One step closer to Herohood...

The forest was still.

Blood soaked the soil, steam curling from severed limbs. Sion stood in the silence he'd carved, surrounded by nothing but death.

The golden glow in his eyes dimmed.

He exhaled.

Calmly.

No tension in his body. No regret in his gaze.

Then—he looked upward.

Not at the trees.

Not at the sky.

But at something else—angled, distant… as if sensing eyes beyond the forest.

Someone was watching.

His lips twitched into the ghost of a smile. He bowed slightly, paying respect to the Academy's heads.

Back at the monitoring tower.

A screen flickered back to life—it went blank, affected by Sion's growl.

Sion stood in a clearing soaked with blood and silence. Bodies—no, pieces—of criminals were scattered like broken dolls across the forest floor.

His gaze was distant.

The golden glow in his eyes faded.

Then he blinked—slowly—and glanced upward.

He then dipped into a small respectful bow.

Maki stepped closer to the screen. "The feed dropped during the fight..."

She looked at the aftermath, her brow furrowed.

"Five seconds," she muttered. "That's all the blackout lasted. And now they're just… gone."

The Dean didn't speak immediately.

His fingers drummed once against the edge of the console.

"He must've fully transformed," he finally said. "No way he could've done this without it."

Maki narrowed her eyes at the screen.

"But we didn't see any signs—no visual shift, no aura spike. If that was a full transformation, it was… clean."

"Like Daniel," the Dean said. "Strong, but short bursts. Maybe even unstable. They both have limitations—they just burn through them differently."

She turned toward him. "So where does that put Sion, power-wise?"

The Dean studied the image—Sion, standing motionless in the gore.

His voice dropped.

"If that was his full transformation…" A pause. "He's at least on Daniel's level."

"Same tier as the top second-years," Maki murmured.

The Dean nodded once.

Then, quietly: "Or greater."

But what neither of them knew—

What the screen didn't show, and what Sion wouldn't say—

Was that he hadn't transformed.

Not fully.

Not even partially.

He'd just stepped a little closer to it.

That was all.

---

The Dean's eyes moved across the displays—each one a battlefield.

Anessa sat quietly atop Grandy, untouched.

The girls had vanished into a self-made domain.

Daniel stood toe-to-toe with something monstrous, his warriors summoned.

Kale had begun harvesting criminals like crops.

And then—

There was Sion.

The screen still lingered on his aftermath. Not a battlefield. A massacre.

The Dean let out a long breath.

"They're all too strong," he muttered.

Maki looked over. "Shouldn't that be a good thing?"

"It is," he replied. "But the test isn't about strength alone. It's about trimming."

He folded his arms behind his back.

"And we've trimmed enough."

Maki glanced back at the scenes, a question forming behind her eyes.

The Dean continued, "Any more criminals would just be throwing meat to lions."

A pause.

His eyes lingered on Sion's image.

"And that one…" he said. "He's a problem."

Maki tilted her head. "Sion?"

"He's the kind of idealist that'd throw himself between a blade and a stranger." The Dean's tone was neutral, but there was a note of respect beneath it. "We can't push the test further—not without casualties on our end."

"And if we make it harder?"

"We don't have criminals strong enough to challenge him... without causing a massacre on the other students side." His gaze sharpened. "And too weak... and he'll just keep piling corpses."

He turned to her.

"End the test."

Maki blinked. "You're sure?"

"Announce that all surviving candidates are now official Academy students."

He gestured at the monitors.

"The points they've earned so far will serve only one purpose now—ranking. Nothing more."

Maki nodded.

She turned, fingers flying across the console.

The forest screens began to shift.

---

Across the forest, the golden beam of light began to fall.

Each one marked the end.

Back at Anessa's Clearing.

The wind carried no cries—only silence and drifting ash.

Around her, not a single criminal stood.

Only Grandy yawned, his massive jaws wide with disinterest.

Meanwhile.

The woman with stitched eyes remained still—her body hidden behind layers of rippling shields. Each of Daniel's stone constructs—seven in total—hovered in the air, halted inches before impact, their might undone by her calm.

Daniel clenched his fist. Veins rose on his arms as he prepared to go further.

And then—

A column of golden light descended onto the woman.

She vanished within it—teleported instantly.

Daniel blinked, stunned.

"Tch. Lucky."

Elsewhere, Inside the Red Domain.

nLympha hovered above the endless crimson mist, a sneer on her lips.

Beneath her, the giant and bloodied girl remained protected inside the twitching blood sphere.

"I'll show you the power of a true Mage," she said coldly, as the massive magic circle flared behind her—runes pulsing with unbearable heat.

The spell began to charge.

The domain trembled.

Then—

A beam of golden light cut cleanly through the sky, severing the ritual.

It passed through the bubble protection, stuck the bloodied girl and the giant both—pulling them from the domain in a blink.

nLympha blinked, her aura climbing down.

"You won't be so lucky next time." 

She muttered.

Back at Kale's camp.

The twin bowed one last time, standing silently beside his brother's corpse.

Then the golden light fell.

Kale said nothing.

He just nodded.

And the twin vanished.

A low hum rippled through the forest. Then, the sky pulsed.

Above the trees, the holographic screen reappeared—its brightness cutting through the remnants of smoke, mist, and aura.

Across the entire forest, every surviving candidate looked up as bold letters scrolled into view:

[PHASE THREE: TERMINATED.]

A beat passed. Then more words appeared:

[REASON: THRESHOLD REACHED.][CRIMINAL COUNT: NEUTRALIZED.][SURVIVAL RATE: ABOVE EXPECTATION.]

And then, the final message flashed:

[ALL REMAINING CANDIDATES HAVE BEEN GRANTED ADMISSION INTO THE ACADEMY.][POINTS WILL NO LONGER BE USED AS ELIMINATION CRITERIA.][THEY WILL NOW SERVE AS A RANKING METRIC ONLY.]

A moment of stunned silence followed.

Then a final line appeared, stamped in royal blue:

[WELCOME TO THE ACADEMY.]

And with that, the screen blinked out.

---

Sion stared upward as the screen dispersed.

Ash floated in the breeze. Blood clung to his boots.

A gentle smile crept across his face.

"One step closer to Herohood."