The Monster Extermination Unit's first lecture hall was a grim chamber buried in the academy's lower levels, walls lined with preserved beast skulls and Ether-etched diagrams of monstrous anatomies.
Sunlight never reached here; instead, floating orbs of pale blue Aura provided a cold, unsteady glow that made shadows dance like living things.
Instructor Harlan Voss—no relation to Jade, though he wished otherwise—stood at the front, a wiry man with a scar twisting his left cheek into a permanent scowl.
He had survived twenty years on the front lines, culling everything from shadow wolves to lesser drakes, and now he was tasked with molding these spoiled nobles into something useful.
Or, in the case of his two newest problems, something survivable.
"Listen up," Harlan barked, slamming a gauntleted fist on the podium. "Monsters aren't dumb brutes. They're ancient. Intelligent. They sense Aura like blood in water. Your first lesson: circulation. Channel your Aura to mask your presence, then strike at weak points—eyes, underbelly, joints."
He demonstrated, his Aura flaring a steady amber as he traced a pattern in the air.
The class—thirty cadets, mostly Aura-gifted heirs—nodded intently, mimicking the flow with varying success.
In the back row, Jade Voss slouched in her seat, feet up on the desk, carving crude monster faces into the wood with a dagger.
Beside her, Kael stared blankly at the floating orb nearest them, as if debating whether it was edible.
Harlan's eye twitched.
"Voss! Silpatra! Demonstrate the circulation pattern. Now."
Jade grinned, not moving her feet.
"Which one? The swirly one or the stabby one?"
Harlan's scar twisted deeper.
"The masking circulation. Or do you plan to charge in screaming like a frontier savage?"
Jade hopped up, Aura crackling green and wild around her fists.
She tried—sort of.
The pattern fizzled into a chaotic burst that shattered a nearby skull trophy, sending bone shards raining down.
The class laughed nervously.
Harlan sighed.
"Controlled, Voss. Not explosive. Silpatra—your turn."
Kael didn't move.
"Silpatra!"
Kael blinked, then stood slowly.
No Aura flared.
No Ether hummed.
He just… stood there.
The instructor waited.
The class shifted uncomfortably.
Finally, Harlan threw up his hands.
"Fine. Practical lesson it is. We're moving to the Outer Zone perimeter for a live cull. Shadow wolves. Pair up. Mask, strike, survive. Fail, and you're meat."
Jade punched Kael's arm.
"This'll be fun. Bet I kill more than you."
Kael rubbed his arm absently, eyes drifting toward the exit—and the kitchens beyond.
The class marched out under armed escort, through the academy gates and into the fog-shrouded plains of the Outer Zones.
Here, the kingdom's walls ended, and the wild began: twisted trees clawing at the sky, ground scarred by old beast trails, air thick with the scent of decay and danger.
Harlan assigned pairs, saving the duo for last.
"Voss and Silpatra—flank position. Don't wander. Mask your Aura, observe the pack, then cull the stragglers."
Jade saluted mockingly.
"Aye, aye, scar-face."
As the groups spread out, the mischief began.
First, the masking.
The other cadets circulated their Aura carefully, blending into the fog like ghosts.
Jade tried—her green energy sputtered like a faulty lantern, drawing every insect in a ten-foot radius.
She swatted at them wildly, cursing loud enough to echo.
"Quiet!" Harlan hissed from afar.
Kael, of course, had no Aura to mask.
He just walked, silent as stone, but his stomach chose that moment to rumble like distant thunder.
A shadow wolf—sleek, black-furred, eyes glowing red—perked up from the treeline.
Jade grinned.
"First one! Let's get it!"
Harlan's voice carried over.
"Mask first! Assess the pack!"
They didn't.
Jade charged, swords drawn, Aura exploding in a green frenzy.
The wolf dodged, snapping at her heels.
She laughed, twisting mid-air with feral grace, landing a slash that drew black ichor.
But the beast howled—calling the pack.
Five more shadows emerged, circling fast.
Harlan swore under his breath, signaling the class to hold formation.
Kael, meanwhile, had wandered slightly off-path, drawn by a rustle in the bushes.
Not a wolf—a half-eaten deer carcass, fresh kill.
His eyes reddened slightly.
"Meat."
One of the wolves lunged at him from behind.
What happened next made the observing cadets freeze.
The wolf was fast—blurs of shadow and fang.
Kael was faster.
His body reacted before thought, speed rivaling ten cheetahs in a dead sprint.
He spun—not gracefully, but with the raw agility of a pack of wolves evading hunters, body contorting at impossible angles.
The wolf's jaws snapped shut on empty air.
Kael's hand shot out, reflexes sharper than a Condylostylus fly dodging raindrops.
He grabbed the beast by the scruff mid-leap, strength surging like forty gorillas compressed into one unyielding frame.
The wolf—twice his size—thrashed wildly.
Kael didn't notice.
He slammed it into the ground once, casually, cracking earth and bone alike.
The beast went limp.
Jade whooped from her fight, bisecting another wolf with a wild swing.
"Nice grab, prince! Now help me with these mutts!"
Harlan rushed over, Aura blade drawn.
"Idiots! You alerted the whole pack! Fall back and—"
Too late.
The alpha emerged—a massive shadow wolf, fur rippling with stolen Ether, eyes like burning coals.
It charged Jade.
She met it head-on, but the beast was clever, feinting left and striking right.
Jade stumbled, blood welling from a gash on her arm.
Kael looked up from the downed wolf, still holding its limp form like a rag doll.
His stomach growled again.
The alpha turned toward him.
Harlan shouted instructions—circulate Aura to blind it, strike the underbelly.
Kael ignored him.
The alpha pounced, a black storm of claws and teeth.
Kael dropped the dead wolf and met the charge.
No technique.
No plan.
Just instinct.
He sidestepped with cheetah speed, twisting with wolf-pack agility, reflexes firing like a fly evading a swat.
As the alpha sailed past, Kael's arm looped around its neck—gorilla strength crushing windpipe and spine in one effortless squeeze.
The beast collapsed, twitching.
Jade limped over, grinning through the pain.
"That was awesome! But you gotta share the kills next time."
She punched his shoulder again.
Kael looked at the alpha's corpse.
Sniffed.
"Meat?"
Harlan arrived, breathless, staring at the carnage.
The rest of the class gathered, wide-eyed.
"How… you didn't even circulate…"
Jade shrugged.
"Who needs that swirly stuff? We just hit 'em till they stop moving."
Harlan rubbed his scar, exasperated.
"Back to the academy. All of you. And Voss—Silpatra—detention drills. You'll learn circulation if I have to beat it into you."
As they marched back, Jade whispered to Kael.
"Detention? More like extra hunt time. Race you to the kitchens after?"
Kael nodded once, eyes on the horizon.
In the treeline, a hidden observer—a Voice of the Keepers—watched the duo go.
He noted in his ledger: Strength beyond measure. No Veil dependence. The girl amplifies his chaos.
The fog swallowed them.
But the whispers had already begun to spread.