Levi was dragged through Chaotic Star Academy's corridors by the two Fiend Warrior guards, his feet barely touching the ground as they maintained a grip that allowed no resistance. Students scattered as they passed, their eyes widening with shock and curiosity.
"Is that the first-year who killed two students?"
"I heard he's being sent to the Abyss!"
"The Hellfrozen Abyss? For six months? He's dead for sure."
"What did he do to deserve 'that' punishnt?"
The whispers followed them like a plague, but Levi kept his expression neutral. He wouldn't give these spectators the satisfaction of seeing fear or regret on his face.
The guards led him to a section of the academy he'd never seen before—the Disciplinary Enforcent Wing. Unlike the beautiful gardens and elegant architecture of the main campus, this area was stark and utilitarian. Gray stone walls. Minimal decoration. The only embellishnts were formation arrays that pulsed with power designed to suppress cultivation and prevent escape.
They descended a long staircase that spiraled downward into the earth. Down, down, down they went, passing level after level of what Levi assud were normal prison cells for students who'd committed minor infractions.
But they didn't stop at those levels. They kept descending.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of stairs, they reached a massive door constructed from so kind of black tal that seed to absorb light rather than reflect it. Runic inscriptions covered every surface, their anings beyond Levi's current understanding but clearly representing incredibly powerful sealing formations.
One of the guards—a stern-faced woman with a scar across her left cheek—finally spoke. "Student Levi Borne, you have been sentenced to six months confinent in the Hellfrozen Abyss as punishnt for killing two fellow students. Do you understand the terms of your sentence?"
"I understand," Levi replied evenly.
"Then know this," the second guard added, his voice like grinding stone. "The Abyss is a contained dinsional fragnt connected to our world through this gateway. Within it, you will find yourself unable to use Astra energy or activate your talents. Only your physical body will function normally."
"You will be fed once per month," the female guard continued. "The food will be delivered through a spatial portal at a randomized location within the Abyss. If you're not there when it appears, you miss that month's al."
"The Abyss contains other prisoners," the male guard said grimly. "So are academy students who committed grave cris. Others are captured criminals from the outside world. Still others are dinsional beasts that proved too dangerous to kill but too valuable to completely destroy. All of them will be stronger than you physically, and none of them will hesitate to kill you for food, territory, or simple entertainnt."
"If you die," the female guard concluded, "your body will be retrieved and returned to your family with academy honors as befits a student who faced judgnt. If you survive the full six months, you will be released and permitted to resu your academy studies. Do you have any questions?"
Levi had many questions, but he could see from their expressions that further delay was pointless. "No questions."
"Then step through the gate."
The guards made complex hand seals in perfect synchronization, and the runic inscriptions on the black door blazed with crimson light. The door didn't open—instead, its center transford into a swirling vortex of darkness that seed to lead into absolute void.
Levi took a deep breath, reached into his pocket to give Luna and Aurelia gentle scratches—they squeaked worriedly, sensing the danger ahead—then straightened his shoulders and walked toward the portal.
Just before he entered, the male guard spoke one last ti. "For what it's worth, kid… good luck. You'll need it."
Levi nodded once, then stepped into the darkness.
The sensation was unlike any dinsional portal he'd experienced before. Instead of the usual squeezing and stretching, this felt like falling through infinite space while simultaneously being compressed into a single point. His senses scread contradictory information—up was down, hot was cold, sound beca taste and sight beca touch.
Then, abruptly, it ended.
"Thud."
Levi landed on hard-packed earth, his knees bending automatically to absorb the impact. He straightened and looked around, his enhanced senses imdiately cataloging his surroundings.
The Hellfrozen Abyss was… wrong.
The sky, if it could be called that, was a roiling mass of gray and black clouds that seed frozen in place mid-churn. No sun, no moon, no stars—just perpetual twilight that provided barely enough light to see.
The landscape was a nightmare of contradictions. To his left, a frozen wasteland stretched endlessly, ice formations jutting from the ground like crystalline spears. To his right, a volcanic region blazed with heat, rivers of lava flowing in defiance of the nearby ice. Ahead, a dense forest of petrified trees stood silent and dead. Behind him, a mountain range that seed to float disconnected from the ground itself.
The temperature fluctuated wildly. One mont, Levi felt cold enough that his breath misted in the air. The next mont, heat washed over him like standing too close to a forge. The transitions happened randomly, without pattern or warning.
And the silence. The terrible, oppressive silence broken only by distant sounds that might have been wind, might have been screams, might have been sothing else entirely.
Levi imdiately checked his internal state and felt his heart sink.
His Astra energy was still present in his body, but it was completely inert. Like trying to move a limb that had gone numb—he could sense it was there, but couldn't access or manipulate it at all.
His bloodlines—both the Tiger and the Asura—were similarly locked. He could feel their presence in his cells, but attempting to activate them produced nothing.
Even his system interface had gone gray, most functions displaying error ssages.
[System Alert: Astra-based functions disabled due to dinsional suppression]
[Physical enhancent active: 1x multiplier only]
[Regeneration active: Reduced to baseline human levels]
[Warning: Survival mode engaged. Conservation of energy critical.]
The only things still functioning normally were his physical body and his mind. No supernatural healing. No enhanced strength beyond what his training had naturally developed. No special abilities whatsoever.
He was, for all practical purposes, reduced to a peak human athlete with excellent combat training. In a prison full of physically enhanced criminals and dinsional beasts who'd adapted to this environnt for years or even decades.
'Well,' Levi thought grimly, reaching down to touch his saber and confirming it was still secured at his waist. 'This is going to be interesting.'
Luna squeaked from his pocket, her small voice carrying worry and fear. Aurelia chirped as well, the Golden Wyvern cub pressing against his chest seeking comfort.
"It's okay," Levi whispered to them. "We'll survive this. We've survived worse."
That was a lie. They hadn't survived worse. But he needed to believe it, and more importantly, his companions needed to believe it too.
Levi began walking, choosing a direction at random since he had no map, no guide, and no way to know which direction might be safer. His enhanced senses—physical, not supernatural—scanned constantly for threats.
He'd taken perhaps fifty steps when he heard the first sound that wasn't environntal.
Footsteps.
Multiple sets of footsteps, approaching from different directions.
Levi's hand moved to his saber's handle as figures erged from behind ice formations, petrified trees, and lava-ward rocks.
Five people, all of them looking far more adapted to this environnt than Levi. Their clothes were ragged but functional. Their bodies showed the lean, hard muscle of people who'd survived in harsh conditions for extended periods. Their eyes held the calculating predatory intelligence of apex hunters.
The apparent leader—a tall man with a shaved head and a scar running from his left ear to his chin—smiled, revealing teeth that had been filed to points.
"Well, well," the man said, his voice carrying an accent Levi didn't recognize. "Fresh at. And a pretty young thing at that. Boys, looks like we're eating well this month."
The other four laughed, spreading out to encircle Levi. Their hands moved to weapons—crude but effective clubs, sharpened bones, even a rusted sword that looked like it had been scavenged from a previous victim.
Levi's expression remained calm as he drew his Severing Abyss saber. The weapon felt heavier without Astra energy flowing through it, but it was still sharp, still functional, still deadly in the right hands.
"Last chance," Levi said quietly. "Walk away now, and nobody dies today."
The leader's smile widened. "Oh, I like this one! He's got spirit! That'll make breaking him so much more fun. Boys—take him alive. I want to enjoy this slowly."
The five prisoners charged as one, their coordinated movent suggesting they'd done this many tis before.
And Levi, stripped of his supernatural advantages but not his skills, t their charge head-on.
'Welco to hell,' he thought grimly. 'Let's see who survives.'
The leader's smile widened. "Oh, I like this one! He's got spirit! That'll make breaking him so much more fun. Boys—take him alive. I want to enjoy this slowly."
The five prisoners charged as one, their coordinated movent suggesting they'd done this many tis before.
And Levi, stripped of his supernatural advantages but not his skills, t their charge head-on.
'Welco to hell,' he thought grimly. 'Let's see who survives.'
Reviews
All reviews (0)