The forest swallowed the glow of the defeated team's departure, but the silence didn't last. From deeper within the mist, voices rose—sharp commands, the guttural cries of spirit beasts clashing. The sound drew closer with every breath.

"They're converging," Aston murmured, gaze flicking to the treetops where Mirage wheeled. Too many paths leading here.

Gray's ears flattened. His tail lashed once, then twice—the warning of a predator sensing rivals.

Marcellus's wolfhound growled low, hackles bristling. "Good. Saves us the trouble of finding them."

"We'll see about that," Aston muttered. His hand lifted, guiding Mirage's sweep. "Two groups coming from the west. One from the north. They've caught our scent."

Even as he spoke, shadows broke the treeline—an armored stag bursting forward with a rider, followed by a pack of hounds glowing with essence fire. Behind them, another squad appeared, their drake circling low, screeching a warning.

"Brace!" Ivy snapped, her fox weaving runes that flickered like nets between the trees.

The stag thundered closer—only to be slammed sideways as Marcellus's wolfhound barreled in, fangs flashing silver. Sparks exploded as claws raked antlers.

The fox's runes caught one of the hounds mid-leap, pinning it to a tree in a flare of light. Brennar's construct scuttled forward, belching a shockwave that sent another sprawling, legs twitching.

Selene's dove beat its glowing wings, waves of healing essence washing over the frontliners, patching shallow cuts before they could slow anyone down.

And through it all, Aston moved like a shadow between them, Mirage's vision feeding him glimpses of every flank, every blind spot. He barked short commands—"Left, Marcellus!" "Brennar, drop a mine there!"—guiding his team with unnerving precision.

It worked. One after another, enemy groups faltered. Each time a person is defeated, the academy's transport sigils triggered, whisking the defeated away in cascades of light.

But victory bred attention. More teams pressed in, lured by the chaos. The forest rang with shouts and essence blasts, the battlefield tightening into a whirlpool of clashing beasts.

Then—

A booming voice cut through it all, echoing across the arena:

"Ten minutes have elapsed! The world will shrink."

The world shuddered.

Aston staggered as space itself twisted. The trees groaned, the mist churned, and suddenly the distance between him and Marcellus halved—as though a meter of ground had collapsed into half a step. Ivy gasped, nearly stumbling into Selene, whose dove flapped in distress as its wings fought the compression. Even the beasts shifted uneasily, their spacing thrown awry.

It wasn't just their team. Across the battlefield, clashes grew louder, tighter—roars, screeches, and essence detonations slamming closer together as kilometers compressed into meters.

The forest was no longer vast. It was closing in.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Aston's breath steadied. "Stay sharp."

The forest groaned again as the compressed space settled, and already new voices echoed through the mist—teams drawn like wolves to blood. The chaos they had stirred was pulling others in, one after another.

"Selene," Aston called, his tone sharp but calm. "Forget offense. Keep everyone standing."

Selene nodded without hesitation, her dove fluttering to her shoulder. A soft glow spread outward, lacing her teammates with threads of resilience.

Mirage swooped back, wings shimmering with frost-light, perching briefly on a broken branch before vanishing into the canopy. Through the link, Aston saw flickers of movement—shadows of beasts and handlers closing from three directions.

"Brennar, lay your traps," Aston ordered. "Ivy—reinforce them. Layer your sigils so anyone who breaks one hits the other."

The engineer gave a quick grunt, already snapping his fingers. His crablike construct scuttled out, embedding pulsing charges beneath roots and rocks. Sparks of essence winked out of sight like buried mines. Ivy followed, her fox weaving runes across trunks and undergrowth, faint silver light stringing a web of concealed enchantments.

"Done," she murmured, sweat already on her brow.

Aston turned to the front. "Marcellus—Gray—you're with me. Guard the line. No one gets through."

The wolfhound growled, bristling as Marcellus tightened his grip on his weapon. Gray padded forward, his obsidian fur bristling faintly in the mist. The cub's amber eyes gleamed like molten metal, tail lashing in readiness.

Together, the two predators—wolfhound and tiger—stood shoulder to shoulder, guardians at the forest's edge.

Branches snapped. A guttural roar cut through the fog.

The roar of beasts grew nearer, snapping branches and crunching roots. Shadows loomed in the mist, hulking forms pushing through the treeline. A stag wreathed in flame. A serpent with scales glowing hot as embers. A hammer-fisted ape bristling with iron hide.

Three groups. Nearly a dozen spirit beasts.

They surged forward, eyes fixed on the glow of Team Eleven's position.

"Now," Aston murmured.

The first stag barreled through the mist—only for the ground beneath it to erupt. Brennar's charges exploded in a shockwave of concussive force, hurling the beast sideways. Its rider crashed to the dirt with a shout, only to be caught mid-scream by Ivy's silver runes flaring to life. Chains of light bound him tight, and in a flash he and his beast dissolved into motes—eliminated instantly.

The serpent lunged, but its coils tangled as more sigils ignited, snaring its length. With a frantic hiss it thrashed, only to slam headfirst into another of Brennar's mines. The detonation flung it limp into the trees, where Marcellus's wolfhound pounced, fangs glowing silver as it clamped down. The serpent's handler panicked, and in moments, both vanished in defeat.

The ape fared no better. Charging blindly through the chaos, it triggered a layered trap: Brennar's construct snapped a cable taut across the roots while Ivy's fox ignited runes beneath its feet. The beast stumbled, roaring, before Gray darted in. His claws flashed once, precise and thin. For a heartbeat the ape still bellowed—then it sagged, deep cuts blossoming across its body as its handler's essence snapped. Another flare of light signaled another team's exit.

The forest went still again.

Three groups, undone in less than a minute.

Marcellus stood heaving, but a grin split his face. "That… was brutal."

Ivy wiped sweat from her brow, her fox curling smugly at her ankles. "It worked better than I thought."

Brennar's crab clanked back to him, legs twitching proudly. "Efficient."

Selene's dove cooed softly, casting healing light across the bruises forming on Marcellus's arms.

Aston didn't relax. He stared into the mist, Mirage's senses still feeding him glimpses from above. "Don't celebrate yet. That was just the first wave."

Gray padded back to his side, fur clean despite the carnage, amber eyes gleaming with quiet hunger.

Somewhere in the distance, a booming horn sounded—another team signaling their survival. And with every moment, the battlefield shrank closer.

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