Back at Lunaria Academy, chaos erupted just as the second-year students ca face-to-face with an army of skeletal soldiers—over three hundred of them clawing their way from the earth like a plague reborn.
The air turned cold as the undead charged forward at a blistering speed, their hollow eyes glowing with eerie blue light. In a heartbeat, battle exploded in front of the academy gates.
With a sharp motion of her hand, Lyra unleashed a slicing crescent of wind. It cleaved through a skeleton's arm, bones scattering like shattered porcelain.
She propelled herself forward, carried by her magic, and blasted a concentrated gale into the skeleton's chest, reducing it to a splintered heap.
A tallic whistle sliced through the air—Dave hurled a massive tal scythe into a cluster of enemies.
It spun like a buzzsaw, tearing through ten skeletons and sending bones flying in all directions.
"You walking piles of garbage, stay dead already!" a lightning mage snarled, arcs of electricity dancing around him.
Twelve bolts crackled into being and shot outward—but the skeletons evaded with uncanny agility. Three of them materialized before him, their bone spears thrusting toward his chest.
An earthen wall erupted just in ti, intercepting the deadly strike. A second later, icy spears rained down from the sky, impaling the skeletons and silencing their rattling growls.
"Dante!" Selene's voice rang out. She stood in the middle of the fray, shadowy tendrils erging from beneath her feet, binding four skeletons in place. Dante pivoted, an earth-forged blade materializing in his hand.
He bent the very ground to his will, rocketing forward in a blink. With two brutal swings, his sword pulverized the four restrained skeletons into dust.
"Behind you!" Charlotte shouted.
Lyra twisted midair. A bone sword grazed her cheek, drawing a thin line of crimson.
"You damn walking fossils!" she yelled, summoning a spiraling gust.
A tornado erupted from her outstretched hand, sweeping across the battlefield and tearing five skeletons apart like paper.
"tal Creation Magic!" Dave bellowed, eyes scanning the battlefield. His breathing was ragged.
'Damn it. I burned through a breakthrough against that irritating commoner earlier, and now this. My core's running dry. If we hadn't been interrupted… I'd have nothing left to give.'
"Spiral Lance!" he roared.
A gigantic, rotating tal lance ford at his side, spinning with such speed that it stirred the dust into a storm.
With a thunderous crack, it shot forward, obliterating twelve skeletons and gouging a trench in the earth that extended into the nearby forest.
"Kuh!" Dave choked on blood, wiping it away with the back of his hand.
"There's no end to them!" a student shouted, barely dodging a descending sword. He vanished in a blink, reappearing behind the attacking skeleton.
With a snarl, he drove a stolen bone sword into its skull. Teleporting again, he erged behind two more and crushed their skulls in tandem.
Nearby, another student raised his arms. Twelve skeletons were wrenched into the air by unseen force, then slamd back down with such intensity that the ground cracked beneath them.
"And I'm running out of mana…" he muttered under his breath, face drenched in sweat.
Two lightning mages zipped across the battlefield like twin cots, hurling arcs of electricity into enemies. Bones exploded wherever they struck.
Further back, Charlotte focused on precision over spectacle. She calmly fired spheres of water, each one bursting upon contact and dismantling skeletons.
A few dodged and crept up behind her—but before they could strike, a sharp shard of tal embedded itself in one of their skulls.
"Why are you holding back?" Dave shouted, fending off a relentless skeleton. Its bone sword clashed with his tal blade, pushing him back with each blow.
"I'm conserving my energy. Sothing doesn't feel right," Charlotte replied, releasing a wave of water that sent a group of skeletons tumbling.
"Doesn't feel right?" Dante barked, his voice sharp with disbelief. "We're being sward by undead monsters!"
Dozens of earth spears ford around him and launched like missiles, striking skeletons—until one appeared unexpectedly from the side, thrusting a spear at his midsection.
Dave's earth wall wasn't fast enough. Dante twisted, the spear slicing through his robe and into his side.
Gritting his teeth, he ford an earthen gauntlet and smashed the skeleton's head to dust.
"Damn it…" he growled, dropping to one knee as blood soaked his side.
"I'm saying it because this all feels wrong," Charlotte said, snapping her fingers. A thin stream of water shot from her palm, piercing a skeleton's skull.
"Why use sheer numbers? First zombies, now skeletons. The zombies were weak, but these ones… What happens if sothing worse cos next?"
"Your logic is trash!" an ice mage snapped, summoning an ice shield that absorbed a sword strike.
He froze the skeleton mid-motion and shattered it into glittering fragnts.
'Still… she might have a point, he admitted internally. I've been burning through my mana way too fast. If this keeps up…'
"Lyra!" Selene called again. Shadows erupted from her feet, ensnaring ten skeletons.
"Wind Magic—Tornado!" Lyra cried, her hands flaring with power. A massive vortex swirled into being, dragging the skeletons upward before scattering their remains like autumn leaves.
With relentless coordination, the students began overwhelming the undead. Their numbers thinned rapidly.
In just five more minutes of furious combat, silence finally returned. The skeletal threat was gone.
Panting and drenched in sweat, the second-years collapsed to their knees, gasping for air. So laughed in disbelief, others just let their weapons drop. Relief washed over them.
Until the ground scread.
"ARGHHHH!" Charlotte shrieked as a blade burst from beneath a student, cleaving him in two before anyone could react.
"On your feet!" soone shouted, eyes wide with horror. Another student gasped, blood spilling from his mouth as a sword impaled him through the chest.
"Damn it all!" Lyra cursed, throwing up a barrier of wind around the group. It lifted them high above the ground for a better view.
And then they saw it.
Fifty towering ogres clawed their way out of the earth, each one grinning savagely, their beady eyes glowing with malice.
They wielded colossal swords and jagged spears, muscles rippling beneath coarse armor.
A suffocating pressure descended over the battlefield.
"This is going to be tough," Selene whispered, her voice trembling. She wasn't alone—every student could feel it.
The ogres were different.
They radiated raw, brutal power.
And they were only just getting started.
___
{A/N}
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