"S-rank?!" Juni shrieks. "This is supposed to be beginner level!"
The beast lunges.
"Move!" Kai shouts.
We scatter. Juni dives right, I go left, and Kai rolls forward. The beast's claws slam into the ground where we were just standing, cracking the stone.
"Okay, okay, we can handle this," Kai says, already forming a spell circle with his hands. "Juni, defensive barriers! Amara, hide!"
Excuse me? Hide?
But before I can say anything else, Juni casts her barrier, a shimmering golden dome that springs up around us. The Shadowbeast slams into it, and the barrier cracks.
"It's too strong!" Juni cries.
Kai launches an offensive spell; a bolt of lightning that strikes the beast in the shoulder. It roars in pain but doesn't go down.
I'm about to cast something when I sense it.
Another presence. Behind us.
I whip around just in time to see a second Shadowbeast emerging from the right tunnel. This one is even bigger than the first.
"Guys!" I shout. "Behind us!"
But Juni is focused on maintaining her barrier against the first beast, and Kai is preparing another attack spell.
The second beast locks its eyes on me. It crouches, ready to pounce.
I could end this right now. A little burst of my real power and both these things would be dust. But I can't. My secret will be revealed.
The beast lunges at me from behind.
I sense its trajectory, calculate the angle, prepare to dodge and counter with just enough power to seem normal but—
"Amara, down!"
Kai slams into me from the side, pushing me out of the way. The beast's claws rake across his back instead, and he cries out in pain.
"Kai!"
He hits the ground hard, blood seeping through his uniform. His eyes closed.
Oh no. Oh no no no.
The beast that attacked him turns its attention back to me, growling. The first beast has broken through Juni's barrier, and she's scrambling backward, terror written all over her face.
Something in me snaps.
I form a spell circle, a real one, not the baby stuff they used and launch a concentrated blast of energy at the beast in front of me. It hits the creature square in the chest, and the beast disintegrates.
The first beast, the one advancing on Juni, roars. And then I hear it; more growls coming from all three tunnels.
They heard their friend die. And now they're coming.
"Juni, get behind me," I order, my voice colder than I intended. "And make sure you keep your eyes closed."
She doesn't argue, scrambling to her feet and rushing to my side.
Shadows pour from the tunnels. Five, six, seven more Shadowbeasts. This can't be beginner level.
This is the kind of scenario that could actually kill professional mages.
I look at Kai's unconscious body. At Juni's terrified face. At the monsters closing in.
Screw it.
I let just a tiny bit of my aura slip out. Just a fraction of what I'm actually capable of. But even that small amount fills the cavern like a physical force.
The beasts stop in their tracks.
One of them, the largest one, with scars across its face, takes a step back. Its red eyes widen, and then it does something I didn't expect.
It speaks.
"Ancient... power..." Its voice is gravelly, barely understandable. "We... submit..."
And then it kneels.
The other beasts follow, lowering their heads in submission.
Juni makes a strangled sound beside me. She opened her eyes. "What... what is happening?"
I keep my voice steadfast and authoritative. "Leave."
The scarred beast nods once, then turns and flees back into the tunnel. The others follow, their growls fading into the distance.
The moment they're gone, everything goes white.
---
We're back in the hall.
Professor Thorne is there immediately, along with several other professors and what looks like medical staff.
"What happened?" Professor Thorne demands. "The simulation registered an S-level threat manifestation. That should have been impossible."
Medical staff rush to Kai, healing magic already glowing around their hands. Others check on Juni, who's shaking but unharmed.
Someone tries to check on me, but I wave them off. "I'm fine."
"Miss Cole, you need to be examined—"
"I said I'm fine," I repeat, more firmly this time.
Professor Thorne's eyes narrow as she looks at me. Like she's trying to figure something out.
"The simulation malfunctioned again," one of the technicians reports. "Somehow the difficulty setting was overridden. It jumped from beginner to S-level mid-scenario."
"Twice in one day?" Professor Thorne says, her voice sharp. "That's not a coincidence. Someone investigate this immediately."
Kai groans as the healing magic works on him. His eyes flutter open, and he immediately looks around. "Amara? Juni?"
"We're okay," I say quickly. "You're okay too. Just... rest."
He tries to sit up. "What happened? The last thing I remember is—"
"You saved me," I say quietly. "You got hurt protecting me. Why?"
He blinks, like he's trying to process that. Then he looks at me with this weird expression I can't quite read. "Of course I did. I wasn't going to let you get hurt."
My heart does this stupid flutter thing that I immediately ignore.
"How did you escape?" he asks. "Those were S-level Shadowbeasts. Even experienced mages would struggle against one."
I shrug, keeping my expression neutral. "Got lucky, I guess. They just... left."
"They just left?" Juni speaks up, her voice still shaky. "They bowed to her. They called her—"
"Juni," I say, my voice low. "You're in shock. You don't know what you saw."
She stares at me for a long moment, and I can see the wheels turning in her head. Then slowly, she nods. "Right. I... I must have been seeing things."
Professor Thorne is still watching me with that calculating look.
"Miss Cole," she says. "A word. In private."
Oh no.
This is not good.
---
I follow Professor Thorne down a sterile white hallway, my heart hammering against my ribs. She doesn't say anything, just walks with that purposeful stride that makes me feel I've been caught.
We end up in a small observation room overlooking the training arena. The door clicks shut behind us with an ominous finality.
"Sit," she says, gesturing to a chair.
I sit. She remains standing, arms crossed, studying me like I'm a particularly interesting specimen under a microscope.
"The surveillance went dark the moment your team entered the station," she begins. "Complete blackout. No video, no audio, no magical signatures. Nothing."
I keep my face carefully neutral. "That's... weird?"
"Very weird," she agrees. "But what's even more interesting is what happened before the blackout. The station entrance is designed to read each student's energy power level and generate appropriate traps and obstacles. It's a sophisticated system that's been in place for decades."
My stomach drops, but I force myself to look confused. "Okay?"
"The system couldn't find a suitable trap for your group," Professor Thorne continues, her eyes never leaving my face. "It cycled through every scenario in its database, even C-level, B-level, A-level, it rejected them all. Do you know what it did instead?"
I shake my head, even though I have a pretty good idea where this is going.
"It pulled S-level monsters. The highest threat level in the system. The only way that could happen is if one of you was actually powerful enough to defeat S-class monsters." She pauses, letting that sink in. "And this is the second malfunction that's happened with you involved, Miss Cole."
My mind races. I need to sell this. I need to make her believe I'm just a powerless student who got caught up in something beyond her control.
"Professor, I don't understand what you're implying," I say, injecting just the right amount of bewilderment into my voice. "I'm literally the weakest person in that group. I can barely do basic magic."
"Then explain how you survived."
"We didn't really survive on our own," I say quickly, the lie forming as I speak.
"The monsters were fighting each other, I think they were territorial or something? And we just... hid. We found this alcove and stayed there until the transport crew pulled us out. Honestly, I thought we were going to die."
Professor Thorne's eyes narrow. "Juni said they bowed to you."
"Juni was terrified and injured. She was seeing things that weren't there." I lean forward, making my voice earnest. "Professor, I've always had weak magic. I can barely make a stone flat. Watch."
I reach for the pen on her desk, holding my hand over it. I channel magic so small it's almost painful to restrict myself that much. The pen wobbles, lifts maybe half an inch off the desk, and I make my hand shake like I'm straining with effort.
The pen drops with a clatter.
"See?" I say, slightly breathless. "That's all I can do. There's no way I could fight an S-level monster. There's no way I could make a system malfunction."
Professor Thorne watches me for a long, uncomfortable moment. I can see the skepticism in her eyes, the way she's weighing my words against what she knows.
Finally, she sighs. "Perhaps you're right. Perhaps it was just a system error. We'll have the technicians look into it."
"Thank you, Professor," I say, relief flooding through me.
But as I stand to leave, I catch the way she's still watching me, and I know this isn't over.
Not by a long shot.