Chapter 61: Into The Center

The auditorium had fallen into a silence that none of the teachers seemed willing to break.

Fayer stood beside Seid at the edge of the elevated platform, staring at the central display. The forest around the heart of the examination had collapsed inward, leaving a vast hole where the trees and earth had once stood. Dense corrupted mana poured from the depths in heavy waves, spreading across the surrounding terrain while Corrupt creatures converged on the opening from every direction.

Seid’s expression had tightened.

Fayer glanced at him.

Neither spoke.

The other teachers were no better. Several had abandoned the detached composure they had maintained earlier and were now checking the remaining displays, trying to determine how many candidates were still capable of fighting. Their expressions grew more strained with every wave of corrupted energy that spread across the island.

The Magic Department Head adjusted her glasses.

"Shouldn’t we stop this, Headmaster?"

Her voice remained professional, but the unease underneath it was obvious.

"This wasn’t supposed to happen. They’re all going to die like this."

Dover remained seated.

His eyes stayed on the central display.

"It wasn’t supposed to happen."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"That is precisely why I’m going to kill it the moment it fully ascends. Right now, it’s only an S-rank soul inside a rotting A+ body. There is no meaningful difference between it and an A+ rank creature."

The Magic Department Head’s expression changed.

That wasn’t true.

The creature’s soul had already crossed the threshold, and the pressure pouring out of the crater was enough to prove it. Whatever Dover called it, the thing beneath the island had already entered a state no ordinary A+ creature could reach.

She opened her mouth.

Dover looked at her.

The objection died there.

He returned his attention to the displays.

For humanity to survive what is coming, this generation needs to survive something like this, he thought quietly. Otherwise, they’re no different from cattle waiting to be butchered.

The Headmaster’s gaze remained fixed on the island.

He looked almost pleased.

---

Caelus stood at the edge of the clearing, staring into the hole below.

Cold sweat ran down his spine.

C-rank marked the point where an ordinary human or Corrupt creature became something genuinely awakened. At B-rank, the difference widened as cores became capable of holding greater quantities of mana and affinities became easier to manipulate. A-rank was where the transformation became more fundamental. Power stopped being something merely wielded and began shaping the being itself.

S-rank was the true boundary.

The soul and body were rewritten around the affinity.

The gap between that existence and an ordinary A-rank wasn’t something a numerical increase could describe. A mature S-rank could slaughter hundreds of A-ranks without needing to treat them as genuine opponents.

Caelus’s gaze remained fixed on the crater.

The creature wasn’t fully adapted yet.

That was the only reason he could even consider fighting it.

Its soul had reached S-rank, but its body was still A+ and failing to contain what had entered it. The enormous amount of corrupted energy being consumed wasn’t merely feeding its strength. It was giving the vessel what it needed to survive the transformation.

Once that process was complete, they would lose the only advantage they had.

The thought made Caelus’s fingers tighten around his sword.

They didn’t have time.

He turned from the crater and scanned the battlefield until he found the Hero.

Lucian stood among a large group of surviving candidates, organizing them while the Corrupt creatures continued forcing their way toward the center.

Caelus had expected him to be there.

He hadn’t expected him to be doing exactly what he was doing.

Lucian stepped forward and raised his voice.

"Do not give up!"

His voice carried across the clearing, cutting through the panic.

The candidates turned toward him.

Lucian raised his sword, the white radiance of Sacred Light burning along its edge.

"Look at what stands before you. Corrupt creatures. Beasts that know nothing but hunger, destruction, and death."

His gaze swept across the battlefield.

"They may be stronger than us. They may be more numerous. But do not mistake that for superiority."

The light around his sword intensified.

"We are human. We carry the blood of warriors, kings, saints, and those who stood against monsters long before any of us were born."

His voice rose.

"And you would let creatures that exist only to devour us decide how your story ends?"

Several candidates tightened their grips on their weapons.

Lucian stepped forward.

"No."

The single word carried through the clearing.

He pointed his sword toward the approaching creatures.

"Those things are not our masters. They are creatures born from corruption, driven only by the instinct to consume."

His gaze hardened.

"They came here to devour us."

A surge of Sacred Light burst from his blade.

"Then remind them what stands before them."

He raised his sword.

"We are the ones who inherited the will to survive. We are the ones who stand where those before us once stood."

His words spread through the formation.

"So protect the person beside you. Hold this ground. Every creature you stop is another moment humanity survives."

He looked across the formation.

"Stand."

The Sacred Light around his sword blazed brighter.

"And make them remember why humanity is still here."

The effect was immediate.

The panic that had broken the candidates apart began giving way to something resembling a formation.

Lucian lowered his sword slightly.

Then his eyes shifted toward the approaching figures.

Caelus was walking toward him.

Leon was several steps behind.

Caelus stopped beside Leon.

"You stay here."

Leon stared at him.

"What?"

"You’re not coming."

Leon looked toward the center.

"I can still fight."

"I know. That’s why I’m leaving you here. Keep them out."

Leon followed his gesture, his expression tightening as he understood.

"Tank anything that reaches this area and strike whenever you have an opening. Don’t chase them. Don’t go into the crater. Your job is to keep the entrance clear."

Leon swallowed.

"You’re trusting me with this?"

Caelus looked at him.

"I wouldn’t have told you to do it if I thought you couldn’t."

Leon stared at him for a moment before nodding.

Caelus turned away.

Leon watched him leave, then faced the approaching creatures and raised his hands.

Caelus cut through the battlefield toward Lucian.

A Corrupt creature lunged at him from the side.

Water Sheathe flashed along his sword.

He severed its head without breaking stride.

Another followed.

Caelus shifted around its attack, drove his blade into its throat, and continued forward as the body collapsed behind him.

He wasn’t interested in clearing the entire battlefield.

He needed the Hero.

By the time he reached Lucian’s group, several candidates had turned to look at him.

Lucian’s eyes widened.

"You?"

"We don’t have time."

Caelus pointed toward the hole.

"Fighting these creatures here will only delay what is coming. We need to kill the source. We need to get in."

Lucian looked past him toward the students scattered across the clearing. His group was already fighting through the incoming horde, Kyla moving between them as the others struggled to keep the creatures from breaking through their formation. They were being pushed back with every exchange.

"But what about them?"

Caelus’s jaw tightened.

"Look at them, Lucian. They’re already losing ground."

He forced himself to keep his voice level.

"You can stay here and watch them die one by one, or you can come with me and kill the thing that’s sending these monsters at them. Those are the choices."

Caelus gestured toward several bodies scattered across the clearing.

"Every minute we spend here gives that thing more time to feed."

Lucian’s expression hardened.

"We can still hold the line."

"For how long?"

Caelus stepped closer.

"Until it finishes adapting?"

Lucian said nothing.

Caelus continued, his patience beginning to fray.

"You want to protect these people. I understand that. But if you stay here, the only thing you’ll accomplish is dying alongside them when that thing decides it needs more fuel."

Lucian looked toward his companions.

His eyes stopped on one person.

Kyla stood among the others, her face pale beneath the strange light pouring from the crater.

She was afraid.

Lucian could see it.

For a brief moment, Lucian remembered a time before the Goddess, before the Church, before strangers had begun looking at him as something greater than an ordinary person.

Back then, Kyla had known him simply as Lucian.

Now she was looking at him with the same trust she always had, even though she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"If I leave," Lucian said quietly, "who protects them?"

Caelus looked at him.

Lucian’s eyes closed for a moment.

When they opened again, something in his expression had hardened.

He turned toward Caelus.

"Fine."

Caelus released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

He looked toward the center.

"So what’s your plan?"

Caelus ignored the question, scanning the surrounding battlefield.

"Now where is Eve?"

Something moved inside his shadow, and a figure emerged from the darkness.

Eve stepped onto the ground beside him.

Caelus nearly jumped. He didn’t ask when she had arrived or how she’d moved without him noticing. It was pointless.

Under different circumstances, he would have been annoyed.

Instead, relief nearly pulled a smile from him.

Caelus looked at her.

"You want to fight that thing, don’t you?"

Eve’s eyes shifted toward the crater.

She nodded.

Caelus tightened his grip on his sword.

"Then let’s slaughter it."

Lucian looked at the two of them.

The pressure coming from the crater was already becoming suffocating.

Caelus stepped toward the edge and looked down.

There was no guarantee that the knowledge he’d carried from his old world would be enough this time.

His trembling hand tightened around the sword.

Hope I don’t die again.

Eve moved beside him, her twin blades flashing in her hands.

Lucian stepped forward, tightening his grip on his sword.

The three stood at the edge of the hole, staring into the darkness where the corrupted mana churned beneath them.

Caelus took one final breath.

Then they jumped in.