[: Daniel's POV :]

The forest stretched endlessly around us, its twisted canopy choking the moonlight, shadows shifting unnaturally as though the trees themselves were alive.

Every second, the air vibrated with the screeching cries of monsters, hundreds, maybe thousands, each drawn by the chaos of the Festival Hunt.

And I was still moving, still saving, still fighting.

Silvia and Fendrick followed closely, their hands on their weapons, their faces pale but resolute.

The students we'd saved clustered in safe clearings behind us, trembling, exhausted, but alive.

"Daniel… another group...up ahead!"

Fendrick shouted, pointing to a clearing where screams pierced the air.

I didn't hesitate. I folded the air between us.

[: Boundless Void: Void Step :]

In an instant, we were there.

The sight made my jaw tighten.

Ten students surrounded by a dozen hulking monstrosities mutated wolves with teeth like spears, claws tearing the earth.

One of them, had his arm nearly torn off, blood gushing freely.

"Get back!" I commanded.

[: Coat of Annihilation :]

A veil of annihilation enveloped me.

The closest wolf lunged, its teeth dissolving the moment it touched my coat.

Its comrades froze, confused, then erupted into nothingness one by one.

The student stared at me, wide-eyed.

"Y-you… saved us?"

"Stay behind me," I said, sweeping my hand in an arc.

[: Aura of Annihilation: Oblivion Pulse :]

A shockwave exploded outward, erasing the remaining monsters.

The ground scorched, trees splintered into dust, and the clearing became eerily silent.

Silvia knelt beside the boy, her hands glowing as she healed him.

Fendrick checked the others, his relief audible in ragged breaths.

"They're safe now," I murmured, scanning the forest.

And immediately, I spotted movement in the shadows, another group, cornered by monstrous serpents, their bodies coiling around them like living chains.

"Let's go," I said, and we folded space again.

[: Boundless Void: Void Step :]

We appeared at the edge of the clearing.

Five students, three fighting desperately, two on the ground, battered.

The serpents lunged in unison. I clenched my fists.

[: Indomitable Destruction: Decay of Nothingness :]

With a sweep of my arm, the serpents screamed as their bodies crumbled into black dust.

Branches, leaves, even the dirt beneath them dissolved into nothingness.

One student, trembling, reached out.

"We… we thought we were done for…"

"Not on my watch," I said. "Move. Now."

[: Void Singularity :]

A black orb of void formed in my palm, expanding rapidly.

I let it float, feeding on the lingering corrupted energy in the clearing.

The remaining minor monsters tried to flee but were drawn in, swallowed by the inexorable gravity of the void.

We didn't pause.

Beyond this clearing, screams echoed again, another cluster of students, surrounded by a pack of Bone Rhinos, each one as large as a small house, their horns glinting like daggers under the moonlight.

"Brace yourselves," I said.

[: Supreme Coat of Annihilation* :]

I activated the dense armor, my body becoming a walking apocalypse. The Rhinos charged.

Their horns shattered against me, their massive bodies imploding into nothingness. I didn't even flinch.

"Daniel… how… how can one person be this strong?" Fendrick whispered, awe dripping from every word.

"Don't question it," I said, teleporting us to the next site.

[: Void Step :]

We appeared over a ravine where seven students clung to precarious rocks, with corrupted harpies circling above.

The students' screams were almost drowned out by the flapping of wings.

"Don't move!" I shouted.

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

Rifts tore open in the sky, pulling the harpies into collapsing voids.

Rocks, air, and even light warped under the pressure.

One by one, the creatures vanished, leaving the students staring, wide-eyed.

"Thank… thank you!" one of them cried, tears streaking her dirt-smudged face.

"We're not done," I said, scanning again.

More movements, more cries.

Zone A was endless, but so was my resolve.

[: Eyes of Calamity: Omniscient Destruction :]

As I moved, my gaze swept over distant trees, over shadows, over monsters in their tracks.

Their minds were shown endless death scenarios, each more grotesque than the last, shattering their resolve.

Madness spread through them like wildfire, giving the students precious seconds to escape.

We continued through the night.

Clearings, ravines, cliffs, and dense woods, all became stages for my relentless defense.

I teleported in, obliterated threats, and whisked students to safe zones in rapid succession.

One group of twelve was trapped in a clearing surrounded by stone-skinned trolls.

They were cornered, backs to jagged boulders, breathing heavily.

"Stay calm!" I shouted.

[: Authority of Destruction :]

The air vibrated violently, the trolls frozen mid-lunge.

Their rock-like bodies began to crumble, the fundamental essence of their forms unraveling. Within seconds, they were gone.

"You…you… saved us all?" one of the students gasped.

"Don't worry, you're all fine now...but we can't waste any more time...we have to move now"

Hours blurred into one another.

It was moments of saving the students and killing the monsters.

There was a river where 8 students were trapped after they tried to cross, but they were clueless as corrupted crocodiles surged from the water.

But as I arrived, I used Essence Devouring, draining their vitality until they collapsed into dust mid-leap.

At another site, the number of students this time was unusual. There was a cluster of them, total 30 of them.

But they were trapped and circles by flying wyverns attacked in tandem.

However, it wasn't a problem for me as I summoned Void Erasure, meteor-like voids landing precisely where the monsters soared, erasing the air and earth around them.

And at another land, there was a forest maze where shadows moved independently, and there were students who were lost and was about to be ambushed b monsters.

But of course, before the monsters could succeed, I unleashed Neverending Flames that spread throughout the Forest of Maze, killing all of the monsters.

Silvia and Fendrick stayed close, assisting where they could, moving students, healing minor injuries, but the overwhelming majority of the battle was mine.

I became a constant, unstoppable force, teleporting between skirmishes, eradicating threats, and shepherding every student to relative safety.

Their gratitude became a chorus, voices rising in a mixture of awe, fear, and relief.

They were wary of me, but their gratitude had overwhelmed their suspicion. Hence, they didn't fear me, instead, they were thankful.

"Daniel! How do you do it?!" one student cried.

"I… I don't understand… how you keep saving us!" another shouted.

"I—thank you—thank you!" a healer whispered, tears streaking her soot-covered face.

I didn't answer.

Words were unnecessary.

Actions were all that mattered.

And with every group saved, with every horde annihilated, the students' trust in me solidified.

By the time the night had deepened into a heavy, suffocating darkness, every student in Zone A had been rescued.

Over one thousand souls, trembling but alive, now gathered in the largest clearing we could find.

Torches and mana crystals cast soft light across their dirt-streaked faces.

The representatives I'd spoken with earlier approached, still panting, still wide-eyed from what they had witnessed.

By now, the number of students I had saved in Zone A alone was near to one thousand, and now, there were 10 Representatives and I was one of them.

"We… we're all here,"

Erynn said finally.

"All of the students… every single one…"

Hael swallowed hard, shaking his head.

"Daniel… how did you do it? How did you save all of us… from… everything?"

I looked around at them, at the exhausted, relieved, fearful, and grateful faces of the students, at Silvia and Fendrick standing silently beside me.

I smirked, letting the weight of the night settle.

"I told you… I told you to leave it to me."

The representatives exchanged glances, their trust in me now absolute.

They had seen my power, my decisions, my ability to act when no one else could.

For once, the fear that had consumed Zone A seemed to lift, replaced by hope, cautious but real.

"But… Daniel," Erynn said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I know the situation seem suspicious and it won't take any genius to understand that something is happening in the Academy" Erynn said and all of the other representatives agreed with her.

"But how are we going to get out of Zone A? It's… it's impossible. We've been moving all night, and it's endless. How do we escape?"

I turned, the moonlight catching the edges of my smirk.

"You'll see soon enough. Leave it to me."

Silvia and Fendrick exhaled quietly, relief mingling with awe.

The students murmured among themselves, some laughing nervously, some wiping tears from their faces, all of them grateful beyond words.

I stepped forward, surveying the zone, every corrupted pulse, every shadow, every clearing I had fought through tonight.

This was just the beginning of what had to be done.

But they didn't need to understand my methods.

They only needed to trust.

And tonight, they did.

I glanced at the representatives.

"Rest for now. Tomorrow, we move again. But for tonight… you are safe. Because I am here"

The students settled, exhausted but alive, their gratitude palpable in the quiet night.

The forest, once filled with chaos, now seemed to pause, as though acknowledging the force that had swept through it and reshaped it.

I didn't sleep. I couldn't.

My eyes scanned every shadow, my senses alert for any lingering threat.

But for the first time since the Hunt had begun, I allowed a small, almost imperceptible smile.

"Mika.." I whispered, voice low, yet filled with certainty. "I will uphold my promise with you"

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