wrapped in clean white sheets and bandages. Healing runes faintly glowed on the walls, pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat. Above me, a holographic display hovered midair: Survived: 5 hours, 59 minutes. Status: Stabilized. One minute short of the six-hour threshold. I’d almost died, and yet I couldn't make it. The door slid open with a hiss. An instructor stepped in. Broad-shouldered, sharp-eyed, and wearing the neutral robes of the Academy’s combat division, he studied me with the quiet intensity of a soldier sizing up a battlefield. “Hollowborn,” he said. “You made it.” I tried to sit up. Pain flared in my side, and I gritted my teeth. He raised a hand. “Easy. You suffered four cracked ribs, a fractured clavicle, internal bruising, and severe laws destabilization. You’re lucky to be conscious.” “I’ve had worse,” I muttered. He arched a brow. “Doubtful.” Despite myself, I let out a ragged chuckle. My lips cracked from the dryness. “The trial… what happened after?” He leaned against the wall, arms folded. “The maze collapsed ten minutes after the bell rang. You and two others were the last standing. Most cadets were eliminated in the first three hours. You guys lasted the longest—by far.” I blinked. “Two others?” He nodded. “Caleb Hemmins. And Ara Ash.” Of course. The golden boy and the seer goddess. He paused. “But you’re the one everyone’s talking about.” That caught me off guard. “I’m sorry—what?” He tapped the air, and a news stream hovered to life. HOLLOWBORN PLACES TOP 100 IN MIRACLE’S ENTRANCE TRIAL Anonymous Cadet Outsmarts Elite Combatants Did We Just Witness a Historical Event? My name wasn’t on the headlines. Just my trial number: 1115. But the footage, the breakdowns, the analyst reactions—it was all me. Dodging, crawling, using traps, surviving impossible odds. The moment Null Drive activated, the footage fuzzed, static distorting the feed—but even the interference caused a stir. The instructor turned the projection off. “The council’s calling it an anomaly. You weren’t supposed to place. Not as a Hollowborn. Statistically impossible.” “I’ve always had bad luck with statistics,” I said dryly. He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Listen carefully. What you did back there—that wasn’t just surviving. That was a declaration. And declarations come with consequences.” My throat tightened. “The other students—” “Will either try to recruit you or kill you. There’s no in-between at the Miracle.” He tapped a screen by the door. “Your body’s stable enough for now. Rest another hour. Then get up. You’ll want to be in the Hall for the Rankings Reveal.” I nodded. He turned and walked out without another word. An hour later, I limped into the Grand Hall, bandaged and limping slightly, but standing under my own power. The place was packed. The first-year cadets—about 600 of them—were gathered in silence. Some stood tall in their immaculate uniforms. Others, bruised and weary, leaned against walls. Many were missing. Eliminated. High above us, dozens of instructors floated in observation platforms, eyes scanning the crowd. A massive magical display hovered in the air. MIRACLE ACADEMY RANKINGS – YEAR ONE COHORT The numbers began to flash, scroll, and settle. I scanned them. 1. Caleb Hemmins - Rank D- 2. Ara Ash - Rank E+ 3. Nyx Soren - Rank E 4. Gin Soren - Rank E 5. Lena Vey - Rank E The top five were exactly who everyone expected. Legends in the making. The crowd murmured as the rest of the rankings filtered in—names, affiliations, battle points, and time survived. Around rank 70, students were visibly clenching fists, whispering. Then— Rank 96: Richard Sol | Hollowborn | Total Trial Score: 82.7 The hall went silent. Dozens of heads turned. Eyes found me—some wide with disbelief, others narrow with hate. The murmuring returned. Louder. Angrier. Unbelieving. “That can’t be right—he’s a Hollowborn.” “Rank 96? That’s higher than over half the Awakeneds!” “What did he do? Bribe someone?” I stood there, jaw locked, feeling every ounce of their stares. Lena Vey was watching from across the room, her arms folded, expression unreadable. Gin and Nyx whispered among themselves, one of them nodding in my direction. Ara Ash didn’t even blink. Her gaze was elsewhere—beyond us, calculating something none of us understood. But Caleb? He turned fully and met my eyes. No smile. No smirk. Just a slow tilt of his head, like he was trying to fit me into a story he hadn’t written yet. “Not over,” his lips mouthed silently. I believed him. The head instructor stepped forward, voice amplified magically. “Rankings will remain locked until the next evaluation match in thirty days. Until then, combat between cadets is forbidden outside of sanctioned duels.” A ripple of dissatisfaction passed through the crowd. “No exceptions,” the instructor added. “Any violation of this rule will result in immediate expulsion.” He waved a hand, and the rankings vanished. “Classes begin tomorrow. Dismissed.” Later that night, I sat in the temporary dorm quarters, watching the replay of the trial on my tablet. I fast-forwarded through most of it—until I found the moment. Null Drive. The screen glitched. Static flooded the view. Even the instructors’ runes couldn’t track it properly. I touched the screen. “What is this?” The ability had activated on instinct. I didn’t understand the core behind it yet. But I knew it had to be linked to my sacrificial law core—the one I was told shouldn’t even be functional. It disconnects people from the laws temporarily. The brief moment when Caleb had stood powerless proved it. But I’d almost died using it. My vitals had flatlined for twelve seconds before the medics got to me. “I need to train and control it. I will never let myself be humiliated again.”, I resolved in my mind.
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Chapter 16: The Professor
Richard's PovThe next morning, I found Professor Eldrin in a secluded vault deep beneath the academy. The chamber was a maze of runed pillars, each etched with sacrificial Law sigils that glowed faintly red. Eldrin was a wiry man with graying hair and eyes that seemed to see through me, his robes marked with intricate glyphs that pulsed in time with his steps.“Sol,” he said, not looking up from a crystalline tablet. “You’re late.”“I was summoned by the council,” I said, stepping into the vault. “They think I’m a problem.”He chuckled, a dry sound. “You are. But not the kind they think. Sit.”I settled onto a stone bench, my blade resting across my knees. “What’s this about? Reece said you’re overseeing my training.”Eldrin set the tablet down, his gaze sharp. “Your core. It’s not just sacrificial, Sol. It’s a conduit, a bridge between Laws that shouldn’t coexist. The council fears it because they don’t understand it. I do.”My pulse quickened. “You know about the dual consciousness
Chapter 15: The Chains That Bind
Richard’s POVThe air in Miracle Academy’s training grounds was sharp with the scent of scorched stone and sweat, the runes along the walls pulsing faintly under the dawn’s gray light. I stood in the center of a sparring pit, my breath steady despite the ache in my limbs. My glyphs, sacrificial, elemental, constructive, quantum, hummed beneath my skin, a restless chorus I was still learning to conduct. Null Drive and Null Counter were sharper now, but every use felt like threading a needle through my bones. Rank E was a milestone, but it wasn’t enough. Not with Caleb’s taunts ringing in my ears, Ara’s cryptic warnings, and the council’s eyes boring into my back.I rolled my shoulders, gripping the hilt of my void-edged blade, a weapon I’d chosen to channel Null Counter more precisely than my fists allowed. The blade’s faint hum matched the rhythm of my core, a low vibration that felt alive, like it was whispering back. I’d been at it for hours, running drills alone, dodging automated
Chapter 14: Whispers of Doubt II
Richard's Pov The mess hall roared with noise—cadets laughing, arguing over trays of synth-protein and law-infused fruit. I sat at Squad Seven’s table, picking at my food, my mind still stuck back at the pit. Lena slid into the seat beside me, her silver eyes scanning my face. "You look like you just fought a demon," she said, nudging my arm. "What’s up?" I forced a smirk. "Just Caleb being Caleb. Tried to bait me into a duel." Her expression darkened. "That asshole. What’d you do?" "Told him no," I said, stabbing at a piece of synth-fruit. "Council’s got me on a leash. Didn’t want to give them an excuse to lock me up." "Smart," she said, though there was an edge to her voice. "He’s not gonna stop, you know. Caleb’s got a hard-on for proving he’s better than you." "Yeah, I noticed," I muttered, glancing across the hall. Caleb sat with his usual clique—sharp smiles, loud laughs—but his eyes flicked toward me, cold and calculating. Ara appeared out of nowhere, like she always d
Chapter 13: Whispers of Doubt
Richard's Pov The training grounds of Miracle Academy hummed with energy, the air thick with the tang of ozone and the faint glow of law-infused runes etched into the stone. I stood alone in a sparring pit, breath steady despite the sweat dripping from my brow. My glyphs pulsed faintly under my skin—sacrificial, elemental, constructive, quantum—each a whisper of power I was determined to tame. Null Drive and Null Counter were my edge, but they were wild, unpredictable, and I was pushing them harder than ever. “Focus, Sol,” I muttered, clenching my fists. The pit’s runes flickered, amplifying the laws I channeled. I activated Null Drive, and the air warped, lights dimming as nearby elemental sparks fizzled. Pain needled my temples, but I pushed deeper, weaving Null Counter into the mix. The ground trembled, and for a moment, I felt it—control, raw and electric. Then my core spasmed, glyphs flaring gray, and I staggered, dropping to one knee. “Damn it,” I gasped, wiping blood from my
Chapter 12: Ranking Up
Richard's PovThe arena buzzed with anticipation, a circular coliseum of sleek obsidian and glowing runes that pulsed with the energy of the Miracle Academy. Hundreds of cadets filled the stands, their voices a chaotic hum, while holographic screens projected the combatants’ names in blazing gold: Richard Kane vs. Kael Vortex, Rank 50. The monthly ranking battles were always a spectacle, a brutal dance of power and cunning where reputations were forged or shattered. Richard stood at the center of the arena, his dark hair plastered with sweat, his sharp and unyielding. Across from him, Kael Vortex grinned, his lean frame crackling with quantum energy, his silver cloak billowing as if caught in an unseen wind.“Ready to lose, newbie?” Kael’s voice was smooth, taunting, his eyes glinting with confidence. “I’ll have you blinking out of existence before you can draw that fancy sword.”Richard’s grip tightened on the hilt of his blade. He had picked this weapon since he was tired of using h
Chapter 11: Instructors Meeting
Richard's POVThe astral beast’s roar shook the sparring pits, its massive form blotting out the light as violet shadow tendrils lashed toward us. Lena stumbled back, her wounded arm trembling, her face pale but her eyes blazing with defiance. I grabbed her wrist, my grip firm, pulling her behind me as Null Drive flared. The air warped, the beast’s law-infused attacks slowing as my ability suppressed them. But the creature was a juggernaut, its presence alone cracking the stone beneath us, sending fissures spider webbing across the ground.“Run!” I shouted, shoving Lena toward the exit. Her gaze flicked between me and the beast, hesitation etched in her features.“Richard, you can’t—”“Go!” I barked, my voice raw. She nodded, reluctance heavy in her eyes, and sprinted for cover.I turned to the monster, my core humming with Rank E power, glyphs pulsing wildly under my skin—sacrificial, elemental, constructive, and quantum. I didn’t know if I could win, but I’d hold it off. For her. Nu
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