A few steps from the broken gate, nestled among ancient vines and half-buried rubble, Dara spotted it.
A stone plinth — short, rectangular, and covered in dust. Atop it sat a single book.
She stepped forward, brushing it clean.
"The Catacombs Manual," she read aloud, lifting the heavy cover with interest. "Written by... oh wow, there's no author. That's ominous."
She cleared her throat dramatically.
Then began to read.
> "The Catacombs of the Academy were forged to test, torment, and temper.
A labyrinth of danger beneath a shell of silence.
Those who enter do so at their own risk.
Treasures lie buried, truths lie broken, and time behaves like a wounded beast.
Seven layers. Countless traps.
Death is not guaranteed—but it is encouraged.
Only the brave, the brilliant, or the foolish dare linger.
And even fewer leave whole."
She shut the book with a soft thud.
Then blinked.
She looked up to find Sion staring at her.
"…What?"
"You have really pink lips," he said without thinking.
Dara reeled back. "Were you even listening?"
"I was. I caught the part about time being a wounded beast. That was poetic." He scratched his cheek. "But also your lips."
Dara rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
"Well," she said, turning the book back over, "there's a small line of text I didn't read. It's in the corner—just under the back flap."
She squinted.
"Catacombs available to all Gifted Academies at a discounted price," she read aloud. "…Guardians sold separately."
She paused.
Then slowly turned to Sion.
"…What the fuck?"
Sion covered his mouth in mock horror. "How can the Academy be this cheap? They didn't even build their own death maze. They ordered it."
"That's what you're angry about?"
"It's embarrassing," Sion replied. "Imagine dying in a rental."
---
Meanwhile.
Main Core. Maki's Office.
Maki watched the scene unfold with both hands on her head.
"That's why we delayed the launch," she muttered through gritted teeth. "Shipping."
The Academy had, in fact, purchased the Catacombs through a multi-continental defense artifacts vendor. There'd been a discount. Logistics had taken forever. The guardians were an extra charge.
She looked up at the ceiling like it had wronged her personally.
"…Lazy, huh? Try managing hundreds of power-hungry who could kill you with but a though while still being in charge of an Academy logistics, transportation, communication, announcement, regulations... while still being single."
She folded her arms and slumped back into her chair.
"Ungrateful little monsters."
---
The Catacombs.
Further away from the couple.
A space the size of a city district stretched in all directions—a massive underground cavern carved from obsidian rock and glowing softly from veins of crystal embedded in the ceiling.
Flames danced into existence mid-air.
Edward landed gently in their center.
The fire responded to him instinctively, curling into a path beneath his boots. He stood tall, hands folded behind him, hair tousled, his long coat fluttering dramatically even though there was no wind.
"Alone," he muttered, a smirk pulling at his lips. "Good."
He lifted one hand and released a faint, rippling wave of plasmic energy from his palm. It spread through the cavern like radar, brushing against the walls, floors, shadows—searching.
Nothing.
"Empty," he confirmed with a grin.
He rolled his neck, sighing like an actor after the curtain drops.
"Being the Archduke's son is exhausting," he said aloud, like he had an audience. "Every entrance has to be grand. Every moment must be radiant. Even when no one's around, I must aura-farm the air itself."
He chuckled to himself.
"Sometimes I wonder if I—"
"Wonder if what?"
Edward froze.
His head turned slowly.
Jake stood behind him, smiling sheepishly.
Edward blinked. "...How long have you been there?"
"Just got here," Jake replied, trying to look innocent.
Edward narrowed his eyes. "You heard everything."
"Nope. Definitely not. I definitely did not hear you talk to yourself about farming the air for attention."
Edward groaned and turned away, but not before flaring his coat like a cape and summoning a small swirl of flame around his heels.
Jake snorted.
Edward paused.
"You're laughing."
"No, I'm not."
"You are."
"I'm really not." Jake coughed to hide the grin. "I just choked on... the air."
Edward turned fully, eyes glowing faintly now.
Jake raised his hands. "Whoa. You're not really about to fight over this, are you?"
Edward took one slow step forward, boots crunching against crystal grit.
"You laughed," he said simply. "You die."
Jake burst into laughter. "You are such a character, bro."
It took a while for him to get a hold of himself, meanwhile Edward just watched on with an indifferent expression.
"You are not mad because I laughed." Jake said as soon as he controlled himself. "You are actually cool with that. What you aren't cool with is the fact that I can spread the news of what happened here to the outside."
Edward eyes narrowed slightly.
"The expression on your face tells me I am right." Jake barely held back the second round of laughter threatening to burst out.
"So what? Just die." Edward said indifferently, then waved his right hand.
Boom!
A massive explosion shook the area. Edwards attack had covered the range of over a kilometer effortlessly.
But.
"Woah, that is a crazy level of firepower." Jake had appeared a couple meters to his back.
Edward did not seem surprised, he turned slowly. His coat flew in a wide arc to further boost his current appearance.
"Are you seriously Aura-farming right now?"
"Hmph." Edward scoffed. "Using external powers. I won't say it is pathetic as even with external help, it would be hard to dodge my attack. So, you do have a certain level of capability."
"Ha." Jake's mouth went wide open. What sort of human aura farms this hard. It is Not that deep.
Edward stabbed out with a single finger.
A red Plasmic beam shot at Jake, who in kind, brought out a weapon of some sorts, aiming at the attack path.
A spark of fire egnited from the weapon as a metal shot off in high speed and collided with the Plasmic beam—boty attacks canceling out each other.
Edward was shocked, but he didn't show it—got to maintain the steeze.
So, he indifferently asked. "What is that?"
"My gun." Jake said in between a smirk.
---
Back at the entrance area.
Dara eyes widened.
"I think ther are people fighting nearby."
"Yea, apparently." Sion nodded.
"I wanna go see." Dara beamed.
"Uh? Alright." Sion shrugged as he lead the way.