Dawn came cold and colorless.
Mist rolled across the arena basin like something alive.
The water was gone this time.
In its place stood fractured stone platforms suspended over a yawning gap filled with swirling wind currents.
Jeather stared at the terrain and clicked his tongue.
"Great. Floating death rocks."
Across from him stood Rank 643 — Ilyra Morn.
Slim. Composed. Silver hair braided tightly down her back.
Her eyes were calculating, not arrogant.
"You rotate beasts," she said calmly. "That's unusual."
Jeather shrugged. "I get bored."
A few students laughed nervously.
Ilyra raised one hand.
A summoning circle ignited.
Out stepped a sleek, long-limbed creature with blade-like protrusions along its forearms.
Bronze core.
Silver-tier combat evolution.
Stormpiercer Lynx.
Wind currents intensified instantly.
The platforms began shifting slowly.
Jeather exhaled.
"Of course it's wind."
Inside the Beast Realm, the Icebound Abyss Weaver spoke calmly:
"Wind destabilizes structural formations."
"No kidding," Jeather muttered.
The Rifthound's distortion flickered faintly.
"Allow me."
"Not yet."
The match began.
The Lynx moved first.
No roar.
No warning.
Just vanished—
Then reappeared mid-leap from a different platform, wind folding around its limbs.
Jeather barely twisted aside.
A blade of compressed air sliced past his cheek, drawing blood.
"Oh, that's how we're starting? Fine."
He summoned the Icebound Abyss Weaver again.
It landed on a fragment of stone, immediately firing frost threads across nearby platforms.
The Lynx cut through the first web easily.
Ilyra didn't smirk.
She analyzed.
The Lynx shifted tactics instantly.
Instead of frontal assault—
It began using the wind currents beneath the platforms.
Launching from below.
Striking upward.
Adaptive.
Smart.
Jeather cursed under his breath as he slipped slightly on a tilting platform.
"Damn acrobat cat—"
The Lynx appeared behind him mid-air.
Jeather ducked barely in time.
Wind blades shredded part of his sleeve.
The spider attempted to reconstruct a frost lattice—
But the constant shifting platforms prevented stable anchoring.
Ilyra's voice carried evenly.
"You rely on preparation. I deny you structure."
Jeather barked a short laugh.
"Yeah? Then I'll make my own."
The spider altered tactics.
Instead of spreading outward—
It focused inward.
Weaving dense frost threads between Jeather and itself.
A localized anchor zone.
Wind currents clashed violently against it.
The Lynx dove again—
This time feinting left then cutting right.
Jeather misread it.
A blade of wind struck his side.
He staggered hard.
Pain flared.
Students gasped.
Ilyra pressed.
The Lynx multiplied its motion through wind mirroring—
Three afterimages.
One real.
Jeather's breath grew sharp.
This is bad.
He could keep pushing with the spider—
But Ilyra's adaptability was accelerating.
He tasted blood.
"…Alright. Fine."
He lifted his hand.
The spider retreated instantly into the Beast Realm.
Distortion rippled outward.
The Rifthound stepped forward.
Gasps erupted across the terraces.
"Spatial beast!"
Ilyra's eyes sharpened.
The Lynx launched immediately.
The Rifthound didn't dodge.
It folded.
Not full displacement—
But a partial spatial shift.
The Lynx's blade passed through a warped segment of air—
And struck nothing.
Students stood.
"Did it just—"
Jeather grinned through blood.
"Yeah. It just did."
The Rifthound snapped forward.
Its distortion field expanded briefly—
Altering gravity vectors around the Lynx mid-leap.
The creature miscalculated its landing.
It stumbled.
Ilyra reacted fast.
"Storm spiral!"
Wind compressed violently around the Lynx, creating a slicing vortex.
Jeather swore loudly.
"Shit—!"
The vortex tore across the platform—
Jeather jumped—
But the edge crumbled.
He dropped.
Wind howled beneath him.
The Rifthound's distortion pulsed violently.
Space bent.
Not cleanly.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
Jeather reappeared roughly on a neighboring platform—
Hard landing. Shoulder slamming stone.
Students were dead silent.
That had not been clean.
Ilyra stared.
"You're unstable."
Jeather stood slowly.
"Yeah."
The Rifthound's eyes glowed brighter.
The distortion around it grew heavier—
More defined.
The Lynx lunged again—
But this time the Rifthound pre-folded the space between them.
The Lynx overextended into compressed space—
Momentum snapping backward unnaturally.
Jeather seized the opening.
He surged forward and drove mana into the Lynx's flank.
The distortion field pulsed once more—
Then collapsed.
The Lynx crashed.
Ilyra held eye contact for several seconds.
Then exhaled.
"Yield."
The obelisk shimmered.
Rank 643 — Jeather Vale.
The crowd reaction was louder than before.
But it wasn't admiration.
It was recalculation.
From the upper tier, Vorn Halcyon's voice carried sharply.
"He almost lost control."
Mirelle's gaze remained fixed.
"He's forcing evolution through pressure."
Selvaris Noct murmured softly,
"If he integrates that beast, none of us below Rank 300 stop him."
Darius Vell crossed his arms.
"Then we don't wait."
Below, Instructor Maelor finally stepped forward.
"That was reckless," he said evenly.
Jeather wiped blood from his lip.
"Felt educational."
Maelor's gaze sharpened.
"You're pushing unstable spatial mechanics inside academy grounds."
Jeather tilted his head slightly.
"You worried?"
Students froze at the tone.
Maelor didn't rise to it.
But his voice cooled.
"Climb carefully, Jeather Vale. The academy does not protect those who rush toward fractures."
Jeather smirked faintly.
"Good thing I like cracks."
He turned and walked off.
Instead of returning to his quarters, Jeather exited through the lower gates.
Saltwind's outer district spread beyond the academy cliffs.
Stone walkways.
Fishing docks.
Beast supply shops.
Mana lanterns swaying in ocean wind.
He rolled his shoulders.
Fighting was one thing.
But the world was bigger than ranked platforms.
He wandered past a beast apothecary.
Glass tanks lined the walls—
Small aquatic creatures flickering with mana.
A perched ember-winged falcon sat atop a roof beam nearby.
It eyed him carefully.
Jeather paused.
"Relax. Not sealing you."
The falcon huffed softly.
Further down, a coral-covered storefront displayed beast gear.
A caged rock-skitter lizard clung to its bars, glaring.
Jeather crouched briefly.
"You'd bite me."
The lizard snapped.
"Yeah. Thought so."
He continued toward the docks.
Fishing boats rocked gently.
Local students and merchants lined the pier.
One old fisherman glanced at him.
"You're academy, yeah?"
"Unfortunately."
The man snorted and handed him a simple mana-thread rod.
"Try your luck. The tide's strange today."
Jeather blinked.
"…Why not."
He cast the line.
The otter inside the Beast Realm vibrated with excitement.
"Fish! Fish!"
"Calm down."
Minutes passed.
Ocean wind cooled the dried blood on his shirt.
The academy loomed behind him.
Political tension.
Ranked threats.
Integration decisions.
But here—
Just tide.
The rod jerked suddenly.
Jeather raised a brow.
"Really?"
He pulled.
Up from the water burst a small shimmering creature—
Silver-scaled.
With faint electric pulses dancing along its fins.
Not aggressive.
Just startled.
He caught it carefully.
A minor beast.
But unusual.
The fisherman whistled.
"Haven't seen a Sparkfin in weeks."
Jeather examined it.
Peculiar.
Low-tier.
But rare in this region.
He smiled faintly.
"Guess I'm not done collecting."
Inside the Beast Realm, the otter clapped.
"New friend!"
The Sparkfin flicked weak sparks at him.
He considered sealing it.
Then paused.
No.
Not every beast needed sealing.
Some were better observed.
He gently released it back into the water.
The fisherman raised an eyebrow.
"You're not greedy."
Jeather shrugged.
"I prefer interesting."
He handed the rod back.
As he turned to leave, his gaze lifted toward the academy cliffs.
High above—
He could feel it.
Pressure building.
Top ranks shifting.
Integration whispering at the edge of his thoughts.
The Rifthound's voice echoed softly within.
"I am ready when you are."
Jeather exhaled slowly.
"Yeah."
He looked back at the ocean once more.
"I just need to be sure I'm ready too."
The wind howled faintly through Saltwind's outer district.
Behind him, the academy lights burned brighter.
Rank 643 defeated.
Eyes watching.
Sharks circling.
And something deeper stirring beneath the fracture lines of space itself.