Night still ruled Wildwood Valley.
The forest, usually alive with layered sound — insects, distant howls, rustling leaves — had fallen into an unnatural silence.
Then something screamed.
Not a human scream.
Not even the cry of a magical beast defending territory.
This was the sound of something being erased.
Deep within a ravaged clearing, the Sky Reaper stood over the torn remains of a horned ridgeback — a Tier-Two predator that normally hunted in packs and feared nothing below the mountain ridges.
Now it lay in pieces.
Blood soaked into the soil, steaming faintly in the cold night air.
The Sky Reaper lowered its massive head and tore another strip of flesh free, lightning crackling faintly along the ridges of its wings as it fed. Wind coiled lazily around its talons, lifting dust and shredded leaves into slow spirals.
This was not hunger alone.
This was dominance.
A declaration.
Everything in this valley was beneath it.
When it finished, the creature stepped toward the cliff's edge overlooking the dark wilderness below.
Moonlight spilled across its body — revealing scars, old and new… and burns along one wing where fire had struck days earlier.
Its eye — the uninjured one — glowed like molten amber.
Then it roared.
The sound shattered the night.
Birds exploded from distant trees.
Creatures burrowed deeper into the earth.
Even the wind seemed to recoil.
The Sky Reaper was not leaving.
It was claiming the valley.
And somewhere beyond the ridges…
It remembered the human who had burned it.
A faint grey light crept through the trees.
Morning came cold and quiet.
Siddhant rose from his watch position beside the dying embers of the fire and stretched slowly, muscles stiff from the long night.
Nothing had attacked.
Nothing had moved.
Yet he had not relaxed once.
"Wake up," he called softly, moving between the tents.
"This is the day."
One by one, the students emerged.
Veer stumbled out first, hair a complete disaster.
"If this is what survival training feels like," he muttered, "I'm filing a complaint with the Academy."
Priya walked past him, already alert.
"You can complain after we're alive."
"That was implied."
Avdhoot stepped out last.
He had barely slept.
The crystal shard rested against his chest beneath his cloak — warmer than usual.
Almost… reactive.
He ignored it.
Today required clarity.
Not questions.
The group gathered quickly, washing their faces with chilled water, forcing down preserved rations even though nerves dulled their appetite.
No one joked much.
Not even Veer.
The air itself felt tense — as if the valley knew something was coming.
Avdhoot studied each face.
Tired.
Determined.
Afraid — but moving anyway.
Good.
Fear meant they understood the stakes.
"Check your mana levels," Tara instructed.
"Above seventy percent," Kiran replied.
"Sixty-five," said Divya.
"Enough," Siddhant concluded.
Meira approached Avdhoot last.
She pressed two fingers lightly against his wrist, sensing the flow within him.
"The fractures are stable," she said quietly. "But if you overdraw…"
"I know."
Her eyes sharpened.
"No heroics."
He gave a faint smile.
"No promises."
She exhaled sharply but stepped back.
There was no stopping what had already begun.
They broke camp quickly.
No wasted movement.
No lingering.
The forest swallowed them within minutes.
As they advanced toward the trap zone near Priya's former campsite, tension crept into their conversations.
"Once we trigger this," Divya said quietly, "there's no retreat path."
"There is," Tara replied. "It's called running intelligently."
Veer leaned toward Avdhoot.
"I trust the plan," he murmured.
A pause.
"But if something goes wrong…?"
Avdhoot didn't look at him.
"Then we adapt."
That was both reassuring…
and terrifying.
Suddenly—
A roar rolled across the valley.
Not distant.
Not faint.
It vibrated through bone.
Mira inhaled sharply.
"It sounds like the sky is cracking…"
Priya's voice hardened.
"From here onward — extra care. No unnecessary mana bursts."
They reached the final staging point.
The dense mana forest waited ahead — thick trunks rising close together, branches interlocking so tightly that even sunlight struggled to enter.
Perfect terrain.
For humans.
A nightmare for something the size of the Sky Reaper.
Avdhoot turned to them.
"Once you reach the final trap — three whistle blasts."
He met Siddhant's eyes.
"No earlier. No later."
Siddhant nodded.
"Understood."
Meira stepped forward.
"Stay calm," she said softly. "Speed without control gets people killed."
For a moment, Avdhoot almost laughed.
Then he turned…
and walked alone toward the roar.
The forest thinned near the cliff region.
Broken earth.
Scorched patches.
Carcasses.
Avdhoot slowed.
Every instinct sharpened.
He drew a slow breath — circulating mana exactly as Professor Kapoor had drilled into them.
Steady.
Guided.
Controlled.
Then he saw it.
The Sky Reaper stood amid ruin, its claws slick with blood not yet dry.
Lightning crawled lazily across its wings.
Wind circled its body like a living shield.
For a heartbeat…
Avdhoot simply watched.
This is what we're challenging.
His fist tightened.
Then—
Three whistles pierced the valley.
Right on time.
Avdhoot's eyes ignited.
Mana surged into his palm.
A fireball formed — compressed, dense, blazing white at the core.
He hurled it.
The explosion struck the creature's eye ridge.
The Sky Reaper jerked.
Roared.
Turned.
Another fireball followed — slamming into its shoulder.
Now it saw him.
Recognition flashed in that burning gaze.
The human.
The one who burned.
The one who ran.
The one who dared return.
Avdhoot smiled.
"Come on then."
The Sky Reaper lunged.
Avdhoot ran.
Not blindly.
Every step had been measured days earlier.
Behind him—
Thunder.
The beast leapt skyward.
Shadow swallowed him.
Instinct screamed.
He dove sideways as talons cratered the earth where he had stood.
The shockwave threw him rolling.
He sprang back up.
Ran again.
Lightning split the air.
Pain exploded across his back as a bolt grazed him, hurling him into a fallen trunk.
The world rang.
For a split second, darkness clawed at his vision.
Move.
Another bolt came.
He ripped a shattered branch free and angled it upward — grounding part of the strike as sparks erupted.
Still alive.
Still moving.
Wind blades screamed toward him next — slicing trees apart like paper.
One carved across his forearm.
Another tore his cloak.
Blood warmed his skin.
Good.
Pain meant he hadn't slowed yet.
He spun mid-stride and launched another fireball.
It struck the beast's tail.
The Sky Reaper shrieked — rage overtaking calculation.
Perfect.
Anger made predators sloppy.
"Follow me," Avdhoot whispered.
The air thickened.
Breathing became heavier — like inhaling water instead of wind.
The creature faltered slightly as spatial gaps narrowed.
Too big.
Too constrained.
Exactly as Tara predicted.
Closer.
Closer.
Now.
The claw came down—
Avdhoot sliced the rope.
A massive timber crashed from above.
Impact.
The beast staggered.
Before it recovered — fire struck its wing joint.
Again.
Again.
Now it roared not in dominance…
but fury.
It charged straight through the trees, snapping trunks with brute force.
Lightning detonated around them.
Wind shredded bark into lethal shrapnel.
Avdhoot vaulted from trunk to trunk — forcing it deeper.
Forcing it toward the pit.
Suddenly—
Silence behind him.
No footfalls.
No thunder.
Gone?
Impossible.
Then lightning obliterated the tree beside him.
He hit the ground hard.
Rolled.
Looked up—
The Sky Reaper descended directly above him.
Too fast.
Too close.
Death filled his vision.
He ripped mana upward and fired point-blank.
The blast struck its face.
He ran again.
Every muscle screamed now.
Vision blurring.
Breath ragged.
Almost there…
The ground shifted.
The disguised pit lay ahead.
Avdhoot vanished into a narrow depression just before reaching it — ducking behind its lip.
The beast thundered forward—
Another fireball slammed into its eye from the flank.
It jerked sideways.
One step too far.
The earth collapsed.
The Sky Reaper fell.
The impact shook the forest.
Its leg snapped with a sickening crack.
It tried to spread its wings—
"NOW!" Priya shouted.
Fire rained downward.
Two affinity orbs ignited in sequence — blazing with layered elemental force.
Priya's attack came last.
A concentrated inferno that devoured one wing entirely.
The smell of burned flesh filled the pit.
Water orbs shattered next — flooding the crater.
"Veer!" Siddhant roared.
Lightning struck the water.
Amplification surged.
The beast convulsed.
Earth magic sealed the edges — stone grinding shut like the jaws of the valley itself.
Still…
it tried to rise.
Still…
it refused.
Avdhoot stepped forward, trembling.
Mana spiraled wildly now — fracture screaming through his channels.
He gathered it anyway.
One final fireball formed.
Unstable.
Violent.
Alive.
"For the lightning," he rasped…
…and hurled it straight into the creature's remaining eye.
White fire consumed its vision.
The Sky Reaper gave one final, broken roar.
Stone collapsed inward.
Darkness swallowed it.
Silence followed.
Then—
Cheers erupted.
Laughter cracked through exhaustion.
Veer slammed into Avdhoot with a hug.
"We did it!"
Avdhoot tried to answer.
Instead—
The world tilted.
Sound faded.
Faces blurred.
He collapsed.
Voices reached him distantly.
Hands caught him before he struck the ground.
Meira shouting.
Priya ordering space cleared.
Veer calling his name.
But the pain receded…
Cold replaced it.
Then nothing.
As consciousness slipped away, one final thought flickered through him—
Everyone lived.
Darkness claimed him.
Far away…
High within the Academy…
A lone figure stood at a window overlooking the distant valley.
Watching.
Smiling.
"This was only the beginning, Avdhoot."
The curtain fell closed.
[End of Chapter 19]