The simulation floor warped. Crumbled ruins melted into a dense commercial district. Concrete skyscrapers boxed in the main street. The air felt dead.

  ?Twenty civilian mannequins clustered in the center, programmed to cower.

  ?The automated system boomed.

  "Objective: Escort civilians to the perimeter. Threshold: 30% casualties triggers immediate failure."

  ?"Babysitting?" Sun groaned. He rested his heavy staff on his shoulder. "Why isn't the objective just 'break everything'?"

  ?"Agreed," Mei licked her lips. Her eyes held a feral spark. "I want something that bleeds."

  ?Jin stood behind them. He rubbed his temples, exhaling slowly. "Listen. The objective is protection. Hold the line. We push forward—"

  ?THOOM. THOOM.

  ?The asphalt buckled. A shadow swallowed the street.

  ?An iron behemoth ripped through the intersection. It stood four stories tall. A kinetic barrier hummed over its thick plating. Its optic sensors burned red, locking onto the targets below.

  ?It roared. The sound wave shattered every window on the block. Glass rained down.

  ?"Oh, yeah..." Sun grinned. He inhaled sharply.

  ?He forced ether directly into his nervous system. Beast Instinct. His muscles coiled. He launched himself forward.

  ?He didn't charge blindly. The machine fired a volley of missiles. Sun slid under the exhaust trails. He planted his staff into the asphalt, vaulting himself high into the air toward the behemoth's blind spot.

  ?Up in the stands, Marcus frowned. "What's his trick? The expanding stick? He moves like a rat in a scrap yard, dodging everything."

  ?Vanessa pushed her glasses up. "Observe the mechanics," she said, her voice flat. "The weapon is pre-inscribed. He merely feeds it raw energy. His actual technique is internal compression. He overclocks his nervous system to bypass human limits."

  ?CRACK!

  ?Sun landed on the shield generator bolted to the machine's neck. He pumped ether into his weapon. The staff gained tons of weight in a fraction of a second. He swung hard.

  ?The kinetic barrier shattered like brittle ice.

  ?"Your turn, psycho!" Sun yelled, kicking off the falling chassis.

  ?"Watch the girl," Vanessa noted. "She does not rely solely on internal reserves. She harvests ambient ether."

  ?Below, Mei spread her fingers. The surrounding air warped, drawn into her hands and feet. The energy condensed into invisible, razor-sharp claws.

  ?"Shield is down! I'm taking the core!"

  ?Mei became a silver blur. She slipped through the behemoth's sluggish defenses. She didn't slash wildly. Her eyes tracked the armor joints. Her invisible claws sheared through the steel plating, plunging deep into the chest cavity to sever the primary power relay.

  ?SHING.

  ?The internal circuits sparked. The massive machine died instantly, collapsing forward.

  ?They killed the boss. But gravity took over.

  ?Hundreds of tons of concrete and steel plummeted directly toward the cowering mannequins.

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  ?"They ignored the objective!" a student shouted nearby. "Mission failed!"

  ?Jin moved. His footwork was fluid, closing the distance in a single step. He stood directly beneath the falling wreckage.

  ?He didn't brace for impact. He raised his arm, tracing a smooth circle in the air.

  ?"Flow Interception: Deflect."

  ?The compressed ether around his sleeve caught the falling mass. He didn't stop the weight; he altered the trajectory. The concrete and steel slid off his invisible barrier, crashing harmlessly into the empty street on either side of the civilians.

  ?The dust settled. The street fell silent. Target destroyed.

  ?Then, heavy, ragged breathing broke the quiet.

  ?"Hah... hah..."

  ?Sun stood atop the wreckage. The physical overclocking demanded its Toll. His veins bulged. His eyes were entirely bloodshot, devoid of human reason. The beast instinct had completely hijacked his sanity.

  ?His feral gaze locked onto the mannequins standing behind Jin.

  ?"More..."

  ?Sun roared. He abandoned all technique. He leaped toward the civilians, raising his heavy staff to crush them into the asphalt.

  ?"Idiot," Jin muttered.

  ?Jin didn't dodge. He stepped into the strike zone. He condensed ether into the back of his hand. A fraction of a second before the iron staff connected, Jin swatted the side of the weapon.

  ?"Flow Interception: Reflect."

  ?BANG!

  ?Jin hijacked Sun's kinetic momentum and redirected it backward. The resulting force launched Sun through the air like a cannonball. He slammed directly into Mei.

  ?They rolled across the asphalt in a tangle of limbs.

  ?"Get off me!" Mei shrieked. Her own bloodlust flared. She bared her ether claws, ready to eviscerate her teammate.

  ?Sun snarled, gripping his staff. They targeted each other.

  ?Jin blurred. He appeared exactly between the two monsters. He looked incredibly pale.

  ?"Enough. I refuse to write the incident report."

  ?Thwack. Thwack.

  ?Jin drove two fingers into the pulse point on Mei’s neck. He struck Sun’s forehead. He severed their ether circulation instantly. Both teenagers convulsed once, their eyes rolling back as they hit the pavement, snoring.

  ?The arena was dead silent.

  ?Jin panted softly. He wiped a streak of blood from his mouth. Reflecting that much force bruised his internal organs. He sighed, grabbing Sun’s collar in his left hand and Mei’s collar in his right. He dragged their unconscious bodies down the street.

  ?He nodded to the untouched mannequins. "Follow me. The path is clear."

  ?The automated speakers stuttered. "E-Escort complete. Squad Jin. Status: Pass."

  ?Up in the stands, Ethan wiped sweat from his forehead. He swallowed hard. "Those Eastern guys... Absolute rabid dogs. They fight like they don't care who dies."

  ?"Sounds familiar, Ethan."

  ?Ethan froze. He snapped his head around. Elias, Noah, and Evie stood nearby. Noah covered a smirk. Evie nodded seriously.

  ?A vein throbbed in Ethan's temple. "What did you say, dead-eyes?!" He rolled his sleeves up, leaning over the seats. "Who's a dog?! I have technique! I don't foam at the mouth like those apes! Step up!"

  ?Elias didn't blink. He simply turned his head back to the arena, completely ignoring the threat.

  ?The dismissal enraged Ethan further. "You ignoring me?! I'll break your—"

  ?Grab.

  ?Vanessa’s hand clamped onto the back of Ethan's collar. Her grip was iron.

  ?"Cease barking, Ethan. Sit. Down."

  ?Her eyes flashed dangerously behind her lenses. Ethan’s bravado vanished. He sank into his seat, crossing his arms and muttering under his breath.

  ?Elias kept his gaze on the sand. "Based on that performance... Sun and Mei secure Purple licenses." He glanced at his friends. "Jin secures a Silver. Imagine the property damage if those two deployed in a populated zone without him. They would level the district."

  ?Noah nodded. Ethan grunted in reluctant agreement.

  ?Marcus respected Jin immensely. The guy isn't just a fighter. He's a walking insurance policy for his own squad.

  ?"It is not merely a lack of discipline."

  ?Vanessa spoke up. Her voice carried a heavy, grim weight. She adjusted her glasses, staring at the spot where Jin had dragged his teammates.

  ?"Sun's feral state is not a personality trait," Vanessa explained. "It is the Toll of his technique."

  ?Everyone listened. Even Ethan stopped grumbling.

  ?"The beast instinct harvests his consciousness. He loses control during combat. If he continues to compress ether into his nervous system..."

  ?She let the silence hang. The air around them chilled.

  ?"...Eventually, the instinct will consume him entirely. He will never return to baseline."

  ?Nobody spoke. Marcus stared at his own hands. The Toll wasn't just physical pain or torn muscles. It was a one-way ticket to losing your humanity. Magic was a tightrope over an abyss.

  ?Kzzt.

  ?The speakers crackled. "Attention. Final Wave Two candidate. Please enter the arena."

  ?A single girl stepped onto the sand.

  ?She wore a red kimono. The silk dragged lightly against the ground.

  ?Clack. Clack.

  ?Her wooden sandals hit the stone.

  ?The noise of the arena died. The chatter, the breathing, the shifting of thousands of people in the stands—it all vanished instantly.

  ?Marcus froze. His survival instinct screamed.

  ?The ambient temperature plummeted. It wasn't just silence. As everyone looked down at the girl on the sand, a collective horror gripped the crowd.

  ?Marcus felt freezing breath on the back of his neck.