The silence in the void grew heavier.
Far heavier than before.
Because the implications behind what they had just witnessed were monstrous.
A Second Tier awakener had not merely survived against a Tier Four abyssally assimilated commander—
He had dominated him.
That kind of combat power should not exist at Zael's level.
One of the demon elders suddenly leaned forward slightly, crimson eyes narrowing dangerously.
"What is that child's name?"
Nobody answered immediately.
The Dean calmly set his teacup down afterward.
"Why?" he asked mildly.
The demon elder smiled coldly.
"So we know who to kill first later."
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
Terrifying pressure exploded outward instantly from the academy side.
Several cracks spread across the void itself.
The elderly rune woman's gaze turned icy.
"Careful," she said softly. "You're speaking within our territory."
The demon elder merely laughed.
"Territory?"
His smile widened mockingly afterward.
"You humans still don't understand what's coming."
Meanwhile below them—
The battlefield had entered its aftermath phase.
The remaining demonized awakeners were already collapsing rapidly without leadership.
Some attempted escape.
Others fought desperately.
But the momentum of the battle had completely shifted.
Academy lecturers and surviving students began pushing back aggressively now that morale had returned.
And at the center of it all stood Zael.
Black lightning still crackled faintly around him while the cube weapon floated silently at his side in its original form.
The ruined battlefield surrounding him resembled the aftermath of a natural disaster.
Students stared at him from afar with expressions ranging from awe to fear.
Some looked inspired.
Others terrified.
Because the current Zael felt less like a student—
And more like a battlefield monster wearing human skin.
Lily herself looked at him strangely.
"…You're ridiculous," she muttered eventually.
Zael glanced sideways at her.
"That's not exactly a compliment."
"It wasn't meant to be."
Despite the exhaustion and destruction around them, a faint smile still appeared on Lily's face afterward.
Then suddenly—
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
Slow applause echoed through the ruined academy sector.
Zael's eyes narrowed instantly.
A figure stepped out from a spatial distortion calmly.
An old man wearing dark military robes.
The pressure radiating from him instantly silenced the surrounding battlefield further.
Tier Five.
At minimum.
The surviving lecturers immediately straightened.
"Vice Commander."
The old man ignored them completely.
His gaze remained fixed on Zael from the moment he appeared.
Sharp.
Evaluating.
Dangerous.
Then finally—
He smiled slightly.
"Well now," he said calmly.
"…that was certainly interesting."
Zael didn't relax at all.
Because unlike the others—
He could faintly sense it.
This old man wasn't merely observing him out of curiosity.
No.
The moment the black lightning dragon appeared earlier—
Something changed in the gazes of the higher powers watching him.
Interest.
Dangerous interest.
And Zael hated that feeling immediately.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The old man's gaze swept across the ruined battlefield calmly.
Burning buildings.
Shattered ground.
Corpses of demonized awakeners scattered everywhere.
The remnants of spatial cracks still flickering unstable in the sky.
Then his eyes returned to Zael.
A faint sigh escaped his lips afterward.
"Let's wrap up this farce," the Vice Commander said calmly.
The moment his voice fell—
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
An overwhelming pressure descended across the entire battlefield instantly.
The surviving demonized awakeners froze where they stood.
Some collapsed directly to their knees.
Others exploded apart from the pressure alone.
Even the remaining Abyss Knights trembled violently.
Then the Vice Commander raised one hand casually.
Space folded.
CRAAAAACK!!!
Every remaining spatial tear across the academy shattered simultaneously.
The abyssal energy leaking into the area was forcibly erased completely.
Students stared upward in stunned silence.
Because what had taken countless awakeners fighting desperately to contain—
This man resolved with a casual gesture.
One of the surviving Abyss Knights suddenly roared and tried to flee.
The Vice Commander glanced toward it briefly.
Then flicked his finger.
BOOM.
The creature vanished instantly.
Not killed.
Erased.
Complete annihilation.
The battlefield became deathly quiet afterward.
The old man then finally descended slowly toward the ground.
The moment his feet touched the ruined plaza, all remaining pressure disappeared completely as though it never existed.
His control was terrifying.
He looked around briefly before speaking calmly.
"All surviving students and staff are to evacuate immediately."
"Military cleanup divisions will arrive shortly."
"Medical teams are already inbound."
The surviving lecturers quickly began mobilizing afterward.
Only then did the Vice Commander turn back toward Zael fully.
For several seconds, he simply observed him silently.
The black cube weapon.
The lingering void fluctuations.
The faint traces of draconic bloodline aura still present around him.
Nothing escaped his perception.
Lily subtly moved slightly closer to Zael instinctively.
The old man noticed.
Amusement flickered briefly in his eyes.
Then he spoke.
"You're either going to become humanity's greatest weapon…"
His gaze sharpened faintly afterward.
"…or its greatest disaster."
Silence followed immediately.
The surrounding lecturers stiffened slightly at those words.
Zael himself remained calm externally.
Internally though—
His instincts were screaming again.
Not danger exactly.
But scrutiny.
The kind that powerful people reserved for things they couldn't fully control.
The Vice Commander suddenly smiled afterward, breaking the tension entirely.
"Relax," he said mildly. "If I intended harm, you wouldn't even realize it before dying."
Lily rolled her eyes instantly.
"That's a terrible way to reassure someone."
The old man laughed faintly.
"Perhaps."
Then his gaze shifted toward the destroyed battlefield once more.
"Still…" he muttered.
"A Second Tier producing Tier Four combat power…"
"…the younger generation nowadays is becoming increasingly unreasonable."
Zael said nothing.
Because honestly—
Even he wasn't entirely sure how unreasonable he had become anymore.