the group

Riven stepped forward without hesitation. "I'll stay back."

"I'll stay back as well," Jordan and Harkel echoed in unison.

Wren immediately turned to Harkel, her voice firm. "Jordan's fine, but Harkel—you can't go."

"What? Why not?" Harkel protested, eyes narrowing.

Wren crossed her arms. "Because both you and I have family ties to the Academy. If they realize we're not around, people will start asking questions. And our families? They're high-ranking. If they suspect anything, they could mobilize serious power to come looking for us."

The group quieted, absorbing the weight of that truth.

Wren continued, her tone unwavering. "And that means Joey can't go either. He's a pretty big deal now—especially if Sable really did report what he did during the werewolf attack. If someone like him goes missing, the Academy will know."

"Good point," Leo said, stepping forward. "Then I'll go."

"I'll go too," Tessa said, standing beside her brother.

"Jude, you know a lot about this kind of stuff," Jordan added, trying to win her over. "We could use someone like you."

Jude narrowed her eyes. "Fine, but I want the biggest cut of the Units," she said, pointing directly at Riven.

"Fine," Riven muttered, already sounding exhausted. "Guys, we need to focus. For now, I'm kicking you out of the Party. When we're ready to reconnect or update you, I'll send the invite again. Also… I think you should all stay in Wren's training room—not all day, but for most of it. Keep your visibility down."

The group nodded, then stepped through the portal one by one. As the seventh person vanished, Riven sealed the portal into his system's energy space. The remaining five didn't waste time. They took off running through the alleys, directionless but desperate to move.

On the bright side, they still had one million Units—plenty of currency to spare. As they ducked into a shadowed alley, a group of enforcers wearing the same uniform as the woman they'd encountered earlier marched past. Once the coast was clear, the five climbed to the rooftops and began sprinting across the cityscape.

"Anyone know what she meant?" Leo asked as they moved.

"What did she say?" Riven called from below.

"She said there've been a lot of murders. People going missing," Jude replied as she leaped from one rooftop to the next.

"I have someone in mind," Riven said darkly.

"Who?" Tessa asked, brows furrowed.

"Kael. I know it hasn't been long, but if he escaped Aurex, and if he really is stronger than the wolves we faced, he could've done a lot in a short time."

As if summoned by tension, a group of figures appeared on the rooftop ahead—Ascension enforcers.

"God, I'm really starting to regret not going with the others," Jude muttered, her thought echoing through their telepathic link.

"Too late to regret now," Jordan replied.

Jude slammed her hands to the rooftop. Ice shot outward toward the enforcers, but one of them countered with a flame evolution, instantly melting the frost.

"Damn it!" she growled.

As the flames surged forward, Jordan stepped up. With a swift motion of his hand, he summoned a gust of wind that blew the fire away—and with it, several of the attackers.

One of the Ascension members began slicing himself in ritualistic precision. Blood sprayed from his body, then curved in midair and launched toward the group. Riven quickly summoned both Jordan's and Leo's weapons from his system, tossing them to their owners just in time. They deflected the incoming assault. From behind, Tessa launched a fireball. Jordan assisted with a gust of wind—carefully controlled to avoid dimming her flame—but when it hit the attacker, nothing happened.

"He's armored," Riven muttered. "Under the uniform."

[System: New quest received – "Escape the Grand Capital."]

[Quest reward will depend on how the user escapes.]

Jude blinked at the system prompt—it was her first quest, and she looked confused. Riven, however, was already pulling out his Black Verdant Armor.

"I'll hit them with poison and pull it right out after. We don't need to kill people who are just doing their jobs," he thought, sending the message across the link.

He opened his system menu and summoned two vials—2x Speed and 2x Strength potions. Handing them out quickly, the group drank. Boosted, Riven darted forward with a blur of motion. He struck the blood wielder first, poisoning him and knocking him off the rooftop—only for another enforcer to catch him mid-fall.

Riven sighed in relief. He hadn't wanted to kill anyone. Those wolves… those were different.

A female enforcer attacked. Riven leapt over her and aimed a punch to the back. But a barrier erupted around her, rebounding his own poison into him. Grimacing, he used his system to purge the effect. Another man—the source of the barrier—stood nearby. Riven didn't wait. He rushed in and landed a punch in the man's stomach, poisoning him. Then, with control, he drew the poison from the earlier victim to prevent fatality.

Clouds began to form around the woman enforcer. Upon closer look, Riven saw arcs of lightning dancing inside the mist. She unleashed a bolt, and as Riven tried to dodge, he felt a gust pulling him back in. Thinking fast, he activated Lawless Space, disrupting her control long enough to escape. He extracted poison from the second target and watched as Jordan slammed the hilt of his sword into the woman's head, knocking her unconscious.

Riven downed an energy potion, his reserves doubling. Leo joined Jordan, both using the hilts of their weapons to strike—avoiding lethal force. Still, their opponents proved skilled.

"We can't keep going like this!" Jude yelled.

Everyone knew she was right.

"Everyone, get behind me!" Tessa commanded. "I came up with this after the werewolf fight."

Jordan and Leo hesitated only briefly before obeying.

"Pateda Flare!!" she cried out.

A massive beam of fire burst from her hand, incinerating part of the rooftop and knocking out the rest of the Ascension members.

"Nice one, Tessa!" Jordan grinned as the five dropped down and began running again.

But before they could get far, the same woman from earlier appeared ahead.

She raised her hand.

Riven didn't know what she was doing, but a strange sensation crawled through him. Then a system prompt appeared:

[Warning: Users are being affected by "Evolution Denial." System unable to compute.]

[System has been forced to shut down.]

Their name tags, energy bars, and evolution traits vanished.

"What… what does that mean?" Riven muttered, staring at empty space.

Before they could act, two enforcers rushed in. One leapt over Leo's fist and kicked him square in the face, sending him flying.

"Why does he have that much strength?" Riven demanded.

Another struck at Jordan. He ducked and countered, but it was ineffective. Riven kicked one enforcer in the ribs, relying on the poison in his armor to make up the difference. Now they'd know about his trick—and likely change tactics.

Then ash—dark, swirling ash—began to fall. The battlefield blurred. Taking the opportunity, the group sprinted away, cloaks flaring behind them.

Down another alleyway, a masked man emerged.

"I'm glad to see our assets are still alive," he said calmly.

Riven froze. He recognized that voice—the same man who had bought the awakening potion. As he pulled off his mask, his smile widened.

"The Ascension group is on your tail hard. You must've really pissed them off," the man said. "But see, my headmaster would hate to see potential like you go to waste. So here's your choice."

He gestured as figures stepped from the shadows behind him, each wearing a different Hannya mask—horns painted in varied colors.

"One: stay here and get captured. Or two: come with us… to the Storm Guild."

Riven looked around. The system was still partially down, and he could feel its absence.

There was only one choice.

"Yes," he said. "We'll join you."

"Good," the man grinned. A black portal opened behind them. "Now hurry. This city's not going to wait."

They all rushed inside the portal.

When they emerged, they were outside—but it definitely wasn't Earth. The sky was pitch black, riddled with lightning clouds, and if not for the lights placed throughout the area, they wouldn't have been able to see anything at all.

The man and his group stepped through the portal behind them.

"Wait—can't they just follow us through?" Jude asked, alarmed.

As she spoke, the portal shifted from black to purple, indicating a random destination link.

"Not if we destroy it from the other side," a blonde-haired woman said, removing her mask. "See, portable portals are different. They have a time limit. But the ones that need setup? They don't."

"You can take those off, you know," said the same man who had once tested the awakening potion. "You're in the Storm Guild's base. Why would we bring you here just to kill you?"

"Truthfully, why did we bring them here in the first place?" asked a stern voice. Another man—older and more composed—stepped forward.

"Well… they needed our help. And they can pay us back for it," the dark-haired man replied casually.

"Pay you back how?" Riven asked, not liking where this was going.

"Well, first you'll meet our headmaster. Then you can ask that question," the man said, turning toward what looked like a large city—with a massive tower looming over it, at least two thousand feet tall.

"I see you're amazed by the tower," the stern man said with a faint smile.

"A tower? More like a castle," Tessa thought.

"I know, right? It's not just tall—it's huge," Leo replied through the link.

That's when everyone realized—the telepathic connection was back.

Riven quickly opened his system to check its status.

[System: Mysterious energy has been neutralized. System has adapted to the interference. +100 Resistance to Null Energy.]

"Was that the ability's name? Null Energy?" Riven wondered.

"Speaking of abilities—we've seen a lot so far. Ever since those werewolves… how much do we actually have in the system?" Tessa asked.

"We'll check later," Riven said nervously. "For now, we need to stay focused… and meet this headmaster."