The announcement did not come as a message.
It came as a shutdown.
The doors of the main wings sealed all at once, with a sharp, metallic sound that ricocheted through the corridors like a gunshot fired at close range.
The students froze.
Then everyone's wristband activated.
COMPRESSION EVENT INITIATED
Classes involved: E – D – C – B
Duration: indeterminate
Scores: hidden
Exit: unavailable until event completion
One second of silence.
Then chaos.
"What do you mean indeterminate duration?!"
"There are no points?! How are we supposed to move up?!"
"This wasn't on the schedule!"
Kael stood in the middle of the flow, unmoving.
He was observing.
Not the message.
The reactions.
The fear wasn't about physical danger.
It was about the absence of numbers.
Without scores, he thought,
they don't know who they are.
The classes were mixed without any apparent logic.
Class B students found themselves next to those from Class E.
Those who were used to commanding immediately lost their reference points.
A central hologram lit up in the main gym.
"Welcome to the Compression Event."
The voice was artificial. Emotionless.
"This event evaluates adaptability in the absence of visible hierarchies."
Someone laughed nervously.
"Bullshit."
"The rules are simple," the voice continued.
"The complex is divided into sectors.
Each sector contains limited resources."
Maps appeared on the display.
Dormitories.
Common rooms.
Training areas.
"Event completion will occur when a stable, functional structure emerges."
A pause.
"In other words," the voice concluded,
"when you stop destroying one another."
Kael lowered his gaze.
They're lying, he thought.
They want to see who destroys better.
The first hours were chaotic.
Groups forming by instinct.
Class B students trying to command without the authority of points.
Lower classes obeying… or rebelling.
Rik approached Kael.
"We need to join someone," he whispered. "Now."
Kael shook his head.
"Alone, we'll get crushed."
Kael looked at him.
"In a group, we'll be watched."
Rik swallowed.
"Then what do we do?"
Kael answered after a few seconds.
"We wait."
In the Observation Sector, the lights dimmed.
The evaluators tracked the flows.
"Most students are trying to recreate the previous hierarchies," one said.
"Normal," Maera replied. "The system trained them to do that."
Arden didn't speak.
He was watching a single camera.
Kael.
In the dormitory sector, the first serious conflict broke out.
A Class B group tried to requisition the entire wing.
"We know how Valencrest works," their leader said. "You'll follow us."
A Class E boy stepped forward.
"And if we don't?"
The punch landed before the answer.
Chaos erupted.
Kael watched from a distance.
He didn't intervene.
Not yet.
He saw how violence didn't create order, but fragmentation.
He saw how the strongest group burned energy controlling the weakest.
He saw how fear generated internal betrayal.
Too much noise, he thought.
Too much haste.
Hours later, resources began to run out.
Rationed food.
Contested spaces.
Stolen rest shifts.
Tension rose.
That was when Kael spoke.
He was surrounded by students from different classes. No one was really listening.
"You're repeating the same mistake," he said quietly.
Someone turned.
"Which one?"
Kael pointed toward the gym, now divided by makeshift barricades.
"You're fighting for control," he said,
"when the event is evaluating stability."
Silence.
"Whoever shouts the loudest now," he continued,
"collapses first."
A boy laughed bitterly.
"And what do you know? You don't even have a class."
Kael looked at him.
"Exactly."
In the Observation Sector, one of the evaluators leaned forward.
"He's influencing the groups without taking control."
Maera pressed her lips together.
"He's creating lateral friction."
Arden smiled faintly.
"No. He's removing power from those who want it."
The first night was the worst.
Sleeping meant exposure.
Staying awake meant surrendering to exhaustion.
Kael didn't sleep.
He sat against the wall, eyes half-open.
Rik joined him.
"I don't get it," he said softly. "You could lead them. Why don't you?"
Kael remained silent for a while.
Then he spoke.
"Because a leader becomes the target."
Rik clenched his fists.
"Then what are you?"
Kael replied without looking at him.
"A dead point."
At the first artificial morning lights, something changed.
A sector collapsed.
Not because of violence.
Because of exhaustion.
Students incapable of cooperating.
Resources wasted.
Constant conflict.
The system took note.
UNSTABLE STRUCTURE – FAILURE
One sector gone.
The pressure increased.
And Kael understood.
This event doesn't select the best,
it selects those who can make others last.
He raised his gaze toward the cameras.
For the first time.
And smiled faintly.
End of Episode 15.