The whole Celestia Academy was in a frenzy—a sea of people rushed in from every direction. All the Summoners had received the alert, and those who could make it showed up right away.
The Elder in charge of the newcors gathered everyone in the academy's outer courtyard, where ergency etings were held. This kind of situation only happened when a major threat was approaching.
An hour later, millions were already waiting.
Once the flow of people finally stopped, a Mannaz with a body covered in reddish fur appeared in the sky. He was riding a bluish flying beast that looked like a majestic ice eagle.
Everyone below watched him land on a high platform. This was a well-known and respected Summoner nad Ceug. He and his Spiritual Guardian were famous as "The Impenetrable Ice Shield."
His partner's blessing was support-type, specialized in creating ice barriers. The two of them could hold their ground alone in the middle of enemy territory for a long ti—and even when they ran out of energy, they could still retreat in one piece.
But... the man was missing an arm, and his entire body was covered in deep wounds, exuding a faint purple aura. Most of the wounds had partially closed, but so were still wide open.
For regular folks, getting wounded by a Risen usually ant the end—either a quick death or turning into one of them. But for a Summoner, it was more like a curse that refused to heal.
If left untreated, the wound beca like a spreading poison. Once it reached a certain point, there was no going back—only the transformation into a Risen. But in battle, finding ti to retreat and heal was pure luck.
Since there were no healers capable of purifying it, the only way to recover was to pop high-grade pills one after another—and even then, healing took forever.
That's why almost all support-type Spiritual Guardians focused on blessings that created barriers or other defensive powers. On top of that, they'd buy tons of gear to escape in ergencies.
As for fighters and mages, they only attacked when they were sure they wouldn't get surrounded and could end the fight fast.
Tanks and Mystics were the rarest types of Spiritual Guardians. Tanks had to fight while protecting their Summoner—any slip-up and it was ga over. Mystics were versatile and could do a bit of everything, but they weren't great at anything, which could be risky.
Back in the courtyard, everyone who recognized Ceug tensed up at the sight of his injuries.
What the hell had done that to him? A powerful Risen was easy to detect when it moved—there shouldn't have been any chance of getting caught off guard.
Ceug looked over the crowd like he didn't have a second to waste. His eyes seed to be searching for the strongest Summoners, but when he saw the actual situation, he let out a heavy, frustrated sigh.
"Shit... only ten thousand with three rings available? How the fuck is that even possible?"
He then turned toward the sa black-scaled woman who had welcod Niara when she ca out of the dungeon. She held a high rank in Celestia Academy, a Summoner with authority close to that of an Elder.
She spoke: "A few days ago, there was a massive battle to protect the galaxy's northern region. We won with minimal losses, and after that, all high-level Spiritual Guardians returned ho to absorb their gains."
Darian heard and understood. Rings could only be ford in the original universe, after fighting and defeating many Risen. Spiritual Guardians weren't required to stay the full 30 days in this training universe—after a major win, they could choose to go back and absorb what they'd earned.
"When will the next wave of Spiritual Guardians arrive?" Ceug asked quickly.
"In five days. It'll be a group from planet Cindor. Most likely, so will have five or six rings," she replied fast.
"Fuck... we don't have that kind of ti," Ceug growled, clenching the fist of his only arm.
"I'm the only one with a six-ring Spiritual Guardian available. I'll go back and fight. I need to use the Celestial Diagram to recover, so get everyone ready. We leave in six hours. I'll be in command."
The woman nodded, clearly stressed. Everyone in the crowd heard it, and so turned pale. He was the only Summoner at that level? That couldn't be true.
The sharp ones quickly put the pieces together. There should always be at least a dozen Summoners with six rings in this universe—sotis even two or three stronger ones.
Judging by this man's condition, it ant powerful Risen had attacked several parts of the galaxy at the sa ti, trying to break through. That forced the other Summoners to hold them back on multiple fronts. That's why he was the only one available—everyone else was tied up.
Reinforcents wouldn't make it in ti. That ant the weaker ones would have to take responsibility—and sacrifice themselves in numbers to make up for the lack of power.
Even worse... by the rules... it didn't matter if you were a newbie or a veteran with multiple rings. If sothing big went down and the orders were given, you couldn't run—you could only fight and pray you made it out alive.
Ceug turned to the crowd:
"I'll be blunt. For so of you, this might be a huge opportunity. For most... a fucking disaster. An Abyss Nest has appeared in the northeast of the galaxy. We need to destroy it now, before it's too late. Get everything ready within six hours. Don't hold anything back—or you won't get a second chance to regret it."
Yeah... the dreaded order was given. Now everyone would fight to the end.
As soon as Ceug finished speaking, he turned around and left.
Hidden in the crowd, a small slug was staring at his back... then its eyes went distant and unfocused...
Everyone started moving, rushing toward the comrcial district to buy as many supplies as they could.
Niara and Darian stood still in the middle of the crowd. A few minutes later, she felt Darian return to normal.
'I don't know anything about this nest...' he muttered, asking, but she could tell his voice was tense as hell.
She explained ntally:
'The Abyss Nest is a rare event that happens once every thousand years. It's a region where the miasma warps space, creating a channel to another part of the universe. At first, the channel's unstable, so only low-level Risen can co through. But every hour, it gets more solid, and stronger creatures can enter. In three days, Risen capable of killing a six-ring Spiritual Guardian will start pouring out.'
She clenched her fists, and a wild light sparked in her eyes.
'The only solution is to invade the channel. Inside, there's sothing like a bridge crawling with enemies guarding it. All of them have to be wiped out so we can destroy both the bridge and the channel. There's a cap on how many enemies can be on the bridge at once, but... this isn't a fight you win. The entire universe is crawling with Risen. The Summoners have to take advantage of the limited enemy numbers and hit them all at once with everything they've got. Their numbers are endless and will always be replenished, but our forces have a very clear limit.'
'In the past, entire galaxies were lost because an Abyss Nest showed up and they failed to destroy it in ti. Everything has to be done precisely, all together, without wasting energy. That's why... even if everyone dies, if the Nest is destroyed, it's a win.'
Darian understood. There were more strong Risen than there were Spiritual Guardians — that was just a fact.
And around the last surviving galaxy in the universe, there was a barrier that stopped those things from showing up in big waves.
The weaker ones could attack almost freely. But the ones stronger than a three-ring Spiritual Guardian could only strike at certain tis, coming in smaller groups from opposite directions. If the channel from the Nest beca stable, though, everything would change.
Darian got the logic. Creating that Nest must've cost the enemy a lot, so they only ever acted together to pull it off.
The Spiritual Guardians who had just won that battle were set up... that win was probably on purpose, because the Risen knew they'd go ho and the universe would be short on powerful defenders for a few days...
There was no way the enemy could've pulled this off without solid inside info. Which ant the traitors helped.
There always had to be a group of powerful Spiritual Guardians stationed around the galaxy, holding back those few strong Risen that could sneak through from ti to ti. Right now, if they all gathered in one place to destroy the Nest, those few Risen would have a clear path to invade from other directions.
The Risen were like a nasty virus — once inside, they'd multiply using people from the galaxy, and then you'd never stop them.
Niara finished explaining and waited to hear Darian's decision. She turned toward his shoulder and saw him silent, deep in thought.
'What's wrong?'
Darian took a deep breath and said, 'That guy Ceug... he's not telling the truth... if we... no — everyone's going to die.'
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