Rain hammered the rooftops of Greenveil hard enough to blur the skyline into shifting gray silhouettes.
Yuri moved anyway.
His breathing came unevenly now, sharp against the cold air as he sprinted across a collapsed skybridge overtaken by vines and moss. Water splashed beneath his boots. Frost spread unconsciously behind every footstep.
He didn't notice anymore.
His shoulder still burned from the fall into the river. Every movement sent pain through his arm, but adrenaline buried most of it beneath instinct.
Move.
Don't stop.
A metallic clang echoed somewhere behind him.
Then another.
They were still following him.
Yuri vaulted over a broken railing and landed hard onto the roof of a half-collapsed greenhouse several floors below. Cracked glass shifted dangerously beneath his weight.
The district stretched endlessly around him.
Greenveil looked less like part of a fortress and more like an abandoned city consumed by nature. Apartment towers disappeared beneath enormous vines. Trees burst through shattered windows dozens of floors above the streets. Floodwater reflected flickering lights from distant buildings through the rain.
And somewhere inside all of it—
Hunters moved.
A blur crossed the rooftop behind him.
Yuri reacted instantly.
Ice burst sideways across the greenhouse roof just as a blade slammed into the spot where his head had been moments earlier.
The attacker landed lightly several meters away.
Different student.
Dark hood.
Twin knives.
No hesitation.
He rushed Yuri immediately.
Yuri stepped backward instinctively, freezing rainwater beneath them both. The student adjusted instantly, using the sliding momentum to close distance faster.
Too fast.
The knife flashed toward Yuri's throat—
Yuri caught the student's wrist with his good arm and shoved freezing air directly into his chest.
Ice exploded outward.
The student was thrown backward across the rooftop hard enough to crack glass panels beneath him.
But he rolled back to his feet almost immediately.
"…Seriously?"
Yuri stared.
The student's jacket was frozen solid across one side, frost crawling up his neck.
But he was smiling.
"Thought you'd hit harder."
More footsteps.
Yuri turned sharply.
Three more students emerged from the surrounding rooftops.
One crouched atop a broken streetlamp.
Another stood balanced against a hanging support beam overhead.
The last simply leaned against a vine-covered wall, rain dripping slowly from a black mask.
None of them looked nervous.
The masked student tilted his head slightly.
"So that's him."
"The freezing one?"
"Looks smaller than I expected."
Yuri's jaw tightened.
"I'm getting really tired of people trying to kill me."
Nobody answered him directly.
The student on the beam glanced toward Yuri's wrist instead.
"Forty-five already."
The others looked too.
Yuri instinctively pulled his sleeve down over the bracelet.
Too late.
The rooftop atmosphere changed immediately.
Subtle.
But real.
The smiling knife-user straightened slightly.
"…No wonder teams keep losing track of him."
Yuri frowned.
Teams?
The masked student stepped forward.
"Don't let him near the waterways."
The others moved instantly.
No countdown.
No warning.
The beam-user dropped first, throwing thin metallic discs downward. Yuri barely twisted aside before they exploded against the rooftop in bursts of electrical sparks.
The knife-user attacked again from the front.
Another came from behind.
Yuri reacted on instinct.
Ice surged violently across the greenhouse roof, freezing broken glass, support beams, rainwater—everything.
One student slipped immediately.
The masked one didn't.
He accelerated directly through the forming frost and slammed a kick into Yuri's ribs hard enough to throw him backward through shattered greenhouse panels.
Glass exploded around him.
Yuri crashed through hanging vegetation and slammed into a lower platform below.
Pain ripped through his side.
He rolled instinctively just as another blade struck the floor beside his head.
The students dropped down after him.
Persistent.
Organized.
Yuri forced himself upright breathing hard.
The lower level of the greenhouse had completely flooded. Dark water reached nearly to his knees, vines drifting slowly across the surface.
The masked student stopped several meters away.
"Don't corner him."
The knife-user laughed softly.
"You're acting like he's dangerous."
"He is."
Yuri froze slightly at the tone.
That wasn't mockery.
That sounded serious.
Rain poured through the shattered ceiling above them.
Water rippled around Yuri's legs.
Cold.
Responsive.
The students advanced slowly.
Yuri's chest tightened.
Too many angles again.
Too much pressure.
The water around his boots began freezing.
Not consciously.
Emotionally.
The masked student noticed first.
"There."
Everything exploded at once.
Yuri thrust both hands downward instinctively.
The flooded greenhouse froze solid in an instant.
Jagged ice erupted upward through the water like sharpened crystal spears.
The knife-user leapt sideways barely in time.
Another student wasn't fast enough.
A spike punched directly through his leg.
He screamed.
The masked student cursed sharply.
Yuri stared at the blood spreading slowly across the ice.
He hadn't meant—
The injured student ripped himself free violently, leaving blood smeared across translucent blue crystal.
Then he looked up at Yuri.
Smiling.
"You're learning."
Yuri's stomach twisted.
What the hell was wrong with these people?
The injured student lunged anyway despite the ruined leg.
Yuri panicked.
Ice exploded outward again.
This time the greenhouse walls shattered completely.
The entire structure began collapsing.
Metal screamed overhead.
Students scattered instantly across the crumbling framework.
Yuri ran.
Behind him the greenhouse folded inward into the flooded streets below with a deafening crash of steel and glass.
Water surged through the district.
And still—
Footsteps followed.
—
Far below another section of Damocles, Kain wiped blood from his mouth and kept moving.
Industrial steam rolled heavily through the corridor around him.
The fight earlier had reopened his ribs completely.
Every breath hurt now.
But pain had become background noise hours ago.
He moved silently through narrow maintenance walkways suspended above enormous machinery chambers. Orange industrial lights flickered overhead through drifting steam clouds.
Somewhere deeper below, gigantic engines pulsed rhythmically through the structure.
Kain stopped suddenly.
Movement ahead.
Three people.
Students.
Their voices echoed faintly through the corridor.
"…industrial side's getting worse."
"That freezing guy hit forty already."
"Forty-five."
A pause.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
Kain stayed hidden behind a thick steam pipe.
Forty-five.
Yuri.
His grip tightened slightly around the dagger.
The students continued walking.
One carried a long metal baton over his shoulder. Another wore heavy armored plating across one arm. The third kept checking a cracked handheld screen glowing faint blue.
Hunters.
Kain could tell immediately.
Not wandering.
Tracking.
The armored student suddenly stopped walking.
"…Wait."
Kain's instincts flared instantly.
Too late.
The baton-user spun sharply toward the steam clouds.
"There."
They moved fast.
Kain burst sideways just before the baton smashed through the pipe he'd been standing beside.
Steam exploded outward violently.
The armored student charged directly through the vapor cloud.
Kain met him head-on.
The impact rattled his broken ribs instantly.
Pain shot through his chest.
Kain ignored it.
He twisted sideways under the student's armored swing and slammed the dagger upward beneath the plating toward the neck joint.
The student jerked backward barely in time.
Close.
Too close.
The third student circled behind Kain.
Fast footsteps.
Kain heard them through the steam.
Pivot.
Strike.
His dagger slashed backward across the attacker's forearm.
The student hissed and retreated immediately.
Baton-user attacked again.
Heavy strike.
Kain blocked with the pipe railing beside him instead.
Metal bent violently.
The entire walkway shook.
The armored student grabbed Kain's injured side and drove a knee directly into his ribs.
Something cracked again.
Kain's vision blurred white for half a second.
The baton came down toward his skull—
Kain stepped forward instead of backward.
The strike missed narrowly.
Kain drove the dagger directly into the baton-user's throat.
Everything stopped.
Warm blood spilled instantly across Kain's hand.
The student staggered backward silently, clutching his neck.
Kain stared at him.
Conscious decision.
No panic.
No accident.
The student collapsed against the metal walkway.
Dead.
The corridor became silent except for steam hissing through broken pipes.
The remaining students backed away instinctively.
Not frightened.
Cautious now.
Kain's breathing became uneven.
The dagger trembled slightly in his grip.
Not from fear.
Adrenaline.
The armored student looked down at the body.
Then back at Kain.
"…You fresh drops are insane."
Kain said nothing.
Somewhere overhead, flickering monitors activated again.
Static crawled across damaged screens.
Numbers appeared briefly through the steam.
4,000 / 10,000
The armored student looked up.
"…That fast?"
Kain followed his gaze silently.
No explanation appeared.
Just numbers.
Then static again.
The screens died.
Far away, somewhere deeper inside Damocles, massive bells suddenly echoed through the fortress.
Slow.
Heavy.
Ancient.
Kain felt the vibration in the metal beneath his boots.
The surviving students immediately stiffened.
One whispered quietly:
"Rotation's starting."
Then the lights throughout the industrial sector turned red.