Velren hesitated at first but finally sighed.
"A World Not Mine."
Eterna's expression didn't shift, but he noticed the slight tilt of her head—an unspoken prompt for him to elaborate.
But how should he explain it?
After a brief pause, he simply said:
"My Ka lets me create... afterimages… and I can open a rift in space, but only for a short moment."
Eterna studied him for a few seconds with an unreadable gaze.
Velren rubbed the back of his neck.
'Guess that'll have to do for now…'
She gave a small nod before lowering her gaze back to the sigil she held, brushing her fingers over its engravings with quiet focus.
Velren smiled a little. It was nice to know that she wasn't the prying type.
Suddenly, the sigil pulsed with a soft glow, and moments later, streaks of light shot into the sky. Beacons. They scattered across the island, illuminating different locations as they soared into the air.
Eterna muttered.
"It's starting."
Velren turned his eyes toward the lights before glancing back at her.
"What should we do? Should we find the rest of Class 1-C first?"
"No," she said simply.
He raised an eyebrow.
"No?"
She exhaled lightly, as if gathering her thoughts.
"The academy designed these rules for a reason. Think about it. If they wanted us to fight as cohesive teams from the start, they wouldn't have scattered us across the island. We weren't just randomly placed. They intentionally split up every class—forcing us to adapt to unknown circumstances before we could regroup."
"By dropping us all separately," she continued, "they force us to make a choice—waste time regrouping or start moving toward the objectives immediately."
He blinked.
"...So you're saying that going after our classmates is a waste of time?"
The girl nodded slightly.
Guessed that make sense? The academy had never forbidden them from regrouping, but by scattering them, they discouraged it. They wanted to see how students adapted to isolation, whether they had the initiative to act without waiting for others.
Eterna continued:
"Besides… I have a feeling that there's something more to this. Something the academy hasn't told us yet."
Velren glanced at her, mildly surprised. Who knew that behind her enigmatic actions, she had this kind of sharp insight?
Guess you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
Velren exhaled.
"So, what do you have in mind?"
Eterna wandered her gaze above, studying the beacons that were scattered throughout the sky. Her eyes moved from one to another—until eventually, she raised a finger and pointed.
"There."
***
The two sprinted through the dense forest, weaving between towering trees and leaping over tangled roots. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth, and the distant cries of hidden creatures echoed through the foliage.
Mid-run, Velren glanced sideways at Eterna. "What are the chances we actually stumble upon someone from our class?"
"Unlikely," she replied without hesitation.
"Why?"
"The instructors told us there are ten beacons scattered across the island. And since each of the four classes has twenty students, they were split into ten teams per class."
Velren's eyes narrowed as he pieced it together.
"You're saying they deliberately placed each team near a beacon where they wouldn't overlap with their own class?"
Eterna nodded.
"That way, no class starts with an immediate numbers advantage. They want us to earn our alliances—or fight for them."
"You really thought this through, huh?" Velren muttered between breaths.
Eterna barely spared him a glance.
"Anyone could have figured this out from the start."
'Right…'
Velren let the words settle as they ran. Just as they neared the beacon, a shift in the sky caught his attention. The light that had been hovering over their target flickered— changing its color to blue.
He frowned. Did that mean another class had already taken possession of it?
Eterna, mid-run, simply said, "Let's go."
***
The terrain around the beacon was a wide clearing nestled between uneven slopes. Thick undergrowth ringed the edges, with clusters of jagged rocks dotting the landscape. At the heart of the clearing stood the Dominion Beacon itself—a tall, crystalline structure pulsing faintly with blue light.
But the beacon wasn't unguarded.
Two teams were already locked in fierce combat. The clash of steel rang through the air as figures weaved through the battlefield, spells flashing like brief streaks of lightning amidst the chaos. One team seemed to be pressing the advantage, with their coordination that was slightly stronger than the other. Yet neither side had secured victory just yet.
Velren crouched behind a thicket, peering through the foliage. His eyes scanned the battlefield carefully.
Were they the last ones here?
'No—there should have been one more team from the remaining class.'
"Let's wait for the perfect opportunity to strike," Velren whispered. If they timed this right, they could catch both groups off guard.
He turned toward Eterna—only to see her already unsheathing her rapier.
"There's no time," she said flatly, and without another word, she rushed forward.
"Hey, wait—!"
'Damn it!'
Eterna moved like a blur, slicing her form through the air as she leapt high above the battlefield. The two teams below barely had time to register her presence before she descended—her rapier gleaming as she drove it into the ground at the heart of the conflict.
The instant the blade made contact, an explosive burst of blinding light erupted outward. A shockwave followed, sending dust and debris spiraling into the air. The force of the blast threw the unsuspecting combatants off balance, sending them stumbling back.
Velren, still crouched behind the thicket, could only mutter in awe.
"…Damn. That was actually badass."
The battlefield had momentarily fallen into stunned silence, all eyes drawn to the lone girl standing amidst the fading glow. But before Velren could take advantage of the chaos—
Rustle.
His instincts flared.
Velren barely had time to turn before a jagged spike of ice shot toward him from the underbrush, tearing through the ground where he had been crouched just a second ago.
"Whoa—!"
Reacting on pure instinct, he kicked off the ground and leaped onto a nearby high branch, perching himself securely as he assessed the new threat.
Two figures stood at the edge of the clearing with their weapons already drawn.
The last team.
Velren exhaled, glancing at the chaos unfolding in the battlefield below before shifting his focus back to the new arrivals. A smirk tugged at his lips as he balanced himself on the branch.
"You're kinda late for the party, you know?"