​"If you want to escape that fate! You must get stronger!! Look at you! None of you have a single killing intent, do you still take yourself as Kids?!!" She continued, moving her piercing gaze around their faces, ensuring her words cut through the lingering terror of the mental illusions.

​"My target here is to clear two cities!! And I don’t need weak teammates! So I will ask every one of you, do you want power?!!"

​"YES!!!"

​The students yelled at the top of their lungs, their desperation fueling their voices. Even those who had been trembling on the ground stood up, their eyes burning with a newly ignited resolve.

​"Good!! Because the next test will start instantly!!"

​The moment her words fell, the ambient energy in the air suddenly spiked to suffocating levels. A pitch-black dome materialized out of thin air and dropped from the sky with a heavy, vibrating hum. It instantly covered the entirety of New York University, severing the spatial coordinates and completely isolating the space from the rest of the ruined city outside.

​"This?"

​The students were stunned, staring up at the dark, impenetrable dome swirling with energy around them.

​"This is one of my skills." Mirabella said, her tone absolute.

​’Actually this is three skills at work,’ she thought, analyzing the massive drain on her reserves to sustain such a supreme technique. ’The Almighty. Adira’s spirit energy barrier, and Celestial Wings. By overlapping absolute authority, spatial isolation, and temporal distortion, in this zone, I can control the time...’ She continued aloud:

​"Now! Listen up! In this space you are free to use your full strength... You will fight Bosses and World Bosses in one year in this space!"

​".....?!"

​Her words stunned the group; the sheer magnitude of the trial broke their understanding of normal system mechanics. They looked at one another in shock and disbelief.

​"Fight world Bosses and Bosses for a whole Year?!" Someone asked in shock, imagining the impossible stamina required.

​"This is crazy, what about the outside world?" Yi Chang asked, his mind racing to calculate the real-world consequences of vanishing for a year.

​"Yes! We can’t stay here for a whole year!" Ken added.

​"Listen!" Mirabella’s word sliced through the panic, instantly silencing the students.

​"In combat, you are all trash, utterly useless!! You don’t have to worry, A Year here is one hour in the outside world! In this space, I control the time, so you won’t age!" She explained, revealing a mastery over temporal laws that belonged to ancient gods, not mortal players. She moved her fingers, pointing systematically at everyone present:

​"In six months, you will fight in teams, the teams Lord Hayatobi picked for you!! The Invincible five, you don’t have teams, so you will fight solo!" She said seriously, pausing before revealing a shocking truth:

​"In this world! You can die! But I will resurrect you!" She said.

​’Resurrect us? I know the Captain is powerful, but why is she bluffing here?!’ Mitsuki thought with a deep frown. Resurrection was a mythical concept; once the soul departed the world, not even high-tier priests could reverse it.

​Mirabella turned her freezing gaze directly to her. Before everyone could even process a single thought or register a spike in energy, Mitsuki’s skull simply shattered into pieces like fragile glass under immense, invisible pressure. Her headless body dropped heavily to the ground, dead.

​"Ahh! The Captain killed Mitsuki!!" Connor yelled in sheer, unfiltered horror, stumbling backward.

​Mirabella walked calmly towards the headless, bleeding body. She opened her palm and activated her Imperial Bloodline skill: Celestial Healing.

​A brilliant, divine golden light shone from her palm. It defied the natural laws of death, actively rewriting the physical and spiritual damage. Before everyone’s stunned gazes, the golden light surrounded Mitsuki’s ruined neck. In the very next moment, bone, tissue, and brain matter were completely reconstructed from nothingness. Her head reformed flawlessly, and she sat up, gasping in horror.

​"This?! I... I am alive?" Mitsuki muttered in absolute awe and disbelief, her hands desperately feeling her face and neck.

​SILENCE....

​A suffocating, heavy silence descended all over the enclosed space. The students stared at Mirabella like she was a literal god who held their very existence in her hands.

​’Having the power to take life and give life... This is too overpowered,’ Rose thought in creeping horror, realizing the absolute disparity between them.

​’What sort of ability is this?! Even a God Class skill can’t bring someone back from the dead, not to mention the whole head was taken off!’ David thought, staring at Mirabella like she was a demon sovereign ascending from hell.

​’How powerful is the Captain?!’ Precious thought, swallowing hard.

​’Wow! Senior Sister is so amazing,’ Grace thought, staring at Mirabella with starry-eyed awe.

​’Hahaha! That’s my Big Sister,’ Carl thought with a fiercely proud smile, his loyalty cementing even further.

​"....?!"

​Hitachi was entirely dumbfounded, his Celestial Eyes trying and failing to comprehend the depth of the golden energy.

​"You saw that... If you die four times, you will be sent out. You are only allowed to die at least four times. In this one year, if you can last one year without getting killed thrice... I will reward you greatly!!" Mirabella said, laying out the brutal rules of her domain. She continued:

​"Six months, you will fight in groups, and those who remains after six months will be separated... The other six months, you will fight solo. I won’t waste your time again. Let’s start!!"

​The moment she said that, her body glowed brightly, emitting a blinding flash of spatial energy that forced all the students to forcefully shut their eyes.

__

​Carl slowly opened his eyes and found himself standing on a vast, unfamiliar open field. A small, translucent force field was humming around them, acting as a spawn point protection, covering only twenty meters. Behind him stood his assigned party, Team Ten: Daniel, Mitsuki, Gabby, and Connor.

​"Can we leave this place?" Connor placed his palm cautiously on the shimmering force field, and to his surprise, his hand moved smoothly out of it.

​"Oh, we can." He stepped completely out of the protection shield, the rest of the team following closely behind him, weapons drawn.

​"The Captain’s strength can’t be measured anymore. She could create such a realistic space without blinking, this is crazy!" Gabby muttered, gripping her staff tightly as she stared at the dense, ominous forest which completely surrounded their clearing.

​BOOOOM!!

​".....?!"

​The earth trembled violently. The five of them instantly shifted into standard combat formation, quickly drawing their weapons and tightly surrounding Gabby, who was the only Healer in the team and their most vital asset.

​"You heard the Captain... We will stay here for a year, so make sure not to die or waste your spirit energy." Carl instructed, his blue eyes narrowing as he stared at the dark treeline 200 meters from them.

​The shadows parted, and massive humanoid Werewolves walked out, their heavy steps shaking the ground. Their feral, glowing red eyes were fixed hungrily on the students.

​"What the hell?!! These monsters are all Bosses!! All Lv200!!" Mitsuki exclaimed, her voice trembling slightly as she drew her sword, reading the terrifying system markers hovering above the beasts.

​"They’re twenty of them." Daniel said, his voice grim as he knocked an arrow and pulled his bowstring taut, the energy gathering at the tip.

​AWOOOOOO!!

​The wolves howled, a sound that chilled the blood, and lunged towards them on all fours with terrifying, explosive speed.

​"Attack!!!" Carl yelled in unison, stepping forward as the vanguard to meet the vanguard of the horde.

___

​[The Golden Palace]

Mirabella stood within her Golden Palace. She sat upon an ornate throne, staring down at the hundreds of floating holographic screens arrayed before her, which were broadcasting the life-and-death struggles of every single student in her domain.

​"Fufufufu.... I welcome all of you into my Golden Palace," she whispered softly to the empty hall, a dark, calculating smile playing on her lips. The true evolution of her army had officially begun.