The Skies above the Capital.
"Jump?" Liya looked at Valdorian like he had finally lost his mind.
They were standing at the edge of the floating island, peering down through the clouds. The city below was a mile down, a grid of lights marred by the spreading stain of green fire in the Merchant District.
"The elevator takes ten minutes, Liya," Valdorian said, checking his fingernails. "The fire is spreading. Efficiency is key."
"We will die!"
"You won't. You're an Ice Mage. Make a slide."
Before she could protest, Valdorian grabbed her waist and hopped off the ledge.
"Valdorian!!" Liya screamed, the wind tearing at her silver hair.
They plummeted through the night sky. The ground rushed up to meet them. Valdorian looked completely unbothered, enjoying the freefall like a skydiver on a Sunday.
"Now would be a good time, Ice Queen," he shouted over the wind.
Instinct took over. Liya extended her hands. Mana surged.
[Ice Creation: Glacial Ramp]
A massive, curving slide of thick ice manifested beneath them, spiraling down toward the city. They hit the ice, sliding at breakneck speed. Liya clung to Valdorian, burying her face in his chest. Valdorian steered them with subtle shifts of his weight, banking around church spires and clock towers.
They crashed into a stack of empty crates in an alleyway near the burning Alchemist Guild.
Liya stumbled out of the debris, her legs shaking. "I hate you. I absolutely hate you."
"We're here, aren't we?" Valdorian dusted off his robe. He looked toward the burning building.
The heat was intense. The flames weren't orange; they were a sickly, necrotic green. They didn't burn wood; they corroded it, turning stone and timber into grey sludge.
"Ghost Flame," Liya whispered, her face pale. "This is forbidden magic. It burns the soul, not just the body. Why would anyone unleash this in the capital?"
Valdorian didn't answer. He was looking at his hand. The black ring on his finger was vibrating so hard it blurred.
It's inside, the instinct told him. A piece of Me.
"Stay close," Valdorian said, his voice dropping an octave. "And don't breathe the smoke."
Inside the Alchemist Guild.
The lobby was a wreck. Statues were melted, and the reception desk was a puddle of goo. But strangely, there were no bodies. The staff had fled—or been erased.
"Clear the path," Valdorian pointed at a wall of green fire blocking the stairs.
Liya gritted her teeth. [Frost Nova!]
A blast of absolute zero cold hit the green fire. Usually, ice melted in fire. But Liya's mana was pure. The green flames hissed and solidified, turning into brittle green crystal.
They shattered the crystal barrier and ran up the stairs.
On the third floor, they found them.
Five figures dressed in the same light-absorbing Shadow Weave armor as the assassin in the forest. Nightwalkers. They were surrounding a massive, overturned safe.
Inside the safe sat a small, jagged object.
It was a shard of metal, no bigger than a fist. It was pitch black, darker than the shadows around it. It floated slightly off the ground, defying gravity. The green fire in the room seemed to be bending away from it, terrified of touching the void metal.
"Secure the artifact," the leader of the Nightwalkers rasped. He reached out with a pair of glowing mana-tongs.
"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," a voice called out from the doorway.
The Nightwalkers spun around.
Valdorian stood there, leaning against the doorframe, looking bored. Liya stood beside him, her hands glowing with ice magic.
"Witnesses," the Leader hissed. "Kill them. Burn their souls."
Two Nightwalkers lunged, their swords coated in the green Ghost Flame.
"Val, get back!" Liya stepped forward, summoning an Ice Wall.
Crash.
The Nightwalkers smashed through the ice wall easily. Their green fire corroded the ice instantly.
"Anti-Magic Fire," Liya gasped, stumbling back. "My spells... they're being eaten!"
One Nightwalker raised his sword to strike Liya down.
Whiz.
A heavy glass beaker flew across the room and smashed into the Nightwalker's face.
"Argh!" The assassin stumbled, blinded by alchemical acid.
Valdorian stood by a shelf, weighing another beaker. "Chemistry lab. Lots of fun toys."
"You insect!" The Leader roared. "Kill the boy first!"
Three assassins rushed Valdorian. They were fast—Core Formation speeds. To a normal human, they were blurs.
Valdorian didn't run. He walked toward the floating black shard.
"Stop him!"
A sword swung for Valdorian's neck. Valdorian ducked—a simple, unrefined squat. The blade sliced the air. Valdorian grabbed a metal stool from the floor and swung it upward.
CLANG.
The stool hit the assassin's elbow. The bone shattered.
Valdorian kept moving, weaving through the chaos like a ghost. He didn't use mana. He used the environment. He tripped one assassin into a puddle of spilled oil. He pushed a heavy bookshelf onto another.
It looked like slapstick comedy. It looked like luck.
But the Nightwalker Leader, watching from the back, felt a chill run down his spine. 'He's not panicking. Every move... it's leading him closer to the Artifact.'
Valdorian reached the safe.
The black shard was humming. It recognized him.
"Don't touch it!" The Leader screamed. "It absorbs life force! It killed three of my men just trying to move it!"
Valdorian ignored him. He reached out his hand.
"Val, no!" Liya shouted.
Valdorian's fingers brushed the cold, black metal.
There was no explosion. No life drain.
The shard purred.
It was like a lost puppy finding its master. The shard floated gently into Valdorian's palm. It was incredibly heavy—easily a ton of weight condensed into a fist-sized rock—but Valdorian held it as if it were a feather.
[System Alert:]
[Fragment of 'Nihility' Recovered.]
[Component: The Cross-Guard.]
[Absorption Initiated...]
The shard dissolved. It turned into black liquid and seeped into Valdorian's skin.
Valdorian's eyes rolled back for a second.
[Seal Integrity: 99.5%]
[Physical Limit Released: Stage 1.]
A shockwave of air blasted from Valdorian's body. It wasn't mana. It was pure physical pressure. The floorboards cracked.
The Nightwalker Leader stared. "What... what are you?"
Valdorian shook his head, clearing the dizziness. He looked at the Leader.
"I'm just a student on a field trip," Valdorian said. He picked up a pebble from the debris on the floor.
He flicked it.
Just a simple thumb-flick.
ZOOM.
The pebble broke the sound barrier. It flew across the room like a railgun shot.
SPLAT.
It hit the Nightwalker Leader in the center of the forehead. The Leader's head snapped back, and he collapsed, unconscious (or worse), his skull fractured by a stone moving at Mach 1.
The remaining Nightwalkers froze. Their boss had just been one-shotted by a pebble.
"Anyone else want to play marbles?" Valdorian asked, picking up another stone.
The Nightwalkers looked at the monster in human skin. They looked at Liya, who was charging a massive spell.
"Retreat!"
They threw smoke bombs and vanished into the shadows, leaving their fallen comrades behind.
Silence returned to the burning room.
Liya lowered her hands, the ice magic fading. She stared at Valdorian. She looked at the unconscious Leader, then at the pebble on the floor.
"Val," she whispered. "Did you just..."
"I have very strong fingers," Valdorian said quickly, hiding his hand behind his back. "Piano lessons. Very intense."
"Piano lessons don't let you punch a hole in a skull with a rock!"
"It was a lucky shot? He had a soft head?"
Liya walked up to him. The Ghost Fire was still burning around them, but she didn't seem to care. She looked into his eyes, searching for the truth.
"You absorbed that black metal," she stated. "I saw it. It went into your skin."
Valdorian sighed. He couldn't lie about that part.
"It's... a family heirloom," Valdorian improvised. "My father sent me to retrieve it. It's cursed. Only my bloodline can touch it."
Liya bit her lip. "Valdorian. You are in so much trouble. The Academy will investigate this. The City Guard is coming."
"Then we should go," Valdorian said. "I'm still hungry. We missed the roast chicken."
Liya looked at him with a mix of frustration and awe. Then, she let out a shaky laugh.
"You are impossible," she said. "Hold on."
She grabbed him. [Ice Walk].
They leaped out of the window, sliding down an ice ramp into the dark alleys below, leaving the burning guild behind.
Later that Night.
Valdorian's Dorm.
Valdorian sat on his bed. The black sword, Nihility, was in his lap.
The shard he had absorbed—the Cross-Guard—had migrated from his body into the sword. The rusted handle of the sword shifted. The jagged metal reformed, creating a sleek, terrifyingly sharp guard that looked like dragon wings.
The sword felt heavier. Stronger.
[Weapon Status: 2% Restored.]
[New Ability Unlocked: "Gravitational Anchor".]
[Description: The wielder can alter the weight of the sword from 1 kg to 10,000 kg at will.]
Valdorian grinned. "Oh, this is going to be fun."
He swung the sword. He willed it to be light. It moved like air.
He willed it to be heavy.
CRACK.
The floor under his feet splintered as his weight effectively increased by ten tons for a split second.
"Oops," Valdorian winced. "Sorry, downstairs neighbors."
He slid the sword back under the bed.
He lay back, closing his eyes. The Seal in his mind felt a little looser. He could remember a new fragment of his past.
He saw a battlefield in the void. He saw himself standing on a mountain of corpses, holding a sword that erased colors. He saw a woman with golden eyes weeping as she tried to stab him.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because perfection is stagnant," he had replied.
Valdorian opened his eyes, sweating slightly.
"Who was she?" he whispered.
He didn't know. But he had a feeling that the "peaceful life" he wanted was getting further and further away.
Ding.
A magical projection appeared in the center of his room. It was a message from the Academy Administration.
[Student: Valdorian Null.]
[Notice of Re-Assignment.]
[Due to... irregularities in your assessment, you have been transferred to Class S (Special Division).]
[Report to the "Dungeon Block" at 06:00 Hours.]
Valdorian stared at the message. Class S. The Death Block. The place where they sent criminals, lunatics, and students the Academy wanted to dis
appear.
Valdorian smiled.
"Finally," he said, pulling the blanket up. "Maybe I can get some quiet sleep down there."
End of Chapter 6.