The second week of training under Seraphina was a blur of localized agony and sudden, crystalline moments of clarity. Kaito had moved past the stage of constant bruising; his body was beginning to adapt to the "Weight of Steel." Even with the Mana-dampening field active, he was learning to move his limbs with the fluid economy of a predator.
But it wasn't just his martial arts that were evolving. Under the surface, the SSS-Rank System was performing a silent calibration.
[System Notification: Martial Intuition Level 1 → Level 3]
[Passive Evolution: Physical stat efficiency increased by 5%. Your body now utilizes 100% of your Strength (680) without straining the muscle fibers.]
Kaito stood in Training Hall Zero, dripping with sweat, his eyes focused on Seraphina. Today, the dampener was off. The air was thick with the scent of ozone as they sparred with live Mana.
"Don't just use your Agility to move," Seraphina commanded, her silver rapier dancing in a blur of parries. "Use it to perceive. At B-Rank, you should be able to see the vibration in the air before I even lunge."
Kaito nodded, his Intelligence (740) processing the minute shifts in the room's pressure. He didn't blink. Instead, he channeled a tiny fraction of Space-element mana into his feet.
Whoosh.
He didn't teleport; he simply slid across the floor, appearing at Seraphina's flank. He swung his training sword, but she parried it with a flick of her wrist, her emerald eyes glowing with a faint, dangerous light.
"Better," she whispered. "But your aura is leaking. You're like a lighthouse in a storm. If I can feel your mana surge, an assassin can feel it from three floors away."
Suddenly, Seraphina froze. Her head tilted slightly toward the reinforced doors of the training hall. Kaito felt it a second later—a cold, oily sensation that pricked at his skin. It wasn't the heavy, honest pressure of a High-Rank Hunter. It was something thinner, sharper.
"Luna, out," Kaito whispered.
The Celestial Fox materialized, her fur immediately bristling. She let out a low, guttural growl, her five tails fanning out like a defensive wall.
"You felt it too," Seraphina said, her voice dropping to a deadly calm. She didn't put away her rapier. "Stay here. Don't deactivate your shield."
"Seraphina, wait—"
But she was already gone, a streak of crimson light vanishing through the doors.
Outside in the vaulted corridors of the Academy's underground level, the air felt unnaturally still. The flickering magi-lights cast long, distorted shadows. Seraphina moved with the silence of a ghost, her senses spread out like a web.
She found it near the ventilation shaft of the Rift Research Wing. A figure dressed in the standard gray robes of an Academy maintenance worker was kneeling by a mana-conduit. But as she drew closer, she saw the truth. The worker's shadow wasn't attached to his feet; it was stretching toward the conduit, thin black tendrils probing the machinery.
"The Eclipse Order has very poor taste in disguises," Seraphina said, her voice cutting through the silence like a blade.
The figure stiffened. He turned slowly, revealing a face that was perfectly average—the kind of face you'd forget the moment you looked away. But his eyes were different. They were solid black, void of any iris or pupil.
"The Crimson Valkyrie," the man hissed, his voice sounding like two stones grinding together. "You are protecting the Anomaly. Waste of talent. He belongs to the Void."
"He belongs to me," Seraphina countered, her rapier igniting with a brilliant, white-hot mana. "And you're trespassing."
The infiltrator didn't draw a weapon. Instead, his entire body began to liquefy into a puddle of living shadow.
"The Order sees all, Seraphina. The boy cleared the Sixth Floor. The balance must be restored."
A surge of dark energy erupted from the shadow-puddle, lashing out at the mana-conduit. He wasn't trying to fight her; he was trying to sabotage the Academy's Rift-containment system. If the conduits blew, the Great Rift would bleed into the city.
Seraphina lunged, her blade carving a path through the darkness, but the shadow-man was like smoke.
"Kaito! Get out of the hall!" she screamed into her comm-link. "Initiate Lockdown Code Red!"
Back in Hall Zero, Kaito heard the alarm—a deep, resonant bell that signaled a Tier-1 breach.
"Luna, Starfall—wait, no," Kaito corrected himself. "The ceiling is reinforced. If I use Starfall here, I'll bury us."
He looked at the Unidentified Egg on the bench. It was vibrating so hard the bench was rattling. The crimson glow was now a blinding, rhythmic pulse.
[System Warning: Environmental Mana Instability Detected]
[The Unidentified Egg is reacting to the Void Energy in the building!]
[Synchronization: 22% ... 25% ... 30%!]
Kaito realized what was happening. The infiltrator was using Void energy, and the Egg—whatever was inside it—was a natural predator of that energy. It was trying to hatch early to feed.
"No, you don't," Kaito growled, grabbing the egg and shoving it into his system-stabilized bag. "I decide when you come out."
He ran toward the doors, but they were locked tight by the Academy's automated security. He looked at the thick, Mana-reinforced steel. At his current Strength, he might be able to dent it, but he couldn't break it.
"Luna, Dimensional Blink doesn't work through reinforced lead," Kaito muttered, his mind racing. "But... what if we blink the space inside the lock?"
He focused his Intelligence (740) on the lock's internal mechanism. He didn't try to break the door; he tried to swap the position of the locking pin with the air outside the door. It was a high-level Space-manipulation feat he hadn't tried before.
[Skill Evolution Attempt: Space Warp → Spatial Displacement]
[Mana Cost: 800]
[Success Rate: 45%]
"Do it!"
Pop.
The lock vanished, reappearing on the floor ten feet away. The doors swung open. Kaito sprinted into the hallway, Luna at his side. He followed the trail of scorched mana and freezing darkness.
He rounded the corner to see Seraphina struggling to contain a massive, undulating mass of shadow that was threatening to consume the Rift conduits. She was fast, but the shadow was everywhere.
"Kaito! Stay back!" she yelled, her face pale with effort. "This is Void-Erosion! If it touches you, it'll eat your Mana pathways!"
Kaito didn't stay back. He looked at the shadow mass, and then he looked at the Void-Slayer Katana icon in his inventory. It was still greyed out, but the 'Sealed' status was flickering.
"Luna! Give me everything you've got! Celestial Shield: Inverse Polarize!"
Instead of a dome, Luna focused her shield into a piercing beam of starlight. It struck the shadow mass, creating a momentary gap.
Kaito lunged into the gap. He didn't use a wooden sword. He reached into the System and pulled.
[Requirement Check: B-Rank Rank Met]
[Requirement Check: Void Presence Detected]
[Temporary Seal Release: 5 Seconds]
The Void-Slayer Katana materialized in his hand. It was a beautiful, terrifying thing—a blade of pure obsidian that seemed to drink the very air around it. The moment Kaito gripped the hilt, his Mana pool plummeted.
[Mana: 3,200 → 1,200]
He swung.
He didn't hit the shadow-man. He hit the concept of the shadow. The 'Gravity Rend' ability activated, creating a localized black hole that sucked the Void-Erosion into the blade itself.
The shadow-man let out a final, agonizing shriek before being inhaled into the katana. The silence that followed was deafening.
Kaito collapsed, the katana vanishing as the seal slammed shut again. His hands were shaking, and his Mana core felt like it had been scraped clean with a wire brush.
Seraphina ran to him, falling to her knees and catching him before he hit the floor. Her emerald eyes were wide with shock, fear, and a newfound, intense respect.
"You... you drew it," she whispered, her hands hovering over his face. "You absolute idiot. You could have been erased from existence."
Kaito looked up at her, a weak grin on his face. "Had to... protect my teacher. Right?"
Seraphina stared at him for a long moment. Then, slowly, she pulled him into a fierce, tight hug. Kaito could feel her heart racing against his chest.
"You're a disaster, Kaito Yamada," she breathed into his hair. "But you're my disaster."
Above them, the lights stabilized. The infiltrator was gone, but the message was clear: The Eclipse Order knew where he was. The peace of the Academy was over.
Kaito Yamada
Level: 30 (B-Rank Initial)
New Skill Unlocked: [Spatial Displacement] (Can move small objects through space without physical contact).
Equipment Note: Void-Slayer Katana (Temporary unlock successful. Soul-Sync increased to 5%).
Status: Mana Depletion (Extreme).
Celestial Fox (Luna)
Progress: Luna's Starlight beam has evolved her affinity toward 'Holy-Celestial' energy.
The Unidentified Egg
Synchronization: 30.1%
Condition: "Agitated." The proximity to Void energy has accelerated its growth.