"Students, get back in line with your teammates. I’ll begin teleporting you to your designated areas now," Miss Celia announced, her voice clear and commanding as it echoed across the plaza.
I let out a long sigh.
Yeah, no way in hell was I about to waste precious seconds explaining that Mia was my sister. It always felt weird, awkward even. There was no good way to phrase "that’s my blood-related sister, not my secret yandere ex" when the girl in question was glaring daggers at Kaelira like she was a howrecker.
And I knew—I just knew—Kaelira didn’t believe the sister act either. Her side-glances scread silent disbelief. I could practically hear the "liar" she was muttering in her head.
I ignored both of them—their gazes, their vibes, their whole thing—and moved into position in the teleportation queue like a good little soldier.
One by one, the teams were called up and sent off in flashes of magical light, vanishing into swirling portals conjured by Miss Celia herself. When our team’s na ca up.
Miss Celia looked particularly smug.
She leaned in slightly as I approached, her voice low and teasing near my ear. "How do you like your group? Must be calming, traveling with your sister, right?"
My jaw tightened.
There was a perfectly good reason why so students plotted revenge on their teachers.
With the most professional fake smile I could muster, I answered, "Miss Celia, ti is of the essence. How about you do your job?"
She scoffed with theatrical disappointnt and opened the portal with a wave of her hand.
I stepped into it without another word, not sparing her a glance.
The world warped. The sensation was like slipping through cold silk—smooth, but not exactly pleasant. When my vision cleared, I was standing in front of a massive concrete wall. It towered over the landscape like the outer shell of a fortress, grim and utilitarian.
Behind were unfamiliar buildings. Either way, this wasn’t anywhere near the Plaza. We had been sent very far from the original location.
Within seconds, the rest of the group followed, erging through the portal in quick succession—Kaelira first, then Mia, and finally Verena. Each of them looked around, taking in the forest that stretched out in front of us. It wasn’t dense.
The trees were white-barked, birch-like, their leaves fluttering lightly. There was barely any coverage. A terrible spot for an ambush or stealth, but that was our battlefield.
Before any tension could spiral out of control between the trio, I decided to take charge. "Alright," I said, turning to them, "here’s the plan. We stay smart. I’ll go ahead into the forest and scout. You three stay back here and shout if you see anything trying to sneak up on ."
Mia narrowed her eyes. "Isn’t that too dangerous? You’re going alone? At least take soone with you. Verena could—"
"Nope." I cut her off mid-sentence, thrusting a hand in front of her face. "No. Absolutely not. I’d rather die than go anywhere with this bitch. And I swear that on you, Mia."
That caught her off guard. She blinked, brows furrowing in frustration. "Okay... if you’re that stubborn, then at least take... what was her na again? Kali? Kaelu?"
"Kaelira," she corrected crisply, not bothering to hide her annoyance.
I ran a hand through my hair, already exhausted. "Mia, look. I’m being serious. I want her—" I gestured toward Kaelira "—to stay with you. To protect you. I can handle whatever’s out there. But you? I don’t trust Verena to guard a rock. She’s weak as hell."
Verena, who had been quietly seething, finally snapped. "At least try to be subtle, you fuck! You’re just openly antagonizing now?"
I turned to her, voice flat, eting her eyes without blinking. "Yeah, I am. So what? What the hell are you going to do about it? You’re useless in a fight. The only reason you’re even here is probably because Miss Celia wanted to make my day miserable. Just stay out of the way."
Her jaw clenched. She looked like she wanted to argue, but she didn’t. My words were cruel, but they weren’t wrong. She couldn’t refute what was true.
I turned back to Kaelira, this ti with a softer look. "I know it’s a pain, and I’m sorry. But please—watch Mia. Verena can die for all I care, but my sister... she can’t. I’m trusting you with her."
Kaelira t my gaze for a long mont. Her expression shifted, the sharpness fading just a little. "Don’t worry," she said. "I know what it feels like to lose soone. I’ll keep her safe. I promise."
I nodded, casting one last glance behind . "Alright, Mia. Take care of yourself. I’ll be back after purging a few monsters—just a quick cleanup job."
With that, I activated [Phantom Surge].
A flash of violet light coiled around my legs as my form blurred into motion, blasting away from the stone wall and into the waiting arms of the forest. Trees blurred past , streaks of green and white. The world slowed around while I moved like lightning through it.
For the first ten minutes, it was peaceful. Almost too peaceful. No birds. No chirps. No beasts.
Just stillness.
Then, twenty minutes in, that stillness deepened, thickening like a fog around my senses. The trees felt... quieter. Thinner. The canopy above no longer danced with light.
The deeper I went, the numb-er the atmosphere beca—like soone had drained all life from the area.
After what must’ve been thirty minutes, I finally saw it.
A tear in the world.
The Rift.
A purplish-black scar suspended in the air, hovering like a gaping wound in reality. It pulsed—gently, like a heartbeat. The grass had wilted. The trees around it were blackened and brittle.
It felt alive.
Of course, that was probably just my ani brain at work. Purplish-black? Pulsating? Clearly evil and corrupted, right? Textbook villain entrance material.
Still, I wasn’t stupid. I kept a few ters of distance and made damn sure not to touch it. I had no interest in learning firsthand whether that thing sucked souls, corrupted limbs, or spat out demons with daddy issues.
But just as I began to observe it more carefully, I felt a disturbance behind .
Sothing was approaching.
No—it was already here.
I turned, slowly, feeling the shift in the air. The pressure of being watched settled on my shoulders like a cold hand.
A notification flickered before my eyes.
« Spawn of Vorr’Kael »
Type: Thrall
Rank: ★★★
Alignnt: Aggressive
Drop: N/A
« Close »
Sa naming. Different form.
This one resembled a bear—if a bear was made of obsidian, dipped in tar, and injected with enough steroids to crush a truck.
Its body was bloated and cracked, black fur clumped in patches, with bluish fissures running across its shoulders and back. Its face was twisted—like soone had tried to reassemble it after smashing it with a hamr.
And worst of all?
Its mouth.
Half of it was torn off. Jagged, blackened teeth jutted out like broken glass, while thick, stringy saliva dripped from its gaping maw, sizzling the grass below. It circled slowly, eyes locked onto mine, never blinking.
Only its breathing and the crunch of dead branches beneath its feet made any sound.
The jungle, otherwise, was silent.
Unnaturally so.
I sighed and extended my hands. "Alright, let’s not waste ti."
With a flick of my fingers, [Threaded Control] activated.
Fine strands of shimring athyst mana shot from my fingertips, slithering along the ground like serpents. They weaved through roots and rocks, wrapping around trees and burrowing into the soil, creating a web—a lattice of invisible death surrounding .
The bear didn’t care.
It kept circling, slow and steady, patient like a professional killer. Waiting for a single mont of distraction.
And when I closed my eyes?
It pounced.
A guttural roar ripped from its throat as it lunged, maw wide open, muscles taut, every inch of its grotesque form aid at my neck.
But it never got closer than two ters.
The mont it crossed the invisible threshold, dozens of threads snapped tight.
The beast froze in mid-air, trapped like a fly in a spider’s web. Its limbs twisted, body convulsing violently. It screeched, thrashed, until I sent a pulse of electric mana through the threads.
Zap!
A sizzling crack echoed, followed by a burnt stench.
Its rotten fur caught fire in places, sizzling around the wounds. Its screeches weakened, then faded into nothing.
I calmly walked up to the thing, raising my foot to crush its head.
And then—
Rustle.
I froze.
My ears perked.
Another rustle. Then another. And another. The sound wasn’t isolated this ti. It ca from every direction.
Left. Right. Behind. Above.
That’s when the realization sank in.
This one?
This grotesque, steroidal bear?
It wasn’t the main course.
It was the scout.
I took a step back, scanning the treeline. Dozens of figures erged from the shadows. So crawled on all fours, others slithered. So had jagged wings. So had no limbs. But they all shared the sa label:
« Spawn of Vorr’Kael »
Type: Thrall
Rank: ★★★
Alignnt: Aggressive
Drop: N/A
« Close »
I clicked my tongue. "Damn. Should’ve known it was too easy."
They were surrounding now. A ring of inhuman snarls and scraping claws.
Ti to clean house.
I lowered my stance and let out a slow breath. "Alright then... Round two."
The threads reactivated, more of them this ti. Hundreds.
The jungle shimred.
And the bloodbath began.
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