The Anomaly's Path

[Leo’s POV]

How much longer, Nova? I yelled inside, pushing my weight against Seris to keep myself up as another wave of numb pain tried to pull me under.

[The core is still unstable, Host. You must keep this up for at least two more minutes to let your core settle. Do not let the numbness take you.]

Seris did not wait long.

Her eyes hardened, her shock gone behind her usual blank mask. She grabbed my wrist with a tight grip, and a wave of cold, silver power burst from her body — the pure energy of the Moon Goddess’s blessing hit my chest.

Boom!

The force of her blast threw me back, my feet sliding across the ice. The hit shook my broken ribs, but the inside was worse. A huge pain flared in my chest. It was not the heat of a normal fire — this felt like a thousand burning suns tearing through my soul at once.

My bloodline was working at a scary, fast speed. It was tearing down my own muscles and using my strength to force a sudden change against the Soul Flame, trapping me in a sick loop of being torn apart and stitched back together.

”...Damn it!” I said, spitting another dark glob of blood onto the frost. A wild, bloody grin spread across my face as the rush finally began to push back against the flame’s emptiness. ”Again!”

I gripped my sword tightly, the steel covered in the hungry fire.

Even as we stood apart, my core acted like a black hole, pulling in every stray bit of power and leftover frost from the square. This big rush of raw energy went through my thin mana channels like hot lead, making the weak paths crack and break under the pressure.

I rushed forward, dropping all fancy moves and using only raw sword skill. I swung my blade in a hard, heavy arc meant to break her guard.

Seris drew her sword in a fast, smooth motion.

Clang! Clang!

Our blades hit with a loud, metal screech that sent hard shakes up my arms, rattling my teeth. I pushed forward, driving my weight into her defense. Space bent around our grinding edges as I forced her back.

We were so close that the cold smell of her power filled my senses, and I could feel her warm breath on my neck. For a second, our eyes locked in a frozen moment, the silent black fire licking at the space between us.

But she broke the lock, her blade sliding down mine with a shower of sparks.

She blocked my next strikes with fast speed, her moves smooth but deadly. But I could see it in the way her blade slowed — she was holding back. She was not pushing forward to hit back or aiming for my weak spots.

She was still treating me like a student.

”I told you to stop holding back!” I yelled, my voice rough and echoing through the silent yard. I clenched my jaw, my knuckles white as I pushed my leaking power into the steel, forcing her back a step with pure force. ”Look at me! damn it! If you do not fight me for real, there will be nothing left of me to save!”

My vision did not just go blurry; it started to tear at the edges.

Every time I swung my sword, a piece of my mind fell into the void. It was a scary, hollow feeling. The faces of people I knew were slipping away, turning into blank shadows. The Soul Flame was a starving beast, and it was eating through my memory to keep its fire hot.

Beside me, the air tore open.

Spatial Slip.

I vanished from the spot, appearing directly above Seris. I brought Tempest down with both hands, the steel screaming as black lightning wrapped around the dark fire.

Clang!

Seris met the blow at once, her feet locked on the cracked ice.

The hit sent a sharp shockwave that broke the frost under our boots. The silver glow of the Moon Goddess flared around her blade like a shield, but the moment our weapons locked, my Soul Flame went to work.

It started to hiss, eating through her defense, turning her power into nothing.

She did not answer with words. Her eyes narrowed, a cold sharpness replacing her calm face. With a fast burst of speed, she pushed my blade outward, breaking my balance. Before I could move through space again, her boot hit my broken chest.

Crack.

The strike broke the newly healed bone, sending a flash of white pain through my body. The hit sent me flying back, my bare feet cutting deep into the white frost before I crashed hard against a broken pillar.

[Leo,] Nova’s voice cut through the haze. [Your bloodline is working too hard. Just endure it a bit more...]

The pain was a living monster inside me, a hot, white feeling that made every nerve scream.

But I welcomed it. I needed it. It was the only thing keeping my mind from turning into gray smoke. My body was adapting on the fly, forced to rebuild itself while it was destroying itself.

The dark flames around my chest were growing taller now, eating the light in the yard, pulling the loose frost toward me like a vacuum.

”One more strike, Seris,” I whispered, my voice dropping to a hollow, empty echo. ”Put me down... or I lose everything.”

I lunged forward in a straight, desperate thrust aimed at her throat. Our swords met in a final, huge clash. The force of the hit ground our blades together in a shower of white and black sparks, the heat burning the air between our faces.

Seris stood her ground. Her speed was fast and smooth.

Side-step. Parry. Thrust.

With a sharp clang, she pushed my sword just enough to clear her shoulder. The flames on my blade grazed her uniform, eating the fabric away, but her counter-attack was already done.

A heavy, wet sound broke the silence. The force of my own dash carried me right into it. Her shining silver blade went straight through the middle of my bare chest, the tip coming out through my back.

_

Outside the Courtyard...

Down in the main halls and the side areas of the frozen palace, the chaos had reached its peak.

The air was a heavy mix of biting frost, blinding light, and thick magical pressure. The danger did not just come from the endless waves of guardian monsters.

The tournament rules made the student teams fight each other.

To win, they needed to take the high-grade cores from the beasts they killed, turning the frozen palace into a ruthless fight where every team was trying to kill the monsters — and steal from their rivals.

”Die, you pieces of trash!” Alice Scarlet screamed. Her Reave power flared like a blood-red sun as she swung her longsword. She cut through a group of charging ice titans, shattering them into pieces while also forcing Caster to dive behind his reinforced barriers.

”Ah! My defenses!” Caster panicked, his voice cracking as he hid behind a cracking wall of earth, his heavy hammer shaking in his grip.

”Hey! Watch where you are swinging that thing, short-temper!” Roan Sol-Valis shouted. He spun his long spear in a fast blur, blocking a stray ice shard before casually deflecting a gust of wind magic sent by Princess Cordelia.

Cordelia clicked her tongue, her Sovereign Wind armor swirling around her as she kept her stance. Beside her, Julia Moss gasped, her danger sense flaring as she put up a bubble of spatial pressure to block a wave of arrows from Lucia Jane of Team Arthur.

Roan’s eyes moved across the broken battlefield, his easy grin replaced by an annoyed scowl. ”Tsk. Where did he go? Leo!”

”He is gone, Roan,” Riven Ashford hissed, stepping out of the shadows near a broken pillar. His two daggers dripped with dark mist as he traded fast slashes with Arthur Vale.

”The bastard used space affinity to get past the whole crowd. He and that girl with him took a shortcut straight to the boss room while we were all busy fighting each other for the small cores!”

The battlefield was a mess of clashing powers. Team Arthur and Team Elisabeth were locked in a hard fight. Near the frozen archways, Amelia stood with Arthur, her water magic flowing in strong currents to block a wave of blood spears from Elisabeth.

”Out of the way, chosen boy,” Elisabeth said coldly, her deep violet eyes focused as she moved the blood to pressure Arthur’s side.

On the other side of the hall, Nyra moved like a silver blur, her wolf instincts letting her dodge a heavy axe swing from Gareth Ironwood. She lunged forward with beastly speed, her claws flashing with power as she tore through a gargoyle’s chest, grabbing its glowing core before Marius could take it.

”Secure the area!” Damon Cross yelled, planting his feet in the white frost.

He raised his heavy shield, a loud boom echoing through the hall as he blocked a hard spear thrust from Roland. Behind him, Sera Vex pulled her bowstring to its limit, letting fly a fast arrow that forced Roland to step back.

Every team was pushing forward with desperate, violent speed. With the two-hour clock running out, they were fighting each other, stealing kills, and cursing Leo’s name for getting ahead of them.

But then, the whole world shook.

Boom!

A big, unseen shockwave tore through the palace walls, breaking the tall ice lights above. The frozen sky over the ruined cathedral cracked open, and the heavy pressure of the Master High boss suddenly vanished.

”The boss...” Arthur Vale’s eyes widened, his sword glowing with golden light slowing as he stepped back from Riven’s guard. ”It is dead? The Gate is cleared?”

”No way,” Alice growled, her knuckles white on her sword as she lowered her stance, her amber eyes moving from Caster to Elisabeth. ”Who could have done that? Leo?”

Before anyone could answer, a strange, scary sound came from behind the big, frozen archway leading to the inner yard.

It was not the loud cry of a hunter or the final sound of a monster. It was a deep, empty, hollow sound — followed by the sharp crackle of lightning. The light in the hall began to bend, pulling toward the back room like water down a drain.

”Something is very wrong...,” Roan said. His playful look was gone, replaced by a deadly, focused stare. ”That is not a boss clear. That... that feels like a space collapse.”

Without waiting for his team, Roan ran forward, his boots tearing through the thick ice as he jumped over the smoking rubble.

Alice, Riven, Arthur, Elisabeth, and the rest of the rival teams moved right behind him. They dropped their fight against the remaining small monsters and stopped their own battle, pulled by a sudden, cold fear as they rushed the final archway to break down the inner doors.