The climb back up from Sector 9 felt longer than the descent. The mechanical groan of the service elevator was the only sound in the cramped iron box, save for the ragged, heavy breathing of five children who had just looked into the mouth of the abyss and lived.
Nikolas leaned against the back corner of the lift, his head down, silver-black hair matted with ash and dried sweat. He looked like a ten-year-old boy who had barely survived a collapse—exactly as he intended.
[STATUS: SYSTEM SUPPRESSION ACTIVE]
[GEAR STATUS]: Jax's Kinetic Greaves: 12% Durability. Toby's Cloak: Scorched.
[INTERNAL RESERVES]: Level 8 stabilized. All Alpha signatures diverted to the Potara Earring.
The earring on his left ear was ice-cold, vibrating with the sheer volume of raw, predatory energy it was vacuuming out of his veins to maintain the illusion of his "runt" status.
"Niko," Jax whispered, his voice cracking as he adjusted his cracked respirator. "Your hand. It's... it's still smoking."
Nikolas looked down. A faint wisp of black vapor was rising from his knuckles where he had punched through the General's core. He shoved the hand into his pocket. "It's just the sulfur, Jax. The heat down there sticks to everything."
"Right," Jax muttered, though his eyes lingered on the scorched metal of the elevator floor where Nikolas was standing. "Just sulfur."
The elevator lurched to a halt at the Copper Row transition. The doors scraped open, revealing a wall of Silver-rank guards and the sharp, predatory silhouette of Knight-Inquisitor Vora. She stood with her arms crossed, a mana-lantern in her hand that cast a harsh, unforgiving light over the bedraggled squad.
"Report," Vora commanded. Her eyes swept over them, landing on the empty space where she expected to see five corpses. "Where is the Scion Queen's head?"
Nikolas stayed in the back, letting the shadows of the lift swallow his frame. He needed the "Specialist" to handle this.
[JAX]
Jax stepped forward, stumbling slightly for effect. He looked like a wreck—his goggles were shattered, his tunic was shredded, and he was covered in the purple, oily ichor of the Scion drones.
"We... we got it, ma'am," Jax wheezed, reaching into his satchel with trembling fingers.
He pulled out the severed, chitinous head of a Scion Queen. It was smaller than the one Nikolas had actually faced—a secondary breeder they had found near the entrance—but in the dim light, it looked monstrous enough.
"The tunnel collapsed," Jax lied, his voice rising in a pitch of practiced panic. "Toby used the over-pressurized steam charges. The whole sector went down. We barely got the head before the ceiling dropped. Kael almost stayed down there!"
Vora stepped forward, her boots clicking on the iron floor. She took the head by its mandibles, inspecting the jagged, messy neck. "This wasn't cut by a blade. It was torn."
"The collapse, ma'am!" Jax insisted, wiping fake soot from his eyes. "Rock-fall. We had to dig it out. Nikolas almost got crushed trying to grab the mandibles."
Vora looked past Jax, her ice-shard eyes pinning Nikolas to the back of the elevator. Nikolas didn't look up; he just shivered, hugging his arms around his chest. To the Inquisitor, he looked like a traumatized child who had lucked his way through a disaster.
"And the Shadow signature?" Vora asked, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "The sensors in the Spire recorded a massive spike of Abyssal energy ten minutes ago. Almost like a manifestation."
"The Queen exploded!" Jax shouted, his voice cracking perfectly. "Internal mana-rupture! Sora says the shadows were 'bleeding' everywhere. We just ran. We didn't look back."
Vora lingered for a long moment, the silence stretching until Jax felt like his lungs would burst. Finally, she tossed the head to one of the guards.
"Take them to the infirmary," she snapped. "And keep them there. I want a full forensic report on that sector once the dust clears. If I find out you're hiding so much as a silver-scrap from that mine, I'll have you all in the pits by sunrise."
[MINA]
The infirmary was a cold, sterile hall lined with stone cots and the smell of bitter herbs. For the first time in weeks, the Runt Squad was actually left alone. The "Gold Rank" status usually meant constant supervision, but the healers were too busy with a group of Ignis dragons who had been scorched during a training accident to worry about the "Salvatore Runt" and his friends.
Mina sat on the edge of her cot, her iron scales slowly receding back into her skin. Her body ached, but the pain was different now. It was the ache of a survivor, not a victim.
She looked across the aisle at Nikolas. He was sitting on his bed, staring at the floor. He hadn't said a word since they left the mines.
"Niko," she said softly.
He looked up, and for a second, Mina saw it again—that flash of something ancient and terrible in his eyes—before it vanished behind the mask of a tired boy.
"We need to talk about what happened down there," she said, glancing toward the doors to ensure no guards were listening. "The way you moved... that wasn't 'Blood-Burst' magic, Niko. And that General... he called you the 'Root'."
"He was a shadow, Mina," Nikolas said, his voice quiet but firm. "Shadows say things to confuse their prey. They lie."
"He didn't look confused," Kael chimed in from the next cot, his pale face reflecting the moonlight from the high window. "He looked like he was seeing a ghost. And you... you looked like—"
"I looked like a Salvatore who didn't want to die," Nikolas interrupted. He stood up, walking over to the window. He looked out at the volcano's inner rim, his back to them. "The Academy is a meat-grinder. If the Masters think I'm more than a lucky kid, they'll use me until there's nothing left. And they'll use you to get to me."
He turned around, and the intensity in his gaze made Jax drop the screwdriver he was using to fix his goggles.
"I need you all to keep the secret. Not for me, but for the pack. If anyone asks, I'm a runt who works too hard. If anyone asks, I'm just lucky. Can you do that?"
The room went silent. Jax looked at Toby; Toby looked at Sora. They all remembered the feeling of the General's aura—the cold, suffocating weight of certain death—and the way Nikolas had simply stepped into the storm and broken it.
"We've been keeping secrets for you since the ruins, Niko," Jax said, his voice steady for the first time that night. "We aren't going to stop now."
"Good," Nikolas said. He reached into his belt and pulled out the Essence of Malphas. It pulsed with a dull, violet light, illuminating the small room. "Because this isn't just a trophy. It's a key. And we're going to need it before the Tournament."
[NIKOLAS]
The squad eventually fell into a fitful sleep, exhausted by the physical and mental strain of the Deep Reach. Nikolas, however, remained wide awake. He slipped out of the infirmary, his movements so silent the automated mana-sensors didn't even register a ripple in the air.
He didn't go to the Spire. He headed toward the "Forbidden Terrace"—a jagged ledge that overlooked the outer slopes of the Obsidian Peak.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[LEVEL 8 STATS INTEGRATED]
[NOTICE]: Strength and Agility have exceeded 'High-Class' thresholds. Warning: Human Vessel is experiencing 'Growth Pressure'.
Nikolas gripped the stone railing, his knuckles turning white. He could feel it—his bones were denser, his muscles tighter. His 10-year-old body was becoming a cage for a power that was rapidly evolving.
I need to test it, he thought. I need to know what I am before the earring can't hold it anymore.
He looked around, ensuring he was miles away from any patrol. He closed his eyes and let the [Lunar Veil] drop just an inch.
[TRANSFORMATION: STAGE 2 - THE MASKED SLEEPER]
The shift was silent. His body elongated, his bones cracking and reforming with the sound of a forest breaking in a storm. He grew to seven feet, his muscles rippling with a lean, efficient power. His fur was dull, a non-descript grey-black that lacked any of the luster of the High-Class wolves.
He looked... average. Standard.
But as he swung his clawed hand at a block of solid volcanic glass, the result was anything but average. The glass didn't shatter; it disintegrated into fine powder.
[ATTACK POWER: 4,500]
[NOTICE]: You have unlocked [Rank Masking]. Your Stage 2 form will now appear as a 'Level 15 Mid-Class Wolf' to all external sensors.
Level 15, Nikolas thought, looking at his claws. I'm only Level 8, but I hit like a Level 15. The System isn't just leveling me up... it's refining me.
He spent the next hour alone on the terrace, testing his new limits. He practiced the [Partial Shift], learning how to manifest just the claws on his human hands while keeping his heart rate at a resting pace. He learned how to suppress the "Alpha Aura"—that primal pressure that made Kael and Mina tremble—and store it within the Potara Earring.
By the time he shifted back into his human form, the sun was beginning to touch the horizon. He felt a strange sensation in his chest—not a reward, not a menu, but a physical change.
[MYSTERY REWARD ACTIVATED: BLOOD ORIGIN PURITY +2%]
[EFFECT]: Your human body will no longer show signs of physical exhaustion below 50% Stamina.
"What are you doing to me?" Nikolas whispered to the red text floating in his vision.
The system didn't answer. It never did. It just offered more power, more secrets, and more weight.
He headed back toward the infirmary, but as he passed the "Golden Hall," he stopped. Sitting on a stone bench, looking out at the rising sun, was Elena.
She wasn't wearing her Mage robes. She wore a simple white tunic, her long hair flowing over her shoulders. She didn't turn around when he approached.
"You smell like the Deep Reach," she said softly.
Nikolas froze. "I was just... getting some air. The healers said it was fine."
Elena turned then, her blue eyes searching his face. She didn't look at him like a child. She looked at him like a mystery she was determined to solve.
"I saw the Knight-Inquisitor's face when you walked in, Nikolas. She was disappointed. She expected you to be dead." Elena stood up, walking toward him. She stopped just a few feet away, her mana-signature gently brushing against his. "I don't think you're lucky. I think you're something the Academy has never seen before."
"I'm just a Salvatore," Nikolas said, his "runt" mask firmly in place. "My family is full of monsters."
"Maybe," Elena smiled, a sad, knowing tilt to her lips. "But most monsters don't risk their lives to save a human engineer and a flightless dragon. Watch your back, Nikolas. The 2-Year Tournament is approaching. The High-Class won't be satisfied with just one duel in the ash-pit. They'll want to see you bleed."
"I'll try not to disappoint them," Nikolas said.
As he walked away, he could feel Elena's gaze on his back. He wasn't around his friends 24/7—he couldn't be. He needed these moments of silence, these brushes with the other "players" in the Academy, to remind himself that he was playing a game with no reset button.
He returned to the infirmary and slipped back into his cot just as the morning bell tolled.
Jax was already awake, tinkering with a new set of lenses for his goggles. He looked up and grinned at Nikolas. "Hey, Niko. I was thinking... if we can get some of that violet obsidian from your cloak, I can build us some signal-jammers. No more 'Inquisitor sensors' tracking our spikes."
Nikolas smiled back, a genuine one this time. "Do it, Jax. We're going to need them."