Eryndor stared at the glowing words on the last page of the book, his heartbeat steadying as he exhaled.
Panic was pointless.
He had long abandoned the concept of fear.
He had a son now.
A wife.
A family.
Friends he respected.
If destiny wanted a fight, then destiny would bleed.
He closed the book.
"Nothing will stop me," Eryndor murmured.
Not prophecy.
Not gods.
Not fate.
Just as he set the book down—
BOOOOOOOM!!!
A violent explosion shook the entire Celestia God Academy.
The floor cracked.
Bookshelves trembled.
Dust cascaded from the ceiling.
Kaelus spun around.
Darius was already on his feet.
"Bro—what the hell!?" Darius barked.
Eryndor needed no further prompting. His senses flared instantly.
Through the window, a shockwave expanded across the academy grounds—
And at its center…
Headmistress Seraphine was locked in combat with a tall, radiant figure whose very presence made space flicker.
A man with white hair, gold markings across his body, and two halos fused behind his back like spinning rings of light.
His movements were sharp, too sharp—every step a blur.
Kaelus whispered the name as if tasting poison.
"…Asmodeus."
The same figure that had been watching them.
The one who felt like a walking catastrophe.
Darius swallowed.
"Arcane Energy Master level… at his age? Nah, that's wild."
And it was true.
Asmodeus wasn't a god candidate.
He didn't need to be.
His mastery of Arcane Energy alone placed him beyond nearly every student and instructor, on a level that could erase dozens of god candidates in moments.
FTL movement.
Instant regeneration.
Teleportation.
Light weapons.
Aerial combat dominance.
A monster.
And right now he was trading blows with the headmistress.
Kaelus grabbed Eryndor's arm.
"We have to—"
ROOOOOAAARRR!!!
The sky tore open.
Gargantuan monsters descended—creatures whose claws cracked space, whose blood ignited the ground, whose roars destabilized mana itself.
World-Level Beasts.
The kind that normally required armies to subdue.
Now dozens filled the academy.
All around them, students surged into battle—inner class, upper class, outer class, and god candidates alike.
Stellar froze an ogre's arm off.
Dova Nexus touched a giant with two fingers—its entire forearm decayed instantly into gray ash.
Rein Clark shattered a wyvern's skull with a single flaming kick.
Kaelus summoned azure winds that sliced the wings off three aerial predators at once.
Darius used seismic ether to pummel a charging behemoth into the ground.
But the real danger…
Was the woman floating at the center of it all.
Headmistress Seraphine's voice thundered across the battlefield—
"GET AWAY FROM ME!!! ALL OF YOU—MOVE!!"
They froze.
Heat flooded outward—
Not fire.
Not flames.
Pure thermal death.
Reality distorted around her.
Space rippled like water.
Stone melted into glowing magma.
Even the air itself was too hot to inhale.
The temperature soared beyond 10 suns combined.
Her hair glowed red—
A solar firestorm incarnate.
Eryndor narrowed his eyes.
She was still holding back.
If she released everything…
The entire academy would vanish.
Kaelus wiped sweat from his brow.
"Bro… if she gets serious, everyone's dead."
Darius choked on the overheated air.
"We gotta help."
Eryndor shook his head.
A monster lunged—he shattered its skull with a single punch.
More kept coming.
They fought, pushing back waves of world-level beasts, trying to keep the destruction away from the headmistress.
But Asmodeus…
He didn't care.
He flashed behind Seraphine—faster than sight—forming a colossal blade of pure light.
He swung.
She blocked, barely, but the hesitation was clear.
She couldn't fully retaliate without annihilating the academy.
Eryndor gritted his teeth.
Enough.
"Bro," Eryndor said calmly, cracking his neck. "Y'all handle the monsters for me."
Kaelus, Darius, and Rein Clark looked over mid-battle.
At the exact same time, all three replied:
"Aiiite bet."
Eryndor stepped forward.
The sky trembled.
Lightning gathered overhead—
One bolt.
Two.
Then five thunderbolts tore downward simultaneously, streaking across the clouds like spears of divine wrath.
They all aimed in one direction—
Toward the headmistress and Asmodeus.
Asmodeus raised his massive blade of light again and charged Seraphine.
She prepared to counter despite the students still too close—
And then—
KRAK-THOOOOOOOOM!!!
A bolt of pure blue light struck the battlefield like a meteor.
Dust exploded outward.
Heat and light scattered.
Space crackled.
When Seraphine and Asmodeus looked—
A figure crouched in the crater, one knee down, one hand touching the ground, electricity swirling around him like a growing tempest.
He slowly lifted his head.
A smile—arrogant and razor-sharp—cut across his face.
Eryndor.
Asmodeus—
The unstoppable Arcane Energy Master—
took two steps back.
Because he could feel it.
An aura that didn't belong to a student.
A storm that didn't bow to gods.
Eryndor rose to his feet, shoulders relaxed, lightning cascading across him like a cloak.
"Yo," he said casually, eyes locking on Asmodeus.
"You picked the wrong academy."