"Special Admission, Rank 1."

That was the title on the golden invitation I threw into the trash three months ago.
Back then, I was the Crime Lord of Oakhaven. I had money, territory, and an ego that touched the sky. Why would a King lower himself to attend a school?

I was arrogant. I was foolish.

And I paid the price.

It took less than an hour for a single knight to turn my criminal empire into a graveyard. He didn't just defeat me; he ignored me. I was an ant beneath the boot of a god.

Broken and desperate, I used my last asset: a golden letter granting me entry to Zenith Imperial Academy as "Special Admission Rank 1."

It’s a lie. I’m not a prodigy. I’m a fraud with no foundation, surrounded by the strongest heirs in the Empire who want to see me bleed. I can’t cast their spells. I can’t hold their weapons.

But I can steal their lives.

My Authority is [Usurper]. While they study theory, I steal reflexes. While they practice honor, I copy trauma. I am not here to learn. I am here to hunt.

My targets are the "Four Calamities"—four women who hold powers strong enough to rewrite reality.

They think I’m their peer. They don’t know I’m the parasite waiting to hollow them out.

I’m going to make them mine.

Discord: https://discord.gg/FK9GfrSjtb

The descent into the sub-levels of the Star-Forge felt like a fall through a vertical tomb. Vane led the way with a staggering, uneven gait. His boots rang hollowly against the rusted spiral stairs that clung to the outer shell of the cooling shaft. Every step sent a jolt of agony through his shattered arm. The bone was no longer just broken; the marrow felt like it had been replaced by shards of frozen mercury. Behind him, Valerica carried Mara with a desperate, white-knuckled grip. They were not merely fleeing the construct at the gate. They were being hunted by the air itself.


Chapter 149 - The Heat of the Void