No! I don't want to be a Super Necromancer!

Within seconds, the half dead first years were all taking shelter behind it. Ji Chen leaned against a broken drone, trying to recover mana.

Jennifer Aquafrost sat slumped, eyes dull.

Zhao Rui leaned on a stick he'd found, using it like a cane.

"Hold on." Damien Bloodbane said from atop the fortress. "Twenty five more minutes."

Then it was 15.

Then 10 minutes.

Drones kept coming. Fewer now. Glitching. Smoking. The chamber was littered with shattered parts and sparks.

Even the system was starting to wear down.

Fatty collapsed beside Jiang Xiao Yu behind the barricade, wheezing like a punctured bellows. "I'm done. I'm cooked. This pig is roasted."

Jiang Xiao Yu didn't answer. She simply stared ahead, calm and alert, as the echoes of crushed metal faded into the silence.

Damien Bloodbane stood just in front of them, surrounded by broken drones and smoke.

Still untouched. Still destroying drones left and right.

Then above them, the voice of Professor Kong Hu cut through the air like a knife. Cold and cruel.

"You think you're close to the end?" he said. "Think again. This is what failure to sacrifice for the team feels like."

A heavy grinding sound echoed from the ceiling.

And then...

Hundreds of new drones descended at once.

Fresh. Fast. Fully charged.

Like a tidal wave of metal and mana fury.

Panic spread instantly. Zhao Rui cursed loudly. Jennifer clawed her way to her feet. Ji Chen tried to lift his hand and failed miserably.

Jiang Xiao Yu didn't flinch.

She stood up.

"Form a line," she said. "Anyone still breathing, get up. We defend here."

There was something in her voice. Command. Steel.

The first years looked at her.

Bleeding. Burned. Bruised.

But they stood.

Zhao Rui stepped forward, fire barely flickering in his fists. "You're crazy," he muttered. "Fine. Let's go down swinging."

Jennifer Aquafrost groaned lightly. But she stood, her ice daggers in hand.

Ji Chen said nothing. But wind swirled weakly at his feet.

The Mu and Lin triplets stood up as well, too spent to say anything.

But they all rallied behind Jiang Xiao Yu.

She planted herself at the barricade's front.

"We'll hold the line," she said quietly. "Damien…"

He turned his head slightly.

"Go."

And for the first time in the entire hour…

Damien Bloodbane moved.

Not to guard. Not to shield.

But to attack.

His body vanished in a blur, reappearing mid-air above the swarm. He dove straight into the heart of it like a blade dropped from heaven.

He crashed into the wave like a thunderclap.

Drones shattered around him. Arms, wings, cores—ripped apart with terrifying precision. His movements were clean. There was no wasted energy, no hesitation whatsoever.

A single step took him into another cluster. A single strike erased five drones.

The swarm shifted focus, sensors locking onto him.

Didn't matter.

He was already moving again.

Every time a drone got close, it broke.

Every time a baton sparked, it struck air.

Every attempt to flank him failed before it began.

Below, Jiang Xiao Yu held the line. The others barely stood, but they stood. She intercepted drones that slipped past Damien's assault, striking them down with clean, decisive force.

Ji Chen supported her with small bursts of wind. Zhao Rui hurled flaming scraps like grenades. Jennifer, bleeding and pale, stabbed anything that came too close.

Damien Bloodbane continued his incredible offensive defense with deadly grace.

Metal piled at his feet. Sparks lit the air. The swarm thinned as the minutes ticked by.

And then finally with a suddenness that was shocking as much as it was a relief, the last drone dropped with a sputtering whine.

Silence returned.

Damien Bloodbane stood alone in the center, surrounded by wreckage. His eyes were steady. His chest rose once.

That was it.

The lights turned white. The alarm finally ceased.

"Simulation complete," the system said.

"Result: All candidates survived. Final protocol cleared."

Behind him, the others sank to their knees. Some sobbed. Some laughed weakly.

It was an insane trial.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Professor Kong Hu's voice echoed through the observation chamber.

"First lesson. Sometimes, a single sacrifice can save everyone, including yourself, from a world of pain. This is the Collective Discipline Protocol: Death Mode. Survive for one hour."

The announcement sent a ripple of shock through the faculty viewing room.

Professor Bai Lian screeched like a banshee, slamming her clipboard onto the desk so hard it cracked. "Are you trying to kill them? They're first years! First years! Some of them still carry stuffed animals in their dorms!"

"It's a bluff," Professor Huang murmured calmly. "It has to be."

"It better be," Professor Wu said flatly, sipping from his cup again. "We're not trying to start funerals."

Professor Kong Hu exhaled. "Relax. It's a psychological strike. A wake-up call. The drones will be programmed to escalate gradually. We shut it down at ten minutes, fifteen at most."

Professor Li nodded. "Standard scare tactic. Enough to push them to the edge, not over it."

"Good." Professor Bai Lian calmed down.

She was extremely worried about Jiang Xiao Yu's safety.

That girl was a golden hot potato. If anything happened to her, none of the professors in charge of the first years would survive the aftermath!

But as the seconds ticked down and the first waves of drones began their assault, no one moved to reach for the override.

Instead, their eyes were glued to the feeds.

Ji Chen was already forming barriers. Zhao Rui was flaring with raw fire. Fatty roared like a wild animal and flung drones like bags of rice. Jiang Xiao Yu moved with surgical precision.

The Mu and Lin Triplets joined up.

And Damien Bloodbane weaved through the drones like he owned them.

"The second years are doing much better than the first years." Professor Kong Hu nodded in approval. "They are grouping up instead of foolishly trying to survive on their own."

"The first years still have much to learn with regard to the power of teamwork." Professor Bai Lian sighed. "I'll make sure to drill that lesson in."

Professor Wu leaned forward and pointed at Damien Bloodbane. "Still untouched. Hm."

"He is good." Professor Kong Hu said quietly.

Three minutes passed.

Then five.

Then ten.

Still no one had fallen.

Zhao Rui was bruised. Jennifer bled from a shallow cut above her brow. The triplets were breathing hard, but standing.

Professor Bai Lian blinked. "Okay. They're still alive. That's… better than usual."

Professor Li adjusted her glasses. "Much better."

Then something stranger happened.

Damien Bloodbane's trio began pulling broken drone parts together.

At first, it looked like chaos. Random movements. Scavenging.

But then...

"Wait…" Professor Wu narrowed his eyes. "Are they… building something?"

The room fell quiet.

Damien Bloodbane stood at the edge of the chaos, directing the effort with nods and subtle glances.

Fatty hoisted a busted drone core like a construction block. Jiang Xiao Yu knelt, welding pieces together with her mana.

And piece by piece, a defensive barricade began to form.

A fortress.

Professor Bai Lian's jaw dropped. "First years don't build."

"They don't think usually that far ahead," Professor Li said slowly. "They react. They scream. They flail. And eventually they get overwhelmed."

"This one," Professor Huang said softly, eyes glinting, "is a future General"

Professor Wu leaned back, finally impressed. "Leadership material."