"Professor Luna? Are you okay?"
Professor Sylvia looked concerned as she noticed "Professor Luna staring intensely at one particular display—Zone 5: The Shadowmere Forest. The scrying crystal's image showed Roka fleeing from Vera and Lilly, his expression unreadable."
Luna's wolf ears were flattened against her head, and her usually bright amber eyes looked troubled.
Professor Lydia hand gently grabbed Sylvia's shoulder, giving a soft pat and squeeze that redirected her attention. The unspoken message was clear: Give her space.
Luna sighed heavily, the sound carrying years of disappointment. "It's nothing... Roka still hasn't let go of his distrust toward humans."
The Monitoring Control Room fell silent. Even the ambient hum of the scrying crystals seemed to quiet.
Professor Sylvia blinked, unsure how to respond. "I..."
"He doesn't even try," Luna continued, her voice barely above a whisper. "He feels too far gone to even think about reconciliation. I fear he'll walk further into the thorns of isolation... and he'll do it wholeheartedly, believing it's the right choice."
Her hands clenched into fists on the control panel. As a beast-kin herself, Luna had hoped to be a bridge between Roka and the Aethermoor Academy. But the young man had rejected every attempt at connection, every offered hand.
Professor Marcus cleared his throat, choosing his words carefully. "We are guidance to students. Mentors. But their paths are completely their own. We can't control them—nor should we try to."
Professor Vincent nodded, his mechanical augmentations whirring softly as he adjusted his position. "The academy is neutral ground because it values strength and ideals equally. Yet as professors, we must not mistake their journeys as ours to dictate."
He paused, his voice taking on a more philosophical tone. "Simply put, we are spectators to their lives. We are the wind that helps them fly, and the spark that spreads their fire. But the direction they choose? That's entirely theirs."
Vincent's gaze swept across the displays showing hundreds of students. "The longer we live, the more we see both triumph and tragedy repeated in cycles, generation after generation. We can only hope our guidance tips the balance toward growth."
Professors Lydia, Kazuki, and Gareth all nodded in solemn agreement.
The senior students operating the monitoring equipment shifted uncomfortably in their seats. The conversation had gotten unexpectedly heavy, touching on philosophical questions they weren't quite ready to grapple with.
The displays continued showing the ongoing battles across all five zones.
As Loren muttered, well we got another elimination coming right up!.
Cassius hummed thoughtfully as he studied the red-masked figure standing idle in the center of the throne room. Something was immediately off about his presence—it felt dull, muted, like a candle flame viewed through thick fog.
The man's skin was deathly pale, almost translucent under the flickering light of the enchanted lanterns lining the ancient stone walls. His posture was relaxed, but there was something deeply unnatural about how still he stood—like a corpse propped upright.
His presence keeps drifting, Cassius noted, his tactical mind analyzing every detail. And that intense mana pressure... definitely above Level 6 Mana Circuit Manipulation. Maybe even Level 7.
His grey eyes narrowed slightly behind his calm expression. Alright then. Killing is completely off the table—for both of us. The academy wouldn't deploy someone lethal against freshmen, and he won't risk actually murdering noble heirs. So how do I win this?
"Aria?"
The word was barely a whisper, but it was all the signal she needed.
In an instant, Aria materialized directly behind the red-masked man, her Serpent's Fang Whip already in motion. The attack made absolutely no sound—no whistling air, no crackling energy, nothing. Her presence was completely suppressed, a perfect ambush—
The red-masked man's hand shot up and caught the whip mid-strike.
The razor-sharp enchanted weapon cut clean through his fingers. Three of them fell to the stone floor, blood spurting.
"So sharp!" the man said with genuine appreciation, sounding almost delighted despite losing digits.
But then something impossible happened.
Instead of dripping to the ground, his blood stopped mid-air. It materialized into dozens of small crimson spears, each one gleaming like polished rubies, and they shot toward Aria at blinding speed.
She didn't hesitate. Her whip became a blur, chopping the blood spears apart with surgical precision—but they didn't dissipate. Instead, each spear she destroyed split into two smaller ones, and those divided again, multiplying exponentially while maintaining their momentum. Within seconds, hundreds of tiny blood projectiles filled the air, all converging on her position.
Aria took a step backward—
And was yanked away.
Her movement wasn't natural. It was too fast, too smooth, like someone had grabbed an invisible rope tied around her waist and pulled. She landed sideways on the stone wall, defying gravity for a brief moment, then launched herself forward and landed protectively in front of Cassius.
"Blood manipulation?" Cassius said, his tone conversational despite the deadly situation. "So a vampire, huh? I thought your kind lived in complete isolation in the Crimson Territories."
The red-masked man shrugged, his severed fingers already regenerating with disturbing speed. "Times change. Is generalization really a good thing for a person of your status?"
He tilted his head slightly, and his eyes—barely visible through the mask's eye holes—gleamed with predatory intelligence.
She was yanked away, the vampire thought rapidly. Her acceleration wasn't natural. That must be Prince's doing—But what triggered it? Some kind of special element magic from him?
Space distortion? No, if he could manipulate space, he wouldn't need to engage in close combat at all...
"Aren't you thinking a bit too much?" Cassius called out.
The vampire chuckled. "Maybe."
Aria was already moving again, her speed increasing dramatically as her whip retracted and transformed smoothly into reinforced knuckle guards that covered her hands like gauntlets. She closed the distance in less than a second, fists crackling with condensed mana.
The red-masked man's already-bleeding hand began bleeding furiously, as if every blood vessel had ruptured simultaneously. He shaped the crimson liquid into a proper Blood Saber—a solid, gleaming sword made entirely of compressed blood. Simultaneously, the excess blood formed into floating orbs around him, and those orbs began firing continuous streams of blood spears to track Aria's movements.
She dodged them with supernatural agility, her enhanced speed making her look like she was teleporting between positions. But the sheer volume of projectiles gradually slowed her down, forcing her to deflect more and parry less, until she was eventually brought to a complete halt about twenty feet from her target.
The vampire hummed, his attention shifting to Cassius. "Why don't you join the battle yourself instead of playing around with that girl? Your special element is Acceleration, isn't it?"
Cassius smiled. "Exactly."
He clapped his hands together once.
The white light radiating from his body intensified dramatically, becoming almost blinding. The Sovereign's Acceleration Field expanded outward in a sphere, and Aria—positioned at the center of its effect—practically disappeared.
She reappeared directly in front of the vampire, her fist already mid-strike. A devastating liver punch connected with perfect precision, driving the air from his lungs. Before he could react, her second fist crashed into his chin with an uppercut that snapped his head back violently.
Then she started piling on.
Left hook. Right cross. Elbow strike. Knee to the ribs. Every blow landed with bone-crushing force, each one amplified by Cassius's acceleration magic to hit with triple the normal impact.
Blood spikes erupted from the vampire's body reflexively, sharp crimson thorns bursting from his skin to impale the attacker—but before they could reach Aria, they began dissolving, the blood turning black and evaporating like steam.
"Poison?" the red-masked man muttered, his eyes visibly shaking behind the mask. "Ahaha..."
He laughed weakly even as Aria's next punch broke his jaw clean off with a sickening crack. The bone shattered, and his entire face began fracturing like porcelain, spiderweb cracks spreading across his skin—
A thin thread of blood shot from his broken body at an impossible angle—completely outside both Aria's and Cassius's field of vision—and sliced across Aria's left eye.
She flinched, and that instant of distraction was all he needed.
Using Aria's own blood now mixed with his, the vampire created a massive orb that engulfed her head completely, drowning her in liquid crimson. She immediately began choking, clawing at the blood sphere that clung to her face like living tar.
The vampire staggered backward on shaky legs, his broken jaw regenerating with wet, crunching sounds. "The... complication of that poison... very interesting. Good choice."
He looked around—and found only Aria choking in the blood orb.
Cassius had vanished.
The vampire's eyes widened.
At that exact moment, Cassius appeared directly beside him—not in front, not behind, but at a perfect ninety-degree angle to his peripheral vision.
His white spear—Ivory Piercer—cut through half of the red-masked man's head in a clean horizontal slash.
The vampire bolted backward, regenerating frantically while clutching his neck. He chuckled despite the mortal wound. "Blood loss isn't an issue for vampires. Our mana itself acts as blood. You can't kill me through exsanguination."
Cassius had already moved to Aria's side, touching her shoulder gently, and the blood orb crumbled its own dispersal to the point of instant evaporation. Aria gasped, sucking in desperate breaths.
"Then why bother dodging at all?" Cassius asked calmly, his spear gleaming as he pointed it directly at the vampire.
His grey eyes were cold now, all pretense of casual observation gone. "Keep going. The next exchange, I'm going to make you forfeit."
The red-masked man chuckled, his regeneration finally completing. "Alright. Good. Let's escalate."
His blood orbs began pouring onto the walls, spreading across the ancient stone like living paint. The crimson liquid rushed throughout the entire fortress with disturbing speed, flowing through cracks and crevices like it had its own malevolent intelligence. The poison Aria had introduced was completely purged from his system now.
Cassius watched in growing shock, his mind racing as he began recognizing the implications. No. He wouldn't—
"I don't fight battles on my own either," the vampire said pleasantly.
The entire fortress began shaking.
Aria took a steadying breath, then chuckled darkly. "All the monsters we've cleared... I can feel their presences again."
From the far end of the King's Path, massive footsteps thundered.
Throne Wreckers—hulking undead knights standing twelve feet tall—emerged from the shadows, carrying enormous stone spears that dragged along the ground with grinding sounds.
Stoneguard Abominations began rolling through the entrance like living boulders, their bodies covered in razor-sharp armor plates.
Battlekeep Slayers guided them in with tactical precision, their glowing eyes coordinating the assault.
Ironwall Despoilers appeared on the walls above, and corrosive acid began dripping from the ceiling, hissing where it touched stone.
Multiple A-Grade monsters piled into the throne room—dozens of them, all creatures Cassius and Aria had already slaughtered during their point collection. Their bodies had been left behind, forgotten.
The red-masked man's neck finished healing completely. He clapped his hands together theatrically.
"Have you heard about necromancers? That's what I am."
The blood from every single dead monster in the fortress began concentrating, drawn toward a single massive orb floating above the vampire's head. It pulsed like a grotesque heart.
Cassius and Aria were now completely surrounded.
Every resurrected monster's eyes flared with bright red energy. Their severed limbs—the ones Aria had cut off—were replaced with constructs made of solid blood that moved just as well as the originals.
The monsters didn't look weakened by death. They looked enhanced.
Aria smiled despite the overwhelming odds. "So, Prince... what's the plan?"
Cassius sweated slightly, his mind working at maximum capacity to find a strategy.
In the Monitoring Control Room, Professor Helena leaned forward with genuine concern. "Wait... will killing already-dead monsters still count for points?"
She looked at Professor Whisper, whose doll-like face remained expressionless as always.
Professor Whisper nodded slowly. "It does count. The system registers any successful defeat of a manifested threat."
She paused, then added with the faintest hint of emotion in her monotone voice: "But it doesn't matter if they can't win against my boy."
Every professor in the room turned to stare at her awkwardly.
Professor Whisper was known throughout the academy for being disturbingly motherly toward her son—the vampire student currently fighting Cassius and Aria. It was an open secret that made most faculty uncomfortable, given her usual cold demeanor toward everyone else.
But the look on her face right now...
Was that embarrassment?
Her pale cheeks had the faintest hint of color, barely visible but definitely present.
Professor Marcus cleared his throat. "Your son is... very talented, Whisper. A credit to your raising."
"Thank you," she said quietly, her eyes never leaving the display showing the throne room battle.
On screen, the necromantic vampire raised both hands, and every single resurrected monster began advancing as one coordinated force.