The dull ringing in Beat’s ears gave way to the furious howl of razor sharp winds. The air screamed past his face as he plunged through the collapsing transport portal in free fall, straight into the dense fog covering Thung Zu’s territory. The cold mist immediately clung to his skin.
Just before he crossed the fog line, he felt it. A sharp tingling sensation surged through his muscles. Blitz’s lightning speed pulsed through his veins. For a fraction of a second, Beat and Blitz locked eyes as they hung suspended in the sky.
A brilliant flash of magical energy illuminated their shared memories. Battles fought to the death, hardships endured, unbreakable trust, and everything they had survived side by side.
Beat narrowed his eyes against the rising storm. “You’re getting…” he muttered, his voice barely audible above the howling wind.
A deafening electrical discharge erupted, blinding everything in sight. The air transformed into a sea of blue lightning and sparks. Within the explosion of light, a dark silhouette emerged: Blitz draped itself around Beat’s neck like a smoky veil, while their heads briefly merged into the outline of a demonic Oni. The electric charge made the hairs on Beat’s arms stand on end.
As the discharge faded, the beast was nowhere to be seen. Blitz stabilized its form, condensed the electricity, and settled into the shape of Zico Thunderwalker’s cap on Beat’s head.
Deep beneath the university, in its musty basement, Nicola stared wide eyed at the flickering monitors, his forehead slick with sweat.
“What the… What is this?!” Nicola rasped. He leaned forward, the blue glow of the screen reflected in his pupils. “This isn’t in any textbook! What’s happening out there?!”
Doppo calmly stepped beside him. His posture was firm, his voice composed and steady. “Stay calm, Nicola. This is the deeper fusion of an Anting and its guise. Their souls are merging on a level that transcends physical form.” As he spoke, his fingers tapped the control panel with measured precision, adjusting the live CrystalEye feed.
Zico stood beside them. The chained prisoner looked as though he had just been struck by thunder. His breathing was rapid and heavy. The iron shackles around his wrists rattled loudly as his entire body began to tremble. His eyes were wide open, filled with disbelief and raw emotion, fixed on the footage of the outpost. Ignoring the pain of the metal digging into his joints, he raised his shackled hands into the air.
“ONE MORE TIME…” Zico burst out, his voice a raw mixture of a sob and a crazed laugh. “YES! HAHA! I get to see you one more time… my everything… my everything!”
Tears welled in the corners of his eyes. With considerable effort, he regained his composure and turned his face away from Doppo in shame. “I’m sorry… I…”
Doppo met his gaze. His eyes briefly flickered towards Solomon, who gave a firm nod, silently reminding him that the operation could not afford to lose even a second. Doppo turned his full attention back to Zico and spoke with warm, deep authority.
“You have nothing to apologize for, Zico. Here in the Ward, we don't see animals, loved ones, or guises as mere pets or useful tools. Everything that lives, everything capable of feeling, has an equal right to exist. What you're feeling, these emotions rising to the surface, is human. It's normal. But too much is at stake today. We have an enormous amount of work ahead of us, and this step is necessary so that all of you can eventually make a fresh start here.”
Solomon straightened up, hurriedly trying to interrupt. “Uh, Doppo… perhaps we shouldn't say too much…”
Doppo completely ignored Solomon's warning. His gaze slowly drifted towards Silarias, who stood motionless in the shadows along the basement wall.
Silarias remained eerily silent. His breathing was deep and steady. He slowly parted his lips, seemingly about to ask a question, but before even a single syllable could leave his throat, the silence in the basement shattered.
“WAIT, WHO?!” Nyx shrieked. Her voice cracked with barely contained tension and fury. She stepped forward, the veins in her neck visibly strained. “WHO'S STARTING OVER?! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!”
Doppo and Solomon audibly swallowed at the same time. A painfully noticeable wave of stress swept through the room. Their gazes avoided Nyx and hurriedly wandered across the cold basement before settling on the two remaining prisoners sitting deeper in the darkness. The two figures were hunched together on a wooden bench, their heads bowed as they stared at the reddish stone floor.
Nicola immediately began to panic. His fingers nervously fumbled with the buttons on the control panel. “Sil! Nyx! Everything… everything will be fine! I promise! We… what? No, no! There's absolutely nothing going on here! Huh? What?! Just… the usual protocol!”
A soft, dry chuckle suddenly came through Nicola's open audio connection. It was Beat.
Nyx immediately grabbed her own earpiece, her knuckles turning white from the pressure. “Uh… um… what, Beat?! What did you say?! I couldn't hear you properly!”
“Uh, no, nothing!” Beat's nonchalant voice rang through the channel, accompanied by the sound of rushing wind. “Something about a bird… never mind.”
An icy, almost suffocating silence descended upon the basement. The tension was so thick you could practically cut it with a knife. Silarias finally broke the oppressive silence. His face was as expressionless as marble, his voice cold, focused, and utterly unwavering.
“That weird… Come on, focus. We have three new members in the Ward. Let's show them exactly how a Ghostcell operation is done.”
At the back of the basement, the two shadowy prisoners slowly raised their heads. They exchanged bewildered looks, their eyes wide with disbelief, and whispered hoarsely to each other. “Wait… did he really just say that? Is he serious?”
Nyx clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms. She was about to open her mouth and scream the entire basement down, but before she could utter a word, Silarias's large, warm hand firmly closed around hers.
Silarias didn't even look directly at her, but his grip was unyielding. “Trust me…” he whispered, his voice low and resonant. “I'll make this right. All of it.”
Nyx froze. Within a second, the anger in her chest turned into a chaotic storm of heartbeats. A loud ringing filled her ears, and her cheeks flushed a deep crimson in the blink of an eye. She didn't pull her hand away. Instead, she quickly turned her face aside and stared rigidly at the large main screen, holding her breath.
On the CrystalEye feed, the scene was nothing short of spectacular. The camera moved dynamically from Beat's direct point of view as he plummeted from the sky at devastating speed, with Blitz beside him, firmly anchored to his head in the shape of a cap.
The transmitter in Beat's earpiece crackled continuously. Zico's voice was thick with stress, while Nicola could be heard frantically moving maps and coordinates around in the background.
“Listen carefully, Beat!” Zico shouted from the basement, his voice trembling with nerves. “You need to be extremely careful where you land! Watch out for my former top students. There'll be heavily armed gatekeepers stationed at the entrance. I haven't been seen around there in ages, so they'll be on high alert!”
“Wait! Stop! You're almost at the ground, man!” Nicola interrupted with a shrill shout through the audio channel.
Beat curled his lips into a broad, confident grin. Despite the dizzying drop beneath him, he sounded completely relaxed. “Just keep talking, Zico. You forgot something. There was something else important.”
“The women!” Zico screamed in a panic, grabbing the edge of the table in the basement. “The possible wives of Ten and Combusken! They'll definitely ask about them! And remember this: Ten and Combusken know his specific codename! You have to respond the instant they say ‘Muler’! If you mess that up, you're…”
The warning beeps indicating the rapidly approaching ground became deafening, but Beat burst out laughing. “Haha! Your little dance, huh? Don't worry, old man. I'll handle it. Been away for a long time, haha… All you've been doing is training, haven't you? Nothing but training and sweating… And look where that got you!”
In the basement, Zico held his breath. On the screen, the dry, rocky ground rushed towards Beat at a nauseating speed. Meters. Decimeters.
At the very last moment, Beat curled his body inward and crashed down onto Blitz with his full weight.
BOOOOM!
The impact sent a violent shockwave ripping through the earth. A gigantic crater split the stone open, its edges crumbling into dust. Dozens of thick, bright blue lightning bolts erupted simultaneously from the impact site. They crackled through the cracks in the ground, illuminating the fog with an eerie blue glow. The pressure wave blasted a massive wall of dust, stone fragments, and black smoke dozens of meters into the air.
Before the cloud of smoke could even begin to clear, a brilliant lightning bolt shot out from the heart of the crater. Beat and Blitz surged forward as a perfectly synchronized unit. Every stride Beat took left trails of cracked stone and scorched earth behind him. Blitz streamed behind him like a brightly colored veil of pure electricity, ionizing the air and filling the surroundings with the sharp stench of ozone.
Without slowing down, they charged straight into a battlefield.
The surroundings had transformed into a grim scene of carnage. The remains of a recently defeated troop were scattered everywhere. Twisted armor plates lay half buried in the mud, surrounded by torn apart bodies and severed limbs. Thick, dark red blood had gathered in large pools across the rocky ground, reflecting the cold light around them. The overpowering stench of burned flesh and iron immediately assaulted their senses.
Beat charged straight through it without batting an eye. With a single leap, he avoided a severed arm and sailed over a pool of blood. His eyes swept across the ruins. “Can you guys see this mess too…?” he muttered into his comms.
Suddenly, his forward momentum came to an abrupt halt. The air in front of him grew dense, becoming a tangible pressure.
“Well, well, well…”
A large, heavily built man with a bulging, protruding belly and a filthy leather cuirass splattered with blood emerged from the mist. He slowly clapped his calloused hands together, the dull sound echoing across the battlefield.
“Still got the nerve to show your ugly face around here?” the man sneered. His teeth were yellow, blunt, and filed to sharp points. “Honestly, I thought you'd run away crying after our last race, Muler!”
In a fraction of a second, the fat man vanished.
The contrast was grotesque: a figure of his enormous size suddenly darting back and forth at supernatural speed. His silhouette became a series of blurred afterimages, literally slicing through the banks of mist. The air pressure generated by his movements sent ripples through the blood on the ground.
Back in the university basement, the atmosphere turned icy. Zico's voice came through the audio channel, grim and subdued.
“Mm… Rosso Rindleveld,” Zico whispered. “A hardened psychopath. Years ago, he slaughtered his entire family simply because he was unbearably bored one rainy afternoon. He skinned the last survivor alive… then ran across the floor with the human skin wrapped around himself like a carpet…”
Silarias and the rest of the team stared at the screen in stunned silence. The atrocities committed within the University of War were becoming clearer by the second.
Clack.
The sound of a falling object broke their concentration. Every head in the basement turned towards the side of the entrance.
Ren and Miki stood there. Their eyes were as wide as saucers, their faces deathly pale as they stared at the horrifying footage on the monitors.
Solomon reacted with the speed of a predator. Without a moment's hesitation, he snatched a heavy leather pouch filled with gold coins from the table and strode towards the two youngsters.
“Take them to the market,” Solomon said in an artificially loud voice. He firmly shoved the pouch of money into Miki's hands and gave the pair a dead serious look. “And now… the performance is over. Oh, did you think this was real? It was all staged! Beat is simply playing a major role in a new academy play.”
Miki narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Her gaze shifted from Solomon to the screen, where blood was splattering across the footage. “A… play? But…”
Ren, on the other hand, immediately nodded in admiration and awe. “Wow! Really?! Those effects are awesome, man!”
Doppo hurriedly wiped his hands clean and stepped forward with a broad, warm smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Which one of you two would like something delicious and sweet from the market stall?”
Ren gave a quiet cheer and immediately followed Doppo towards the stone corridor leading out of the basement. Miki slowly allowed herself to be ushered along, but kept looking over her shoulder. As the heavy oak basement doors slowly swung shut, her doubtful voice still carried faintly through the opening.
“But… but it looked so incredibly real!”
SLAM!
The heavy doors slammed shut for good, and the locking mechanism echoed through the basement. Solomon's shoulders sagged as he let out a long, deep sigh of relief. “Phew… That could have gone disastrously wrong. They've already seen plenty of misery during their travels, but this… this is simply too much.”
They turned their attention back to the glowing main screen. Silarias looked at Zico with furrowed brows. “Uh… what's the plan for that fat guy?”
Zico sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead. “Yeah… I'm trying to figure out how to handle this…”
Nicola looked at him questioningly. Zico leaned towards the microphone and spoke directly to Beat. “Uh, Beat… just go all out against him.”
On the screen, Beat could be seen giving a slight shake of his head. His lips moved silently as he processed the advice.
“Yeah, listen,” Zico continued over the comms. “He's just a deranged monster. That's how this university operates… so go all out against him. Don't ask me how. Improvise!”
Beat began to chuckle softly. The sound was chillingly confident. He casually slipped his hands into his pockets and stared straight into the bloodshot eyes of the fat man darting back and forth before him.
“Rosso… was it?” Beat said in a casual, almost bored tone. “Man, you've gotten slow. I almost forgot you existed.”
Rosso's face twisted into a monstrous grimace. “WHAT DID YOU SAY, YOU FILTHY CREATURE?!” he roared. The veins on his forehead swelled like thick cables. He launched himself forward with devastating force. The ground beneath his feet shattered as he shot towards Beat like a human cannonball, his fingers curled into claws as he reached for Beat's throat.
But Beat, disguised with Zico's sharp, chiseled features, merely laughed.
From Beat's perspective, the entire world slowed to a crawl. Rosso's approaching footsteps seemed to move through thick syrup. The droplets of sweat flying from his chin almost appeared to hang motionless in the air. Every twitch of the man's muscles was crystal clear.
Between Rosso's individual steps, Beat moved with graceful, almost dance like agility. He effortlessly circled around the incoming attack, slipped past the outstretched claws with millimeter precision, and came to a complete stop with his back turned towards Rosso, utterly unfazed.
Rosso's landing sent a cloud of dust billowing across the ground, but his claws grasped nothing but empty air. He froze in a state of utter disbelief. He stared at his empty hands before slowly looking over his shoulder.
“WAIT… you… how…?” Rosso stammered, his anger giving way to cold fear.
Beat didn't even bother looking back. He gave the dangerous lunatic no acknowledgment whatsoever, turned his back on him completely, and continued walking at a steady pace, with Blitz remaining firmly and calmly perched on his head.
A few hundred meters farther ahead stood the enormous black main gate of the fortress complex. Two towering, heavily armored gatekeepers stood guard, each carrying a massive hooked polearm. Their helmets gave off a cold glow as they spotted Beat approaching.
“Zico…” the guard on the left growled, his voice like grinding gravel. “Or rather… THE MULER!”
Suddenly, a terrifying transformation took place. The right guard's eye color changed in a fraction of a second. His human pupil disappeared, replaced by a glowing golden and black aura that blazed from within his visor. Small wisps of smoke rose from the edges of his helmet.
When the guard opened his mouth, the voice that emerged wasn't his own. Instead, a deep, ancient voice echoed through him, seemingly coming directly from the heart of the fortress.
“Ah, yes…” Thung Zu's voice spoke through the guard's body. “Muler… how I've missed you. Come upstairs at once…”
The possessed guard turned stiffly and made an inviting gesture. Beat stepped through the gate, his sharp, observant gaze sweeping across his surroundings. The fortress grounds were a hive of activity. He saw heavily armed soldiers, dark magic users, and students dressed in black robes moving in every direction.
Back in the university basement, the monitors zoomed in. Silarias' eyes widened.
Aurelius, who until then had been leaning against the wall with one eye half open, seemingly dozing off, suddenly sat remarkably upright. He stared intently at the corner of the footage. “Wait a second… Isn't that the one… from Vulkan?”
Beat searched the crowded courtyard with his eyes, until Solomon suddenly shouted through the comms. “THERE THEY ARE!! RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!!”
The sudden warning made Beat look around wildly.
“No! Not so obviously! Look straight ahead, a little to your left!” Solomon hurriedly shouted from the basement. “Act natural! But that was Lady Iron Fan… and she's with the new first years!”
Beat forced himself to regain control of his breathing, recovered his composure, and continued following the guard without drawing attention to himself.
As they crossed a narrow alley between two granite buildings, two high pitched, emotional female voices suddenly rang out from one of the side streets.
“ZICO! ZICO! IS THAT YOU?!”
Their cries were filled with desperation and recognition. A shiver ran down Beat's spine, but he knew that even the slightest wrong move could cost him his life. Under no circumstances could he draw attention to himself. He clenched his jaw, held his chin high, stared straight ahead, and completely ignored their emotional cries as though he hadn't heard a thing.
After a minute, the golden and black glow in the accompanying guard's eyes slowly faded. Thung Zu's magic left his body. The guard gave a slight shake of his head, returned to his normal state of consciousness, and glanced sideways at Beat.
“So, Muler…” the guard began, his voice back to normal. “Tell us… what have you been up to all this time? We want to hear everything. You were supposed to bring that accursed Silarias back for us, and then we simply never heard from you again…”
Beat didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second. Without stuttering or missing a beat, he launched into one of the most elaborate lies the guard had ever heard, keeping a completely straight face as he spoke.
“The whole mission turned into a bloody nightmare along the way,” Beat began, his tone grave. “I got ambushed on a freezing mountain pass. Took a brutal hit, practically bleeding out in the snow. I had to force the other two team members to keep pushing forward without me, because a sacred mission like that cannot fail under any circumstances. Truth be told, the only reason I am even standing here today is because my cap sacrificed part of its own life force just to keep me breathing. After that, I went straight into seclusion to train until my bones nearly shattered… trained so hard that I completely forgot that Silarias kid even existed.”
He paused briefly, letting the weight of the lie sink in, before lowering his voice to a mysterious murmur. “And when I finally made it to that spot… Silarias was already long dead. The place was a graveyard. Thick, black smoke hung over everything… and his body lay motionless in the dirt, with purple, floating crystals circling right above his corpse.”
The guard abruptly stopped in front of a large, imposing door. He slowly turned around and stared at Beat with wide eyes. “Wait… you mean it?! You were actually there?!”
Beat leaned forward slightly, his eyes cold and piercing. “I was there in the background the entire time,” he said smoothly, unfolding the spectacle as if it were a legend. “Just an invisible shadow, moving far too fast for any normal human eye to catch. Hell, I even watched that idiot Juro trip over his own feet and blunder his way through half the fight. You should have seen the look on his face when everything went sideways.”
The two gatekeepers' stern, suspicious expressions changed within a second. Their distrust melted away like snow under the sun, replaced by booming laughter that echoed through the stone corridors.
“AHAHAHA!” one of the guards roared. He slapped Beat on the shoulder with enough force to make an ordinary person stagger. “That's our Muler! Always with those crazy stories, but somehow they work!”
With broad grins, the guards grabbed the heavy iron handle of the double oak doors and hauled them open with a loud creak.
“Go on in, man. You've earned it.”
Beat gave a brief nod and stepped into the impressive room. The stone doors slammed shut behind him with a dull thud.
Beat looked around curiously. The room was enormous, warmly illuminated by burning torch sconces that left soot stains across the high ceiling. The walls were covered from top to bottom with detailed paintings, woven tapestries, and small golden figurines. Every single depiction showed the exact same subject: an elegant woman with a small, mysterious child at her side.
Beat slowly walked past the artworks until his eyes landed on a massive, dark wooden cabinet positioned against the back wall.
“Oh, right…” he murmured quietly to himself. “I remember this place.”
He walked over, grasped the copper handles, and pulled open both doors. A wonderful aroma immediately greeted him. The cabinet was packed from the bottom shelf all the way to the top with freshly baked bread, dried meat, fruit, and rare delicacies.
Beat grinned, grabbed a large apple from the cabinet, and took a loud, hearty bite.