The Anomaly's Path

"S-Save... us..."

The voice didn’t come through the air. It rattled directly inside my head, a twisted mix of a crying child, a dying man, and a screaming woman.

Beside me, two second-year students collapsed onto their knees. Their swords clattered against the ground, their hands clawing wildly at their ears as thin streams of dark blood trickled from their nostrils.

"Ugh—!"

I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth ached. A sharp, burning pain shot through my head. My Soul Perception was always on, I couldn’t turn it off. Right now, it was forcing me to feel every bit of fear, pain, and hopelessness coming from the students around me.

Dozens of terrified souls were screaming all at once, all tangled together by the dark energy pouring off the monster in front of us.

It was too much. Too many feelings. Too much noise.

My vision blurred. Something warm and wet dripped down from my nose. I wiped it with my sleeve... it was blood.

"Leo!" Roan’s voice hit my ears, tight and strained. He had both hands wrapped around his spear, his eyes wide as he stared at my face. "Your eyes... you’re bleeding!"

"I’m... fine," I choked out, squeezing my eyes shut for a second to push down the sickness rising in my throat. "It’s just... the pressure."

"That thing didn’t just break through the wall," Seris said. Her voice was flat, but her blade was shaking slightly, not from fear, but from the sheer weight of the monster’s presence pressing down on us. "It came from inside the shelter. Everyone inside..."

She didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t have to.

I stared at the dark crimson trails smearing the ground behind the huge monster. Hundreds of civilians, injured kids, staff... they hadn’t even had a chance to scream. The beast hadn’t just broken the doors, it had turned the shelter into a slaughterhouse while we were busy holding the outer line.

How did a Grade 7 get past the defenses without anyone noticing? My mind raced, trying to understand what we were facing. Is it an illusion type? Does it feed on fear? Does it break minds before it breaks bodies?

It didn’t make sense. Grade 7s weren’t just big monsters, they had a twisted kind of intelligence and power that could crush an Expert-rank fighter just by being near them. And in this entire plaza... we had only one Grandmasters.

The highest-ranking combatant here was Professor Veyra, a Grandmaster Low. The rest of us were Masters and Experts.

We can’t kill this thing...

The realization hit me like a bucket of ice water. It wasn’t about pride or fighting hard. It was just a simple truth. If we threw ourselves at a Grade 7 Abomination in an open area while affected by its mental shockwaves, we would all be torn apart within minutes.

"Drop your gazes!" Professor Veyra’s sharp, commanding voice cut through the heavy air.

She stepped up to the front, slamming her staff against the ground. A clear, blue wave of water spread outward, wrapping around the surviving students like a shield. The crushing noise in my head faded slightly, though the monster’s rotten presence still pushed hard against the barrier.

"Do not look into the mouth!" Veyra ordered, her voice tight, sweat glistening on her forehead as she held the barrier with one hand. "It feeds on mental instability! All the students, fall back toward the main Academy corridor! Now!"

"Professor!" a third-year shouted, holding his bleeding arm. "We can help you hold—"

"You will die here!" Veyra snapped back. "Move! That is an order!"

"Seris! Leo!" Veyra shouted. "Get the survivors out of here! Take them and run! Do not let them stop running!"

"Professor—" Seris started.

"Go!" Veyra snapped, her calm face gone, replaced by the hard look of someone holding a line they knew they wouldn’t come back from. "You can’t hurt it, and standing here only makes it harder for me to protect you! Head back the way you came, through the main street to the Central Plaza! Move!"

I watched her back. Her mana was burning at its limit just to keep the shield up against the monster’s presence.

If we went east, we’d run into the chaos where Alice, Riven, and Lyssaria were fighting. If we went west toward the ridge, we’d run straight into the Gate Boss where Vance, Morgana, and Damon were trapped.

The side alleys were choked with purple mist, and Cordelia was already struggling to evacuate people there. The main street back to the Central Plaza was our only shot. That’s where Sylvia and Elian were holding the main defense.

She can’t hold this thing alone, I realized, a heavy, sick feeling growing in my chest. Grade 7s aren’t something a single Grandmaster Low can beat in an open space. She knows it. I know it. But if we stay here trying to fight with her, we’ll just get killed and make it harder for her.

She was acting like a real teacher. And I hated it.

I hated the sick feeling rising in my chest. I hated that despite all my power, I was still too weak to change a fight like this. If I stayed and tried to fight with Veyra, I wouldn’t be a hero... I’d just be in her way, forcing her to waste energy protecting me.

When did I get so weak? I clenched my left fist so hard my nails bit into my skin. Running away... again?

"Leo," Roan called out, grabbing my shoulder with a firm, grip. "We have to go. Veyra’s right, we can’t deal with that thing."

"I know," I muttered through gritted teeth, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the ground. "I know..."

I turned around, but my boots stopped cold.

Amelia was still on her knees near the entrance. She hadn’t moved at all. Her hands were still held up in front of her face, covered in the blood of the girl whose head had burst right next to her. Her eyes were wide and empty, staring at her own bloody palms.

She was breathing in short, shaky gasps.

"Amelia!" I barked, stepping toward her. "Get up!"

She didn’t react. It was like her soul had pulled out of her body, leaving an empty shell behind. The trauma of watching someone die in her face, combined with the beast’s oppressive mental aura, had completely broken her mind’s defense.

"Amelia, stand the hell up!" I grabbed her arm and yanked her upward. Her body was limp, like a ragdoll. She didn’t try to stand. She just let her feet drag on the stone, her blank eyes slowly drifting up to look at me.

"I... I couldn’t..." she whispered, her voice barely audible. "I tried to help her, Leo... I touched her shoulders and... and her head..."

"It wasn’t your fault!" I yelled, gripping her shoulder tightly. "Listen to me! She didn’t die because of you! That thing in the fog killed her from the inside out!"

She just shook her head, tears cutting clean streaks through the crimson blood covering her pale cheeks. "It was... so much blood... I couldn’t stop it..."

Damn it.

We didn’t have time for a breakdown. The beast took a slow, heavy step forward, its massive, clawed foot shattering Veyra’s outer water-ripple with a single press. Veyra grunted, her knees buckling slightly under the sudden weight of the pressure.

I didn’t think twice.

Slap!

The loud crack of my palm hit Amelia’s right cheek. Her head snapped to the side. The force of the strike broke her trance instantly. She gasped, her eyes blinking rapidly as the stinging warmth on her face pulled her straight back into reality.

She looked at me, her hands hovering over her bruised cheek, her eyes wide with total shock. "L-Leo... did you just... hit me?"

"You’re acting like an idiot!" I growled, grabbing the front of her collar and pulling her up onto her feet so hard her boots slammed onto the ground. "Look around you! Look at Veyra! Look at the shelter! If you stay here weeping over a corpse you couldn’t save, you’re just going to make someone else die trying to protect your ass!"

She stared at me, her chest heaving, her mouth slightly open.

"Take a breath," I said, my tone dropping lower, cold and firm. "Hold your staff. Move your legs. We are retreating."

Amelia swallowed hard, wiping her blood-soaked face with her torn sleeve. She looked past me at Professor Veyra’s struggling back, then at the monstrous fourteen-foot shadow looming behind the barrier.

The shock in her eyes didn’t completely vanish, but the mindless terror was replaced by a sharp, desperate necessity to survive.

"O-Okay," she whispered, her hands shaking as she pulled her staff from her belt. "Okay. I’m moving."

"Roan, take the front and clear the way!" I shouted over the screaming fog. "Elisabeth, Nyra, grab the wounded!"

"Got it!" Roan yelled, his spear flashing as he sprinted toward the narrow street.

"Seris," I glanced at the quiet girl beside me. "Cover the rear with me."

Seris gave a short, silent nod, her crimson eyes scanning the fog as silver light gathered around her blade. "...Understood."

As we dragged the forty-some surviving students into the ruined archway, fighting off lower-grade beasts pouring through the mist, I glanced back one last time.

Professor Veyra slammed her staff into the ground, casting a massive barrier of pressurized water that completely sealed the area behind us, locking herself in the open Western Plaza alone with the Grade 7 Abomination.

Damn it, Professor, I thought, my knuckles turning white around Tempest’s hilt. Just be safe.

_

The water barrier sealed with a heavy, echoing thud, cutting off the students’ retreat from the monster, leaving Veyra in the silent plaza.

The purple fog rolled over the bloody ground, swallowing the path behind her. She stood alone in the middle of the square, surrounded by the bodies of fallen fighters, broken stone, and the ruins of the wall.

In front of her, fourteen feet of twisted flesh and bone shifted in the mist.

The monster dragged its claws across the ground, leaving deep marks in the stone. Its huge jaw peeled open with a wet sound, revealing rows of wriggling, pale fingers inside its throat instead of teeth.

"S-Save... us..."

The stolen voices erupted all at once, ringing directly inside Veyra’s skull. She didn’t shudder. Her face was stone, devoid of the gentle patience she carried in the lecture halls. She raised her staff, her grip tightening until her knuckles turned white.

She knew the truth. She was a Grandmaster Low. The thing standing thirty feet from her was a Grade 7 Abomination. In a straight, open battle, matching a creature of that tier with her current rank wasn’t just difficult.. it was suicidal.

It was a death sentence.

She didn’t have a Soul Dominion. Even though she was a Grandmaster, she was one of the many who had never unlocked that final, ultimate power. She had no way to bend reality to her will, no power to force her intent into the world.

And looking at the twisted, crushing pressure coming off the monster, she knew this beast didn’t have that power either, it was just raw, wild violence.

But its rank alone was enough to crush her.

A bitter truth settled deep in her chest. She had spent years perfecting her magic, but in this moment, her strength simply wasn’t enough. She knew she couldn’t kill it. Its power was too great for her to destroy.

However... It doesn’t matter.

Her jaw set firm. She didn’t need a miracle, and she didn’t need to slay a god. She just needed to buy minutes.

The monster lunged. It moved faster than something its size should, its huge claw swinging through the air with enough force to smash a stone wall.

Veyra drove her staff into the ground.

A thick wall of water shot up from below, curving into a shield. The creature’s claw hit the water with a loud sound. The water held, but the shockwave shot through the spell and slammed into Veyra’s chest like a heavy punch.

She flew backward, her boots scraping across the ground for twenty feet before she hit a pillar. Blood filled her mouth. She spat a glob of dark red onto the ground, her lungs burning as she gasped for air.

Two ribs cracked.

Before she could steady herself, the monster slammed both fists into the ground. A wave of twisted energy tore through the earth, exploding the stones beneath her feet.

Veyra swung her staff sideways, blasting water at the ground to throw herself upward. She spun in the air, her robes whipping around her. Looking down at the gaping, finger-filled mouth rushing up to bite her in half, a cold focus filled her eyes.

She thrust her staff straight down. The moisture in the air condensed into hundreds of thin, sharp needles of water. With a loud hum, the needles rained down on the monster’s upper body.

The needles pierced its hide, tearing through muscle and spraying black, burning blood across the square. The beast screeched, a chorus of dying screams, and recoiled, its heavy tail whipping around in rage.

The tail caught Veyra mid-fall.

Boom!

Her water shield took most of the hit, but the force threw her straight into the stone archway. Rubble rained down on her shoulders. She fell to her knees, coughing violently as fresh blood splattered across her torn robes.

Her vision blurred with dark spots. Her left shoulder was numb, completely out of place from the impact.

The monster shook off the needles, its throat-fingers twitching violently as it turned its eyes back toward her. It took a slow, step forward, ready to finish her.

Veyra looked back toward the path where the students had run. Behind her, the empty plaza stretched out, filled with bodies and broken stone. She wiped the blood from her chin with her shaking hand, her fingers gripping her staff once more. A cold, fierce fire burned in her chest.

She reached into her core, using the very last of her power. Blue light surged out of her skin, flooding into the ground beneath the beast’s feet.

"You don’t take one step past this plaza," she whispered through blood-stained teeth.

She slammed her staff into the ground one last time, breaking the foundation beneath the Western Plaza to bury the entire square, and everything inside it, in falling stone.

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