The white light faded.
Jayden blinked. He was still alive.
The wolf stood ten feet away, growling. But it hadn't moved.
Why hadn't it
A scream.
Cinna's scream.
Jayden's head snapped left. Through the chaos of fleeing students and scattered beasts, he saw them.
Marcus. Cinna.
Surrounded.
Three stone golems. Each one C rank, ten feet tall, fists like boulders.
Marcus tried to hold them off. His stone gauntlets cracked against their armor.
But there were too many.
A golem's fist connected with Marcus's chest.
The sound of breaking ribs echoed across the chamber.
Marcus flew backward. Hit the wall. Slumped.
"MARCUS!"
Cinna ran to him. Green light flared from her hands.
A golem turned toward her.
Raised its fist.
"NO!"
Cinna threw up a barrier. The fist crashed through it like paper.
She went flying. Hit the ground hard. Didn't get up.
Something inside Jayden *snapped*.
The corrupted alpha wolf charged.
Jayden didn't see it.
He only saw Marcus coughing blood.
Cinna not moving.
His team. His responsibility.
*No.*
His right eye exploded crimson and black.
Not a flicker. Not a pulse.
Full. Blazing. Burning.
**[OMNI FULL RELEASE]**
**[LIMITER: REMOVED]**
**[WARNING: CRITICAL ESSENCE STRAIN]**
Every muscle in Jayden's body *screamed*.
The world slowed to a crawl.
The alpha wolf's jaws opened in slow motion. Each tooth visible. Saliva hanging in the air like frozen rain.
**[ANALYZING ALL THREATS]**
**[CORRUPTED ALPHA: Speed 19.3, Power 23.7]**
**[STONE GOLEMS x3: Speed 6.2, Power 18.4]**
**[CURRENT STATUS: INSUFFICIENT POWER]**
**[SOLUTION: OVERCLOCK SPEED BEYOND SAFE LIMITS]**
**[ACCEPT? Y/N]**
"Yes."
Power flooded his body.
His legs trembled. His heart hammered. Blood vessels in his eyes burst.
**[SPEED OVERCLOCK INITIATED]**
**[11.7 → 15.3 → 18.9 → 22.4 → 25.8 UNITS]**
The pain was indescribable.
Every cell felt like it was tearing apart and rebuilding simultaneously.
His shadow manifestation erupted. The weak, flickering blade became solid. Sharp. Real.
Lightning crackled along the edges his secondary affinity activating for the first time.
The alpha wolf's jaws were inches from his face.
Jayden moved.
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
To Cinna, barely conscious, it looked like teleportation.
One moment Jayden was in front of the wolf.
The next he was *behind* it.
The wolf's jaws snapped on empty air.
Jayden's leg came around in a devastating arc.
**[SPEED: 25.8 UNITS. FORCE: CRITICAL]**
His kick connected with the wolf's side.
The impact was like thunder.
The corrupted alpha B rank, massive, made of pure darkness flew sideways. Its ribs shattered. Essence bled from the wound.
It crashed into a crystal formation. Stone exploded.
But Jayden wasn't done.
His shadow blade, now wreathed in lightning, extended to twice its normal length.
He blurred forward.
The wolf tried to rise.
Jayden appeared above it.
His blade came down.
Lightning and shadow tore through corrupted flesh. The wolf's skull split.
It howled once.
Then dissolved into black mist.
**[CORRUPTED ALPHA SHADOW WOLF: ELIMINATED]**
Jayden landed. Stumbled.
The three stone golems turned toward him, abandoning Marcus and Cinna's unconscious forms.
His eye tracked all of them simultaneously.
**[SPEED: 25.8 UNITS]**
**[THEIR SPEED: 6.2 UNITS]**
**[DISPARITY: 416%]**
They weren't even a threat anymore.
Jayden moved like lightning.
First golem shadow blade through its core. It crumbled.
Second golem swung. Jayden was already past it, blade carving through the back of its knee joint. It collapsed. Second strike through its head.
Third golem raised both fists.
Jayden's blade flashed three times.
Arms. Torso. Head.
The golem fell in pieces.
Silence.
Jayden stood in the center of the destruction, chest heaving, covered in essence residue and stone dust.
His eye still blazed red black.
**[ALL THREATS: ELIMINATED]**
**[SPEED OVERCLOCK: SUSTAINED 38 SECONDS]**
**[WARNING: CRITICAL DAMAGE TO NERVOUS SYSTEM]**
**[WARNING: ESSENCE DEPLETION AT 94%]**
**[RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE SHUTDOWN]**
Jayden turned toward Marcus and Cinna.
Took one step.
His legs gave out.
He collapsed.
His eye flickered once. Twice.
Then faded back to normal brown.
The last thing he saw was Professor Vance running toward them, other faculty behind her.
" critical condition "
" impossible speed "
" B rank solo kill "
Then darkness took him.
**[STATUS UPDATE]**
**[JAYDEN CROSS: UNCONSCIOUS]**
**[MARCUS GARRETT: CRITICAL THREE BROKEN RIBS, INTERNAL BLEEDING]**
**[CINNA VAEL: UNCONSCIOUS SEVERE CONCUSSION]**
**[MISSION RESULT: SURVIVAL]**
**[ANOMALY DETECTED: B RANK ENTITY ELIMINATED BY NOVICE RANK STUDENT]**
**[ALERT LEVEL: MAXIMUM]**
**End of Chapter 9**
**[BREAKING POINT ACHIEVED: Speed overclock to 25.8 units. B rank solo kill. Team saved. Jayden's secret fully exposed to faculty. Status: Critical condition.]**