CHAPTER 40: ADVANCING 1

Lucian stood alone on the Academy’s highest terrace, the wind brushing his black hair across half-lidded eyes. The quiet hum of mana lights glowed from distant towers below as dawn light spilled gold across the silent stone.

He rolled his shoulders slowly, feeling the tension crack along his spine.

"I’m ready," he whispered.

[You’re certain?]

The system’s voice curled around him, gentle and warm. It didn’t sound like a machine. It never had. It was quiet, like an old friend leaning against his thoughts.

"No hesitation," he replied softly, his gaze locked on the sun climbing over the horizon. "Begin."

[Initiating Advancement Trial: Level 3, Rank D.]

[Tower of Reflection – Combat Sequence Initialising.]

The world shattered in an instant.

—

When Lucian blinked, he stood within a vast obsidian hall. Hundreds of floating candle flames drifted overhead, their light casting long gold shadows across the black marble floor. The walls were lined with towering mirrors, each one reflecting a fractured fragment of his silhouette in twisted angles.

Ahead stood the gate.

A towering arch of black iron and silver runes, carved with symbols that pulsed softly with crimson light. As he stepped closer, the air thickened with mana, pressing against his lungs like cold water.

The gate creaked open with a deep, echoing groan.

[Welcome, Lucian.]

[Floor One: Manifestation – Combat Echo.]

[You will face the memory of your greatest adversary thus far, projected through your neural archive and amplified to current rank compatibility.]

A single silhouette formed in the darkness beyond the gate.

He stepped forward calmly, feeling no fear. The stone under his boots was cold. Silent. Waiting.

Then the flickering candlelight revealed the figure in full.

It was him.

Himself.

Lucian Black stood across the arena, half-lidded eyes calm and empty, his black hair drifting lightly in an invisible breeze. He wore the same uniform coat, the same loose posture, the same tired gaze.

But there was no warmth in this version’s eyes. Only black glass.

[Combat Echo: Lucian Black – Replicated Rank D Output.]

[Objective: Neutralise the Echo. No time limit. No restrictions.]

The system paused for a moment, its quiet warmth flickering through his chest.

[Be careful. He knows everything you do.]

Lucian smiled faintly. "Good."

The Echo tilted its head lightly, mirroring his movement. Then it vanished.

Fold Step.

Lucian felt it before he saw it. He twisted left just as the Echo reappeared beside him, its palm slamming into his shoulder with crushing force. The impact rippled through his entire frame, sending him skidding back across the marble floor, his boots leaving thin black scratches.

He steadied himself mid-slide, his half-lidded eyes narrowing faintly.

Fold Step.

He vanished just as the Echo lunged forward, reappearing behind it with his hand slicing downward.

[Dimensional Claw]

Space tore open like thin fabric under his fingers, raking across the Echo’s back with shrieking sparks of compressed force. The Echo staggered forward, its coat torn open, black ichor dripping from the wound.

But it didn’t flinch. It spun instantly, its hand flicking upward.

[Temporal Slow]

Lucian felt his body seize for half a heartbeat, the entire world stretching out like dripping syrup around him. The Echo stepped forward within that frozen time, its fingers curling into a spearhand strike that drove into his abdomen with thunderclap force.

The pain ripped up his spine, hot and numbing all at once. Blood burst from his lips as he flew backwards, slamming into one of the mirrored walls with a deafening crack. Shards rained around him, slicing faint lines across his cheek and neck as he collapsed onto one knee.

He wiped blood from his lips, breathing slow and controlled.

"Not bad," he whispered softly.

The Echo flickered forward again, its eyes empty and dead. Lucian twisted left, ducking under its slicing hand. His fist slammed upward into its ribs, sending a pulse of compressed mana force through its torso. The Echo’s spine bent unnaturally, but its other hand lashed out instantly, its fingertips glowing with flickering black light.

[Dimensional Claw]

The tearing force slashed across his chest, ripping his uniform coat open and cutting into skin and muscle. Blood sprayed across the black marble in a long red arc. Lucian gasped softly, feeling the hot drip down his ribs.

The Echo didn’t stop. It flickered again, Fold Stepping behind him, its knee driving into his lower back with crushing force. Lucian stumbled forward, his vision flashing white with pain.

He exhaled shakily, his bangs falling across his narrowed eyes.

"You’re too focused on killing blows," he whispered softly.

Fold Step.

He vanished in the same instant the Echo lunged for his exposed neck, reappearing directly above it mid-air. His body twisted downward in a controlled spiral.

[Dimensional Claw – Compression Variant]

He sliced downward with all five fingers together, compressing the space tear into a focused singular blade. It raked down through the Echo’s shoulder, slicing deep into its chest with a burst of black sparks and ruptured mana echoes.

The Echo stumbled forward, its entire left arm falling away from its body, severed clean. Black ichor gushed across the marble floor in steaming pools. But it didn’t scream. Didn’t falter. Its empty eyes turned back to him calmly as it raised its remaining hand.

Fold Step.

It flickered forward, slamming its palm into his sternum before he could react. The force blasted him backwards with bone-shattering power, his body smashing into the far mirrored wall hard enough to crack the stone behind it. Glass shards rained across his shoulders as he collapsed onto his knees, coughing blood onto the cold floor.

His vision blurred. His ears rang with silent static.

But he smiled faintly.

Fold Step.

He flickered forward instantly, reappearing inside the Echo’s guard range. Their eyes met—his calm, flickering with faint warmth. The Echo’s empty, black and hollow.

"Good fight," he whispered softly.

His fingers pressed lightly against its chest.

[Temporal Disruption Pulse]

A burst of compressed time-energy exploded into the Echo’s torso, freezing its entire frame mid-motion. Cracks spread across its chest, glowing faint blue-white as its black ichor bled through ruptured mana circuits.

The Echo opened its mouth soundlessly, empty eyes flickering with faint blue sparks. Then its body shattered like thin glass, fragments dissolving into drifting motes of black and silver light.

Silence.

Lucian stood alone in the vast obsidian hall, blood dripping down his torn chest onto the marble floor. He breathed softly, his half-lidded eyes calm despite the trembling pain in his limbs.

[Floor One – Completed.]

[Recovery Interval: Thirty Seconds.]

[Floor Two: Manifestation – Combat Echo.]

[Initiating.]

He closed his eyes as the world flickered around him, reconstructing itself into a new battlefield of shattered stone pillars and drifting violet fog. His blood dripped softly onto his boots, but his expression didn’t change.

Fold Step.

He vanished again, reappearing at the arena’s center as a new Echo rose from the mist—this time wielding a silver spear burning with pale lightning.

Lucian lowered his stance lightly, his half-lidded eyes sharpening to thin blades of calm focus.

"Let’s continue," he whispered softly.

And in that silent, endless tower of his mind, the fight raged on—each clash ringing with thunderclaps of ruptured space and flickering shadows, as Lucian Black walked forward without fear.

Toward Rank D.

Toward something beyond strength.

Toward a future... no one was ready for.