[: Daniel's POV :]

With the students I had saved surrounding me, Silvia, Fendrick, and the others who had teleported with me, all of them stood anxiously as they stared at the shimmering barrier enclosing Zone A.

Their breaths were uneven.

Their eyes were filled with a quiet, desperate hope that I could do something about this.

I could feel it clearly.

They were relying on me again.

The barrier wasn't something crude or hastily constructed.

No, the magic around Zone A pulsed like the lungs of a giant beast.

Every layer of the protective wall was meticulously woven together with high-tier inscription magic and runic architecture sophisticated enough that most Professors in the academy probably couldn't decode it in less than a day.

It was full of spatial Inscriptions, teleportation runes, Time-Limited Runes anchoring and strengthening the dimensional lock.

It restricted trespassers from entering, allowed instructors to forcibly insert students inside… but escaping?

Escaping was nearly impossible.

If someone unskilled tried to brute force their way out, the runes would twist in retaliation, causing spatial distortions and catastrophic blowback that would kill everyone trapped inside.

So yes, this whole thing was a puzzle.

Layers upon layers of interlocking magical constraints that had to be decoded with precision.

One mistake, and the runes would collapse violently.

But we were out of time.

Students were injured and exhausted.

Many were trembling uncontrollably from shock and fear.

Silvia had her arm tightly wrapped around one girl who hadn't stopped crying since we rescued her.

Fendrick's jaw was set, but even he looked pale, one hand clutching his chest as he tried to steady his breathing.

This wasn't a situation where I could sit leisurely and decrypt thousands of runes one by one.

So I used one of the Skills I had only recently acquired.

[: Sigil – Re-Brand :]

– Re-Inscription: Rewrite the essence of any skill or magic within sight.

Enemy abilities are stripped of ownership and re-crafted as extensions of your will.

The instant the sigil activated, the world shifted.

My vision sharpened until the entire barrier, the entire Zone A, turned transparent.

Not to the naked eye, but to the core.

I saw the architecture of magic itself, the binding threads, anchor points, locked instructions, hidden trigger mechanisms, and layered contingencies.

It wasn't just visible.

It was… readable.

Every command embedded into the barrier, it was all laid bare before me.

The students murmured nervously as the sigil flared behind me, its violet pattern spreading like a brand across my shadow.

"Daniel…?" Silvia whispered, almost afraid of the power she was sensing.

Even Fendrick stepped back slightly.

"Bro… what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm rewriting it," I answered simply.

I reached forward, touching what looked like empty air.

But in reality, my fingers pressed against the command structure of the barrier itself.

A soft, crystalline crack echoed through the zone.

Then another.

The magic didn't explode.

It unraveled.

Like threads being pulled out of fabric.

The inscriptions shattered silently, collapsing into motes of light.

The teleportation sequence built into the runes surged forward, unrestricted.

A vortex of spatial energy expanded, swallowing all of us at once.

The world folded and in the next blink, we were standing back at the original starting ground of the Academy's practical exam.

Exactly where we had been before being teleported into Zone A.

"D-Daniel! W–We're back!"

Silvia exclaimed, joy bursting in her voice.

"HOLY SHIT! You actually did it, man!"

Fendrick yelled, nearly grabbing my shoulders and shaking me.

All around us, students cheered loudly.

Some collapsed from relief, others cried openly.

A few even fell onto their knees, clutching the ground as if it were the most reassuring thing they had ever touched.

Their cheers echoed across the night sky.

I should have smiled.

Their relief should have made me feel something positive.

But I didn't.

Not this time.

Because the moment I lifted my head, the moment I looked into the night sky above the Academy, it was painted with blood.

Because there,hovering high above the Academy grounds, was a figure cloaked in shadows, gripping someone by the throat.

Someone I knew.

Someone I had made a promise to protect.

Someone vital to the safety of this world.

My blood turned boiling hot.

It wasn't that I hadn't expected something like this to happen.

I had.

Both Mika and I predicted it.

But not this soon.

Not today.

Not while the students were still here.

This was far earlier than anything we had prepared for.

Fendrick noticed my sudden stillness.

"Daniel? What's—"

Silvia followed my gaze, and her breath hitched.

Some of the students gasped.

Others backed away, fear returning like a crashing wave.

Because the sight before us was terrifying.

A being we couldn't identify, its presence distorting the very air, was floating effortlessly in the sky, holding the person I valued… like a toy.

My fists clenched.

My jaw tightened until it hurt.

My vision darkened around the edges.

And for the first time since arriving at the Academy, I felt the urge to kill with no hesitation.

"Let go of her..." I said with a killing tone.

"Hm? A student…?"

The being tilted its head slowly toward us, its voice dripping with cold amusement.

"Ah… you must be the group of students this academy has nurtured."

His grip tightened around Mika's throat.

"Since you're here already… it wouldn't hurt for all of you to—"

He laughed, cruel and unrestrained.

"—enjoy the spectacle."

The sound of bones grinding reached us.

"D-Dean!" Silvia whispered in horror.

But Mika barely reacted, not because it didn't hurt, but because she didn't have the strength left to scream.

Her one remaining arm trembled as she reached toward me.

"D… Daniel…"

My name left her lips like a dying prayer.

Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth, dripping down her chin and staining the creature's fingers.

Her body hung limp, lifeless if not for the faint sparks flickering in her eyes.

Her other arm...it was gone and completely torn off.

Her clothes were burnt, shredded, smeared with soot and her own blood.

Her breathing was so weak it barely disturbed the air.

And around her...the academy had ceased to exist.

Blocks of land were missing, carved out like someone had stolen pieces of the world itself.

Above us, the sky, once clear and bright—was torn apart by dozens of spatial rifts.

Every gate rippled like a wound struggling to close, and from each wound, beings descended:

Wings of obsidian.

Armor made of star fragments.

Beasts wrapped in divine flame.

Abominations of flesh and cosmic geometry.

A storm of enemies.

A war.

No… a planetary extermination.

I scanned the battlefield below, bodies, rivers of blood, shattered mana constructs, instructors desperately fighting, their hands shaking, their faces pale.

And in the far distance at other location...I felt her, my mother.

Fighting with everything she had, surrounded by Maiya and thousands of soldiers.

They were barely holding.

I pushed my senses further.

The entire world…

Every corner…

Every continent…

Every hidden realm…

All of it was burning.

This was an invasion.

A war that shouldn't exist yet, not now, not at this stage of development.

I clenched my fists as the being above us smirked.

"Oh? You're still conscious, little planet?"

It leaned close to Mika, its voice disturbingly gentle.

"You survived my attack because of that Nexus Heart of yours, didn't you?"

Its smile stretched unnaturally.

"Tch, tch, tch… such a waste. A worthless planet being born with a Nexus Heart.

But it matters not. Soon, it will belong to our Lord."

The creature raised its hand, claws glowing as it reached toward Mika's chest.

And that was enough.

That was FAR more than enough.

[: Absolute Being – Chrono Manipulation :]

Time froze, and the world became a silent painting.

[: Void Step :]

I moved with one step and sntached Mika's with her blood soaked into my wrist.

Then we were back on the ground as time resumed.

And the enemy blinked, not in confusion,

but in genuine disbelief.

"…You…"

Its voice trembled.

"…moved through a temporal lock… in a planet of this grade…?"

"A mortal should not, cannot, hold such a power."

Its shock was real.

But I didn't care.

I held Mika gently, lowering her onto the ground.

Her body shivered uncontrollably.

Her eyes widened as she realized she was alive.

"M-My…" her breath hitched, voice cracking.

"M-My Lucky Prince Charm…!"

She grabbed onto my collar with her remaining arm, pulling herself toward me.

"I-I'm sorry…! I didn't know… I d-didn't know they would come this early!"

Her voice broke, trembling violently.

"I was wrong! I miscalculated! I thought we had more time! I—"

Her tears spilled over, hot and endless, each one shaking her chest as she sobbed.

Her whole body quaked in grief… in guilt… in terror.

She pressed her forehead to my chest and cried like the world was ending around her.

And she blamed herself for it.

"Mika…"

I placed my hand over her head.

"You don't have to apologize."

My voice came out low, steady, absolute.

"This isn't your fault."

Her missing arm regrew instantly as my healing aura surged through her.

Her breathing steadied, just slightly, but she didn't let go of me.

Not yet.

Not when she was shaking so hard.

"Save the details for later," I told her softly.

"Right now… tell me exactly how many invaders there are."

She hiccuped from crying but forced herself to answer.

"Th-There's too many…! And… and the worst part… is…"

Her voice drifted into panic once more.

"Those prideful beings… they allied. ALL of them. Ten factions, ten entire cosmic powers, all at once."

I exhaled slowly.

The world shook with distant explosions.

Silvia, Fendrick, and the students behind me listened in horror.

"Who are the ten?" I asked.

Mika wiped her eyes with her newly formed hand, still trembling as she listed them.

"The Sovereign of Black Dragon, Nova Galactic Empire, Constellation of Whispering Stars, Iron Colossus Legion, Celestial of Radiant Dawn, Tide of Shadows, God of stormforge, Mystic Believers, Sovereign of Apocalypse and Seraphic Order"

There was only pure silence.

Even the students behind me who didn't know what was going on trembled violently.

Some fell to their knees.

Some covered their mouths, unable to breathe.

Even Silvia's hands shook.

Even Fendrick looked like he would faint.

Ten factions.

Not one.

Not two, but 10.

A combined invasion that no world, let alone a young one like ours, could survive.

Mika whispered shakily:

"T-This world… it can't win, Daniel…

Not against them… not against all ten…"

She cried again, softer this time.

She felt broken and opeless.

But I?

I stood.

I turned toward the sky.

Toward the invaders.

Toward the war.

My heart was calm.

My vision was razor sharp.

Because this was finally something I could do without restraint.

I cracked my neck.

Then I smirked.

A slow, deliberate, fearless smirk.

"Let them come," I said.

The air trembled.

The ground cracked.

"And I'll deal with all of them...ever single one of them" I declared with my aura bursting out.

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