Embrace the agony, for in the crucible of relentless pain, we shatter our mortal limits and forge unbreakable wills. Only through suffering can we transcend the ordinary and achieve the extraordinary, turning every scar into a testament to our indomitable strength.
Zatya Malakov.
Principal of the 5th academy.
Sector 5, Ragnarok.
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Cameron Lorde grunted, clutching his {enhanced} runic daggers tightly as they finally came to a halt half a mile away from the boundary of the Red Order. He dusted his clothes and turned to his two companions, Lupin, the cloak awakened, and Dylan, the earth awakened, who had transported them thus far.
Since they had no spatial awakened in their group, they’d settled for the only alternative, {Geoteleportation}, a rather crude version of actual teleportation.
Dylan’s poor control also hadn't helped matters, and they’d had to take several unpleasant jumps to reach their current location.
“I can get you to the boundary with a few more jumps.” Dylan volunteered, but Lupin hastily denied him. “We’ll trek, you know, for reconnaissance. Right, Cameron?” she asked, and Cameron nodded vigorously in agreement.
Trekking was a much better alternative to what they’d just endured.
Dylan grimaced and hung his head in shame. “I apologize for the discomfort; I’ll do better.”
“It’s fine.” Cameron responded, rubbing his jaw awkwardly. “Just wait here; we’ll trek the rest of the way.”
“Cool, notify me when you get close or if you’ve got company.”
“We will.” Lupin replied, and Cameron turned his attention to his surroundings, self-conscious of the fact that he was standing beside two nobles. It wasn’t that he feared or hated nobles; he just thought it was best to avoid them.
These two had been perfectly pleasant so far, but nobles were always nobles in the end, and it was just easier to stay out of their way.
They were in the midst of a dense network of tall trees, riddled with large red leaves. The red moon’s luminescence barely penetrated through the dense canopy, but the little that did was enough for them to see. A slight reddish mist filled the air, carrying with it the metallic scent of blood.
“Ugh, this simulation is terrible.” Lupin complained, and Cameron chuckled. He wasn’t too disturbed by it, as his past had thoroughly desensitized him to it. His mother was a blood awakened, and he’d been surrounded by blood for as long as he could remember. If anything, the pungent metallic scent reminded him of home.
He turned to Lupin, but before he could say anything, their earpods crackled to life.
“This is Ayisha. Lupin, Cameron, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear.” “Perfectly.” They both replied, and Ayisha continued.
“Good, your trackers place you about a mile and a half from the fort of the Black Order. I’m keeping {Foresight} active, so keep your earpods on in case I need to communicate something urgently.”
“Sure.” He responded, and the next instant, thunder rumbled in his ears as Aodhán spoke. “Remember, stick to the plan; move in and out before they realize what’s going on. If you’re caught, inform us immediately, so we can adjust our plans and come up with a suitable response.”
“Noted.” They both replied, and Ayisha spoke again, chuckling. “Alesh will give you directions. Go forth, warriors, and may Raol be with you.”
Lupin chuckled, and Cameron shook his head in amusement.
“Are you ready?” Lupin asked, and he nodded. “Let’s do this.”
They took off the next instant, easily navigating through the forest as they followed the directions Alesh was giving. They arrived at the boundary a few minutes later, and they both paused to take in the order of Black.
It was the direct inverse of the Red order. The sky was blood red, the only spot of color in a sea of black. The moon and stars were as black as night. The earth was black, the river was black, and black mountains pierced into black clouds.
Unlike the red order, which was bloody and bright, the black order was gloomy and depressing.
In the distance, a black fort stood resolutely. Black flags stood on its walls, waving hauntingly in the absent wind, and the sound of clanging steel filled the air as the soldiers prepared for battle.
Unlike the area leading towards the Red Fort, this area was clear of bodies, but the air reeked of decay. The ground bubbled disgustingly; its surface was choked with thick, green algae that glistened under the black sun. Tadpoles squirmed through the murky water, mingling with the stench of rot, and rotten vines hung low, dripping with putrid slime and adding to the overwhelming sense of foulness.
“It’s the damned marsh all over again.” Lupin lamented, covering her nose to block out the putrid stench. “What is it with this academy and marshes?”
Cameron sighed. He’d scaled through the tournament and the past five weeks without revealing much of his abilities. Every time he’d been challenged to a forge match, he’d relied only on invisibility, and he’d hoped to do the same in this exercise, not because he was shy but because he was trying to avoid the attention and scrutiny his affinity usually garnered.
Now that the group already knew of his affinity, though, there was no point in hiding it anymore, so he stretched a hand out to Lupin, and when she placed her delicate fingers in his rough palms, he shivered from the sensation, but he soon controlled his thoughts as the image of a certain dark and powerful storm awakened appeared in his mind.
He tightened his grip slightly and activated {Physical Intangibility—Selective} and then {Transference}.
With the first, he turned his legs intangible, and with the second, he transferred the effect of the first skill to Lupin.
Without hesitation, he jumped into the marsh, pulling her along, before channeling half a dozen weaves of willpower and energy into his innate skill, {Phase}.
They lurched forward, moving through the marsh without restrictions, until they were only a few yards away from the wall of the black fort.
Lupin activated {cloak} the moment they came to a stop, and Cameron deactivated his skills. Her {Cloak} spread out to engulf them, hiding them from the view of half a dozen students who watched the area from above the wall.
“We are only a few meters away from the fort of the Black Order." He reported immediately, and Ayisha replied after a second of static. “Proceed as planned; you have nothing to fear.”
With the fear of danger now dispelled, he grabbed Lupin once more and activated {Physical Intangibility—Full}, then {Transference}, before phasing directly through the four-foot-thick wall.
Lupin squealed as they phased through the wall, and when they emerged unscathed on the other side, she shook her head vigorously. “I’m not getting used to that anytime soon.”
Cameron chuckled and turned to observe the soldiers, who stood a few feet away from them. They were all equipped with black runic armor and weapons, but for some reason, they didn’t seem as alert as they should have been.
Not that they would have noticed them regardless. They were completely intangible and still hidden by Lupin’s cloak, which made them extremely hard to perceive, even to early-advanced individuals.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Aside from the hustle and bustle of a few soldiers and the students watching from the top of the wall, the fort was calm and quiet.
They moved around the fort, searching for hidden traps, but after taking a few steps, their earpods crackled to life once more, and Ayisha said. “Don't bother searching the compound. They’re all inside their individual rooms, with only about a dozen gathered within the main hall.”
Cameron paused, still confused by how their leader’s skill worked. From what she had explained, she was capable of seeing about a minute into the future, so perhaps she had just given him a report he’d made in the future?
He didn’t have time to dwell on it, as Lupin responded. “Okay, what about the soldiers?”
“They’ve been divided into units.” Ayisha responded. “Take out as many of their leaders as you can. I’ll update you as you move.”
“On it.” Lupin replied and looked at Cameron. “Are you ready?”
“I am.” Cameron replied and cut off {Transference} while Lupin deactivated the cloak she’d placed on him.
He moved immediately, rushing towards the heavy metal doors that led into the black building and activated {Phase} once more. He phased through the doors a second later and found himself in a large black hall filled with black flags and heavy curtains.
A large round table stood at the center, and a dozen students, including Cyrus, Lilith, Grendar, and Daruk, stood around it.
Fortunately, none of them sensed him, and he immediately made his way up the stairs and into the first room. When he phased into the room, he found two girls standing by the window and whispering to each other.
They had their backs turned to him, but it didn’t matter what direction they faced; they couldn’t sense him either way.
He took out his {enhanced} daggers with a fluorish and without hesitation, he stabbed the two girls in the neck. They disappeared instantly, logged out of the simulation, and with a feral grin, Cameron phased into the next room.
There, he found Lyra Davenport, riffling through the wardrobe in one corner of the room. Lyra was a force awakened, and as he took a step towards her, she somehow sensed him.
With a speed he couldn’t match, Lyra turned, unsheathed the sword at her waist, and slashed at him. If he were tangible, Cameron would have laughed at the stupidity of using a physical weapon against an immaterial opponent.
The sword simply passed through him harmlessly, leaving him unaffected save for a slight itch that he suspected was as a result of the runes.
She stumbled back in fear, her eyes darting back and forth in confusion, but Cameron lurched forward and stabbed her throat before she could scream and alert the others to his presence.
She only managed a squeak before she was logged out, and Cameron phased into the next room, cutting down Emily Stewart with a clean stab to the neck before moving on to the next room.
Cameron phased from one room to the other, stabbing their occupants and logging them out of the simulation. He was clean, fast, and extremely effective. Only a few people sensed him, but they all failed to react on time, and even those who did failed to harm him.
Five minutes later, just as Cameron was about to phase into the next room, the earpods crackled to life, and Ayisha shouted. “Cyrus.”
That was all she said, but that millisecond of warning was all he needed, and he quickly retraced his steps. He was almost sure that Cyrus could do him no damage, but it would be foolishness to underestimate the strongest awakened in the school, one who had amassed nothing less than two seals in the three months since he awoke.
His earpods crackled to life once again, but all he could hear was static. He tapped the equipment with a finger, phasing it in and out of reality, but nothing changed.
Slightly worried, he phased out of the room and into the hallway, only to come face-to-face with Lysirel Cosmind, whose cloudy eyes identified her as an ethereal awakened.
Ayisha's voice came through then, but he didn’t need her fervent cursing to tell him he was in deep trouble. Rather than retreat, though, he charged at Lysirel, hoping to log her out before she could react, but it was too late. A wave of milky-white essence erupted out of her and slammed into him.
“I’ve been found out!” Cameron shouted as the ethereal essence invaded his body and began affecting his skills, causing him to glitch in and out of existence.
“Focus on escaping; this battle will not end in your favor.” Ayisha replied, but he barely heard her as he forcefully activated {Tactical Phasing} to dodge a swirl of ethereal, bladed chains, intent on skewering him.
“Show yourself, Infiltrator!” Lysirel shouted, drawing the attention of a few other students. Panicked, Cameron phased through the concrete floor, but the chains followed, and one stabbed into his thighs.
He let out a soundless scream as white, hot pain tore through him. Still, he reacted quickly, slashing at the chain with his daggers.
The {Enhanced} daggers cut through the chain like a knife through butter, but just as he freed himself, two more struck, one in his right arm and the other in his back.
The pain that followed was so intense that Cameron lost control of his skill and became tangible once more.
He fell to the floor of the main hall the next moment, shuddering as waves of intense pain ravaged through him.
Cyrus and over a dozen students suddenly gathered around him, weapons drawn and skills prepped to attack. It was then they noticed they were missing quite a number of members, and Lysirel growled. “How many have you killed?”
Cameron smiled even through the pain. “You would have been number seventeen, love.”
“What?!” Several gasps of shock echoed out, and Cyrus sneered. “How many of you assassins are here?”
Cameron groaned as he forced himself off the floor and grinned. “Will you believe me if I say just me?”
At that moment, a gong sounded, and Cameron grinned. “Oops, someone must have found a dead commander.”
Cyrus growled in fury, and a spatial sword appeared in his hand. “It doesn’t matter if there are tens or hundreds; I’ll kill them all.”
Cameron reactivated {Physical Intangibility—Full} just a moment before Cyrus’s sword struck, hoping to buy Lupin a few more seconds, and the sword harmlessly passed through him.
He grinned, but his expression died when an ethereal spear stabbed into his gut and logged him out of the simulation.
Pain tore through him immediately, and he gasped as the simulation faded and he found himself shuddering within the ASR pod.
The canopy opened an instant later to reveal Professor Alaric grinning at him. “Very impressive, Cameron, fifty points, although I lost a bet on how long you could keep that affinity if yours a secret.”
"Thanks, I guess.” Cameron replied, still shuddering even though the pain was gone, and when he stepped out of the pod, he found the sixteen students he’d logged out, glaring daggers at him from the other side of the hall.
“Oh, fuck. I’m so screwed.”
Lupin Cavanaugh
After Cameron left, Lupin turned her gaze towards the soldiers camp, which was a series of yellow tents arranged in a semicircle at the side of the fort.
Soldiers moved around hurriedly in preparation for battle, and Lupin had to remind herself once more that they weren’t real. She clutched her daggers tightly, and after a breath to steady herself, she rushed forward, silent and unseen, as she weaved through several clusters of Tier 18 soldiers and made her way towards the largest tent. After all, what was an army without its commander?
When she reached the largest tent, helpfully labeled ‘The command tent’, she snuck in and found three men, the commander himself and two captains, standing around a wooden table as they deliberated on their attack strategy.
She hesitated for a moment before murmuring to herself. “They are not real; nothing is real.”
The words centered her, and without further hesitation, she rushed forward and stabbed both daggers into the commander's neck.
Nausea rose within her as the man popped out of existence like a bubble, but she pushed down the emotion and twirled, slashing the throat of the first man and stabbing the other in the chest, all while muttering. “It’s not real. They’re not real. Nothing is real.”
She rushed into the next tent, where she found a group of officers, and without hesitation, she stabbed them too. One of them managed to react on time and sent a wave of blue flames in her direction, but she dodged and threw a dagger.
It flew true and stabbed into the head of the soldier, who collapsed immediately. Mentally thanking her father for the knife-throwing lessons, she retrieved the dagger and, without delay, rushed into the next tent, where she repeated the same thing.
She rushed from tent to tent, taking out the captains, lieutenants, and all that was left of the company’s command structure.
This continued for about five minutes, and as she moved from tent to tent, a sense of power bloomed within her, visceral in it’s nature as she silently cut down one soldier after the other until only the foot soldiers and some officers remained.
She turned her attention to the foot soldiers next. It was only a matter of time before either she or Cameron were found out, but before then, she needed to reduce this army to the point of uselessness.
Just as she had the thought, though, Cameron’s voice crackled through the earpods. “I’ve been found out.”
“Shit.” She slid behind a tent, listening and hoping for Cameron to escape, but it was soon obvious that they’d lost him, and Ayisha switched back to her. “He won’t make it, and you can’t exit the fort without him, so you only have two options. Lay low until the simulation is over, or continue with your mission. You’ll be caught eventually, but you should be able to take out a few dozen soldiers in that time.”
A gong sounded the next moment, which meant the soldiers had finally realized they were under attack. Chaos erupted within the camp, and Lupin slashed at the nearest soldier before responding. “I’ll go with option two.”
She twirled her daggers, and without hesitation, she dove into the mass of scrambling soldiers, unseen as she cut down one soldier after the other.
She took injuries and wounds as some of the soldiers retaliated, but Ayisha’s voice was a constant companion, instructing her on what moves to take and which ones to avoid.
She attacked empty spaces, yet her daggers almost always pierced flesh. It was exciting and exhilarating, but that was only until Lysirel and Daruk arrived.
Her reign of terror was over, but she couldn’t just surrender herself to die, so despite Ayisha's warning, she rushed forward in defiance, even as a cascade of ethereal blades rushed towards her and ice needles shot forward.
Pain engulfed her senses the next moment, and she screamed even as the simulation faded and the transparent canopy of her pod revealed itself.
The pod opened with a gentle hiss, and she sat up immediately to find Professor Alaric and Cameron smiling at her.
“Very impressive, Miss Cavanaugh. I assure you, though, that everything here is real.”
…..
Within the Red Fort.
Ayisha smiled as Lupin was logged out and her tracker deactivated. “The first part of our plan was a success, but it’s not over yet. Now that we’ve got them scrambling, it’s time to enact the second phase of our brilliant plan.”
Excitement filled the Red Fort as the members of Group 2 scurried about, preparing an ambush for their enemies.
In the chaos of activity that followed, Aodhán called out. “I need four earth awakeneds working on the tunnel ASAP.” He gestured toward the {explosion} awakened, a boy with flaming red hair and eyes. “Dihlon, we have explosives to make. Scarlett, help him. I want everyone else prepped and ready to leave in ten minutes.”
“What about Derek?” Curtis asked. “Aren’t we supposed to protect him?”
Ayisha grinned. “Oh, certainly, but who says the flagbearer has to remain in the fort?”