Chapter 65
Meanwhile at the training .
The training hall was massive, its high ceilings nearly brushing the reinforced upper girders, walls lined with reinforced concrete and observation windows, designed to contain even the most extreme abilities. At least five thousand square meters of open space, polished floor marked with impact lines and runes for combat exercises, and hovering platforms for instructors to monitor students from above.
The 150 students crowded the floor in chaotic clusters, shouting over each other, their powers crackling faintly in the air, sparks of fire, small quakes in the ground, fragments of stone levitating. Some were taunting the weaker ones, others sparred violently with peers, and the air itself was tense with unbridled arrogance. Even the five class advisors struggled to keep order, their commands lost in the riot of voices, their authority diminished by the sheer boldness of the Awakened youth.
Magnus' eyes scanned the hall quietly, noting everything: the physical stature of each student, the rank of their abilities, mostly D+ to B, and the subtle tension lines where they already formed hierarchies. He could see the leaders, five individuals who commanded respect by fear and raw power, already calculating who among the others they would dominate next. The hall smelled of sweat, ozone, and faint scorch marks from careless experiments.
The old professor whispered behind him, voice trembling. "They've never listened to us. Not once. They answer only to strength… only to those who can truly overwhelm them."
Magnus gave a faint smile, a calm that seemed almost casual against the chaos. "Strength and discipline. That is something I can offer." He turned fully to the hall, and for the first time, the students noticed the cold edge in his gaze.
"ATTENTION!" His voice rang out, far louder than any normal human voice should, resonating off the walls. Instantly, the killing intent he radiated manifested like a palpable wave. The five student leaders froze mid-motion; the rest felt it ripple through the crowd. Yet, arrogance remained. They laughed, some booed.
"You dare to challenge us?" one of the leaders called out, voice dripping with mockery. "You think your words scare us?"
Magnus didn't answer with words. He moved ten meters forward in an instant, materializing on the stage directly in front of the main leader, a slight flicker, almost too fast for the eye to track. The leader, caught off guard, attempted an attack, a thin blade of hardened energy forming in his palm. Magnus didn't flinch. With a calm, precise motion, he slapped the attack aside as if it were nothing, sending the boy flying twenty meters across the hall. He slammed into the far wall with a resounding crack. Silence fell for a fraction of a second.
Then the rest erupted. All 149 students surged forward, powers unleashed, the air shimmering with fireballs, kinetic blasts, stone projectiles, and blades of energy. Their combined killing intent was overwhelming, nearly a tidal wave of hostile force, but Magnus didn't hesitate, didn't flinch.
He moved with the precision of a predator, every motion calculated, every strike exact.
A student with lithokinesis flung a jagged rock, a ten-meter spear of jagged stone, Magnus caught it midair, crushed it between his hands, the shards dissipating into harmless dust. A fire-wielder aimed a volley of flame; Magnus extended his aura, manifesting a translucent barrier around himself that instantly absorbed and cooled the fire. A kinetic caster threw a punch imbued with amplified speed, Magnus sidestepped, grabbed the arm mid-swing, and twisted, sending the boy crashing into a support pillar.
The hall became a storm of violence. Magnus struck in bursts, each movement overwhelming, precise, and brutal. Hands grabbed and redirected attacks back at attackers. Bodies were thrown with the ease of ragdolls, male and female alike, no mercy given, yet no fatal blows. Every student learned instantly: this was not a mere show of force, it was teaching through dominance.
He moved through the mass of students like a shadow made physical, using their attacks against them, creating waves of controlled destruction. Fireballs froze midair, kinetic blasts redirected, stones shattered into harmless gravel. Those who tried to overwhelm him together were split apart effortlessly, each group broken into smaller, manageable pockets.
Even the arrogant student leaders weren't spared. Magnus struck each with precise authority: a slap to redirect an energy surge, a shove that sent someone flying through the air, a grab of a wrist that twisted the limb in a way that left no doubt who controlled the room. Their peers fell in shock, watching their heroes humbled in moments.
The hall rang with screams, shouts, crashing debris, and the sounds of unrestrained powers meeting mastery. Magnus' aura radiated lethal calm, students could feel it pressing against their senses like the weight of an avalanche. Fear crept in. Every arrogant grin faltered. Every defiant shout lost its conviction.
Finally, Magnus stepped onto the center of the hall, the floor beneath him cracking subtly under the force of his presence. He raised his hand, and silence fell, not through magic or words, but through the sheer weight of authority and power.
"I do not seek your obedience because I desire it," he said slowly, his voice carrying through the now-quiet hall. "I seek it because without discipline, your abilities will destroy yourselves and others. You are not children, yet you behave as if you are. That ends now."
One by one, the students lowered their heads, adrenaline still coursing, pride wounded, but respect. or at least fear, taking its place.
Even the five leaders, bruised and humiliated, could only meet his gaze and realize the truth: Magnus was no ordinary guide. He was a force beyond reckoning, someone whose mastery of skill and power was absolute.
The old professor exhaled in relief, watching as the chaos subsided into tense silence. From the observation platforms, Alexa and Kaelin could hear the ruckus and sigh in unison. Alexa muttered, "He's doing it again…" while Kaelin nodded grimly, "Yeah… and nobody's going to forget this lesson."
Magnus looked around the hall, scanning each student. His eyes, sharp and calm, met theirs. The lesson was learned: power without control was meaningless, and no one in this hall would dare challenge him again.
Even as they nursed their bruised egos and bodies, a part of them knew, the fear and awe Magnus instilled would follow them for the rest of their time at Overflow Academy.
The echoes of the initial clash still lingered in the air, acrid with burnt ozone and the faint smell of scorched wood where a few careless attacks had connected with the reinforced structures. Magnus let the students recover for only a moment, long enough to gauge their reaction, the way their shoulders twitched nervously, the subtle tension in their eyes, the competitive glances toward one another. Every cluster, every subgroup, every whispered alliance was noted.
"Enough waiting!" Magnus' voice boomed across the hall, more precise and cold than before, but carrying a weight far heavier than any authority the students had previously encountered. "We are not here to test ego, to assert dominance, or to parade strength for the amusement of peers. This is training. Discipline. Control. And from this moment, any further defiance will meet consequences you will regret."
The room trembled subtly under the pressure of his aura. Students instinctively glanced at one another, calculating whether Magnus was bluffing, and then they felt it: the presence, the raw force of will, the unmistakable proof that he was in complete control.
He began with the first subgroup, the dominant clique that had positioned themselves at the front of the hall, fifteen of the most arrogant, strongest, and notorious students. Each of them had been eyeing him with open contempt, waiting for a chance to strike first. Magnus approached them methodically, his steps echoing in the vast hall.
A tall male, clearly the self-proclaimed leader, stepped forward, attempting to flex his powers, a swirling blade of concentrated kinetic energy. Magnus raised a single hand. The hall felt like it froze; even students in the back could sense the calm menace emanating from him. The blade shattered midair, as though meeting an invisible wall. Before the boy could react, Magnus flicked his wrist, sending a concussive shockwave that slammed him back into the wall.
Another female, known for manipulating fire, tried to create a wall of flame around herself to intimidate the others. Magnus extended both arms, and the flames formed into a bubble of containment that shrank inward like a collapsing glass sphere, extinguishing harmlessly against his aura. He stepped forward, and without raising his voice, the girl felt the weight of judgment and power pressing into her chest.
"You think these tricks make you powerful," Magnus said calmly, pacing between them. "Power without restraint is chaos. And chaos… gets broken. I am here to teach you control."
He moved quickly, almost too fast to track, engaging each student individually. A boy with earth manipulation attempted to hurl a jagged rock at him. Magnus twisted, grabbed the rock mid-flight, and, with a subtle flick, sent it spinning into the floor, creating a small crater at the boy's feet. He leaned slightly closer.
"You are not in charge here," Magnus murmured. "You never have been. You only thought you were."
One by one, he approached each student in the front subgroup, breaking their posturing. The shock of seeing their attacks nullified, redirected, or returned violently, yet safely, caused fear to ripple across the group. A few shrank instinctively, realizing their strength alone would not carry them.
Magnus didn't stop there. He used the chaos to dismantle the unspoken hierarchies. A group of students in the back had been taunting a smaller, weaker male who had a rank C ability to manipulate water. Magnus extended his aura subtly toward the bullies, and their feet felt heavy, muscles tightening unnaturally. They tried to move toward the weaker student, but Magnus' presence pinned them in place. The smaller student glanced at Magnus, awe and relief washing over him, and for the first time, he stood taller, unafraid.
"Do not mistake my patience for weakness," Magnus said, voice carrying clearly across the hall. "Those who abuse others will be shown the consequences. Those who fight me openly… will understand their place."
He then began a more interactive phase. Students were ordered to attack him, one by one. The arrogant leaders were the first to step forward, each demonstrating their rank B powers. Fireballs, kinetic strikes, earth spikes, elemental blasts, the hall filled with the roar of energy and impact. Magnus moved through them effortlessly, a perfect blend of precision and overwhelming strength. He didn't kill, didn't maim, but each strike and counter left a student bruised, thrown, or incapacitated temporarily.
The physical display of control worked as psychological conditioning. Every failed attack, every uncontrolled display of power, every attempt to challenge him ended with immediate, undeniable consequences. Fear rooted itself in their minds, but so did respect.
Magnus didn't waste time on spectacle. When he faced a female manipulator of ice, she tried to freeze a portion of the floor, attempting to trap him. Magnus' eyes narrowed. He walked across the ice as though it were solid ground, each step sending cracks across it. When he reached her, he extended a hand, and the ice shards leapt harmlessly toward her, embedding in the walls. She stumbled, realizing the futility of underestimating him.
"Strength without understanding is useless," he said, his voice cold but calm. "Control without intelligence is reckless. You are young, arrogant, and gifted… but you are not prepared."
Over the next few hours, he moved through every cluster of students, systematically breaking down the informal hierarchies. Leaders were humbled, bullies intimidated, shy or weaker students emboldened by the demonstration of protection. Magnus' aura acted like a living entity, sweeping through the hall and leaving a trail of fear, clarity, and order. Even those who initially resisted began to measure their actions, their pride tempered by the knowledge that no attack, no act of defiance, would go unchallenged.
By late afternoon, the hall had shifted. The chaos of before, shouts, taunts, and physical jostling—was replaced by tense silence. The 150 students now stood in careful observation, wary of each other, and fully aware of Magnus' authority. Even the previous leaders, now humbled and bruised, kept their heads slightly lowered, calculating how to regain status under the new hierarchy Magnus had installed.
He moved to the center of the hall, arms crossed, aura still subtly radiating dominance. "You will learn to respect control, not merely wield power," he said. "The next time you challenge me, or each other, remember this lesson. I will break what needs breaking, but I will also protect what must be preserved. You are powerful… but without discipline, you are nothing."
As Magnus walked off the stage, the students, male and female alike, stared after him, a mixture of awe, fear, and grudging respect etched across every face. Even in their arrogance, they could not deny the truth: the man before them was more than a guide. He was a force of nature, a teacher whose lessons burned far deeper than any textbook or rank could teach.
From the observation windows, Alexa sighed deeply, her hand resting on Kaelin's arm. "I knew he'd do this," she murmured. "It's like watching a storm clean the hall."
Kaelin chuckled grimly. "Yeah… and somehow, I think half of these students will be seeing nightmares about today for a long time."
Magnus, for his part, simply stood, scanning the room one last time, calculating each student's status and mental state. The lesson was delivered. Fear, respect, and obedience were now firmly planted, and he would continue refining their skills, one by one, until the chaos of the 4th-year batch became a disciplined, powerful unit.
The air was thick with tension as Magnus stepped to the center of the training hall, his eyes scanning the 150 students before him. They had fought, shouted, and tested their abilities against him, but now, he intended to show them something far beyond anything they had ever experienced.
Without a word, he raised his right hand and swung it in a slow, deliberate arc toward the reinforced wall at the edge of the hall. The wall had been designed to withstand Tier 5 Noid projectile attacks, an impressive feat of reinforced alloys, layered energy absorbers, and structural buffering. Yet Magnus' attack was not meant to be restrained. Half of his force mana surged through him effortlessly, and the wall, thick, towering, and solid, shattered in a single instant.
The students' eyes widened in disbelief as the reinforced structure exploded outward. Chunks of reinforced metal and concrete flew across the hall like pebbles in a storm, and a jagged 5-by-6-meter hole gaped where the wall had once stood. Dust, debris, and shards of metal rained down, and even the roof above them buckled, splintering in parts.
The sheer scale of destruction was incomprehensible. Many of the students stumbled backward, their expressions frozen in a mixture of terror and awe. Whispers ran through the hall, some frantic, some unable to form coherent words.
One student, a boy who had only moments ago been shouting challenges, dropped to his knees, trembling. "Th… this… this is impossible…" he stammered, barely able to breathe.
A girl with elemental control, who had prided herself on her fire manipulation, clenched her fists until her knuckles cracked. She stared at Magnus, her body shaking. "He's… holding back," she muttered under her breath, eyes wide. "No one can… survive this fully unleashed…"
Magnus didn't speak. He let the fear build, letting the silence stretch, the students' minds racing as they realized the extent of what they were facing. Then, without warning, a pillar of fire erupted from the floor outside the training facility, It rose silently, violently, a pure column of blazing energy, scorching the ground as it impacted the open grounds that was meant for recreational area, it was wide enough , the file pillar was taller than the main academic building with 4 floor .
The students froze, their mouths agape, as the roaring column of fire dominated the open grounds outside the training hall. The heat was instantaneous, a wave that brushed against their skin even through the thick walls, making the hair on their arms stand on end. The ground itself seemed to scream under the onslaught, molten cracks forming in the asphalt and grass sizzling away into nothing.
Some staggered backward, choking on the acrid smoke that seeped through the shattered windows. Others clutched at their desks and the edges of the hall, wide-eyed, unable to comprehend the sheer scale of the attack. The fire pillar towered above the four-story academic building, dwarfing everything around it, and the light from its blaze cast the students' shadows grotesquely across the walls.
It wasn't just the visual spectacle, it was the presence of power. The force radiating from the attack pressed on their chests, as if the air itself were weighing them down, making every breath a labor. Even those who had laughed and jeered moments ago were now silent, some trembling uncontrollably. The arrogant energy that had filled the room minutes earlier had been utterly snuffed out, replaced by a raw, primal fear.
A few of the bolder students instinctively tried to launch minor attacks of their own, projecting fireballs, blades of earth, or energy pulses toward the pillar, but the heat alone forced them to retreat, and their abilities flickered weakly under Magnus' overwhelming aura. It was as if the very existence of the pillar marked them as inconsequential.
From inside the hall, Magnus' gaze swept over them like a predator assessing prey. He didn't speak; he didn't need to. The pillar was enough, a living demonstration of the difference between their tentative, rank-limited powers and his full, disciplined mastery. The roar of the flames was more than sound, it was a declaration, a warning, a lesson carved into the very fabric of their reality.
Even the strongest of the student leaders, those who had challenged him initially, knelt slightly, their confidence shattered. They could feel the raw force of Magnus' mana pulsing through the hall and across the grounds, an invisible pressure that threatened to crush not just their bodies but their very sense of self-assuredness.
The pillar slowly subsided after several seconds, leaving a cratered, smoking wasteland where the recreational area had once been. The students were panting, sweat and soot streaked across their faces, hearts hammering in terror and awe. Silence reigned. The chaotic energy, the defiance, the arrogance, they had all been obliterated without a single word from Magnus.
In that silence, the lesson was clear: he was not to be challenged, underestimated, or mocked. He was an entirely different caliber of being, and everything they had relied upon to define themselves as strong was meaningless in comparison.
Even from that distance, the students could feel the lingering heat and power, a tangible reminder that Magnus' presence was absolute, inescapable, and overwhelming. The roar of the fire pillar faded, but the memory of it, the fear, the awe, the raw understanding of what true strength could be, would be burned into their minds long after the smoke cleared.
The crater it left was enormous, ten feet deep, four meters in radius, blackened earth and cracked stone scattered in a perfect circle. The sheer destructive force had happened without a single word from Magnus. The students felt it reverberate through their bodies, as though the power had struck not just the ground but their very senses.
Some cried out, others stumbled backward, some froze completely. The ones who had been arrogant, brash, or defiant moments ago now stared in shock, their previous confidence evaporating under the weight of raw, unrestrained power.
Even the leaders of the subgroups—the five who had previously tried to challenge him, looked at one another, pale-faced, their usual posturing gone. For the first time, they were not calculating how to push their dominance; they were calculating how to survive, how to not be crushed by a force they could barely comprehend.
Magnus lowered his hands slowly, his aura radiating quiet menace. He didn't speak. He didn't need to. The students understood now, this was not a game, not a test of clever tricks or flashy attacks. This was power. Real, absolute power. The kind they had never faced before.
A few dared to whisper among themselves, voices trembling. "He… he's not like us… he's not even in our league…"
Magnus' gaze swept across the room, meeting each pair of eyes in turn, assessing, measuring, instilling not just fear but clarity. They were strong, but their strength was mortal. Temporary. Fragile. Against him, it was nothing more than a flicker of flame in a storm.
The lesson had been made crystal clear: arrogance and unchecked power were meaningless without control, mastery, and understanding of one's true limits. And Magnus, even while holding back, had demonstrated precisely the gulf that separated him from all of them.
By the time the dust settled and the crater outside smoldered faintly, the 4th-year students were no longer noisy, chaotic, or defiant. The room was filled with trembling silence, punctuated only by shallow breaths, rustling debris, and the distant groans of the training hall struggling under the impact. Fear had taken root in their hearts, but so too had an uneasy respect. They had been shown what true power looked like, and how far they still had to go.
Magnus stepped back toward the center, his expression calm, almost serene, as though he had not just destroyed half the hall. His gaze lingered on the students, letting them feel the weight of his presence one last time.
"Understand this," he said finally, voice low but carrying over the hall like a tangible force. "What you witnessed is not destruction for its own sake. It is the measure of what you must overcome. Strength alone will not command respect, fear alone will not maintain order. You must learn… control, discipline, and awareness beyond your immediate impulses. Only then… will you survive."
The students stared, silent, their minds grappling with the enormity of the demonstration. Some dared not breathe too loudly, afraid it might draw his attention. Others glanced at their classmates, realizing the chains of arrogance and dominance that had ruled them moments ago were now utterly broken.
Even the previously unshakable leaders, those who had felt invincible, now understood the difference between raw talent and true, world-altering power. Magnus had not even unleashed his full strength, and yet the lesson had been delivered with brutal, unmistakable clarity.