Elara ran toward the southern courtyard, her boots slipping across rain-slick tiles as the sound of shrieking metal tore through the air. The protective glyph barrier along the southern gate shimmered faintly, about to collapse. She could feel the pressure in her chest, a sharp weight in the atmosphere as though mana itself was bracing for impact.
Half a dozen students stood at the ready, many first-years. Most had never even seen a true duel, let alone a war. Elara skidded to a stop beside a pair of second-years, already casting minor reinforcement glyphs along the crumbling wall.
"What's the situation?" she asked.
One of them, a girl named Senya, replied without looking up. "Four Voidspawn. Two standard, one flayer type, and one... something else. Bigger."
Elara didn't hesitate. She took position on the main stair, staff in hand. Her voice cut through the panic.
"Group one, split fire and retreat pattern if they breach. Group two, target the flayer. I'll hold the unknown."
Just then, the barrier snapped.
A pulse of violet flame washed over the gate as the shield finally shattered. The Voidspawn surged forward.
The flayer type moved first, all limbs and twisting flesh. Its shriek disoriented the front line, two students dropping to their knees, clutching their ears.
Elara raised her staff and launched a precision silence glyph directly at its throat. The creature flinched, its voice vanishing in a cloud of sparks.
"Now! Strike it!"
Senya cast a chain-bolt spell, binding it in crackling lightning. Another student lobbed a cluster bomb of mana orbs, which detonated in a burst of colored flame.
The flayer screamed silently and collapsed.
Then the big one came through.
It was massive, armored in black crystal, and its arms ended in rotating saw-like appendages. It plowed straight through the center steps, knocking aside stone and bodies alike.
Elara shouted, "Scatter! Do not engage directly!"
She raced along the wall, firing blasts of searing light into its eyes. It barely noticed. A student charged it with a burning sword and was swatted into the air.
Elara whispered, "Binding glyph. Glyph of split time."
She summoned both glyphs at once and cast them under its feet. Time warped. The creature slowed, just for a breath.
It was enough.
Senya threw a nova rune. It exploded at the thing's back, knocking it to one knee. Elara charged her staff, mana burning through her veins.
"Release."
The staff fired a concentrated blast that struck the center of the monster's head. The crystal cracked.
The beast roared. Its armor shattered. It staggered.
Then from behind, the remaining students struck together. A coordinated assault, magic and weapons alike.
Finally, the monster collapsed.
The southern gate held, but barely.
Elara sank to her knees, gasping.
"We need backup," she said to no one in particular.
In the sky above, another crack opened.
More were coming.
Far above the battlefield, in the high command tower of Xihe Academy, Professor Kaelin stood before a massive glyph-matrix pulsing with warnings. Every quadrant of the display showed red. Energy levels were dropping. Defensive walls were cracked. More Voidspawn were breaching perimeter zones every second.
"Relay to the east ward teams, fall back to the inner ring," she barked. Her voice, though calm, cracked at the edges. Blood soaked the lower half of her robe, but she stood firm.
A younger instructor beside her adjusted the mana crystals feeding into the tower's scrying array. "The southern gate just stabilized. Elara is still alive. Bridge is holding too. Tian Zhen held it alone."
Kaelin's eyes narrowed. "That boy is full of secrets."
Another screen blinked. North quadrant. A pulse of energy. Then silence.
She turned fast. "What was that?"
"Voidflare, Professor. Something detonated in the north yard. We lost five students."
Kaelin clenched her fist. She looked to the western overlook. The command tower had full visual of the northern half of the academy. Now, smoke clouded the view.
She tapped her staff into the tower floor. Glyphs rippled outward, linking her presence to all major battlefield arrays.
"This is Professor Kaelin," she said. Her voice echoed through enchanted speakers across the academy. "If you can hear me, hold your ground. If you are bleeding, bandage. If you are afraid, stand behind someone who isn't. We do not fall today."
Below, students and faculty lifted their heads. Even in ruin, Kaelin's voice steadied them.
In the command tower, a shape moved through the smoke.
The assistant shouted, "Movement! Above the spire!"
Kaelin turned. A Voidspawn, massive and serpentine, with glassy wings and dozens of needle-limbs, coiled around the outer wall of the tower. It opened its mouth. No sound came. Only a ripple.
The window nearest Kaelin shattered. She raised a glyph shield instinctively. Glass rained across the floor.
"Professor! That thing is targeting the energy core!"
Kaelin narrowed her eyes. "Then we take it down here."
She rushed to the outer balcony, staff in hand. Her leaf-robes surged around her like a living storm. With a burst of glyph-light, she launched herself onto a floating platform hovering near the serpent.
"You like silence?" she growled. "Then listen to this."
She stabbed her staff into the platform. A wave of sound ,pure mana resonance, blasted outward.
The serpent reeled. It hissed, wings flaring, trying to displace the frequency.
She leapt again. Mid-air. Drew a glyph with her hand.
"Anchor. Compress. Collapse."
A tight glyph net formed around the beast's head. The creature tried to resist. It writhed, striking the side of the tower.
"Seal it!" she shouted.
Below, the other instructors responded. Four glowing lines surged upward, joining her glyphs. The serpent screeched and froze. The net contracted. With a final shriek, the monster's form disintegrated into dust.
Kaelin landed hard on the balcony, her legs buckling.
"Status?" she coughed.
"Tower's intact. Shields at twenty-five percent."
Kaelin closed her eyes briefly. "Keep them running. We hold this tower, we hold the command."
She turned back toward the burning academy below. Her eyes swept across the smoke, fire, and flickering glyphlight of her students and faculty fighting for their lives.
"We're not done yet," she whispered. "We're not even close."
And far above, the rift in the sky pulsed again.
Something else was waiting to come through.
A cold wind swept through the lower courtyards of Xihe Academy, stirring ash and the scent of burned mana. The battlefield had not gone silent, but the chaos had shifted. Spells still crackled. Voidspawn still screamed. But there was a rhythm now desperation turning into resolve.
Tian Zhen stood beside the shattered edge of the arcane bridge, watching as teams of healers pulled wounded students to safety. His arms ached. His shirt was scorched. His mana reserves hovered on empty.
But he was alive.
"Status?" a voice called behind him.
It was Elara, limping slightly, her staff chipped at the tip. Her robes were streaked with soot, and her eyes glowed with fatigue.
"Bridge is holding. At least for now. I reinforced the glyphs," Tian replied.
"South wall stabilized," she said. "But we lost four. And I don't know how much longer the outer defenses will hold."
Tian looked up. The rift in the sky remained. A jagged, glowing wound that refused to close. A low hum echoed through the clouds ominous, rising.
"They're regrouping," he said quietly. "I think a second wave is coming."
A young student ran up to them, carrying a sigil-scroll.
"You're requested in the command tower. Professor Kaelin says it's time to coordinate a full counteroffensive. All surviving combat leaders are summoned."
Elara took the scroll and nodded. "Tell her we're coming."
Tian hesitated. "We might not be ready."
"We're as ready as we're going to get," Elara replied. "The next step isn't just survival. It's taking back control."
Together, they made their way to the central spire. Along the way, they passed ruins, bodies, smoldering glyph-pylons, shattered walls but also signs of regrouping. Students who had once huddled in fear now stood armed beside teachers. Healing wards glowed. Barricades were rebuilt. Someone even raised a torn academy flag from the rubble.
Inside the tower's war chamber, the air was thick with tension. Professor Kaelin stood at the center, flanked by instructors and surviving senior students.
She looked up as Tian and Elara entered.
"You've held your ground. That's more than most," Kaelin said.
Tian said nothing. He stepped into the circle of glyphlight that projected the map of the academy and pointed.
"They're going to strike here next. The leyline sanctum. They've been testing every gate. Now they'll go straight for the source."
"Agreed," Kaelin said. "We've identified a creature of command. Not the largest, but the one giving them order."
Elara narrowed her eyes. "A Voidmarshal."
"Yes. It arrived five minutes ago. We saw it through scrying. And it's heading for the sanctum."
Kaelin turned to them. "If we kill it, the Voidspawn may fall into disarray. This is our chance."
Tian leaned forward. "Then we draw it in. And break it."
The war table shifted, forming battle formations. Glyph positions. Strike zones.
Kaelin looked around the chamber. "We divide our forces into three squads. Shield team holds the sanctum. Vanguard meets the enemy head-on. Disruption team flanks and eliminates the marshal. Tian, Elara, you're in disruption."
Elara raised an eyebrow. "You're trusting us with that?"
Kaelin smirked faintly. "You've already fought like commanders. It's time to do it officially."
Tian nodded. "When do we move?"
Kaelin's eyes darkened.
"Now."
---
The academy gates opened.
Three teams emerged,burned, bruised, but standing.
And overhead, the rift shimmered. From within, the Voidmarshal stepped into view.
Twice the height of any spawn. Wrapped in armor shaped from bone and voidlight. Holding a spear that bled darkness.
Tian whispered to Elara, "There it is."
She answered, "Then let's remind it who we are."
And the final battle began to take shape.