Boom.
Another tower crumbled.
It had been thirty minutes since the attack began, and already the entire training ground was in ruins. Smoke and debris filled the air, and screams echoed across the shattered field. My classmates had rushed forward to fight—but me? I wasn't like them. I had no power. Just instinct and fear.
Damn.
I needed to run.
If my suspicion was right, I was in grave danger.
The words from the hooded figure rang in my head.
"He is the key."
What key? I didn't even have a damn power.
Could they be the ones behind this? The masked attackers? The traitor guards? All of them after me?
Heart pounding, I dove into the first shelter I could find—a supply shed on the far end of the grounds. It was dark, cold, and smelled like oil and metal.
I shut the door behind me and held my breath.
Meanwhile, at the frontlines
"Wow. What a mess, don't you think, Eria?" Phil said through the comms, ducking behind a collapsed wall. "Half of the security team turned on us—and now we've got these guys in black running wild all over camp."
"Thanks for the info, Phil," Robert's voice came through, calm as always.
After the first explosion, a group of students had regrouped into a makeshift unit—Sage, Robert, Alice, James, Mike, Phil, Bruce, Eria, and five others who didn't hesitate to step up.
"Robert, you sure about this plan? We can't just charge in there—those guys are well-armed and organized," Bruce said, locking eyes with him.
Robert didn't flinch. "First of all, it's not my plan—it's Tyrone's."
At that, Alice's expression shifted. She tensed.
"Alice, something wrong?" James asked, stepping beside her.
"No, it's nothing," she said, then sighed. "I'm just worried about Tyrone. You think he'd try to take them on alone?"
"Nah, Ty's smart," Mike cut in, his voice crackling through the comms. "He knows better than to get himself killed. Especially if these guys are really after him."
"Okay, let's review the mission," Robert said, pulling up a holographic map.
"There are around forty infiltrators in the camp. On top of that, fifteen guards have defected. Most of them are C-rankers and D-rankers, nothing too insane… no confirmed S-rankers in the enemy team," Phil added.
"That's reassuring, sort of," James muttered.
"We've sent scouts to assess the situation," Robert continued. "Once Tymie engages the frontline, we'll use the chaos to move in."
"You still haven't explained the plan," Sage interrupted.
"I already called my dad," Alice said firmly. "He told me to stay out of this and find Tyrone. I'm only here so you all don't do anything reckless."
"No one asked you to stay, Alice," Sage muttered.
"Well, Tyrone's not here," Alice snapped. "So maybe you should leave too."
"Enough," Robert said, raising a hand. "Here's the breakdown."
"Once Tymie attacks, we move.
Close-range attackers—Bruce, James, Mike, and Riku—sneak in during the distraction.
Mid- and long-range fighters—Alice, Phil, Selene, Nova, and Eria—support from the perimeter.
Lena and Darius take the flanks and keep pressure off our entry team.
Sage stays mobile. If anything gets out of hand, she engages."
"No heroics. This is just to hold them off until reinforcements arrive. Understood?"
Heads nodded.
Then—
"Sorry to interrupt, Rob," Eria's voice came through. "But guys—the attack has already started."
"You suckers just ruined my day!" Tymie's voice erupted across the battlefield.
The earth groaned beneath him as he emerged from the hillside—barefoot, shirtless, smirking like a god of war.
With each step, the ground buckled.
He slammed his hand into the dirt, and the battlefield responded. The terrain writhed like it was alive—waves of stone rippling outward, tossing five black-clad attackers into the sky.
"Let's have some fun," Tymie growled, his arms glowing with raw power.
The entire landscape became unstable—spikes of rock jutted from the soil, traps formed instantly beneath enemies, trenches opened and closed like hungry jaws. Explosions went off as attackers were thrown like ragdolls.
"Signal's up. Let's go!" Robert ordered.
Bruce, James, Mike, and Riku dashed through the trenches, using Tymie's tremors to stay hidden from sight.
Alice lifted debris with precision and launched it like missiles from behind cover.
Phil was already hacking a nearby drone, turning it against the enemy's communication lines.
Eria vanished into ghoststep, blinking between enemies, feeding live intel to the team.
Selene and Nova maintained overwatch from a damaged rooftop, suppressing enemy movement with vision and power disruption.
Lena faded into the shadows on the east flank, tendrils of darkness creeping toward unsuspecting foes.
Darius cracked the ground with shockwaves, separating enemy formations and boxing them in.
Sage, engulfed in a swirl of radiant Azure Flame, watched them move like a blade ready to strike. Her orders were clear—engage only if it all went to hell.
The ground quaked with Tymie's wrath. Spires of earth erupted like spears, flipping enemy lines into the sky. His laughter echoed through the battlefield—deep, thunderous, and unnerving.
"Engage!"
Robert's voice rang out over comms.
The student strike teams split, each rushing into their assignments with fire in their eyes.
Bruce charged forward first, steam hissing from his skin as he absorbed ambient heat. He slammed his fists into the ground, unleashing an explosive wave that scattered a group of enemy C-rankers.
"Cover left!" James shouted, and two of his clones zipped into formation, taking hits meant for the real him. He teleported between illusions, knocking enemies off balance.
Mike flanked hard right, magnetic pulses sparking from his palms. Steel fragments from broken tower supports floated around him like a swarm of blades. He hurled them at an incoming D-ranker, pinning him to the wall before the guy could react.
Riku—quiet, focused—drew flames from his gloves and spun into motion. His style was elegant, his strikes surgical. He used bursts of fire to blind opponents, then followed up with acrobatic kicks that sent them sprawling.
"Clear on this side!" Riku barked, wiping his nose with the back of his glove.
From the rear ridge, Alice raised a chunk of debris, eyes locked on an advancing squad.
"Focus fire," she muttered, and launched the rock like a missile. It smashed through two enemy shields with flawless precision.
Phil, crouched beside her, tapped into a downed enemy comm unit. "Give me five seconds." His fingers blurred across the interface. Suddenly, the enemy earpieces crackled—and cut out completely.
"Comm lines scrambled," he confirmed. "They're blind."
Eria blurred past, weaving in and out of combat, whispering quick location updates through the comms.
"Three moving west. One's cloaking. I'll mark him."
Nova, perched beside Selene, channeled her energy into pulses that destabilized enemy powers. When a B-ranker tried to summon lightning, it fizzled into sparks.
Selene's eyes glowed violet. "Enemy formation shifting left. Sending psychic distortion." A wave of mental pressure rolled through the air. Two of the intruders dropped to their knees, clutching their heads.
"Perfect shot," Nova whispered.
Lena's shadow-tendrils snaked along the walls, disarming traps and yanking weapons from surprised enemies.
Darius struck like a warhammer—each stomp rupturing the ground under enemy boots, sending them flying like bowling pins.
"We're making progress on the flank," Lena's calm voice came through the comm. "West perimeter nearly clear."
Sage hadn't moved.
She stood atop a shattered wall, her azure flames swirling around her like a cloak of prophecy. One attacker rushed her from behind—
She didn't even turn.
A single flick of her wrist, and the flame leapt like a whip—wrapping around the assailant's weapon and sealing it midair. The sword melted into silver dust, and the attacker screamed in panic as the flames scorched his aura but left his body untouched.
"I said stay out of my range," she muttered, stepping off the wall and into the battlefield.
Meanwhile
Still hiding. Still powerless.
But every crash outside shook the walls of the shed. Screams. Explosions. Friends putting their lives on the line.
For what?
I clenched my fists.
Tyrone Smith, you are the key… power of creation and destruction…
I didn't know what that meant. But I knew I couldn't keep hiding.
Not anymore.