[A/N: Please donate some Golden tickets! My mom is kinda homeless...]

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Chapter 48: The Coward’s Cage

The massive holographic screens suspended in the center of the Academy cafeteria were supposed to display daily schedules and tournament rankings.

Today, they were broadcasting a bloodbath.

Patriarch Vance Hennessey had not wasted a single second.

His elite shadow guards had breached the toxic sewers beneath the slums in a synchronized and brutal assault.

The Cult of the Eternal Eclipse was entirely unprepared for a full-scale war.

But a cornered rat will always bite.

Instead of dying quietly in the dark, the surviving Cultists had blown the sewer grates wide open.

They flooded directly into the bustling commercial district of Bastion Seven. The news choppers circled high above the burning streets.

The high-definition cameras zoomed in on the absolute chaos.

Desperate Cultists were dragging screaming civilians into alleyways as human shields.

Twisted shadow beasts, summoned in pure panic, were overturning hover-cars and tearing through storefronts.

The city defense forces were scrambling, but they were hopelessly outnumbered by the sudden swarm of monsters.

Inside the Academy cafeteria, absolute silence reigned. Hundreds of students stared at the screens in sheer terror.

Aegon Logcheville sat at a corner table. His fists were clenched so tight his knuckles were completely white. He watched a shadow beast throw a crying civilian against a brick wall.

The blood in his veins began to boil.

He stood up. The metal legs of his chair scraped loudly against the polished floor. Every eye in the room snapped toward him.

Aegon ignored them. He walked straight toward the heavy steel blast doors at the front of the hall. Four heavily armed Vanguard Knights immediately crossed their mana rifles, blocking his path.

"Return to your seat, student," the lead knight commanded sternly.

"The Academy is under strict lockdown protocols. No one leaves this building."

"The city is burning," Aegon stated. His crimson eyes glowed with a dangerous intensity. "Get out of my way."

"It is a Class-A threat level outside," the knight fired back, refusing to budge.

"You are just a first-year. You will die out there. Stand down."

Before Aegon could push past the guards, a hand grabbed his shoulder.

Aegon turned his head. A third-year student named Kael was standing there.

Kael was considered a prodigy in the defensive arts, but right now, his face was pale and slick with nervous sweat.

"Are you insane, Aegon?" Kael hissed, pulling him back.

"Do not be reckless! Let the professional Vanguard units handle it. We are just students. We are supposed to stay safe in here until the danger passes!"

Several other senior students muttered in agreement, nodding their heads and stepping back from the doors.

They were perfectly content to hide behind thick concrete walls while the citizens outside paid the price.

Aegon looked at Kael’s trembling hand on his shoulder. He looked at the hundreds of students cowering in the cafeteria.

A feeling of profound disgust washed over him.

Aegon violently slapped Kael’s hand away. He took a step back and faced the entire room. The heavy pressure of his Logcheville aura exploded outward, suffocating the air in the cafeteria.

"You call yourselves future Hunters?" Aegon roared. His voice echoed like thunder against the metal walls.

"You walk around this Academy acting like elites. You brag about your grades. You polish your expensive weapons. But the second a real threat shows up, you hide in a cage!"

Kael flinched, stepping backward under the sheer weight of Aegon’s killing intent.

Aegon pointed a rigid finger at the massive news screen above them.

"Look at them!" Aegon shouted, pointing at the burning streets.

"Those are the citizens who fund this Academy! Those are the people we swore to protect! If you do not even have the balls to face down a few desperate Cultists today, how are you ever going to face the real monsters out in the wildlands?"

The entire student body was dead silent. Some students looked down at the floor in deep shame.

"We are supposed to be the shield of humanity," Aegon sneered, his voice dripping with pure venom.

"But you are acting like prey. Shame on all of you. You are nothing but a bunch of cowards."

He summoned his crimson spear. The heavy weapon materialized in his grip with a fierce surge of fire.

"If you pussies cannot do it, I will save them myself," Aegon declared.

He spun around. He did not wait for the Vanguard Knights to open the gates.

Aegon channeled his mana into his legs and kicked the heavy steel blast doors with the force of a battering ram.

CLANG!

The reinforced hinges buckled. The massive doors blew open, letting the cold outside air rush into the stagnant cafeteria.

Aegon stepped out into the courtyard alone. He gripped his spear, preparing to march straight into the burning city by himself.

He heard the crunch of footsteps behind him.

Aegon glanced over his shoulder. He expected to see the Vanguard Knights coming to drag him back inside.

Instead, Draven Mordis was walking casually out of the shattered doorway.

Estella was right beside him, her wooden staff already glowing with a soft blue light.

Reina cracked her knuckles, a fierce and bloodthirsty grin spreading across her scarred face.

"Did you really think you were going to hog all the glory?" Reina laughed.

Estella looked at Aegon with a determined nod.

"We are a squad. We go where you go."

Draven kept his hands in his pockets. His face was completely stoic, but internally, a dark and highly satisfied smile spread across his mind.

’The speech was flawless,’ Draven thought.

’The seed of shame has been planted in the Academy. The Vanguard Knights are stunned. The stage is perfectly set.’

"Stop staring, Aegon," Draven said flatly. He nodded toward the rising smoke in the distance.

"Lead the way."

Aegon felt a sudden surge of pride in his chest.

He turned around, his spear blazing with fire, and charged directly toward the chaotic streets of Bastion Seven.