Lost Soul helped the students recover while Michael and Lucas crept toward the first-floor dungeon boss room. Their hearts pounded with anticipation—if either of them could defeat the final boss, they'd claim the blacksmith armor the professors had promised. The weight of that promise drove them forward.
Michael reached the door first. He glanced back over his shoulder. "Lucas, hurry up! Come on!"
Lucas sprinted over, his footsteps echoing in the stone corridor. Michael drew back his fist and punched the door with all his strength. It cracked open slightly, groaning on ancient hinges.
*So I'm strong enough to open this,* he thought, a flicker of pride warming his chest. He pushed harder, muscles straining, until finally the door yielded—just wide enough for him to squeeze through.
The dungeon sprawled before them, a massive cave that seemed to swallow the light from their torches. In the center loomed a beast that must have been the boss. Michael's breath caught. Something was wrong. Usually, all the bosses were golems—predictable, slow-moving constructs of stone and magic. But this creature was different. It was some type of enormous skeletal warrior clad in battered armor, its bones gleaming white in the dim light. The skeleton smiled down at its prey, jaw clicking with anticipation.
Michael's eyes darted around the chamber, searching for signs of other fighters. He'd heard sounds of combat, which meant someone else should be here. Then he saw it—a large crimson sword. Not just any red sword, but one that looked forged from blood itself. Lots of blood, actually. Too much blood, condensed and crystallized into a single deadly blade.
He expected some legendary hero to be wielding it. He expected some warrior forged in blood-soaked armor to be cutting down the boss monster. He even expected some ancient mage channeling forbidden magic. But what he saw—what he actually saw—surprised him more than anything he could have imagined.
"Michael, what do you see?" Lucas called from behind. "Mike, are you there? Hey, answer me!"
Lucas tried calling his friend's name repeatedly, but Michael remained frozen, unresponsive. Worry gnawed at Lucas's gut. Lost Soul was almost done healing all the students, and if they didn't get inside soon, they'd be caught red-handed.
"Yes! Oh, shoot—hold on to something!" Michael's eyes widened as he finally registered his friend's voice. "There's... there's a blade. A blade made of blood, and someone's holding it."
Michael was too shocked to describe what he was witnessing. There was no grizzled mage. There was no supreme warrior-lord gripping this blood sword that pulsed with raw power. There was simply a girl. She looked to be around ten years old, her eyes completely crimson, wearing what appeared to be normal clothes—a simple tunic and trousers, now torn and stained.
This detail shook him to his core. He stumbled backward, leaving the dungeon as quickly as possible. The door swung open behind him, and he didn't even bother trying to close it—wasn't sure he could if he tried. His hands trembled.
"What is it? What happened?" Lucas stared at his friend's pale face, concern etched in every feature.
Michael stood there, blank-faced, struggling to process what he'd witnessed. "Just... see for yourself," he managed, stepping aside to let his friend peer through the crack.
Lucas moved forward and positioned himself at the opening. He saw the same impossible scene: the girl, the boss monster, the crimson blade gleaming in her small hands. Evidence of a prolonged battle littered the chamber—scorch marks on the walls, shattered bones scattered across the floor, pools of dark liquid he hoped wasn't blood.
The bone monster bore deep cracks in its armor, and its left leg was nearly severed in half, yet it still managed to stand, defiant and menacing. The girl had multiple bruises blooming across her exposed skin—purple and yellow marks on her arms and face—but nothing too serious. Despite her injuries, she seemed to have the upper hand in this fight. Her movements were fluid, confident, almost graceful as she circled the wounded beast.
Lucas felt his own heart hammering against his ribs. Who was this child, and how was she surviving against a dungeon boss alone? These questions swirled through his mind, unanswered and unsettling.
The boss stared down at its prey. "The fight has gone on long enough. Surprisingly, you've actually done well against me, child, but this all comes to an end."
The boss could speak. Most bosses couldn't speak, and if they could, they managed very little. But this one not only spoke—it possessed human-like intelligence, probably even beyond.
The girl looked up at the boss. She didn't say a word. She leaped forward and swung the blade down toward the chest. The boss dodged, grabbed her by the arm, and flung her into the nearest wall. She planted her feet into the wall, leaped off, and still with the blood sword in her hand, swiped toward the boss again. The speed was too incomprehensible for the creature to dodge or even grab the young girl. The sword slashed its arm. Black blood pooled on the ground, leaking from the wounded limb.
The blood that was falling stopped, then flowed toward the young girl. With a determined face, she conjured up multiple swords from the beast's blood and other blood that had been shed. She ran toward the beast, going under its leg and leaping up. She swung most of the swords down toward its body. The beast ducked under some, but several managed to hit it, causing deep gashes and wounds in its back—but not enough to kill it.
"This is so entertaining! How gorgeous—you're actually doing a handy job against me," the boss said, turning its body around to stare at her, its black eyes boring into her soul. "But like I said before, child, everything will end. It always ends—either with my death or with yours."
The boss laughed. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of small teeth were shown from its mouth. "If I die, you don't get out of this. I will make sure you won't. I'll do damage to you because I won't be dying without even getting a single hit on my enemy. You've done well, child, but unfortunately, this comes to an end now."
The skeleton opened its mouth and shot off multiple smaller skeletons. The small skeletons immediately leaped forward toward the young girl. She slashed through one with the blood sword and kicked away another with her foot. The skeletons skidded to a halt and immediately rushed forward, ignoring the blows.
Lucas stared at the magnificent battle unfolding before him, his eyes wide like saucers. He quickly motioned for Michael to see what was happening. Meanwhile, Lost Soul stood healing most of the students. Most of their wounds had nearly healed by now, but some were still serious.
Caden woke up—the first one to awaken. *Where's that boss?* he thought. He wasn't even concerned about his injuries. All he really wanted was that blacksmith armor, and he wasn't going to let anyone get in the way. As he'd said before, in battle, everyone dies—everyone except for him. He wasn't going to die. He knew he wasn't going to die. He would make sure of it.
He looked up to see Lost Soul standing over him. Lost Soul's calm, emotionless face stared back. As Caden tried to get up, Lost Soul immediately pushed him down. "Don't hurt your injuries more than you already have."
"You think I care about that?" Caden retorted. "The only thing I care about is that armor. Listen here, I'm getting up. I'll fight, and I will win."
"You'll die even quicker if you stand up," Lost Soul said. "You should rest. I'll continue to work on the other students. Promise me you'll stay here."
*I'm making no such promises,* Caden thought, but he didn't speak this aloud. He just nodded.
Back in the room, more and more skeleton minions spawned by the second from the boss's mouth. The young girl was quickly getting overwhelmed—way too overwhelmed. She couldn't deal with all of this. She couldn't deal with multiple enemies at once, especially when they were this fast and most likely strong.
The boss laughed, smiling as it looked down at her struggling form as she tried to take down all of them. When one skeleton came from the side, she blocked. Another came from behind—she kicked it back with her foot.
The only sounds in the room were heavy breathing and the ongoing fight.
A red aura surrounded her entire body as she did the only thing she could do to defeat this boss. Her eyes turned blood red as she floated up in the air. She clasped her hands together, and a large, dense ball of red energy formed between her palms. The ball grew larger and larger. All the blood she'd gathered up to this point condensed into one single attack.
The red ball grew larger, hotter, brighter. The boss stepped back, its skeletal body shaking the ground as it moved. "What is this? What is this power? No matter—you can kill me. I will be delighted to die. Death is an escape. Death is welcoming. Death is no punishment. Death is simply a friend that I accompany. Killing me, child—that is what I have longed for all along. You're doing nothing but helping me."
The ball grew hotter, larger. Eventually, she threw it.
**BOOM.**
The largest explosion ever seen in the dungeon's history went off. Lucas jumped back, the heat from the explosion searing his skin. The door melted slightly from the rising temperature. Nearly everything was white with a slight tint of red, and eventually the light faded.
The beast, the monster, the skeleton—it was gone. Erased. Most of the entire boss room was completely scorched and broken.
The aura around her soon faded. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed. The toll from that attack was too much for her body to handle.
Lost Soul was finally done healing everyone. Nearly all the students who had fallen stood up, their injuries—at least most of them—healed. Some people still had a few bruises here and there, but everything was somewhat fine.
Mason stood beside Blake and Nemo. "Where in the world are we?" Nemo said, looking at Mason.
"I don't know. Seems like some cave. Is this the first-floor dungeon?" Mason replied.
"This has to be the first floor, right? I mean, we flew up a pretty long distance."
"You're not wrong. We did fall for a very long time. This could be the first floor or the second."
"All right, let's go defeat this boss," Lost Soul said as he walked with Corbin toward the boss room. Then he slowly turned around. "All of you stay back. I'm pretty sure you've done enough fighting as it is. I'm not going to have you all fight and die."
He continued walking with Corbin toward the boss chamber, but then he saw both of them standing there. Michael and Lucas stood frozen.
Lucas remembered—he wanted that blacksmith armor. He needed it.
Caden stood up immediately and rushed forward. He also needed that blacksmith armor, but unlike the other two, he was willing to kill for it. He ran forward and pushed both Lucas and Michael out of the way, but Lost Soul grabbed him by the shirt and held him back.
"Look, I'm sure you're strong, but doing this isn't really healthy," Lost Soul said calmly. "You just fell multiple floors, and now you're already wired to defeat a boss on the first-floor dungeon."
"I don't care," Caden said. "I don't care if I'm hurt or not. I need that blacksmith armor. I need it."
Lost Soul's calm expression didn't waver. "Why do you want the armor in the first place?"
"Because you don't know how great that blacksmith armor actually is. You don't understand. Of course you wouldn't understand—you're just a simple academy student who couldn't even comprehend the power of blacksmith armor. Not just any blacksmith armor, but the greatest blacksmithing armor ever created. I'm the only student at the magic academy who's willing to do anything to get such armor. I will become the most powerful being on the planet if I have that armor."
While Caden was talking, Lost Soul walked closer to the door and opened it. It was slightly cracked but not enough for him to squeeze through. He opened it wider, and what he saw was terrible. Bones everywhere—skulls, legs, torsos—but there were no signs of the actual boss. Had it been evaporated?
Then he saw what destroyed it: a young girl who looked around ten years old. Her hair was black and messy. Her eyes were blue—a contrast from the red before. Her eyes were open even though she was still unconscious on the ground.
He walked toward her, completely stepping over the bones and debris. He stared down at her, grabbed her hand, and picked her up. He wasn't planning to leave such a young child in this dungeon—that was simply cruel. And even he wasn't planning to leave her out in the world, so the only sensible thing he could do was take her home. After all, he had a little sister at home anyway, so why not take one more along with him?
But suddenly, a large portal opened up beneath him. He and every other student—every single student that was in the magic academy—fell down through the massive portal.
Arthur stood on the fourth floor. He was still shocked by the man with one eye taking his magic—at least copying it—and disappearing like nothing ever happened. He didn't feel like anything had happened, but he knew that something had.
**Your void powers have been copied.**
A system message appeared. The black screen glowed with white light.
**New subquest available:**
**Defeat the man who took your power.**
**Quest reward:**
**Saving hundreds, maybe even millions of lives.**
**Good luck.**
Before Arthur could even do anything, a portal opened up from beneath his feet, and he fell down. He was being teleported back to the magic academy.
The dungeon was completed, and they were finally going to return. But things wouldn't be how they expected.
Students from another academy—students from the Blackened Academy—were waiting for them. And these students wanted an explanation for why they'd been teleported back to the wrong academy. They were going to get that information from the magic academy students or even from the professors, whether they liked it or not.
---
The portal spat Arthur and the others onto cold stone. Arthur hit the ground hard, rolling to absorb the impact. Around him, students groaned and struggled to their feet, disoriented and battered from the dungeon ordeal.
But something was wrong.
The air felt different—charged with hostility. Arthur's instincts screamed danger before his eyes could confirm it.
Dozens of figures surrounded them in a perfect circle. Students wearing black uniforms emblazoned with a crimson serpent—the emblem of the Blackened Academy. Their expressions ranged from cold curiosity to barely restrained fury.
At the center of the circle stood a tall boy with silver hair and eyes like chips of ice. He stepped forward, and the temperature seemed to drop with each footfall.
"Magic Academy students," he said, his voice carrying across the courtyard with unnatural clarity. "You have exactly one minute to explain why we were ripped from our own dungeon trial and deposited in your pathetic excuse for an academy."
Caden tried to stand, but his injuries forced him back down. Lost Soul still held the unconscious girl, his expression unreadable. Michael and Lucas exchanged worried glances.
The silver-haired boy's eyes swept over them with contempt. "Fifty seconds."
Arthur felt the void power stirring within him, responding to the threat. But he was exhausted, drained from the dungeon and the encounter with the one-eyed man. Around him, his fellow students were in no condition to fight.
"Forty seconds."
Dark energy began crackling around the Blackened Academy students' hands. This wasn't a bluff. They were preparing for combat.
Lost Soul finally spoke, his voice calm despite the tension. "We didn't—"
"Thirty seconds."
The silver-haired boy raised his hand, and a sphere of black lightning formed above his palm, growing larger with each passing moment.
"We had nothing to do with—" Mason tried.
"Twenty seconds."
The Blackened Academy students began advancing, closing the circle tighter. Arthur could see it in their eyes—they wanted blood. They'd been humiliated by being teleported to a rival academy, and they would have their revenge.
"Ten seconds."
Arthur forced himself to his feet, void energy swirling around his hands despite his exhaustion. If this was going to be a fight, he wouldn't go down without one.
"Five."
The silver-haired boy's sphere of black lightning had grown to the size of a boulder, crackling with enough power to level half the courtyard.
"Four."
Lost Soul gently set the unconscious girl down and stepped forward, his aura beginning to glow.
"Three."
Caden struggled to his feet, blood dripping from his wounds, but his eyes burned with defiance.
"Two."
The air itself seemed to hold its breath.
"One."
The silver-haired boy smiled—a cold, predatory expression that promised pain.
"Time's up."
He hurled the sphere of black lightning directly at Arthur.
And then the world exploded into chaos.