Next to him, Morven was indeed swaying on his feet, looking like he was about to vomit his own soul out.

Sweat dripped down Riven’s forehead. "J-just wait a little longer... I want this to stop too, but just look at her..."

Nyx wasn’t just standing there anymore. Her messy black hair was slowly beginning to float in the air as a dark purple aura was leaking from her body — not as an attack, but purely unintentionally—driven by her own twisted, morbid excitement. She was genuinely enjoying this.

Inside the glass, the illusion finally broke.

"No... no... no no no no!" Mirror Nyx shrieked, collapsing onto the spectral floor. It grabbed its own head, shaking and writhing in total psychological terror.

The fear-inducing trap had officially become terrified of its victim.

Nyx slowly crouched down, bringing her face perfectly level with the pathetic, crying illusion on the other side of the glass.

A wide, unsettling smile crept onto her pale face as she looked down at her fake self. With a soft, giggling whisper, she delivered the final blow.

"Asphyxiation."

"Disembowelment."

"Putrefaction."

"Annihilation."

For a split second, absolute silence fell over the cavern. Every single person standing there—Zenith’s team, the Blood Oak prodigy Eryx’s team, absolutely everyone—was just watching them.

And then—

FOOOOOOM!

Fake Nyx instantly dissolved into nothingness. And immediately after...

CRACK!

From the bottom of the glass barrier, the faint sound of shattering glass echoed through the silence.

Whether anyone else noticed it or not... Lucian saw it first.

That tiny hairline fracture grew, spiderwebbing upward, and then grew some more. Then, all the surrounding students from other academies who had been standing silently, trying to figure out how to cross the barrier... Everyone saw the golden opportunity Nyx had just created by cracking her side of the wall.

She was still just crouching there, giggling softly to herself.

Greed instantly overrode fear.

Cain’s head violently snapped toward Riven.

"BOSS, NOW!"

And suddenly, everyone fired. Students from all the mixed academies lunged straight at the six Black Mire prodigies—attempting to hijack the exit from a team that had one distracted member, one nauseous member, and one who was already completely unconscious.

BOOM! BANG! SWOOSH! SHIFT!

A relentless barrage of elemental spells, arrows, and aura slashes rained down from all directions.

Before the barrage of strikes coming from all directions could even touch the group, Riven’s red eyes glinted.

SQUELCH!

Dozens of dead corpses instantly erupted from the ground beneath them. All the incoming spells and blades crashed into the meat shields of the dead corpses, completely nullified.

Cain moved simultaneously, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"MOVE HER, BOSS!"

Riven quickly yanked the still-giggling Nyx backward. In that split second, Cain cast a spell on a nearby zombie. A glowing magic circle scanned the zombie’s entire body for a brief moment, and right after, Cain delivered a brutal double kick, launching the reinforced zombie straight at the crack.

BOOM!

A massive blast echoed, and that crack in the wall shattered completely, blowing wide open. But suddenly, both boys noticed a 10-second timer floating right above the broken spot. The meaning was simple: the entire team had to cross to the other side before the time was up. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Riven’s zombies continuously poured out of the ground, holding off the desperate crowd.

"Hurry, hurry!"

Huff... Huff...

First, they literally threw Nyx to the other side.

Then, Cain hauled up the unconscious Lysin, Vesper piggybacked the nauseous Morven, and they both dived straight through the opening.

And with a swift dash, Riven leaped through to the other side as well.

Exactly as the timer hit zero...

The zombies vanished. The wall instantly sealed itself, looking as perfectly smooth and solid as new.

The desperate students threw a few more delayed attacks before the smoke finally cleared. And when it did... Everyone was left completely dumbfounded.

The very first team to clear the ’Wall of Play’ was...

Six-Prodigy of Black Mire Academy. Team R.

Behind the wall, a few slaves briefly watched the first team cross. Without showing any real reaction, they immediately turned back to their rocks and resumed mining the mana crystals.

"Hooray! Ahaha! We finally did it!" Cain bounced on his heels, dumping Lysine on the floor and practically vibrating with excitement.

"...Guys, did we make it? Oh, thank the dark gods... ugh—" Morven gagged, looking distinctly green around the edges as he swayed on his feet.

Vesper, who was still letting him lean on her shoulder, shot him a dead, icy glare. "Puke on me, and you die."

"Good... good job, everyone." Riven reached out, offering a hand to pull Nyx to her feet. Once she was steady, his expression hardened back into focus. "Let’s get moving."

Cain hoisted the still-unconscious Lysine onto his back once more. "Let’s go. Lead the way, boss."

Next to him, Vesper mercilessly dragged Morven forward, slapping the back of his head to keep him moving.

On the other side of the glass, the reactions were immediate.

Standing with Zenith’s team, Adrian was absolutely fuming; watching another team steal the first spot made his blood boil. On the other hand, the Blood Oak prodigy Eryx and his team seemed to have gained some motivation — or perhaps they had figured out a method by watching Black Mire’s success.

Meanwhile, all the other teams who possessed zero teamwork just dissolved into loud, pointless arguing.

Standing far in the back, still completely invisible, Lucian was genuinely impressed. He slowly rubbed his chin as a calculated smirk playing on his lips.

That was a damn cunning strategy... That girl Nyx, she was pretty clever. And their teamwork was also surprisingly seamless.

[ Understood. Providing the full details of exactly what happened over there... ]

Ding!

Before he could see details Lucian’s gaze shifted toward Lyria . Her eyes were currently wide open, completely fixated on one specific group: Zenith’s team.

A completely different scene was unfolding right in front of them.

Cassian? What the fuck is that maniac doing now?