The group stood before the Ashen Waters. The Demons didn't seem that surprised most likely because they had seen it many times before, but the others were extremely curious as they looked at the River.

The Ashen Waters stretched from horizon to horizon. The river looked more like a wound carved into the land than a normal river, the entire environment was completely warped, black abyssal veins squiggling around the river.

The actual waters flowed extremely slowly, like a hungry inevitability. The water surface was a combination of death-stained grey and abyssal black, streaked with faint lines of purple corruption that pulsed like diseased veins.

The closer they reached to the waters, the atmosphere around them warped as well. The air above and around the water had perpetual mist surrounding it, making every breath taste with a faint sense of rust and burned bones.

The air above the water seethed with a perpetual mist, heavy and metallic on the tongue. Every breath tasted faintly of rust and burned bone.

The river did not have the roars reminiscent of natural waters; instead the waters whispered an endless chorus of drowned voices curling through the fog.

Shapes writhed beneath the surface. Some were no larger than hunting dogs, their spined backs breaking the water for a heartbeat before slipping under again.

Others were vast silhouettes, shifting masses that churned the depths and sent lazy waves lapping against the ashen shore.

Each ripple left behind a trail of black foam that hissed and smoked as it touched the rocks, eating into the stone like acid.

Closer to the bank, the soil had long since lost any claim to life. The ground was slick and pitted, etched with old claw marks that had fused into obsidian scars.

Skeletal remains jutted from the mud—half-melted ribcages, skulls locked in eternal screams, the bones of warriors from centuries past who had tried to tame this place and failed.

Even the light here was wrong. The sky above the river shimmered with a dull, twilight glow, though no sun shone through the choking mist. It was as if the river itself had stolen the day and held it prisoner beneath its poisonous tide.

A single sound cut through the oppressive quiet.

~SCHLK~SCHLK!~

The water broke as something surfaced. A creature the size of a carriage rose slowly from the depths, its skin slick with black slime.

It had the body of a serpent but with limbs, four jointed arms ending in hooklike talons. Rows of lamp-like eyes burned along its skull, each iris a molten amber that reflected the group in miniature.

When it opened its jaws, Albedo glimpsed not one throat but many, a nest of needle-lined maws writhing inside like feeding eels.

The thing hissed, and the mist trembled as if recoiling from its breath while at the same time, smaller creatures began to stir around that beast.

Slender, eel-shaped horrors with jagged fins leapt from the water, snapping at one another. Some crawled onto the black stones, their slick bodies steaming where the river's ichor dripped from their fangs.

A calm, measured voice broke the tension.

"Magnificent, is it not?"

Arannis stood a short distance away atop a twisted basalt outcrop, his emerald robes untouched by the damp air. Raphaeline hovered beside him, her black wings half-unfurled, violet eyes glimmering faintly in the gloom.

Several other professors flanked them, their combined auras holding the encroaching creatures at bay, for now.

Arannis swept his gaze across humans, demons, and elves alike, "Long gone are the days this River was used in the Abyssal Water, What you see before you is the result of centuries of corruption—monsters born from drowned soldiers, twisted fauna, and the river itself learning to hunger."

As if to emphasize his words, a column of water exploded upward a hundred paces away. Something titanic rolled beneath the surface, leaving a whirlpool the size of a small village in its wake.

The sound was a roar, deep and resonant, like a cavern collapsing into itself.

"The deeper you go," Arannis continued, his voice perfectly steady, "the stronger the corruption and the creatures that dwell within. Your goal is the Amethyst Depths—a marker roughly two leagues downstream. There, you will find a shattered obelisk of violet crystal. Touch it, and the trial will recognize your success."

He turned his gaze first to the demons, then to the elves, and finally to the gathered humans.

"Students of the Demon Academy, the path is yours to tread whenever you wish. Those of the Elven Courts and the Human Empire, you are free to enter at will. You may go alone or in groups. Cooperation is allowed but not required. Only results matter."

A faint, razor-edged smile touched his lips, "Survive. Or be forgotten by the river."

Behind him, Raphaeline inclined her head ever so slightly. "Remember," she said, her low voice carrying a velvet undertone that somehow cut through the hiss of the water, "the river recognizes fear. Show weakness, and it will not simply kill you. It will keep you."

Several Human and Elven students flinched. Even some demons swallowed hard.

Arannis raised his hand. A surge of emerald light flickered once, forming a faint sigil in the mist, a stylized crystal spire glowing violet, "This will appear before you when you near the Amethyst marker. It is your only sign that the trial is complete. Do not mistake false lights for this signal. The river is clever."

He lowered his hand and looked over them all once more, his eyes resting a fraction longer on Albedo. Whatever passed in that glance was unreadable, but Albedo felt the faintest tickle of challenge beneath the elf's serene mask.

"Good luck," Arannis said simply.

Without further ceremony, the High Elf stepped back. His form dissolved into green motes of light, vanishing into the heavy air.

Raphaeline followed, her wings folding once before she disappeared in a swirl of violet flame. The remaining professors exchanged brief nods and faded in similar fashion, leaving only a thin aftertaste of overwhelming mana in the mist.

Silence reclaimed the black shore.

The students were alone with the river.

For a long moment no one moved. The only sound was the slow lap of corrupted water against the stones and the distant groan of unseen leviathans stirring beneath the surface.

Zeus finally broke the tension with a sharp exhale. "Well," he muttered, hefting his axe onto his shoulder, "I guess that's our cue."

A demon youth snorted, crimson eyes flashing. "Try to keep up, human. The Amethyst Depths aren't waiting for stragglers." Without another word he stepped toward the water, black flames kindling around his boots as he prepared to leap onto a half-submerged stone path.

Others followed while Albedo watched the river flow for a couple seconds while behind him, Elara whispered, "Albedo…"

He turned his head slightly. Her green eyes trembled with worry but held no fear, only trust.

"Stay close," he said quietly, voice cutting through the low hiss of the river.

He stepped forward.

The corrupted soil groaned beneath his boots, a sound like bones grinding. The air tasted sharper now, every breath searing his lungs with a faint metallic burn.

Havoc and Ruin materialized in his hands with a low thrum of mana.

~PLUNK!~

A single ripple broke the stillness. Then another. The water bulged, and something black surged upward with terrifying speed.

A beast erupted from the surface, a monstrous amphibian, its body slick with acid-slick slime.

It had the grotesque shape of a bloated toad fused with a snapping turtle, its cracked shell veined with pulsing purple light.

From its mouth spilled a tongue like a chain of barbed tentacles, each tip sizzling where droplets struck the stones.

The creature's eyes, six of them, set unevenly along its skull, locked on Albedo.

~SKRRRREEEEEEE!!!~

The scream split the air like tearing metal. Mist recoiled, and a wave of oily water surged forward, laced with a black foam that hissed where it touched rock.

"Contact!" Zeus barked somewhere behind him, but Albedo was already moving.

His eyes glowed with the cold geometry of Source Code. Lines of violet fractals shimmered across his irises as time seemed to slow as he raised both weapons and fired.

~BANG~BANG!~BANG!~

The first volley ripped through the mist in a blaze of crimson fire. Bullets forged of condensed mana struck the creature's eyes with surgical precision.

Two burst like overripe fruit, splattering acidic ichor across the bank, causing the monster to shriek and lunge at him, its tentacled tongue lashing outward like a cluster of serrated whips.

Albedo slid to the side, boots skidding across slick obsidian. Ruin came up, the barrel flashing with cold silver light.

~CRACK!~

A singular shot tore through the tentacles, severing three in a single line of perfect symmetry.

The fragments writhed midair before dissolving into steaming sludge.

The beast reared back, but Albedo didn't give it the chance to recover.

"Graviton Mode."

Havoc's frame pulsed once, its runes igniting with a deep violet glow as Albedo fired, hitting the creature and causing its body to slam into the stones as though an invisible hand had seized it and dragged it downward.

It flailed, limbs scraping deep grooves into the ashen bank.

Albedo leapt forward, crossing the remaining distance in a single bound. Both pistols flared with mirrored arcs of black and crimson light.

~BANG~BANG~BANG~BANG!~

Each shot hammered into the beast's skull, the combined force collapsing bone and shell alike.

The final bullet struck the pulsing vein of corruption along its neck.

The monster convulsed violently, then detonated in a burst of ash and black vapor.

The explosion sent a spray of acid and corrupted mist outward, but Albedo's aura flared instinctively, a shimmering barrier of violet code dissipating the deadly rain before it could touch him.

Silence followed, broken only by the soft hiss of boiling water. Behind him, the others stood frozen for a heartbeat. Even the demons, so quick to posture before, stared with tight jaws and wide eyes, once again remembering how he effortlessly dispatched Valerian.

Zeus gave a sharp grin, hefting his axe. "Well, that's one hell of a warm-up."

Albedo exhaled slowly, his eyes never leaving the shifting black waters. Shapes moved beneath the surface, dozens of them, drawn by the sound of battle.

"Stay alert," he said, voice calm but edged with quiet command. "That was just the first wave."

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