Fear gripped the hearts of everyone at the academy as they stared at the monstrous beast. This was it—their final stand. If they could somehow defeat this creature, victory would be theirs. But could they? Could they even harm it?

Ren, still watching from the rooftop, felt the same doubt gnawing at him. But if there was one thing he had learned from the game, it was this: nothing was invincible.

“My last game challenge with the black dragon proved that. If it can be hurt, it’s not invincible,” Ren murmured to himself, his voice filled with quiet confidence.

There was no time to ponder. The beast roared, a deep, reverberating growl that shook the earth beneath their feet. In a blur of terrifying speed, it charged toward the academy, its enormous form moving with an agility that belied its size.

The remaining mechs were the first to respond, their massive swords cleaving through the air, their weapons firing in rapid succession. But their strikes were futile. The beast’s skin was impenetrable; the attacks bounced off as though they were mere pebbles striking steel. In retaliation, the beast’s claws sliced through the mechs like paper. The empire’s most formidable machines, designed for war, were being torn apart with horrifying ease.

Despair began to spread among the students as they witnessed the destruction. The mechs—their last line of heavy defense—were being decimated. If even they couldn’t stop the beast, what hope did they have? The air grew thick with the suffocating weight of inevitability.

But not everyone faltered. The remaining soldiers and mages, hardened by their duty, refused to waver. Protecting the academy, the students, and the empire’s future was their solemn responsibility. With grim determination, they unleashed everything they had.

Bullets, spells, and cannon fire filled the sky, crashing into the beast. The creature roared in pain—finally, a reaction—but it wasn’t enough. It continued its advance, step by step, its massive form shrugging off the attacks as though they were mere nuisances.

Then, with a single sweep of its tail, the beast slammed into a nearby building, reducing it to rubble. Massive debris hurtled through the air like cannon fire, aimed directly at the academy.

Eslis, her eyes widening in horror, reacted instantly. With all the mana she had left, she summoned a massive emergency barrier to block the incoming debris.

The chunks of rubble slammed into the barrier with incredible force, each impact shaking the ground beneath them. Eslis gritted her teeth, holding the barrier as best as she could, but the sheer volume of debris was too much. Her mana reserves depleted rapidly, and soon the barrier began to weaken.

Her body gave out, and she was thrown backward, the full effects of mana exhaustion crashing into her. She fell unconscious as the last of her magic faded.

But the worst was yet to come.

A massive piece of debris slammed into the west side of the academy, crashing with such force that it obliterated that section of the building. The structure crumbled into ruin, leaving only destruction in its wake.

For a moment, there was nothing but stunned silence. All eyes were on the destroyed section of the academy, their minds unable to comprehend the destruction that had just unfolded.

“No…” Ren whispered, falling to his knees. Despair washed over him as he stared at the wreckage, his heart heavy with guilt and helplessness.

Time seemed to stop, the world frozen in the aftermath of the catastrophe.

Then, a single voice broke through the silence, pulling everyone back to reality.

A little girl’s terrified cry pierced the air, her voice shaking with desperation. “Help! Somebody, please help my mom!” The raw fear in her plea cut through the chaos of battle, freezing the hearts of those who heard it.

Then, another voice followed.

“Son! Son, please wake up! Medic! I need a medic!” A father’s desperate cry echoed across the courtyard.

And, another.

“Wake up! Please, just wake up!” A student boy’s frantic pleas, desperate for an answer.

More cries filled the air—cries of fear, of pain, and of desperation.

“Please, someone help me!”

"It hurts, i can't feel my legs..."

“I’m stuck! I can’t breathe!”

“Mommy? Where’s my mommy?”

The broken section of the academy had become a scene of unspeakable horror. Every medic and faculty member in the courtyard sprinted toward the cries for help, moving faster than they ever had in their lives.

What they found was beyond words. The horror of war had shown its cruelest face.

Valis, who had always maintained her calm, felt something she had never felt before—pure, unbridled rage. Her chest burned with it, her voice shaking as she shouted louder than ever before, even without a microphone.

“Crush that foul beast into the ground!” she roared, her fury igniting the hearts of every soldier and mage. Her voice carried across the battlefield like wildfire.

“How dare you!” one soldier screamed, followed by a chorus of shouts from his comrades. They were no longer fueled by mere duty but by a burning, primal rage.

“Send that beast back to hell!” a mage cried, pushing herself to the limit, hurling every spell she knew at the monstrous creature. Every remaining soldier and mage joined her, pushing their abilities to the brink, their hearts ablaze with the need for vengeance.

Meanwhile, Barran sprinted across the courtyard, his focus solely on Eslis. He reached her limp form, panic gripping him as he knelt beside her.

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“Eslis! Eslis, please wake up!” He shouted, shaking her gently, desperately. But she didn’t stir. Her mana was spent, and she was completely unconscious.

Shiro and his classmates could only watch in despair as the medics and faculty members rushed to help those trapped in the rubble. They had fought so hard to protect everyone, but in the end, they felt they had failed. Their hearts were broken, their resolve shattered by the brutal sight before them.

Shiro, like Valis, couldn’t contain his rage. His hands gripped his tachi with all the strength he could muster, his body trembling with fury.

Something inside him had snapped—a chain had broken loose.

A part of his humanity had faded away.

In an instant, Shiro entered a trance. His mind was consumed by pure bloodlust, his focus narrowing to a single, violent purpose. His unkempt black hair began to change, blue streaks emerging from the back.

A blue flame rose from the black ash.

"S-Shiro?" Rolan called out, his voice filled with worry. He had never seen Shiro like this before.

"W-What is that?" Lucius gasped, his eyes wide with shock as he watched Shiro’s transformation.

“No...” Liana murmured, the only one who seemed to understand what was happening. “Shiro, you have to control it!”

But Shiro couldn’t hear her. He couldn’t hear anything.

“Kill,” he muttered coldly, his voice dripping with malice. “Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.”

His head snapped toward the beast, bloodlust and rage overwhelming him.

"Kill the beast!" he roared, dashing toward it with a speed unlike anything they had ever seen.

“Wha—Shiro, what are you doing?!” Rolan screamed, trying to stop him.

“Are you crazy?!” Lucius shouted, desperately trying to catch up. “Shiro, stop!”

But their cries fell on deaf ears. Shiro, now a force of pure rage, bolted toward the academy gates with terrifying speed. He leapt over them with ease and landed on the other side.

Valis, unable to believe what she was seeing, shouted after him. “What are you doing, Shiro!? Get back here this instant!”

But, like the others, her words didn’t reach him.

“Argh!!!” Shiro roared like a beast as he charged toward the monstrous creature, completely fearless.

The black beast noticed him, its own roar creating a shockwave that shook the battlefield. But Shiro didn’t flinch. The combined power of the amulet’s aura and his trance state drove him forward, cutting through the air with supernatural agility.

As he neared the beast, Shiro swung his tachi, releasing a massive wave of blue flames that tore through the ground, striking the beast head-on.

The beast let out a deafening roar of pain. Shiro's blue flames were effective, far more than anything else that had been thrown at it. Enraged, the creature lashed out with one of its massive claws, aiming to crush Shiro where he stood.

But Shiro reacted swiftly, stabbing his tachi into the ground and summoning a towering wall of blue flames to block the beast's attack. The beast’s limb passed through the flames, but it roared again, retreating as the searing heat burned its skin.

The soldiers and mages stood stunned, watching the impossible unfold before them—a single student was standing toe-to-toe with the monster, as if two beasts were locked in combat.

Before they could react, a figure soared through the air—a blur of motion and power. Valis, her sword raised high, descended upon the beast with all her might. The creature raised its massive paw to block her strike, but Valis’s strength, fueled by her rage, resolve, and the amulet’s power, was overwhelming. Her sword sliced cleanly through one of the beast’s fangs, sending shards of it scattering across the battlefield.

"Shiro, retreat now!" she yelled, positioning herself between the beast and the boy. But Shiro wasn’t listening.

"Kill!" Shiro screamed, dashing toward the beast again. This time, the beast was ready.

With lightning-fast speed, the creature’s tail slammed into Shiro, the same tail that had destroyed an entire building earlier. Shiro raised his tachi in a desperate attempt to block the blow, but the force was too much. He was hurled back, crashing into the ground with enough power to create a shockwave upon impact.

Dazed, Shiro struggled to get back on his feet, but the beast moved swiftly, raising its other claw to strike him down.

Suddenly, a massive wall of rock erupted in front of Shiro, blocking the beast's attack just in time.

“Shiro! Hold on, you dumbass!” a voice shouted from the distance.

“What the—" Valis started, turning to see who had intervened. Her eyes widened in shock.

The rest of Class F was sprinting toward them, weapons drawn, ready to join the fight.

“What the hell are you all doing here?!” Valis screamed, already feeling a headache coming on.

“No time for that, Principal!” Rolan called out, a wide grin on his face despite the chaos. “Just think of us as reinforcements!”

“What do you mean, reinforcements!?” Lucius snapped, his frustration clear. “You dragged us all here, saying we needed to help Shiro!”

“Well, he’s right,” Liana said firmly. “Shiro does need our help!”

“I’ll help from the side,” Celes added calmly. “He’s going to need every bit of support we can give.”

Valis was about to argue, but the sound of clashing steel and roars drew her attention back to the fight. Shiro was battling the beast head-on, but Valis knew he couldn’t take it down alone. Gritting her teeth, she turned back to the group.

“Fine!” she barked. “But every single one of you is getting a punishment after this! Understand?”

The group smiled defiantly and responded in unison, “Yes, ma’am!”

Seeing their resolve, Valis allowed herself a small grin, proud of her students’ courage. “Rolan, Celes—both of you focus on getting the beast’s attention!”

“Yes, ma’am!” they replied in unison.

“Lucius, Liana, you’re on support. Provide cover and enhancements from the back. I’ll protect you from incoming attacks,” Valis commanded firmly.

“Yes, ma’am!” the two responded.

“Go!” Valis shouted.

Rolan and Celes immediately sprang into action. Their blades and knives gleamed in the dim light as they moved in tandem, their strikes aimed at the beast’s vital points. Every blow they landed was precise, calculated, and designed to draw the beast’s wrath toward them.

Lucius and Liana hung back, their hands glowing with magic as they bolstered their comrades. Shields of light materialized around the fighters, and their strikes were enhanced with magical energy, making each blow stronger and faster.

Meanwhile, Barran was shouting orders to the soldiers nearby. “Hold your fire! We can’t risk a stray bullet hitting the students!” His voice carried over the chaos, ensuring no one acted rashly.

Other students, knowing they couldn’t engage the beast directly, focused on slowing it down with spells and items. They summoned walls of earth, conjured chains of light, and unleashed freezing waves of ice, all in a desperate bid to contain the creature. For a fleeting moment, it looked like they were succeeding.

The beast was massive and powerful, but it was being pushed back. Wounds littered its dark hide, and its roars of pain echoed across the battlefield. But with every step the creature took, the ground trembled. Every swing of its claws brought destruction, toppling buildings and sending debris flying.

Valis and Shiro, the only two capable of landing critical blows on the beast, fought with everything they had. Though Shiro couldn’t hear her in his trance, Valis had honed her skills enough to follow his erratic movements, her battle experience allowing her to keep up even as Shiro’s tachi blazed with blue flame.

Ren watched the battle from a distance, his heart pounding. They were so close to victory—he could feel it. The tide of the battle had shifted in their favor.

But as always, reality was not on their side. A sinking realization that chilled him to the bone.

The blue aura that had surrounded the fighters—the energy driving them forward—was starting to fade. Shiro’s amulet, which had been a wellspring of power, was weakening too quickly.

One by one, the auras vanished. Exhaustion crashed over the fighters like a tidal wave. Those who had been fighting valiantly moments before now fell to their knees, gasping for breath, unable to continue. The students who had been casting spells to slow the beast could no longer keep up, their magic flickering out.

The soldiers and mages retreated, their strength spent.

Now, only Shiro, Valis, and the rest of Class F remained standing, but they were at their limits. Their movements were sluggish, their strikes less coordinated. The beast, sensing their weakening resolve, grew more aggressive. Its attacks became faster and more ferocious, driving them back inch by inch.

Hope, which had once burned so brightly among the academy’s defenders, was fading. Despair crept in, cold and unrelenting, threatening to snuff out the last of their resistance.