The courtyard of Xihe Academy trembled under another impact. Rubble fell from the cracked towers, and glowing dust hung in the air like dying stardust.
Tian Zhen held his breath as another explosion tore through the outer wall. The mana barrier sputtered again. Its usual radiant dome flickered, veins of unstable glyphs surging erratically across its broken frame.
Elara tightened her grip on his wrist. Her voice was hoarse.
"We need to get inside the central sanctum. It's the only place with layered defense."
Tian nodded. No words, just movement. He had no time to ask questions. Only act.
A screech cut through the sky. One of the smaller Voidspawn swooped low, its thin wings shredding wind like blades. A student in red robes screamed as the creature dragged him across the shattered tiles.
Tian darted forward. His left hand lit with a pulse of white-blue mana. A quick glyph flared across his knuckles. Not complex, just force-shaped. He punched the stone beneath the beast. A shockwave surged upward.
The Voidspawn stumbled mid-flight. Its wings snapped awkwardly and it crashed into a fallen pillar.
"Elara, go!" he shouted.
But she didn't run. She raised her hands, summoning a crescent shield of starlight glyphs. It shimmered as a second monster lunged toward them. The creature struck the shield, claws grinding across the glowing barrier, sparks flaring from the contact.
Tian stepped around her. His fingers traced another symbol. This time, he focused. A barrier spell, low-tier. Not enough to kill, but enough to hold.
"Zone hold, six seconds," he muttered.
A circle of energy spread from his feet. The creature froze mid-step, as if caught between moments. Elara turned to him, breathless.
"Where did you learn that casting speed?"
He didn't answer. He wasn't sure himself. It had just come naturally. Like his body remembered things his mind didn't.
A pulse ran through the ground. From the northern spire, a new wave of Voidspawn emerged. These were larger. Some had plated heads. Others shimmered with unstable magic, their bodies warping the space around them.
"Mana mutators," Elara whispered. "We're losing containment."
From the eastern tower, a group of instructors appeared, robes tattered and eyes fierce. Professor Kaelin was among them, blood running down her cheek, her leaf robe torn and glowing faintly.
She shouted, "Evacuate the lower wards! Prioritize the first-years!"
A student with glowing arms collapsed near Tian. Renshu. His left leg was burned, his breathing rapid.
"Zhen," he muttered, "don't... let them past the gate. If they breach the leyline sanctum... it's over."
Tian knelt beside him. A healing glyph wouldn't be enough. He activated a simple channel glyph and poured mana into Renshu's chest.
"Stay alive," he said, voice low.
More explosions rocked the upper courtyard. One of the crystal towers collapsed, shards raining over the battlefield. The sky above bent again, lightning crackling across the tear in the clouds.
And still, the Voidspawn came.
Elara turned to Tian.
"I'll hold the southern wall. You take the arcane bridge. If we lose that, they'll cut through the sanctum gates."
He nodded once. They split apart.
Tian sprinted through the broken hallway toward the bridge. Smoke billowed in waves. A small group of students stood there, shaking. One girl held a staff too heavy for her arms. Another boy clutched a broken charm.
"Move," Tian said. "You stay here, you die. Get to the atrium and reinforce the glyph towers."
One of them blinked. "You're... Tian Zhen? You're just a second-year."
"And you're wasting time."
The students ran.
Tian reached the center of the bridge. Voidspawn waited at the far end. Five of them. Each different. One walked like a shadow made of chain links. Another had no face, just a floating mask. The middle one glowed with unstable light.
They noticed him. Then they charged.
He didn't wait.
Tian slammed his hands together. A force glyph burst outward. The first monster cracked against an invisible wall. The second ducked low, hissing.
He sidestepped. Drew a blade from his belt. Not enchanted. Just steel.
The third creature lunged.
Tian sliced across its throat and spun. A chain-whip lashed toward him. He ducked, rolled, and landed near a support beam. Another glyph burned into the floor. This one was new. Shaped like an eye, wrapped in wind.
He placed his palm on it.
A gust exploded outward. The creatures stumbled. Tian ran into them.
Three strikes. Two drops. One kick.
The remaining Voidspawn snarled. One leapt, claws aimed for his chest.
Tian ducked and pushed a glyph into its stomach.
"Break," he whispered.
The glyph pulsed. The beast folded in on itself, twitching as it vanished in a pulse of heatless light.
Tian looked up. The bridge was cleared.
Then the world shook again.
A roar came from the academy gate.
Tian turned. A larger Voidspawn had arrived. Twenty feet tall, shaped like a starved giant with blades for fingers and eyes like burning glass. Its footsteps cracked the earth.
Tian exhaled slowly.
This wasn't over.
Not even close.
He stepped forward, blood on his shirt, mana low, breath ragged.
But he was still walking.
The academy still stood.
And the sky had not yet claimed him.
The massive Voidspawn advanced with thundering steps, each one shaking the bridge beneath Tian's feet. Flames licked the shattered stone and arcs of raw mana flickered in the air like ghost-light. The giant paused, scanning him with its unnatural gaze. It did not roar again. It moved with grim certainty, blades dragging furrows through the debris.
Tian adjusted his stance. He reached into his belt and drew a thin obsidian dagger etched with faint glyphs. Not a powerful weapon. Just precise. He whispered, "Delay pattern, four glyphs. Anchor to edge."
He carved a quick sequence into the bridge beneath his feet, then sprinted forward.
The Voidspawn lunged.
Tian leapt aside. The beast's claws slammed into the bridge, but instead of collapsing, the glyphs flared. The structure groaned but held. As the creature prepared to swipe again, Tian activated the second glyph.
A burst of kinetic energy slammed into the monster's shoulder. It reeled back, but only for a moment. It recovered faster than Tian expected.
"Too fast," he muttered.
He slid beneath its next attack and dashed toward a fallen pillar on the side of the bridge. Behind it lay two students, hiding. One was unconscious, the other trembling.
"Shield up now," Tian barked. "Hold this point."
The conscious student nodded, shakily raising a mana barrier. Tian turned back, spinning into a sprint. He charged the giant again, leaping over debris, weaving through smoke.
He needed more force.
He needed a team.
Just then, an arrow of violet flame streaked overhead and struck the Voidspawn in its jaw. The beast staggered. From the far side of the bridge, Elara appeared, robes scorched and hair windblown.
"Tian! I circled around!"
He nodded once, leaping back as she joined him. Her eyes scanned the beast.
"Its glyphs are layered. It adapts. We hit once, it learns."
"Then we hit twice at once," Tian said.
They moved without further plan. Elara raised her staff and fired a volley of flame arrows into the beast's upper torso. At the same moment, Tian etched a gravity glyph beneath its legs.
"Now!"
The glyph exploded. The Voidspawn's knees buckled, and its torso leaned forward under the sudden force. Elara launched a charged sigil into its throat.
A burst of light. A shriek. It stumbled.
Tian rushed in, dagger glowing.
He climbed the crumbling frame of the bridge, reached the creature's side, and stabbed his dagger into the exposed glyph beneath its arm.
The blade hissed.
Mana surged.
The creature let out one final roar and collapsed sideways into the stone, shattering half the bridge.
Dust. Silence.
Elara stumbled, leaning against a broken column. "That was too close."
Tian wiped his face, breathing hard. "That wasn't the last one."
Behind them, another boom echoed from the academy's southern gate.
They looked at each other. No words.
And then, they ran.
The arcane bridge had held.
But the battle for the sanctum had just begun.