Agral had been killed right in front of that senior summoner. The tension in the air hit its peak.
"So you wanna die? Fine, I'll help you." He waved his hand, activating his martial art. Thousands of tiny lights appeared around him, shooting straight toward Niara.
She snorted. Instantly, Darian sent her another 30% of his power from the ring. Her scales pulsed, fully reactivating the Green Divine Dragon Armor.
Then she flapped her wings and vanished like a ghost.
*CRASH!*
All the rookies and the people in the third row jumped in fright. That was the power of a C-level martial art, unleashed with the strength of a two-ring Spiritual Guardian.
But the sound of the ground shattering and the cloud of dust left everyone stunned. Did the attack miss?
Suddenly, everyone felt something and looked up to the sky.
They saw the Dragoness, her fists covered in red flames, already about to slam them down on the enemy.
*BANG!*
Her punch exploded even before it landed. His partner — a gray feline-looking creature about a meter tall — activated his blessing, creating a strange spatial distortion.
She was thrown back, coughing blood. Light cracks appeared across her scales.
'Shit, we're still way too weak…' Darian spat mentally. Then an idea came to him — something that had hit him while they were fighting earlier.
It was pretty risky to try it now. But he felt like something terrifying could come out of it. So why not?
"Not bad, dodging one of my attacks. But you're still gonna die," the summoner said, his eyes full of malice.
He drew a sword, and the lights from his martial art fused with the blade, making it glow intensely. Without wasting time, he charged toward Niara.
His partner activated the blessing again. The two of them seemed to warp everything around them and moved insanely fast. This time, Darian was sure: it was a blessing that messed with space.
According to that book, time and space were among the highest-level powers in the world. Even getting basic control over either was insanely complex. But the potential was just as massive.
This was a real threat — no way Niara could stand up to it. Darian took a deep breath, ready to risk it all.
Just as he was about to act, a cold voice rang out:
"Zaoh, getting bold, huh? You got no shame bullying rookies like that?"
The sword froze mid-swing, two meters from hitting its target.
At the same time, a tall, skinny woman with black scales covering parts of her body appeared behind Niara.
"High Elder Vahnu!" Calil and the other rookies shouted, excited.
She spoke firmly: "What the hell is going on here?"
Darian emerged from Niara's clothes and looked at the woman. It was the same one who had received Niara after she got out of the dungeon — a summoner, but also a big deal at the academy.
Niara didn't know her name and didn't care to find out. She was probably connected to the Dragon King, so Niara had kept her distance. That's why they only just now learned her name.
A heavy pressure filled the air. Nobody dared make a sound. Niara, High Elder Vahnu, and Zaoh were all Mannaz with dragon blood. Each from a different generation, but all were ultra-rare cases of people with that bloodline who'd become elite summoners.
Zaoh snapped:
"This crazy girl got the rookies to start a mutiny. She killed three Summoners and their partners, and left two others almost dead. Everyone here saw what she did!"
"Hm?" Vahnu narrowed her eyes and looked at Darian and Niara.
She had three rings and had been fighting on the front line of the second row. When Niara first activated the Green Divine Dragon Armor, it had been right when Vahnu was pulling back to heal — in the area between the second and third rows.
Suddenly, she felt her bloodline stir. It was like some terrifying draconic power had erupted in the middle of the nest. She wasn't suppressed — nor was Zaoh — but every person nearby with dragon blood had felt it.
She'd rushed back to see what was going on, but it took a bit — she was wounded, and the healing pills were still working slowly.
"Do you admit guilt?" she asked, staring coldly at Darian.
All the rookies' hearts clenched. At the academy, if someone admitted guilt and begged for forgiveness, depending on the case, the punishment might be reduced.
The slug shook his head.
"I don't. We came here to kill, and we'd do it again. There's nothing wrong with that."
He's got guts, Vahnu thought, glaring coldly at the slug.
"You bastard. Playing dumb now!? Let's see how you talk your way out of punishment!" Zaoh sneered darkly.
"Fuck your mother, asshole! Who the hell asked you anything?" the slug snapped back.
"You little—!"
"Shut up," the High Elder barked.
Zaoh flinched, swallowing his words. Why did she seem to be taking their side? Vahnu was a Summoner, closely related to the Dragon King. When Zaoh became a Summoner, he was told to rely on her for anything.
Vahnu was famous among the Mannaz because of a brutal, bloody event she orchestrated mostly on her own in the past. Every man with Dragon Blood courted her. Zaoh wanted to as well—but he valued his life too much...
Niara, on the other hand, was currently the main target of everyone with Dragon Blood — they had to kill her and reclaim what was invested in her.
Vahnu scoffed, then noticed Niara standing completely silent and understood — it was her partner who handled this kind of thing. Knowing that young Dragoness's history, she respected their arrangement.
She turned to Darian and asked coldly, "What did you say? Explain."
As she spoke, a strong golden aura surged around her.
It was the power of her partner's ring combined with her martial art. But it wasn't just any martial art — it was a B-level one, the highest tier in the academy, and only a dozen Summoners had ever mastered it.
Her partner wasn't visible. In fact, barely anyone had ever seen him. His blessing seemed to keep him hidden, but everyone knew he was always close by.
"!"
All the nearby rookies, Zaoh, and even some experienced Summoners dropped to their knees under the pressure. No one could resist.
Darian narrowed his eyes. This pressure was coming from deep within the soul. That High Elder and her partner... they were manipulating soul power!
She looked at Niara and Darian — the only ones still standing. The fierce pressure was there, but they weren't afraid. Niara still had her Green Divine Dragon Armor up, fully shielding her. As for Darian, he only felt a chilly breeze… nothing serious.
Seeing the two of them still standing, Zaoh and the others were shaken. No weaker Summoner had ever endured her pressure before. These two had to be total monsters.
"I said: is there something wrong with killing people?" Darian replied, meeting Vahnu's gaze.
Her karma was as plain as anyone's. But Niara, with her sharp instincts, could tell Vahnu wasn't truly angry — she was acting, on purpose. No one else could sense that.
"Zaoh, why don't you answer him?" said the High Elder.
He rushed to reply, "Ok. According to Section 939 of Celestia Academy, paragraph four—"
"Are you stupid or deaf? She asked you to say yes or no. Just say yes or no," Darian interrupted.
The High Elder's expression was icy. She wondered if that slug even knew what fear was. His partner was known to be hot-tempered, and the Spiritual Guardian… had no limits. What a pair…
"Fine, yes." Zaoh spit the word through clenched teeth, making it sound bitter.
Darian nodded. "Yeah? Great, then I'm relieved."
"What are you talking about?" Vahnu asked.
"Those five lured fifty powerful Risen into the fourth row on purpose. By some miracle, we survived, but a lot of people died. They're traitors, and I just followed the rules by eliminating traitors…"
"What nonsense! You're the one who killed innocent people! Who'd believe rookies could survive fifty Risen? You must be the traitor — you killed a bunch of rookies and now you're just trying to stir up chaos!" Zaoh snapped.
"Innocent? Heh…" Darian chuckled darkly.
Vahnu narrowed her eyes. Yeah, something was off. First of all, how did rookies manage to kill two experienced Summoners? And Niara… her glowing scales were still radiating an intense presence.
"So this did happen?" she said, turning to the people in the third row who had been nearby.
They shivered. Even on their knees, they didn't dare meet her gaze.
"Reporting... we saw the five doing that, but they didn't drag us into it. We focused on fighting the enemy, so we didn't interfere," answered a Summoner farther back.
"I see. They committed a crime, but you just let it slide because you were busy, is that it?" the High Elder muttered, then turned back to Darian.
"We can't waste time on drama and inner conflict. I know your partner was being targeted, and those five definitely did something punishable. But… everything around you is way too suspicious…"
Her gaze sharpened like blades. She exhaled sharply and pulled out a dagger with a white blade from her waist.
Her golden aura and cold stare locked onto Niara. All the rookies around swallowed hard, panic overtaking them.