Aurelius''s mind raced back to the battle, the memory vivid and fresh, as if it had just happened.


    Those masked attackers… they hadn''t just been any group of raiders.


    They were Lunar Tier Awakeners, every one of them skilled and dangerous. And their leader? A Ster Savant.


    The kind of opponent you''d want to avoid at all costs. But after the fight with the Sludge Lord, they hadn''t had the luxury of avoiding anything. Exhaustion clung to them, every breathbored, every muscle burning with fatigue. Yet there was no choice.


    It was either fight or die.


    Aurelia had been the first to act. Despite trembling from the strain of using too much mana, she forced herself to heal them, her staff glowing with soft light as it mended their wounds and strengthened their bodies. Without her, they wouldn''t have made it past the first wave.


    Lyra had fought like a demon, her scythe cutting through the air with deadly precision. She unleashed a devastatingbo that tore through several of their ambushers, the sheer force of her blows leaving the masked men crumpled on the ground.


    But it came at a price—Aurelius remembered how she coughed up blood afterward, her body trembling from the internal injuries she had sustained. Yet she hadn''t stopped.


    None of them had.


    Irithel, with a fierce look in her eyes, did something Aurelius hadn''t expected. She used her ability on Ignis, her pet smander, and his body began to glow with a fiery light.


    The smander grewrger, stronger, his power increasing as Irithel used her ability to rank him up temporarily. Ignis roared, mes dancing around his massive form, and tore through their enemies with unmatched ferocity. It gave them the breathing room they so desperately needed.


    Aurelius could still feel the crackle of his own lightning coursing through his veins. He had pushed his abilities further than he ever had before, controlling lightning on a massive scale to strike down their attackers. His entire body had throbbed with pain, but he had gritted his teeth and kept going, knowing that if he faltered for even a second, it would be over.


    But Ren... Ren had been the biggest surprise. In the middle of the chaos, just when it seemed like the masked warriors would overwhelm them, Ren had raised his hands, a barrier forming around them. It shimmered with a faint blue light, solid and imprable. The masked men had thrown everything they had at it, but Ren''s barrier held, giving them a chance to catch their breath and regroup.


    Aurelius clenched his fists, his jaw tightening as he remembered the fight with the Ster Savant.


    That man had been ruthless, his power far beyond anything Aurelius had faced before. They had shed, lightning against the wind, the force of their battle shaking the ground beneath them. In ast-ditch effort, Aurelius had burned his life force, channeling everything he had into one final attack.


    It had worked, but it had nearly killed him.


    If Aurelia hadn''t activated her own ability on time to heal and buff everyone, they would be all dead and his attack wouldn''t have worked against the Ster Savant as well.


    And now, outside the ruins, he could still feel the lingering effects—the cold ache of using too much power, the burn of overextending himself. He nced at the others. They were all battered and bruised, but alive.


    Barely.


    They had interrogated the few survivors of the ambush, forcing the truth out of them.


    It turns out they were from the Red Dragons Guild that they worked with not long ago. They investigated further, Ren even torturing them to get the answers. After all, their lives were threatened, and they seemed to be hiding something.


    But, they gave up in the end.


    They discovered a dark n lurking beneath the surface, something far bigger than any of them had anticipated. Something that could threaten not just the academy, but the entire city and the viges surrounding it.


    "We need to get back," Aurelius said, his voice hoarse. "The academy, the city needs to know."


    Ren nodded, wiping the dirt from his face. "Yeah, before it''s toote."


    Aurelia was already casting small healing spells, her hands glowing softly as she tried to ease some of their injuries. Lyra was leaning against a tree, her scythe resting beside her, while Ren sat on the ground, staring at the horizon.


    The sun was setting, casting an orange glow over the valley and the distant mountains. The world seemed calm now, quiet after the storm, but Aurelius knew better.


    This was only the beginning.


    The beginning of something that could end up disastrous if not handled or prevented properly.


    _____ ____ _


    As they rested outside the ruins, the atmosphere was tense. Despite the momentary peace, Aurelius could sense the weight of everything that had just happened, as though the very air around them was holding its breath.


    Aurelia''s hands glowed with soft, warm light, her healing spells mending the worst of their wounds. But her face was pale, the exhaustion clear in her eyes. Lyra, who had been hit hardest,y back on the ground, wincing as Aurelia patched up her external injuries while giving pain killer potions.


    "You doing okay?" Aurelius asked quietly, ncing over at Lyra.


    Lyra offered a weak smile, her usual fire dim but not gone. "Yes. Thank you for worrying about me."


    Aurelius nodded, but he could tell she was pushing herself far beyond her limits. They all were.


    Ren, still sitting on the ground, groaned as he stretched his legs, clearly in pain despite his attempts to hide it. "How long do you think we have before something else tries to kill us?"


    Aurelia, still focusing on healing everyone, chuckled weakly. "Hopefully long enough to at least catch our breath."


    Irithel sat with Ignis curled up beside her, his massive form shrinking back down now that the battle was over. She ran a hand through his singed skin, her expression distant, lost in thought. "This n they mentioned... if it''s as bad as they hinted, we''re running out of time."


    "We''re not running," Aurelius said firmly, though the words tasted bitter in his mouth. "But we may be if we don''t hurry."


    They all knew it wouldn''t be that simple. Whatever the Red Dragons Guild had nned, it was bigger than just them, bigger than anything they had expected. And it wasn''t something they could take on alone.


    A few momentster, Aurelia finished healing, her hands trembling as she pulled her power back. "That''s all I can do for now," she muttered, her voice thick with exhaustion.


    "That''s already good enough, you did your best" Aurelius replied warmly, noting how hard she worked even though she was not less tired than them. "Let''s move."


    After a final check of their surroundings, they gathered what little strength they had left and began making their way down the valley. Thankfully, their journey out of the area was quiet. No more ambushes, no more monsters lurking in the shadows—just the eerie silence of the valley as they descended.