The sky was dark and brooding when Max sent the messages.
He sat on the edge of his bed, fingers trembling as he typed. "Meet me behind the eastern cliff after lights out. I found something you both need to see. Alone." One message for Jack. One for Elara.
Max stared at the glowing text for a moment before hitting send.
He didn't want to do this. But he had to.
They were getting too close—Elara had been asking too many questions about his necklace, and Jack had caught him accidentally talking with elara about the necklace two days ago. If they exposed him before he was strong enough to protect himself, the Academy or worse, the world's governing elite, would destroy him or use him like a tool.
Max wasn't going to let that happen.
Hours later, beneath the silver glow of the moon, he stood on the edge of the cliff, the wind tugging at his cloak. His hands itched with raw elemental power, each breath syncing with the pulse of mana in his veins.
The first to arrive was Jack.
"Tch. What's this about, trash?" Jack sneered, stepping forward with his signature arrogance. His frost-blue eyes glowed faintly, a testament to his power.
Then came Elara, cautious as always. "Max, what's going on?"
Max stepped back, away from the moonlight, so they couldn't see the crackle of lightning crawling up his arms. "I just wanted to talk," he said. "I know you two don't trust me. I get it. But there's something I need to show you."
Jack scoffed. "If this is some pity stunt—"
Max raised his hand.
In an instant, a pillar of flame erupted at Jack's feet, forcing him to leap back. Elara's eyes widened as Max followed it with a burst of wind, launching himself toward them like a missile. A wave of lightning shattered the ground beneath Jack, sending him crashing into a rock.
"What the—?!" Elara cried out, forming a shield of fire and vines, but Max was already there. He summoned a whip of water, hardened it into ice mid-swing, and slammed it into her shoulder. She screamed, stumbling.
Max's heart pounded in his ears. His screen appeared.
[EXP +200]
[Elemental Synchronization: 15%]
He fought with everything—fire, water, wind, earth, even flickers of darkness. Jack tried to retaliate, launching icicles and stone spikes, but he was confused, disoriented.
"This is impossible!" Jack roared, blood running down his face. "You're a green talent!"
Max said nothing. He felt powerful—alive. The mana coursing through him answered his every thought.
Elara made one last lunge, trying to disarm him with a fire chain, but Max summoned lightning in his palm and hurled it like a spear.
The light swallowed her scream.
[EXP +300]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 4 → Level 6]
[Stats increased. Elemental slots unlocked.]
Breathing heavily, Max stood over their broken bodies. The wind carried away the smell of blood. He didn't feel joy. But he felt… free.
They would have exposed him. Now, no one knew.
He quickly enacted the plan he'd prepared—beast blood from a mutated wolf he had slain last week, monster claw marks from a forged tool he'd hidden nearby, scattered bones from the beast's previous kill site.
He covered the scene, left the area undetected, and returned to the academy with a blank expression.
In the morning, the alarms rang.
"Jack Frost and Elara Rugpt are dead!"
Max didn't flinch.
In the shadows of grief and confusion, a single thought echoed in his mind:
No one will ever control me again.