The Great Waterfall was quiet again. The heavy mist continued to fall into the deep basin, but the golden light from Nara's teleportation had already faded away. The first group had officially cleared the test.
Levi then walked pass the site, looking at the empty space where Nara had been standing just moments before. He didn't feel frustrated or angry that another team had finished first. In fact, his mind was completely calm. He felt a deep, quiet respect for the boy called the Architect. Nara's design was solid. He was someone who understood the fundamental rules of magic and structure. Levi knew that when the finals arrived, Nara would be a worthy opponent.
But for now, Levi had a job to do. He turned his back to the waterfall and faced the deepest, darkest part of the forest.
"Let's move," Levi said, his voice flat and professional. "We are finishing this trial now."
Shiro and Elara followed closely behind him. They didn't head back toward the easier hunting grounds. Instead, Levi led them straight into an area known as the Dead Zone.
The change in the environment was immediate. The air in the Dead Zone didn't feel like normal air. It was thick and heavy, loaded with so much raw, unrefined Anym that it felt like walking through a pool of dark water. The trees here were completely black, stripped of all their leaves, their branches twisting into the sky like broken fingers. There was no sound. No birds, no wind, no insects. The silence was so complete that Elara could hear her own heartbeat echoing in her ears.
"The gravity here feels wrong," Elara whispered, gripping her wooden staff tightly. She had to use a small amount of her Babylon Magic just to keep her body moving normally against the heavy pressure of the atmosphere.
Shiro's white eyes scanned the dark woods, tracking faint, glowing points of energy that only she could see. "High-level threats ahead. Multiple energy signatures. But one is much larger than the rest."
"Good," Levi said.
They walked for another ten minutes until the black trees opened up into a wide, dead clearing. The ground was covered in grey ash and massive, sun-bleached bones from beasts that had been eaten long ago.
In the very center of the clearing rested a massive creature. It was a Void-Armored Drake, a true 100-point monster. It was the size of a small house, covered from head to tail in thick, jagged scales that seemed to absorb the little light that existed in the clearing. It had no eyes. Instead, it had a smooth, bone-white plate covering its face. It sensed the world entirely through the vibrations of Anym in the air.
As Levi stepped into the clearing, the Drake stopped resting. It rose slowly to its feet, the heavy armor plates on its body grinding together with the sound of scraping metal. It spread its massive, bat-like wings, casting a dark shadow over the entire team.
Elara immediately shifted her stance, pointing her staff forward. Shiro raised her hand, ready to strike at the invisible points of weakness she could see on the beast's joints.
"Wait," Levi commanded. He didn't look back at them. His eyes were locked on the Drake. "I want to get back to the hall quick, so keep some distance from me, Elara, Shiro."
Elara hesitated, but Shiro simply lowered her hand and took three steps back. Elara followed, trusting Levi's judgment.
The Drake roared. The sound was a physical force, a shockwave that kicked up the grey ash and rattled the dead trees. With incredible speed for a beast of its size, the Drake lunged directly at Levi. Its massive jaws opened wide, ready to swallow him whole.
Elara braced herself. She watched Levi, waiting for him to draw his sword and block the massive attack.
But she didn't see anything.
For a fraction of a second, Levi simply wasn't there. There was no sound of footsteps, no blur of motion, no flash of a drawn blade. It was as if a frame had been cut out of reality.
Suddenly, Levi was standing twenty feet behind the Drake. His back was turned to the massive monster. In his hands, he held his sword, but the blade was already mostly inside its dark sheath. He was moving slowly now, pushing the last inch of the metal back into place.
"2 seconds sword play: atomic slash," Levi said, his voice perfectly calm in the quiet clearing.
Clank.
The metal guard of the sword hit the top of the sheath. It was a small, sharp sound.
The moment the sound echoed through the air, the Drake stopped moving. It froze completely in mid-stride. Then, a perfect, glowing white line appeared across its armored snout. Another line appeared across its neck. Then a dozen lines, then a hundred, then a thousand.
The beast didn't fall apart into pieces. Instead, it simply lost its physical form. The armor, the bone, the flesh—all of it disintegrated at the exact same time. The massive 100-point monster turned into a cloud of fine, grey atomic dust that slowly drifted down to mix with the ash on the ground. It had been cut so many times, so perfectly, that the bonds holding its very molecules together had been severed.
Far away from the dark forest, inside the bright and massive Academy Viewing Hall, hundreds of students were watching the giant magical screens floating in the air.
When Levi's sword clicked into its sheath, the entire hall fell into a stunned silence.
The Year 2 students, who had been chatting , stared at the screen with wide eyes. They were a little shocked. They understood swordplay, and they understood speed, but the sheer velocity required to erase a high-tier beast like that was hard for them to process. They whispered to each other, wondering how a Year 1 student could move like that.
Sitting at the top of the hall even above teachers, a group of Year 3 Seniors watched the same screen. Unlike the younger students, the Seniors were not shocked, and they certainly were not afraid. They were much stronger, with years of advanced combat experience. However, they were deeply intrigued.
"Did you catch the blade path?" a tall Senior asked, leaning forward and pushing his glasses up his nose.
"I caught the strikes," a female Senior replied, her arms crossed. "He isn't just swinging fast. He's identifying the molecular fault lines in the beast's armor and cutting directly through the binding energy. It's a highly technical Master Art."
"Amazing," the first Senior nodded. "To have that level of technical precision at his age. His Anym control must be incredibly refined. I look forward to seeing how he develops by his second year."
Closer to the front of the screen stood Nara. His group had already been processed, and he was watching the broadcast of the forest with a quiet, unreadable expression. He didn't look excited or overly eager. He looked like a professional studying a complex blueprint.
Nara's eyes tracked the slow drift of the atomic dust on the screen. He respected Levi's power. The Atomic Slash was a beautiful piece of structural destruction. It confirmed what Nara already knew: Levi was the real deal. When they finally met in the finals, it would be a clash of two completely different systems of logic.
Back in the Dead Zone, the number on Levi's red card changed, adding the massive bounty from the Drake. They were incredibly close to their goal.
"We need ten more points," Levi said, turning around to face his team. "Let's find a scout beast and finish this."
He didn't need to look far. The thick smell of blood and Anym from the Drake's sudden destruction had attracted another predator. From the high branches of the black trees, a shadow detached itself.
It was a Shadow Stalker, a fast, 20-point beast made of thick, liquid darkness and glowing white claws. It didn't attack Levi; it sensed that he was too dangerous. Instead, it dove straight down from the canopy, aiming directly at Elara's blind spot.
"Elara," Levi said simply. He didn't draw his sword. He didn't even shift his stance. He was giving her the stage.
Elara heard the rushing wind above her. A few days ago, she would have charged without a plan or She would have fumbled with her staff. But the trials in the forest had changed her. She planted her feet firmly into the ash.
She didn't swing her weapon. She channeled her raw Babylon Magic directly into her arms and the heavy wood of her staff. The ancient carvings on the wood lit up with a blinding, golden-orange light.
Elara spun around, stepping into the throw like a javelin thrower. With all the physical strength her magic could provide, she hurled the staff directly at the falling beast.
The speed of the throw was unnatural. The heavy wooden staff broke the sound barrier the moment it left her hand. A loud, thunderous CRACK echoed through the clearing, followed by a visible ring of white vapor forming in the air—a sonic boom.
The staff became a golden missile. It hit the Shadow Stalker dead center. The pure kinetic force of the impact didn't just push the beast back; it punched a massive, perfectly round hole straight through the center of the monster's body. The beast let out a distorted screech before its form completely collapsed, splattering into harmless black ink on the forest floor.
The staff embedded itself deep into the trunk of a dead tree twenty yards away, still vibrating from the force of the throw.
Elara stood up straight, breathing heavily but looking completely focused. She held out her hand, and the staff glowed before flying backward, returning to her grip.
In the Viewing Hall, Riku was watching the screen. He let out a slow breath. He had only met Elara recently, at the very beginning of the academy's intake, but he felt a strange sense of pride watching her stand her ground in the Dead Zone. She had grown so much in such a short time.
At the same time, he felt a small chill of intimidation. The raw power of that throw was monstrous. If she kept growing at this rate, she would become a terrifying force. The weak support girl was gone; a heavy hitter was taking her place.
They went on and hunted two more beast's.
In the forest, Levi looked at the red card in his hand. The number updated one final time.
Total Points: 250.
"Goal reached," Levi said.
A massive magic circle, glowing with a bright, clean blue light, appeared beneath their feet, cutting through the dark atmosphere of the Dead Zone. The teleportation spell had locked onto them.
"Good throw," Shiro noted quietly, looking at Elara.
Elara managed a small, tired smile. "Thanks. Let's go back."
The blue light surged upward, wrapping around the three students. In a blink of an eye, the heavy pressure of the Dead Zone was gone, and they found themselves standing in the bright, noisy expanse of the Academy Viewing Hall.
The transition was instant. Levi stepped off the teleportation pad. The crowd of students parted slightly, making way for the team that had just executed a 100-point beast with a single, unseen strike.
Levi didn't look at the crowd. He looked across the room. Standing near the front row of the screens was Nara.
The two boys locked eyes. There were no smiles, no dramatic gestures, and no childish excitement. It was a silent, professional acknowledgment. They both knew the truth. The preliminary test was just a filter to clear out the weak. The real test was going to be each other.
While the hall buzzed with conversations about Levi and Nara, the giant magical screens showed different parts of the forest where the remaining teams were still fighting.
One particular screen was focused on a deep, narrow ravine located on the far edge of the testing grounds. The ravine was entirely made of dark, jagged stone, and the only light came from the faint, glowing moss clinging to the rocks.
It was quiet here. Too quiet.
Standing in the center of the ravine was One from All.
He was completely alone. He stood perfectly still, his head bowed slightly, his hair catching the dim light. His black academy uniform, usually kept in perfect, spotless condition, was torn across the right side.
Slowly, One from All lifted his right hand.
Blood was dripping down his arm. It trailed from a deep, clean cut on his shoulder, sliding over his skin and falling in heavy crimson drops onto the dark stone beneath his feet. Drip. Drip. Drip.
He didn't yell. He didn't curse. He didn't show any sign of explosive anger. He simply stared at the red liquid coating his fingers.
For his entire life, his power had been absolute. His King's Magic was designed to conquer, to suppress, and to remain completely untouched by the filth of battle. He was the King, and Kings did not bleed in the dirt.
But right now, in the silence of the cold ravine, the King was bleeding.
He slowly closed his bloody hand into a tight fist. The black aura of his Anym flickered to life around his body, but it wasn't the light it usually was. It was cold, sharp, and terrifyingly silent.
End of Chapter 17