The Anomaly's Path

Up in the main commentary box, the floating speakers crackled before a loud voice broke the heavy silence over the stadium.

”Sixty seconds left on the clock!” Cynthia’s voice echoed across the big stands, full of her usual excitement, though even she sounded surprised. She tossed her long purple hair back, leaning over the rail, her loose coat flapping.

”The Primus, Leo von Celestial, is still standing after taking a beating from the academy’s best first-years! His uniform is torn, his blood is on the ground, but look at his face — he is still smiling! Can he survive the final minute, or will the first-year monsters bury him right here?!”

The crowd of thousands burst into a loud roar, the noise shaking the stone walls of the stadium.

High above the chaos, standing on the white stone of the Student Council balcony, Elian leaned lazily against the marble railing. The Grandmaster prince had his usual charming smile on his face, but his eyes were sharp, watching the fight below.

”My, my... your little brother really knows how to cause a scene, Sylvia,” Elian chuckled, tossing a glance toward the girl beside him. ”He’s completely reckless. Fighting eight of them at once? Even for a Celestial, that’s just pure insanity.”

Sylvia didn’t answer him immediately. Her arms were tightly crossed over her uniform, her fingers digging into her sleeves so hard her knuckles were white. Her strict, disciplined face was a mask of cold fury, but underneath, her heart was hammering against her ribs.

She had recently broken through to Master Low, cementing herself as one of the academy’s legends, but watching her idiot younger brother get thrown into a stone wall made her want to leap down there and tear the arena apart herself.

”He’s an idiot,” Sylvia muttered, her voice sharp enough to cut glass. ”A complete, reckless idiot. When will he stop doing such things.”

”He will not die here,” a quiet voice said from behind them.

Sylvia looked back. Seris stood there, her crimson eyes fixed on the boy in the center of the ring. After her own fight with Arthur earlier, she had come back to the stands, only to watch Leo take on the whole arena.

She carried herself with her usual quiet silence, watching with steady focus. She knew Leo was reckless — after all, she had to stab him just to stop him from exploding. But even so, she knew he would not lose.

_

Down on the ring, the reality of the sixty seconds was pure hell.

00:59.

”Clear the path!” Arthur yelled, his gold light flaring with a bright, blinding shine. He was not holding back anymore. He stepped forward, his broadsword raised high as he used his Light and Sword affinities together.

Dawnbreaker’s Path: Second Form — Lightfall!

The air grew hot as a wave of light burst from the steel, blasting the sand and turning the ground into a blinding glare that stung Leo’s eyes. The wave carved a deep, glowing trench straight through the arena floor, throwing up hot grit as it raced outward toward him.

At the same time, Roan moved like a silver ghost from the right side, his wild grin wide as his crystal spear became a blur.

Celestial Spear Arts: Second Form — Starfall!

Roan’s spear spun fast, compressing the air until it burst outward, sending shockwaves tearing through the arena. The violent force kicked up a spiral of jagged stone fragments, turning the space ahead into a shredding vortex of wind and gravel, aimed straight at Leo’s guard.

They were not the only ones. Riven moved through Arthur’s shadow, his dual daggers dripping with dark power as he used his family’s style.

Ashford Shadow Style: First Form — Shadow Bind!

Thin, sharp lines of solid darkness slithered across the sand, snapping up like chains to wrap around Leo’s ankles. The shadow power climbed up his shins, hardening like cold stone to hold him in place.

Above them, Cordelia’s Sovereign Wind pushed down again.

Sovereign Grace: Third Form — Grand Press!

An invisible, heavy weight dropped from above, pressing down on the air around Leo and trying to flatten him into the stone floor. The sudden force smashed the dust cloud flat against the earth, making the heavy stones under Leo’s boots groan and crack under the weight.

Leo was completely trapped. The sheer number of attacks left him no room to escape.

”Come on!” Leo yelled, his voice flat, rough, and empty of fear.

He did not pull back.

He gripped his sword with both hands, the dark steel catching the bright light of Arthur’s attack. He did not have a clean defense for a three-way attack, so he forced his body to break past its limits. His body had finally learned their rhythm, and his brain worked out the exact timing of their moves.

Black lightning and Soul Flame burst around his boots, breaking through Cordelia’s wind pressure.

Volt Step — Spatial Slip!

Leo did not dodge backward.

He moved right into the center of the attacks. He twisted his body at a sharp angle, letting Arthur’s Lightfall wave pass close to his shoulder, the heat burning his skin through his torn uniform. As time blurred, Roan’s spear thrust straight for his chest.

Leo swung Tempest upward in a hard, desperate parry.

Clang!

The dark steel hit the crystal tip, and the force of Roan’s Starfall burst right between them.

The shockwave shook through Leo’s broken ribs, a gasp of blood leaving his lips, but he did not let go of his sword. Instead of flying back, he used the force to spin on his heel, using the flat of his blade to hit Roan’s spear shaft to the side, breaking the elf’s balance.

”What?!” Roan laughed through his shock, his storm-silver eyes wide as his feet slid across the sand.

Before Roan could recover, Nyra lunged through the smoke, her claws aiming for Leo’s face.

Silverfang Feral Style: Second Form — Twin Shred!

Her arms crossed in a hard motion, carving a fierce cross-slash of force through the air that ripped the wind apart. The attack screamed with a sharp, tearing sound, throwing off jagged arcs of mana that sliced lines into the dirt before the strike even landed.

Leo did not block this time. His left hand, covered in black lightning, shot out like a snake.

He caught Nyra by the throat mid-air, taking the hit as her claws cut a fresh gash across his arm. With a low growl, Leo slammed his weight forward, sending a strong lightning pulse into her chest and driving the beastkin girl straight down into the dirt with a heavy

Thud!

00:24.

”Ashford, step back!” Alice Scarlet’s voice boomed. She came rushing in from the dust cloud, her massive longsword swinging in a wide, heavy arc.

Blade of Ruin Style: First Form — Mountain Cleaver!

Alice’s massive blade swung down with terrifying weight, unleashing a blast of raw power that shattered the earth and pushed everything back.

The force behind her swing was brutal, meant to break any weapon that tried to block it. The air moved so violently that it pulled loose stones along the blade’s path, splitting the dirt like an approaching wave.

Beside her, Riven recovered quickly. Instead of attacking from the front, he vanished into the dust Alice had kicked up.

Leo was breathing hard, his vision blurry with dark spots as the strain on his senses threatened to knock him out. His left arm was shaking, blood dripping from his fingers onto the dark handle of his sword.

Just a little more, he thought, his eyes bloodshot and locked on the incoming blades. Push it.

He used his Soul Flame to its fullest along his sword’s edge, the black flames hissing with quiet hunger. He stepped into the path of Alice’s longsword, swinging his sword in a hard, diagonal clash.

Screech—!

The two big blades ground against each other, a shower of red and black sparks lighting up the area.

Alice’s raw strength was huge, pushing Leo’s knees toward the ground, but Leo did not try to win a test of power. He twisted his wrist, letting the Soul Flame eat the mana holding Alice’s grip, making her heavy sword slide off course.

As her blade swung wide, Leo drove his shoulder hard into her chest, sending her stumbling back into Marius, who was rushing up to cover her side.

But Riven was already behind him. The shadow daggers were inches from his back.

Without looking, Leo used a quick burst of his Flash Instinct, turning his head just enough to let the dagger graze his cheek. He brought the heavy iron handle of his sword backward, hitting Riven’s nose with a sickening sound.

Crack.

Riven stumbled back, holding his face as blood poured between his fingers.

00:10.

The arena was chaos.

The remaining first-years were breathing hard, their faces covered in sweat and dirt, looking at the white-haired bastard who refused to fall. He was beaten, his body was broken, but the dark sword in his hand stayed steady.

”Arthur! Roan!” Cordelia yelled, her hands shaking as she tried to gather her remaining wind power. ”He is reaching his limit! Finish it!”

Arthur and Roan both knew there were only seconds left on the clock. Their mana reservoirs were low after five minutes of relentless combat, but they poured every single drop of their remaining mana into their weapons.

Arthur raised his heavy broadsword, his Sword power mixing flawlessly with his blade as it lit up with a bright, focused light that looked like a small sun.

Beside him, Roan’s storm-silver eyes burned with sheer excitement. True to his stubborn pride, the elven prince refused to touch his Time affinity, instead pushing his mana into his crystal spear. The tip hummed with dense, sharp power as he drove it toward Leo’s chest.

They rushed forward from opposite sides, closing the gap fast to crush him under the weight of their combined strength.

Leo stood his ground, breathing hard, his chest heaving as his fingers locked tight against his sword. He was very low on mana, the pain in his core sending cold spikes through his body. He did not try to run. He did not try to use any fancy moves.

Instead, he grit his teeth and forced the last drops of his mana to rise.

Black lightning burst from his boots, mixing with a fierce burst of his Soul Flame along Tempest’s dark steel. The two affinities hissed angrily, shaking the blade under the hard pressure as he got ready to face their combined attack head-on.

00:03.

00:02.

”LEO!” Sylvia’s voice screamed from the Student Council balcony, lost in the loud roar of the final clash.

The bright light of Arthur’s blade and the heavy weight of Roan’s spear hit Leo’s guard at the same time.

The big clash made a blinding burst of sparks and dust that swallowed the center of the ring. A huge cloud of grey smoke, gold pieces, and black embers shot high into the air, hiding everything in sight.

00:00.

The heavy hum of the arena clock fell completely silent.

The stadium was dead quiet, thousands of people leaning forward in their seats, staring into the thick cloud of dust to see who was left standing inside the ring.