The training chamber buzzed faintly with energy, the ceiling high and lined with strips of white light that pulsed like slow heartbeats. Class Zero stood in formation at the center, their uniforms creased and clean, boots spread shoulder-width apart, faces tense but focused. The polished black floor reflected the glow from the room’s walls, every step echoing with soft weight.
Lucian adjusted the glove on his right hand quietly, keeping his half-lidded gaze on the instructor in front of them.
Athena stood at the front, arms behind her back, dark uniform hugging her frame with military precision. Her hair was tied up as always, eyes sharp, voice calm. She walked slowly across the line of students, boots clicking softly against the reinforced floor.
"You’ve all been briefed on the structure of Zenith Week," she said, tone flat but firm. "You’re no longer rookies. The outside world will see this as your first real performance."
Nobody replied. The silence wasn’t fear—it was discipline. Or something close to it.
Athena stopped in front of Reia. "Teamwork," she said. "Coordination. Split-second decisions. I want each of you to be able to rely on the others without hesitation. No solo hero bullshit."
Reia nodded without a word, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
Athena moved on. "We’ll be rotating combat pairs today. Simulated enemy raids. Mana suppression zones. Real damage. You’ll heal after."
She didn’t need to say more.
They all already knew the risk level was higher now. Lucian could feel it in the air—the subtle shift in Athena’s presence, the way her gaze lingered on him for half a second longer before she turned away.
"Class Zero," she said. "Begin warm-up drills. Start with resonance syncing, then move to reflex compression. You have ten minutes."
They moved without waiting for further instructions.
Lucian stepped into a circular pad as it rose slightly from the ground. The system kicked in with a hum, lights forming a dome around him. His reflection mirrored him across the surface—five of them. Each a half-second ahead or behind.
Sidestep. Twist. Elbow. Reverse palm.
His own echoes attacked him with randomized delay shifts. His body responded without thinking, instincts cutting through the simulated noise. He folded space lightly with his steps, keeping his balance precise. The echoes sharpened, almost overlapping now.
Strike. Flicker. Guard break.
Then sudden darkness.
He closed his eyes and activated [Chrono Sense] for a moment—not a full rewind, just the residual thread of awareness. The false attack came from behind.
A chime rang in the dome. Sync complete.
Lucian stepped off as the pad retracted. His breath was steady. His heart rate barely moved. He looked to the side.
Evelyn was already on her platform. Her copied versions of Reia’s illusion sparks were spiraling around her, but not with the same finesse. They blinked out at uneven intervals. She frowned, tried again. No success. Her expression tightened.
Then she shifted. She raised her hand and tried to summon Vyn’s compressed energy strike. It flickered in the air... then fizzled out. Not stable. Not usable.
Lucian watched her silently.
She glanced at him but didn’t speak.
Next, she tried the red aura that Silas had used in their last session—his layered mana displacement. Her version barely held for two seconds before it cracked apart and vanished.
Three failed copies in a row.
Evelyn’s fists tightened at her sides. Her eyes narrowed as she muttered something to herself. No one else seemed to notice. Lucian did. But he didn’t say anything yet.
Vyn stood on the far end, silent as always. He didn’t step onto a pad. He was just standing there with his hands in his pockets, staring at a blank wall like he was somewhere else. Athena passed by him without a word. She didn’t expect a response. Vyn would act when it mattered. That’s how he always was.
Silas, a few pads over, was sparring with a mobile dummy programmed with increased speed parameters. He was holding well at first, but slipped when the droid changed angles mid-lunge. He cursed under his breath and reset.
Athena clapped her hands once. "Switch to field simulation."
The lights dimmed as the floor shifted, panels rotating as the space expanded outward. What was once a clean black room now widened into a partial cityscape—cracked roads, damaged buildings, fog rolling along the ground.
"Pairings," she said. "Silas and Vyn. Reia and Evelyn. Lucian—you’re solo. You’ll rotate into both teams later. Objectives are marked. Begin."
Reia nodded once and pulled her hair back into a loose tie as she activated her illusion weave. Her fingertips sparked faint blue, and five false clones flickered beside her. Evelyn’s eyes tracked the clones closely. She summoned a version of her own—but hers didn’t last. They blinked out again, unstable, half-formed.
"You’re still trying to copy us?" Reia asked, not mocking. Just genuinely curious.
Evelyn didn’t answer. She just pushed forward, trying to keep pace.
Lucian stayed back at first, watching both pairs. He folded behind one of the broken walls and tapped his temple once.
[Spatial Anchor: Set.]
[Chrono Rewind: Ready.]
He exhaled softly and moved.
He appeared just ahead of Reia and Evelyn’s team, intercepted a dummy drone meant for them and destroyed it with a precise [Dimensional Claw – Compression Variant], then vanished again.
Evelyn blinked. "He’s not even supposed to be with us yet."
Reia shrugged faintly. "Lucian does what Lucian wants."
Silas and Vyn were ahead, facing a much faster pair of drones. Silas was trying to keep up with both, while Vyn—
Vyn didn’t even use abilities. He just moved. One hand in his coat pocket. The other casually blocking strikes, flipping drones onto the ground with exact minimal force. Not a word. Not a single wasted movement.
Silas grunted, "You could help a little more."
Vyn just tilted his head faintly, then suddenly vanished. The drone that was flanking Silas exploded into the wall behind them. Vyn reappeared exactly where he stood earlier.
Silas didn’t complain again.
Lucian rejoined the rotation, weaving through the urban field like a ghost. His presence was sharp—disruptive in a good way. Evelyn noticed it too.
She turned, tried again to mimic the [Fold Step].
Failed. She stumbled mid-phase. Her foot hit the rubble and almost made her fall.
Lucian appeared beside her just as she caught her balance.
"You’re doing it wrong," he said softly.
Evelyn glared at him. "I know what I’m doing."
"No," Lucian replied, voice calm. "You’re trying to replicate our techniques exactly. But you’re not us. You should be combining them. Splicing them into something new. That’s how your ability works, doesn’t it?"
He didn’t wait for a response.
"Think hybrid. Not mirror."
Then he vanished again.
Evelyn stood there in silence, her brows furrowed, processing what he’d just said.
Reia moved past her and whispered, "He’s got a point."
Silas called out from the top of a broken tower, "Next wave’s coming!"
Athena’s voice rang through the chamber from the upper platform. "Simulated enemy count increasing. Mana sync limiters active now. Let’s see how you adapt."
Lucian folded back behind cover. His chest rose and fell slowly, bangs drifting across his half-lidded eyes. The air shifted.
And then they came—more drones. Smarter. Faster. Coordinated.
Class Zero didn’t flinch.
The real test had just begun.