​Mirabella stood on the asphalt outside the university building, her presence commanding a gravity that made the air feel heavy. Before her stood ten selected students: Hitachi, Carl, Rose, Austin, Grace, Aurelia, Precious, Kent, David, and Daniel. These were the elite, the ones who had survived the crucible of her training and emerged as something more than just survivors.

​"You ten all have good weapons and skills, so I will be taking ten of you with me," she announced, her voice ringing with a cold, absolute authority. She turned her head to the remaining students, who watched with a mixture of envy and awe. "As for the rest of you—wait for us. Don’t leave the university. Understood?!"

​"Yes, Captain!!" They yelled in a unified roar that rattled the nearby windows.

​"Miss Mirabella, are you leaving now?" Reed asked, hurrying down the steps. The suddenness of the deployment caught the military commander off guard.

​"Yes, we will deal with the gateways. We will be done before nighttime," Mirabella said. Before Reed could even process the logistical impossibility of that claim, Mirabella flicked her wrist.

​A surge of golden energy enveloped the group. Without a single flap of a wing or the roar of an engine, Mirabella and the ten students rose into the air, defying the very laws of the world.

​"Huh? I am flying?!" Grace exclaimed, her eyes wide as she looked down at the shrinking campus.

​"Of course. A Mage, Priest, or Swordsman could fly once they reach Lv300. Some can only fly after they reach Lv350, but this is different," Hitachi answered her, his eyes fixed on the back of Mirabella’s head. He could feel the tether of energy she held over them—it was effortless, yet absolute.

’Her spirit energy must be dangerously high to lift eleven people as if we weigh nothing,’ he thought.

​Reed watched from the ground as the dots of light shot out from the university, heading toward the horizon of Queens.

​"The Captain always goes overboard," Yi Chang noted with a smirk, crossing his arms.

​"What do you expect?!" Ken whispered back. "Of course, she has to show this woman we aren’t weaklings. She’s marking her territory."

​Reed stared at the distant streaks in the sky, a slight frown of worry creasing her forehead. ’I wanted to warn her... there are dangerous eels in the waters around Manhattan. I don’t even know how many there are, but the East River has become a graveyard of sunken ships and mutated horrors.’

___

​High above the ruins, the wind whipped through their hair.

​"Big sister, are we going to Queens to deal with the gateway?" Carl asked, maneuvering himself to fly closer to Mirabella.

​"No. We are going to the cemetery first. After that, we will head towards Queens and visit Grace’s and Precious’s homes," Mirabella said. Her words stunned the two ladies, who looked at her with sudden, watery eyes. In the middle of a world-ending war, their Captain was making time for the ghosts of their past.

__

​[Half an Hour Later — The Cemetery]

​The group hovered above the iron gates of the old cemetery. Below, the hallowed ground had been desecrated. Tens of zombies, rot-fleshed and hungry, wandered between the tilted tombstones alongside shadow-touched monsters.

​"Leave it to us."

​The ten didn’t wait for a command. They dove from the sky like falling stars, drawing their legendary class weapons.

​GEAAA...

​A zombie stopped mid-shamble and looked up, its milky eyes reflecting the glint of a descending blade.

​BAM!!

​Its head was severed before it could even utter a groan. Carl landed in a crouch, the other nine slamming into the earth around him in a perfect tactical circle.

​GRAAAAA!!!

​The scent of fresh, high-level blood acted like a dinner bell. Every monster in the cemetery turned, eyes glowing with malice, and rushed the circle.

​"Hahaha! Let’s show these guys what we have learned in our one-year training!!" Austin laughed, a boisterous sound that echoed off the mausoleums. He smashed his leaden feet into the dirt. "Warrior Might!!"

​BOOOOM!!!

​A shockwave of pure physical force erupted from him. The zombies in a five-meter radius didn’t just die; they shattered into a mist of bone and black blood.

​"You maxed your skill?" Aurelia asked in surprise, glancing at her twin brother.

​"Hahaha! I maxed all my skills!!" Austin roared, shooting forward like a cannonball.

​"You think you’re the only one with maxed skills." Aurelia gripped her legendary daggers. In a blink, she vanished. "Assassin Steps — Multiple Blood Slash."

​The team stood for a moment as red lines of light stitched through the air, weaving a tapestry of death. Ten seconds later, Aurelia reappeared, calmly sheathing her daggers into her waist.

​"Twenty are done," she said. A heartbeat later, twenty zombies behind her fell apart into neat, cauterized pieces.

​"Fufufufu, let’s attack before these two take all the kills," Precious laughed. Her legendary dagger flashed, and she too vanished into the shadows.

​"Let’s go!!"

​At Carl’s signal, the team fanned out, turning the cemetery into a masterclass of high-level combat.

__

​Mirabella remained suspended in mid-air, her arms crossed. She watched her students with a small, proud smile. They were no longer the frightened, weak children at the start of the competition. They were warriors.

​She descended slowly, her boots touching the overgrown grass. The cemetery was a graveyard in more ways than one—tombstones were shattered, and the ground was a patchwork of dried leaves and gore. Using the map of her memories, she began to walk.

​GRAAA!! 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

​A werewolf, hidden behind a large weeping willow, lunged at her from the blind spot. It didn’t even get ten meters. A silver-tipped arrow hissed through the air, piercing the beast’s skull with surgical precision. It dropped dead, skidding to a halt behind her.

​Mirabella didn’t even flinch. She kept moving, leaving a trail of dead monsters in her wake—all with arrows buried in their heads.

​’Seems Daniel has improved a lot,’ she thought.

_

​She finally reached her destination. A solitary tombstone stood there, weathered but largely intact. Mirabella stopped, the cold wind tugging at her hair as she stared at the inscription.

​"Loving Mother and Wife, Here lies Lady Genevieve."

​"Mother," Mirabella muttered, the word feeling heavy on her tongue as she stood before the grave of the woman who had once been the center of her world.