Chapter 186: The Last Day
Argent Heights had finally regrouped. The Metalspine Ravager battle had left several students exhausted. Leonard stood beside the remains of one of the dead monsters. He stared at the enormous body, then at the direction Valecrest had taken.
"That guy..."
One of his teammates approached. "Captain?"
Leonard remained silent. "Silas."
His teammate frowned. "What about him?"
Leonard tightened his grip around his sword. "He wasn’t serious."
"What?"
"During that fight."
Leonard looked toward the forest. "He barely fought."
His teammate laughed nervously.
"You’re saying that after watching him kick an A-Rank monster through a forest?"
"Exactly." Leonard’s expression became grim. "He wasn’t trying to win."
He glanced at the enormous crater left behind by Silas’s kick. "He was testing us."
The team fell silent.
"And if that’s true..." Leonard looked toward the distant center of Blackridge. "Then Valecrest isn’t the team we should underestimate."
Another student checked their objective. "We still need to recover the cores."
Leonard nodded. "Do it."
They began collecting the cores from the fallen Metalspine Ravagers, but Leonard kept looking toward the direction Valecrest had disappeared. For some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they had just witnessed the beginning of something much larger. For some reason, he forgot entirely that Silas and Chloe were known S-Ranks.
***
Meanwhile, far beyond the battlefield, Valecrest continued moving.
Silas walked at the front, his threads stretched through the forest. Every tree, every monster, every path, and every movement... nothing escaped his perception. Chloe walked beside him, while Alpha followed behind. Damien, Alicia, Neil, Emma, Rihanna, and Godfrey spread themselves across the formation. They were moving quickly, too quickly.
Alpha suddenly noticed something. "Silas."
"Hm?"
"How far?"
Silas stopped. His pink eyes began glowing, while a deep presence enveloped the area. The threads around him tightened and glowed, and for a brief second, everyone saw a faint outline of the threads.
"The Observatory is close."
Chloe looked ahead. "How close?"
Silas smiled. "About twenty minutes."
"That’s impossible." Damien frowned.
"Why?"
"We’ve been walking for hours."
"Yep."
"And you said the Observatory was in the center."
"It is."
"So why are we almost there?"
Silas shrugged. "I took shortcuts."
Neil stared at him. "You’ve been cutting through the terrain this entire time?"
"Yes."
"You’ve been ignoring the actual paths."
"Yes."
"You’ve been navigating through a forest the size of a city using invisible threads."
"Yes."
Damien sighed. "I hate you."
Silas smiled. "Get in line."
Then, Silas stopped. His expression changed, and everyone immediately noticed. Chloe tightened her grip around her spear.
"What?"
Silas didn’t answer. His threads had detected something. It was not a monster, and not an academy. It was something else. A massive structure appeared within his mental map, and around it, thousands of threads suddenly began moving.
Silas’s eyes narrowed. "The Observatory isn’t empty."
Alpha’s expression became serious. "What’s there?"
Silas smiled.
"That’s the interesting part." He looked toward the center of Blackridge. "Something is waiting for us."
Far away, beneath the ancient Blackridge Observatory, something opened its eyes. And the tournament continued.
***
The third day of the Inter-Academy Selection Tournament had arrived. The Blackridge Expanse no longer looked like the same place.
Three days ago, the forest had been relatively untouched. Trees stood tall, rivers flowed peacefully, and monsters moved through the wilderness without much concern.
Now?
The forest looked like a battlefield. Entire sections had been flattened, trees had been ripped from the ground, crater-sized holes dotted the terrain, and broken weapons, discarded equipment, monster corpses, and pools of blood could be found throughout the Expanse.
The tournament had changed.
At first, the academies had been focused entirely on their objectives. Now, everyone understood the real problem. Time was running out.
The teams that had completed their objectives were hunting for additional points. The teams that had fallen behind were becoming desperate. And desperation made people do stupid things, sometimes, very violent things.
[Ironwood Saints vs. Blackstone]
"Stop."
The command came suddenly. Blackstone Academy halted. Darius Blackwell slowly raised his hand. His team had been following a trail of monster corpses for nearly fifteen minutes. They had assumed another monster-hunting team had passed through.
They were wrong.
Ironwood Saints stood ahead. Marcus Steelhart rested his enormous axe over his shoulder. The two teams stared at each other. Neither moved, and neither spoke.
Darius glanced at the ground and saw monster cores. There were dozens of them. Ironwood had gathered them from the territory they had captured. Blackstone’s eyes immediately changed.
Marcus noticed.
"Don’t."
Darius smiled.
"Don’t what?"
"Look at our cores like that."
"I’m looking at resources."
"They belong to us."
Darius chuckled.
"Everything belongs to whoever can take it."
The atmosphere immediately changed.
Marcus lowered his axe.
"You really want to do this?"
Darius removed his coat.
"I’ve been waiting."
One of Ironwood’s students swallowed.
"Captain..."
Marcus didn’t look back. "Stay behind me."
Darius raised his hand.
"Blackstone."
Weapons came out. Ironwood followed.
"Fight."
The forest exploded.
Marcus charged first. His enormous axe collided with a Blackstone student’s weapon, and the impact sent both of them backward. Another Ironwood student activated his ability, and the ground erupted.
Stone pillars shot upward, forcing Blackstone apart. Darius moved through the chaos, his ability activating. A dark aura surrounded his body.
He punched, and an Ironwood student was thrown through a tree.
"One eliminated!"
The tournament system immediately announced it.
[Participant incapacitated.]
[Ironwood Saints Academy: 11 remaining.]
[Blackstone Academy: 12 remaining.]
The announcement echoed across the Expanse. Every academy heard it. The stakes suddenly became real. This wasn’t just about objectives anymore. People could be eliminated.
Marcus roared. "IRONWOOD!"
His axe came down. Darius blocked with both arms, and the ground beneath him collapsed. He gritted his teeth.
"You’re strong."
Marcus grinned.
"You’re next."
Darius smiled back.
"Try me."
Their battle shook the forest. Around them, students fought desperately. One Blackstone student attempted to flank Marcus, only for a spear of condensed earth to strike him in the chest.
He collapsed.
[Participant incapacitated.]
[Blackstone Academy: 11 remaining.]
The battle continued, and neither side intended to retreat.
Elsewhere, a similar confrontation was taking place. Aethercrest had finally emerged from the ancient structure. Their objective was complete, but they had discovered something inside. Something they weren’t ready to talk about.
Their team was moving quickly through the forest when they encountered New Liberty Vanguard Academy. The two teams stopped.
Seraphina immediately raised her hand.
"Hold."
The Vanguard leader stepped forward.
"Your objective is complete."
Seraphina nodded.
"So is yours?"
"Not yet."
"Then move."
The Vanguard leader stared at her.
"You found something inside that structure."
Seraphina’s expression remained calm.
"That’s none of your business."
"It might be."
"Why?"
"Because your discovery may affect the tournament."
Aethercrest became silent. Seraphina narrowed her eyes.
"What exactly are you suggesting?"
The Vanguard leader didn’t answer. Instead, he looked toward the strange artifact Aethercrest was carrying.
"I suggest you hand it over."
Seraphina’s expression hardened.
"No."
"Then we’ll take it."
The first punch was thrown, and Aethercrest responded instantly. Abilities erupted, and the forest became chaotic once again.
***
High above Blackridge Expanse, the tournament organizers watched through dozens of monitoring screens. Numbers constantly changed, and names disappeared. Some participants were eliminated, while others continued advancing.
The announcer’s voice echoed through the command center.
"Blackstone and Ironwood have engaged."
"Confirmed."
"Aethercrest and New Liberty Vanguard are also fighting."
"Any fatalities?"
"No. The safety system is functioning."
"Good."
The organizer leaned back.
"Then let them continue."
Another official looked at the screen.
"Valecrest?"
Everyone became quiet. One of the screens showed a map. Valecrest’s position was dangerously close to the center.
"Still advancing."
"How many eliminations?"
"None."
"None?"
"Not a single participant has been eliminated."
The room became silent. One organizer frowned.
"That’s unusual."
Another smiled.
"That’s Valecrest. They have two S-Ranks, you know?"
***
Back in Blackridge, Marcus and Darius were still fighting. Both were bleeding, and both were exhausted, but neither was willing to stop.
Marcus swung, and Darius dodged. The axe destroyed the tree behind him. Darius retaliated, but Marcus blocked. The impact pushed him backward.
Darius rushed forward.
"You’re finished!"
Marcus grinned.
"No." His aura exploded. "You’re finished."
His axe came down. Darius raised his arms to block. The shockwave flattened the surrounding trees. Dust filled the battlefield.
Everyone stopped.
Marcus stood breathing heavily. Darius was on one knee. His arms were trembling. He slowly looked up. Marcus raised his axe.
"Yield."
Darius laughed.
"You first."
Marcus stared, then smiled.
"Fine."
He charged. Darius stood. Both attacked. Their weapons collided, and the shockwave spread outward. Both fighters were thrown backward. They landed several meters apart.
The tournament system immediately activated.
[Both participants have reached incapacitation threshold.]
[Battle terminated.]
[Marcus Steelhart — Eliminated.]
[Darius Blackwell — Eliminated.]
The two leaders stared at each other.
Marcus laughed.
"You’ve got to be kidding me."
Darius fell onto his back.
"Looks like we’re both idiots."
Their teammates immediately rushed toward them. The fight was over, but its consequences were not. Both academies had lost their strongest leaders, and the remaining students were forced to continue without them.