(Nexus Academy Observation Chamber – Control Room, 3rd Hour into Examination)
The chamber hummed softly — arcane devices alive with mana, projecting dozens of dimensional screens into the air. Each screen showed different participants scattered across the four major regions of the artificial rift.
Vice Principal Orien Valek stood in the center, his arms behind his back, eyes slowly shifting across the displays. Calm and expressionless — the gaze of a sovereign whose insight saw beyond surface-level power.
"Status?" he asked without looking.
"2016 participants remaining," an assistant replied. "Main family heirs still active and progressing steadily. Three high-tier anomalies marked for re-evaluation. No breaches. No disqualifications among priority targets."
Orien gave a slight nod.
---
Screen 1: Iron Ruins
Lucas Dragonborne's voice rang out, full of energy and command. With every swing of his morphing weapon, metal shifted form to counter enemy movement — like it was alive. Beside him, Marcus Corvax's dark shadows twisted, elegant and deadly, slashing beasts in complete silence.
"Dragonborne's control over adaptive weaponry is progressing faster than expected," Orien murmured. "He's attuning to the Iron Ruins' magnetic interference better than most veterans. Corvax… less flashy, but precise. Efficient. As expected from the Corvax bloodline."
He turned slightly to Owen.
"Watch for internal conflict. They're powerful, but they're still boys. Egos and pride don't mix well with stress."
---
Screen 2: Ember Wastes
Kaelith Vaelthorne launched into battle against a pack of E-rank beasts. His radiant strikes burst with controlled light, illuminating the red dust of the wastelands. The boy with wind affinity and the violet-haired healer supported from behind.
"Kaelith's blood affinity and light control are finally merging in combat," Orien noted, eyes narrowing. "No wasted movement. He's leading without acting like a leader… interesting dynamic with his team."
The screen flickered as Kaelith severed the lead beast's limbs mid-air, then pivoted and kicked another into a rock wall.
"He's not emotionally closed off like his family's elders. That makes him more of a leader than his predecessors,
---
Screen 3: Verdant Hollow
Ruby Drazmere, surrounded by shattered stone and twisted trees, was locked in a brutal dance with Aria Irelith. Ruby's martial power radiated raw control, her body like a boulder in motion. Aria's sacred flame burned impossibly bright — blue-white, flickering like a living sun.
Then the rumble came. A boss monster's awakening echo.
In unspoken sync, the two girls stopped fighting and turned toward the tremor's source — shoulders tensed, eyes gleaming with adrenaline.
"Hmph. Predictable," Orien said with a faint smile. "They'll always team up in the face of something stronger. Drazmere's ego is grounded in honor. Irelith… in flame."
---
Screen 4: Cryo Spires
Orien's eyes finally fell to the boy moving silently through a snow-laced ruin — white-haired, katana-wielding. Nex. No elemental flares. No chants. No resonance.
And yet — beasts were falling.
Not collapsing. Falling.
Pushed, redirected, flung with surgical efficiency. Their momentum undone in mid-charge.
"And then there's him," Orien murmured.
Professor Owen leaned forward, brows furrowed. "Still believe it's advanced telekinesis?"
"What else could it be?" Orien said coolly. "There are no other categories. , no constructs. We only have affinities. So, he must fit into one. Telekinesis — perhaps a rare strain we haven't classified yet. Mutation, maybe."
Owen hesitated.
"He's fighting like a mathematician."
Orien didn't respond. Instead, he studied Nex's face as the boy paused, breathing calmly after dispatching a beast thrice his size — katana steady, eyes sharp.
He's different, Orien thought. But difference alone does not make a threat. Let's see how long he stays alive.
---
Final Glance
The Vice Principal straightened, folding his hands behind his back once more.
"Keep all main family heirs under Tiered Watch.
The room resumed its calm hum. But something unspoken lingered in the air — as if the emergence of an unknown variable had quietly shifted the balance of expectations.
And Orien Valek — for the first time in hours — allowed himself a thin, fleeting smile.
____________________________________
Floating mana-screens danced in glowing patterns. Professors, assistants, and high-level mages monitored thousands of students battling within the rift.
Vice Principal Orien Valek, Sovereign-ranked and silent as stone, stood centered in the circular hall, arms folded. He watched the future of Nexus Academy unfold across flickering magical panels.
Owen, head assistant, pointed toward a specific quadrant.
> "Another batch cleared the E-rank nest in Cryo Spires. Group of nobodies. 70th percentile on entrance theory. Didn't expect this kind of coordination."
Orien's gaze shifted. The screen zoomed in:
---
[ Team – Cryo Spires]
A trio of students moved together:
Tarin Voss, a lanky boy with frost affinity, was freezing enemies mid-step.
Juno Halwen, nimble twin-daggers user, danced around enemies, targeting weak points with surgical strikes.
Brakk Velm, a bulky brute with stone armor skin, soaked up hits and crushed enemies with brute force.
The trio weren't graceful. They were desperate — blades chipped, spells unstable — but they moved with instinct and grit.
A mutated beast roared toward them.
"Juno, left!"
"Shield up!"
"Go for the eye—"
Blood sprayed the snow as Brakk slammed the beast's skull into a glacier wall, cracking it in two.
"Crude," Orien muttered. "But effective."
---
[ Team – Ember Wastes]
Another screen: a duo sprinted through red dunes, dodging explosions.
Fen Karo, using sand manipulation.
Meela, an unranked girl with enhanced perception — able to predict attacks before they landed.
They weren't powerful. They were sharp. Using terrain, cover, angles.
One beast lunged.
Meela sidestepped without looking. Fen used her movement to launch a sand spike into the creature's gut.
"Strategic cognition," Owen noted. "Low mana, high survival instinct."
"Mark them," Orien ordered. "Survivors with tactical value."
---
[Team – Verdant Hollow]
Five students moved in cautious formation — two injured, one out of mana. But still pressing forward.
Daren Mirth, sword user, shielded the group.
Lysa, a soft-spoken healer, had trembling hands but refused to stop casting.
Beasts circled. The group knew they wouldn't reach the boss zone. Still — they fought.
A massive vine-beast slammed into their side.
Daren took the hit full force, breaking two ribs but remained standing, blade clenched in bloodied hands.
"No heirs. No lineage," Owen said. "But they're still going."
"They fight like they've lost before," Orien said flatly. "That makes them harder to kill."
---
[ Team – Iron Ruins]
One lone student sprinted across rusted terrain — Rek Thorn, gauntlets sparking. No magic. Just tech.
He attached a volatile core to a rust beast's leg, jumped back—
BOOM.
The explosion rocked the terrain, giving Rek just enough time to disable two more with nothing but scavenged tools and modified weapons.
"He's crafting in the middle of battle?"
"He's improvising using relic junk," a professor murmured.
"Very well," Orien said. "Keep him under observation. If he survives, send him to Engineering Wing."
---
Remarks!
Orien turned away from the screens, his voice calm but resolute.
"Heirs aren't the only ones worthy of cultivation. Talent comes in many faces — fear, resolve, genius, and madness."
The professors nodded. Quietly.
The heirs had power.
But these others — they had everything to prove.
And the rift would reveal them all.