The battlefield was a cacophony of screams, roaring beasts, and the shattering of magical barriers. The Four Factions, usually the pride of Overlords Academy, were crumbling.

The Vanguard charged bravely, their swords clashing against the obsidian scales of the Wyrms, but for every monster they pushed back, two more burrowed up from beneath their feet. The Arcanists were useless; their spells reflected wildly, causing friendly fire incidents that sowed panic in the ranks. The Phantoms darted in and out, dealing chip damage, but they lacked the stopping power to kill the massive beasts.

And the Sentinels… the Sentinels were dying. Their shield walls were buckling under the sheer kinetic force of the Wyrms' thrashing bodies.

"Hold the line! By the Founders, hold the line!" Jarek screamed, his own shield cracking as a tail swipe sent him skidding backward ten meters.

He looked up, desperate for reinforcements, and saw something that made his brain short-circuit.

Alvian.

The freshman was walking into the swarm. He wasn't running. He wasn't dodging. He was walking in a straight line toward the center of the infestation.

A Wyrm lunged at him from the left.

Alvian didn't even look at it.

"[Runic Aegis +2]."

Seven ancient, glowing runes materialized around him, orbiting with a low, menacing hum. As the Wyrm struck, a rune intercepted it.

"BOOM!"

[Reactive Force Triggered!]

[-3,500! True Damage!]

The rune detonated on impact, the blast wave reversing the Wyrm's momentum and blowing a hole in its side. The monster screeched and collapsed.

Another Wyrm attacked from behind. Another rune. Another explosion.

Alvian was a walking minefield.

He reached the center of the salt pan, where the largest Wyrm—a Level 40 Brood Matriarch—was tearing through a squad of Vanguard students. The Matriarch was colossal, her scales spiked and glowing with corrupt red mana.

"Get back!" a Vanguard girl screamed, clutching a broken arm. "It eats mana!"

The Matriarch opened its maw, inhaling. The magical buffs on the students flickered and vanished, sucked into the beast's gullet.

Alvian stepped between the students and the monster.

"It eats mana?" Alvian asked, equipping his [Lance of the Void Winter]. The violet frost on the blade smoked in the desert heat. "Let's see if it can digest this."

The Matriarch roared and slammed its massive body down, trying to crush Alvian flat.

Alvian raised his free hand. He didn't use a skill. He used raw stats.

[Strength: 85]

[Physique: 110]

He caught the Wyrm's descending head.

"THUD!"

The ground beneath Alvian cracked in a spiderweb pattern for twenty meters, sinking two feet. But Alvian's arm didn't buckle. He held the multi-ton monster in place with one hand, his muscles bulging against the sleeves of his robe.

The students behind him stared, their eyes popping out of their heads.

"He... he caught it?"

"That's a Raid Boss! It weighs fifty tons!"

Alvian looked up at the beast, his eyes glowing with a cold, violet light.

"You're heavy," Alvian muttered. "But I'm denser."

He activated [Klaus's Upgrade].

[Ding! [Blessing] Active.]

"[Frost Descent +2]."

He didn't cast it on the area. He cast it directly into the Matriarch's face, while holding it.

Because of the Blessing, the effect was doubled.

"FREEZE."

A explosion of absolute zero cold erupted point-blank.

The Matriarch's roar was cut short as the moisture in its mouth, throat, and lungs flash-froze instantly. The blizzard expanded, encasing the massive worm in a block of ice the size of a building.

The desert heat hissed as it met the unnatural cold.

[-12,000! Critical!]

[-4,500! Freeze Damage!]

[-4,500! Freeze Damage!]

The health bar of the Raid Boss melted away.

Alvian released his grip. The frozen statue of the monster loomed over him.

"Shatter."

He thrust his Lance into the base of the ice block.

"[Glacial Void Pierce]."

A beam of void energy shot up through the frozen monster.

"CRACK... K-K-K-SHATTER!"

The Matriarch exploded. Thousands of chunks of frozen meat and obsidian rained down on the battlefield.

[You have slain Frenzied Obsidian Wyrm Matriarch!]

[Experience Gained: 150,000!]

[Level Up!]

[Level 31.]

The smaller Wyrms, sensing the death of their queen, hesitated. Their rage faltered.

"They're breaking!" Jarek shouted, rallying his men. "Counter-attack! Push them back!"

The Factions, inspired by the impossible display of power, surged forward. With the Matriarch dead, the coordination of the monsters fell apart. It turned from a massacre into a cleanup operation.

Alvian stood amidst the melting ice, checking his notifications.

[Item Drop: Obsidian Heart]

[Item Drop: Wyrm Scale (Epic)]

He swiped the loot before anyone could see it.

He turned to the ridge where he had seen the Syndicate controller. The figure was gone.

"Smart," Alvian whispered.

He felt eyes on him. Hundreds of them.

The battle was winding down, but the silence was returning. The students of the Vanguard, Arcanist, Phantom, and Sentinel factions stopped their celebration and turned toward the center of the crater.

Toward the Freshman who had caught a Raid Boss with one hand.

Jarek walked up to him. The Captain's armor was shredded, his face bleeding, but he saluted.

"I..." Jarek swallowed hard. "I apologize. For earlier."

Alvian didn't salute back. He simply dismissed his [Lance] into his inventory.

"Apologies don't kill monsters, Captain," Alvian said coolly. "Next time, check your perimeter better. The Syndicate was controlling them."

"The Syndicate?" Jarek paled. "Here?"

"Everywhere," Alvian said.

He walked past the Captain, toward the Academy transport ships. The students parted for him, a mixture of fear and awe in their eyes unlike anything he had seen before. It wasn't just respect for power. It was the realization that the hierarchy of the school had just been violently rearranged.

Alvian checked his schedule.

"The Tournament is in one week," he thought. "And I just turned the entire student body into my audience."

.

A/N: Creation is wild, exhausting, and sometimes my brain wants to run away. Power stones are my only bargaining chip to drag it back. If you liked this chapter, toss me one or a few, it helps more than you think.

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