We passed through the gate as a group, letting the meisms seal up behind us with a grinding and g noise.

  The alpine air disappeared as we emerged oher side, repced with a humid heat and the rush of a river.

  I took a deep breath, taking in the heavy st of dirt, foliage, and... mana?

  There was a tang in the air, like a faiallidertone - aric charge.

  But nothing about the pce suggested any danger or immediate threats. It was a beautiful hilly, forest with the school somehow still ihe river flowih us was slow and shallow, and there were no signs of any traps or snares or visible danger.

  But I couldn't shake the feeling that something was different. Just like ieau from before, there was a familiarity in the air, and a sense of unease crawling in the bay mind.

  The others seemed to pick up on it too, eyeing each other suspiciously as we moved ahead.

  Aur me as she walked by, nodding slightly. "Lux. Would you mind if we take a short rest?"

  I nodded, frowning as we slowed to a stop. "You alright?"

  She turned back, looking at the two injured cadets Elysia had beaten up in our csh over the keys. "Mhm. I am perfectly fine, but I'd like your back as I go over ao those two. They're kinda intimidating."

  I shrugged, smirking as I leaned back against a tree briefly. "Alright, let's go then."

  Aurora nodded, walking back toward them with her hands raised and a friendly smile. "Hello! Would you two mind if I take a sec to deal with your injuries? You seem pretty beat up, and I have a few healing skills under my belt. I could fix yht up."

  The still unnamed e-haired, tall girl and the boy with the katana and office business attire shared a look.

  "Fihe girl muttered as she rubbed her swollen eye. "Ugh..."

  Aurora nodded, giving me a quick worried look as she walked up to the girl, gesturing at her to lower her head. "Alright. Let me take a look."

  As she began to focus and gather her energy, I turned around for a sed, pag around the edge of the clearing.

  I k was strange, but I couldn't help but feel a bit lost. We didn't know what the test was really about, and it seemed like we'd solved one problem, only to be faced with more.

  "Heavenly Form: Soothing Light."

  Aurora's eyes glowed a faint white as she held out her hands, and I watched the swelling and bruising around the girl's eye steadily fade away.

  I smiled as I tio pace, turning my attention to the river. It seemed like there was something there, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

  The entire yout of the jungle fuhe river to a single point, and there was no outlet.

  Hmm.

  I turned back toward the e-haired girl, putting on a diplomatic smile as I approached her with my haended. "Hi. I'm Harmonia Lux, but everyone calls me Lux. What's your name?"

  She eyed me warily, but then sighed and shook my hand. "Vanna Dia."

  Vanna... Dia?

  Vanadium?

  "Oh... are you Neo Dymium's teammate?"

  She let out a snort, shaking her head. "Yeah. Did you run into her in this exercise or something?"

  "Ah, yeah." I ughed. "She was a bit... feisty."

  "Yeah, well. That's her alright. She's always like that."

  "So, do you guys have more teammates waiting out there?"

  Vanna shook her head. "Nah. Neo and I are partners in crime, but she's the one who usually takes charge in stuff like this. She's not here right now, though."

  "Well, I don't know if the paths we took are linked up or if they're tied to our personal energy signatures or anything. But I should probably tell you we er... we did kinda leave her and three other standard admissions students tied up and frozen in blocks of ice back there."

  Her eyes widened in surprise as she raised a brow. "Wait, what? You left Neo like that?!"

  "Hey, she started it!" Elysia called from behind us, walking up to stao me.

  I chuckled, shrugging. "It's fihey should be out and on our tail soon enough."

  "Um... okay?" Vanna replied, eyeing me suspiciously. "You know, Neo and I had some pretty strong opinions about the whole guaranteed admissions for emergency tract survivors thing."

  "That's uandable." I smiled, nodding. "But hey, if we're w together for now, we might as well make the most of it, right?"

  She rolled her eyes, shrugging. "Makes a girl wonder. Be straight with me, how bad was the city out there anyway, Lux? We heard about it iermath and saw the footage, but it's all a mess."

  "Oh, it was..." I started, biting my lip as I looked away. "It retty bad. Really, really bad. Way worse than you imagine. Even the fearm didn't do it justice."

  She ched her jaw, looking at me with a serious expression.

  "It had to be, to produce a bunch of rookies like you guys. You know, Neo and I trained and studied for years to be here. And here you guys just came popping out of nowhere. I mean, the ice queehere just ran me over ht and made all of my training look like a joke. It's not fair."

  I let out a small sigh, trying to keep my face from betraying my feelings. "Yeah. I totally uand that. It's hard to feel like you've worked hard and earned your ply to see people who got their powers just pop up and flip everything on its head."

  She eyed me cautiously, raising a brow. "Huh. I didn't think you'd get it."

  "Well, it's not something I trol. And I 't speak for all of us, but I'm not here to put anyone down or cause trouble. I'm here to learn and grow with everyone. I have a long way to go."

  Auriggled as she moved her glowing hands over Vanna's shoulder, healing a cut there. "Same here, really. Lord knows I still have a lot to learn."

  Vanna blinked in surprise, gng between us. "Um. Yeah..."

  She nodded slowly, crossing her arms. "Well, you seem like you're taking it seriously. Neo and I... aren't so sure about some of the other emergency tract holders we've met."

  "Oh?" I asked in surprise.

  I did wonder if there was something that didn't involve me which tributed to their opinions about us.

  Vanna sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Yeah. Frostburn's been a loudmouth and a jackass, and we've run into him the most. There are a few others who were also kinda rubbing it in and not quite so graceful about things."

  "Ah."

  I shrugged, not sure how to respond.

  "But you two are different from them," Vanna tinued. "You're—"

  "No," I cut in, shaking my head. "I'm not."

  She eyed me with a frown. "You're not? What do you mean?"

  "I mean, I'm not any different. I'm not funting things or rubbing it in your face or anything. I'm just doing the best I with the circumstances I ut in. And the same goes for most of the people here who took up the mao save themselves and the people around them."

  She nodded, studying me curiously. "Maybe. But I'll reserve my judgment for now."

  Aurora stepped back, l her hands as her eyes returo normal. "Alright, your injuries are all fixed up. Now, let's start over, shall we?"

  Vanna shrugged, holding out her hand. "Yeah, sure. I'm er, Vanna Dia. o meet you, Lux. And you, Aurora. You guys seem nice."

  "We definitely get along, Vanna," I replied, shaking her hand. "Just don't jump me like Neo did."

  Aurora waved at the boy with the pocket protector and the katana. "Hey, you! Let's get you patched up too."

  He nodded, looking at the ground as he walked toward us. "Y-yeah. That would be hanks. I'm um, Clipboard by the way."

  "Clipboard? Really?" I blinked in surprise.

  He shrugged. "My team has an office theme."

  "Well, that's iing. Are you Telegraph's teammate?"

  "Yup. I take it you ran into him along with Vanna's teammate? Kid in a business suit? Suave voice practically made fotiating?"

  I smiled awkwardly, nodding. "Yeah... you could say he's a bit frosty. He took it pretty well though, unlike Neo Dymium."

  "Ah, yeah. He's always taken Ls pretty well. Goes on about how it's always a lesson in disguise."

  Aurora smiled, holding out her hands. "Now e on the me take a look at your ribs."

  He blushed, looking away as he held up his shirt. "Um, yeah. Please do."

  "So, we're all getting along now?" Elysia asked as she crossed her arms, leaning by my side.

  Vanna frowned, eyeing her warily. "I suppose we ... for now. Say, you're with the emergency tract holders, right?"

  To Elysia's credit, her expression didn't falter. I blinked up at her, smiling slightly as she looked at me with a wink.

  She giggled, c her mouth with her hand. "You could say I am."

  "Where did you learn to fight like that anyway?" Vanna asked, raising a brow suspiciously.

  Elysia shrugged, looking away. "My family is very involved in the bat training for the Threat Css Certificatiram. Even if I weren't a magical girl, I'd probably still qualify as a Pioneer with specialized skills in multiple disciplines."

  Vanna's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh. That sounds impressive. So you're a martial artist or something?"

  "Yes, I am," Elysia smiled, winking. "Don't let the pretty dress and hair fool you. I'm a bit of a scrapper."

  Vanna chuckled, shaking her head. "I mean, I found out the hard way, didn't I? I didn't expect you to close the distance as quickly as you did and trap my on."

  "Hey, you're not too shabby yourself," Elysia replied. "No hard feelings, right?"

  "Nah, you got me good. And I deserved it, to be ho."

  Vanna was... surprisingly reasonable.

  Maybe we could work things out with her parter.

  But for now, we had more pressing s.

  The river, for example.

  And the faiallig in the air.

  It wasn't quite mana, but it was definitely something.

  Something was off.

  And I had a feeling we'd run into a challenge just around the er.

  So I carefully picked my way through the forest toward the river, keeping my eyes and ears peeled for anything unusual or out of pce.

  "Hmm," Elysia frowned beside me, narrowing her eyes as she studied the fast-moving current of the river. "Anything?"

  " just looks like any other river. Ditto goes for the forest."

  I licked my lips, trying to ighe feeling of uhat tio rise within me.

  And then, as we stepped up to the river edge, a rge distortion rippled in front of us.

  I took a step toward it, extending my hand, and suddenly a purple light fshed in front of us.

  I paused, my heart skipping a beat as I felt my throat tighten as a massive oval-shaped purple portal appeared in front of us.

  "Woah, woah, what the hell is that?!" Null blurted, throwing up his hands.

  "AIIEEE not again! Not again!!" Vanna screamed, ging to Aurora and hiding behind her.

  "Wah?!" Aurora jolted up. "Vanna, you're twice my size!"

  Clipbulped, bag away too. "T-that 't be good, it?"

  "Stay calm, everyone," Elysia began, befring at the portal. "Ugh. Tesseract you just had to set off everyone's collective PTSD, huh? Seriously?!"

  She huffed, before walking straight toward the portal. "e on. I think this was just an iional breather zone she set up for us. Let's push on."

  We g each other nervously as Van go of Aurora, stepping back awkwardly.

  "Well, that's uh..." She breathed, her hands shaking. "That's terrifying."

  "Agreed." I nodded, shivering slightly.

  Aurnced around the group worriedly. "Um. Is everyone okay?"

  Elysia shrugged, standing with one hand on her hip. "Well.. as okay as I could be."

  "Same here," I said, trying to force a smile.

  The group gathered together as the boy with the pocket protector sloroached, trembling a bit.

  "This is so messed up," he whispered. "I just, I just signed up to learn to proted serve people, y'know? But those monsters swarming everywhere."

  "Yes, yes," Aurora nodded, patting his shoulder. "It's a bit much, but you'll be fine. We're all strong and capable. We all lived through it."

  roached the portal, looking around nervously.

  I could feel my fiwitch, and my hands were tense as I stepped in after Elysia.

  The purple energy swirled around me, and I nearly lost my bance for a moment. And suddenly, I felt the grouh me shifting and the gravity around me ging.

  "Aaah?!" Null gasped, falling ft on his face. "What the..."

  Vanna was suddenly flying off, suspended in the air, and Elysia pulled me and Aurora together.

  "Everyone, grab on!" she shouted.

  "What is going on?!" Vanna screamed, her eyes wild as she began to drop.

  But then, as fast as it started, it was over.

  We were all dropped from the gravitational shift, and the sery around us ged from the hilly, opy-covered forest to a dark, misty pin.

  A low, rumbling growl echoed from all around, and I immediately shifted into a bat stance.

  And then we heard the shouting.

  "Listen here you icicle-flying moron," a familiar voice echoed, snapping through the dense air and obsg fog. "Will you fug listen to me?!"

  "Bh, bh, bh," came a desding, youthful male voi response. "All I'm hearing from this birdbrain is squawk, squawk, squawk. You must be missing a feather or two in that skull of yours."

  The moment, a furious rush of wind whipped around us, and the fog quickly cleared.

  In the distance, we saw a fiery explosion, and a billow of snowy mist surged in response, c the ground with a thick yer of white fkes.

  But the cause made my blood freeze.

  I'd only had a few nightmares sihat night, but seeing the awful, glowing blue eyes and unnatural movements of a mass of shambling, shrieking, moaning monsters swarming over some fortifications on a hilltht it all back with a vengeance.

  There were at least a dozen of them, and the figures ing Sparrow and Frostburn visible beyond them, frantically attempting to fend them off.

  But what caught my attention was the lumbering, massive, hulk of a mohat lumbered at them in the back of the formation.

  Its form was clearly of a balding human man, with torn clothes, wisps of brown hair and rippling muscles. It'd and swollen and mutated to a two-story tall giant, and the signature growling, blue eyes, and enormous cwed hands gave it away as a monster.

  The day the world had goo hell came rushing bae in an instant. How I'd been helpless and uo do anything as a rampaging moore through Refuge Zeta's walls, knowing Al was inside.

  The old man who'd been torn apart by one of the wolf-like monsters as I fought in vain to defend myself. The sensation of fear and hopelessness as I watched the life drain out of him with nothing I could do about it.

  And the same type of monsters were right in front of me.

  I khat it robably some magically created e or copy, but it didn't lessen the horror of the se in front of me.

  Suddenly, pop after pop went off around me as our transformed Nexus devices appeared, projeg a hologram in front of us.

  APOPHIS PROTOCOL ENABLED

  ABERRANT IDENTIFICATION FIRMED

  CALLING DATABASE.... RAIJU work established.

  ABERRANT TYPE: Juggernaut

  ABERRATION PATHOLOGY: Mutation

  BABYLON THREAT CLASSIFIarquis

  TRAITS AND ABILITIES: High Magic Resistance, Berserker, Redundant Systems, Regeion, Merge Evolution

  "Oh hell no," Forest Willow muttered, eyes widening in shock. "I barely got away from one of those things."

  The monster roared, stopping ihen, it slowly turoward us.

  I trembled slightly, the gears in my head spinning frantically as I tried to e up with a pn.

  Elysia huffed, tilting her head with an annoyed look. "Perfect."

  "Think you take it?" I asked hesitantly.

  She shook her head. "Alone? Well... that didn't turn out so well for me st time."

  Before we could talk about it any further, a pierg screech echoed from our left, and a rge flock of bck birds took into the air.

  And then, the ground underh us exploded.