❖ [ Return Gate – Academy Grounds]
The air split with a deafening hum as the emergency transportation spell completed.
Golden light rippled across the summoning dais in the open-air arena of the academy.
A crowd had already gathered — instructors, assistants, students, the Vice Principal, and Orien Valek himself, all present.
"They're coming through," an assistant called, sweat on her brow.
Ten bodies dropped onto the stone circle—
Slumped, groaning, some barely conscious.
Each was bleeding, burned, and broken—crushed armor, shattered weapons.
Gasps erupted.
But one figure stood among them.
Barely.
He was swaying.
His uniform was unrecognizable — torn open, slashed, melted.
His white hair, now dyed a vivid, glistening crimson, clung to his scalp in soaked curls, still dripping with fresh blood.
One of his eyes swollen, lips cracked.
His katana was gone, replaced by a half-melted sheath strapped to his back, twitching with unstable mana.
Nex.
He blinked, just once, then collapsed to his knees.
The crowd froze.
"...That's Nex ," someone whispered.
"What the hell happened in there...?"
Lucas, still recovering, turned pale.
Aria's flame flickered uncontrollably.
Kaelith's hand gripped his blade.
Marcus' shadow curled upward, agitated.
Ruby's jaw clenched.
"Wait... where are the other survivors?" Ruby asked.
"We were only fighting monsters... not bosses..."
A heavy silence dropped like an avalanche.
Orien Valek stepped forward, the Sovereign's eyes narrowing.
"He was in the Cryo Spire," Orien muttered.
"But... that chamber was unstable."
He glanced at the unconscious students.
All of them bore marks of high-level monster damage.
Not D-grade.
Not even E.
These wounds were from C-Rank beasts. Boss-level threats.
But there were no boss signatures left.
None.
No one knew.
That Nex had been trapped in the core.
That he had evaded, manipulated, and survived against four rampaging bosses, using nothing but wit, vector manipulation, and pure desperation.
And no one knew that the blood still dripping down his hair…
…wasn't all his.
____________________________________
(main cast pov)
: The Rift — Emergency Extraction
The sky above the Nexus Academy shimmered, fractured like glass under divine pressure.
A sudden rupture of space and light tore open, and the Emergency Rift Protocol activated with a deafening hum.
One by one, students were spat out from the collapsing rift—some conscious, others barely clinging to life. They tumbled onto the glowing platform, steam and mana sizzling in the air, robes torn, blood streaked, eyes wide with the trauma of what they'd just survived.
This wasn't how the entrance trial was supposed to end.
Among the fresh-faced applicants, Aria Irelith, Ruby Drazmere, Lucas Dragonborne, Kaelith Vaelthorne, and Marcus Corvax had barely gotten their bearings before being forcefully transported.
Now they stood at the edge of the extraction platform, still shaken. Behind them, a few scattered students huddled or slumped over, coughing or weeping.
And then…
A final surge tore through the air.
Out of the rift came one more figure—a boy flung like a discarded puppet, skidding across the marble floor.
He didn't rise immediately.
Steam hissed around him, fogging the view. Blood soaked his clothes—too much blood. It dripped from his curly white hair, matted and streaked with something dark, his arms limp, bones showing through torn sleeves. The mana in the air bent slightly around him—not strong, but warped. Violent. Controlled.
Gasps echoed.
"He's— Is he still breathing?!"
A medic rushed forward, stopped halfway, stunned.
The boy moved. He didn't stand—he clawed himself upward, legs shaking, back hunched, eyes wild and dull at once. His body screamed of pain, but his gaze…
His gaze was silent rage, veiled behind exhaustion.
The main cast instinctively took a step forward… then froze.
"…No way…" Aria murmured, blinking hard.
"Do we know him?" Ruby asked, frowning.
"He's… familiar," Kaelith said softly, the usual confidence gone from his voice.
Lucas squinted. "That hair… those eyes…"
It was like a memory from another life.
A banquet hall. A bright day when they were seven. A girl named Elaria Calder, smiling beside Liora Silvercrest.
And Elaria laughing, telling them—
"You'd love him! He's like a tiny bear, all curls and sleepy eyes. I call him Angel-Bear!"
They'd met her. Many times.
First at family gatherings. Then again last year, during early academy orientation. She and Liora, both second-years, were inseparable and Elaria though not from the six main family,
her father was very well known among the families for producing mana forged weapons and well known among main families for her talent beside Liora Silvercrest.
But her younger brother? He was a myth. A name only.
They'd never seen him. Not once.
Until now.
The boy staggered fully upright—barely—and began to walk.
Slowly. Like a man who'd just survived a battlefield.
No. Like one who'd been left behind on purpose.
His blood trailed with each step. The crowd parted. Instructors whispered. One senior staff member cursed under their breath.
"…That's… Nex Calder?" someone asked, stunned.
The main cast stared, the name ringing like a cracked bell.
It couldn't be.
That was Elaria's little brother?
But the face… the curls… the pale hair—now darkened by streaks of red—it was him.
"I… I thought she was exaggerating," Ruby whispered.
" sis Elaria talked about him like he was some quiet little fluffball," Lucas muttered. "Not—this."
Aria's throat tightened. "She never even brought him up during last year's meet,
Kaelith's eyes narrowed. "Because he was never there."
They watched as Nex collapsed to one knee, barely caught by the medics now rushing to him. His consciousness faded the moment they reached him, blood pooling underneath.
None of them knew what he had faced.
None of them knew he had been trapped alone with four C-Rank bosses, no hope of winning.
Only surviving.
The control room had seen nothing.
And yet…
He stood.
For a moment.
Alone.
The moment Nex collapsed, the emergency healers moved into motion like triggered mechanisms. A silver-gilded gurney slid out from the wall as if sensing the critical level of his condition.
"Subject's mana core is destabilized—get the resonance field stabilizer!"
"Blood loss—massive. External wounds need priority B stasis!"
Students were pulled aside. Instructors created a buffer zone. The floor beneath Nex pulsed as a runic platform emerged from beneath the marble, activating Protocol Zero: Trauma Recovery Unit—a system used only for the most extreme, high-profile cases.
The medical staff didn't even wait to confirm identity. He was far too close to mana collapse.
The gurney slid under him like magic, and with a sudden whoosh of air and light, Nex Calder vanished from the Rift zone, teleported directly to the Academy's underground infirmary wing—a specialized vault-like sanctuary for near-death applicants.
And just like that, he was gone.
---
Scene: Rift Clearing – Moments Later
The five heirs of the Great Families remained behind, still standing, still in silence.
"…They just took him," Ruby finally muttered. "Vanished. No explanation."
Marcus's eyes were still on the bloodstained marble. "And no one's saying how he survived that long."
"They didn't even know he was in there," Aria whispered. "The control room couldn't see anything."
Lucas crossed his arms. "Which means he was in one of those spire zones."
Kaelith exhaled slowly, still processing. "Cryo Spires. Four bosses. No backup."
A cold silence followed.
None of them said it aloud, but the thought rang clear in their minds:
He wasn't supposed to survive that.
---
Scene: Nexus Academy Medical Wing – The Next Morning
Despite the severity of his injuries, when the medical logs updated the next day, the results were shocking.
"Patient Calder, Nex – 87% full recovery. Expected discharge: Within 24 hours."
The healers didn't say much, but a few whispered rumors escaped:
"Vital signs were… anomalous. Like he was in some altered trance during healing."
"His body responded too well. Almost like it was… conditioned for collapse and rebuild....
____________________________________
– The Hospital at Night
The medical wing of Nexus Academy was silent.
Too silent.
Moonlight seeped through the high windows, casting pale bars across the pristine floor. Outside, the campus was alive with faint lantern glows, but here… nothing. Not a nurse. Not a healer. Not even the usual mana hum from the diagnostic crystals.
Nex lay in his bed, his body still sore despite the healers' efforts. His hair — now pure white and curling faintly like a halo — framed a face that looked healthier, sharper than before. But behind his half-lidded violet eyes, there was no peace.
____________________________________
– Return to Nexus
The transport carriage hummed quietly as it cut through the twilight, gliding toward the towering gates of Nexus Academy. The air inside was warm, the scent of dust and iron still clinging to their uniforms.
They were tired — but their team was in high spirits. After all, a B-rank completion in the second year was no small feat. Most second-years barely touched C+, yet their squad had carved their way through the mission cleanly.
"Honestly," grinned Darius, the spear user at the front, "if we keep this up, the third-years are gonna start getting nervous."
"Not the third-years," countered Liora Silvercrest, her lips curling into a faint smile, "the instructors." Her voice was calm but carried the weight of confidence, and as always, she drew every eye without trying — blinding silver hair cascading over her shoulder, eyes like molten ember catching the light from the mana lamps.
The group chuckled, but Elaria Calder, sitting by the window, was only half-listening.
Her gaze drifted past the moving scenery outside, lost in thoughts that had been lingering since the mission began.
---
She remembered a boy — hair as pale as snow, eyes so bright they always seemed to search for her approval. Her little brother. The way he'd toddle after her in the garden, clutching her sleeve whenever he got scared of strangers. The way he'd tilt his head and pout if she laughed too hard at him.
After their mother's death, she had been the one to watch over him. To make sure he ate. To braid his messy hair in the mornings. To chase away his nightmares.
Then… she'd been sent away for training. One year gone. Then she'd enrolled in Nexus, throwing herself into her first year here — another year gone.
Two years without so much as a proper conversation.
Is he still the same? she wondered. Or did he grow up without me noticing?
---
The transport slowed to a stop at the academy's inner gates. Even though it was already past 7 p.m., the main courtyard was still lively. Students and staff alike turned their heads as the team stepped out. Whispers followed them, admiration and curiosity mixed in equal measure.
Most of the attention, as always, fell on Liora. She moved with effortless grace, and even battle-worn from the mission, she seemed almost untouchable. Elaria walked beside her, quieter, though no less striking in her own way — white hair brushed smooth, blue eyes calm as moonlit water.
Their squad began discussing the mission in fragments as they made their way to the second-year Rankers' Dorm.
"Next time we should try cutting through the east ridge," suggested Darius.
"Only if you want to run into more bonecrushers," laughed Selene, their archer.
Liora smirked. "We could have handled a few more."
"That's what you always say," Selene shot back.
Elaria smiled faintly at the banter, but her mind kept wandering. She had no idea that elsewhere in the academy — on the first-year rankings board — a certain name had just claimed 8th place. No idea that her little brother had returned from the Rift bloodied and injured.
---
They reached the dorm and dispersed to their rooms to wash away the dust of travel. Elaria lingered a moment in the hallway, her hand on her door, eyes unfocused.
Two years… Nex… I wonder if you even remember how I used to take care of you.
She exhaled slowly, not knowing that by the time she would see him again, he would no longer be the boy she remembered.