Chapter 32 — It’s Time to Push Back, Unified Unit!
Arc I: Let the Rage Consume You, Ren
Eryndic Calendar — Verdantia 2, Year 514 E.A.
Season: Awakening
Time: Afternoon
Location: West Wing — Outside the Communication Tower
POV: Ren Kuroshi / Kiyomi
The air screamed when Ren moved.
Not from sound.
From absence.
Stone shattered beneath his feet as he vanished from where he stood, leaving behind a distorted afterimage that lagged a fraction of a second behind reality. Kiyomi barely had time to react before steel met steel, the clash detonating outward in a sharp concussive burst.
The tower wall behind her cracked.
She laughed.
“Yes,” Kiyomi said, skidding backward as Ren pressed in immediately. “That’s it.”
Ren didn’t answer.
His eyes burned crimson, unblinking, tears carving thin trails down his face that evaporated before they hit the ground. His breathing was steady. Too steady for what he was doing.
This was not rage without control.
This was execution.
Ren struck again.
Three attacks in a single breath. Low. High. Diagonal. Each one placed to kill. Each one adjusted mid-swing as Kiyomi barely deflected, sparks carving lines through the air.
She twisted, countering with a spinning slash aimed at his neck.
Ren ducked under it without looking.
He drove his elbow into her ribs and followed with a kick that launched her backward into the base of the tower. Stone exploded outward as she hit, dust clouding the air.
Kiyomi stood slowly.
Blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
Her smile widened.
“So quiet,” she said. “You finally stopped thinking.”
Ren stepped forward.
The ground warped beneath him as his Aura deepened, shadows bleeding outward in sharp, controlled ripples. Every movement he made bent the space around him, velocity compressed into lethal intent.
Kiyomi attacked.
Her speed increased violently, Aura flaring brighter as she forced herself deeper into her own limits. Blade strikes echoed like thunder, each collision sending shockwaves through the courtyard.
Ren met everyone.
Not by overpowering her.
By arriving first.
He slipped inside her range, carving shallow cuts across her arm, her shoulder, her side. Not enough to kill. Enough to remind her he could.
Kiyomi hissed and leapt back.
“You hear it, don’t you?” she taunted. “That voice telling you to finish it.”
Ren didn’t slow.
Didn’t blink.
He vanished again.
This time, Kiyomi barely raised her blade before Ren’s dagger slid along its edge and kissed her cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. He was already gone by the time the pain registered.
Her breath caught.
Then she laughed again. Louder.
“Oh, Ren,” she said, licking blood from her lip. “This is what you were hiding?”
She unleashed more of her Aura.
The air thickened violently as her speed increased beyond what the eye could track, her movements blurring into overlapping afterimages. She struck from three angles at once, forcing Ren back for the first time.
He skidded across the ground.
Stopped.
Lifted his head.
The pressure around him spiked.
Ren moved.
No hesitation.
No restraint.
They clashed again, blades colliding so fast the sound became a continuous shriek. The environment around them began to tear apart, chunks of stone lifting and shattering as the Flow warped under the strain.
Kiyomi twisted mid-air, slashing upward.
Ren caught her wrist.
Crushed.
Her blade fell from her hand, clattering across the ground.
She froze.
For half a heartbeat.
Ren raised his dagger.
Close enough to end it.
Kiyomi looked up at him.
Smiling.
“Do it,” she whispered.
Ren’s hand trembled.
Then she kicked him square in the chest, breaking free and flipping backward with a laugh.
She retrieved her blade, running her tongue along its edge, tasting the blood that clung to it.
“Let the rage consume you, Ren,” Kiyomi said softly.
Her eyes gleamed.
The predator had finally woken up.
Arc II: The Frontline Gets Help
Eryndic Calendar — Verdantia 2, Year 514 E.A.
Season: Awakening
Time: Afternoon
Location: Frontline — In Front of Eureka Academy
POV: Orion Drayke / Ronan Dravoss
Orion couldn’t feel his left arm anymore.
Not pain. Not numbness.
Just weight.
The Aegis Lance trembled in his grip as he planted it into the shattered stone again, forcing another barrier into existence. The sapphire construct flickered immediately, hairline fractures racing across its surface-like veins.
It wouldn’t hold long.
Ronan dropped to one knee beside him, breathing hard, chest heaving as blood dripped from his knuckles onto the ground.
“Tell me,” Ronan said between breaths, “you’ve got one more miracle in you.”
Orion didn’t look at him.
“I don’t,” he replied honestly.
In front of them, the nobles pushed again.
They moved wrong. Too stiff. Too driven. Some were bleeding from their eyes. Others screamed as their own Auras tore at them from the inside, yet still they advanced, dragged forward by something that refused to let them stop.
Scholars and Commoners stood behind Orion and Ronan in a ragged line.
Some held makeshift weapons. Others clutched each other. A few tried to push back with weak Aura flares that fizzled the moment they made contact.
It wasn’t enough.
The barrier shattered.
Orion braced as bodies slammed into him, his armor groaning under the impact. He drove the Aegis Lance forward, forcing the nobles back inch by inch, but his legs buckled.
Ronan surged to his feet, roaring as he threw himself into the fray, fists blazing as he knocked two nobles aside. A third slammed into him from the side, cracking ribs audibly.
Ronan staggered.
“Still standing!” he yelled, more for himself than anyone else.
Another noble broke through.
Then another.
The line collapsed.
Orion dropped to one knee, vision blurring as exhaustion finally caught him. The Aegis Lance slipped from his hand and clattered against the stone.
“So, this is it,” Ronan muttered, standing over him, barely upright himself. “Took long enough.”
Time slowed.
Not naturally.
Artificially.
The pressure in the air shifted.
A barrier snapped into place in front of them with a sharp, metallic hum. Clean. Precise. Unlike Orion’s.
The nobles slammed into it and rebounded violently.
Ronan blinked.
“…That’s not yours,” he said.
“No,” Orion agreed faintly.
Light flared behind them.
A crescent of silver-blue shimmered into existence as time snapped back into motion. Selene Arclight stepped forward, one hand raised, eyes glowing faintly as the temporal field stabilized.
Beside her, Lira Elyssia stood swaying slightly, her Aura pulsing in soft harmonic waves as she reinforced the barrier.
Tessa Myrin dropped to one knee and hurled a small device forward. It hit the ground and unfolded instantly, projecting layered energy plates that locked into Selene’s field.
Lucen Vale stumbled into view, one arm hanging uselessly at his side, blood streaking his uniform.
The barrier was held.
For now.
Ronan let out a breathless laugh and collapsed backward onto the stone.
“Thanks for showing up,” he said hoarsely.
Orion managed to smile weakly.
Selene turned toward them, urgency cutting through her calm.
“We need the Dean,” she said immediately. “Now.”
Lira swallowed hard, eyes scanning the battlefield beyond the barrier.
“The Flow is destabilizing,” she added. “And Lysera is inside it.”
Silence fell.
Even the nobles paused for a fraction of a second, slamming uselessly against the barrier as the words settled.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Orion closed his eyes.
“…Then this fight just changed,” he said.
The barrier flickered.
And the frontline held—by a thread.
Arc III: Drayen’s Plan
Eryndic Calendar — Verdantia 2, Year 514 E.A.
Season: Awakening
Time: Afternoon
Location: West Wing — Communication Tower Hallway
POV: Drayen Technis / Vorak Dravien / Aria Throne / Alder Nox
The hallway felt too small.
Cracked stone, torn conduit lines, scorched walls. This was where Aria and Nox had first gone down. Where the air still smelled like burned Aura and broken Flow.
Vorak stood in the center of it.
Relaxed.
Hands loose at his sides. Head tilted slightly, as if listening to something only he could hear. His Abyssal Lumerion Aura bled outward in slow, predatory pulses, pressing against Drayen’s skin like a living thing.
Behind the sealed door, Aria and Nox worked.
Fast.
Nox slammed his palm into the barrier node, sapphire energy locking the doorframe as Aria knelt beside a shattered console, her staff humming as she rewired broken Flow channels by instinct rather than design.
“Give us time,” Aria said sharply. “That’s all we need.”
Drayen didn’t answer.
He couldn’t.
If he spoke, the fear would leak out.
Vorak’s eyes never left him.
“You’re shaking,” Vorak said, almost kindly. “That’s not courage. That’s terror pretending to be useful.”
Drayen swallowed.
His hands clenched at his sides.
Breathe.
Kael said breathe.
He exhaled slowly and lifted his head.
“I don’t need to beat you,” Drayen said quietly.
Vorak smiled.
“That’s unfortunate,” he replied. “Because I’m going to hurt you anyway.”
He moved.
The hallway detonated.
Vorak crossed the distance in an instant, his strike tearing through the air where Drayen’s head had been a moment earlier. Drayen barely twisted aside, the force ripping past his ear and shattering the wall behind him.
Stone exploded.
Drayen stumbled but stayed upright.
He countered.
Not with strength.
With angle.
His hand snapped out, distortion flaring as his Aura bent space just enough to deflect Vorak’s next strike. The blow clipped Drayen’s shoulder instead of his spine, sending pain screaming down his arm.
Vorak laughed.
“Oh, I like this,” he said.
He attacked again.
And again.
Each strike is faster. Heavier. Testing. Hunting.
Drayen’s thoughts threatened to spiral.
You’re not built for this.
You’re not Kael.
You’re going to die here.
He shoved the thoughts down.
Plan.
Drayen moved sideways, drawing Vorak away from the door by inches at a time. Every dodge was calculated. Every stumble intentionally. He let Vorak think he was losing ground.
Vorak noticed.
“Thinking while bleeding,” Vorak said. “That’s rare.”
Drayen didn’t respond.
He remembered the stance.
Low. Loose. Weight forward.
Kael’s voice echoed in his mind.
You don’t fight to win. You fight to stay standing.
Vorak lunged again.
Drayen ducked under the blow and slammed his palm into the floor. His Aura surged outward, distorting the Flow lines embedded beneath the stone. The hallway warped violently, lights flickering as pressure rippled through the structure.
Vorak skidded back a step.
His smile sharpened.
“There you are,” he said.
Behind the door, Nox shouted, “Almost there!”
Aria’s staff flared brighter.
Vorak’s gaze flicked toward the door.
Just for a moment.
Drayen took it.
He surged forward, striking Vorak square in the chest with everything he had. The blow didn’t damage him.
It moved him.
Vorak crashed through the hallway wall and into the adjoining corridor, stone collapsing inward around him.
Drayen staggered, barely staying on his feet.
His heart pounded violently.
Vorak stepped out of the rubble, laughing softly as dust fell from his coat.
“That’s it?” he asked. “That’s your plan?”
Drayen forced himself upright, blood running from his nose.
“It’s going to be a long afternoon for you,” Vorak said, eyes gleaming with killing intent.
Drayen held his stance.
Focused.
Terrified.
Unbroken.
Behind him, the door sealed with a final hum as communications flickered to life.
Arc IV: The Prince vs. Kael
Eryndic Calendar — Verdantia 2, Year 514 E.A.
Season: Awakening
Time: Afternoon
Location: Central Academy Grounds — Ruined Courtyard
POV: Kael Raddan / Vaelen Aestra (Multi-POV)
Kael set Neris down behind a collapsed pillar, pressing his palm to her wound until the bleeding slowed to a dangerous crawl. His hands shook. Not fear. Rage, caged and vibrating.
“Stay with me,” he muttered. “Don’t you dare fade.”
No response.
The voices stirred.
Leave her.
He’s here.
Fight.
Kael stood.
Across the courtyard, Vaelen lowered Viera from his shoulder and placed her gently on the stone, like an offering laid out for display. He straightened his coat, immaculate despite the chaos, then looked up and smiled.
“Always worried about someone else,” Vaelen said. “It’s charming. And fatal.”
Kael didn’t answer. He checked Viera once, eyes narrowing when he saw her breathing. Alive. Barely.
“Good,” Kael said. “You didn’t kill her.”
Vaelen’s smile sharpened. “She’s my future wife. I take care of what’s mine.”
Kael laughed.
A short, ugly sound.
“That’s funny,” he said. “Because she didn’t look like she chose you.”
Vaelen’s eyes flickered.
“My mission,” Vaelen continued, voice smooth again, “is to take you back to the Thirteenth Dominion. My father wants to meet the boy who keeps surviving.”
Kael’s laughter stopped.
“And Viera?” Kael asked.
Vaelen tilted his head. “A prize I’m willing to keep.”
The voices surged.
Kill him.
Break him.
Burn the prince.
Kael’s mouth curved into a slow, dangerous grin.
“Then come get me,” he said.
They moved at the same time.
The collision cracked the courtyard.
Fist met fist. Aura slammed outward in a violent shockwave that rippled through the Academy grounds, shattering windows, debris lifting and raining down like shrapnel.
Kael staggered back a step.
So did Vaelen.
Both smiled.
Vaelen struck first, a clean, vicious combination aimed at Kael’s ribs and jaw. Kael blocked one, took the second, then drove his head forward, smashing it into Vaelen’s face.
Bone cracked.
Vaelen reeled, laughing as blood ran from his nose.
“Yes,” he said. “There you are.”
They traded blows relentlessly. Punch after punch. Kick after kick. No elegance. No restraint. Just raw, grinding impact that shook the foundations beneath them.
Kael felt the voices clawing harder.
Faster.
Harder.
Don’t stop.
He didn’t stop.
He pushed.
Vaelen’s Aura flared brighter, the Thirteenth Dominion bleeding outward as he drove Kael back with overwhelming force. Kael slid across the stone, boots carving trenches, then surged forward again, laughing through the pain.
“You’re slowing,” Kael taunted. “What’s wrong, Prince?”
Vaelen snarled and unleashed a flurry of strikes that forced Kael onto the defensive for the first time. Kael blocked, rolled, absorbed impact after impact, ribs screaming, vision blurring.
Still, he smiled.
“Come on,” Kael said, blood dripping from his chin. “FIGHT ME.”
The words landed.
Vaelen hesitated.
Just for a fraction of a second.
Enough.
Kael drove a punch into his stomach, then another into his jaw, forcing Vaelen back. The ground shook violently as their Auras clashed again, pressure rolling outward in waves fell across the Academy.
Vaelen steadied himself, breathing harder now.
Eyes burning.
“This isn’t over,” he said.
Kael wiped blood from his mouth.
“Good,” he replied. “I’m just getting warmed up.”
Behind them, the Academy groaned.
The war had found its center.
Arc V: Seraphine’s Will
Eryndic Calendar — Verdantia 2, Year 514 E.A.
Season: Awakening
Time: Afternoon
Location: Eureka Academy Lobby — Shattered Central Hall
POV: Seraphine Veyra / Caelis
Seraphine’s boots scraped against the marble steps as she slid backward, blood smearing the stone beneath her.
Her breath came in sharp, shallow pulls. One arm hung uselessly at her side, fingers trembling as she forced herself to keep her sword upright. Every muscle screamed in protest.
Caelis advanced.
Unhurried.
Predatory.
Blood streaked his face, some of it his own, most of it not. His Aura rolled outward in dark, oppressive waves, each step pressing down on the space around him like gravity tightening its grip.
“You’re still standing,” Caelis said mildly. “That’s inefficient.”
Seraphine steadied herself against the steps.
“My unit is behind me,” she replied. “That’s enough.”
Caelis smiled.
He moved.
The strike came too fast.
Steel crashed into steel as Seraphine barely raised her sword in time. The impact tore the weapon from her grip and sent her tumbling across the lobby floor. She rolled hard, pain exploding through her ribs as she collided with a fallen column.
Caelis was already there.
He grabbed her by the hair and hauled her upright, her feet barely touching the ground.
“Leadership,” he said calmly, “is just an excuse people use before they die.”
He threw her.
Seraphine slammed into the ground beside her fallen unit; bodies scattered around her like broken promises. She coughed, blood splattering across the floor as her vision swam.
Caelis followed, stepping over unconscious forms without hesitation.
“You failed them,” he continued. “Just like you failed Team Harmonic.”
Something inside Seraphine ignited.
She forced herself onto one knee.
“No,” she said hoarsely. “I didn’t.”
She rose.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Her sword lay a few feet away. She reached for it, fingers closing around the hilt as she dragged herself upright.
“They trusted me,” Seraphine said. Her voice trembled, but it didn’t break. “And I won’t let that end here.”
Caelis paused.
Amused.
Seraphine turned toward her unit, eyes fierce despite the blood running down her face.
“Get up,” she said. “If you can stand, then stand.”
One by one, figures stirred.
A hand pressed against the floor. A knee bent. Someone groaned and pushed themselves upright.
Caelis laughed.
“Yes,” he said, spreading his arms slightly. “Come. Each one of you.”
Seraphine lifted her sword again, barely able to keep it steady.
“We don’t need to win,” she said quietly. “We just need to hold.”
Caelis’ smile sharpened.
“Then hold,” he replied.
And stepped forward.
Arc VI: Ultimate Power
Eryndic Calendar — Verdantia 2, Year 514 E.A.
Season: Awakening
Time: Afternoon
Location: Opposite Side of the Academy Field — Ruined Grounds
POV: Aiden Lazarus / Azeron Val’Lumeris
Azeron dropped to one knee.
The impact echoed.
Dust lifted from the ground as his blade scraped against stone, his breathing suddenly uneven. For the first time since the battle began, his posture wasn’t composed. It wasn’t controlled.
It was shaken.
Aiden stood a few steps away, Solstice Blade held low but steady, golden Aura flickering tightly around his frame like a living outline. His eyes were focused. Clear. Every movement is deliberate.
“You’re overreaching,” Aiden said calmly.
Azeron looked up slowly.
The silence between them stretched.
“…No,” Azeron replied. “You are.”
Aiden advanced, sensing the opening immediately. His blade flashed, forcing Azeron to block at an awkward angle. Steel rang sharply as Aiden pressed the advantage, striking with precision rather than brute force.
One step.
Another.
Azeron was driven back.
His foot slipped.
He caught himself, but the damage was done.
Aiden’s blade slammed into his guard again, forcing him down onto both knees. The shockwave rippled outward, shaking the field beneath them.
Across the Academy, the impact was felt.
Azeron stared at the ground.
His hands trembled.
Something inside him cracked.
The golden light around Aiden flickered.
He stopped.
His instincts screamed.
“Azeron…” Aiden warned.
Darkness bled outward from Azeron’s body.
Not shadow.
Distortion.
The air around him warped violently, bending light and sound as his Aura inverted into something dense and suffocating. The ground beneath his knees fractured outward as pressure built rapidly.
Azeron rose slowly.
His eyes were empty.
Then he screamed.
Aura detonated outward in a massive shockwave that ripped across the battlefield. Stone lifted and shattered. Barriers flickered. Every fighter felt it.
Aiden was thrown backward.
He barely had time to raise his guard before Azeron was already there.
Too fast.
The strike hit him square in the chest, launching him across the field. Aiden crashed through broken stone and skidded to a stop near the edge of the grounds, breath torn from his lungs.
He cried out in pain.
Azeron rolled his shoulders, examining his hands as if seeing them for the first time.
“…So, this is it,” he said softly.
He looked at Aiden.
Smiled.
“Witness my ultimate power.”
Epilogue: The Turn for the Worst
Eryndic Calendar — Verdantia 2, Year 514 E.A.
Season: Awakening
Time: Afternoon
Location: Frontline Barrier → Academy Lobby
POV: Orion Drayke / Selene Arclight / Lira Elyssia / Tessa Myrin / Ronan Dravoss
The barrier shuddered violently.
Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface as overlapping shockwaves from across the Academy slammed into it from every direction. Selene gritted her teeth, temporal field fluctuating dangerously as she fought to keep time aligned.
“It won’t hold much longer,” she said sharply.
Tessa adjusted her device frantically, hands shaking.
“I know, I know—I’m compensating but the feedback is insane!”
Ronan leaned heavily against the barrier, bloodied and exhausted, eyes scanning the chaos beyond it.
“They’re tearing the place apart,” he muttered.
Orion tightened his grip on the Aegis Lance.
“Then we move,” he said. “Now.”
Lira nodded, wiping tears from her eyes as she turned toward the Academy doors.
“I’ll go with her,” Ronan said. “Orion—hold them.”
Lira glanced at Ronan.
“You sure?”
he nodded once.
They broke from the barrier and sprinted inside.
The lobby was silent.
Too silent.
Bodies littered the floor. Blood streaked the marble. Broken weapons lay scattered among shattered columns and fallen banners.
Ronan slowed.
“…No,” he whispered.
At the center of the destruction stood Caelis.
Blood streaked his face.
In front of him, Seraphine knelt, gasping, her sword embedded deep in her stomach. Her hands shook as she tried to stay upright.
Lira screamed.
“SERAPHINE!”
Caelis twisted the blade.
Pulled it free.
Seraphine collapsed to the side, her body hitting the floor hard.
Ronan’s eyes locked onto Caelis’.
The world narrowed.
Caelis turned toward them slowly, licking the blood from his blade with deliberate satisfaction.
“More interruptions,” he said with a sinister smile.
— ? —
