Aarna’s flames were no longer just a skill.

  Heat roared around her, so intense that the air itself shimmered. The temperature spike burned through the nearest signal lines, and one of the monitoring devices closest to WINI’s group overloaded and exploded with a sharp pop.

  Gonad flinched and immediately backed away, water?blue energy already gathering around him.

  “Tidal Dominion,” he muttered, activating his innate skill at partial range.

  Pressure like a contained tide formed around his body, letting him keep distance from Aarna while shielding himself from the worst of the heat. Even so, sweat beaded on his forehead.

  WINI had already taken several steps back after hearing Aarna’s warning, eyes narrowing.

  If this continues, it’ll be dangerous for her cultivation… and maybe her life.

  He drew a slow breath and willed his Void Eye to open.

  Purple?black light flickered in his left pupil as the world around Aarna shifted into lines of flowing spirit energy and blazing nodes of soul power.

  Inside the monitoring hall, teachers and academy instructors were still unsettled by Oscherin’s unexpected elimination—especially by who had eliminated her.

  Voices overlapped.

  “Did she get tired and slip at the end?”

  “Maybe that boy, WINI, took advantage when she turned toward the flame girl—”

  “Or he ambushed her from blind spot and—”

  “Enough.” Robert’s voice cut across the noise, low and sharp.

  The room fell silent.

  “An elimination is an elimination,” Robert said. “None of you were inside the Trial Grounds. Stop throwing around baseless guesses and watch quietly.”

  No one dared argue.

  On one of the main screens, Aarna stood wreathed in violent flame.

  Ramyas leaned forward, eyes narrowing. “Rainor, what is going on with that girl Aarna? Why isn’t she retracting her skill? Is she fighting those other two after Oscherin’s exit?”

  Rainor shook his head lightly. “No… this feels different. I think she just activated her innate skill. Nirvana.”

  Shock rippled through the guests.

  “What?” all four academy representatives blurted at once.

  “You’re saying her innate skill is the true Nirvana?” Ramyas demanded.

  “I thought she was just imitating something close to it,” Robert said quietly. “Like the fire experts do after Integration.”

  Before Rainor could reply, the screen showing WINI’s group flickered—and went black.

  Kaigal frowned. “What happened? Why did that feed cut?”

  Robert’s gaze hardened. “Rainor?”

  “The monitoring device at that location must have been damaged,” Rainor answered. “Don’t panic. There are backup devices throughout the Trial Grounds. The system will try to reroute.”

  “How long?” Robert asked.

  “From at least one minute to at most two,” Rainor said.

  Ramyas exhaled. “That’s manageable—”

  “No,” Robert interrupted. “It isn’t.”

  The instructors went quiet again.

  “If what Rainor said is true and that girl really awakened the original Nirvana as her innate skill,” Robert said slowly, “then losing control at this realm is extremely dangerous. Not just for this Trial— for her future path. In the worst case, she could die.”

  He looked at the dark screen.

  “That is why anyone with strong fire affinity only learns Nirvana as a technique after reaching Integration Realm,” he continued. “And even then, they can only imitate it. Some old records say the one who created the learnable version awakened the same soul: Flame Lotus. Its true fire stays hidden until it blooms toward the sky; when that happens, the lotus mutates into something else. The result of that mutation isn’t recorded.”

  He folded his arms.

  “If she’s using the original Nirvana at the Awakened Realm and loses control, the backlash could cripple her talent—or kill her. The moment this screen comes back, if I see real danger, I’ll force?end her Trial. She’s already at the peak of the Awakened Realm. Losing a seedling like that would be a waste.”

  No one objected. Heads simply nodded.

  The screen remained black.

  Outside the Trial Grounds, eliminated students milled around near the giant ranking board, nursing injuries and pride.

  Suddenly, teleportation light flared at the safe zone.

  A figure appeared and staggered a step.

  Oscherin.

  For a breath, the area went silent. Then the whispers rose like a tide.

  Student 45: “No way… did Aashna take her out?”

  Student 46: “Has to be her. Who else could eliminate Oscherin?”

  Student 56: “But she doesn’t look torn up. Just some redness on her neck. Did she crush her own band after meeting a corrupted beast?”

  Student 147: “Looks like she backed off herself.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Mutters and theories spread. None of them had seen what actually happened; the Trial footage was only visible inside the monitoring hall. But the board didn’t lie.

  Oscherin ignored the crowd.

  Her left side still stung faintly from Nirvana’s burn, and her throat carried a thin mark where WINI’s fingers had gripped her. She touched her neck, eyes narrowing.

  I didn’t expect him to be that strong…

  The memory replayed in her mind: her speed dissolving, the world vanishing, only that purple?glowing left eye existing—and then his hand at her throat, moving faster than she could track.

  His physical strength isn’t normal. Is his soul related to body strengthening? And that eye… that purplish light…

  Her expression turned colder.

  Void Soul, huh…?

  Inside the Trial Grounds, WINI finished tracing Aarna’s internal flow.

  From his Void Eye’s perspective, her spirit energy was a blazing river, and her soul energy was a torrent being poured directly into it.

  “She’s forcing too much soul energy into her spirit energy,” he thought. “If this keeps up, it’ll overflow.”

  He stepped forward, coating his body in a thin layer of Void energy.

  The air around him distorted, the worst of the heat bending away.

  “Winay, don’t come near!” Aarna gasped. “I can’t control it—”

  “I know.” WINI stopped just within reach of the flame’s edge. “Aarna, listen. Focus on your soul energy. Try to reduce it little by little. Push the flow evenly through your body, then release it together—not in random bursts.”

  “I’ll try,” Aarna said through clenched teeth. “But it keeps surging on its own…”

  “Then you let it out,” WINI replied. “I’ll trim and guide.”

  His Void Eye glowed brighter as he locked onto the pathways inside her. Aarna forced herself to breathe slowly. The Nirvana flames around her flickered, still fierce but no longer spreading wildly.

  WINI saw clumps of over?dense energy forming along her meridians. With Void, he nudged them—thinning, redirecting, smoothing the current.

  The strain hit him immediately. This was his first time using the Void Eye this long, this precisely, on another person’s internal energy. A dull pain pressed at the back of his head.

  Even so, the chaos in Aarna’s flow slowly began to settle.

  The earlier explosion and heat disturbance did not go unnoticed.

  Aashna, newly entered into the inner zone, felt the firestorm’s pressure and changed direction. As she approached, icy aura wrapped tighter around her, Glacial Veil thickening.

  She stopped at a safe distance.

  At the center of the scorched clearing, Aarna stood wrapped in high?grade flame. WINI faced her, one hand slightly raised, left eye glowing purple. Gonad waited further back, Tidal Dominion ready, eyes anxious.

  So that’s Nirvana, Aashna thought, gaze narrowing. And he’s helping her bring it back under control… using that Void Soul.

  She tried to step closer, but even with Glacial Veil, closing the last few meters would risk a direct clash between ice and Nirvana’s core.

  She stayed where she was and watched.

  Just as Aarna’s channels began to smooth out, WINI saw it: a dense node forming near her center, compressing far too quickly.

  The last surge, he realized. Of course there’s a final outburst.

  The swelling point was ready to explode through her circuits.

  “Aarna!” he shouted. “Right now—release everything at once! Don’t hold it!”

  “What—”

  “Do it!”

  She let go.

  For an instant, Nirvana flared like a pillar, burning so bright the air turned white. The compressed energy shot outward in a savage rush—

  WINI’s Void Eye pulsed.

  “Cancel,” he whispered.

  Void energy snapped around the core of the outburst, stripping away the sharpest peak and dispersing the overloaded part. The blast still roared past them, but its heart was gone—turned from a soul?tearing explosion into a controlled final wave.

  The flames contracted.

  Aarna’s aura steadied.

  Within thirty seconds, the raging Nirvana around her had shrunk to a gentle, obedient warmth dancing over her skin before settling down.

  Aarna swayed, chest heaving, but stayed conscious. In WINI’s sight, her soul lines held. No fatal cracks, no deep wounds.

  Good, he thought, finally closing his Void Eye. She’s safe.

  The moment her mind cleared, Aarna moved on instinct.

  She stepped forward and hugged him tightly.

  “Thank you, Winay,” she said, voice raw. “I really… owe you for this.”

  A heartbeat later, awareness caught up. She realized what she was doing, face flushing, and quickly stepped back.

  WINI shook his head. “It’s okay. This started because you were protecting me. I should be the one thanking you.”

  Aashna, watching from afar, relaxed when she saw Aarna standing without backlash. For a moment, a thought flickered.

  If I attack now, I can try to eliminate all three… but it’ll be a long fight. Less than an hour remains. Time spent here means fewer beasts and fewer points.

  She turned away.

  The inner zone will give me points faster than a three?on?one.

  Silently, she left the area.

  Gonad released Tidal Dominion and hurried over.

  “Aarna, you okay now?” he asked. If Harina hears about this, I’m dead, he thought, a chill running down his back. Please don’t mention my name…

  “I’m fine,” Aarna said, rolling her shoulders. “Honestly… I feel like I have more energy now.”

  “That’s good,” Gonad laughed weakly. “Ah, but—what’s that on your forehead?”

  A faint mark had appeared above Aarna’s brows for a moment—a lotus in bloom, flaring with fire.

  WINI squinted. “Yes… I see it too. A lotus with flame. Ah… it faded.”

  Aarna touched her forehead. “I don’t feel anything. Maybe it appears when I use my innate skill. Probably related to Nirvana.”

  WINI nodded. “You’ve just experienced the full pathway and flow. Try calling your skill again—but gently this time. See if you can control it on your own.”

  “I’ll try,” Aarna said.

  Gonad quietly took two steps back. One more explosion and I’m done…

  Aarna focused.

  Warmth rose from her core, following the now?familiar routes WINI had guided. The lotus mark flared briefly on her forehead again, then settled as a calm flame aura around her before fading.

  WINI smiled faintly. “The mark came back. Definitely linked to your innate skill. Good. Since everything is stable, we should continue the Trial.”

  “Yeah,” Gonad agreed. “But… look at this. Your rank is still too low, Winay. See—”

  He checked his wristband.

  “Wait… what? I’m seventh now? When did that happen? And how is that Grandellion guy above me?!”

  WINI glanced at his own band. “Did you forget he also awakened a rare soul like you?”

  Gonad grimaced. “Right… and with his family’s training, his combat power is high. Haa… if I don’t hunt properly, I’ll never hear the end of it from him.”

  “Then let’s split up,” WINI said. “We each need more points. I’m fine to move now.”

  “I was thinking the same,” Aarna said.

  “Same here,” Gonad nodded. “Let’s do it.”

  They separated, each heading toward different hunting grounds.

  The ranking board showed:

  1st: Oscherin Terrion — 977 points

  2nd: Aashna Icenfield — 710

  3rd: Carg Capster — 645

  4th: Aarna Asval — 530

  5th: Miron Tuberlin — 529

  6th: Grandellion Cellewars — 520

  7th: Gonad Valtoris — 499

  …

  899th: Winay Hecksopian — 33 points

  “Feed restored,” Rainor said at last. “Their location is back.”

  The black screen blinked to life, showing Aarna, WINI, and Gonad already walking and talking as if nothing had happened.

  Robert narrowed his eyes. “What happened there? They look like they just finished an afternoon stroll. Did she control the skill herself, or did that Void Soul of his interfere?”

  He watched Aarna’s relaxed posture, the absence of visible backlash, then let out a quiet breath.

  “Well, she’s safe. That’s what matters. Let’s keep our eyes on the rest.”

  Kaigal nodded. “These last fifty minutes will decide the final standings. Let’s see who pushes through.”

  Ramyas checked the overall map. “The remaining students seem to have realized time is short. Most of them are heading toward the inner zone for higher?value beasts. There are about thirty left… and all of them are in the inner zone now.”

  Evan shook her head slightly. “Not all.”

  Ramyas glanced over. “Hm? Who’s still outside?”

  She tapped a different feed. “The boy with the unique soul. Void Soul. He’s still in the outer zone.”

  Ramyas studied the board. “He must have realized it’s inefficient for him to hunt in the inner zone now. Stronger beasts are about to appear there. He’s probably trying to gather as many safe points as possible from the outer zone.”

  No one contradicted her. It was a reasonable guess.

  Then, almost simultaneously, several instructors leaned in.

  On the outer?zone map, beast signals started vanishing at a frightening pace.

  In less than two minutes, half of the remaining outer?zone beasts disappeared.

  Robert’s brows knitted. “Is that a system glitch? How did half the beasts vanish in two minutes? And yet…”

  He looked at the ranking board.

  Current ranking:

  1st: Oscherin Terrion — 977 points

  2nd: Aashna Icenfield — 790

  3rd: Carg Capster — 665

  4th: Aarna Asval — 570

  5th: Miron Tuberlin — 548

  6th: Grandellion Cellewars — 534

  7th: Gonad Valtoris — 530

  The numbers were climbing, but not nearly enough to explain the massacre on the outer map.

  Something in the outer zone was moving.