[Timeline: Day 3 of the Tournament – The Invasion]

[Location: Outside the Academy – The Sea of Elias]

The Golden Dome was impenetrable.

It sat over the Academy island like a glass bowl, shimmering with the absolute authority of the Kingdom of Gods.

Emperor Aurelius stood on the deck of his flagship, the Imperial Sovereign.

His face was twisted into a mask of pure hatred. He hurled a 7th-Order lightning spear at the dome.

Z-ZAP.

The spear disintegrated upon contact. The dome didn't even ripple.

"The Gods are mocking me," Aurelius snarled, gripping the railing until the metal groaned.

"They seal the killer in? They deny me my vengeance?"

The General of the Army approached, his face pale.

"Your Majesty... the Vaults are open. The payload has arrived via teleportation circle."

Aurelius turned.

Floating above the ocean were three colossal shapes.

They were War Titans.

Relics of the First Era, these were not simple golems.

They were towering, humanoid constructs made of black iron and forgotten runes, standing three hundred feet tall.

"They cannot breach the Divine Barrier," the General warned.

"Even the Titans cannot break the law of a God."

"I don't need them to break the barrier," Aurelius said, his voice cold. "I need them to break the foundation."

He pointed at the ocean floor surrounding the island.

"If I cannot crack the shell... I will smash the table it sits on. Sink the entire island!"

The Titans moved. Their eyes glowed red. They raised hammers the size of battleships.

BOOM.

They struck the ocean floor.

BOOM.

They struck the bedrock supporting the Academy.

Shockwaves traveled through the earth, bypassing the dome and shaking the island to its core.

….......….

[Location: Inside the Barrier – The Arena]

RUMBLE.

The ground beneath Zero's feet lurched violently.

It wasn't just shaking; it was rappidly disintegrating.

The combined pressure of the Divine Barrier pushing down and the Titans hammering the bedrock from the outside was too much for the island to sustain.

CRACK.

A fissure opened in the center of the arena, splitting the stone floor in two.

It didn't stop at the dirt. It went deeper. Through the dungeons. Through the sewers. Through the crust.

WHOOSH.

A blast of cold, rotting air erupted from the crack.

The Void Hounds stopped screaming. They prostrated themselves on the ground, shivering.

Zero looked down into the fissure. His Shadow Dragon eyes could see in the dark, but this darkness was absolute.

"It's opening," Zero realized.

From the depths of the fissure, something rose.

A giant hand condenced of pure malice.

A massive, pale gray hand, possessing seven fingers, each tipped with a nail made of black crystal.

It gripped the edge of the chasm. The sheer size of it was incomprehensible, the fingernail alone was the size of a bus.

[System Alert: Level 10 Abyss Gate Fully Ruptured.]

[Entity Detected: Avatar of the Rotting King (Demi-God Rank).]

The hand squeezed. The rock turned to dust.

The Academy began to tilt.

The island was sinking into the maw of the Abyss.

…..........

[Location: Zero's Position]

Zero felt the hopelessness wash over him.

Above: A Divine Barrier that incinerated anything that touched it. Below: An Abyss Lord dragging the school into Hell. Outside: The Emperor destroying the foundations.

He looked at his students.

Alaric and Lukas were unconscious heaps. Elena was awake, staring at him with that heartbreaking realization in her eyes, clutching her broken arm.

The Valkyries were braced, shields raised, but even Leona and Lyra looked terrified of the giant hand rising from the earth.

Zero checked his status.

[Dual-Core Overdrive: 30 Seconds Remaining.]

[Mana: Critical.]

[DP: 195,000]

He couldn't fight. If he attacked the Hand, the Barrier would crush him. If he attacked the Barrier, the Hand would grab him.

"Money," Zero whispered, a desperate grin forming under his mask.

"Money solves everything."

He looked at his Dp with a wry smile on his face

He thought about how this system has bailed him out time and time again from the first time he saved his father till now.

Hopefully it could save him again.

"System," Zero commanded. "I need a path. I need to bypass the Divine Law."

[Calculation in progress...]

[Solution: Dimensional Drill (consumable).]

[Effect: Forces a stable wormhole through any barrier, including Divine/Demonic Domains, to a pre-designated coordinate.]

[Cost: 200,000 DP]

Zero froze.

He had 195,000.

He was short.

"Damn it," Zero cursed. "I'm short five thousand."

He looked at the giant hand. It was reaching for the students.

"Isabelle!" Zero shouted.

Isabelle appeared at his side in a blur of shadow. "Young Master?"

"Do you have any artifacts? Anything worth value? I need to sell it to the System!"

Isabelle didn't hesitate. She ripped the necklace from her neck, a blood-red ruby given to her his mother.

"Take it!"

Zero grabbed it. "System! Liquidate!"

[Item Sold: Blood of the Succubus Queen.] [Value: 4,000 DP.]

"Still short!" Zero roared. "1,000 short!"

He looked at his own inventory. The Pantheon Sword? No, he needed that to fight. The Weaver Suit? He was wearing it.

His eyes fell on the scarf around his neck.

The handmade, ugly, lopsided scarf Elena had knitted for him. The one he had spent a few DP to appraise earlier.

[Item: Student's Gratitude (Unique).] [Value: 1,500 DP.]

Zero's heart stopped.

He looked at Elena. She was watching him, tears streaming down her face.

If he sold it, it would be gone forever. The symbol of their bond.

The bond he had forged with his students

The giant hand slammed onto the arena floor, shattering the spot where they had stood seconds ago. Debris rained down.

Zero closed his eyes.

"Forgive me," he whispered.

"System. Sell the scarf."

[Item Sold.] [Current DP: 200,500.]

The scarf vanished from his neck, dissolving into particles of light.

"PURCHASE THE DRILL!"

[Purchase Confirmed.] [Remaining DP: 500.]

A small, geometric construct appeared in Zero's hand. It looked like a pyramid made of pure, condensed math.

"Leona! Lyra!" Zero screamed, his voice breaking. "Get them ready! We have one shot!"

He threw the pyramid at the space in front of them, away from the Abyss and away from the Barrier.

ZRRT.

The pyramid spun. It fired a beam of red light that deleted the air in front of it.

The reality in front of them groaned. The Golden Barrier tried to suppress the breach, flashing angrily, but the System's item was absolute.

It bored a hole straight through the Divine Law.

A portal opened.

Inside, they could see heat. Magma. The sound of hammers.

The Dwarven Kingdom.

"GO!" Zero roared. "INTO THE PORTAL!"

Leona grabbed Alaric. Lyra grabbed Lukas. They didn't argue. They sprinted for the hole in the world.

Elena was the last one. She couldn't walk.

Zero grabbed her by the back of her uniform.

"Professor..." Elena sobbed, reaching out for him. "Your scarf... It's gone."

"Class is dismissed, Elena," Zero said, his voice soft behind the mask.

He threw her into the portal.

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