The others were stunned. This was more than what a Level 1 Cadet would be able to do.
Even after witnessing what Raith had done to the mutated Crawler at the entrance, none of them had expected this. They believed this was more than what he had done before.
Not the sheer brutality. Not the speed. Not from someone who had awakened just a few days ago.
Cael was shocked. 'Is this the difference between grades?'
Liria had the same thought.
Demitri's voice snapped them out of it. "We can't hold the blue one much longer!"
"Hold on a bit longer!" Raith turned sharply.
No time to breathe. No time to think.
The red Crawler was still twitching near the debris. He had to finish it now, before anyone else got hurt. He believed Ivara would keep them safe and prevent any deaths.
However, his squad did not feel the same way. He needed to act quickly before his squad fell apart completely.
He charged. His mind was racing.
The red Crawler lunged at the same moment. Raith ducked low, almost stumbling, but kept his momentum.
His movements were sluggish. No stance, no form, no refinement. But what he lacked in training, he made up for with his Force.
"This kid sure knows nothing about combat," Ivara muttered, arms still crossed. "But... I can't deny his talent as a Tuner."
A smile slowly appeared on her face. "He might be helpful..."
She kept her eyes on him. She wanted to understand Raith's strengths and weaknesses.
Raith, who was clueless about the plot forming in his Warden's mind, slammed his knee into the creature's chest.
The blow was ugly. No finesse, no setup.
He didn't know any proper forms. Just what he'd seen in scraps between Untuned back in the Outer Wards, how they fought, how they survived.
He used what he remembered, what he'd received.
The red Crawler reeled backward. Blood spurted from cracks on its body.
Pain shot through Raith's arm, but he didn't care. He hit again. This time, a low kick to the leg joint. It gave a satisfying crunch.
The Crawler stumbled.
Raith stepped back, breathing quickly and unevenly.
"It's now or never," he said quietly.
He still had no idea how to control his Flux, not really. He didn't even know what one percent was supposed to feel like.
All he had was instinct. A gut feeling. Guesswork.
But he could feel something just under the surface, humming beneath his skin, waiting.
So he pushed.
Not all the way. Just a little harder.
Then he launched forward, dropped low in a twisting motion, and slammed his fist into the side of the Crawler's head.
"Eat this!"
The impact was like a heavy object hitting the ground. The monster flew backward and crashed through a partially standing wall, sending dust into the air. It did not get back up.
"Is it dead?" Cael asked.
Raith didn't check. He couldn't afford to.
"Keep an eye on it!" he ordered.
"Wait. What?!"
Cael knew if the red Crawler came back despite all the damage Raith had done, he had no way to kill it with his Force. He was lacking the finishing move.
Raith turned and sprinted toward the blue Crawler.
Ivara was watching, he noticed. Still unmoving. Still silent.
'Why won't she help?' Raith thought.
But there was no time to wonder.
Demitri was crouched over Vanna again, shielding her with his steel-clad arms. Liria was still standing, barely, hands trembling as she conjured more water blades and barriers.
It was too much even for an A-grade like her.
Raith's boots pounded the ground. He was closing in too fast.
"Damn. Too close to jump," he muttered.
He'd planned to leap and come down from above with all his strength. The same move he had made as his finishing move. But he was already in striking distance.
The blue Crawler turned. It was too slow.
"Take this!"
Raith slammed into it with all the speed he'd built up, shoulder-first, like a human battering ram. The monster was thrown back into a heap of stone and metal.
But Raith wasn't done.
"This is still too weak," he said angrily. His mind was clouded as he charged forward again.
Every time he attacked, the voice of the golden-haired man echoed in his mind.
"This is still too weak," Raith was frustrated.
His focus was a bit disrupted. He looked at the glowing Mark on his hand.
Every hit Raith landed, he felt that it was too soft.
Too slow.
This much was not enough.
He didn't stop to think. He leapt.
Both fists came down like hammers and hit the blue Crawler's head.
CRACK!
The shockwave rippled out, cracking the stone beneath them. It silenced the Field.
The blue Crawler convulsed once… then stilled.
Raith stood over its corpse, chest heaving. Blood splattered his arms. His fists trembled.
"No... This is not enough..." he muttered.
He looked around. He needed more monsters to fight.
But the monsters were dead.
Cael stepped forward, cautious. "That was… insane."
Raith didn't respond. He turned to check his surroundings, hoping more monsters would be attracted because of all the chaos happening here.
Demitri was still with Vanna. He had started to carefully wrap her shoulder.
Liria knelt beside them, shaping orbs of water to cool the wound. That was all she could think about, even though her water had no healing effect.
"Miss Ivara—" Demitri called out to her.
But when he turned toward her direction, she was gone. He looked around, searching for her.
Meanwhile, Ivara stealthily appeared behind Raith.
Her hand struck the back of his neck. Her action was sharp and efficient. Nobody saw it other than Cael.
Raith didn't even have time to react. His vision dimmed.
"Why are you acting crazy?" she whispered, catching him before he fell.
Cael said nothing. He had too much to process right now.
Ivara carried Raith on her shoulder effortlessly.
She lowered him beside Vanna and stood up.
Demitri looked up, confused. "Where did you go? What happened to him?"
"He overused his Flux," she replied. "His body's still adapting. He's breaking himself."
"You should've stopped him." Liria's brows drew tight. "And you should've helped us."
"Yeah." Cael stepped forward. His voice wasn't angry. He was just tired. "You should've stopped all of this. Vanna got hurt. We almost got killed."
Ivara turned to him, slowly.
"Killed? By an F-grade?" Her voice was flat. "That's embarrassing."
Cael winced, unable to answer.
"Everything was a lesson," she said simply.
"A lesson?!" Cael snapped.
"The first was for all of you," Ivara said. "I made Raith stay out so you'd finally understand what it means to be a squad. You kept comparing yourselves to him, but none of your Forces work like his. You needed to learn your own strength."
Silence fell.
"The second was for Raith," she continued. "He needed to see how teamwork actually works. How a fight isn't always won by the one with the biggest fists."
"Now he realized he had little real combat experience. Unlike you guys, who had been trained by your families," she added.
Demitri nodded, the words settling in.
"The third," she turned her gaze to Vanna, "was for you."
Vanna looked up, face pale. "Me?"
"You're the weakest here. That's not a judgment. It's a fact. And that's why you have to be the most careful. You can't rely on the rest of them forever. You froze. That could've killed you."
Vanna lowered her gaze.
"And you were willing to lose us just for these lessons?" Cael asked.
"No," she said. "I was willing to risk you."
That earned her stunned silence.
"You will survive," she said. "When you do, you will be stronger than any other team in Camp 70 or in other camps."
Liria looked up. "And if we don't?"
Ivara glanced at Raith, who was barely conscious.
"Then it means none of you are worthy of my time."
No one said anything.
Deep down, they all knew this was the standard now.