The walls were shaking.
Somewhere far behind them, the Central Tower howled like a wounded god, and the sky cracked open again.
But Maika didn't look back.
Neither did Nola.
There were too many things ahead trying to kill them.
A riftspawn lunged from the rubble, its form was like a stitched shadow, teeth blooming from a skull made of flame. Maika didn't hesitate.
"Ignis—strike!"
The glyph lit from her palm, and the creature's upper body exploded in fire.
"Left!" Maika shouted.
Nola spun just in time, ducking as Maika drove a condensed burst of kinetic energy into the gut of a charging beast. It slammed back into the wall with a wet crunch and didn't move again.
They kept going.
The hallway was a ruin. Smoke and ash choked the air. Blood streaked the tiles. Somewhere above, another tower collapsed in a storm of stone and sigils.
Nola's heart felt like it would tear through her chest.
She didn't know where the others were. Taveer. Brielle. Yuna. Anyone.
It was just her and Maika, alone in the belly of a deadly school
"We have to get outside," Maika gasped, wiping sweat and blood from her brow. "West bridge, might still be intact."
"If it's not?"
"We jump."
Nola gave a breathless, broken laugh. "You're insane."
"You're still following me."
Another monster slammed through the door ahead, taller than a man, with too many limbs and a face that seemed to ripple like water.
They didn't speak.
They just moved.
Nola ducked low while Maika slid right. The creature lunged for Nola, and she hit the ground with both hands, slamming two glyph tags into the floor.
The floor exploded upward, shattering the riftspawn's legs in a blast of stone and magic. Maika vaulted over the debris and finished it with a sigil-slice to the throat.
It dropped her.
They ran again.
Every breath burned. Every step felt like running through fire. Nola's legs ached, but she didn't stop.
They were four floors below the Central Tower now, at the edge of the old foundations. Fewer students. More wreckage.
But also more monsters.
Far behind them, a massive surge of energy rattled the walls again.
Nola didn't have to look to know what it was.
Soren.
The air felt sick with his magic, tainted with golden glyphs pulsing in time with his rage.
Above, the Special Investigation Team was barely holding the line.
The monsters came in waves, summoned from Soren's body like blood pouring from a wound. His form was half-god, half-nightmare, all fury.
Every strike from the investigators cracked barriers, shattered stone, and threw back waves of creatures, but Soren kept standing.
He bled light now, gold and black and red. A jagged hole had torn through his chest where Elian once stood.
The monsters screamed with him, for him.
The strongest of the four investigators, a Sun Legion juggernaut drove a spear of crystallized fire through one of the largest beasts.
"Hold position!" he shouted. "He's not invincible!"
But even he sounded uncertain.
Down in the lower corridors, Nola and Maika turned the final corner.
And ran into another trio of monsters.
This time, they were ready.
Nola spun on instinct, flinging two glyph tags outward like knives. They ignited midair and slammed into the creatures' torsos. One burst into smoke. The other two staggered just long enough for Maika to close the gap.
"Dissect Pulse!" Maika's voice cut the air, her blade glowing as she split one in half with a single upward arc.
The third creature darted forward, faster than the others. It grabbed Nola by the shoulder and threw her against the wall.
The impact knocked the wind from her.
The monster raised a clawed hand-
And a blade tore through its chest from behind.
The creature dropped, twitching.
And Taveer stood over it, face streaked with ash, his shirt torn, eyes blazing with more fury than Nola had ever seen in him.
He reached down, pulled her up.
"You're late," she breathed, stunned and reeling.
"You're reckless," he replied.
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding."
"I said I'm fine."
Another creature roared from the far end of the hall. Taveer didn't flinch. He raised his hand and fired a blast of compressed mana so dense it pierced the monster straight through.
Nola blinked.
"Was that… a signature shot from your will?" Maika asked, jaw half open.
"Yes," Taveer said simply. "Let's move."
They didn't argue.
The three of them sprinted together now, fighting, dodging and surviving. The west bridge loomed ahead, smoke pouring through its support arches.
Beyond it was open space.
Air.
Hope.
But the rift spawn weren't done.
At the base of the bridge, five more clawed their way up from a shimmering black pool, an echo of a rift that hadn't fully closed.
"We'll never make it past them!" Maika shouted.
"Then we cut through," Taveer growled.
He stepped forward.
Nola grabbed his arm. "Wait."
She pulled her katana out and activated her will. She had been training for a new move.
"Everyone down!"
She sliced her blade horizontally.
The explosion was blinding.
A shockwave of pure silence, null mana ripped through the creatures, slamming them backward and into the collapsing ground behind them. Their bodies hit the rubble and tumbled into the void beneath the bridge.
When the smoke cleared, only silence remained.
Nola coughed and staggered upright.
Taveer helped Maika up. She was limping, but alive.
The three of them stared out over the broken bridge.
It was barely standing.
"Still want to jump?" Nola asked.
Maika looked at her.
And grinned.
"Hell yeah."