The academy did not have time to recover from fear.
After Phael's rise into the top ten, after the assassination attempt and the public duel, the world outside the walls stopped pretending. The airships that had once hovered at a distance now closed in. Banners of powerful clans were raised openly across the sky, their symbols burning like marks of ownership. Armed forces gathered beyond the gates, not hiding in the shadows anymore, not whispering threats. They had come in the light of day.
Ryn felt it first.
"They're not watching anymore," he said, staring out across the walls. "They're surrounding us."
Soren stood beside him, eyes cold. "They're forcing the academy to choose."
Aeris's voice trembled. "Choose between protecting him… or handing him over."
Phael stood in silence, his presence heavy but calm. Inside him, the Crimson Koi moved restlessly, sensing pressure. The Azure Koi flowed steadily through his veins, warning him that something far larger than yesterday's battles was coming.
Rielle stepped closer.
"They're here because of you," she said quietly.
He did not deny it.
"They're done asking."
The attack came at midday.
Not in secret.
Not from the dark.
The outer barrier of the academy flared as a massive wave of energy slammed into it. The ground shook. Students screamed. Instructors rushed to defensive positions as alarms echoed across the towers.
"They're breaching the outer line!" someone shouted.
The walls cracked.
And then the enemy poured in.
Dozens of elite fighters surged through the broken defense, their bodies enhanced by powerful beast cores, their weapons glowing with clan sigils. Ironblood warriors led the charge, their armor thick and brutal. Behind them moved spellcasters of the Aether Covenant, runes burning in the air as they shaped destructive magic.
"This is war," Ryn growled.
Soren drew his weapons. "They don't want a negotiation. They want him."
Darian's shadow stretched across the ground, thick and restless. "They're daring the academy to protect him."
Aeris tightened her grip on her staff. "Then we don't let them pass."
Phael stepped forward.
"We hold the line."
The battlefield erupted.
Ryn charged first, his reinforced body slamming into the front ranks with thunderous force. Enemies were thrown aside as if struck by a living battering ram.
Soren moved like a blade through smoke, cutting down attackers before they could even raise their weapons.
Darian's shadows surged from the ground, binding legs, crushing throats, dragging enemies into darkness.
Myra lifted her hand, time slowing around a cluster of foes just long enough for Soren to finish them in a blur of steel.
Aeris moved behind them, light pouring from her hands as wounds closed, pain faded, and bodies were forced to keep moving.
Rielle raised both hands.
Her summons appeared in a flash of light.
But they were no longer what they had been.
Her wolves were larger now, their bodies lined with glowing markings that pulsed with power. Their eyes were sharp, intelligent, and aware. The hawk above them no longer simply struck—it guided, diving with precision and unleashing focused blasts of energy that tore through enemy formations.
"They're… stronger," Rielle whispered. "They're changing again."
"They're evolving with you," Myra said softly.
Rielle's summons no longer fought like beasts.
They fought like warriors.
But even with all of them holding the line, the enemy did not stop.
More forces surged in.
And then the pressure changed.
The air grew heavy.
The battlefield fell strangely quiet.
A single figure stepped through the broken barrier.
Clad in crimson armor, power radiating from every movement.
Lord Vaelis of the Ironblood Clan.
The same man who had offered Phael protection.
The same man who had promised consequences for refusal.
"So," Vaelis said calmly, his voice cutting through the chaos, "you truly chose defiance."
Phael stepped forward.
"You chose to bring war to a school."
Vaelis's lips curled slightly. "Power belongs somewhere. If it will not kneel… it must be taken."
He raised his hand.
The air bent.
The ground cracked.
A crushing wave of force surged forward.
Ryn tried to intercept it.
He was thrown aside like he weighed nothing.
Soren was driven back.
Darian's shadows shattered under the pressure.
The force slammed directly into Phael.
His body crashed into the stone wall.
Pain tore through him.
His breath vanished.
For a moment, he could not move.
Could not see.
Could not even think.
Rielle screamed his name.
The world narrowed into pressure and darkness.
And in that moment—
Something inside him reached its limit.
Not in weakness.
But in growth.
The Crimson Koi surged violently.
Its form within him twisted, expanded, no longer content with what it had been.
Power flooded his muscles.
His bones felt heavier.
Denser.
His body hardened, strength surging through every fiber of his being.
The physical evolution struck first.
His Draconic Frame awakened.
Not visible scales.
Not transformation.
But something deeper.
His body itself changed.
Stronger.
Harder.
More enduring.
The pressure that had pinned him down shattered.
Phael pushed himself upright.
Stone cracked beneath his feet.
Vaelis's eyes widened slightly.
"What…?"
But the change did not stop there.
Inside his core, the Azure Koi flared.
Mana surged through him in a way it never had before.
Not as fire.
Not as destruction.
But as something new.
Cool.
Flowing.
Expansive.
A new presence formed in his core.
Not heat.
Not flame.
But water.
A soft chime echoed in his mind.
Level Increased.
From Level 19… to Level 20.
New Element Unlocked: Water.
Phael inhaled sharply.
The world felt different.
Not stronger.
Wider.
Fire still burned within him, powerful and refined through battle.
But now… something else flowed alongside it.
Calm.
Enduring.
Adaptive.
Power no longer felt like a single weapon.
It felt like a system.
Vaelis struck again.
Another wave of crushing force surged toward him.
Phael did not dodge.
He raised his arm.
Fire gathered around his fist—tight, compressed.
But this time, something else wrapped around it.
A thin layer of flowing energy.
Water mana.
Not as an attack.
As control.
The impact hit.
Instead of being thrown back—
The force was redirected.
The water absorbed, guided, and softened the blow.
Phael stepped forward through it.
The battlefield froze.
He moved.
And struck.
The fire did not explode.
It collapsed inward.
The force did not scatter.
It was driven straight through.
Vaelis's armor cracked.
The clan lord was hurled backward, crashing through the stone wall behind him.
Silence fell.
The invading forces froze.
Fear spread through their ranks.
Ryn slowly pushed himself up, staring in disbelief. "He… changed…"
Rielle covered her mouth, tears in her eyes. "You… you reached the next level…"
Phael stood at the center of the shattered field, his body steady, his breath calm.
He could feel it clearly now.
His body was stronger.
Harder.
More enduring.
And his magic—
Fire burned as before.
But water flowed beside it.
New.
Unrefined.
Full of potential.
Not power yet.
But possibility.
The enemy forces began to retreat.
Not in formation.
In fear.
Instructors rushed to secure the battlefield.
The academy's defenses reformed.
The open assault was over.
But nothing had returned to normal.
That night, Phael stood beneath the open sky.
His body still ached.
But his core felt… different.
Rielle approached him quietly.
"When you stood up," she said softly, "it felt like something inside you… opened."
He nodded.
"My body evolved," he said. "And my magic… changed."
She hesitated. "Changed how?"
"I didn't gain more fire," he said. "I gained something else."
He closed his eyes.
For a moment, faint blue light flowed around his hand, moving gently, calmly, like living water.
Rielle stared.
"Water…"
He nodded. "A new element."
She smiled, breathless. "You're really… growing beyond the system."
"Not beyond it," he said quietly. "Deeper into it."
High above the academy, the elders watched the battle replay in silence.
"He reached Level Twenty," one murmured.
"And his physical power evolved," another said. "But his magic… it did not change in strength."
"No," the third voice replied. "It expanded in scope."
Silence.
Then—
"He now walks a path no longer bound to a single element."
"And this is only the beginning."
Phael looked at his hands once more.
Not in awe.
In understanding.
He had not become unstoppable.
He had become more complete.
Stronger body.
A second element.
A future that now stretched wider than before.
The world had tried to crush him.
Instead—
He had crossed his first true threshold.