[Core Breach 1]
Inside the core breach, the world was nothing like the jungle outside.
The moment the five students had stepped through the fractured veil of space, the environment had shifted completely. The lush greenery and sunlight of the forest had been replaced by a vast stone labyrinth, its walls carved from ancient grey rock that rose high into shadow. Faint blue mana crystals were embedded along the corridors, casting an eerie glow across the dungeon-like chamber.
The air felt heavy here, saturated with mana.
Ancient mechanisms lined the walls at irregular intervals—rusted gears, pressure plates, and narrow slits that clearly hid traps waiting to be triggered. Even the ground itself was uneven, with sections of stone slightly raised as if ready to collapse beneath the weight of careless footsteps.
At the center of a large circular chamber stood five figures.
Serena.
Lucian.
Cedric.
Grukk Ironmaw.
And another student.
The fifth member of the group was a slender girl with short ash-blonde hair that barely reached her shoulders and pale green eyes that constantly shifted nervously around the chamber. She wore the academy uniform like the others, though her posture made it clear she felt completely out of place among them.
Her name was Mira Halewind.
The tension between the five of them was thick enough to feel.
Cedric leaned casually against a cracked stone pillar, his gaze drifting from one person to another before finally settling on Serena. A faint smile rested on his lips as he spoke.
"Seriously, Serena," he said lightly, "you expect me to team up with a commoner and a beastman now?"
His tone carried amusement more than hostility.
Serena looked at him with a perfectly calm expression.
"They are above you in the rankings."
Her voice was flat, almost indifferent.
For a moment Cedric said nothing.
Then his smile widened faintly, though he offered no further argument.
Nearby, Mira shifted uneasily as she looked at the four students surrounding her. The difference in presence between them was overwhelming, and the fear on her face was impossible to hide.
She hesitated before speaking.
"Y–young duchess… is it really okay for me to be here?"
Serena turned toward her and gave a reassuring smile.
"Of course, Mira," she replied gently. "Based on resonance compatibility alone, you are the most important member of this group."
Her gaze briefly shifted toward Cedric, who seemed oddly entertained by something on his Manacron.
"What are you looking at, Cedric?" she asked.
Cedric glanced up lazily before shrugging.
"Just a white sheep walking calmly toward the slaughter."
Grukk Ironmaw snorted impatiently beside them, his massive frame towering over the others as he cracked his knuckles with a low grunt.
"Can we start the fight already?"
But before anyone could respond—
The ground beneath their feet suddenly trembled.
Then violently shook.
The stone floor tilted with terrifying force as massive silhouette roared to life beneath the chamber, and the five students were thrown off balance as though the earth itself had flipped beneath them.
***
Back in the academy auditorium, the atmosphere had shifted from casual observation to focused anticipation.
The floating projection screens that filled the hall had now changed almost entirely to display the interiors of the two core breaches. Dozens of instructors and academy staff stood gathered around them, watching the unfolding scenes with far greater interest than before.
Across several screens, the stone labyrinth of the first core breach could be seen collapsing and rearranging itself as traps activated and hidden mechanisms roared to life.
At the center of the observation platform, Valerian leaned forward eagerly, his eyes shining with manic excitement as he watched one of the projections.
"Woahhh…" he breathed.
His grin widened into a delighted laugh.
"Look at that… he still has that much brute force even while using barely two percent of his power… hihihahhahhahehhehii!"
Both Garrick and Elowen stood beside him.
They exchanged a glance before sighing almost in unison.
Garrick rubbed his forehead in quiet resignation, while Elowen simply shook her head with a gentle smile.
"Yes, yes," Elowen said softly, her tone patient as ever. "It's quite impressive."
Then she gestured lightly toward another cluster of screens hovering nearby.
"Now then… shall we take a look at what's happening inside the second core breach?"
***
[Core Breach 2]
Inside the second core breach, the environment was completely different from the stone labyrinth of the first.
Here, the world resembled an ancient ruined garden, vast and overgrown, where towering stone pillars stood half-broken beneath a sky that shimmered with unnatural green light. Massive tree roots had burst through cracked marble floors, and thick vegetation covered nearly every surface as if the entire place had been swallowed by nature centuries ago.
Yet the silence of the place carried something unsettling.
Mana flowed heavily through the air, and the ground itself seemed alive beneath the creeping vines that crawled slowly across the ruins.
In the middle of a wide clearing stood Khaira, her tall frame straight and unyielding as her horns cut sharply against the strange green glow of the sky above.
Her fiery orange eyes burned with impatience as she stared down the figures standing across from her.
Four elves.
They stood together with perfect composure, their expressions calm and distant as if the entire confrontation was nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
At their front stood a tall male elf with silver hair that flowed neatly down his back and pale emerald eyes that carried the quiet arrogance of someone accustomed to superiority.
Aelrion Sylvaris.
Khaira clicked her tongue loudly before speaking.
"Oye… get outta here," she growled in her thick, rolled accent. "This breach's mine."
The elves didn't move.
Aelrion simply looked at her calmly, his gaze carrying a faint hint of disdain.
"I'm afraid that is not how such matters are decided," he replied coolly.
One of the elves beside him folded his arms, his lips curling slightly.
"This place does not belong to beasts."
Another added with quiet indifference, "If anything, your presence here is the anomaly."
Khaira's tail lashed behind her as her expression darkened instantly.
"What was that?"
Her knuckles cracked as she stepped forward, heat practically radiating from her body.
"You pointy-eared trees think ya can just walk in and claim everything, huh?"
Her grin turned sharp.
"Try sayin' that again when yer teeth are lyin' on the ground."
The elves remained unmoved.
Aelrion tilted his head slightly, as though examining something beneath his notice.
"Violence from a beast… how unsurprising."
The mana in the clearing began stirring violently as both sides prepared to move.
But before either of them could take the first step—
The ground beneath them suddenly split open.
Thick, dark vines burst from the cracked marble floor, moving like living serpents as they surged upward with terrifying speed.
In the next instant they wrapped around every one of them.
Khaira's eyes widened as the vines coiled tightly around her arms and legs.
The same happened to the four elves.
Within seconds, the vines lifted all five of them high into the air, suspending them above the ruined garden as the living plants tightened their grip.
***
The clearing before the two core breaches had gradually transformed into something resembling an arena rather than a battlefield.
What had begun as scattered students approaching the breaches had now turned into a gathering crowd, and with every passing minute more figures emerged from the jungle, drawn by the announcement that had exposed everyone's location. Humans, elves, and beastmen now stood in loose circles across the clearing, their attention drawn toward a single man standing alone between them and the swirling fractures of mana that marked the entrances of the core breaches.
Damon Valecrest.
He stood calmly despite the dozens of hostile gazes fixed upon him as his white hair stirred faintly in the heavy air.
The smile on his face had not faded.
From the front of the commoner group, Alina stepped forward slowly, her expression tightening the moment she noticed that same unbothered smile still lingering on Damon's lips.
"Just look at that arrogant smirk," she said coldly, her voice carrying clearly across the clearing as she glanced back toward the other commoner students gathered behind her.
Then she spoke louder so that they could all hear.
"And some of you actually wanted to leave it at that."
Her words ignited the tension that had already been building among them.
Several of the commoners clenched their fists, anger rising across their faces as they looked back toward Damon.
Alina's voice hardened as she raised her hand slightly toward him.
"Let's get rid of him right here and show everyone that commoners cannot be suppressed."
The group behind her began stepping forward.
However, before they could reach Damon—
A calm, cutting voice suddenly interrupted the movement.
"Stop."
The single word carried enough authority to halt several students in their tracks.
"He is my prey."
One of the noble students stepped forward from the other side of the clearing, his gaze fixed sharply on Damon as though he had already claimed the right to eliminate him.
Immediately, several other nobles moved as well.
"No," one of them said with a scoff, pushing slightly ahead of the others. "He's mine."
Another noble shook his head impatiently.
"You're not the only one who wants him."
For a moment, it looked as though the nobles might begin fighting among themselves over who would get the first strike.
Then—
A loud roar of laughter rolled through the clearing.
A beastman stepped forward from the side, his heavy frame shaking slightly with amusement as he looked toward Damon like a predator spotting easy prey.
"Grukk already gave up fightin' him," the beastman said in a thick, rolled accent that dragged through every word. "Said he ain't worth the trouble… seein' how weak he is."
He cracked his neck slowly before continuing.
"So we'll just take care of him for Khaira."
Several beastmen behind him bared their teeth in eager grins.
"Whoever reaches him first…" the beastman finished with a chuckle, "gets him."
The moment those words left his mouth, the beastmen charged forward.
That movement shattered the fragile standoff instantly.
Seeing the beastmen rush ahead, the nobles surged forward as well, unwilling to lose their chance, while the commoners followed closely behind, their earlier anger now fully ignited by the moment.
Within seconds, dozens of students were moving toward Damon from every direction.
And yet—
Damon himself remained calm.
His body shifted slightly, lowering his stance as his muscles tightened in preparation for the storm about to reach him.
The first attackers to close the distance were two noble students who rushed ahead of the others.
Damon moved the instant they entered striking range.
His body twisted sharply to the side as he slipped past the first attack, his fist snapping upward in a precise strike that slammed into one noble's jaw and sent him crashing violently to the ground. Before the second student could react, Damon pivoted smoothly and drove his knee into the boy's ribs, folding him forward before shoving him aside with a brutal push.
But that brief success lasted only a moment.
More figures closed in from every side.
A massive beastman fist crashed into Damon's side with overwhelming force.
The impact forced the air from his lungs as his body bent forward violently, blood spraying from his mouth as pain exploded across his ribs.
Before he could even recover—
A burst of wind resonance struck him from the flank.
The invisible pressure slammed into him like a hammer, lifting him off his feet and hurling him through the air before he crashed violently against the trunk of a nearby tree.
The bark splintered beneath the impact.
Damon's body slid downward, falling toward the ground.
But before he could even land—
Three arrows streaked through the air.
Two pierced into his shoulder and side.
The third buried itself deep into his thigh.
Damon's body finally collapsed onto the ground with a heavy thud, blood spreading beneath him as the world spun in blurred fragments around his vision.
For a moment, everything went quiet.
Then his Manacron chimed sharply.
DING.
LOW HP DETECTED.
ELIMINATION DANGER.
Damon coughed violently as more blood spilled from his mouth, staining the ground beneath him.
The students who had attacked him slowly stopped advancing.
Instead, they stepped back slightly, watching him where he lay broken against the earth.
Then—
A woman's laughter echoed through the clearing.
"Ahahahheheh…"
The crowd shifted slightly as Valeria Raventhal stepped forward.
She looked down at Damon with open contempt, her lips curved into a mocking smile as she slowly approached his fallen figure.
"You see this, Damon Valecrest?" she said loudly, ensuring that everyone around them could hear.
"There is no fear of you anymore… the great Duke's son."
Her voice carried bitter scorn as she gestured toward the crowd surrounding him.
"You always depended on someone else to bully the weak."
She pointed briefly toward the beastmen.
"Last time it was that bull woman."
Then her eyes hardened further.
"And there is always your father standing behind you."
Her smile twisted into something colder.
"But now everyone knows that even the Duke has given up on you."
She took another step forward, staring down at him with open disdain.
"Just look at how pathetic you are."
Her hand spread outward toward the dozens of students surrounding them.
"Everyone here is your enemy."
"And you cannot even rely on your own family anymore."
Her voice dropped into a final whisper filled with contempt.
"You don't deserve to survive in this world."
Her gaze sharpened as she delivered the final words.
"YOU…DESERVE TO DIE!."