Chapter 286: Athena's dillema
Chapter 286: Chapter 284 : Athena’s dillema
Aaron stood before the massive spatial rift, his chest rising and falling with ragged breaths.
The arena around him had become a battlefield.
The Dragon King’s Domain had blanketed the stadium in an ancient golden pressure. The Domain of the Blood Monarch had followed, filling the air with crimson mist and terrifying killing intent.
The combined force had frozen nearly everyone in place.
Demons.
Dark elves.
Werewolves.
Vampires.
Even the four peak S-Rank leaders who had entered the arena with complete confidence had been unable to move.
Aaron was the only one who could still act.
And none of it had happened by chance.
The moment Arthur handed Aaron the sword and the skill book, he had taken an enormous gamble.
Arthur had not explained his entire plan.
There had been no time.
Instead, he had trusted Aaron to understand.
The skill book, Spatial Locations, had not simply increased Aaron’s perception.
It had awakened a deeper use of his Dimension Walker talent.
It allowed him to see space.
To understand the invisible coordinates that formed the world around him.
But the sword Arthur had given him had another purpose.
Engraved into the hilt, hidden beneath the leather wrapping, was a series of numbers.
Coordinates.
At first, Aaron had not understood them.
They looked like meaningless values.
A long sequence of numbers, arranged in groups that made no sense.
But as he activated Spatial Locations and saw the countless spatial points surrounding the stadium, realization came to him.
Arthur had given him the coordinates of a destination.
A location far beyond the demonic stadium.
Someone Arthur believed could save them.
Aaron had spent precious seconds studying the sword while the other students believed he had simply been chosen to die.
Then the chaos began.
Arthur unleashed his domains.
The Dragon King’s Domain spread absolute and primal fear across the arena, weakening the enemies and suppressing their instincts.
The four leaders had become vulnerable.
And Aaron’s spatial blade had cut through them as though they were nothing.
The power of the domain had not only weakened Aaron’s enemies.
It had strengthened Aaron’s own abilities.
It had given him an opening.
And Aaron had taken it.
The moment Maya’s attention had shifted entirely toward Arthur, Aaron found his chance.
He expanded his perception.
Spatial points appeared everywhere.
Hundreds.
Then thousands.
Invisible points filled the stadium.
They existed in the ground.
In the air.
In the walls.
In the barriers.
In the spaces between every living creature.
Aaron stared at the numbers carved into the sword’s hilt.
This was not a short-range teleportation.
This was not the small dimensional shift he had used before.
This was something far greater.
A long-distance spatial connection.
A teleportation across dimensions.
Aaron knew it was beyond him.
He knew one mistake could tear him apart.
But he had to do it.
Their survival depended on him.
Arthur had trusted him.
Aiden.
Julia.
The others.
They would all die if he failed.
Aaron closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath.
Then he focused on the task ahead.
‘I can do this.’
He raised both hands.
Spatial mana gathered around his fingers.
Then Aaron began drawing a magic circle in the air.
He connected the spatial points according to the coordinates Arthur had given him.
One point.
Then another.
A glowing line appeared between them.
Then a third.
A fourth.
A fifth.
The magic circle became larger.
More complicated.
More unstable.
Aaron’s face turned pale as mana left his body.
His hands shook.
His knees threatened to collapse.
But he continued.
He connected every point.
Every coordinate.
Every line.
Then, after what felt like an eternity, he connected the final spatial point.
Aaron poured every last bit of mana he could muster into the completed circle.
The circle flared to life.
Golden and blue light erupted across the arena.
The fabric of reality twisted.
Then a rift opened.
Aaron stared at it.
A wide smile appeared on his exhausted face.
“I did it.”
He raised one trembling fist.
“I fucking did it, Arthur!”
Then Aaron looked toward the rift.
His expression became serious.
‘I only hope the person behind this is strong enough to save us.’
───────────────
{ Half an hour ago }
Inside Arthur’s hotel room, Athena’s eyes opened suddenly.
Pain shot through her head.
A sharp headache throbbed behind her temples.
“What the hell…”
She clutched her head and slowly sat up.
For a moment, her vision was blurry.
The room around her looked unfamiliar.
Then she recognized it.
Arthur’s hotel room.
Athena’s expression froze.
She looked around.
Clothes were scattered across the floor.
Her own clothes.
Arthur’s clothes.
The sheets had been disturbed.
And her veil rested on the floor near the bed.
Athena’s body stiffened.
Memories from the previous night returned in fragmented flashes.
The celebration.
The Silverleaf Vintage.
The exhaustion.
The terrible decisions made while neither of them had been thinking clearly.
Athena’s face turned bright red.
She pulled the blanket tightly around herself.
“That scumbag…”
Her voice shook.
“How dare he take advantage of my condition?”
Her eyes were filled with anger.
Embarrassment.
And something else she refused to name.
“I… I…”
Boom!
A violent explosion echoed somewhere outside.
The windows shook.
Athena’s expression changed immediately.
The embarrassment vanished.
Her golden eyes became cold.
She extended her perception across the floating island.
And what she felt made her body go still.
The Golden Colosseum was in chaos.
Several academy heads and powerful adults were fighting a group of black-robed attackers.
The attackers had nearly been wiped out.
But a far more destructive battle was occurring in the sky.
Two overwhelming forces were clashing.
Adrian Evan Imperius.
And a Demon Lord.
Athena’s eyes narrowed.
“Ariala.”
She could not believe it.
Adrian was fighting the Demon Lord who possessed the Authority of Sloth.
But what caught Athena’s attention most was the absence of familiar mana signatures.
Arthur was gone.
Damian was gone.
Aiden was gone.
Layla.
Diana.
Every student.
She could not sense a single one of them.
Athena stood immediately.
She could think about the previous night later.
Right now, the students were in danger.
Athena flicked the blanket aside.
Then she raised one hand.
Spiritual energy flowed around her.
Blue light covered her skin.
A battle outfit materialized over her body, followed by a long robe and her familiar veil.
The transformation took only seconds.
Her body became clean and refreshed, as though she had just stepped out of a bath.
But when Athena noticed the faint marks left on her skin, her face became red again.
Memories of the previous night returned with even greater force.
Her expression became furious.
“I swear, I will not let him get away with it if he is still alive.”
Then her eyes widened.
“No.”
Athena clenched her fist.
“You better be alive, Arthur.”
Her voice became colder.
“You cannot die by someone else’s hand.”
She looked through the window again.
Adrian was still fighting in the sky.
Athena studied the battlefield.
“I think Adrian can handle that.”
She was about to teleport toward the Golden Colosseum.
Then the floor beneath her disappeared.
A spatial rift opened directly below her.
Athena fell.
But the mana inside the rift was familiar.
Her eyes widened.
“Aaron?”
The rift had been created by one of her students.
Athena stabilized herself in midair.
She could have escaped immediately.
But instead, she chose to enter.
She needed to know what had happened.
───────────────
[ Present. ]
Athena stepped out of the spatial rift.
The moment her feet touched the demonic stadium, she saw Arthur.
He was standing unsteadily.
His clothes were torn.
Blood covered his body.
His face was pale.
His ribs had clearly been damaged.
And before him stood the white-haired woman.
Maya.
Athena’s expression became cold.
A strained smile appeared behind her veil.
Then her gaze moved across the stadium.
Creatures surrounded her students.
Demons.
Werewolves.
Dark elves.
Vampires.
Bloodlust erupted from Athena’s body.
The pressure was so overwhelming that every creature in the arena struggled to breathe.
The vampires fell to their knees.
Werewolves froze.
Demons clutched their chests.
Dark elves stumbled backward.
No one could move.
Athena turned toward Maya.
Maya remained standing.
But for the first time, caution appeared in her eyes.
Athena’s memories returned.
The woman at the banquet.
The white-haired guest.
The strange words.
The feeling that something was wrong.
“You are the woman I met last night while we were drinking,” Athena said.
Her voice was quiet.
Dangerously quiet.
“I take it you are responsible for all this.”
Maya smiled.
“Oh, you are a bit late, don’t you think, Athena?”
Her eyes flickered toward Arthur and then back to Athena.
“What’s wrong?”
Her smile became mocking.
“Did you not sleep properly last night?”
Athena’s eyes narrowed.
Realization struck her.
“So it was you.”
Maya’s smile widened as athena’s expression darkened.
“You are responsible for this entire mess.”
Maya laughed softly.
“What is wrong? Dont tell me you just hooked up with some old man last night.”
Her eyes gleamed.
“That would be tragic, would it not?”
Arthur could only listen with wide eyes.
‘What the hell are these fucking weirdos talking about?’
His body ached.
‘Just tear each other apart so I can escape.’
Athena raised one hand.
A burst of mana spread from her body.
“Compress.”
The space surrounding the creatures suddenly twisted.
At first, nothing seemed to happen.
Then—
CRACK!
The air around them violently contracted.
The creatures screamed as an invisible spatial pressure crushed them from every direction. Their bodies were forced inward, blood vessels ruptured, skin tore, and bones shattered beneath the immense pressure.
Some desperately tried to escape, but there was nowhere to go.
Space itself had become their prison.
Before most of them could even finish screaming, Athena spoke again.
“Collapse.”
In an instant, the compressed space contracted even further.
Every enemy was crushed into a microscopic point.
Then—
BOOM!
The space around those points violently folded in on itself.
Everything disappeared.
The creatures.
Their blood.
Their bodies.
Everything.
No screams remained.
No corpses remained.
Only empty space
Maya took a step back.
For the first time, her eyes showed genuine hunt of fear.
Aaron stared at the place where the enemies had vanished.
“Can I do that someday?”
The human students could not believe what they had witnessed.
Athena had eliminated an entire group of powerful enemies in an instant.
She turned toward Arthur.
“How have you been, darling?”
Her voice sounded calm.
But the danger beneath it was unmistakable.
“Enjoying yourself?”
Arthur coughed blood.
“I am dying.”
He looked at her.
“What about you?”
Athena smiled beneath her veil.
“I am absolutely fine.”
Her golden eyes sharpened.
“Just a wild dog kept biting me all night.”
She looked directly at Arthur.
“It seems I will have to put him down soon.”
Arthur’s mouth twitched.
‘Damn it.’
He looked away.
‘She remembers.’
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!