The Labyrinth was no longer a testing ground; it was an abattoir.
As the iron-bound body of the Goliath Warden cooled into a silent husk, the shifting walls of the sub-level groaned, sliding apart to reveal a long, vaulted corridor. The air here was different—colder, sharper, and smelling of a sterile, artificial divinity.
"Matt, the readings are changing," Andre whispered, his fingers dancing over a cracked screen. "The internal guardians are retreating. They're making way for something... biological."
From the darkness of the corridor, footsteps echoed. They weren't the heavy, clanking thuds of a Warden, but the synchronized, light taps of human boots. A group of twelve students emerged from the gloom. These weren't the terrified E-Class commoners or the broken scholarship students. These were the Azure Wing, the highest-ranking Elites of the First Year, led by a boy named Caspian.
Caspian didn't look scared. He looked revitalized. His silver Academy robes were immaculate, and his eyes glowed with a frantic, artificial gold light—the mark of a Direct Infusion.
"Matthew," Caspian said, his voice smooth and devoid of his usual arrogance. "The Dean sends his regards. He also sends a choice."
Matthew stood his ground, the violet embers of the destroyed Warden still swirling around his boots. "I'm not interested in his choices, Caspian. I've seen the 'Face' he serves."
"The Face is irrelevant," Caspian countered, raising a hand. Behind him, the other eleven students moved into a semi-circle, their wands and focus-stones humming with a synchronized frequency. "The Dean has realized that the Labyrinth's Purge is... messy. He wants a clean resolution. He has offered a full pardon and immediate promotion to the Second Year for anyone who assists in the 'neutralization' of the Void Infection."
Lyra stepped forward, her fire-sword sparking. "He's using you, Caspian! He's going to kill all of us once Matthew is gone. You saw the broadcast!"
"The broadcast was a hallucination caused by the Miasma," Caspian said, his voice flat, as if reciting a prayer. "We have been enlightened. Matthew is the rot. To save the Academy, the rot must be cut out. If we bring them your head, we go home. If we don't, the Inquisitors behind us will burn this entire level—including us."
There was no further warning. Caspian snapped his fingers, and the twelve Elites unleashed a coordinated strike. It wasn't a messy barrage of fireballs; it was a Solar Lattice—a web of hard-light beams designed to pin a target's mana-veins to the physical world.
"Andrew!" Matthew roared.
Andrew dove forward, slamming his shield into the ground. The Lattice hit the metal with a sound like a hammer on an anvil. The shield groaned, the heavy iron turning cherry-red under the thermal pressure.
"I can't hold this forever!" Andrew grunted, his boots sliding back. "They're fueled by the ley-lines! They have infinite mana down here!"
"They don't have infinite focus," Matthew said.
He lunged past the shield, his tattered black coat billowing like a raven's wings. The violet fire in his eyes flared, turning into jagged streaks of lightning that danced across his skin. He didn't head for Caspian; he headed for the two students anchoring the left side of the web.
Matthew moved with a predatory grace that terrified the Elites. He didn't use a wand; he used his own body as a conductor for the "Hollow Saint" energy. He ducked under a beam of silver light and caught a student's wrist.
Shhh-tk.
The student's light-shield didn't just break; it shattered into glass-like fragments. Matthew didn't strike the boy; he simply touched his chest. The violet energy surged, temporarily "short-circuiting" the student's mana-circuits. The boy collapsed, not dead, but completely drained of the ability to cast.
"Close the circle!" Caspian screamed, his calm mask finally cracking. "Don't let the Null touch you!"
Lyra and Andrew joined the fray. Lyra was a blur of crimson and violet, her sword clashing against the Elites' magical barriers with the sound of a blacksmith's shop. She was fighting with a desperate ferocity, keeping three of the Azure Wing occupied while Andrew acted as a mobile fortress, intercepting the lethal bolts meant for Matthew's back.
But the Elites were prepared. They had spent their lives training for this, and their new "Blessings" allowed them to ignore the exhaustion that should have claimed them. Every time Matthew downed one, another stepped in, their spells growing more desperate and violent.
"He's weakening!" one of the students yelled, seeing Matthew stumble as a bolt of holy fire grazed his ribs. "The Void can't eat everything! Keep the pressure on!"
Matthew felt the "divine lead" in his gut beginning to churn. The energy he had stolen from the Warden was fighting against the raw Void of his core. He was a vessel being filled from both ends, and the pressure was becoming unbearable.
Caspian saw the opening. He raised his hands, a massive sphere of condensed solar energy forming above his head. It wasn't a standard spell; it was a Nova Breach, a forbidden technique that sacrificed the caster's own life-force for a single, world-ending blast.
"For the Architects!" Caspian shrieked, his eyes bleeding gold light.
The sphere expanded, turning the white-walled corridor into a blinding furnace. The heat was so intense that the moss on the walls turned to ash instantly.
Matthew looked at his friends. Lyra was pinned down by three shields, and Andrew was struggling to keep his shield from melting in his hands. There was no room to dodge. No time to counter.
Matthew looked at the glowing sphere, then at Caspian's fanatical face. He felt the Golden Ring in his soul snap.
"You want the Void?" Matthew's voice wasn't his own anymore. It was a chorus of a thousand hollow echoes. "Then have it all."
Matthew didn't raise his hands to defend. He opened his arms wide, inviting the blast. The violet fire around him turned into a black, swirling vortex that began to pull the very air out of the lungs of everyone in the room.
The Nova Breach hit.
The explosion was silent. For a long, terrifying second, the world turned white. And then, the darkness began to fight back.