The silence after the shouts was broken by the sound of spatial rings activating.

Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh

The Imperial heirs reached into their storage simultaneously, pulling out dozens of small crystalline bottles filled with glowing blue liquid.

Aura potions.

And Military grade ones at that, not the watered-down civilian versions.

Each bottle worth more than most commoner families earned in a year.

Cassius began distributing them without ceremony, his grey eyes sweeping across the formation as he handed bottles to Nobles and commoners alike.

Jonathan moved through the ranks doing the same, his golden features showing no discrimination as he placed potions in trembling hands.

Ben, Raymond, Alexander, David – all of them distributing their personal reserves to students who’d never held anything so valuable.

Then Cassius approached Damian’s team.

He held out bottles toward Zavier, Ronan, Edrin, and Lysa.

"..."

But they just stared.

They were not reaching out and accepting them, their hands remaining at their sides despite obvious exhaustion.

The Mafia members exchanged glances, suspicion clear in their eyes.

’Why would Imperials give us anything? What’s the catch? Is it poisoned?’

The thoughts were visible on their faces, centuries of Noble-commoner division impossible to erase even after fighting together.

Sophia Verratoux’s patience snapped.

"Oh for fuck’s sake!"

Her pink hair whipped as she stormed over, snatching one of the bottles from Cassius’s hand.

She uncorked it with sharp movements, brought it to her lips, and drank the entire thing in one go.

GULP

Her pink Aura flared immediately, reserves visibly refilling, the potion’s effects undeniable.

She threw the empty bottle into the mud and glared at the Mafia members.

"See?! It’s not fucking poisoned! I know you little bastards don’t trust us. But have we done anything against you so far?!"

Her voice carried frustration mixed with genuine offense.

"We’ve been fighting beside you! Saving your asses! And you think we’d poison you NOW?! Just drink the fucking potion!"

Ronan’s voice emerged carefully, his massive frame somehow looking smaller.

"You can’t blame us, can you?"

The statement hung in the air, carrying weight of every betrayal they’d witnessed during the battle, every Noble who’d thrown commoners at creatures to save themselves.

But Ronan still took the bottle,uncorked it and drank.

GULP

His brown Aura surged, exhaustion bleeding away as military-grade enhancement flooded his system.

The others followed – Edrin adjusted his cracked glasses before drinking, Lysa’s gentle nature unable to refuse kindness and Zavier’s dark eyes watching carefully but accepting nonetheless.

Damian looked at the bottle being offered to him, his crimson eyes studying it.

"How many do you have?"

Alexander Vance’s voice carried honest weariness.

"Those were all the bottles we had... We’ve distributed everything."

Damian looked at the potion for a long moment, then handed it to David Evergreen.

"You keep this one as well. You’ll be healing everyone so you’ll need it more."

The Imperial heirs looked at Damian with complex expressions – surprise mixed with respect mixed with something approaching frustration.

Cassius stepped forward, his grey eyes serious.

"Junior... don’t try to be brave. Our lives depend on you as well."

Damian just shook his head, his face showing nothing.

"I have my ways. Don’t worry."

Then his expression shifted, becoming more practical.

"But... does anyone have a gun? Mine broke during the previous Shots."

The Imperials looked at each other, checking spatial rings, searching through equipment with increasing helplessness.

One by one they shook their heads.

Guns weren’t common weapons among awakeners – most preferred cold weapons, viewing firearms as inferior despite Damian’s clear demonstration of their potential.

Damian sighed, the sound carrying resignation rather than frustration.

"Sigh... Let’s go then."

He turned toward the cave entrance, that massive fifty-meter opening leading into living darkness, and began walking.

And the students also entered the creature’s body, stepping through the massive cave-like opening into darkness that pulsed with life.

****

The transition from outside to inside was immediate and visceral.

The moment they crossed the threshold, the temperature rose noticeably – body heat radiating from walls that pulsed with life, the air thick and humid like being inside a massive lung.

THUD-THUMP

THUD-THUMP

The heartbeat was everywhere, vibrating through the floor, through the walls and through the very air they breathed.

Lysa and Damian walked at the front, their positions chosen deliberately – her sensory skill providing early warning, his combat capability ready to respond. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Behind them, the formation moved in organized lines, shields raised, weapons ready, everyone maintaining spacing despite the cramped conditions.

Around them, everywhere they looked, egg shells were present.

They were cracked open and empty, the remnants of recent hatching scattered across the fleshy floor like discarded cocoons.

Thousands of them.

All the creatures they’d fought outside had came from here, born from this living factory, directed by whatever intelligence controlled the whole system.

The walls were wrong.

They were not stone or metal but flesh – leathery and tough, covered in veins that pulsed with circulation, membranes that allowed light through showing internal structures that shouldn’t be visible.

The floor squelched underfoot, yielding slightly with each step, organic and alive and deeply disturbing.

They walked upward.

Not climbing stairs but moving along an incline, the passage spiraling upward through the creature’s body, leading them deeper into its interior.

One hour passed.

Then two...

The formation moved in silence broken only by footsteps and breathing and the omnipresent heartbeat.

Nobody complained about exhaustion and nobody asked to rest.

Damian’s speech had lit a fire in them that burned through physical limitations, transformed fear into determination, made dying seem preferable to giving up.

Then Lysa’s voice cut through the silence.

"I sense... more powerful eggs, hundreds of them... Maybe B rank ones."

Her voice carried strain from pushing her sensory skill to its limits, Aura burning to extend range as far as possible.

"And... many emit even stronger presences... Much stronger."

Gulp

The sound of nervous swallowing spread through the formation.

They’d barely survived D rank and C rank waves with massive casualties.

B rank creatures would tear through them like wet paper.

Even the Imperial heirs showed tension, their depleted reserves making fights against higher-ranked enemies potentially fatal.

But nobody showed fear and nobody suggested retreat.

They just gripped weapons tighter, adjusted shields, prepared to die fighting.

Lysa focused harder, pouring more Aura into her skill, her face showing strain as veins stood out on her temples.

"But there seems to be something at the far end... I think that’s the thing controlling these creatures."