The space in front of the Void-billi warped like a wound in reality.
A single point between it and the group distorted, the air bending inward as if the world had developed a pupil. It started as an invisible force, subtle enough that Kaelen almost missed it. Then dirt began to move. Small stones skittered across the ground, pulled toward that point with growing urgency. The manor's ornaments followed, stone cherubs and ornate ironworking tearing free from their mounts. Tree splinters and chunks of earth that had been dismembered by earlier craters lifted and spiraled inward.
Mel, Kaelen, and Jil dug their feet into the torn courtyard. Their muscles strained as the pull climbed past anything natural.
The gravitational force hit them like a physical wall. Kaelen felt his boots drag, the torn earth beneath him crumbled as the pull intensified. His muscles screamed. The buff from Colossus Rising kept him anchored, but only barely.
Mel's hand shot out and clamped around Kaelen's arm. Her grip was tight. The force was pulling him hardest; if she let go, he would be the first to get spaghettified.
"Shouldn't we be doing something?" Jil shouted over the rising howl of displaced air. His feet had carved deep grooves into the ground, aether flared around his legs as he fought the pull.
"Would you like to get sucked in?" Mel asked, her voice flat as ever. Her beige hair whipped across her face, the blindfold pressing against her features from the force of the gravity. She looked unbothered despite the situation.
"No," Jil said through gritted teeth. He turned his head toward Kaelen, the motion slow against the pressing pressure. "Do you have any idea what it's planning to do?"
Kaelen couldn't answer immediately. His jaw was clenched so tight his teeth ached. The immense pressure from the beast's skill was taking everything he had just to stay conscious. Every breath felt like someone was sitting on his chest. He made a mental note: if he made it back to the academy, he was spending time in a gravity chamber until this felt manageable.
"I don't... know," he finally forced out, the words barely forming.
[–5 A.E]
[A.E: 559/655]
[Buff Applied: Colossus Rising]
[Duration: 09:28]
[+9.5 HP]
[HP: 264/475]
The numbers flickered at the edge of his vision. His aether regeneration was just barely keeping pace with the cost of maintaining his aether shell. Five points out, five points in. A fragile equilibrium.
"But..." He swallowed, forcing his thoughts to focus. "If I'm right, it's using something similar to Spatial Compression."
"That much is obvious," Jil snapped.
"I'm saying I should be able to counter whatever it's planning."
Jil's eyes widened slightly. "You have a skill that can counter Spatial Compression?"
"Not Spatial Compression specifically." Kaelen's voice gained a thread of stability as his mind locked onto the problem. "It's currently using something similar, but if it really intends to end us, there'll be more power behind the gravitational force. This feels more like suction than a black hole effect."
Mel had been quiet, but now she spoke. "What do you suggest?"
"I don't know what it's doing. But if I'm right, this could be the same skill that caused the manor's explosion."
The gravity intensified.
The pulling force doubled, tearing earth away in great chunks. Trees that had somehow survived the earlier devastation groaned and ripped free, their roots dangling as they were pulled toward the swirling point.
Mel stood like a monument. The increased effects seemed to slide around her, her ability quietly refusing to acknowledge them. But Jil and Kaelen felt every Newton of additional force. Jil drove his feet deeper, red light exploding from his legs as he created anchor points, the ground spiderwebbing with cracks around him.
Kaelen would have been gone if not for Mel's grip. Her nullification blunted the worst of it, but the intense pressure still made him feel like he was being crushed from all sides. His increased defense from the buff helped, but it wasn't comfort he felt. He was barely holding it together.
"I think you're way off, Kaelen," Jil shouted. "It just increased the pressure. It does intend to end us."
The Void-billi's lines pulsed brighter, blue and pink light dancing along its frame in hypnotic waves. The storm in its horns intensified, black clouds swirling with lightning that spiderwebbed across the crystal surfaces. Its vertical slit split open, and it released a roar that didn't feel like mere sound. It was devastating.
Kaelen's vision blurred at the edges. He felt like the roar wasn't aimed at his ear, but directly at his brain
"Shouldn't we do something?" Jil's voice had lost its composure, panic bleeding through.
Mel stayed calm. Her expression remained unreadable as she stared at the beast, her blindfolded face tilted slightly as if she were listening to something no one else could hear. "Do what you can to stop the skill, Kaelen."
"Are we really putting our lives in—"
"Yes," Mel said, cutting him off.
"Regardless of him being a space user, he's still inexperienced!" Jil's voice cracked with frustration.
"Are you a space manipulator?" Mel asked, not sparring him a glance and utterly unbothered by his tone
Jil could only sigh. He knew he'd lost the argument with her. "Okay, Kaelen. I'm trusting you. Don't mess up."
"I won't."
Kaelen's aether began to rise.
...
It wasn't the controlled flow of normal skill activation. This was something else. He had done this once before, during the scourge wolf attack in the wilderness. He had overloaded Spatial Lance then, pushing more aether into it than the skill was designed to activate. The result had been devastating.
He was going to do it again.
Mel and Jil both felt it. The shift in his energy. The way his aether wasn't just flowing, but building up. Neither of them spoke. They simply watched, and waited.
[Buff Applied: Colossus Rising]
[Duration: 08:21]
[+9.5 HP]
[HP: 274/475]
System notifications flashed across his vision, but he paid no attention as he focused on the construct.
THWOOM.
The gravity point in front of the void-billi suddenly shot toward them, a dark core dragging everything into its wake, homing in on their position like a guided singularity
[Spatial Compression Lv.1 – Supercharged]
[–192 A.E]
[A.E: 367/655]
Kaelen threw his own compression out to meet it. The space between their point and the incoming orb warped, folding and buckling inward as two different singularities tried to dominate the same patch of reality. The pull multiplied, sucking in every loose object. The remaining body parts and trees that hadn't already been consumed began spiraling toward this new point of destruction.
When the two met, they didn't cancel each other. They locked.
For a heartbeat, everything stopped.
Then they became a binary system.
The twin singularities began to orbit each other, spiraling like two cosmic whirlpools dragging the world into their dance. Each rotation shredded more of the surroundings, tearing free chunks of stone and soil, thrashing debris around them in wild arcs.
[–20 HP]
[HP: 254/475]
Kaelen didn't need the notification. He felt his insides rearranging. The immense pressure from both forces made him feel like he was being pulled apart molecule by molecule. If not for Mel's nullification, if not for the buffer zone her ability created around them, he would have been dead, even before the moment the two skills began their orbital dance.
"What did you do?" Jil screamed.
"I… thought… mine would devour it," Kaelen forced out, each word costing him.
"Didn't you go through a science class?" Jil yelled.
"Let's be calm," Mel interjected. Even with space trying to fold itself inside out in front of them, she sounded faintly bored.
Despite the situation, despite the fact that they were standing at the edge of an artificial apocalypse, she seemed absolutely fine.
"Calm?" Jil's voice cracked. He stared at her with the frustration of someone who feels sane among the insane. "No. It's no time to be calm. If we can't defend against what those two will do next, we're as good as dead."
Mel ignored him completely. Her gaze was fixed on the beast across them, and Kaelen followed her gaze.
The beast wasn't handling the backlash any better than Kaelen. Its body trembled, with its legs digging furrows into the warped ground as the force of its own skill tore at it. The compression had slipped out of its control. The dual singularity wasn't just hunting Kaelen and his group. It was devouring everything, master included.
"Kaelen." Mel's voice cut through the chaos. "I won't nullify the main effects until it expands. As soon as it does, do everything you can to end the beast, if its not in. The gravitational pull is affecting it too."
"All noise fades. All power stills," Mel chanted, her voice taking on a resonance that seemed to come from everywhere at once. "Within this space, my law remains."
[–20 HP]
[HP: 234/475]
[Reality Authority Invoked]
[Skill: Silent Verdict]
[Hostile Effects: Nullified]
[Time Limit: Caster's Will]
The crushing pressure vanished in an instant, leaving Kaelen gasping in a bubble of eerie stillness. One heartbeat they were standing at the edge of a devouring singularity, the next it felt like someone had muted space itself.
This was Mel's skill. This was Quiet Law in its purest form.
Kaelen shot her a glance. Just how strong was she?
Jil sagged, his shoulders dropped as his body finally registered the absence of pressure. "Finally," he muttered under his breath.
The group was safe within Mel's bubble, but the same couldn't be said for the beast.
The two compressed spheres continued their deadly orbit, sending out energy ripples that flattened everything in their path. The manor's courtyard, already unrecognizable, was being erased completely. The ripples grew stronger as the spiral sped up, each pulse carrying more force than the last.
The entire dome was feeling it now. The invisible barrier that shimmered like distorted air began to pulse visibly, energy ripples spreading across its surface like waves on water.
The void-billi turned and fled in the opposite direction of the pull, stretching the space between itself and the orbiting singularities, its horn flashing as it tried desperately to push the collapsing space away. The ground under it elongated and twisted as it tried to create distance, to escape the pull of its own creation.
But it was no use. No matter how much space it stretched, the merging black holes tore through the distance. The pull intensified, stretching the beast's form as it began to be consumed. The surrounding area followed, plants, trees, chunks of the barrier that had begun to materialize from the strain. Everything twisted and vanished into that spiraling void.
But Mel's skill held. Kaelen, Jil, and Mel stood untouched, watching the end of the Void-billi from within their bubble of rewritten law.
...
Penelope, Lira, and Jay had barely stepped out of the armory when the world shuddered.
They felt the first ripples as a violent wave in the ground, trees cracking and snapping as invisible force blasted through the dome grounds. Jay felt it before the others, a subtle shift in how the earth vibrated beneath her boots.
"Stay close!" she shouted on instinct.
It was just a fraction too late. The ripple shifted into a pull, the air around them stretching like some unseen hand had hooked into their bones and yanked toward the manor.
Penelope reflexes saved them
Light exploded around them, an overlapping hexagram blooming into existence with six interlocking layers, each one snapping into place around the three of them. She braced under the sudden weight, both hands raised. Sweat beaded on her forehead almost instantly, then rolled down, tracing lines along her temples.
It pressure was strong.
Jay and Lira moved without needing to be told. They placed their hands on Penelope's shoulders. Aether flowed from them into her, a desperate transfusion of energy to keep the barrier alive.
The earth around them tore apart. The armory behind them began to crumble, walls peeling away and being sucked toward the manor's direction. They could feel the barrier straining, each layer flickering as Penelope fought to maintain it.
"Just hold," Jay muttered, more to herself than anyone. "Just hold."
...
Back at the courtyard, Kaelen noticed something strange.
Midway through its screaming stretch toward the singularity, the void-billi… stopped. The pull still raged, devouring everything else, but the beast itself hung in place.
Its body began to fragment into motes of light.
Time felt like it had halted. The beast faded further, and further, until there was nothing left.
Then the notification hit.
[Congratulations!]
[+40,000 XP]
You faced an A-rank rare variant and refused to become its meal.
[Achievement Unlocked: Unbreakable Will]
[Hidden Affinity Unlocked: ???]
[Quest Completed: Hunt of Terror]
[Classification: Emergency Quest]
[Type: Combat]
[Difficulty: ???]
[Objectives:]
[– Survive your encounter with the Void-billi (✓)]
[– Defeat or repel the Void-billi (✓)]
[Rewards:]
[+500 Stat Points]
[+10,000 SP]
[Combat Technique: Adaptive Combat (D-rank)]
The notifications cascaded across his vision, but Kaelen barely registered them. The beast was dead and the system confirmed it.
His attention shifted to Mel, who was already moving toward the still-spinning orbs.
"False power, fall silent," she intoned, stepping forward. "Broken laws, return to nothing. Power that defies order... cease. Laws that wander... return to their place."
"Miss Mel?" Kaelen called, a flicker of alarm surfacing as he realized how close she was walking.
Despite her nullification, they had maintained a safe distance from the orbs. She was closing that distance now, walking toward certain death like it was a minor inconvenience.
"Miss Mel—"
Jil's hand landed on his shoulder. Kaelen turned to find the old guard watching Mel with an expression that held something like reverence.
"Don't bother her," Jil said quietly. "Let her work."
"Within this space, will and nature kneel alike," Mel continued, her voice growing in power. "Here, I decide what is possible. My silent law governs all things. Only my decree remains."
"Domain Expansion... Sanctum of Unspoken Laws."
Kaelen felt it.
He'd seen domains before. Jax's, with its overwhelming physical manifestation, and Davo's, with its heavy presence. Both had warped the world visually, the environment echoing the abilities of their owners. But Mel's was different.
It had no physical manifestation. If you relied on your eyes alone, you would never know a domain existed. But if you could sense beyond sight, if you could feel the fabric of reality itself...
Everything was different.
Kaelen realized he could breathe through his entire body. No, that wasn't right. He didn't need to breathe at all. The laws of nature were bending, shifting, being rewritten in real time. New rules were being inscribed on the fundamental code of existence, and Mel was the one holding the pen.
She reached the orb.
It should have killed her. The gravitational force should have torn her apart, pulled her into that spiraling void and scattered her atoms across whatever dimension the compression had opened. Instead, she simply... reached out.
Her arm extended, fingers wrapping around the orb. And slowly, gently, it began to shrink. The light dimmed. The pull weakened. Layer by layer, the destruction unraveled until there was nothing left but empty air and the sound of Mel's breathing.
The pressure vanished completely. The barrier overhead ceased its frantic shimmer. The debris that had hung suspended fell all at once, crashing into the ruined courtyard.
Everything stopped.
"Woah…" Kaelen breathed. It was all he could force out.
...
Far from the courtyard, Penelope's barrier shuddered.
Penelope's barrier had held through the fourth layer.
By the time the fifth layer began to crack, spiderwebs of light spreading across its surface, she was running on fumes and stubbornness. Jay and Lira had poured everything they had into keeping her afloat, but even that wasn't enough. The cracks spread. The barrier started to fail.
Then the force stopped.
Penelope's barrier shattered, shards of light dissolving into nothing as she collapsed forward, catching herself on her knees. Sweat dripped from her face, plastering green hair to her forehead and cheeks.
"Kaelen," Lira breathed.
Silver aether flooded down her legs, encasing her feet in a liquid glow that clung like living metal. The ground chipped under her first step, then fractured as she accelerated, her body blurring.
She didn't wait for Jay or Penelope. She simply ran.
...
Back in the courtyard, dust still hung in the air like a thin fog.
"You're… amazing," Kaelen said, finally managing to get the words out as he moved up beside Mel.
"…"
Mel answered with silence, staring straight ahead.
He hadn't expected a response. He was about to turn back toward the ruined courtyard when he noticed something.
Mel's fingers were trembling.
She'd stood unshaken since the moment he had met her, emotionless, steady, even when something tried to crush them under impossible force, even when she'd tanked the void-billi's attacks directly. She had never flinched.
Now, her hand shook almost imperceptibly.
But it wasn't the tremor alone that caught him. It was her face.
For the first time, there was an expression. A tightness around the eyes, a ghost of something like pain. It felt deeper, buried under the mask.
Mel didn't notice his stare until she felt it: the faint warmth of his hand closing gently over her trembling fingers.
Mel turned to look at him, but Kaelen kept his gaze forward, staring at the empty space where the Void-billi had died.
"Thank you," he muttered.
"Quite the change of events." Mel's voice was calm, but if you listened carefully, you could almost hear the tremble beneath it. "I thought you hated me."
"I disliked the woman who wanted to take my life." He turned to face her now. "But your actions so far have only meant well for Penelope. Now that I have a partial picture, at least."
They stood there in silence, his hand still around hers, the ruined courtyard stretching around them.
Jil slowed as he approached, then stopped altogether when he saw them. There was a tension there he had no interest in disturbing.
"I still don't like you, though," Kaelen said eventually.
"I didn't need you to," Mel replied, her face smoothing back to that familiar, unreadable void.
He felt her fingers slowly relax under his grip.He thought about pulling away, but noticed that Mel wasn't letting go. Her grip remained tight, almost desperate.
The sensation made him feel oddly exposed. He'd never been good with this kind of quiet, emotional moment.
"What's your domain level?" Kaelen asked, picking the first neutral topic that came to mind.
"Four."
"Your ability nullifies effects. Or to be precise, rewrites laws, as Mr. Jil said." He paused, choosing his next words carefully. "Why were your hands trembling?"
Mel's hand snapped free of his. "We've held hands enough."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude." Kaelen reached out, catching her arm as she started to turn away. "Your ability is so strong it can rewrite laws. I know it must have limits, but I've seen what you can do." He paused. "I didn't think that was enough to make you tremble."
"It wasn't that." Mel pulled her arm free, her tone leaving no room for argument.
Jil, watching from a distance, could only sigh. "Lovers' quarrel," he muttered to himself. "It's good to be so young."
"Kaelen!"
Lira's voice cut through the moment.
Before Kaelen could respond, she slammed into him, arms wrapping around his torso as her momentum knocked them both off balance. They tumbled together onto the cracked ground.
"Are you okay?" Her copper braid dangled over his face, the ends tickling his nose. "Are you hurt? Tell me where it hurts."
"I'm okay," Kaelen managed, pushing himself into a sitting position with Lira still clinging to him. "But I might not be if you keep sitting on me."
"I told you he was okay!"
Jay stumbled into view, clearly out of breath from running. Penelope was right behind her, looking almost as exhausted as Jay but wearing a relieved smile.
"Mel." Penelope's voice caught.
Mel turned, and before she could speak, Penelope was there, arms wrapping around her in an embrace. Mel stood rigid for a moment, then slowly, almost imperceptibly, relaxed into it.
Penelope's green hair fluttered in the faint breeze, a splash of color against the grey devastation.
"I'm okay, if anyone's wondering," Jil announced to no one in particular.
Penelope pulled back from the embrace, and her eyes went wide. "Oh my."
Half of Mel's uniform from the chest down to her stomach was shredded, torn cleanly by a claw swipe earlier. Half her chest was exposed, pale skin visible where fabric should have been.
Jay's eyes lit up with the particular gleam of someone who had just found comedy gold in the middle of tragedy.
"You know," she said, spreading her hands, "it's funny how things change. Mel here tried to kill Kaelen the first time they met. Boke almost all of his bones. And now look at them." She gestured dramatically. "And now you're close enough that you don't even mind him being right in your space while your chest is practically hanging out?"
"Jay." Lira's voice carried a warning.
"I'm just saying! Character development! From attempted murder to—"
"Jay."
"Intimate proximity!"
"Don't say such things." Lira's face had gone red.
Penelope burst out laughing, the sound bright and unexpected against the backdrop of destruction. It was genuine, unrestrained, the laugh of someone who had forgotten how good it felt.
Kaelen watched them all, Lira's embarrassment, Jay's gleeful mischief, Penelope's unexpected joy, Mel's return to stoic silence. Even Jil, standing apart with a faint smile on his weathered face.
Kaelen knows this was an unexpected outcome. The chances of him killing the void-billi despite Mel's and Jil's ranks were zero. Even if it was handed to him on a diamond plate, he would still loose... Woefully. Yet, the universe was with him.
He would go through the system notifications later, but for now, he just wanted to rest. His body ached badly.