Fevner guided nearly a thousand students through the city, most of them staring around in open amazement at everything they saw.
"Look at that tall building!" one student pointed excitedly.
"Oh, chill—it's just a regular-sized building, dude," another laughed.
"For you, maybe," a third cut in. "The Walls never had buildings this big."
"Enough chit-chat!" Fevner barked.
The conversation died instantly. Every student lowered their head, careful not to reveal who had been speaking.
"This is the city," Fevner continued, his voice cold and commanding. "You will have almost full access to it for roughly twenty hours a day. After dark, most stores and buildings will be closed. If we discover that someone went out after curfew, you will lose your privilege to enter the city."
He paused.
"Permanently. And you will be severely punished."
Those last words made everyone gulp.
"I thought losing access to the city was the punishment," Riven muttered under his breath, noting just how terrifying Fevner could be.
"What you can find here," Fevner continued, "is food, clothing, potential allies from other grades… and weapons."
"Excuse me, sir."
A girl raised her hand. Unlike most of the others, her clothing stood out immediately. Everyone knew she wasn't Wallborn—meaning she was familiar with the outside world and its current state.
"Yes, child?" Fevner replied, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.
"Will the academy be providing weapons?" she asked. "Or… can we go on outings to acquire our own?"
"Outings?" Several Wallborn students exchanged confused looks. The word meant nothing to them.
"Oh no, you're correct," Fevner said calmly. "The academy will provide weapons—but they will most likely be bottom of the barrel. If you want better equipment, you'll need funds."
He stepped forward.
"Which brings me to the next thing you need to know."
Fevner stopped at the edge of the city plaza, standing before a massive platform.
"Every month," he continued, "you will receive an allowance in units. You may receive more—or less—depending on your performance in assessments and outings."
Then he turned.
"Get on."
His tone was calm—but everyone knew it could turn into something far worse in an instant. The students rushed forward, piling onto the platform. Despite the sheer number of bodies, there was just enough space. Some stumbled, others caught themselves, but none of that mattered.
Because the platform began to rise.
Gasps echoed as the city unfolded beneath them.
From above, the city looked nothing like the moderate towns most of them had grown up in. Streets were clean and geometrically precise. Vehicles hovered silently above the roads—sleek flying cars moving in organized aerial lanes.
Scattered throughout the city rather than clustered together stood eight massive buildings, each towering far above the skyline.
They were nothing like the rest of the city.
Where everything below looked orderly and modern, these structures felt… separate. Purposefully distant. Each one stood alone, like a monument, as if the city had been built around them rather than the other way around.
Each building was unique—towering frames of glass and steel, glowing panels embedded into their sides, lines of shifting light crawling across their surfaces like living circuitry.
They weren't just skyscrapers.
They were institutions.
Dorms. Training halls. Class buildings. Strongholds.
One building, however, stood out from the rest.
It was unfinished.
Flying cranes circled it slowly, massive mechanical arms extending and retracting as glowing panels were carried through the air and locked into place. Swarms of drones moved in perfect synchronization—welding, scanning, assembling entire sections mid-flight. The structure pulsed faintly with light, as if it were still waking up.
"That one's still being built…" someone whispered.
"On our side," Fevner said, pointing outward, "are the smaller elevators. You may use those if you wish to enter the city alone or in small groups."
The platform continued to rise.
"What you're standing on now," he added, "is reserved for high clearance only. None of you will ever use this elevator again—so enjoy it while you can."
When they reached the top, most of the students were still staring down at the city below.
Others slowly turned around—
—and froze.
Awe spread across their faces, especially among those wearing red and orange-accented uniforms. That awe didn't last long.
Snap.
Fevner clapped his hands, instantly pulling everyone back to reality.
"Now," he said, "what you're looking at behind me is where you'll be living for the next eleven months."
He gestured broadly.
"Some buildings stand out more than others. Those are your facilities—your dormitories, a library for studying evolved abilities, training halls to grow your power, and academic buildings where your instructors will teach you the basics you'll need to survive."
He paused.
"Any questions?"
Dozens of hands shot up.
"No one?" Fevner said flatly. "Good."
He turned and began walking, blatantly ignoring them as the students hurried after him.
"Now I'll give you a tour of the dorms."
"Oh sweet, we're finally seeing where we'll be sleeping!" a student exclaimed, high-fiving his friend. "Man, I hope I get a room with a—"
"I'll shut that down right now."
Fevner stopped.
"The dorms are gender-separated. Boys with boys. Girls with girls. No exceptions. No buts. This is a place of study—not a place for mingling."
His voice dropped.
"If we find students engaging in inappropriate actions, they will be severely punished."
The word hit harder the second time.
From the way he said it, many students knew others had already been punished in the past—and whatever that punishment was, it was nothing good.
"Hey… you alright?" Joey asked quietly.
Nico was walking beside them. She had been one of the students who trusted her instincts and followed the city meeting earlier—earning no deductions during the starter exam.
"Hm? Oh… yeah," Nico replied. "It's just—we were told to follow our instincts at the beginning. Now we're being guided straight to the dorms. I don't know… something feels off."
"Fair point," Jordan said nearby. "It's safe to assume this entire walk is part of the entrance exam. Stay on your guard."
As they continued, massive mechs walked past them. Some carried enormous crates—loads so heavy even cranes would struggle to lift them. A few operators even waved casually as they passed.
Then—
Jordan stopped.
Joey stopped.
Riven stopped.
Several other students froze as well.
"Hey, what's wrong with you guys?" Nico asked, falling behind the group.
Ahead of them, Fevner slowed.
A wide smile spread across his face—one no one could see. If they had, they would've sworn it belonged to a madman.
"So… some of their senses are sharp," he thought. "Looks like we might have real talent on our hands."
The smile vanished.
Fevner turned.
He looked at all of the students—their eyes widening in unison.
Then the air changed.
A heavy pressure swept across the plaza, suffocating, as if the world itself had taken a breath and forgotten how to release it.
The ground behind Fevner rippled.
Stone warped like liquid.
From the distortion, something massive forced its way into existence.
A beast emerged.
It was enormous—easily several stories tall—its body wrapped in pitch-black hide that reflected no light at all. Its shape was unnatural, a fusion of predator and nightmare. Thick, muscular limbs ended in claws longer than swords, each step cracking the ground beneath it.
Its torso was hunched and broad, layered with jagged ridges that rose and fell with every breath. A long, whip-like tail dragged behind it, segmented with bony plates that scraped against the stone.
But its head—
Its head was wrong.
A massive, skull-like face stretched forward, split by a vertical maw lined with rows of serrated teeth. Multiple eyes opened across its face—some glowing crimson, others dull and empty—locking onto the students one by one.
"Oh my god—oh my god!" a student screamed as the beast lifted Fevner into the air and bit clean through the upper half of his torso.
Blood sprayed.
The sight caught every student off guard.
Screams erupted in pure horror.
"My god… it must've been a portal breach," a student wearing red and gold on their uniform deduced shakily.
"A portal breach?" Riven said calmly as he stepped forward and grabbed a certain boy.
"Wait—what about the guys with the mechs?" a female student shouted desperately. "They can help, right? Right—?"
She turned—
—and froze.
A similar beast was tearing the mech pilots apart, ripping them from their machines like dolls.
"AHHH!" she screamed.
"No—no—I'm going to die!" a boy yelled. "I'm too young to die! I'm too young!"
He bolted toward the massive elevator they had arrived on, shoving other students aside to force his way through. Panic spread instantly as others followed, pushing and trampling without a second thought.
"At first this was funny," a large, dark-skinned boy muttered as he shoved people aside and walked forward instead, "but now it's starting to get annoying."
"Does that guy have a death wish?" someone shouted.
"He's trying to act cool!" another yelled. "This is life or death, idiot! There's no time to play tough!"
"Why isn't this thing working?!" the panicking boy screamed as he slammed his hands against the elevator controls.
"You idiot!" another student shouted, punching him aside. "We don't have clearance! We need to use the smaller elevators!"
Regret washed over him as he saw everyone sprinting toward the others.
"Fools," a girl with dark purple hair muttered coldly.
The dark-skinned boy, now standing alone, walked calmly toward the beast.
Instead of fear—
he raised his hand.
He swung it straight through the creature.
The beast vanished like smoke.
In an instant, the entire field changed.
The dark, hopeless battlefield dissolved into its original greenish plaza. The bodies vanished. The blood disappeared. The mechs were intact, their operators alive—standing casually nearby.
Some of them were laughing.
Others were holding up devices, clearly recording the students' reactions.
Confusion replaced terror.
Then—
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Fevner stood where he had supposedly died, applauding calmly.
"Now this," he said with an uneasy smile, "is interesting."
Students stared at him in disbelief.
"I didn't even use my best illusion," Fevner continued. "And yet someone saw through it before it was fully cast. That tells me you have exceptional sensory ability."
"Wait," a student said, stepping forward. "This was all… just a test?"
"Yes," Fevner replied. "A test to see whether you could distinguish reality from illusion."
"Bullshit!" another student snapped. "That was impossible! It was too realistic!"
"Ah—but it wasn't," Fevner said smoothly. "You there. Private. State your name and explain how you knew."
"My name is Leo—" the boy paused. "Leo Dayton. I knew because of the smell. I've smelled blood—but when I saw you get bitten in half, there was no smell. And when I saw the mech pilots dead, there was none either. That's when I knew."
"Oh?" Fevner said, intrigued. "Then I assume your evolved ability is mutation-based?"
Leo's eyes widened. "Y-Yes. It's… wolf-based."
"Hm." Fevner nodded. "You there."
He pointed at the girl with dark purple hair.
"I've studied every known beast," she said calmly. "Both online and in the archives. That creature didn't fit this environment. And if something that powerful breached the academy, alarms would've sounded across the entire base."
"And your name?"
"Wren. Wren Fallow."
"Ah. The Vice Principal's daughter."
"Don't call me that," Wren said coldly.
Fevner smiled thinly. "And I assume some of you reached similar conclusions?"
Most students shook their heads.
Only three didn't.
Riven. Jordan. Joey.
"You there," Fevner said, pointing. "How did you see through it? And why are you holding another student?"
A black-haired boy sat beside Riven—Luka—the same boy who had tried to flee earlier.
During the chaos, Riven had grabbed him before he could run. He remembered the last request his father had made.
Protect him.
"I didn't want him to panic and run," Riven said evenly. "So I stopped him. As for the illusion… I just knew. When you cast it, I could still see you behind it. Like the beast was transparent. Like a bad magic trick."
" a bad magic trick?" Fevner repeated, irritation flickering across his face.
Riven stiffened, realizing he'd stepped onto thin ice.
Jordan raised his hand. "I had the same feeling."
Fevner glanced at him. "Ah. The twin. And you're holding someone as well."
Nico was clenched tightly in Jordan's grip.
"I know her," Jordan said. "I didn't want her to get hurt."
"Good." Fevner nodded. "All ten of you have earned additional points."
Then he smiled.
"But now… it's time for the final exam, don't you think?"
A man with jet-black hair stepped out of the light itself, appearing as if reality bent to let him through.
"Yeah," the man said with a grin. "The last two were just warm-ups."
His eyes gleamed.
"It's time for combat."