The crowned monster stepped into the mist, each footfall shaking the blackened forest floor. Its eyeless face tilted toward Rayan, nostrils flaring as if scenting him out of the crowd.
Rayan's hand tightened around the Eternum Grimoire. This wasn't part of the Academy's official trial — this thing hunted.
The silver-haired girl's voice floated closer.
"Let's see if the Vessel can bleed."
The other students panicked, scattering into the trees. Rayan was about to move when he heard it — a sharp cry.
A boy, maybe his age, had tripped, tangled in thorned vines, the monster's long claws already reaching for him.
"Damn it."
Rayan sprinted forward, chanting The Binding of False Flesh. Chains of shimmering air lashed out, coiling around the monster's arm mid-swipe. The force rattled Rayan's bones, but it slowed the thing just enough for him to grab the boy and roll them both out of range.
The boy stared at him, wide-eyed, breathing hard.
"You— You could have let me die…"
"You're welcome," Rayan muttered, shoving him toward the treeline.
The monster roared, its crown of bone cracking as veins of red light pulsed beneath its skin.
Rayan didn't have the mana to bind it twice. But he had something this world didn't — Earth logic.
He grabbed a fallen branch, snapped it in half, and jammed the ends into the soil at an angle. Whispering the Chain spell again, he didn't aim at the monster — he aimed at its shadow, stretched perfectly between the two makeshift spikes.
The chains bound it tight. The monster froze, bellowing, the ground cracking beneath its feet.
A sudden flash of silver caught his eye.
The silver-haired girl had appeared beside the creature, her palm pressed to its chest. The glowing mark — the same as the assassin's — flared, and the monster dissolved into black ash.
She looked at Rayan with a small, unreadable smile.
"Not bad… for someone who isn't supposed to be here."
Before he could answer, she was gone, melting into the mist as the illusionary forest dissolved around them.
Back in the stone chamber, the robed examiner looked pale.
"Trial… complete."
The boy Rayan had saved stepped forward, grinning despite the sweat on his brow.
"Name's Kael. You just made yourself a friend for life, Rayan. And if anyone tries to kill you again, I'm in."
Rayan almost laughed. 'Again,' huh? Guess it's already obvious.
But his attention drifted back to where the silver-haired girl had stood. He didn't know her name, but he knew one thing — she was dangerous, and somehow tied to the thing hunting him.
The Grimoire's next page bled into view.
Page 5: Trust the hand that saves you only if it does not vanish in the mist.