[Aegis Military Academy, Outer Proving Grounds, November 16th, 8:00 AM]
The morning air above the massive proving grounds smelled heavily of wet clay, nervous sweat, and the sharp copper tang of lingering fear. The arena was a colossal structure built entirely from reinforced black iron and towering stone walls. Thousands of students stood grouped together on the muddy floor. High above them, the elevated viewing boxes held the academy instructors and the noble sponsors who funded the elite ranks.
Kaelen stood quietly near the eastern gate. His gray uniform fit him entirely differently today. The thin fabric stretched tightly across his newly expanded chest and broad shoulders. He felt the terrifying weight of his stolen attributes settling perfectly into his bones. His Agility score of seventeen made the surrounding cadets look exactly like they were moving underwater. His Strength score allowed him to feel the microscopic vibrations of the massive iron gates humming directly through the muddy ground.
He scanned the immediate area. Elara stood twenty feet away. Her blonde hair was braided tightly against her skull. She wore her pristine white vanguard uniform. Her right hand was heavily bandaged, a direct result of Kaelen crushing her bones in the dining hall yesterday. She glared at him with absolute, unadulterated venom. Her jaw muscles clenched so tightly her pale cheeks twitched.
She thought: I am going to wait until the chaos starts and bury an ice spike directly into his worthless spine.
Kaelen simply offered her a cold, empty smile.
High up in the central viewing box, Instructor Valeriana stepped up to the thick glass railing. She commanded absolute attention without saying a single word. She wore a formal black military dress that clung perfectly to her generous curves. The tight fabric emphasized her narrow waist and heavy, rounded hips. Her liquid silver hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall of polished metal. Her crimson eyes scanned the arena floor with predatory focus. When her gaze finally landed on Kaelen, her hands visibly tightened around the metal railing. The memory of his heavy weight driving into her on the wooden workbench made her face flush a deep, hidden pink.
Sitting entirely composed three seats away from Valeriana was Seraphina. The Saintess looked absolutely radiant. Her spun gold hair shone under the morning sun. Her white and gold religious robes draped elegantly over her delicate shoulders. She did not look at the other nobles. Her bright blue eyes were locked completely onto Kaelen. The agonizing corruption was completely gone from her divine core. She breathed in deeply, imagining she could still smell the sweet musk of his skin from the dark archive.
Headmaster Thorne stood at the center podium. His voice was magically amplified, booming like heavy thunder across the open arena.
"Cadets of the Aegis Academy," Thorne announced. "The midterm combat trials will now commence. We have transported a horde of Corrupted Obsidian Wolves from the northern barrier. Your goal is survival and execution. If your protective amulet flares red, you are eliminated and will be extracted. If you die before extraction, that is your own failure."
A massive mechanical grinding sound echoed across the mud. The heavy iron gates at the far end of the arena slowly lifted. The smell of the arena instantly shifted. The wet clay was completely overpowered by the foul, rotting stench of corrupted beast musk and dried blood.
Dozens of massive wolves charged out of the darkness. They were the size of draft horses. Their fur was entirely composed of jagged, razor sharp obsidian shards. Their eyes burned with a sickly, toxic green light. The ground shook violently under the weight of their combined charge.
Panic immediately erupted among the lower tier students. Formations broke apart. Screams filled the air. Spells began to fly blindly into the charging pack. Fireballs and lightning bolts exploded against the black iron walls, creating a blinding, chaotic mess of light and noise.
A massive Obsidian Wolf broke through the vanguard line. It locked its glowing green eyes directly onto Kaelen. The beast lunged forward, opening its massive jaws to reveal rows of serrated stone teeth.
Yesterday, this beast would have bitten Kaelen entirely in half.
Today, Kaelen did not even bother to draw his standard issue steel sword. He simply planted his heavy boots deep into the mud. He waited until the rotting breath of the wolf washed entirely over his face. He reached up with both hands. His enhanced Agility allowed him to track the beast perfectly in mid air. He grabbed the top and bottom jaws of the massive wolf.
The physical impact drove Kaelen backward a single inch. His boots dug deep trenches into the wet clay. He squeezed his broad shoulders, tapping directly into the raw strength he had stolen from Valeriana.
Crraack.
Kaelen physically ripped the jaws of the Obsidian Wolf entirely apart. Black blood and hot, foul saliva sprayed violently across his gray uniform. The beast let out a pathetic, gurgling whimper before its massive body collapsed completely dead at his feet. Squelch. The heavy thud of the carcass shook the mud.
The surrounding cadets froze completely in horror. They stared at the trash tier Nullifier who had just killed a Class C corrupted beast with his bare hands.
Elara did not freeze. She saw the perfect opportunity. She stood fifteen feet behind Kaelen. She raised her uninjured left hand. The air around her rapidly dropped in temperature, freezing the falling rain into jagged shards of ice. She formed a massive, highly compressed spear of pure frost. She did not aim at an approaching wolf. She aimed directly at the center of Kaelen's exposed back.
She thrust her hand forward. The ice spear shot through the air with a loud, piercing shriek.
Kaelen did not even turn around. His enhanced Intelligence and raw sensory processing mapped the entire battlefield perfectly. The system screen flashed a pale blue warning in his peripheral vision, but he did not need it. He simply raised his left hand toward the sky and activated his newly acquired divine skill.
"Corrupted Aegis," Kaelen commanded smoothly.
A blinding flash of golden light erupted directly from his back. The divine barrier formed instantly, but it was not the pure, holy shield of the Saintess. It was heavily tainted. Thick, jagged purple veins of Dissonance ran violently through the golden light. The massive ice spear slammed directly into the corrupted barrier.
Kkrrshhh.
The ice spear completely shattered into thousands of harmless, glittering fragments. The concussive force of the shattered spell blew back across the mud, knocking two nearby students entirely off their feet.
Elara gasped loudly. Her blue eyes widened in absolute, terrified disbelief. "Impossible," she whispered, her voice cracking. "That is divine magic. You are a Nullifier."
Kaelen turned around slowly. The Corrupted Aegis faded back into his skin, leaving the heavy smell of ozone and burnt rose petals lingering thickly in the air. He stepped directly over the bleeding carcass of the wolf and walked toward Elara.
"I told you exactly what would happen," Kaelen stated. His voice was dark, heavy, and completely devoid of any mercy.
Three more Obsidian Wolves charged toward them, drawn by the smell of the shattered ice magic. They leaped over the muddy ground, their green eyes locked onto Elara. She was entirely frozen in fear, her mana completely depleted from the massive ice spear she had just wasted.
Kaelen stepped smoothly in front of her. He raised his right hand. He did not summon his stolen divine magic this time. He reached deep into the martial core he had drained from the academy swordmaster.
He activated Aura Slash.
A violent, jagged blade of pure purple energy extended directly from his fingertips. It hummed with a terrifying, destructive frequency. The air around the blade literally warped and distorted from the extreme heat. He swung his arm in a wide, horizontal arc.
The violet blade sliced cleanly through the thick iron hides of all three charging wolves simultaneously. It did not stop there. The residual energy of the slash carried forward, carving a massive, smoking trench directly into the muddy arena floor and cleanly slicing a heavy iron practice dummy completely in half. The three wolves collapsed into six separate, bloody pieces. Their internal organs spilled wetly onto the mud with a loud, disgusting sound.
Absolute silence fell over their entire sector of the arena.
Up in the viewing box, Valeriana stood up entirely out of her chair. Her crimson eyes were locked onto the fading purple energy of Kaelen's blade. She knew exactly what that skill was. She had spent twenty years perfecting the Aura Slash. Seeing it executed flawlessly by a first year student made her heart hammer violently against her ribs.
She thought: He did not just cure me. He took a piece of my soul, and it looks far deadlier in his hands.
Seraphina leaned forward in her seat, her perfectly manicured nails digging deeply into the padded armrests. She recognized the golden tint of the shield he had used moments before. She felt a profound, overwhelming wave of heat pool heavily directly between her thighs. He was using her divine power to dominate the battlefield.
Down in the mud, Elara collapsed onto her knees. Her pristine white uniform was completely ruined, covered in the foul black blood of the wolves Kaelen had just slaughtered. She looked up at him, her entire body shaking violently with a mixture of absolute terror and complete humiliation.
"You are a monster," Elara sobbed quietly, staring at the smoking trench he had carved into the earth.
"No," Kaelen corrected smoothly. He looked up toward the glass viewing boxes, locking eyes perfectly with Instructor Valeriana from a hundred yards away. "I am just the extractor."
Kaelen wipes the thick black blood from his knuckles, turns his back completely on the crying vanguard student, and walks calmly toward the massive iron gates at the center of the arena.