The announcement was broadcast at exactly 6:00 a.m.
Every surviving magic device in Japan activated at once.
Not just phones and watches this time.
Public mana towers. Emergency crystals embedded in cities. Ancient relic networks used only during national disasters.
A single system message spread across the entire country.
All Educational Institutions Terminated.
Japan Emergency Council Decree.
Effective Immediately.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Students across the country were waking up, checking their devices, rereading the message again and again as if it would change.
At Tengen High, what remained of it, the message echoed through the broken halls like a funeral bell.
Hiko stood in the dorm hallway, surrounded by half-packed bags and students speaking in low voices.
"…Removed?" Daizen muttered. "All schools?"
Kaiser stared at his watch.
"So… we're just done? No more academies?"
Goru leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
"It makes sense. Schools gather people in one place. Tengen proved that's suicide now."
A second message appeared.
Strong Sorcerers: Assigned to Master Groups.
Weaker Sorcerers: Assigned to Rank 0 to Rank 4 Units.
Each Master Rank will command their own independent division.
The world was no longer in education mode.
It was in survival mode.
At the Japan Emergency Council Headquarters, the situation was worse than the public knew.
Mana readings across the country had increased by more than eight times.
Beast emergence rates had exploded.
Areas that used to see one Grade 2 beast per week were now seeing dozens per day.
Grade 1s were appearing casually.
Rank 0 beasts were no longer rare.
And somewhere out there…
An Absolute Rank existed.
Japan was officially reclassified.
Global Threat Index: Death Country.
The first nation in history to receive that label.
Back at the evacuation zone near Tengen High, a massive teleportation field opened.
One by one, Master Ranks began arriving.
Gold Prasso.
Zephyr Qe Ming.
Hero Vetro.
Tartarus Redd.
Feril was gone.
Jinkaru was gone.
Muscle XZeno was still stationed at the prison.
Rougen stood at the center, overseeing everything.
But another presence arrived shortly after.
A large mechanical silhouette descended from the sky, landing with a controlled impact.
Yogan's mech.
The moment it touched the ground, dozens of students turned their heads.
Hiko felt it immediately.
That pressure.
Not hostile.
But overwhelming.
The hatch opened.
Yogan stepped out slowly.
His mech armor unfolded around him like a second skeleton, layered with dense inferno mana.
He looked at the gathered students.
"Those whose names are called will step forward."
A holographic list appeared in the air.
Elite-level potential detected.
Hiko Shinoegami.
Goru Orasu.
Daizen.
Kaiser Touya.
The four of them exchanged glances.
"…Together again," Kaiser said quietly.
They stepped forward.
Yogan observed them for a moment.
"You are now part of my Master Group."
Around them, other students were being assigned to different Masters.
Some cried in relief.
Some cried in fear.
Some were shaking because they knew exactly what this meant.
Master Groups were not training squads.
They were frontline units.
Yogan spoke again.
"From this moment onward, you are not students. You are combat sorcerers. You will live with your group. Train with your group. Fight with your group."
Daizen swallowed.
"…And if we fail?"
Yogan answered calmly.
"Then you die."
No one argued.
They were transported to Yogan's operational zone.
Not a base.
A mobile fortress.
A massive floating structure built from layered mana alloys and dimensional stabilizers.
Inside, everything was minimal.
No decorations.
No comfort.
Only training halls, medical chambers, armories, and tactical rooms.
Yogan led them into a massive circular arena.
"First exercise," he said. "Live combat."
The floor shifted.
Portals opened.
Three Rank 1 beasts emerged.
A Thunder Spine Serpent.
A Twin-Clawed Gorewolf.
A Crystal Horn Leviathan.
The pressure alone made Kaiser's breath tighten.
"…Three at once?" he muttered.
Yogan turned his back.
"You will handle them."
The beasts roared.
The fight was immediate chaos.
The serpent struck first, lightning tearing through the air.
Goru warped space, pulling Daizen out of the strike zone by centimeters.
Daizen slammed his fists into the ground, raising massive earth pillars to block the Gorewolf.
Hiko charged straight at the Leviathan, cursed flames spiraling around his arms.
The impact cracked the arena floor.
Kaiser flipped his coin mid-fight.
Heads.
His movements sharpened instantly.
He dodged a lightning strike that should have killed him.
"Okay," Kaiser said under his breath. "Yeah, this is bad."
The Gorewolf broke through Daizen's defense and sent him crashing into a wall.
Hiko intercepted, flames colliding with crystal horns.
The explosion of mana shook the fortress.
The serpent wrapped around Goru, lightning burning across dimensional barriers.
Goru forced space itself to twist, barely escaping.
They were winning.
But barely.
By the time the last beast fell, all four of them were on their knees.
Breathing hard.
Bleeding.
Kaiser laughed weakly.
"…Rank 1 used to be endgame for us."
Daizen wiped blood from his mouth.
"Now it's just warm-up."
Yogan finally turned back toward them.
"This is the new normal."
Outside the fortress, Japan was collapsing.
Cities were being evacuated daily.
Entire regions were being abandoned.
Beast outbreaks were classified by the hour.
Some areas were simply marked.
Do Not Enter. No Survivors.
The media stopped counting casualties.
The number no longer mattered.
Disasters became routine.
Dimensional storms.
Mana quakes.
Time distortions.
Entire neighborhoods vanishing overnight.
Humanity was no longer fighting to grow.
It was fighting to not go extinct.
Inside the fortress, training became brutal.
No rest days.
No safety limits.
They fought Rank 1s until their bodies adapted.
Then Semi Rank 0s.
Then multiple enemies at once.
Hiko learned to maintain cursed flames even while exhausted.
Goru refined dimensional control under pressure.
Daizen's earth magic evolved into layered constructs.
Kaiser's luck stopped being random and started feeling intentional.
Weeks passed.
The world outside kept getting worse.
Japan was no longer just a country.
It was a battlefield.
And the Master Groups…
Were the last line between humanity and annihilation.