Rajveer's scream was a wet, choked sound. The five soldiers advanced, their heavy iron boots crunching on the black gravel. They moved with a terrifying, fluid economy, fanning out in a practiced crescent.
"Get back! Get behind me!" Akash Satori yelled, shoving Neha and Priya behind him. He felt a strange, cold hum in the air, a vibration that seemed to run parallel to his own heartbeat.
"Stand together! Form a line!" Pranav shouted, trying to pull the paralyzed Sathwik.
"Are you insane?" Prajwal grabbed Pranav's shoulder. "They have weapons! Run! Everyone, scatter!"
"If we scatter, they hunt us down one by one!" Akash roared. "Hold the line! They're just men!"
"They are not just men," Shasank grunted, slipping into a low stance.
The first soldier reached them. He was a wall of scarred iron, and his heavy-bladed sword rose, aiming to split Akash in two.
"Unjust!" Akash yelled, less a word than a judgment. He braced, but the soldier's arm stumbled in the air, his blade suddenly feeling as heavy as an anvil. The swing, meant for Akash's neck, dipped, and Akash ducked. The wind of the passage tore at his hair. What was that?
The soldier, shocked by his own failure, recovered instantly. But in that split second, the fight began.
A second soldier swung at Uday. "Not the face!" Uday shrieked, cowering.
Shasank was a blur. He didn't just move; he flowed. He grabbed Uday's hoodie, yanking him back as the sword cut the air where his throat had been. For an instant, Shasank saw the soldier's follow-up—a backhand thrust—before it happened. He shoved Uday again, the pommel of the sword grazing his own ribs.
"YOU HIT ME!" Rajveer, delirious with pain and rage, charged the soldier who'd shot him. He swung his one good arm, his fist connecting with the soldier's slitted helm.
A small, sharp crack like a sonic boom erupted on impact. It wasn't just a punch; it felt heavy. The soldier's head snapped back, a grunt of surprise escaping him.
For a heartbeat, the students felt it—a surge of impossible power. Vanshika, shoving Pranav from the path of a third soldier, felt a cold, sharp energy thread from her fingertips, scratching a thin, bright line across the man's chest plate. Prajwal, tackling Vivek, yelled "Duck!" and the fourth and fifth soldiers both flinched, their perceptions momentarily hijacked.
Then the tiny second ended.
The soldier Rajveer had punched simply planted his boot and backhanded him. The sound of the armored gauntlet hitting Rajveer's jaw was like a bat splitting a melon. Rajveer went down, unconscious before he hit the ground.
The soldier Shasank had dodged pivoted with inhuman speed and kicked him in the chest. Shasank flew back ten feet, ribs cracking, the air punched from his lungs.
The soldier Akash had judged brought his hilt down in a brutal smash, crushing Akash's shoulder. Akash collapsed, his ideals shattering against raw, physical power.
The reality was simple. The students were a collection of nerves and fragile bones. The soldiers were forged from something else entirely. Their Spirit Energy, awakened and trained, made them faster, stronger, and infinitely more durable than any human from Earth.
The fight was over. It had never even been a fight.
"IT'S NOT A GAME! RUN!" Prajwal shrieked, his voice raw with a panic that was, for the first time, not an act. He grabbed Sathwik by the collar and threw him toward a cluster of jagged black rocks fifty yards away. "GO! NOW!"
"We can't leave them!" Pranav cried, his eyes fixed on Rajveer's still form.
"We can, and we will!" Prajwal snarled, his face pale. "They're already gone! Do you want to join them? Move, you idiot!"
That broke the spell.
Akash, clutching his arm, staggered to his feet. "He's right... Retreat! Towards the rocks! Scatter and regroup! Go!"
Kushal Nightfall was already gone, scrambling on all fours, sobbing. Vedha Bhai, silent for once, ran like a weasel. Linux and Vivek followed, their apathy shattered by pure terror.
"Pranav, come on!" Vanshika grabbed his arm, her voice firm, pulling him away from Rajveer.
"No! Uday! Kushal!" Pranav yelled.
It was too late.
Kushal, blinded by tears, tripped over his own feet and fell hard. Before he could get up, a soldier was on him, a heavy boot on his back, a sword to his neck.
Uday, trying to zig-zag, wasn't fast enough. A soldier threw a bola, the weighted cords wrapping around his ankles, sending him crashing to the gravel. He tried to crawl, but the soldier calmly walked up and kicked him in the head, dazing him.
The lead soldier barked an order. Two of them grabbed the unconscious Rajveer by his arms, dragging him like a sack of meat. The other two hauled the sputtering Kushal and the groaning Uday to their feet.
The remaining eleven students dove into the shadows of the black rocks, their lungs burning, the ash stinging their eyes.
Pranav looked back, his face a mask of guilt and horror. "We... we just left them."
Prajwal, breathing hard, didn't look back. He was staring at his own trembling hands. "We just survived."
From the plain, they heard the guttural laugh of the lead soldier. He pointed his bloody sword not at the escaping students, but back toward the fortress in the distance. He and his men began the long walk home, dragging their three terrified, whimpering, and broken captives with them.