The mission begins

The air in Hukuma shifted as the end of the first year approached, the weight of their upcoming mission settling into every conversation, every decision.

Benjamin, Yu, and Dab were not fools.

Six months seemed like a long time, but in reality, it was barely enough.

They weren't just preparing for an exam. They were preparing for something real.

The Black Flame was an organization, not a gang. Their members were experienced, resourceful, and more importantly—unbound by rules. They used the Laws in ways that twisted reality, shaping it through their own warped perspectives.

Laws like Pain, Fear, Corruption—patterns that reflected control through suffering.

And in six months, they would have to walk directly into that world.

---

Benjamin had spent weeks refining the idea in his head before approaching the Academy's craftsmen.

"You want what?" the blacksmith had asked, eyes narrowing.

"A ranged weapon," Benjamin had explained, sketching onto parchment, his fingers smudged with ink. "One that doesn't require physical bolts, but generates them through energy."

The blacksmith snorted. "Sounds like a Scholar's fantasy."

"Not quite," Benjamin replied, rolling out detailed blueprints, drawn with precision that shocked even the master crafters.

The design was foreign to Khial—a mechanical device with limbs resembling a crossbow, fitted with a holographic aiming reticle that mimicked the Earthly sights Benjamin had once known.

But instead of firing arrows, it would fire bolts of pure energy, drawn from an external Law-infused artifact—a ring designed to store and release kinetic charges.

"You're asking me to make a weapon that doesn't exist," the blacksmith had said, rubbing his beard.

Benjamin had smirked. "It's about time someone did."

And so, over the next two months, the prototype took form.

The crossbow was sleek, efficient, with a mechanism built to convert raw energy into condensed bolts. The energy ring, purchased with his Academy allowance, was custom-fitted to work in tandem with the crossbow, reloading and cycling energy rounds without external intervention.

The result?

A weapon unlike anything in all of Khial.

Perfect for scouting, ambushes, and long-range engagements.

And Benjamin?

He wasn't a swordsman. He wasn't a brawler.

He was a hunter.

Yu had whistled when he saw it for the first time. "Damn, Ben. You're not messing around."

Dab had simply examined the sight, testing the weight, nodding in approval. "It suits you."

And it did.

---

While Benjamin focused on his new approach to combat, Yu and Dab sharpened their own skills.

Yu's transformation had been unnatural.

During his own dungeon test, he had found an artifact—a relic that condensed his form, reshaping his body, making him stronger, more defined, his mass denser but not heavier.

The Law of Mass had become his domain.

Objects could be shrunk and expanded at will. His own body could compress and harden, making him a force that moved like a storm, impossible to stop.

He had gone from being a deceptively lazy fighter to a powerhouse with absurd durability.

One night, as they sat discussing strategy, Dab had leaned back against the Academy's rooftop railing, staring at the moonlit sky.

"You were a twig before during our training fight," she had remarked to Yu, her golden eyes amused.

Yu grinned, flexing. "I know. That was my peak condition." Now You was back to his chubby form, different from his battle form that transformed his body into a chiseled and condensed machine.

Benjamin had smirked. "Still slower than me."

Yu scoffed. "That's fine. I only need to hit you once."

Dab chuckled but said nothing.

She had her own development.

Her Law of Precision was already deadly, but in the last few months, she had pushed it even further.

Precision wasn't just about fighting.

It was about movement, awareness, scouting, efficiency.

With her Law, she could predict movement, adjust her actions mid-combat, and strike with a level of control most warriors could only dream of.

She was a ghost in battle, impossible to track, impossible to hit.

"Precision," she had once explained, "isn't about small things. It's about everything. Every action, every decision, every motion—perfected."

Benjamin had nodded. "Then you'll be our scout."

"And you?" she had asked, tilting her head.

Benjamin had glanced at his crossbow, his mind calculating.

"The one who strikes first."

---

For the next few months, they trained. Together.

Not just in combat—but in survival, infiltration, strategy.

They hunted knowledge, absorbing everything they could about The Black Flame.

Benjamin spent weeks in the library, scouring documents, tracking whispers of their operations, sketching maps of the city's underbelly.

But books could only tell so much.

They needed real information.

So they turned to the streets.

"Let's start with the ones who tried to rob you," Yu had suggested as they walked through the city's dimly lit alleys.

"The two thugs?" Benjamin frowned. "Doubt they're still around."

Dab's tail flicked behind her as she scanned the streets. "Not them. But others like them."

And so they hunted the hunters.

Over the next weeks, they sought out the desperate, the broken, the criminals operating in the shadows.

A pattern emerged.

The Black Flame wasn't just a criminal group. It was a syndicate. A network of hidden bases, each connected yet separate, their members spread thin enough that even if one was eliminated, the rest remained intact.

They thrived by absorbing outcasts.

Fallen Sages. Abandoned soldiers. Law users who couldn't make it in the Academy but still craved power.

And slowly, Benjamin pieced together a map.

---

One night, after a long day of gathering intelligence, the three sat at a rooftop overlooking the city, lanterns flickering below.

The air was cool, the silence between them heavy with thought.

"We have around five months," Benjamin said finally.

Yu exhaled. "And if we do this wrong, we're dead."

Dab's voice was even. "Then we don't do it wrong."

Benjamin glanced at them, watching the determination in their eyes.

A feeling settled in his gut—something unshakable.

They were strong.

But The Black Flame was stronger.

And something inside him whispered that this mission might not go as planned.

Something would could terribly wrong.

He couldn't know how.

He couldn't know when.

But the thought lingered, cold and silent in the back of his mind. They had to be ready for the unexpected and not dwell on what could be predicted.

---

A couple more weeks passed.

Their preparations were meticulous. Their knowledge deep.

And then, finally—

The hunt for The Black Flame began.

--

The dense northern forests of Hukuma stretched for miles, a vast expanse of towering trees, twisted roots, and underbrush thick enough to swallow a man whole if he wasn't careful. The deeper they traveled, the quieter it became—no merchant caravans, no travelers, only the sounds of rustling leaves and distant birdsong.

Benjamin adjusted the black poncho draped over his shoulders, his sharp eyes scanning their surroundings as they moved. Atty soared overhead, his keen vision surveying the terrain from above.

They had been preparing for weeks, gathering knowledge, crafting weapons, refining their techniques. Now, with four to five months ahead of them, they were ready to push further than any students before them.

And that started with seeking out a real base of The Black Flame.

---

They had stopped to rest beneath a crooked willow, the firelight flickering over their faces. Yu stretched, rubbing his arms, while Dab sharpened one of her curved daggers with meticulous precision.

It was here that Benjamin finally revealed something he had kept hidden until now.

He held out his right hand, where a dark silver band gleamed under the fire's glow. It was ordinary at first glance, but upon closer inspection, the engravings seemed too intricate, shifting like liquid metal when light hit it just right.

Yu frowned. "Fancy ring, but why the drama?"

Benjamin turned his palm upward—and a sealed box materialized out of thin air, landing softly on the grass beside him.

Silence.

Yu blinked. "Okay. That's new."

Dab's eyes narrowed slightly. "A storage artifact?"

"Not just any storage artifact," Benjamin said quietly. "It's a slave ring."

Dab stiffened slightly. Yu's usually carefree expression darkened.

Slave rings weren't common, but they existed—artifacts that bound themselves to a single soul, never to be worn or claimed by another. Highly illegal in some regions, but valued beyond measure by those who could obtain one.

Benjamin let his words settle before continuing. "It was an inheritance of sorts. I came across it before the academy, and I've been using it to prepare for this mission."

He didn't reveal everything.

He didn't tell them that this ring was unique, that its storage capabilities were vast.

Yu whistled low. "And here I was, thinking you just had decent survival instincts. Turns out you've been hoarding supplies this whole time."

---

It took days of careful movement, observation, and following rumors they had pieced together from their research.

Atty's sharp vision from above was invaluable, spotting movements in places that seemed undisturbed by civilization. The little gryphon was really the fourth member of the group, increasing in intelligence since his transformation and thanks to the connection with Benjamin, with whom he was often communicating thelepathically.

Then, on one of the nights, they found them.

A small group of armed men, moving along a hidden trail through the forest, their movements too deliberate, too organized for simple bandits.

Dab crouched low behind a rock, her yellow eyes glinting in the dark. "They're carrying something heavy."

Benjamin nodded. "Some shipments?"

Yu flexed his fingers. "If it is, that means we just hit the jackpot."

It was a Kad shipment they later discovered. Kad was the rarest resource in Khial, used not only to create the currency commonly used but also for artifact crafting and powering the strongest Sage tools.

And these thugs were transporting it secretly.

That meant a mine was nearby.

Benjamin felt his pulse quicken. This wasn't just some scattered group of criminals. This was a supply chain—something far more valuable than the smaller outposts other students were expected to find and clear.

Dab's tail flicked. "We follow them."

And so they did.

---

The deeper they followed, the clearer their destination became.

What at first seemed like a rocky hillside turned into something more artificial—worn pathways, guard stations, and finally…

A mine entrance, carved into the mountainside.

Benjamin's breath caught in his throat.

They weren't supposed to find something like this.

Most students tracked down camps, small hideouts, supply points.

Not entire Black Flame operations.

Yu muttered, "Shit. This is way bigger than I expected."

Dab didn't hesitate. "Then we take it piece by piece."

Benjamin nodded. They had spent weeks training, preparing for something like this.

It was time to act.

---

A single unlucky sentry had strayed too far from the group, taking a piss near the treeline.

By the time he realized he wasn't alone, Dab's clawed hand was over his mouth, dragging him into the shadows.

The interrogation didn't last long.

Dab's Law of Precision extended beyond combat—it meant she knew exactly where to press, where to hurt, without causing permanent damage.

The thug—a bishir by the name of Jashir, a low-ranking enforcer—had cracked in minutes.

"The outer guards change shifts every two hours," he had spilled, sweating. "There's a dozen outside the mine entrance, another ten deeper in."

"And the leader?" Benjamin had pressed.

Jashir hesitated, then muttered, "Kasul. He's not a Captain, but he's one of the stronger lieutenants. He—he wields a Law, okay? Law of Chains. You don't want to fight him."

Yu grinned. "Sounds like we do, actually."

Jashir looked like he wanted to crawl into the dirt and die.

Benjamin had exchanged glances with Dab. This was risky. If Kasul truly controlled chains, he could be a problem.

But they had to move fast.

"Thank you for your help," Benjamin had said before knocking the thug out cold.

---

They had minutes before someone noticed Bashir was missing.

Moving like shadows, they spread out.

Atty perched on a rock above, his keen eyes tracking movement as Benjamin, Yu, and Dab prepared their strike.

Killing had been inevitable.

It wasn't something the Academy taught lightly, but it was something they all had to face. Some Laws were meant to create, to heal, to protect—but even those who wielded them would eventually have to decide when to end a life.

For Yu, it was simple pragmatism. He had always approached things with a sense of detachment, joking to lighten the weight of reality, but deep down, he understood that hesitation could mean death. He had crushed his first opponent's ribs with a single strike, his Law of Mass compressing force into a blow so powerful that the man never stood up again. And Yu had moved on, accepting it as part of the world he lived in.

Dab was a warrior by blood. She had been raised in a culture where combat was a necessity, not a choice. The first time she killed, it was clean, precise, her dagger sliding between ribs, her opponent dying before they even knew what had happened. She didn't relish it, but she didn't flinch either. To her, it was survival—a dance between predator and prey, one that she had been trained to perform since childhood.

But for Benjamin, it had been different.

His first kill had stayed with him, lingering in the back of his mind like a shadow that wouldn't fade. Khial was not like his world. Here, violence was woven into existence, expected, accepted. But he had come from a place where killing was distant, forbidden, a thing spoken about in courtrooms and history books—not something you did with your own hands.

His first kill had been messy, unplanned, his energy bolt searing through a man's chest, the force knocking him backward. He had stared for a moment too long, watching the life leave the thug's eyes, his brain struggling to rationalize what he had just done.

It had been Yu who had snapped him out of it.

"Ben. Keep moving."

And he had.

Because if he stopped to think about it, he might never move again.

Dab then moved.

Her daggers flickered in the dim light, slicing into two guards' throats before they could even react, their bodies falling soundlessly.

Benjamin aimed down the sight of his crossbow, locking onto another guard. A pulse of pure energy fired through the air, slamming into the thug's shoulder, sending him crashing into the dirt.

Yu barreled forward, his Law of Mass allowing him to compact his strength into brutal force and evade impossibly by imperceptibly change the shape of his body. His fist connected with another thug's jaw, sending him spinning through the air.

They moved like a machine, eliminating the outer guards one by one—until the mine's main door burst open.

And Kasul stepped out.

He was taller than the rest, lean but built like steel, his arms covered in dark tattoos. A Black Flame symbol etched across his neck.

But the real problem?

The moment he lifted his hand, chains of black energy coiled around him, snaking through the air like living serpents.

"You shouldn't have come here kids," Kasul said, voice cold.

Benjamin felt the air shift, his instincts screaming.

Then the chains shot forward, faster than any of them could react.

The real fight had begun.