Aeryn flew at high speed through the sky, slicing the air like an enchanted bolt. Her clothes flapped in the wind, and the magical aura around her body left a faint trail of amber light behind.

  While Veyhart’s magic knights spread across the academy’s outer grounds, sweeping the forest and ravines in search of missing students or possible intruders, Aeryn zipped past them like a conscious arrow.

  She wasn’t just flying over. She was scanning. Every strand of mana felt like it had to report to her.

  Her refined flight technique, combined with heightened magical perception, made her one of the best mages in the academy for both tracking and aerial combat.

  The only problem? She just couldn’t find who she was looking for.

  "You idiot... where the hell did you go?!"

  She bit her lower lip hard, her brow furrowed.

  'How did things get to this point...?'

  It had all happened way too fast. And of course, right when both the headmaster and deputy were gone.

  To her, there was no doubt. Someone had helped those dark mages get into Veyhart territory.

  And when she found out who it was...

  The aura around her flickered, unstable. Her anger made the mana spark in golden flashes, dense and sharp like blades ready to tear loose.

  She wasn’t going to wait for judgment. Not from the headmaster. Not from anyone.

  "I’ll kill any rat I find playing these games..."

  But then...

  "Hmm?!"

  A slight fluctuation in mana sliced through the air, interrupting her thoughts. Almost unnoticeable to any regular mage. But not to her.

  Her eyes narrowed instantly. Her body tilted sideways as she slowed down with perfect control, hovering in the sky like an enchanted feather.

  She spun slightly mid-air, locking onto the exact direction of the magical disturbance.

  "Found you...!!!"

  And in the blink of an eye, she shot forward like a living arrow toward the source of the signal.

  She wasn’t certain yet... but it had to be there.

  'It has to be here...!'

  “.....”

  “...”

  ====

  Kaen was flying backward, his body crashing through tree branches like a projectile with no control. The magical explosion had launched him far, and he only stopped when his back slammed into a thick trunk.

  CRACK!!

  The impact made leaves rain down all around, and he hit the ground gasping.

  "KOFF! Hahh... KHH...!"

  Kaen started coughing hard, trying to pull in air that seemed to have fled his lungs. Every breath came with pain, like his insides were being squeezed.

  "Hhnng... that bastard... haha..."

  He didn’t know if he should laugh at his luck... or cry because of the pain still pulsing in his chest. He had just barely escaped two insane dark mages alive, only to run straight into another one here to finish him off.

  'Where the hell did he go??'

  He managed to repel part of the blast, but it was far from a perfect defense. When he tried to stand up, his muscles and bones screamed. It was like his body was begging him to stay on the ground.

  "Pretty sure... I broke something..."

  While catching his breath, Kaen noticed a shadow descending from above. The masked mage landed nearby, touching down lightly.

  "Told you already... running is impossible."

  "~I'm not running."

  "Let’s just finish this."

  "No last words?"

  VOOOM!

  Dozens of black needles ripped through the air toward Kaen, infused with corrupted mana. They glowed a deep violet, buzzing aggressively like they were made of pure hatred.

  'He’s really not gonna give me a second?!?'

  Kaen forced himself upright, ignoring the pain pounding in every inch of his body.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  .....TSSHHH!

  The needles struck behind the tree where Kaen had been, and in the very next instant:

  BOOM!

  Fragments of bark, purple smoke, and twisted energy burst in all directions, leaving a scorched hole in the trunk.

  'What do I do?!'

  Kaen was only still alive because he’d managed to buy time, dodging through the trees using his repulsion vectors. But that wouldn’t last much longer. His mana was almost completely gone.

  "...."

  The masked mage walked calmly, like he was sure Kaen would die soon.

  "No point trying to run... let’s stop playing and get this over with."

  "...haaah..."

  Kaen had hidden behind one of the trees after the explosion. His body trembled lightly from pain, sweat dripping from his forehead.

  'Run? I’m already where I wanted to be...'

  Sighing tiredly, his half-lidded eyes watched the mage approach with slow, almost lazy steps.

  'Now I just need to distract this idiot...'

  For Kaen, this was almost humiliating. Someone like him, who used to terrorize players inside Chronos Realms, now cornered with his life hanging by a thread.

  What he wanted to do was condense all the vectors in the universe into a microscopic point... and create the first vector atomic bomb in history. Blow up the mage, the forest, maybe half the continent. At least he’d go out on top.

  'What the hell am I thinking...'

  Kaen shook his head, snapping back to reality. Escape was pretty much impossible. This was the kind of enemy who knew exactly where and how to kill.

  And Kaen knew that... because he’d died to him countless times in Chronos Realms.

  But he had an idea. One that could work—if luck was on his side. And for someone with no other choice, taking a gamble was better than nothing.

  "At first I thought it was just some random spell... but you seem to have control over repulsion, don’t you?"

  "..."

  "How do you even control it like that? Far as I know, there’s no such thing for that kind of magic."

  "....."

  Kaen stood still, listening... or at least he thought he was.

  Then he looked back and his eyes widened.

  "Hahn... shit..."

  BOOM!

  The explosion came from behind. But Kaen dove to the side with a desperate leap, rolling across the ground as the tree he’d been hiding behind blew up in a blast of black energy.

  Even while falling, Kaen positioned his fingers like a sight, compressed the vector just slightly, and launched it with precision at the mage.

  .....THUMP......

  The shot ripped through the air, gaining speed with gravity. The dark mage saw the attack and reacted at the last second, channeling mana into his hands.

  His barrier formed with a vivid purple glow, absorbing the impact with effort. The energy burst around the shield, and even so, it pushed him several meters back.

  "...now that you’ve... got your info... how about we both get on with our lives?"

  Kaen, right arm stretched out and the other supporting his weight, released a wide burst of repulsion.

  FWWOOOSH!

  But it wasn’t like his usual techniques. With his mana at the limit, all he managed to create was a dry, forceful gust of wind.

  The dark mage raised a hand to shield his eyes from the dust and wind.

  "Just a breeze?? That’s all you’ve got—"

  "...next time I find you... I’m going to kill you."

  Kaen’s eyes burned so intensely red they looked like they were bleeding with fury.

  A chill ran up the dark mage’s spine. It was strange... that boy wasn’t fighting to survive. He was clearly deciding when it would be the right time to kill someone.

  Kaen gathered the last scraps of mana in his feet, created counter-vectors, and launched himself into the air.

  "I’M NOT LETTING YOU ESCAPE!!!"

  The mage got ready to chase after him, activating his flight spell. But Kaen, still mid-air, suddenly turned.

  His hands were already positioned, and an unstable sphere of energy trembled in his palm.

  'Yeah... this one’s gonna hurt.'

  With no mana left in his Inertia Core, controlling the vector was impossible. The pain, the side effects... were expected. But he fired it anyway.

  "THOOM!!!"

  The repulsive explosion launched Kaen even higher, like a cannon had gone off beneath his hands. His body shot upward fast, flung far from the mage, who was still trying to contain the vector energy that had crashed into him seconds earlier.

  "Urgh... fuck!"

  Kaen flew through the air without control, wind blasting his face, his white hair flailing like strands of cotton cutting through the sky.

  He looked down and saw a large lake getting closer, the water reflecting the bright sky.

  "At least I won’t die from the fall... since..."

  But before he could finish the thought, his consciousness began to fade.

  'Actually... probably the water...'

  His eyes started to close slowly, until everything went black.

  "..."

  ====

  At the same time...

  Aeryn felt the energy rising by the second, slicing through the sky like invisible pressure.

  But... something was wrong.

  That wasn’t the same energy she’d sensed earlier while scanning the other areas. It wasn’t the dense, steady mana she’d felt around Kaen. This was something else. It felt dirty. Filthy mana pulsing in sync with twisted intentions.

  Aeryn clenched her fists, golden sparks flashing in her eyes as the wind around her grew unstable.

  'Let’s not be pessimistic, Aeryn...'

  But rage kept building in her chest with every meter she flew.

  "..."

  As she got closer, her eyes finally caught a silhouette in the air.

  Floating midair was a mage. He wore a broken mask and held a tense stance, like he had just come out of a fight.

  Aeryn didn’t say a word.

  She just raised her hand, and a blade of light formed in the air. It was pure mana, condensed into a razor-sharp celestial line.

  It wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t refined. It was made to kill.

  'I’ll cut off the parts of your body to interrogate you... and after that, you’re dead.'

  The masked mage turned the instant Aeryn launched her attack.

  "LET’S START WITH THE LEGS!!"

  ZAAAAK!!

  A burst of light ripped through the air and tore across the space between them, flying straight at the masked mage. He reacted at the last moment, tilting his body and dodging with a fast burst of movement.

  The blade grazed him... or at least, it seemed like it.

  Then, a dry snap echoed in the air.

  .......CHACK!!

  The dark mage’s left arm was severed, flying through the air before landing with a dull thud among the trees below.

  Blood sprayed across the sky in a grotesque arc, falling in thick, hot drops that splashed through the leaves.

  The mage pulled back midair, breathing heavily, gritting his teeth while clutching his bleeding shoulder.

  "You managed to dodge that? Let’s try again."

  The light blade, which had continued in a straight line, curved in the air as if it were alive. It returned to Aeryn like a boomerang, spinning at high speed before stopping above her hand again, hovering like it was waiting for a command.

  Even with all her rage, she did everything she could to hide her presence. But still, he noticed at the very last second.

  Aeryn didn’t need to ask. From the way he dodged... he had already been on full alert before even sensing her.

  "..."

  'That was close... I only noticed her when she was already attacking.'

  The mage took a deep breath, still floating above her.

  "...Where is Kaen?"

  'Kaen??? Was that supposed to be someone?'

  The dark mage's eyes widened, and a crooked smile spread across his face, like he'd just figured out something amusing.

  "~Hmm? Kaen?? So that was his name?"

  The words hit her like a stone.

  In the same instant, her aura exploded. A wave of golden mana surged around her like a living storm.

  The trees below trembled, even without being touched. The air grew dense and suffocating.

  "Actually... forget the interrogation part."