The air in the eastern sector of the forest was thick and humid, smelling of damp moss and old stone. Kael walked ahead of the group, his hands behind his back, moving with a calm that bordered on arrogance. Behind him, the atmosphere was anything but calm.
Valen and Tora were practically vibrating with a mix of hatred and anxiety. They had been walking for nearly an hour, and so far, they hadn't seen anything but trees.
"This is a waste of time," Tora growled, his voice like gravel grinding together. He was a large boy, and his Anym was restless, flaring around his fists in short, aggressive bursts. "We're just walking. We have thirty points, Kael. Thirty. At this rate, we'll be the ones in the discipline class while the others are laughing in the arena."
Valen wiped sweat from his brow, his fingers trembling slightly as they hovered near the hem of his uniform. "Tora is right, as much as I hate to admit it. My family name cannot be dragged through the dirt of a 'special' class. We need to find something to kill. Now."
Kael didn't stop. He didn't even turn his head. "The forest is large, and the beasts are smart. They can smell your desperation from a mile away. You're both leaking Anym like cracked vases. If you can't control your own energy, how do you expect to control a battle?"
"Don't talk down to me!" Valen snapped, his Saint Magic flickering in his eyes. A faint, golden light began to shimmer around his palms. "I am a practitioner of the Saint arts. I don't take orders from someone who hasn't even shown his magic yet."
Kael stopped then. He turned slowly, his eyes cold and flat. The temperature in the immediate area seemed to drop by ten degrees. He didn't summon a weapon. He didn't even take a combat stance. He just looked at Valen.
"The rules were clear," Kael said softly. "I am the leader. And a leader can drop anyone who is a 'burden.' Do you want to find out what happens to a student who is left in this forest without a card and without a team?"
Valen's golden light died instantly. He took a step back, his throat dry. He had seen Kael's presence before, but up close, it felt like being stared down by a predator that wasn't even hungry—just annoyed.
Tora laughed, a harsh, mocking sound. "Look at the little Saint, shaking in his boots. If you're too scared to lead, Kael, give me the card. I'll show you how a Hero fights."
Kael shifted his gaze to Tora. "A Hero? You're just a brawler with a loud mouth. If you want to fight so badly, there are two Purgatory Wolves ten meters to your left. Stop talking and prove you're worth the points."
As if on cue, the bushes parted. Two wolves, their fur made of jagged black needles and their eyes glowing with a sickly yellow light, stepped into the clearing. They were standard 10-point beasts, but they were fast.
Tora didn't wait. He let out a roar, his Hero's Magic surging through his veins. His muscles bulged, and his skin took on a faint, metallic sheen as he enhanced his physical strength to the limit. He lunged at the first wolf, his fist connecting with its skull in a brutal, bone-shattering impact. The wolf didn't even have time to yelp before it was sent flying into a tree, its physical form dissolving into black smoke.
"Ten points!" Tora yelled, looking back at Kael with a grin.
Valen wasn't about to be outdone. He stepped forward, his Saint Magic finally stabilizing. He raised his hand, and a sharp, piercing bolt of holy light shot from his fingertips. The second wolf tried to dodge, but the light was too fast. It pierced the beast's chest, cauterizing the wound instantly and turning the creature into ash.
"And another ten," Valen said, trying to regain his dignity.
Total Points: 50.
Kael watched them with an unreadable expression. "Better. But don't celebrate yet. Those were just the scouts."
The ground suddenly began to vibrate. A low, rhythmic thumping sound echoed through the trees, growing louder with every second. From the darkness of the deeper woods, a massive creature emerged. It was a Purgatory Golem, standing nearly twelve feet tall. Its body was composed of interlocking slabs of obsidian and reinforced by thick, glowing vines. This wasn't a 10-point scavenger. This was a 30-point guardian.
"Now we're talking," Tora said, slamming his fists together. The shockwave from his Hero's Magic cleared the leaves around his feet. He charged the golem, leaping high into the air to deliver a massive punch to its head.
The golem didn't move. It simply raised a stone arm and swatted Tora out of the air like a fly. Tora crashed through a thicket of thorns, groaning as he struggled to stand.
Valen panicked. He began firing bolt after bolt of Saint Magic at the golem's chest. The light hit the obsidian slabs, but they only left small scorch marks. The golem roared, a sound of grinding stones, and slammed its fist into the ground. A wave of force traveled through the earth, knocking Valen off his feet.
"It's too thick!" Valen shouted, his voice cracking. "My magic isn't piercing!"
The golem stepped toward Valen, raising its massive foot to crush him. Valen closed his eyes, waiting for the impact, but it never came.
Kael was suddenly there. He hadn't used his Babylon magic. He hadn't even broken a sweat. He stood between Valen and the golem's foot, holding it up with a single hand. His Anym control was so perfect that he wasn't just using strength; he was redirecting the weight of the golem back into the earth.
"Get up," Kael said calmly. "And watch."
Kael let go of the foot and stepped into the golem's guard. His movements were fluid, like water flowing around a rock. The golem tried to swing, but Kael was already gone. He appeared at the beast's side, striking a specific joint in its stone leg with the palm of his hand.
He wasn't using a weapon. He was using pure Anym control combined with high-level martial arts. With every strike, he sent a pulse of energy deep into the golem's internal structure, bypassing the obsidian armor entirely.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The golem began to slow down. Its glowing vines started to dim. Kael moved like a blur, his strikes hitting with the force of a sledgehammer despite the simplicity of his movements. He landed a final, precise blow to the center of the golem's core.
The massive beast shuddered. The obsidian slabs began to crack and fall away. With a final, hollow groan, the golem collapsed into a pile of harmless rubble.
Kael stood over the remains, his breathing perfectly steady.
Total Points: 80.
Tora crawled out of the bushes, his uniform torn, looking at Kael with a new sense of fear. "You... you did that without even using your summon?"
"A summon is a tool for a war," Kael said, turning back to them. "Against a pile of rocks like this, basic Anym control and a proper strike are more than enough. If you two had worked together—Tora breaking the surface and Valen piercing the gaps—you could have done it. Instead, you fought like children."
Valen stood up, brushing the dirt off his clothes. He looked at Kael, then at Tora, and then back at the pile of rubble. For the first time, he realized that he wasn't the "prodigy" he thought he was. Not in this school.
"We're at eighty points," Kael said, looking toward the horizon where the sky was turning a dark, bruised orange. "The sun is going down soon. The beasts will get stronger, and the other teams will get more desperate. If you want to survive the night, you will follow my lead without question. Do I make myself clear?"
Tora grunted, a sign of reluctant agreement. Valen just nodded silently.
"Good," Kael said. "There's a clearing two miles North. We'll camp there and wait for the high-value targets to move. If we're lucky, we'll meet a team that has already done the hunting for us."
As they walked deeper into the dark forest, the silence returned, but the dynamic had changed. The toxic group was still a mess of egos, but the hierarchy had been established.
End of Chapter 13