"Trouble."
Satoru's single word hung in the air like a death sentence. The unnatural howling grew closer, and now I could hear the sound of heavy bodies moving through the underbrush on both sides of our path.
"Everyone stay calm," one of the guards called out, but his voice carried a tremor that didn't match his words. "Just wolves. Nothing we can't handle."
"Those aren't normal wolves," Satoru said flatly, his dark eyes scanning the forest around us. "Corrupted. I can smell it from here."
The driver was pushing the horses harder now, but the road had begun to narrow between towering trees, and whatever was stalking us seemed to be keeping pace easily.
"There!" Hana pointed toward a gap in the trees where a pair of yellow eyes gleamed in the shadows. "I saw something!"
More eyes appeared. Then more. Within seconds, the forest around us was dotted with glowing points of predatory light, all focused on our wagon.
"How many are there?" Daichi whispered.
"Too many," Captain Izuma said grimly, standing and drawing his sword. The blade gleamed with a faint inner light that suggested it was more than just steel. "Driver, stop the wagon."
"Captain?"
"We can't outrun them on this terrain, and running prey triggers their hunting instincts." Izuma's voice was calm and professional. "Better to face them on our terms."
The wagon rolled to a halt, horses snorting and stamping nervously as they sensed the predators surrounding us. The guards formed a defensive circle around the transport, weapons ready, but I could see the tension in their shoulders.
"Students, stay in the wagon," Izuma ordered. "Whatever happens, do not—"
The first wolf burst from the tree line.
It was massive—larger than any normal wolf had a right to be—with fur that seemed to absorb light and eyes that burned with unnatural intelligence. Black veins pulsed beneath its skin, and when it snarled, the sound was like grinding metal.
It wasn't alone.
More corrupted wolves emerged from the forest, moving with coordinated precision that no pack of animals should possess. They spread out in a perfect hunting formation, cutting off all escape routes while leaving no gaps in their encirclement.
"Fifteen... sixteen... seventeen," Satoru counted quietly, his hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. "Maybe more in the trees."
"We're outnumbered," one of the guards said, his voice tight with fear.
"Then we even the odds," Kenji said suddenly, standing up in the wagon despite Izuma's orders. Fire erupted from his hands—not the controlled technique from the Academy trial, but raw desperate flame meant to drive back the approaching pack.
The lead wolf dodged his attack easily, moving with liquid grace that made Kenji's technique look clumsy by comparison.
"Get back!" Takeshi shouted, rising beside Kenji. Golden light surrounded his hands as he launched what looked like an expensive Academy-taught technique. The attack was more sophisticated than Kenji's fire, but it still went wide as the wolf simply stepped aside.
"You're just making them angry!" Yuma added his own technique to the mix—silver energy that crackled with power but lacked the precision to hit moving targets.
The corrupted wolves circled closer, unimpressed by our desperate attacks. One leaped toward the wagon, only to be intercepted by a guard's blade. But even as it fell, two more took its place.
"This isn't working!" Hana cried, her earth techniques managing to trip one wolf but doing little to slow the overall assault.
Satoru suddenly vaulted from the wagon, landing in the middle of the battlefield with a wild look in his eyes. "Come on!" he screamed at the wolves, his own fire techniques blazing around him like a bonfire of rage. "COME ON!"
His attacks were more intense than the others, fueled by months of obsessive training and burning need for revenge. But intensity without control was still just chaos, and the wolves adapted to his patterns within seconds.
"Everyone get back!" I shouted, preparing to use my Flame Threading despite Kyoto's warnings about drawing attention. Mina was in danger, and that was all that mattered.
"No."
Captain Izuma's voice cut through the battle like a blade through silk. He stepped forward calmly, moving past the struggling guards and panicked students as if he were taking a casual stroll.
"Stand back, children," he said, his tone carrying absolute authority. "Allow me to demonstrate what real power looks like."
The corrupted wolves sensed the change in the battle's dynamic. Their coordinated assault faltered as they focused on this new threat—a single man walking toward them with no visible fear.
Izuma raised his sword, and lightning began to dance along its edge.
Not the wild, uncontrolled electricity I'd seen in academy textbooks, but precise, disciplined energy that moved like living silver. The air around him crackled with power that made my skin tingle even from a distance.
"Raikou Shinpan," he said quietly, the words carrying clearly across the battlefield despite his low tone.
Lightning Judgment.
What happened next redefined my understanding of what Shinzai mastery actually meant.
Lightning erupted from Izuma's position in a controlled explosion of electric fury. But this wasn't random destruction—every bolt was precisely targeted, each one striking a different wolf with surgical accuracy. The electricity didn't spread or scatter; it followed exact paths that Izuma seemed to have calculated in an instant.
Seventeen wolves. Seventeen lightning strikes. Seventeen perfect hits delivered simultaneously.
The corrupted pack didn't have time to dodge, flee, or even howl. One moment they were preparing to overwhelm our defenses through sheer numbers. The next, they were collapsing to the forest floor, their bodies smoking and still.
The entire battle lasted less than three seconds.
Izuma lowered his sword, the lightning fading from its blade as if it had never been there. He looked completely unaffected by the technique—no heavy breathing, no signs of exhaustion, not even a drop of sweat.
"Shall we continue?" he asked, turning back to our group as if he'd just dealt with a minor inconvenience.
The rest of us stared at him in stunned silence. The guards looked relieved but awed. The horses had calmed down as if they instinctively understood the threat was over. And we students...
We finally understood how vast the gap was between Academy hopefuls and actual masters.
"That was..." Kenji started, then stopped, apparently unable to find words.
"Incredible," Takeshi finished, his earlier arrogance completely gone.
"How did you target them all at once?" Yuma asked with genuine curiosity. "The precision required for that level of control..."
"Practice," Izuma said simply. "Fifteen years of dedicated training, combat experience, and understanding that power without discipline is merely destruction."
He gestured toward the fallen wolves. "Your techniques showed promise, but they lacked focus. Raw Shinzai is like a river in flood—dangerous but directionless. True mastery means becoming the banks that guide the water exactly where it needs to go."
Satoru stared at the battlefield with an expression I couldn't read. "Could you teach me to do that?"
"Eventually, perhaps. If you survive Academy training and prove worthy of advanced instruction." Izuma's tone wasn't unkind, but it was realistic. "First, you need to master the fundamentals. What you demonstrated here was courage, but courage without skill will get you killed."
As we climbed back into the wagon and resumed our journey, a subdued quiet settled over our group. The easy excitement from earlier had been replaced by a new understanding of just how much we still had to learn.
"I thought I was pretty good," Daichi said quietly as the wagon began moving again.
"We all did," Kenji replied. "Turns out we don't know anything yet."
"That's why we're going to the Academy," Mina said with the simple wisdom that often surprised me. "To learn how to be that good."
"Do you think we'll ever be able to do something like that?" Hana asked, glancing toward where Izuma rode alongside the driver.
"Maybe," Satoru said, but his voice carried a determination that hadn't been there before. "I have to be. For them."
The sun was setting by the time we reached the way station—a fortified building surrounded by high walls and guard towers. It looked more like a small fortress than a rest stop, but after our encounter with the corrupted wolves, I was grateful for anything that provided protection.
"Safe for the night," the driver announced as we pulled through the gates. "Academy grounds tomorrow, and then your real education begins."
As we unloaded our bags and prepared for our final night before reaching the Academy, I found myself looking at Captain Izuma with new eyes. The helpful officer who had arranged for Mina to accompany me was also a warrior capable of single-handedly destroying an entire pack of corrupted beasts.
Whatever waited for us at the Academy, I had a feeling it was going to be more challenging than any of us had imagined.
But at least now I knew what true mastery looked like.
The question was whether I'd ever be strong enough to achieve it.