Annabelle knew that the mutant corpses must have produced life crystals! So she started finishing the job.

Her delicate hand pressed into a snow wolf’s open wound, and a surge of blood-red energy pulsed. The creature spasmed once—then went still.

A flash of purple-red flickered in her eyes. Blood Traction.

Her unique ability. She could draw life from blood—turn it into her own nourishment.

What she hadn’t realized yet was how fast she was moving. Her reactions were sharper, her movements cleaner. Some of the beasts lunged at her, even half-dead—but she dodged every time.

Axel gathered the crystals she left behind, snatching them mid-sprint.

"Nice work," he muttered, blood on his face, muscles screaming.

But he was smiling.

........

Then it happened.

Those closest to Axel suddenly felt a strange pull, like the air itself was being vacuumed away—sucked toward him.

“Holy shit... what’s happening?”

“Is that—?”

“Force compression?! He’s upgrading his veins!”

“But that pull... that suction... It’s insane!”

Axel hadn’t meant for it to happen now. But the Force flow had reached a tipping point. His original veins were expanding again—rapidly—and his awakening skills shut down temporarily.

“Twenty left!” Brandon yelled. “Surround him!”

The remaining Awakeners fell into a protective ring, shielding Axel while he sat—motionless, cross-legged in the snow.

Marcus watched him, eyes wide. “This guy’s a freak.”

His aura was swelling by the second.

Axel’s consciousness retreated inward. His original veins had fully formed. The expansion was complete. Every fiber of his being felt alive, burning with raw Force.

He could feel the threshold—just beyond reach. If the Force stayed stable, he’d break through again. Instantly. To Level Three.

Boom!

Two students were flung into the air like rag dolls, their bodies slamming into the snow with bone-snapping force. They tumbled several feet before lying still, unmoving.

The thing that hit them plowed straight through what had once been a solid front line.

A long-tusked wild boar charged with terrifying momentum, heading straight for the supernatural division’s ranks.

In the distance, a girl with awakened visual powers clutched her head in pain, blood leaking from her eyes. “Level 4 mutant beast—chameleon!”

And right before their eyes, the monstrous boar shimmered—and changed.

Its body stretched, bones cracked and reformed, tusks dissolved into thick armored plates. In its place stood a four-meter-long chromatic earth dragon, scales glistening with a yellow-gold sheen.

“What the hell—?!” Brandon’s pupils contracted. “Stop it! NOW!”

The chameleon-type was the weakest of all level 4 mutants, it had little offensive capability of its own. But its real weapon? Transformation.

Experts believed it had mutated from a chameleon, and retained one terrifying gift—mimicry of any mutant beast below its level. Combined with its tough-as-hell skin, it was a nightmare on the battlefield.

Students who’d rushed forward to intercept it were immediately tossed aside like broken puppets.

“I’ll handle this!” Brandon growled.

He jumped behind the wheel of a car, floored the accelerator, and aimed it like a missile straight at the chromatic dragon.

BOOM!

The car exploded against the creature’s thick scales in a fireball of twisted metal and snow. Brandon hurled himself from the wreckage just in time, flames licking at his coat. Other students rushed to intercept, swinging blades, launching attacks—

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The beast’s tail whipped through the air like a battering ram, slamming students aside and spraying crimson arcs across the snow. It didn’t stop and kept charging, eyes locked on the retreating psychic division.

“Scatter! MOVE!” Brandon barked, coughing up blood.

.......

Meanwhile, inside Axel’s inner vision—

Physique: 1218 / 1223

Force: 1179 / 1194

Spirit: 1188 / 1196

He opened his eyes slowly, staring at the ancient Force tree in his mind. Its branches pulsed with raw power, each leaf glowing with life. His core was now stable—stronger than ever.

He was a full-fledged Level 3 Awakener.

Every stat had jumped. Physique. Force. Spirit. Control.

The average Force of a level three awakener was 1500, and the span of Force was very large, so the strength of high-level awakeners of the same level was very different. For example, Maxen, a level four awakener, had little combat power in front of Phoenix. Now he could stand with people like them.

Something in the real world tugged at his awareness. Screams. Explosions.

Axel’s eyes snapped open.

.......

The chromatic dragon’s claws descended. The psychic students began to panic—stumbling backward. A second more, and one of them would be crushed. And then—

Bang!

A shockwave tore across the battlefield. A figure blurred forward at impossible speed, too fast for the eye to follow. Even the snow in the air seemed to bend around him. An afterimage streaked behind him as he collided head-on with the chromatic dragon’s claw.

Crash!

The dragon staggered backward, claws dragging deep ruts in the earth. It roared.

The dust cleared.

Axel stood alone between the beast and the psychics, Force surging off his body like a heatwave. His coat fluttered in the wind. His gaze was locked on the dragon with chilling calm.

Brandon, bloodied and leaning against a tree, laughed hoarsely. “Axel.”

“Sorry I’m late,” Axel said calmly, brushing snow off his shoulder.

He'd wanted to test his new strength after the breakthrough—but the mutant beast hadn’t dropped after his first kick.

What the hell? Why is it still this weak even after the promotion?

“Guess I’ll just fight my way through!” Axel muttered, whipping around with a brutal kick.

Crack!

His heel connected with the chromatic dragon’s skull, sending a sharp vibration through its entire body. The beast reeled, screeching as its vision rattled.

Marcus, mid-charge, skidded to a stop. “Holy shit,” he breathed. “He’s stronger than I am now\...”

Despite unleashing Whip-kicks and Inch Fists in his Force-enhanced state, the chromatic dragon still didn’t go down easy. It kept recovering, charging again and again, only to get smacked back harder each time.

Axel scowled. Still not enough.

So he kept going—blow after blow, every muscle in his body alive with surging Force.

With Axel entering the fray, the tide turned almost instantly.

Marcus was freed up to mop up the rest of the mutants, the frontline stabilized, and within minutes the beast count dwindled to near zero.

The chromatic dragon, meanwhile, was now barely clinging to life. One leg twisted unnaturally, lumps swelling across its armored head, and its roars had turned to pitiful whines.

Then—thud—it dropped.

Its enormous body collapsed into the snow, twitching once before finally going still.

Silence fell.

For a long moment, the only sound was the wind cutting through the snow-covered plain. Then, one by one, the students dropped to the ground—some sitting, others lying flat—breathing hard, steam rising off their battered bodies.

Someone looked up.

“The sky’s beautiful tonight.”

“Yeah... it is.”

Brandon stood slowly, blood crusted on his face and hands. He limped over with a few others and clapped Axel on the shoulder.

“Axel... you crazy bastard. Just soloed a Level Four mutant beast.”

Marcus walked up beside him and shook his head with a tired grin, sheathing his fourth shattered bamboo sword.

Axel, still catching his breath, blinked at the dragon’s carcass. “Wait... that was Level Four?”

“You didn’t know?” Brandon stared. “You thought it was.....?”

Axel shrugged. Someone laughed behind them. And just like that, it spread—quiet at first, then louder. A ripple of laughter breaking through the tension and pain like sunshine through clouds.

They’d survived.

They won.

After the laughter faded, Brandon’s gaze swept across the field. The corpses of fallen classmates lay strewn among those of the beasts.

He didn’t say anything. He just started gathering them, one by one.

“We made it,” someone whispered behind him.

“Yeah... we held the line.”

Even the students of the supernatural division, those who hadn’t suffered a scratch, had collapsed from total Force exhaustion.

They looked back toward Bloodstone Warfare Academy, still standing tall against the moonlit storm. Shiverstone rose behind it like a guardian in the snow.