The first bell chime echoed across the silent arena.
Darren’s brown eyes flickered with resolve as he raised his spear, the blue runes along its shaft igniting with a low electric hum. Beside him, Rina spun her mana revolver in her palm, clicking the safety off as compressed blue cartridges glowed in its chamber. The Combat Class shifted into formation without a word, boots sliding against fractured stone as they spread out in two semi-circular lines.
Across from them, Class Zero stood silent.
Silas cracked his neck, his massive frame rolling forward with a quiet growl. "So... who am I crushing first?"
Reia flicked her wrist brace, adjusting the tension straps as her golden circuits flickered faintly across her temples. She didn’t look at him. "Don’t get reckless. They’re disciplined."
Vyn remained silent, her grey eyes flicking lazily across the rows of armored students, her long black hair drifting like soft shadowed mist behind her.
Evelyn exhaled, lightning crawling faintly along her collarbone before fading into her uniform as she clenched her fists, her hair glowing under the morning light.
At their front, Lucian didn’t move. His hands remained tucked into his coat pockets, half-lidded eyes unfocused as though he wasn’t even seeing the battlefield in front of him.
But Reia knew better. She flicked her gaze to him briefly.
He’s reading... everything.
The third bell chime echoed. The signal.
"Alpha squad!" Darren shouted, his voice slicing through the silence.
Ten Combat Class students charged forward in formation, armored boots stomping as they raised shields etched with kinetic reflection runes. Behind them, beta squad took aim, Rina kneeling down as she braced her revolver against her armored thigh.
Silas roared, his aura erupting white as he surged forward like an unstoppable wall. His first punch slammed into the lead shield, the rune glowing as it absorbed the kinetic force—but only partially. The impact threw the shield-bearer back three meters, their boots scraping against the stone as their arms shook violently.
"Form break!" Darren shouted.
Two spear wielders darted in from Silas’ flanks, jabbing at his exposed ribs. Silas twisted, one spear scraping harmlessly off his reinforced uniform, the other grazing his side and leaving a shallow cut. He grabbed the spear mid-strike, snapping its shaft in half before grabbing the wielder by their chestplate and throwing them over his shoulder into two more approaching students.
Reia blurred forward in that same instant, her circuits flickering gold as her footwork carried her between three armored students with surgical precision. Her palm flicked out, striking the elbow joint of one shield bearer, dislocating it instantly with a quiet pop before she pivoted, using the same hand to redirect a spear thrust past her hip and twisting under the attacker’s arm.
[Calculation Field – Overclock]
She spun, her heel slamming into the back of their knee, dropping them to the ground before flicking two fingers against their exposed neck joint. They dropped unconscious instantly.
Beta squad opened fire. Blue mana rounds whistled through the air, each bullet exploding with a burst of kinetic force upon impact. Reia ducked behind a fallen shield, breathing quickly as the impacts sent tremors through her arms.
Vyn stepped forward, raising her pale hand slowly. Dark violet mana curled from her fingertips like drifting ink.
[Ether Weave – Null Binding]
She flicked her wrist, and a wave of dark chains burst from her palm, snaking across the stone like living shadows. Three students raised their shields in reflex, but the chains ignored physical matter, wrapping around their legs and arms, freezing them mid-motion as faint violet sigils burned into their armor joints.
Rina aimed directly at Vyn, her revolver glowing bright blue.
"Suppress her!" Darren shouted.
Rina fired. The compressed mana bullet ripped through the air with a deafening crack. Vyn flicked her other hand upward, drawing a faint sigil mid-air. The bullet stopped mid-flight, hovering just in front of her nose, before it disintegrated into faint silver dust.
"Impossible...!" Rina gasped, loading another cartridge with shaking fingers.
Evelyn flickered forward in that moment, her new fused ability activating as lightning crawled across translucent kinetic force fields wrapping her limbs. She zipped between the stunned students in Beta squad, her fist crashing into one chestplate with a thunderclap that sent its wielder flying back into the stone wall with a metallic clang. She vanished again in a burst of blue-white arcs, reappearing behind another rifleman, slamming her elbow into the back of his helmet with enough force to dent the reinforced steel.
But as she turned to face the next student—
Her heart skipped painfully in her chest as she tried to reach for his mana signature.
[Ability Replication – Attempt: Velocity Rune Amplifier]
She gasped, sweat dripping down her temple as the armored student swung a rune blade at her head. Evelyn ducked just in time, lightning flickering across her back as she flickered away again, appearing beside Silas who was grappling two shield bearers by their armor straps.
"Why... why can’t I copy them...?" she whispered, her voice trembling as her legs shook under her.
"Because their abilities aren’t internal," Reia’s voice cut in sharply from her left as she landed beside them, her golden eyes calm despite her labored breathing. "They’re external augmentations. Enchantments. Runes. They have no awakened mana signature to copy."
Lucian stepped forward at that moment. For the first time since the match began, he removed his hands from his pockets. His half-lidded eyes opened fully, revealing sharp, bright black irises that seemed to drink in every flicker of light around them.
"Stand back," he said softly.
Silas grinned, stepping back with a heavy stomp, his massive chest heaving. Reia didn’t move but adjusted her stance, ready to react. Vyn simply tilted her head, silent as always.
Evelyn flickered away, reappearing beside Reia, her breathing ragged, chest tight with adrenaline and fear.
Lucian raised his hand slowly, palm open towards the approaching formation. Darren raised his spear, shouting,
The words froze in his throat.
A faint ripple spread from Lucian’s palm, invisible to the naked eye, but felt in every bone. The air warped. Light bent. Mana particles stilled mid-air like frozen dust motes.
The entire front line of Combat Class students screamed in unison as he reappeared directly within their formation, his fist slamming into the chestplate of one shield bearer with a dull, echoing boom. The impact rippled outward like a silent earthquake. Mana barriers cracked. Shields shattered. Armor plates dented inward as students were thrown backwards in all directions, slamming into each other like scattered bowling pins.
Darren lunged forward, spear thrust aiming for Lucian’s throat.
Lucian’s fingers sliced through the air, leaving behind faint shimmering claw marks. The spear shaft split into four clean pieces, each falling away harmlessly as Lucian stepped forward, his palm pressing lightly against Darren’s chestplate.
"Sit down," he whispered.
A burst of compressed force exploded from his palm. Darren gasped as the air was forced from his lungs, his entire body slamming down onto the cracked stone in a single heavy impact. His spear fragments clattered around him as he lay gasping, eyes wide with shock.
The Combat Class students still standing froze in place, weapons shaking in their grips.
Lucian turned his gaze slowly across them, his black hair drifting lightly around his unreadable eyes.
"This isn’t your fault," he said softly. "You trained hard. You’re strong. But there’s a difference... between training to survive, and being born to destroy."
He lowered his hand, sliding it back into his pocket as he exhaled quietly.
"Class Zero," he said calmly, his voice carrying across the silent battlefield. "End it."
Silas roared, charging forward like an unstoppable bull. Reia blurred in beside him, her golden circuits flickering bright as her palm strikes dropped shield bearers one after another with pinpoint precision. Vyn raised her hand, shadows crawling from her fingertips like living serpents, wrapping around weapons and limbs, freezing them in place as Evelyn flickered between each target, her lightning-kinetic strikes denting armor and slamming students unconscious to the cracked stage.
The Combat Class lay defeated across the fractured arena, groaning softly in pain. William stood in the observation balcony, his hands clenched white against the rail as he watched, sweat dripping down his temple despite the cool morning breeze.
On the stage, Class Zero stood together, their shadows stretching long under the silent rising sun. Lucian lowered his gaze, his half-lidded eyes closing briefly as he let out a small breath.
And in that quiet moment, as the wind rustled the torn banners overhead—
Class Zero’s name was etched into the academy’s history.