Deep in the chaos, Siera looked at the two little ones, a wild, untamed grin spreading slowly across her face. The air around her began to sizzle with an unbearable, dry heat. The smell of scorching dust and burning ozone filled the lungs of everyone nearby.
Her human legs began to transform in an unnatural, almost terrifying way. Bones cracked and fused into large, demonic bird talons that instantly began to glow white-hot. The thick, ancient stone floor beneath her feet could not withstand this absurd, concentrated temperature. With a hissing sound, the massive rock melted away into a pool of bubbling, bright orange magma. Thick, luminous cracks spread through the ground like angry spiderwebs.
With an explosive bang that shook the earth, Siera launched the entire group into the air all at once.
Hulda roared with laughter. The wind and glowing ash howled past her ears, but her eyes were wired with adrenaline. “As if we would let you go alone… comrades!”
Miki and Ren dropped their hesitation like a brick. The childlike wonder vanished like snow before the sun, their gazes turning deadly cold. They instantly switched into absolute combat mode.
Midair, hovering above the immense chaos of the burning battlefield, Hulda shed her human form completely. The sound of tearing tissue and snapping bone echoed through the air. Her body expanded exponentially into a grotesque, terrifying humanoid stag. Massive, dark muscles bulged beneath a rough coat, and a hideous crown of antlers pierced the sky.
Siera, Miki, and Ren shot straight down like three burning comets, locked onto the massive golden tomb of Master Juro. Hulda kicked off the empty air with her powerful new hind legs, launching herself at devastating speed right behind them.
With a deafening crater impact, they slammed into the ground right in front of the flawless golden statue. A destructive tidal wave of ash, loose stone, and scorching heat blew aggressively across the battlefield.
As the dust settled slightly, Miki dusted herself off frantically and theatrically. She looked down with utter disgust, frustratingly straightening her brand-new dress and gear. The proto equipment was clearly still unfinished: a compact, dark Thokcha chestpiece lay tight over her dress, small flexible shoulder plates moved alongside her, and across her forehead sat merely a simple metal brow band. Not yet an ornate tiara, no royal embellishments, only the raw foundation of what it was meant to become.
“Ah no… it is already completely dirty…” she complained with an angry, childlike pout. But when she looked up, her gaze was bloodthirsty. She cast a lethal glare at the thick gold before them, which suddenly began making cracking sounds.
Miki quickly adjusted her clothing. Ren was already standing beside her, silently shifting his own proto gear. His armor looked far more agile than that of the others. Hundreds of small, overlapping Thokcha slats lay along his shoulders, arms, and flanks like a flexible metal skin. Between every plate, narrow openings were intentionally left for his Ironstraw to grow through without resistance. The entire assembly was still bare, lacking any ceremonial Goat finish, but it fit so lightly and precisely around his young body that he could move freely in it and grow into it for years to come.
He dropped into a perfectly balanced, impenetrable combat stance. Behind them, Hulda’s grotesque hybrid stag form towered intimidatingly, the earth visibly trembling beneath her massive hooves. Siera stood at the front as the spearhead of the formation. Her birdlike legs burned like torches, and her striking eyes left literal glowing trails of pure fire in the air whenever she blinked. Her nails had grown into long, lethal claws that slowly dripped with liquid flames.
Suddenly, a massive, tearing sound echoed across the plain.
CRACK…
The golden coating of Master Juro, thought to be unbreakable, tore open with brutal violence. Massive, lead-heavy chunks of solid gold fell clattering onto the smoldering stone. A deep, booming laugh echoed from the pitch-dark shadow inside the armor.
“Hahaha… the freshmen are quite sharp this year… I wonder why that is…”
Master Juro stepped agonizingly slowly out of his broken golden prison. His dark eyes scanned the field searchingly until his gaze locked onto the flaming girl.
“BECAUSE OF YOU… Oh… little firefly? And you brought a friend along too, hahaha… WISE.”
Master Juro cracked his neck and shoulders with a loud pop, causing the last heavy fragments of gold to fall away from him. He stood there in a dense cloud of hot steam and pitch-black smoke. He immediately assumed a deadly, unyielding fighting stance. He looked at the four attackers one by one with a gaze that was both intensely amused and utterly ruthless.
“Well, well, well… three first years, all from completely different alliances… how very coincidental this is…” He paused for a moment, his eyes focusing on the two little ones. “And wait… REN, hahahaha! FULLY YOUNG APPRENTICES ALREADY… SHOW ME WHAT YOU HAVE GOT!!”
Master Juro shifted his fighting stance in a single fluid, lethal motion. The heavy aura surrounding him transformed right along with it. The air became metallic and cold. The color of his thick smoke shifted from deep blue to a completely different, sickly, and ominous tint. The substance seemed to thicken immensely, enveloping him entirely like advanced, living demonic armor. He gestured mockingly toward Miki and Siera, sarcastically beckoning them closer.
“COME AT ME THEN!!”
All five stood face to face, deathly quiet and motionless, waiting for the first fatal move. The tension was so thick it pressed heavily on their lungs. Without any physical warning, Master Juro tried to initiate an invisible smoke dash out of absolute nowhere. He wanted to vanish completely into nothingness to strike invisibly and lethally… but Siera simply would not allow it.
Her burning bird legs flared unnaturally high. As she began chanting cryptic, ancient holy shanties, her flames suddenly shifted color to a blinding white. The heat gained a divine, singing resonance. With impossible speed and divine precision, she reached blindly into the thick, shifting smoke. Her burning claws unexpectedly gained a grip on a solid, firm shape.
She pulled Master Juro ruthlessly and with brutal force out of his own perfect illusion.
“Stay right here!” she roared. Siera struck him with a massive wall of white-hot flames straight across the field, right into the open, waiting arms of Hulda.
The colossal stag beast did not hesitate for a single millisecond. Hulda snorted, braced herself, and kicked Master Juro hard into the air with an upward, beastly strike of pure primal power. Below, Ren and Miki were already standing in perfect sync and focus, ready in formation.
Master Juro flew uncontrolled, tumbling through the open sky. Through a small, coincidental gap in the thick surrounding smoke clouds, he looked directly down… straight into the cold, fearless faces of Ren and Miki.
Time seemed to stand still for a full second in the thin air.
If you could only see yourselves compared to when you first arrived here, you brats… he thought to himself, while heavy adrenaline pumped through his veins. What massive, unmanageable trouble you were… and what you actually mean to me…
He saw it crystal clear before his mind’s eye. The smell of old wood in the Ward filled his mind. The memory was as sharp as broken glass. He saw how Miki and Ren, completely exhausted and drained, lay sleeping at the large wooden table. How he taught them for hours on end, day after day, stubborn and harsh. How little Miki, in her blind overenthusiasm, literally set everything in the room on fire. And Ren… who was as quiet and invisible as could be the entire time. An insecure, shy boy who did not understand the world and seemed to belong nowhere.
Visually, this warm, fatherly memory melted seamlessly into the brutal, cold present. The cinematic image of the two innocent children in the safe Ward shifted smoothly to the two deadly serious warriors standing down there now. Unshakable, unbreakable, in the eye of the storming smoke. A pang of pure, unadulterated pride shot through Juro’s chest.
“BUT THAT IS WHY I PUSH YOU!!” Master Juro roared with a voice that tore through the clouds.
He forcefully regained his balance midair, ignited his aura with those strangely colored flames, and attempted to slam down onto them like a meteor with an all-destroying smoke flash.
But the two students knew exactly what was coming. Miki and Ren clasped each other’s hands tightly and decisively. Ren immediately activated his Iron Saw Speed. His legs vibrated so fast from the built-up kinetic energy that they blurred, and with a booming shockwave, he launched Miki. She shot into the air like a literal, screaming comet of fire and crashed violently into the descending Master Juro with explosive force.
The impact in the air was phenomenal. The shockwave blew the clouds away. But immediately after the impact, Ren felt a slight panic about the massive recoil Miki had to physically endure. He flashed swiftly into the air with a sharp, sawing sound. He caught the falling Miki gracefully and protectively in his arms.
“Are you okay?!” he asked anxiously, the cold warrior nowhere to be seen for a moment. Without interrupting the murderous combat rhythm for even a second, he set her down safely on the solid ground.
Master Juro landed silently on his feet. The sand kicked up softly. He stood with his broad back to Ren, but his senses were razor sharp. He knew down to the millimeter where the boy was standing. Without looking, he attempted to strike blindly backward at the boy in one fluid, destructive movement. The massive, armor-clad fist cut through the air with a hissing sound.
But at the very last, crucial moment, Ren was suddenly completely gone.
The heavy fist of the Master struck nothing but thin air. Where Ren had stood a fraction of a second prior, now only cold iron straw floated silently through the heated atmosphere.
Ren flashed through three-dimensional space using his maximum saw technique. He appeared directly in front of Juro to strike hard from close range.
Master Juro laughed loudly and boisterously. He anticipated the flash blindly. With superhuman reflexes, he grabbed the oncoming boy right in midair. Master Juro tensed his shoulders, intending to slam him against the stone ground with all his might to break his neck.
To his surprise, he suddenly realized his hand was completely empty. He squeezed nothingness.
Ren had transformed his body into his Ironstraw form. The sharp, metallic strands glided effortlessly, liquid and weightless over Master Juro’s fingers and arms. He slipped like sand through the master’s hands, passing him completely unharmed.
From the floating cloud of Ironstraw, a deep, heavily magnetically warped voice echoed right at the back of the big master’s neck.
“Thanks for the tip…”
The loose, cutting particles of Ironstraw materialized lightning fast right behind Master Juro’s back, returning to Ren’s solid form. The boy accelerated immediately in midair. Like a massive cannonball fired at full force, he smashed with maximum accumulated momentum right into the master’s spine.
The ruthless impact echoed like a thunderclap. Master Juro was launched over the stone ground with violent force. As he skidded like a ragdoll and plowed up the earth, he realized the full truth.
They really have grown massively…
Hidden behind the smoke and the blood in his mouth, he felt overwhelmingly and purely happy about this unmistakable fact. But his ancient warrior instinct immediately took over again. He had to keep going. He had to strike back at them unmercifully to complete the lesson.
Master Juro regained his balance, dug his heels firmly into the ruined rubble to brake, and filled his lungs with air. He wanted to strike immediately and roar a provocative statement across the field.
But before the words left his mouth, he was tapped on his right shoulder in an extremely subtle, almost respectful manner.
At the same time, a heavy, extremely intimidating, and deeply vibrating feline growl sounded right beside his ear in the dense smoke. The thick, poisonous smoke still curled hot around his neck as Master Juro turned around with extreme calm. He was not startled in the slightest by the unexpected touch or the deep growl. With a smooth, almost theatrical movement, he pulled out his trusted wooden pipe and clamped it casually between his teeth. A deep, booming laugh bubbled up slowly from his massive chest.
“Hahaha… what is this? A cozy reunion…” He lit the pipe with a flick of his magically burning fingers and took an agonizingly slow, heavy drag. He blew a dense cloud of fragrant tobacco smoke that mingled with the gunpowder fumes and the stench of molten stone. “…or a brutal Test!!”
But when the smoke cleared slightly from his face and he took the time to truly look at who had just tapped his shoulder, his dark eyes narrowed into two sharp slits. His astonishment was total.
There stood Jane. But not the human Jane he knew from the classrooms.
Her proto armor had followed her transformation as if it had been born specifically for this body. Liquid silver-blue Thokcha fit tightly along her sleek feline torso and ran in flexible segments over her shoulders, ribs, and hips. The plates were still bare and functional, lacking the final Goat ornaments or ceremonial finish, but the predatory lines were already unmistakable. Along her forearms, the edges had grown sharper, almost like half-formed claw blades, while fine conductive channels crossed the armor like glowing veins.
An intense, furious cloud of static electricity crackled relentlessly off her physical body with loud snaps. The metal sizzled and pulsed completely with wild, untamed electric currents. Her hair was no longer ordinary strands; it had turned into a wild mane of pure, crackling lightning that defied gravity and cast a cold, blue-white light over the shattered battlefield. The animalistic, bloodthirsty predator’s glare in her bright yellow eyes was sharp enough to cut through solid steel.
Jane let out a low, vibrating, and extremely dangerous growl. She looked over her lightning-covered shoulder with an arrogant, confident grin toward the dark ash clouds behind her.
From the pure, impenetrable shadows, a second figure came gliding slowly upward. The temperature in the immediate vicinity plummeted instantly and mercilessly toward absolute zero.
It was Nyx.
Her proto armor made her look instantly royal despite its unfinished state. Smooth, pitch-black Thokcha plates closed tightly around her slender torso and ran in sleek, spiked shapes over her shoulders and hips. Thin moon-silver channels curved like crescent moons along her ribs and arms, while several loose silver segments floated slowly around her shoulders as if they had not yet decided on their final placement.
Across her forehead sat only a narrow dark brow frame: not yet a real tiara, no crown, merely the bare skeleton of something that was meant to become far more elegant and royal later on.
From her slender wrists to her very fingertips, her hands were pitch black. They radiated a living, pulsing, and resonating darkness that seemed to literally devour the ambient light. Her long hair billowed lavishly in an invisible, icy wind, made of the exact same suffocating, pitch-black shadow energy.
Nyx stopped calmly beside the crackling Jane, raised her chin, and looked Master Juro straight and fearlessly in the eyes with chilling composure. A challenging, lethal smile appeared on her dark, gothic lips.
“BRING IT ON, OLD MAN!!” Nyx shouted, her powerful voice vibrating the shadows on the ground and demanding the master’s respect.
High above the ruined and still burning arena, far removed from the direct violence below, a heavy, booming, and overwhelming laugh suddenly echoed from one of the highest balconies. It was one of the observing Faculty Masters taking in the fierce action with full enjoyment.
“Haha! Those new Goats are damn interesting this year, aren’t they?!” the heavy voice echoed amusedly and approvingly across the gigantic battlefield.
Master Juro stood below in the line of fire, listening to the absurd, bold challenge from Nyx. Instead of becoming offended or enraged, a broad, somewhat insane, and bloodthirsty grin broke across his battered face. He took the wooden pipe from his mouth with two fingers.
“‘Old man’ even, haha…” he muttered, genuinely amused, as he tapped the ash from the pipe. The pure, unadulterated swagger and crushing growth of these newcomers was exactly the spectacle he wanted to see. But the warmup was officially over now.
Without taking his gaze off the two girls for even a fraction of a second, Master Juro brought his massive hands to his own muscular forearms. He grasped the extremely heavy, dark grey armor pieces that were tightly strapped around both of his wrists and arms. With two dull, heavy clicks, he undid the thick metal fasteners. With a casual movement, he tossed the arm pieces away carelessly.
The pieces of dark metal fell through the air. But the horrific sound with which they struck the stone floor defied all logic and was completely absurd.
With an all-destroying slam, as if two massive comets had actually crashed down at full speed, the armor pieces smashed the stone arena floor to pieces. The impossible, lead-heavy weight caused the entire earth to tremble several meters beneath the surface, striking deep, shattered craters directly into the ancient rock. The pure physical shockwave of the impact blew away all debris, ash, and thick smoke in a wide circle.
Master Juro stretched his now completely freed arms with a cracking sound. His muscles swelled exponentially, his veins throbbed, and a terrifying, overwhelming, and murderous pressure began to radiate outward directly from his core.
“NOW SHOW ME EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE WORTH!!” Master Juro roared across the gaping battlefield with demonic volume.
His entire gigantic body began to glow ominously and blindingly bright. The pent-up energy and pure mana reached a catastrophic level within a fraction of a second, causing the air around him to literally boil and warp. The master’s absolute judgment had begun.