Moonlight, cold and desolate like water, poured over the meditation chamber deep within the outpost.
The velvet cushions once used for quiet meditation had been tossed into the corner, replaced by cold, heavy cast‑iron barbells.
The rhythmic clanging of heavy metal rang out, sharp and jarring in the dead silence of night.
"Ninety-seven… ninety-eight…"
Silvia gasped violently, her voice hoarse and ragged, as if being torn apart.
She gripped the barbell Lu Cen had heavily weighted, her knees trembling faintly.
Her white, sacred‑symbolizing dress was tattered now, tied messily around her waist, revealing her tight, slightly flushed legs from exertion.
Sweat slid down the graceful curve of her back, glinting in the moonlight before soaking into her damp clothes.
Lu Cen leaned against a stone pillar in the shadows, a stopwatch in his hand, his gaze cold and unyielding.
"Two more. Go deep. If you want that fake magic circuit of yours to finally shut up."
Silvia gritted her teeth. Tears and sweat blurred in her eyes, stinging so badly she could barely open them.
Her lungs burned as if two pieces of red‑hot charcoal were grinding against each other, every breath searing with pain.
Just as she tried to finish her ninety-ninth squat, disaster struck without warning.
Silvia's body froze rigid. The barbell creaked threateningly under its weight, bending dangerously.
"Pth—!"
A thick, dark fluid burst from her mouth, splattering hard against the pale marble floor.
It was not bright red blood, but an inky, viscous liquid with an eerie dim glow.
A sharp, choking stench filled the air at once — the heavy, burnt smell of aged rusted iron seared by fire.
When the black blood hit the ground, it acted like strong acid, hissing and smoking as it corroded the hard stone.
[System Alert: High-concentration Ether Waste reaction detected!]
[Data Analysis: The substance circulating within the target is not magic, but degraded physical toxins.]
Lu Cen's pupils constricted sharply. The stopwatch in his hand crumpled into scrap metal.
He lunged behind Silvia, and the instant she collapsed backward, he caught the hundred‑pound barbell with one hand.
The barbell slammed into his shoulder with a dull thud, but he did not move an inch.
"Cough… Lu Cen… I'm so cold…"
Silvia slumped weakly into his arms, her face pale to near transparency. The red magic lines beneath her skin had turned a dead, iron gray.
The lines bulged across her flesh like roots, hideous and terrifying.
Lu Cen said nothing. He tossed the barbell aside and spread his right hand wide.
Instead of holding her gently, he slammed his palm hard against the third vertebra of her spine.
"Ah—!" Silvia let out a short, sharp scream.
His fingers were cold, yet heavy as a heavy‑duty hydraulic press, forcing her bone seams apart.
[System Command Activated: Negentropy Conversion — ENGAGE!]
[Physical Path Locked: Forcibly extracting refined waste from target via high‑intensity physical intervention.]
Thin trails of black smoke curled from Lu Cen's fingertips in the moonlight.
The toxins inside Silvia were being ripped out physically by his monstrous physical density.
The sensation was alien and brutal — nothing like the warmth of healing magic, only mechanical, savage tearing pain.
Silvia shuddered violently, feeling the cold, heavy force inside her being drained away by his hand.
"It's… the Saint's Nectar…" She clung to Lu Cen's arm, her nails digging into his muscle.
"Every day… Master makes me drink a cup. He said… it's holy water to purify the soul…"
Silver fire exploded in Lu Cen's eyes, his voice cold as the wind from hell:
"Purify your soul? He's using your organs as a filter to refine his magical garbage."
Cedric was not raising a saint. He was building a catalytic reactor — a human body that converted magic into physical energy through metabolism.
And Silvia was just a living, breathing purification tank.
At that moment, the ground outside the meditation chamber shuddered violently.
Heavy, synchronized footsteps, mixed with the scrape of metal, drew steadily closer from the academy gates.
Lu Cen lifted his head toward the window. The silver glow beneath his left index finger flared to its brightest.
On the horizon, a formation of knights in heavy gray armor marched silently in a square, their great shields reflecting the cold moonlight.
No magic radiated from them, only a crushing physical weight that pressed down on the very air.
[System Prompt: Extreme Academy physical defense network illegally marked.]
[Signal Identified: Imperial Duke's Mansion — Purge Battalion.]
Lu Cen sneered softly and laid the unconscious Silvia down gently.
He rose slowly, picked up the corroded shard of magic‑sealing stone from the floor, and his gaze turned dark:
"If you're cranking the extraction valve to the max… then I'll show you what happens when it blows apart."