บท 32: Chapter 32 - The dome (3)

Back inside the Dome, Lucius stood amidst a scene of destruction, his armor glowing faintly as vents hissed, releasing excess heat from his latest engagement. Around him lay the mangled remains of mutated beasts, their bodies evidence of the devastating firepower his suit could unleash.

He checked the ammunition levels on his suit's weaponry, a faint frown crossing his otherwise cold expression. "Beasts are getting more erratic," he muttered to himself, running a diagnostic.

"Their movements... it's like something's driving them mad."

A pack of three more beasts emerged from the gray mist ahead, snarling and snapping as they charged toward him. Lucius didn't flinch. With a thought, his armor deployed a shoulder-mounted turret that whirred to life.

"Target locked," he said flatly.

With a deafening BOOM, the turret fired, its mana-infused shell streaking through the air and detonating in the center of the group. The explosion tore the beasts apart, sending fragments of their blackened bodies flying.

As the dust settled, Lucius stepped forward, his boots crunching over charred remains. He glanced at the faint grayish mist swirling in the distance.

"These beasts are different," he murmured. "More aggressive. But it doesn't matter."

Adjusting his sensors to better detect movement in the dense mist, he pressed onward, his mind solely focused on accumulating points.

Elsewhere, Xian Mei floated serenely above the ground, her body surrounded by a faint purple aura. Below her, three beasts writhed helplessly, their forms compressed together into an orb of flesh and bone. Her expression remained calm as she tightened her telekinetic grip, her violet eyes glowing faintly.

CRUNCH!

The orb imploded, and the lifeless remains dropped to the ground in a heap. She lowered herself gently, her feet touching the ground without a sound.

Her eyes darted around the misty terrain, searching for any sign of movement. Her mind power was still strong, but she knew better than to overextend herself.

"These beasts..." she thought, her gaze narrowing. "Something is amplifying their bloodlust."

Xian Mei could feel something leaving the beasts' bodies, but she couldn't see it. That didn't make her any less careful though.

She turned and began walking in the opposite direction of the large pack she had spotted earlier. Engaging them all at once would be reckless. Her strategy had always been to isolate smaller groups, take them down efficiently, and conserve her strength.

Xian Mei raised a hand, her delicate fingers brushing the air as she tested the flow of mana in the area. The gray mist felt heavy, oppressive even, but it didn't deter her.

"Avoid unnecessary risks. I need to last until the end." she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible.

In another place, completely devoid of trees and more akin to a rocky mountain, the clash of steel could be heard, even a long distance away. There was a team of 3, seemingly surrounded by a herd of beasts.

The air was thick with gray mist, muffling the snarls and growls of the beasts circling around the trio.

Kain Arclight stood firm, his shield raised as the relentless pack slammed into him. His armor bore dents and scratches, and his shoulder ached from the strain, but he didn't waver.

"Stay tight!" Kain shouted, his voice echoing through the oppressive mist. "We'll thin them out one by one!"

Chen Kai grinned despite the chaos, his berserker instincts flaring as he swung his axe in wide arcs, cleaving through the smaller beasts that dared to approach.

"Relax, Kain! They'll pull us out if things get too hairy. No need to panic!"

Ji Min, his spiked club swinging with calculated precision, grunted in agreement. "Yeah, just a matter of getting some points before we're tapped out."

Kain only spared them a glance before saying, "Treat this as a real life situation, they're watching!"

The trio worked in sync, holding their ground as best they could, but the beasts were relentless. Their glowing eyes and erratic movements made them unpredictable, and the gray mist seemed to sap the air of any sense of security.

As the fight dragged on, the pack grew more frenzied. A particularly large beast, its claws glowing faintly with mana, lunged at Kain, slamming into his shield.

THUD!

Kain gritted his teeth, bracing against the force. "They're getting stronger," he muttered, his eyes narrowing. "Something's not right."

"They're just desperate. We've got this!" Chen Kai shrugged off a hit that sent him stumbling, his grin faltering slightly.

Ji Min, however, wasn't so sure. He crushed another beast's skull with his club, his eyes darting toward the swirling mist.

"Kain, we should think about pulling back. These things aren't behaving normally."

"Pull back where?" Chen Kai barked, swinging his axe to fend off another attacker. "We're boxed in!"

Kain's eyes darted around, assessing the situation. The pack was growing larger, more frenzied, and their movements were becoming harder to predict. The gray mist seemed to fuel their madness, and their sheer numbers were overwhelming.

"We can't stay here!" Kain barked, his shield bashing back a particularly large beast. He turned to his comrades, his voice firm. "Chen Kai, Ji Min, secure an exit! I'll hold them!"

Chen Kai gritted his teeth, his berserker instincts raging against the idea of retreat.

"Like hell, Kain! We're not leaving you behind!"

"He's right, Kain. We stick together!" Ji Min smashed another beast aside, his face pale but determined.

"You want to stick together and die here?" Kain shot back, his shield rattling as another beast slammed into it.

"Just do as I say!"

Reluctantly, Chen Kai and Ji Min moved to clear a path. Chen's axe swung with brutal force, each strike carving through the relentless tide of beasts. Ji Min followed close behind, his club smashing through any stragglers.

"Path's open!" Ji Min shouted, glancing back at Kain.

Kain nodded, stepping back toward the opening. "Go! I'll cover you!"

But as they moved, the beasts surged forward, cutting them off from Kain. Chen Kai roared in frustration, his axe cleaving through two beasts in a single swing, but it wasn't enough. More came, their claws raking across his armor and finding purchase in the gaps.

"Dammit!" Chen Kai growled, blood seeping from fresh wounds as he turned to Ji Min. "Get Kain out of here!"

Ji Min's club swung with desperate ferocity, but the beasts were relentless.

Another beast lunged, its claws tearing through Ji Min's side. He grunted in pain, his knees buckling for a moment before he forced himself back up.

"Kain, go!" he shouted, his voice raw.

Kain hesitated, his shield raised as he watched his comrades struggle. The audience and the awakener academies were surely watching, but survival instincts overrode his pride.

"Chen Kai! Ji Min!" he called, his voice cracking.

"Just go, damn it! We've shown enough, our test ends here!" Chen Kai roared, his axe still swinging even as the beasts swarmed him.

Kain turned and ran, his heart pounding as the sounds of battle faded behind him. When he was a bit away from the battlefield, he turned to have one last look at his teammates, but...

Chen Kai's body shimmered as the Dome's teleportation system activated, protecting him from further damage. But instead of relief, his face contorted in panic. His mouth opened as if to shout something, but no sound came out.

"Chen Kai?" Kain called, his voice tinged with concern.

Before he could process what he had seen, Ji Min followed suit, a beast to striking him. His body also began to shimmer, but his expression mirrored Chen Kai's: wide-eyed, frantic, and terrified. He too vanished without a word.

Kain stood frozen for a moment, his shield still raised. The pack closed in around him, but he didn't notice. His mind replayed the looks on his friends' faces as they disappeared.

"That's... not right," he muttered under his breath, his confidence wavering.

The beasts charged again, snapping Kain out of his thoughts. He bashed one away with his shield and took a deep breath before retreating.

"Focus," he told himself, his voice shaky. "No room for mistakes now."

As he sprinted through the mist, his mind raced. The last thing he had seen was the look on Chen Kai and Ji Min's faces... Panic.

Kain's breath hitched as the realization hit him.

"No," he whispered, his voice trembling. "That's not how it's supposed to work. Did they not make it out...?"

The rankings screen in the plaza flickered, and two names darkened: Chen Kai and Ji Min. Gasps rippled through the audience, and murmurs spread like wildfire.

In the monitoring room, Ray Nedeir narrowed his eyes at the screen.

"This isn't a simulation anymore," he muttered, his voice grim. "Something's gone wrong."

In a sun-dappled clearing within the gray-tinged forest, Alicia Frost and Bea Might leaned against a fallen tree, catching their breath after their latest bout with the mutated beasts. The faint sound of birds chirping seemed out of place in the eerie mist that had enveloped the forest.

"Come on, Alicia," Bea teased with a soft laugh, summoning a few holographic butterflies from her watch to flit playfully around her friend. "You're getting the hang of it! Frost magic is all about control, you know?"

Alicia pouted, her blue eyes narrowing as she swatted at a butterfly.

"Easy for you to say. You're practically a walking garden. My family spent generations perfecting frost swordsmen, and here I am tripping over myself trying to cast a basic frost bolt!"

"Relax. You're doing fine for someone who just started. I'll cover you if things get dicey." Bea giggled, patting Alicia on the head.

A sudden rustling in the underbrush made them both tense. Bea's playful demeanor vanished, replaced by a focused calm. She crouched, her green mana already flowing into the plants around her.

The mutated beasts broke through the treeline, their snarls echoing through the clearing. Bea immediately sprang into action, vines erupting from the ground to bind their legs and sharp wooden stakes shooting upward to pierce their sides.

Alicia concentrated, her hands glowing blue as she summoned a shard of ice, but her casting faltered when one of the beasts lunged at her. Bea's vines intercepted the creature, slamming it to the ground.

"Focus, Alicia!" Bea shouted, her voice firm but encouraging.

"I'm trying!" Alicia replied, frost swirling around her hands as she fired off a sharp icicle. It hit its mark but lacked the power to take the beast down. Bea swiftly followed up, her vines constricting the creature until it stopped moving.

Despite the occasional slip-ups, they seemed to have the situation under control... for now.

In another part of the forest, Wang Zi leaned against a massive tree, his red hair catching the faint light filtering through the mist.

"System," he muttered, his voice low and calm. "Show me my points."

A translucent screen appeared in his mind, displaying:

System Points: 254,679,322

Wang Zi grinned, his lips curling into a wicked smile.

"Time to awaken the Rinnegan fully," he said, his voice tinged with anticipation.

"System, that should be enough right?"

"..."

"Fine fine, use all my points until the Rinnegan fully unlocks!" Wang Zi was already used to the system not providing a clear amount anyways.

"Yes, Host."

The moment the words left his lips, the air around him seemed to pause, as if the forest itself were holding its breath. Then...

BOOM!

The mana in the vicinity went into a frenzy, swirling toward Wang Zi in violent, chaotic waves.

The faint gray mist, which had clung stubbornly to everything in the forest, recoiled, shrinking away from the intense power erupting from his body.

The ground trembled beneath him, cracks spidering out from where he stood. Small stones and loose dirt lifted into the air, swirling in the vortex of mana gathering around him.

Wang Zi clenched his fists, his body trembling as the sheer force of the awakening coursed through him. His eyes flared with a blinding purple light, the concentric rings of the Rinnegan glowing eerily.

Creatures within the forest, frenzied beasts and mutated horrors alike, stopped in their tracks. Their aggression evaporated, replaced by an instinctual dread. One by one, they knelt, their heads bowed as if in submission to a deity.

The tree Wang Zi leaned on groaned loudly before splintering and collapsing, unable to withstand the gravitational forces now radiating from him. His body began to lift off the ground, slowly rising into the air.

Above him, the canopy of leaves twisted and swayed violently, torn apart by the unstable repulsion and attraction forces emanating from his awakened power. Rocks cracked and disintegrated, the raw energy too powerful for the fragile environment.

The gray mist that had shrouded the forest dispersed completely, leaving an untouched circle around Wang Zi, its malevolent influence unable to approach his divine-like aura.

Wang Zi floated several meters above the ground, his fiery red hair whipping around him in the turbulent winds of his own making. His arms spread wide, his head tilted back as he roared in triumph, his laughter echoing across the forest.

"Hahahaha!" The sound was both maniacal and triumphant, a declaration to the world that a new power had been born.

Wang Zi opened his eyes, now blazing purple, the energy of his fully awakened Rinnegan coursing through him. The chaotic mana vortex swirled around his body, flames of raw power lashing out uncontrollably.

The beasts kneeling around him trembled violently, their instincts screaming for them to flee, yet they remained pinned by the sheer weight of his presence.

The swirling forces of attraction and repulsion reached their peak, and for a brief moment, Wang Zi felt the full magnitude of his power as the Rinnegan's influence seeped into his very being.

Then it happened.

His hands snapped together involuntarily, and his lips moved as if by instinct. His voice boomed across the forest.

"SHINRA TENSEI!"

The words echoed like thunder, and the world responded.

WHOOSH!

First, the wind was felt. A breeze. And then...

A titanic force exploded outward from Wang Zi's body, rippling through the forest in a massive shockwave. Trees snapped like twigs, uprooted and sent hurtling away as if by the hand of an angry god. Rocks shattered into dust, and the ground beneath him quaked violently before collapsing into a vast crater.

The beasts that had knelt before him were obliterated, their bodies vaporized in the invisible shockwave's fury. The gray mist was pushed back almost 500 meters, its presence wiped clean from the surroundings.

When the dust settled, Wang Zi stood in the center of a massive crater, its edges stretching hundreds of meters in every direction. He stumbled slightly, his knees buckling as he felt the toll of his newfound power.

His Rinnegan still glowed fiercely, but his body trembled as he realized the immense drain on his mana reserves.

"So that's the power of the Deva Path... Incredible... but I've got to be careful. The drain on my mana and body is no joke, no wonder Nagato looked like that." Panting heavily, Wang Zi wiped the sweat from his brow and muttered.

He looked around, taking in the destruction he had wrought. The forest that had surrounded him was gone, replaced by desolation and silence.

For the first time in a long while, Wang Zi felt a flicker of unease.

"If I'd done this around others..." His thoughts trailed off as he imagined the consequences of unleashing such a force in a crowded area.

Despite the exhaustion and the destruction, a small, fierce smile crept onto Wang Zi's face. He clenched his fists, his body still trembling with residual energy.

"Hehehe, HAHAHA!" he couldn't help but laugh.

"Let them come. No beast, no contestant, no Silent One will stand in my way." His gaze turned upward, toward the Dome's artificial sky.

As Wang Zi calmed his breathing, he knew he first had to master the Rinnegan's abilities fully. The power he had just unleashed was only a taste of what was possible, and he knew there was much more to discover. The Rinnegan wasn't limited to just this.

"But first... Ningendō!"

Wang Zi spread his hands and collected the souls before they got yeeted to who knows where. After checking he had gotten all of them, he looked at his status screen.