Vice Principal Warren, who had been monitoring the raw data uploaded by Cillian, narrowed his eyes.
What stunned him at this moment was the sight unfolding within the fifth plane of the Endless Abyss.
From the depths below, millions of abyssal creatures surged like a flood, pouring into the upper layers through the space gates that had been forced open across the planes.
And worse off-this endless tide was only a fraction of the abyss's true population.
The instant Cillian's command spread, every living thing in the Abyss obeyed. It didn't matter if they were powerful or weak. They hurled themselves toward the nearest gate. Some ran, others flew and some even swam through rivers of corruption. Their roars shook the dark planes.
The Endless Abyss drove its spawn into a frenzy, igniting their hunger for the flesh of beings from higher worlds. From Warren's perspective, each plane now birthed a torrent of monsters, crashing forward like black rivers of teeth and claws.
"How can this be…? A world like this hidden in the Endless Abyss?" His voice trembled as the digitized battlefield unfolded before him.
He remembered the old records. The Abyss was supposed to be barren, a harsh, low-dimensional world where life could barely survive. Even if terrifying creatures were born, their numbers were always limited.
But this was beyond all expectation.
Though stunned, Warren finally allowed himself a breath of relief. "If the Abyss holds armies like this…" He looked toward Cillian, who sat cross-legged at the bottom of the chasm, calmly watching the battle unfold. A complicated look flashed in his eyes.
"Then Cillian will almost certainly pass this assessment."
A faint smile crept to the corner of his mouth. "Well done… truly well done."
Whatever path Cillian chose after this, whether he embraced paradox or brilliance, Warren was proud. This student was already carving out a legend of his own.
Back in the faculty office, one of the tutors noticed the subtle shift in the vice principal's face and leaned closer to whisper to a colleague. "Strange. Why does it look like Vice Principal Warren is actually pleased?"
The other tutor turned and glanced over. At that moment, Warren was lashing into a graduate student's thesis with his usual fury, his voice shaking the walls like a storm.
The tutor smirked, rolled his eyes, and muttered, "Pleased? Are you kidding me? You must've imagined it."
———x—————-
Elsewhere, in the principal's office, Principal Elara Everheart stirred as her gaze fell upon the twisting gates within the Abyss.
"Finally…" she whispered. "Something worth watching."
Unlike Warren, she cared nothing for how difficult the trial was. What fascinated her was the method Cillian chose to confront the divine legion pressing against his domain. She wanted to see how a lower-dimensional world would resist the so-called purification of the Legion of Faith.
And Cillian had certainly given his answer.
The sheer explosive might of the Abyss unleashed.
"How clever," Elara murmured. "To harness chaos itself… to forge a network of gates for moving troops, to turn instability into defense. Ingenious, truly wonderful."
Even someone as critical as her could not hold back her praise. In her eyes, the space gates themselves were a research topic worthy of their own: stabilizing transmission within chaos.
But she was wrong.
These gates weren't a shield, the gates weren't built to defend. Their true power was far darker, and she would soon see with her own eyes what the Abyss had created.