"What are you all waiting for? Are you scared? Stop wasting our time and come at me!"
With those few words, Kalon completely changed the atmosphere on both sides. The arrogant prisoners were now hesitating. Looking back at the other students, Amy realised they were no longer afraid. Seeing someone their age accomplish something they thought impossible lit a flame in their hearts, pushing them to fight.
Both sides began to charge toward each other. Amy, however, stood still. She ignored everything happening around her and focused only on Kalon. After his provocation, none of the prisoners charged at him—they completely avoided him—and in response, he didn't take a single step.
Amy stared at him for a while before she sensed something approaching from behind. She turned just in time to dodge a kick aimed at her head. A bad feeling washed over her. Turning again, she saw three more prisoners moving to surround her in a half-circle.
It was the work of her clan's elders. They had sent these people to kill her and erase the stain on their pride and honour.
Through the gap between two prisoners, Amy saw Kalon suddenly start moving. A large man was charging toward him from the other side of the ring. Kalon ran, dodging the other students while stabbing and slicing at the prisoners. His movements were quick and precise, focused only on killing. As he moved with impossible flexibility, more and more prisoners fell lifeless where he passed. The last thing Amy saw before turning her focus back to her own predicament was Kalon and the large prisoner lunging toward each other, no one else between them.
Staring emotionlessly at the prisoners surrounding her, Amy said, "Aren't you guys ashamed to be ganging up on a teenage girl?"
The prisoners chuckled but didn't respond as they lunged toward her. In truth, Amy was terrified. She had received training from her clan since childhood, but her abilities were purely for support and offered almost no improvement to her physical strength. She was no different from any other sixteen-year-old girl with some combat experience. Still, she was confident she could defeat one prisoner, maybe two—but four was impossible.
The first attack came as a kick aimed at her abdomen. Dodging it, she instantly activated her ability, [Dream Eye]. Immediately, she saw an almost transparent, blurry punch coming toward her face. She dodged the illusionary hand, and a split second later, the real strike passed over her head where the false one had appeared. Stretching out her leg, she tripped the woman who had thrown the punch and moved aside, letting her crash into the first man who had tried to kick her.
At that moment, her [Dream Eye] was filled with flashes of illusory forms. Someone was interfering with her ability. Looking toward the other two prisoners, she tried to find who it was. What the hell? That was her only thought as she watched one of the remaining prisoners vanish into mist. Turning, she realised the same was happening to the two on the ground. Someone was using abilities—which meant the person wasn't mundane.
Amy was about to call for the instructor when someone suddenly kicked her in the chest, sending her flying. However, someone caught her and gently placed her on the ground. She struggled to breathe and saw blood pooling beneath her arm, but it wasn't hers.
"Kal…"
Her attempt to speak only brought pain, so she stayed quiet and hoped Kalon would win. She watched as a bloody figure walked past her body and placed himself between her and the fake prisoner. He staggered slightly, then regained balance and charged at the woman.
Amy studied Kalon's condition—it was all she could do. He was bleeding from several wounds. The dagger in his right hand was cracked, and the one in his left was already broken. Kalon fought like a madman. Every strike was aimed at a vital point. He moved in ways that shouldn't have been possible, dodging and deflecting blow after blow. Amy knew there were about six minutes left and doubted Kalon could last that long.
She turned over, trying to get the Ascenders' attention, but they were utterly indifferent. Seeing that they had no intention of helping, she turned to the instructor, but he was too far away, near the bell, preparing to end the session. Amy stared helplessly, then had an idea. She tried to use her [Dream Eye] to share her thoughts directly with the instructor. The problem was that her range was only five meters, and he was more than ten away—but she pushed herself. Blood dripped from her nose as she finally felt the instructor's mind and forced her thoughts into it.
Surprisingly, the instructor wasn't shocked. He looked directly at her and sent a message back through her thoughts:
"The time is already up."
Then he rang the bell.
As soon as he did, Amy turned to see what was happening. All the other fights had stopped, but some prisoners were rushing toward Kalon, who was soaked in sweat and barely standing. The fake prisoner laughed maniacally.
"A mere enlightened person actually fought an awakened to a stalemate while injured. I'm so lucky—I'll get the chance to kill you."
As he was about to lunge forward, the other prisoners started cheering. Amy turned toward Kalon and froze in horror. He was on the ground, unconscious. The Ascenders who were re-chaining the obedient prisoners showed no interest, even though Kalon was about to be killed. The instructor was running toward the ring, but he wouldn't make it in time. Amy struggled to stand. She had to save him. She couldn't let him die because of her. But no matter how much she fought, her body wouldn't respond.
She could only watch as the fake prisoner raised a black dagger, its cracked surface glinting, and struck downward.
At that moment, a shadow grew from Kalon's feet and rose up, materialising into a massive black panther. It struck the fake prisoner with its paw, shattering the dagger and sending him flying. The beast circled Kalon once, then turned to face the other prisoners, who trembled under its oppressive aura.
The instructor arrived beside the shadow beast, scaring the remaining prisoners back to their side of the ring. The panther turned and stared directly at Amy for a moment before merging back into Kalon's body.
As soon as the beast vanished, Kalon stirred and regained consciousness. Struggling to move, he turned toward Amy. When he saw that she was still alive, he smiled. Amy didn't know whether it was because of the situation, the blood covering him, the monstrous shadow that had emerged from his body, or because this was the first time she had ever seen him with a shadow—but the smile looked utterly terrifying.
At the start of the thirty-minute training, there were thirty-six students and sixty prisoners. At the end, there were twenty-eight students and forty-five prisoners. Thirteen of those prisoners had been killed by Kalon alone.
"how terrifying."