Richard's Pov
Two weeks after the duel, everything had fallen back into its regular pattern. I had risen to number 70 and rank E-. Cadets looked at me with more fear in their eyes, and the people who tried to mess with me drastically reduced. I was in the sparring vault, channeling the laws to practice when I felt a tremor. A low, pulsing quake that rolled through Miracle Academy like a heartbeat from something monstrous buried too deep. The stone beneath my knees vibrated, the runes flickering erratically. My concentration snapped as cold stabbed down my spine like a dagger of ice. Something had gone wrong. The next moment, alarms shrieked. Scarlet rune lit up along the corridor walls, spinning in spirals of panic. A single word repeated in harsh, guttural tones through the academy intercom: Containment Breach. I didn’t hesitate. I bolted out of the vault, sprinting through the halls now filled with flashing sigils and panicked cadets. Others moved the opposite direction toward safety. But I was already channeling laws from my core, prepping Null Drive. Something in me knew this wasn’t just a training accident. As I rounded the last turn toward the central lab facilities, I saw the first signs of it. The hallway ahead shimmered unnaturally, like heatwaves dancing on broken glass. Runes etched into the lab’s outer walls were scorched black, pulsing with unstable law energy. The air was wrong—it felt thick and heavy, laced with a pressure that made my skull throb. Then the rift opened. Right in the middle of Miracle’s student labs, reality split like wet paper. A jagged tear formed in the air, pitch-black and writhing with tendrils of shadow. From it poured creatures that oozed out like liquid nightmares, bodies stitched from claws and mist and mouths that never stopped grinning. Abyssals Demons. Real ones. The ones who killed my parents. Not the simulations we sparred with. Not the puppets in tactical illusions. These things breathed death and madness. A group of first-years tried to be brave and intercept the wave. They didn’t last five seconds. I watched them get shredded, screams cut short and blood painting the walls. Then, out of nowhere, Gin landed beside me, two law-blades snapping into form at his sides. “Where’s the rest of the team?” he barked. “No idea.” I said, voice tight. “What the hell is this?” “Experimental rift,” he growled. “Should’ve never been opened. Something came through. Something big.” Then I heard Lena’s voice. “Behind you!” I spun just as an Abyssal lunged. Its form semi-liquid and skeletal, jaws like a shark fused with a centipede. Lena skidded into view, panting. “Count-class. It’s still in the rift. We’re screwed if it gets out.” “Where’s Nyx?” Gin asked. “Already fighting,” Lena said grimly. “And Ara’s trying to use the rune seals to seal it.” I didn’t even get a chance to ask how she could do that. Caleb came crashing through the ceiling. Literally. He landed in a pile of cracked stone and debris, skin flickering with aura and teeth gritted. “There’s too many,” he hissed. “We need to contain the corridor before they spread.” Then Nyx came. She didn’t walk. She cut through a corridor of Abyssals like a storm incarnate. Her blade danced with threads of constructive law, slashing precise arcs into the tide of writhing bodies. Her face was calm. Too calm. “We hold the line,” she said as she reached us. “We stall. Ara’s almost done.” Then it came. A shape crawled from the rift, and silence followed. Even the lesser Abyssals paused—as if afraid of what just emerged. It was tall. Human-shaped, almost. But its arms were too long. Its eyes were too wide. And its voice was more like screeching. A Count level Abyssal demon. Caleb swore and stepped forward. “We can’t let it breach the courtyard. That's the evacuation zone. We don't know how long the instructors will take as there are multiple rifts opened in different parts of the academy.” “Formation?” Gin asked, already shifting into a stance. “Hex pattern,” Lena said. “Flank and rotate. Don’t engage alone.” They all looked at me. I nodded. “I’ll disrupt it. Buy you seconds. Just don’t let me die.” “Try not to,” Nyx muttered. “You’re mildly useful.” We moved as one. I flared Null Drive the moment we engaged, compressing the field around the Count demon’s aura. The lesser Abyssals shriveled under the field, unable to survive the law suppression. But the Count? It resisted. It's claws struck air and tore through space. Lena danced through with precise blasts of wind, using elemental law, knocking its arms off-center while Gin struck high with a burst of rotating edge-techniques. Nyx moved like liquid, too fast, too sharp, her blade never stopping. Caleb tanked a direct hit, his sword fracturing but holding as he pinned the count to a spot by increasing the gravity on the Count demon. Still, every time we hit it, it reformed. Matter meant nothing to it. Only one thing seemed to slow it perfectly, me. “Again!” Nyx shouted. I forced Null Drive deeper. The cost was brutal. My vision blurred. Blood poured from my ears. My glyphs pulsed white-hot under my skin. But it slowed. The Count demon howled, voice rising like a cathedral of screaming throats. That’s when Ara appeared. She stepped out of the collapsing lab behind the rift, hands glowing with gold-red law fire. Her cloak was half-burned, face marked with dust and sweat, but her eyes burned with focus. “It’s unstable,” she said. “We collapse it now, or it spreads.” “Then collapse it!” Gin yelled. “I need ten seconds!” “You’ve got five!” “Buy me time,” Ara ordered, stepping into a circle of runes she’d drawn with her own blood. We gave it to her. Every one of us pushed. Lena threw everything she had, her limbs shaking with strain as she unleashed barrage after barrage of attacks. Caleb slowed time on the Count Abyssal, giving us a better fighting chance. I hit the Count demon with the full force of Null Drive. The world fell away. I stood in silence, face to face with it. It tried to speak—but in my field, law did not exist. And in that moment, it was just a creature. I punched forward with Null Counter. My fist connected, and the glyphs along my arm burned bright. The Count demon staggered, and that was enough. Ara screamed a final incantation, and the rift collapsed. The world snapped, and the Count demon roared defiantly, but finally, silence fell. I fell to my knees and breathe ragged. Around me, the others dropped one by one, each bearing their own wounds. Gin looked like he’d been punched through a wall. Lena’s hands were shaking. Caleb was barely conscious. Nyx sheathed her blade with a soft, deliberate click. Ara walked to the center and looked around. “We survived.” “That’s... new,” Gin said, spitting blood. “We worked together,” Lena added, almost surprised. “Barely,” Nyx muttered. “But we did,” I said quietly. They all turned to me. And for the first time, no one looked away. Even Nyx didn’t scoff. Ara offered a slight nod. We sat in the wreckage, bleeding, bruised, but alive. As team seven.
Latest Chapter
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
Chapter 10: Hidden Chamber
Richard's POV The training vault beneath Miracle Academy was a tomb of silence, its stone walls etched with runes that hummed like a distant heartbeat. I stood alone in the center of the chamber, sweat dripping from my brow, the air heavy with the weight of laws I was trying to tame. My glyphs pulsed faintly under my skin—sacrificial, elemental, constructive, quantum—all whispering possibilities I couldn’t yet grasp. Null Drive and Null Counter were my weapons, but they were wild, untamed, threatening to tear me apart every time I reached for them. “Focus,” I muttered, clenching my fists. The vault’s runes flickered in response, amplifying the laws I channeled. I needed control. Rank E- wasn’t enough—not for Squad Seven, not for the eyes that now watched me with fear or hate, not for the fire in my chest that refused to let me kneel. I activated Null Drive. The chamber’s lights dimmed, the air thickening as laws receded like a retreating tide. My core strained, glyphs flaring gray.
Chapter Nine: Abyssal Outbreak
Richard's PovTwo weeks after the duel, everything had fallen back into its regular pattern. I had risen to number 70 and rank E-.Cadets looked at me with more fear in their eyes, and the people who tried to mess with me drastically reduced.I was in the sparring vault, channeling the laws to practice when I felt a tremor.A low, pulsing quake that rolled through Miracle Academy like a heartbeat from something monstrous buried too deep. The stone beneath my knees vibrated, the runes flickering erratically. My concentration snapped as cold stabbed down my spine like a dagger of ice.Something had gone wrong.The next moment, alarms shrieked.Scarlet rune lit up along the corridor walls, spinning in spirals of panic. A single word repeated in harsh, guttural tones through the academy intercom: Containment Breach.I didn’t hesitate.I bolted out of the vault, sprinting through the halls now filled with flashing sigils and panicked cadets. Others moved the opposite direction toward safe
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