He had learned to handle himself alongside a summon throughout the hardest stretches of his childhood, until the whole approach had simply become second nature to him. It remained, without question, one of the most grueling paths any summoner could ever willingly choose to walk.

Even while still drawing on the traits and raw strength of his rightful summon through the shared bond of Echo and Symbiosis, that particular restraint remained a genuine demerit, a constant bane weighing against his overall growth in power and might.

The use of mana suppressors was an entirely separate subject, one he preferred not to touch at all.

This had long been his personal philosophy, a deliberate, watchful discipline surrounding just how much he allowed himself to lean on his summon, undeniably one of the most highly ranked across offense, defense, and construction alike, rare enough to be classified as a true polymer in both role and class.

Still, he had never really had another viable option, and in the end, the discipline had served him well, forging genuine self reliance and independence separate from his summon’s raw power.

That independence gave him a real edge over most other summoners, the majority of whom leaned heavily, sometimes entirely, on their summon’s strength to get by.

It had steadily built his reputation and earned him real respect among his peers and even parts of the wider public over the years, though almost none of them ever understood the true reason behind his choice.

Some found the mystery genuinely intriguing, drawn to the intrigue of it. Others simply read it as bold, fearless confidence, proof of dominant, untapped potential.

With all of that weighing on his mind, impossible to fully push aside even now, Derek turned and broke into a full sprint. He panted heavily, pushing his legs as fast as they would carry him.

Lionel smiled darkly as his summon unleashed a devastating sonic roar directly down Derek’s escape route.

The attack detonated outward as a wall of compressed, solid air, more than capable of shredding anything unlucky enough to stand in its path, yet to the shock of nearly everyone watching, Diamond Head rose up to block it entirely, standing firm like some impossibly indestructible wall.

Massive, ten foot tall diamond shards erupted from the ground in a staggered row, the final and tallest towering over twenty feet, forming a jagged barrier meant to fully absorb and nullify the roar’s brutal force before it could reach its intended target.

The resulting impact sent a violent shockwave rippling outward across a hundred meters, tearing through nearby outdoor furniture and leaving splintered wreckage scattered in its wake.

Still, the defense held, mostly. The final, towering shard bore a deep, ugly crater gouged into its otherwise flawless surface, a stark reminder that even claimed indestructibility had its limits.

But the brief distraction was more than enough, and Derek seized the opening immediately, pushing himself further along his escape while he still had the chance. He silently thanked his summon, who had acted entirely on its own initiative rather than waiting on a direct order, a rare and precious trait most summons simply didn’t possess.

A crushing heaviness and tightness spread through his body, muscles straining under mounting stress as the punishing toll of mana consumption continued eating away at his system, and he knew it wouldn’t be long now.

He couldn’t sustain his summon much longer without finally withdrawing it back into his soul space, a decision that would leave him completely unarmed and dangerously exposed before his enemy.

Knowing that, he pushed his summon to hold on just a few seconds longer, desperate to buy himself whatever narrow window of escape he could manage.

This wasn’t like him at all, forced into retreat, but he refused to become one of those mindless brutes who charged blindly into overwhelming danger without weighing every other available option first.

Diamond Head steadied its stance and lunged forward just as the Nemean lion leapt high into the sky, a powerful, arcing jump aimed squarely at the real weakness in this fight, Derek himself.

With a single heavy stomp, a makeshift hoverboard formed beneath Diamond Head, crafted from jagged rock and crystal shard, lifting it to the perfect height to intercept the lion’s descending attack head on, like a hulking, unstoppable tank rising to meet its target.

The two collided violently in midair, the lion catching a brutal blow from a gauntleted fist, its density and raw toughness amplified further by concentrated crystal reinforcement.

The devastating punch sent the beast crashing back down to earth with a sickening, cracking thud, dust, dirt, and shattered debris exploding upward like violent confetti.

A visible tear opened along the lion’s flank where the gauntlet had connected, thick, dark blood welling up instantly and soaking into its matted golden fur. Lionel froze mid chase for a brief second, registering the damage done to his summon, eyes widening with genuine shock.

Diamond Head slid smoothly back down along its improvised crystal hoverboard, moving with the practiced ease of a skilled surfer or skater. Its very presence radiated overwhelming strength as it advanced steadily toward him. But then, just as suddenly, its eyes widened before it was swiftly recalled back into its soul space in a burst of glittering, dissolving energy.

The abrupt disappearance briefly stunned Lionel, who had grown noticeably wary throughout the exchange, before he finally understood, his own plan had at last taken hold. A cold, satisfied smile crept across his lips as he lifted his head, sniffing the air like a seasoned tracker, catching Derek’s fading scent before resuming the chase.

The Nemean lion, thoroughly agitated and furious over its near defeat, hauled itself back up from the crater with a deep, rumbling growl before surging forward again in long, ground eating strides.

Derek’s frantic escape had, at the very least, successfully pulled his opponent’s focus away from the two girls, redirecting the full weight of the danger squarely onto himself instead.

He knew, deep down, that he might have stood a fighting chance under different circumstances, but not now, not with his mana already bled dry from exhaustion. Worse still, he found himself completely alone, forced to face down both a summoner and a summon that thoroughly outclassed him in both rank and raw power.

Bystanders scrambled to clear a path as he ran, moving with the desperate, hunted urgency of a fugitive fleeing a violent crime scene. He could feel the creeping trickle of dread growing steadily stronger behind him with every passing second of his attempted escape.

The weight of that grim premonition pressed down harder, his narrow window of opportunity rapidly closing as exhaustion settled fully into his limbs. His vision blurred at the edges, and he blinked hard, fighting to keep himself upright against a rising wave of dizziness.

Just then, distracted and unfocused, Derek slammed hard into someone, the collision sending both of them crashing to the ground with a heavy, bruising thud. Shaking his head to clear it, he looked up to find himself face to face with the very last person he ever expected to run into again since their last encounter.

Mark, dressed in a green hoodie with white striped sleeves, blue pants, and a pair of sharp looking crocs, shook his own head clear, only to realize his synthetic coffee had spilled directly across his shirt, the dark stain spreading rapidly across the fabric.

Derek could hardly believe his eyes at the sight of the sophomore sprawled in front of him, though there was no time to dwell on it, not with Lionel and his summon closing the remaining distance fast. Both wore matching, unsettling smiles, sharp canines gleaming beneath twisted, predatory expressions.

Scrambling awkwardly to his feet like a startled toddler, Derek froze in place, still visibly shaken. Groaning, one hand pressed to his aching head, Mark rose unsteadily beside him, taking a moment to fully register the scene unfolding around them.

His expression darkened the instant he spotted the partially transformed figure standing beside a massive, wild lion, clearly poised and ready to charge. His gaze flicked briefly toward his own bullying roommate, now sprawled helplessly on the ground, before snapping back forward. Something about this whole situation felt deeply wrong.

"School rules strictly forbid using summons for direct attacks or property damage. You’re violating that law as if you’re somehow untouchable," Mark said, eyes narrowing with open suspicion.

Lionel raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. "Oh, is that really coming from you? I can hardly believe I’m hearing a lecture on rules from the same guy responsible for that entire mess back at the Grand Hall. What a joke." His gaze shifted pointedly toward the junior cowering behind the sophomore, eyes flashing with sudden interest.

"And as for you, your time here just became a living misery, courtesy of us, much like your once victimized roommate over there. Honestly, it’s almost poetic, watching the bully and the bullied end up standing back to back like this, roles completely reversed."

His gaze then returned fully to Mark, who stood positioned protectively in front of Derek like some self appointed guardian. The combined presence of both Derek and Mark together seemed to ignite something volatile within him, rage boiling up like a volcano finally reaching its breaking point, one he could no longer contain behind any semblance of composure.

"You, you’ve grown far too bold, far too stubborn, just like your father before you. Honestly, I’m sick of looking at either of your faces. I should have been the one personally assigned to eliminate you, and while I was at it, that pathetic excuse of a bully standing behind you as well. But now that the opportunity’s finally landed right in front of me, I don’t intend to hold anything back."

A savage, bestial light flared behind Lionel’s eyes as his body surged with raw, transformative power. His claws and teeth lengthened and sharpened into something resembling high grade daggers, a thick, golden mane erupting violently from his scalp and spreading down across his chest. An overwhelming, suffocating aura radiated outward from him, carrying the weight and fury of some vengeful, ancient god.

"Guess I’m crashing this party too, then." Sensing something genuinely inescapable bearing down on them, Mark’s eyes flared with brilliant green light, sparks of matching magical energy swirling into a rushing whirlwind directly in front of him.

The swirling light coalesced into the towering figure of an Amazon, standing a full seven feet tall, her powerfully built frame anchored by broad, sturdy hips. Massive metallic bracers, forged from some unidentifiable element, materialized across her forearms in a sudden flash of light. Her entire stance radiated readiness, primed for whatever violence was about to erupt.

"But... I really don’t even know what to say right now," Derek stammered, his words cut short as Mark glanced back at him with a tired sigh before replying flatly, "Don’t bother. I think I’ve already got the picture. Just focus on staying calm and out of the way."

Thick, roiling clouds began gathering directly overhead, rumbling ominously, as though some ancient, monstrous beast were stirring awake somewhere far above them, furious enough to unleash punishing retribution down upon the entire world below.

Several nearby onlookers registered exactly what was about to unfold, their faces twisting with shock, dread, and disbelief at witnessing something eerily similar to a disaster they had already lived through once before. They turned and fled, desperate to put as much distance as possible between themselves and whatever was coming.

The Nemean lion let out a ferocious, guttural growl, clearly bracing itself to unleash something massive and devastating. Lionel’s expression darkened further still, twisting into something closer to a wrathful deity. "You’re going to die here!"

"Okay, new plan, we need to move, now, before..." Mark’s warning was instantly swallowed whole by an earth shattering, thunderous roar.

The dark, swirling clouds overhead twisted violently, reshaping into the snarling faces of five colossal lion heads, each unleashing an otherworldly, storm like roar unlike anything heard before.

The very air itself seemed to vibrate and tear apart under the pressure as a massive, howling hurricane of destructive force launched forward, aimed squarely at its target, and anyone unfortunate enough to be caught within its reach.

This was Roars of the Sky, an ancient, legendary skill famously wielded by the panthera bloodline, capable of summoning the spectral aid of their ancient forefathers and guardian spirits, unleashing devastating, widespread destruction across entire battlefields. It carried immense sonic disruption alongside crushing structural damage, its force woven inseparably from howling winds, spinning tornadoes, and full scale hurricanes.

Mark and Derek both clamped their hands over their ears far too late, while Cassandra crossed her arms into a solid, blocking stance, her seemingly invulnerable bracers raised just in time as the devastating attack slammed home, tearing deep, jagged cracks through the paved ground as it surged forward with terrifying speed.

A glowing golden symbol, shaped like a round clock face, materialized just inches in front of her gleaming bracers the very instant the heavenly blast collided against her raised defense with a deafening, bone rattling impact.

The single ticking hand of the glowing clock spun rapidly counterclockwise, again and again, as though straining to contain some impossibly overloaded surge of power, before finally locking straight upward, then snapping violently backward clockwise like a released spring.

In that exact instant, the compressed air surrounding them condensed sharply into a tiny, pulsing orb, hovering suspended in the narrow space between attacker and target.

Then, in the span of a single heartbeat, the orb detonated outward with catastrophic, explosive force, slamming into both parties simultaneously with the raw, brutal power of two colliding mountains, hurling everyone caught within its radius violently backward under the sheer recoiling force of the blast.

Mark had barely a fraction of a second to register himself airborne, his own blood spraying outward in a fine, crimson mist that seemed to hang suspended in the air around him, almost lazy, almost slow, before pain and darkness crashed down together, and he blacked out entirely the moment his body slammed back down against the shattered ground with a sickening, heavy crack.

***

The first thing to greet his senses was the sharp, clinical bite of disinfectant and antiseptic laced mana, thick enough to fill the entire room, as Mark jolted awake with a startled scream tearing from his throat.

For one disoriented moment, he genuinely believed some nightmare had dragged him through a brutal, impossible battle against ancient, primordial gods of storm and sky.

But to his own quiet shock, he found himself instead resting on a clinical hospital bed, tucked beneath clean white sheets, a soft blanket draped carefully over his aching, battered body.

----

A/N: whew, I guess this covers for two Chapters. Hope you enjoyed the Chapter while it lasted, and don’t forget to support the book. Special thanks for y’all gifters, it really means so much to me.

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