CHAPTER 49: EX 49. BEGINNING OF CHAOS

The laughter rang out like a pack of jackals—mocking, cruel, relentless. But Adrian Peer didn’t flinch.

He turned his back on them with a calm exhale, the mocking noise behind him already losing meaning.

He’d heard worse.

He’d survived worse.

And they... weren’t worth his time.

With quiet resolve, Adrian began to walk away, his mind returning to the hunt. He still needed more points. Still needed to grow stronger. Still needed to—

FWOOOSH!

A sharp hiss cut through the air.

Adrian’s senses spiked as a flicker of killing intent grazed his spine. His body reacted before his mind did—his neck tilting just enough as an ice spear shot past his head, missing him by inches and impaling a tree behind him. The bark instantly froze over, a thin crust of frost spreading in a web.

Adrian didn’t turn around yet.

He had expected this.

Thomas clicked his tongue behind him.

"Tch. How dare a Grounder-born ignore me?"

Adrian exhaled through his nose, eyes narrowing. He hadn’t wanted to start a fight—not because he feared them, but because he had no desire to crush what little hope these cadets might still be clinging to.

After all... he knew what it was like to be at the bottom.

That desperate hunger to survive. To be acknowledged.

But—he wouldn’t forgive being disrespected.

"Oops," Thomas called out mockingly. "My hand slipped."

A second ice spear began to form beside him—crackling, razor-sharp, frosted breath curling from his palm.

His Sub-Zero talent, an ordinary-rank talent, allowed him to conjure and manipulate ice freely.

But before he could launch it—

Adrian charged.

His shield came up as he sprinted forward like a human battering ram. His boots tore into the ground. His body blurred.

Thomas’s smirk vanished.

"Die, bastard!" he shouted, unleashing a barrage of ice spears, hurling them toward Adrian in quick succession.

Adrian smiled behind his shield.

That was all he needed.

The moment the first spear struck his shield—

[Talent Activated: Full Counter]

A shimmering ripple ran across the face of Adrian’s shield, and then—

BOOM.

The ice spears rebounded with full force, launching back in the same trajectory they had come from with the same force if not more.

The trio’s eyes widened in horror.

They weren’t ready.

Thomas, James, and William barely managed to hurl themselves out of the way, the retaliated spears tearing past them like frozen missiles.

But their allies?

Were not so lucky.

Four of the remaining boys were struck dead-on, their bodies lit up in shimmering blue light before being forcefully teleported out of the arena. Eliminated.

Now only five remained.

Adrian wasn’t finished.

He surged forward, his blade gleaming, and slashed down at Thomas, who had landed hard and was still regaining his balance.

Shing!

But just before the strike landed—a dome of dark energy snapped into place around Thomas.

A barrier.

Adrian’s sword slammed into it with force, cracking it slightly, but not breaking through. His eyes snapped to the caster—James, his hand raised, smirking.

"We’re not that easy to kill," James said coldly.

CRACK!

Suddenly, the ground beneath Adrian ruptured, sharp stones and debris exploding upward as William stomped with brutal force. The tremor forced Adrian to retreat a step as he avoided falling into the formed pit.

Now, the trio stood side by side, their auras flaring.

Thomas conjuring more spears, James gathering energy for another spell, William gritting his teeth as he prepared to charge.

The five remaining boys fanned out around Adrian, surrounding him.

But Adrian didn’t flinch.

He raised his shield once more, lowered his center of gravity, and drew his sword back into a perfect stance.

"Come, then," he muttered. "Let’s settle this."

And just like that—

The forest erupted into chaos.

Steel clashed with ice. Magic roared. The ground quaked beneath them. And at the center of it all stood Adrian Peer—no longer trying to belong, no longer invisible—but standing tall in defiance of everything he used to be.

****

The battlefield was a shattered warzone.

The once-verdant forest clearing had become a twisted mosaic of destruction—cracked earth, frozen trees, and blackened craters from errant flames. Ice shards jutted out of the ground like jagged tombstones, while molten-black fire flickered unnaturally in the air, refusing to be snuffed out. The stench of scorched wood mixed with the cold bite of frost.

At the heart of the chaos, Adrian Peer fought with cold precision, his sword and shield a blur of movement as he danced between attacks and counters.

Only the trio remained now—Thomas, William, and James—their lackeys already eliminated, lying unconscious or teleported away.

Adrian’s shield rammed forward with brutal force, shoving William back, stone armor cracking under the weight of the blow. The ground beneath William’s feet buckled as he dug in, trying to hold.

"How the hell did he get this strong?!" William growled, veins bulging as he summoned more rocks to hurl.

Before Adrian could follow up—

SWOOSH!

Thomas dropped from the sky like a meteor, his ice armor splintered and fractured, wielding a longsword made of pure frost. He struck down at Adrian, the blade gleaming blue.

[Full Counter: Activated]

The sword bounced back mid-air, flinging Thomas away like a ragdoll. His armor shattered further, cracks spidering along his chestplate. With a strained grunt, he flipped midair and landed in a crouch, sliding backward across the frozen battlefield.

He looked up just in time to see Adrian bulldozing through William’s attacks, each rock projectile deflected and returned. Adrian closed the distance with terrifying speed, his shield glowing faintly with counterforce energy.

"James!" Thomas roared. "Isn’t it ready yet?!"

From behind, James stood inside a swirling circle of dark runes, shadow energy coiling around his form.

"Just one more minute!" James snapped, sweat trickling down his face as the spell neared completion.

"We don’t have a minute!" Thomas shouted, his voice strained as he dashed forward. "He’s about to take down William!"

And it was true—William was barely holding on, arms trembling as he tried to summon another wall of stone. But Adrian was relentless, slamming into him with a shield bash that shattered the earth beneath them. William went flying, crashing through a tree and landing in a heap.

Thomas lunged to assist, ice sword reforming in his hand, but Adrian met him mid-charge, their clash sending a pulse of force that cracked the nearby ground.

With a final twist, Adrian delivered a devastating kick to Thomas’s side—both boys were launched across the battlefield, their bodies skidding across dirt, ice, and flame.

James watched, wide-eyed, as his allies were reduced to barely conscious wrecks.

And then—

Adrian turned to him.

Their eyes met.

As James’s heart skipped a beat.

"Shit," he muttered, the edges of the magic circle now glowing bright purple.

Adrian charged, shield raised, sword at the ready.

Panicking, James drew a dagger from his inventory and sliced his palm, blood splattering into the circle. He slammed his hand on the runes just as Adrian reached him.

BOOOOOOOM!

The ground ruptured as a pillar of dark energy erupted upward, enveloping James and slamming into Adrian like a tidal wave. Black tendrils of force exploded outward, wrapping around Adrian’s shield.

"Tch—! Full Counter—!" he braced, the shield glowing—

But it wasn’t enough.

The sheer force of the spell overwhelmed even Adrian’s counter, pushing him back several meters before launching him off his feet and into a shattered boulder.

The dust settled slowly.

Silence.

And then—

CRACK!

The magic circle flared ominously.

In that moment—

CHAOS erupted.