The big cloud of grey dust hung heavy over the center of the ring, refusing to settle. Thousands of eyes strained from the stands, the silence so deep you could hear your own heartbeat.

Up in the commentary box, the speakers crackled.

Cynthia gripped the rail, her long purple hair falling over her shoulders as she leaned forward. She did not speak right away. Her jaw was slightly open as she stared down into the thick dust.

"Is... is it over?" Cynthia’s voice finally broke through, dropping her usual excited tone for something raw and breathless. "The clock has hit zero! The sixty seconds are up! But who—"

Suddenly, a strong wave of pressure burst from the center of the ring, blowing the dust back in a wide circle.

Standing right in the middle of the clearing was Professor Morgana.

The low-rank Transcendent stood completely straight, her hands in the pockets of her loose black jacket. Her black hair moved slightly in the leftover wind, and her sharp dark purple eyes gleamed with dangerous amusement.

She had stepped in the exact moment the clock hit zero, acting as the barrier to make sure no one died after the buzzer.

As the rest of the dust cleared under her pressure, the true state of the arena was finally clear.

To the left, Arthur was down on one knee, his heavy broadsword stuck deep into the cracked stone floor just to keep himself up. Beside him, Roan was in no better shape. His crystal spear was stuck loosely in the sand, his chest heaving hard under his torn shirt as sweat dripped from his chin.

Then, there was Leo.

He was still on his feet, but he looked like a ghost pulled from a battlefield. His right hand was covered in fresh, red blood.

The skin from his knuckles up to his forearm was split open, the flesh raw and smoking from the strain of forcing his black lightning and Soul Flame through his sword at the same time. The dark blade was still gripped in his shaking, wet fingers, its tip resting on the stone, drawing a small puddle of red onto the floor.

His uniform was almost gone, his chest covered in long, deep claw marks from Nyra and bruises from the other students’ attacks. Yet, through his matted white hair, his eyes still gleamed.

A slow, tired smile stretched across his bloody face.

He let out a weak, rough laugh that turned into a sharp cough, spitting blood onto the ground. He wiped his chin with his left sleeve, his shoulders shaking.

"Well... damn it," Leo said, his voice cracking with dry tiredness. "I won."

Morgana did not move from her spot, but her purple eyes locked onto Leo, taking in the terrible damage to his body. Inside, a rare shock went through her mind. As a Transcendent, she had perceived the entire final exchange inside the dust cloud.

She had seen exactly what Leo did in those last three seconds.

Arthur and Roan’s attack had been a perfect move — a two-sided strike of heavy force and bright light meant to crush him instantly. Anyone else at Expert High would have been flattened.

But Morgana had watched Leo instinctively adjust to Arthur’s attack, reading its piercing nature and using a small space shift — bending the space around his body just enough to let the blade pass by without hitting anything vital.

At the same time, he had let out that strange, eerie black fire.

From her view, it was not normal fire. It did not just burn the air. It seemed to feed on the intent and power of his enemies. He had used those flames in a small, fast burst, eating through the dense force at the tip of Roan’s spear, breaking the elf prince’s balance from the inside.

He had taken a lot of damage to his right arm to push that much wild, clashing energy without his own core exploding, but he had blocked the two most dangerous geniuses of the first year at the same time.

He’s not just a genius, Morgana thought, her lips curling into a sharp, predatory grin. The brat is an absolute monster. To counter two geniuses from his own batch under that kind of pressure... he’s completely insane.

Morgana pulled her hands from her pockets and clapped once, the sound echoing like thunder through the stadium. "Match over! The oddity survives the minute! The win goes to the Primus!"

"HE DID IT!" Cynthia screamed into her microphone, her voice reaching a pitch that almost broke the speakers. "Leo von Celestial has held the line against the whole first-year apex team! Sixty seconds of pure hell, and the White Reaper is the last man standing!"

The stadium burst into noise. The roar of thousands of students was deafening, a wall of sound that shook the stone foundations of the stands.

Down on the sand, Roan looked up at Leo, staring at the blood dripping from his rival’s hand.

For a second, his storm-silver eyes were wide with real surprise. Then, true to his nature, the elf prince let out a loud, ringing laugh. He fell back, sitting flat on the dirty sand, his long legs stretched out as he shook his head.

"Aha... ahahaha! You really won, huh? You bastard," Roan laughed. "Man, I really thought we had you in that last moment. You’re a freak, Leo. A total freak."

Leo let out another weak, breathless laugh, his legs finally giving out. He dropped heavily onto his rear right next to Roan, letting his sword fall to the stone beside him. He leaned back on his left elbow, breathing hard.

"You guys... hit way too hard. My ribs are definitely broken."

"Good," Roan grinned, though he was wincing as he rubbed his own bruised shoulder. "Next time, do not expect to walk away after that."

High above, the reactions were a mix of total chaos.

On the Student Council balcony, Sylvia’s hands finally stopped shaking, though her face stayed frozen in a scowl to hide the relief in her chest. "Idiot," she said under her breath, though her body relaxed for the first time in five minutes.

Beside her, Elian chuckled, amused, while Seris quietly watched He won...

Down in the ring, Roan slowly pulled himself to his feet. He stretched his aching back, groaning loud, before walking over to Leo. He looked down at the white-haired boy, a lazy smile on his face, and held out his pale hand.

"Come on, get up, ’Primus,’" Roan said, saying the title with playful mock. "Can you actually stand, or should I give you a princess carry to the medical wing? Man, the look on your face if I did that would be worth the extra broken ribs!"

Leo stared at the offered hand for a second, rolling his eyes as a faint grunt escaped him. "Touch me, and I will kill you."

"Fair enough," Roan laughed, wrapping his hand around Leo’s uninjured left wrist. With a sharp, fast pull, he hauled Leo back onto his feet. Leo stumbled a little, his right arm hanging limp at his side, blood still seeping from his split skin.

Morgana walked past them, her boots clicking sharp. "All of you, move your broken bodies toward the medical wing now. The healing teams are already waiting at the tunnels. Move before I carry you there by your feet."

_

The academy’s main recovery ward was a big, high-ceilinged room lined with white stone and enchanted beds made to speed up healing. The air smelled strongly of clean water and crushed herbs.

Because the whole first-year apex team had been hurt, the infirmary was locked down just for them. Marius was nowhere to be seen in the ward but given his noble status and inside injuries, he was likely being treated in a different part of the facility.

Arthur sat quietly on his bed near the back, being treated next to Amelia, who sat close to him. Her eyes were filled with a lingering worry as she watched the healers work, though she stayed close to Arthur’s side.

Cordelia was also nearby on another bed, groaning softly as she leaned back against the pillows. She looked completely tired, her royal act fading into a tired scowl.

"Seriously..." Cordelia groaned, rubbing her temples. "You are like a cockroach, Leo. We used all our strength, and we still lost to you. Unbelievable."

Further down, Alice was sitting up on her bed. She was not in a terrible state — mostly just drained and tired from the physical strain of her heavy swings — but her sharp eyes were wide and focused on the center of the room.

Nyra was tucked into a corner bed nearby, shivering a little under a heavy blanket as a nurse put soothing creams on her nerves. The wolf beastkin watched Leo with wide, confused eyes, looking like a scolded puppy.

In the center of the ward, Leo sat on the edge of his bed, his body wrapped in tight, white bandages. A team of three elf healers hovered over his right arm, sending soft light into his torn flesh to stitch the skin back together.

A few beds down, Riven was sitting up stiffly, a small ice pack pressed against his swollen nose. His dark eyes flared with irritation every time he looked at Leo. Next to him stood Caster, his half-dwarf frame tense with leftover worry.

Riven glared through his swollen nose, his voice muffled by the ice pack. "Shut your mouth, dwarf.. A second more and my shadow daggers would have cut his spine."

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that while you are holding ice," Caster snorted, but Riven’s face darkened with a mocking smile.

"If that is how you see it," Riven said coldly, waving his free hand toward the rest of the room. "Then why do not you try fighting Leo yourself next time? Why were you just sitting in the stands watching? Just admit it — you are the biggest coward in our class."

Caster’s grinned. "So what? I am a proud coward! I am better than the reckless fools you all are. I actually still want to live!"

Riven opened his mouth to snap back, but Lyssaria, who was standing beside his bed softly applying a healing spell to his face, pressed two fingers against his shoulder. "Keep still, Riven," she said quietly, cutting off the coming argument.

Julia rushed over to Leo’s bed, her small frame shaking, her hands twisting her uniform skirt into knots. "Young master... your arm..."

"I am fine, Julia," Leo said, his voice quiet but steady as he gave her a small, reassuring nod. "Just a bit of strain. It looks worse than it is."

"Worse than it is?" Caster snorted, pulling up a wooden stool next to Leo’s bed and sitting down. "Mate, your knuckles looked like raw meat."

Lyssaria quietly stepped away from Riven and came to Leo, her slender hands starting to glow with a soft green light filled with the smell of pine and fresh earth — the mark of her World Tree affinity. She got ready to add her magic over the healers’ work to soothe his bad burns.

Leo looked up, giving her a flat, dry look. "You do not have to heal me, Lyssaria. The healers are already helping me, and my own healing is strong enough. You should go treat Roan instead."

Lyssaria paused, shifting her gaze toward her twin brother. Roan was sitting up on his bed, ignoring his own small cuts as he laughed loudly, talking and sharing notes with a tired but smiling Alice about their final moves.

Lyssaria sighed softly, a familiar look of fond annoyance passing over her face. "He clearly does not need it," she said, before turning back and focusing her green light onto Leo’s shoulder anyway, letting the cool magic dull the burning in his veins.

"Thank you, Lyssaria," Leo muttered, realizing she wasn’t going to listen to his rejection.

The group shared a brief, quiet laugh — a rare moment of calm inside the room after five minutes of brutal fighting. Arthur watched them from his bed, a soft, real smile on his face, happy to see Leo surrounded by people, even if the white-haired boy still tried to keep his guard up.

Once the main healing was done and the sharp pain in his core faded to a dull ache, Leo slowly slid off the edge of the bed. His right arm was still wrapped in a thick sling, but he could feel his strength coming back.

"Where are you going?" Julia asked quickly, stepping forward. "The healers said you should rest for at least three more hours."

"My room," Leo said, shaking his head a little as he reached down to pick up his sword, putting the dark sheath back on his waist with his left hand. "I can heal the rest through meditation. I need some sleep."

He did not wait for them to argue. He walked out of the bright, noisy ward, his boots clicking quietly on the stone floor of the long, empty hall leading toward the freshman dorms.

The sun was starting to set outside, casting long, deep orange and purple shadows through the high windows of the academy. Leo walked slowly, his body stiff, his eyes staring straight ahead.

His mind was racing. He had survived the sixty seconds, and he had kept his spot at the top of the first year, but the weight of what was coming was heavy on his chest.

Arthur was getting stronger every day, not just Arthur, but all of them. Roan, Alice, Riven, Elisabeth, even Amelia and Cordelia.

Every single one of them.

They were all growing faster than they had at this point in the game, pushing past their limits and reaching heights that shouldn’t have been possible this early. That was fine for him. It meant the world had more capable fighters when the real war came.

But it also meant he had to grow faster too. He couldn’t afford to fall behind.

And beyond them, the Abyss King’s shadow was getting closer.

Soon, the academy’s main event would start.

If he remembered correctly from the game, it was around the second month. That meant he had less than a month to prepare. He didn’t know exactly how the event would play out in this timeline, too many things had already changed, but he knew it would be dangerous.

He had to be ready.

He touched the hilt of Tempest with his fingers. He had won today, but sixty seconds of hell was nothing compared to the war that was coming. He needed to get stronger. Much stronger.

Reaching the door of his room, he pushed it open, stepping into the quiet dark of his own space, leaving the loud cheers of the stadium far behind him.

_

Author’s Note

Hey everyone.

I know I told you all that I would upload more than one Chapter today, but I can only upload one Chapter right now. The main reason is my health. The recent climate change has been affecting me, and my body has been feeling weak because of it.

It’s hard to focus and write when I’m not feeling well.

I’m sorry I couldn’t upload more today. But tomorrow, I promise to upload 2 or 3 Chapters to make up for it.

Thanks for understanding.