The assignment came the next morning.
Not on the public board. Not announced in front of other students. It arrived as a sealed notice delivered directly to Group Seventeen's door.
Phael was the one who opened it.
He read the message once.
Then again.
His expression did not change, but something inside him tightened.
Ryn noticed immediately. "What is it?"
Phael handed him the notice.
Special Task Assignment – Restricted Zone: Blackstone DepthsObjective: Retrieve a high-grade beast core from within the inner cavern.Classification: Academy Evaluation Mission.Group: Seventeen Only.
Silence filled the room.
Soren was the first to speak. "Blackstone Depths… that's not a normal training zone."
Aeris's face went pale. "That area is… unstable. Beasts mutate there."
Darian's eyes narrowed. "And we're being sent alone."
Rielle stepped closer to Phael. "This isn't just a mission, is it?"
Phael folded the notice carefully.
"No," he said quietly. "This is a test."
Myra, who had been silent in the corner, lifted her gaze. "Not of strength."
"Of value," Darian finished.
Ryn clenched his fists. "So because you stood out, they're throwing us into something dangerous to see if you're worth keeping."
Phael did not deny it.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Aeris finally said, "We don't have to go. We can refuse."
Phael looked at her.
"They won't accept a refusal."
Soren nodded slowly. "And if we fail… they won't call it murder. They'll call it natural selection."
Rielle swallowed.
"But if we succeed," she said softly, "we prove something to them."
Phael met her eyes.
"Yes."
Not that he wanted their recognition.
But because survival meant staying in the game.
"We go," he said.
No one argued.
The Blackstone Depths were nothing like the Eastern Ravine.
The land was dead.
Dark stone stretched endlessly, jagged formations rising like broken teeth from the earth. The air was thick and heavy, pressing against the lungs with every breath. Even the wind seemed afraid to move here.
Ryn let out a low whistle as they stepped off the transport. "This place feels… wrong."
Soren knelt, touching the ground. "Mana is twisted. Beasts here won't behave normally."
Aeris tightened her grip on her staff. "Let's stay close."
They moved carefully into the depths, every footstep echoing through the black stone corridors. The walls pulsed faintly with dark veins of energy. It felt as if the earth itself were alive—and watching them.
Phael felt both of his powers stir.
The Crimson Koi responded to the pressure, strengthening his body.
The Azure Koi flowed through his senses, sharpening his awareness.
Something here was dangerous.
And not just because of beasts.
"This place wasn't chosen randomly," Darian said quietly.
"No," Phael agreed. "They want to see what happens to us."
They had not gone far when the first creature appeared.
It crawled out of the shadows, its body twisted and uneven, stone plates fused with flesh. Its eyes burned with unstable energy. It did not roar.
It simply attacked.
Ryn moved instantly, meeting it head-on, his reinforced body colliding with the beast in a thunderous impact. Soren flanked from the side, blades flashing as he cut into its exposed joints.
But the creature did not fall.
It twisted unnaturally, striking back with jagged limbs.
"Something's wrong," Soren said. "It's not reacting like normal beasts."
Phael stepped in.
Fire gathered around his fist, tightly controlled.
He struck.
The impact shattered part of the creature's armor, flames burning deep into its core.
The beast let out a distorted shriek before collapsing into black ash.
Rielle summoned her evolved wolf, its glowing markings flaring as it sniffed the air.
"There are more," she said. "Deeper. Many more."
Ryn cracked his knuckles. "Then we move faster."
They pressed forward.
The deeper they went, the worse it became.
Beasts attacked from the walls.
From the ground.
From the shadows.
None of them were normal.
Some had fused limbs.
Some regenerated unnaturally fast.
Some exploded when they died.
Aeris worked constantly, healing cuts, stabilizing wounds, forcing exhaustion out of their bodies.
Darian's shadows bound and strangled creatures before they could reach the group.
Myra slowed time around incoming attacks, giving Soren just enough space to counter.
Rielle's summons fought fiercely, her wolf tearing through corrupted beasts while her hawk rained down glowing strikes from above.
And Phael—
Phael became the center.
He no longer fought only with strength.
Fire wrapped around his fists with every strike.
Not wild.
Not reckless.
Each blow carried both physical force and controlled magic, crushing armor and burning through corrupted flesh at the same time.
Yet with every battle, the pressure grew.
His breathing deepened.
Sweat ran down his face.
The Crimson Koi demanded more.
The Azure Koi answered.
But even together, the strain was real.
This place was draining them.
"Something's coming," Myra said suddenly, her voice tight.
The ground trembled.
A massive shape emerged from the darkness.
Twice the size of the Alpha they had faced before.
Its body was warped, half-stone, half-flesh, with dark energy leaking from deep cracks in its form. Its eyes were no longer savage.
They were aware.
"This is no normal beast," Soren said.
Ryn stepped forward, jaw tight. "Then we bring it down anyway."
The creature roared.
The sound alone sent shockwaves through the cavern.
Ryn charged, slamming into its leg, trying to bring it down.
The beast barely reacted.
It swung one massive arm.
Ryn was thrown aside, crashing into the wall.
"Ryn!" Aeris cried.
Phael moved without thinking.
Fire surged through his arms.
He struck the creature's side with everything he had.
The impact burned deep, but the beast did not fall.
Instead, it turned.
Directly toward him.
Phael felt it then.
Not just danger.
Intent.
This thing was not just attacking.
It was hunting him.
The beast lunged.
Phael raised his arms to block.
The force crushed into him like a mountain.
Pain exploded through his body as he was driven backward, sliding across the stone floor.
His vision blurred.
The Crimson Koi roared.
The Azure Koi flared.
But something else happened.
Something deeper.
The fire around his fists did not simply burn.
It condensed.
Tightened.
The heat did not spread outward.
It turned inward.
Sharper.
Denser.
Focused to a single point.
Phael pushed himself up.
The beast charged again.
Rielle screamed his name.
Phael stepped forward.
This time, he did not just strike.
He compressed the fire into his core, then released it in a single blow.
The impact was silent.
Then—
The creature's chest collapsed inward.
Stone shattered.
Dark energy burst outward.
The beast froze.
And then disintegrated into nothing.
Silence fell.
Dust drifted through the cavern.
Phael stood there, breathing hard, his arms shaking slightly.
Ryn slowly pushed himself upright. "You… you crushed it from the inside…"
Soren stared. "That wasn't just power. That was control."
Rielle rushed to Phael's side. "Are you okay?"
He nodded, though his body felt heavy.
"…I think so."
Myra watched him carefully.
"You changed something," she said quietly. "Just now."
Phael looked at his hands.
The fire was gone.
But something had shifted.
Not in strength.
In how he used it.
They reached the inner cavern not long after.
At its center lay the core they had been sent for—a massive, pulsing crystal of dark and gold energy.
A high-grade core.
The kind only elites could use.
Ryn stared. "They really sent us here for this…"
Darian's voice was low. "This was never about the core."
They retrieved it and began the return.
But none of them spoke much.
They all understood now.
This was not a test of skill.
It was a message.
That night, back at the academy, the elders received the report.
One of them stared at the recording of Phael's final strike.
"Compressed elemental force," he murmured.
"At his level…" another said. "That should be impossible."
The third leaned back slowly.
"He survived the Depths," he said. "And he grew."
Silence followed.
Then—
"He is worth watching."
"And if he refuses to be guided?"
The elder's eyes darkened.
"Then he will become a threat."
Phael stood alone outside the dorm that night.
His body still ached.
But his mind was clear.
This was no longer just about getting stronger.
This was about what kind of world would allow him to grow.
Behind him, Rielle stepped quietly to his side.
"You didn't hesitate," she said. "Even when it was meant to break you."
He looked at the stars above the academy.
"I won't let them decide my limits."
She nodded slowly.
"Then… we'll walk with you."
For the first time since entering the academy, Phael felt it fully.
Not just danger.
Not just ambition.
But something heavier.
Fate was no longer waiting in the distance.
It had already begun to move.