HELL UNIVERSITY

The Broken Balcony

Stone and twisted iron rained down into the central aisle as the second-story balcony shattered under the invisible, crushing force of Rowan’s command.

Dust bloomed in a thick, grey cloud, obscuring the moonlight filtering through the cracked stained-glass windows.

Declan scrambled backward on his hands and knees, coughing as mortar dust filled his lungs. "Rowan!" he yelled over the ringing in his ears. "Are you crazy?!"

Rowan didn't move an inch from the center of the silver array. The glowing runes beneath his boots flickered wildly, their crimson energy continuing to spiral up his arms and dissolve into his skin like liquid fire.

[Monarch Purity Reached: 22%]

[Passive Regeneration Active: Cleansing Corrupted Mana]

[Monarch Domain Expanding: 12-Meter Radius]

Through the settling dust, a metallic groan echoed.

The two Global Council Executioners pushed aside a heavy slab of broken stone, rising unscathed from the rubble. Their full silver plate armor hummed with protective anti-magic barriers, absorbing the brunt of the kinetic collapse. Between them, Professor Victor Hale adjusted his bent glasses, a streak of blood running down his left temple, his eyes blazing with venomous fury.

"Fools," Hale hissed, his sharp voice cutting through the dust cloud. "You think brute force can overcome the Council's elite?"

Hale raised his dark wooden staff, its crimson crystal cracked but still glowing with volatile energy. "Executioners! Form zero-zone perimeter! Kill the human witness and tear the Hawthorne boy's heart out!"

The two Executioners drew heavy, two-handed silver broadswords inscribed with glowing runes of light magic. They moved with terrifying synchronicity, leaping across the rubble-strewn floor at speeds that blurred the human eye.

"Declan, stay behind my domain," Rowan ordered, his voice echoing with cold, absolute authority.

The first Executioner arrived in a flash of silver, bringing his massive broadsword down in a vertical cleave aimed directly at Rowan’s head. The anti-magic edge hissed through the air, capable of slicing through standard vampiric flesh like parchment.

Rowan didn't dodge. He raised his left hand, intercepting the flat of the heavy blade with his bare palm.

CLANG!

A shockwave of air blasted outward, blowing away the surrounding dust and shattering the wooden reading tables nearby. The Executioner’s eyes widened behind his metallic mask as his broadsword came to a dead halt, locked between Rowan’s pale fingers.

"Your armor negates standard magic," Rowan murmured, his crimson eyes locking onto the Executioner’s visor. "How does it handle pure blood pressure?"

[Skill Activated: Absolute Blood Pressure (Level 2)]

Rowan’s grip tightened. Instead of targeting the sword, his Monarch aura bypassed the outer silver armor entirely, targeting the fluid balance within the Executioner’s inner ears and blood vessels.

The Executioner gasped, his posture collapsing instantly. Blood began to seep through the seams of his metallic helmet as his blood pressure spiked violently. He dropped his broadsword, falling to his knees and clutching his head in agony.

The second Executioner, seeing his partner drop without receiving a physical blow, faltered for a microsecond.

In combat between high-tier entities, a microsecond was an eternity.

Rowan blurred. He closed the ten-foot gap instantaneously, stepping inside the second Executioner’s guard. With a swift, open-palmed strike, Rowan slammed his hand directly into the center of the man's silver chest plate.

BOOM!

The reinforced anti-magic plate caved inward under a concentrated pulse of Monarch force. The Executioner flew backward twenty feet, crashing through three heavy oak bookshelves before coming to a violent halt against the stone wall, unconscious.

[Notice: 2 Council Executioners Neutralized.]

[Monarch EXP +200]

[Level Up! Ancestral Blood Monarch System: Rank 1 (25% Awakened)]

Rowan stood amidst the ruined bookshelves, his breathing smooth and unhurried. He turned his gaze slowly toward Professor Hale, who now stood alone amidst the rubble, holding his cracked staff with a visibly trembling hand.

"It seems your elite guard fell short, Professor," Rowan said, taking a slow step forward.

Hale’s face twitched, his composed facade completely shattering. He stumbled back a step, looking at the two downed Executioners in disbelief. "What... what manner of creature are you? Even pureblood elders cannot manipulate internal blood without a direct physical conduit!"

"You spent so much time studying our weakness that you forgot why my ancestors ruled this realm in the first place," Rowan replied coldly.

Rowan raised his right hand, preparing to crush the remaining mana in Hale’s staff.

"Rowan, wait!" Declan called out from behind a stone pillar.

Rowan paused, his eyes shifting slightly toward Declan.

Declan stepped out, his face pale but resolute as he stared at Professor Hale. "He has the key to the main catacomb ward in his coat. If you kill him, we won't know how to close Node 5!"

Hale let out a sudden, desperate laugh. "The boy is smarter than you, Hawthorne! Node 5 is already locked in a feedback loop! In less than ten minutes, the subterranean pulse will tear through the central seal!"

Hale slammed his cracked staff against the floor, triggering a smoke-bomb rune embedded in its base. A dense cloud of blinding, silver-infused smoke erupted, filling the archive hall instantly and burning supernatural senses.

By the time Rowan’s Monarch Domain cleared the smoke with a single wave of his arm, Hale was gone—a shattered stone window showing he had escaped into the stormy night.

Rowan didn't pursue him. He turned toward the glowing silver array on the floor, which was now pulsing with an erratic, dangerous purple light.

"Declan," Rowan said, stepping over to the control slab. "I need your blood."

Declan flinched, but didn't run. "What?"

"Hale built this trap using Mercer hunter alignment," Rowan explained, pulling a small silver dagger from his pocket and handing it to Declan. "My blood can suppress the energy, but only hunter blood can rewrite the core frequency and shut Node 5 down."

Declan looked at the dagger, then at the pulsating purple array that threatened to collapse the floor into the catacombs below. The fear in his eyes slowly gave way to a quiet determination.

"How do I do it?" Declan asked, taking the dagger.

"Slice your palm and press it against the central rune," Rowan guided, standing beside him. "Focus on cutting the connection Hale established. Command it to stop."

Declan took a deep breath. "Command it... like I'm a hunter?"

"Like you're Declan Mercer," Rowan corrected quietly. "You control the blood in your veins. Not Hale."

Declan nodded firmly. He sliced his palm with the silver blade and slammed his bloody hand directly onto the central rune of the array.

TSFFFF!

A sharp hiss of steam erupted as Declan's hunter blood made contact with the ancient magic. The purple light flared violently, fighting the intrusion, but Declan held his ground, gritting his teeth through the pain.

"Close... down!" Declan roared, his dormant hunter instincts flaring for the first time as a faint, golden aura coated his hand.

[Notice: Node 5 Frequency Overwritten.]

[Hunter Lineage Alignment Verified.]

[Catacomb Pulse Stabilized at 82%.]

The blinding light faded. The hum died out, and the silver runes turned dull grey as the array went completely dormant.

Declan collapsed back onto his knees, gasping for air, clutching his bleeding palm.

Rowan crouched beside him, taking a clean handkerchief from his blazer pocket and wrapping it firmly around Declan's hand. "You did well, Declan."

Declan looked at his bandaged hand, then up at Rowan, a tired smile breaking through his exhaustion. "I guess... I really am a hunter, huh?"

"You're a hunter who saved this school tonight," Rowan said smoothly, pulling Declan up to his feet.

Before they could exit the ruined library, the heavy oak doors burst open once more.

Gideon, Briar, and Selene rushed into the hall, weapons drawn, only to stop dead in their tracks as they took in the scene of devastation—shattered balconies, destroyed bookshelves, two unconscious Executioners, and Rowan standing beside a bloody-handed Declan.

"What in the hell happened here?!" Gideon shouted, staring wide-eyed at the collapsed balcony.

Selene stepped forward, her dark eyes reflecting deep worry as she looked at Rowan. "Rowan... the ley lines stabilized, but Hale escaped into the main catacombs. My visions... they've changed."

Rowan turned to her. "What did you see?"

Selene swallowed hard, her voice trembling slightly. "Hale knows he can't beat you directly anymore. He's going to use the remaining four nodes to force an early awakening of Adrian Crowe. He's going to unleash the First Hybrid tomorrow night during the Academy Assembly."