The second wave ca in hard.
Drones shot out of the rising mist like wolves, sleek fras clicking over the cracked pavent, sensors blinking red under the dim training lights. They weren’t basic anymore. These moved with real tracking, real speed—advanced behavior code. Close to live combat.
Lucian didn’t blink.
His eyes stayed half-lidded, calm, hands loose at his sides.
One blink.
He moved.
A flash of blue light and he was gone from his spot—[Fold Step]—reappearing behind one of the incoming units. A clean arc of compressed force cracked across the drone’s midsection. No wasted motion. No sound. Just tal splitting open and sparking as it hit the floor in two twitching halves.
Lucian turned before it hit the ground.
He didn’t break pace. Slipped forward again, each step light, deliberate. Two more drones tried to flank from the side. His finger twitched.
[Spatial Knot.]
The air around them distorted. The floor warped for a second. Both drones halted mid-charge, twisted violently inward, and collapsed.
He exhaled once and stepped through the mist.
Farther left, Reia was handling her own with no flash or tricks. No clones. Just clean illusion weaving, the kind that didn’t rely on numbers—just confusion. Her footwork was sharp, each step placed like she knew where the enemy would go before they did.
One drone lunged—its blade-arm whipping toward her neck.
She stepped off-line.
The edge passed clean by.
Then she shifted her stance and pushed forward, her hand glowing faint blue. Not a blast. Not an explosion. Just enough distortion to blind the drone’s sensors.
It stumbled.
She spun once and drove her knee into its side, then finished it with a precise mana burst to the core. Clean hit. Minimal flare. Reia didn’t need to show off.
She looked ahead. Another two closing in.
She didn’t flinch.
Evelyn, a few ters to the rear, was trying sothing else.
No more copying technique by technique. She’d stopped pretending to be anyone else.
Instead, she rged it—her own kinetic base wrapped around traces of the light and fire she’d mimicked before. It was rough. It didn’t hum like Reia’s. But it held.
She pulled it tight and launched a spinning arc forward. It struck low, hit the legs of a drone, and broke its stance.
Reia stepped in and finished it without saying a word.
"...Thanks," Evelyn muttered, a little breathless.
Reia didn’t respond either. Just nodded and moved forward.
On the other side of the field, Silas was having a harder ti. His displacent blades flickered in and out with every swing. He managed to keep two drones busy, but they were pushing harder than before. The mont he staggered, one dove low and nearly clipped his thigh.
Then it exploded mid-lunge.
Vyn was still standing where he always did—hands in his coat pockets, eyes dull.
He’d moved once.
That was enough.
Silas didn’t complain. He just steadied his breathing and reset.
Athena watched them all from the upper platform. Eyes sharp. Arms folded. She said nothing, but she didn’t need to.
Her gaze stayed on Lucian for a mont longer than the others.
He hadn’t been touched once. His mana hadn’t even dipped. His movents were calculated, surgical. Not showing off. Just efficient. Lethal if needed.
When the next drone lunged from the shadows behind Evelyn, he didn’t even look.
His arm rose lazily—[Dinsional Claw] shot out in a curved line and split the machine clean through. It dropped behind her in pieces before she even noticed.
She turned, blinked once.
Lucian was already walking away.
Then the system changed.
A new presence dropped into the field—taller, thicker armored plating, a low hum vibrating through its core.
Not a basic drone.
An Elite-class unit.
Heavier, faster, aner.
It stepped down like it knew it was stronger than everything around it.
Athena finally spoke. "Elite Class introduced. Handle it."
Lucian stopped walking. He tilted his head slightly.
Then smiled, just barely.
The unit locked onto Reia first. She didn’t run. Just slid back to bait its first swing. The impact cracked the pavent—dense, wide-angle sweep.
Reia side-stepped and sent a rapid pulse at its core. Didn’t pierce.
"Harder shell," she muttered.
Lucian was already moving.
He [Fold Stepped] above it, flipped once, and ca down directly onto its back.
He didn’t use claws. Just pressed one hand against the armor.
[Spatial Anchor – Lock.]
The machine froze mid-motion, balance flickering as Lucian dropped off and landed beside it.
"Now."
Evelyn didn’t wait. She threw her new mana burst straight into the Elite’s exposed sensor.
It sparked violently, staggering.
Lucian stepped in again, this ti twisting his wrist.
[Compression Claw – Variant.]
The air scread for half a second. Then the Elite cracked open like a snapped spine, body folding in half with an implosive crush.
f.(r)eew ebnov\ll
Silence.
No new enemies.
The simulation ended.
[Phase 2 Complete.]
The lights above reset, turning soft white again. The terrain panels withdrew, the debris lting back into the floor.
Everything turned still.
Athena walked down from the upper platform without a word at first. Her boots echoed on the clean floor as she passed each of them.
"You’ll get review files later," she said calmly. "Use them. Figure out your gaps."
She looked at Evelyn. "You stopped mimicking."
Then at Reia. "Clean execution."
She passed Vyn without saying anything.
Finally, she paused next to Lucian for a mont.
Said nothing.
Then walked off toward the exit.
Just before leaving, she spoke without turning around—
"Tomorrow is combat against real opponents. Class Thirteen. Class Six. Ranked matches. Don’t embarrass ."
The door slid shut behind her.
Reia sat on the edge of a pillar, hair damp from sweat, cooling down.
"You know she was watching you the whole ti, right?"
Lucian shrugged. "She watches everyone."
"No. She watches you."
He didn’t reply. Just leaned against the wall and started peeling off his gloves.
Evelyn sat on the floor, eyes still on her hand where her mana spark was slowly fading.
"That Elite-class thing," she said quietly. "You broke it like it was nothing."
Lucian looked at her for a second. "It was slow."
"You think that was slow?"
He nodded once. "Too predictable."
She let out a breath and didn’t say more.
Silas was lying on his back near Vyn now, one arm over his eyes.
"That was rough," he mumbled. "My knees are still shaking."
Vyn didn’t move. Didn’t talk.
Just stared up at the ceiling, his eyes looking half asleep.
"You gonna talk or what?" Silas asked.
Vyn finally spoke, barely above a whisper.
"...Too much noise."
Silas blinked. "Huh?"
But Vyn was already quiet again.
Lucian stood and started walking toward the exit.
Reia followed a second later.
Evelyn stood slowly, dusted her pants off, and glanced at the others. "We getting food or what?"
Silas raised a hand weakly. "Ran. I vote ran."
Lucian didn’t stop. "Fine. But I’m not carrying you if you pass out."
"I’ll crawl," Silas muttered.
Vyn stayed still for a while. Then got up without a word and followed them.
The hallway outside was quiet. Just the soft buzz of overhead lights and the low hum of the training floor powering down behind them.
Zenith Week was here.
And for Class Zero, this was just the start.
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