[: Daniel's POV :]**

We sprinted through the forest, the chaotic sound of rampaging monsters echoing around us like drums of war.

Branches snapped, leaves scattered, and the smell of blood thickened with each passing second.

"Daniel, what's going on!? How come every monster we see is acting weird!?"

Fendrick shouted from behind me, his voice trembling.

"Left! Watch out!"

A monstrous serpent, thick as a boulder, lunged at Fendrick with its jaws wide open.

[: 1st Tier Spell: Wind Slash :]

A razor-thin blade of wind left my fingertips, severing the snake in half. It collapsed in two heavy thuds.

We came to a stop, all three of us breathing heavily, not from exhaustion, but questions.

Silvia clutched her wrist device, pale.

"It happened again… no announcement. We killed it, but nothing."

That was the strangest part.

Normally, every kill in the Festival Hunt was recorded..

But now?

Nothing.

Only eerie silence.

"Did… something happen to the Academy…?"

Silvia whispered.

"Huh!? There's no way!" Fendrick barked. But even he seemed unsure.

"What do you think, Daniel…? This whole situation, monsters going wild, no announcements, none of it makes sense."

Silvia's voice cracked.

"The monsters shouldn't behave like this… not during the Festival Hunt. Something is wrong"

"You're right," I muttered.

"This is not normal. I don't know what's going on, but for now… we need to find the others."

"What!? Us? Three people?" Fendrick looked horrified.

"Daniel, there are thousands of students!"

"But thousands of students could die," Silvia said quietly.

"We can't ignore that."

Fendrick sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"I was hoping today would be simple…"

"It won't be," I said gently. "Not anymore."

"So… how do we find them?" Fendrick asked, fear rising again.

"You leave that to me," I answered.

They didn't question me. Their faith in me was blind, and oddly comforting.

[: Eyes of Calamity: Far Sight :]

Their breath hitched when my eyes changed, swirling with abyssal crimson and fractal black patterns.

The forest reflected inside them not just the forest, it was the entire Zone.

For a moment, I saw everything.

Every tree.

Every monster.

Every student.

And every dying heartbeat.

My jaw tightened.

"Fendrick. Silvia."

Their backs straightened.

"From now on, follow every order I give. No delays. No arguments. This situation is far worse than we thought."

Before they could ask questions, I used my skill.

[: Boundless Void: Void Step :]

Space folded.

We appeared instantly in a clearing drenched with blood and despair.

There were five students surrounded by roughly a hundred monsters.

Three fought desperately, barely holding on.

One was screaming beside a fallen boy.

"Dale! D-Dale! Don't die—please! PLEASE!"

Dale lay there with a gaping hole in his stomach, blood flooding the ground.

His healer, pressed glowing hands against the wound, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Lia…" Dale coughed, blood at his lips, "I… I don't think… I'll make it…"

"Yes you will!" she shrieked, tears falling like rain.

"Don't you dare leave us! Don't you dare!"

"We're here," I said, stepping forward.

My voice cut clean through the chaos.

"Daniel! Look!" Fendrick shouted, pointing as a massive boar-lizard hybrid barreled toward a terrified group of students.

But I didn't flinch.

My gaze swept across the zone, taking in the mayhem.

"You'll be fine. All of you," I muttered, stepping forward.

[: Aura of Annihilation: Oblivion Pulse :]

A pulse of black energy erupted from me, sweeping across the battlefield.

Trees were shredded, boulders vaporized, and monsters vanished into nothingness.

Screams were cut short as everything in the radius was annihilated, not burned, not torn, but erased.

The five students staggered backward, awestruck.

"Y-you… saved us…?"

Lia whispered, tears streaking her face.

I nodded without smiling.

"I did, but we'de not done yet."

From the shadows beyond the clearing, more monsters poured in.

Hundreds, now thousands, their movements frenzied and corrupted.

Their ranks spanned from D to B from wolves, serpents, trolls, and beasts that looked like nightmares twisted into reality.

Silvia's hand gripped my arm.

"Daniel… there's too many!"

"No. Not for me."

[: Eyes of Calamity: Omniscient Destruction & Far Sight :]

I activated my eyes.

The world froze for a heartbeat as the monsters saw themselves die, countless variations of death, gruesome, eternal.

Even the strongest faltered, clutching their heads as sanity cracked.

A second later, the monsters screamed as they staggered, their minds broken by a glimpse of inevitability.

"W-what… what just happened?" Fendrick stammered, jaw slack.

"They… they saw their end," I said, scanning the distance. "And it's not enough. More are coming."

[: Indomitable Destruction: Conceptual Collapse :]

I swept my arm across the advancing horde.

The very concept of their existence shattered.

A massive troll, a god of war in its own mind, became nothing, its body disintegrated, its name, essence, and existence erased from the laws of the universe.

Silvia's breath caught.

"Daniel… you… you're unreal…"

I didn't answer.

Words would only slow me down.

[: Conqueror of Authority & Authority Over All :]

With a thought, I seized control of the enemies' abilities.

Their claws, fangs, elemental attacks, they all faltered.

They were puppets with invisible strings.

Yet the corruption in them was potent, fighting back, struggling to regain control.

I smirked faintly.

"Then I guess I'll take the lead."

[: Void Singularity :]

A black orb appeared in my palm, feeding on the environment, the remaining magic, even the corrupted essence of the forest itself.

The orb grew, consuming light, energy, and matter and the moment it descended on the ground, monsters disintegrated mid-step, and even the ground began to vanish.

Dale's eyes widened, and Lia's hands trembled as she watched.

"Daniel… how…?"

"Don't ask," I said.

"Just hold on."

[: Supreme Coat of Annihilation :]

I enveloped myself in annihilation, an armor of pure erasure.

A charging Bone Chimera exploded on contact, its fragments never hitting the ground.

Nothing survived, nothing remained.

Fendrick gawked. "You… you just… erased it… with your skin?"

"I prefer doing things cleanly," I replied.

[: Eyes of Calamity: Final Judgment :]

I gazed at the next wave, wolves, serpents, mutated insects.

Their sins, virtues, secrets, everything was laid bare.

Those found lacking were erased without mercy.

Some shrieked and collapsed, unable to comprehend their vanishing reality.

Silvia whispered, gripping her staff.

"You… you're like… justice… wrath… everything at once…"

"Focus," I muttered. "We still have more students to save."

[: Void Step & Chrono Manipulation :]

Time slowed around me as I teleported from one group to the next and the 5 students were teleported together.

Trees, boulders, monsters, they all blurred.

One moment I was beside five students pinned under a collapsed tree, another beside a group of three being chased by giant wolves.

[: Aura of Annihilation: Tear of the End :]

A rift tore open the battlefield, pulling in monsters by the hundreds.

Their essence, bodies, and mana were sucked into oblivion.

The earth shuddered.

The sky above darkened.

Light bent unnaturally as if the world itself mourned their absence.

"Thank you so much…" One of the students gasped weakly. "I… I… thought… I was gone…"

"You're not," I said firmly. "Not yet."

I moved again, void folding around me.

Another group of seven students trapped on a cliff, surrounded by aerial serpents and fire apes.

A flick of my fingers, and the whole situation changed.

[: Void Collapse :]

The battlefield itself became a singularity.

Gravity reversed, light disappeared, monsters screamed as their bodies twisted, broken by impossible physics.

Then, in a blink, they were gone.

The students landed safely on stable ground beside me.

"Wh-what just… happened?" one asked, voice trembling.

"You… I… don't know how to thank you," another stammered.

"Stay alive," I said. "That's enough thanks for now."

All of a sudden, few monsters decided to ambushed.

[: Kingbreaker & Reverse Cataclysm :]

A massive bone dragon lunged at a distant student group, its claws tearing earth.

I raised my hand. Its attack reversed, the damage it intended reflected, multiplied, and it collapsed into dust before reaching them.

Silvia gasped. "Daniel… it's… it's like nothing can even hurt you…"

"It can," I muttered. "But only if I allow it."

Yet, there was a surge of corrupted again, forming a colossal wave, a hint that there was a battalion of monsters rushing towards us, threatening to wipe out all life.

But it won't happen.

I raised my hand and uttered one word.

"End"

[: End of Epoch :]

The wave of monsters dissolved midair.

Everything it was going to destroy was gone.

Only the students remained.

The students, now saved, all staring at me in stunned silence.

I looked at one of the students, whose breathing had steadied thanks to Lia's persistent healing.

His lips trembled as he whispered, "I-I don't know how to thank you...I thought I would die..."

"Don't mention it," I said.

My voice calm, but my eyes narrowed.

"We still have to move."

One by one, I had teleported to three more groups over the next few minutes:

One of the groups was six students trapped under collapsing rocks, surrounded by D-rank trolls.

One of them was a mage desperately holding a defensive barrier.

I used Void Erasure and Oblivion Pulse, and the barrier, the rocks, and the trolls all vanished without a trace.

Another group with Four students pinned by a herd of fire apes.

I manifested a Spear of Light, threw it, and it split into dozens of spears midair, piercing every ape simultaneously.

The forest trembled under the residual annihilation.

Another group with seven students fighting off mutated serpents that had coiled around ancient trees.

A single command, Irefutable Order: Return to Dust, and every serpent crumbled into dust, disintegrated from existence, leaving no trace.

Each time, Silvia and Fendrick were left speechless, their expressions a mixture of awe, disbelief, and gratitude.

Every student's eyes were wide, trembling, yet alive.

"Daniel…" Fendrick whispered, voice trembling.

"I… I don't even know what to call that… You… you're… everything rolled into one…"

Silvia only nodded, tears rolling down her face.

"You saved all of them… every single one… and we… we're alive because of you…"

I looked at the horizon, sensing the forest's unnatural heartbeat.

The corrupted surge still pulsed, controlled by something unseen, something intelligent.

I clenched my fists.

"We have to move. Something's not right."

Even after saving countless lives, even after annihilating thousands of monsters, the war was far from over.

The real enemy was still out there, waiting, watching, and the forest itself seemed to quiver in anticipation.

But for now, every student I saved was breathing, alive, and looking at me with hope.

That alone was worth every ounce of power I had unleashed.

And I would continue.

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