The sun hadn’t even cleared the mountains when the alarm buzzed inside my dorm, blinking crimson and screaming like a war siren. A recorded voice Baek’s, naturally echoed through the speakers.
“Wake up, worms. You’ve got exactly thirty minutes to get dressed, eat, and report to the North Arena. Or don’t. No one’ll miss you when you wash out.”
Charming.
I rolled out of bed, still sore from yesterday. My muscles ached in places I didn’t even know I had. The Evaluation had taken a toll, but this… The Gauntlet? This was different. This was survival with spectators.
After a quick rinse and a quicker breakfast that mostly involved stuffing three rice buns into my mouth at once, I followed the herd of half-awake trainees to the North Arena.
It was already alive with movement holographic screens hovered overhead, each displaying match schedules, team rosters, and live feeds from the multiple combat zones spread across the facility. KISA instructors prowled the sidelines with clipboards and stern expressions. You could smell the pressure. Burned essentia. Sweat. Anticipation.
Baek stood at the center of the field like she owned the ground she walked on.
“Welcome to Day One of The Gauntlet,” she said, voice booming through the stadium. “This is where your training becomes real. Every fight will be recorded. Every move evaluated.”
She paused, letting her eyes scan the crowd.
“Some of you will rise. Some of you will break. I don’t care which you are. Just make it interesting.”
I was about to laugh because that sounded very on-brand for her when my name popped up on the display.
LYNN KUROSAKI — Arena 3, Solo Match: Round 1
Of course.
Arena 3 was a floating combat platform, thirty meters wide, suspended above what looked like an abyss filled with energy coils. The walls were made of shield glass, projecting a simulated sky above. My opponent was already waiting inside a tall boy with white hair and metallic gauntlets strapped to both arms. He cracked his knuckles as I entered, smirking like he’d already won.
“Lynn Kurosaki, huh?” he said. “Heard you did okay in the evaluation. But solo matches are real now. Hope you’re fast.”
I didn’t respond. Not because I was scared I just didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of a comeback.
The match countdown started.
3… 2… 1… BEGIN.
He came in with a burst of flame from his boots, rocketing forward and swinging both fists. His gauntlets shimmered with runes heat-based, probably and when they struck the ground, it cracked.
Aggressive brawler. Close range. Probably weak at distance.
Perfect.
I slid back and flung my hand down. My shadow snapped to life, snaking beneath him like a living rope. As he lunged again, I redirected the tendril up in a spiral twisting around his ankle midair and jerking him sideways.
He crashed down, hard.
I didn’t wait.
A second tendril burst from my back, hardened into a spike, and slammed down where he’d landed. He rolled just in time, scorched the floor, and launched another fire burst this time forcing me to duck.
It became a dance.
He chased. I maneuvered. The arena echoed with our blows flame against shadow, steel against void. Then I saw my opening: he overcommitted on a leaping punch, and I slid under him, used his own shadow to yank him backward midflight and bam drove a hardened tendril into his chestplate, knocking the wind out of him.
“Winner: Kurosaki.”
The moment the words rang out, I slumped to one knee, panting.
One down.
Only about a dozen more to go.
I was still recovering by the time I got called to my second match this time, a duo trial. Squad formations. Random partners.
And that’s when I met her.
Rei Minahara.
I noticed her before I even heard her name. Short dark hair. Striking green eyes. A scar on her cheek that looked old but didn’t diminish her sharp features. She wore reinforced combat gear that looked half-customized, and she stood with the kind of posture that said “Don’t screw with me.”
“You’re Lynn Kurosaki?” she asked, looking unimpressed.
I nodded.
“Tch. Great. Another shadow boy. Try not to drag me down.”
So that was how this was gonna go.
We were barely introduced before the trial began. The mission? Defend a capture point while waves of summoned constructs tried to overrun it.
We were on opposite sides of the small field, back-to-back.
“Don’t get in my way,” she said.
“Wasn’t planning to,” I muttered.
The first wave came fast metal wolves with glowing eyes and sharpened tails. Rei didn’t wait. She summoned a massive hammer from a glyph seal, jumped straight into the air, and slammed down hard enough to crack the stone beneath her.
Damn. Earth essentia huh
I followed up by using her shockwave’s shadow, stretching it outward like a web. The moment the wolves entered the zone, I triggered a trap: shadow spikes erupted in a cross pattern, impaling two before they even reached us.
She looked back at me. Just for a second. A flicker of acknowledgment.
“Not bad.”
Was that a compliment?
We moved together after that. I’d slow them down with snares and terrain manipulation; she’d bulldoze through with power. Her fighting style was raw reckless but efficient. She didn’t just hit things, she demolished them.
By the end of the trial, we were both panting, but the control point held.
We’d passed.
“We’re done?” she said.
“Looks like it.”
“Try to keep up next time.”
She walked off without another word.
I watched her go, half amused, half confused.
She’s definitely cute, I thought. And definitely terrifying.
Exactly my type.
After a short break and an unnecessarily disgusting protein shake, I was called again. This time: squad match three-person cell vs another cell in a capture-and-control style engagement.
I was dreading who I’d be paired with.
Until they arrived.
Identical twins. Both tall, both lean, with jet-black hair tied in twin ponytails. One had his sleeves rolled up, a confident grin on his face. The other wore headphones around his neck and looked like he’d just woken up.
“Yo,” said the first. “Name’s Riku. This sleepy turd is my brother, Ren.”
“Hey,” said Ren, barely raising a hand.
“You shadow users always think you’re the edgy ones, huh?” Riku grinned. “Guess we’ll see.”
“Do you guys always talk like you’re in a bad sitcom?” I asked.
“Only when we’re winning.”
They were kinetic on the battlefield.
Riku used wind manipulation fast, flashy, and aggressive. He darted across the terrain like a living storm. Ren, by contrast, used crystal-type essentia. He was slow, deliberate, and terrifyingly effective blocking paths, redirecting attacks, creating shields and traps mid-fight.
Our opponents were no joke, but we synced up quickly. Riku would create openings, I’d isolate threats with shadows, and Ren would lock down objectives. In one critical moment, Riku literally launched me using a compressed wind burst into an enemy’s blind spot. I landed mid-spin, redirected their shadow, and yanked them into Ren’s crystallized cage.
We won in ten minutes.
“That,” Riku said, breathing hard, “was sexy.”
“Can I go back to bed now?” Ren mumbled.
I couldn’t help laughing
By the time the squad match ended, I was running on fumes.
I’d taken three hits, burned through almost half my essentia reserves, and had a growing bruise across my ribs from a projectile I hadn’t even seen coming. Honestly, if someone had handed me a pillow and a blanket right then, I would’ve happily died on the arena floor.
Instead, I followed the twins to the training plaza’s north edge, where benches lined the walkway beside a shallow koi stream. A few students lounged in the shade, swapping rumors and war stories about which instructors were secretly watching from invisible drone nodes.
Riku dropped onto a bench with a dramatic sigh, arms behind his head.
“Man, I could do this all day.”
“You’ve said that after every fight,” I replied, grabbing a bottled water from the vending rack. “And then you lay down like you’re about to enter a coma.”
“That’s because I fight with flair,” he said, stretching. “I earn my naps.”
Ren sat beside him, earbuds half in, eyes closed. He was sipping something dark out of a thermos labeled [Caution: Liquid Sleep].
“What’s in that?” I asked.
“Espresso. Instant oats. Pure rage,” Ren muttered.
“Delicious,” Riku said. “He calls it ‘Break Time Blend.’ I call it a cry for help.”
I chuckled, despite the ache in my shoulders.
There was something comfortable about the twins like they didn’t need to posture or prove anything. Even when Riku got all performative, it felt real. Sincere. Like they were genuinely having fun. A rare thing here.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“So what’s your deal, Shadow Man?” Riku asked, nudging me with his elbow. “You always fight that smooth, or were we just lucky to catch you on a hot streak?”
“I’m just trying not to embarrass myself,” I said. “You two seem like you’ve been doing this since birth.”
“We kind of have,” Riku said proudly. “Mother was a rogue Slayer. Pops is an artificer. We were practically training before we could walk.”
“First rift we saw was at age six,” Ren added without opening his eyes. “I threw up. Riku cried.”
“Lies and slander.”
“You called it a ‘space scream hole.’”
“It was screaming! You heard it too!”
I laughed harder than I should have. I didn’t realize how tense I’d been until that moment.
Then I felt it that prickly feeling of someone approaching with intent.
I turned, and there she was.
Rei Minahara.
Hands in the pockets of her sleeveless jacket. Green eyes narrowed. Scar catching a sliver of sunlight like a line of pale lightning across her cheek.
She didn’t look tired. She looked irritated. Or maybe that was just her default setting.
“Kurosaki,” she said flatly.
Riku raised an eyebrow.
“Oooh. This you, Lynn? Shadow Boy’s got fans now.”
Rei gave him a look that could’ve frozen lava.
“I’m not his fan.”
“Even better,” Ren muttered. “That means there’s tension. Good stories always start with tension.”
Rei ignored them both and turned back to me.
“I heard we’re being assigned into squads for the rest of the Gauntlet. Apparently, you and I are on the same team.”
“Again?” I said, unable to keep the smirk off my face. “Didn’t we just barely survive working together?”
“Barely is surviving,” she said. “Anyway. Just letting you know I’m not carrying you through the rest of this thing.”
“I’ll try not to slow you down,” I said with mock solemnity. “You’ve made it clear how high your standards are.”
She tilted her head, studying me. Not coldly, exactly but like she was trying to decide whether I was mocking her, or just an idiot.
“Tch. We’ll see.”
She turned to go.
“Wait,” I said before I could stop myself. “Want to sit with us for a bit? You know. While we all pretend our bodies aren’t screaming.”
She paused. Looked back. Then, surprisingly, shrugged and walked over, dropping into the space between me and Riku.
“Fine. But if you start talking about your ‘shadow training arc,’ I’m leaving.”
“Deal,” I said.
Riku leaned toward me, grinning behind his hand.
“She liiikes you,” he whispered. Loudly.
Rei elbowed him hard in the ribs. He wheezed.
Ren nodded, still sipping his drink.
“Definitely tension.”
We didn’t have long to rest.
Fifteen minutes after Rei joined us still refusing to admit she was staying Baek’s voice crackled through the overhead speakers like thunder.
“All Tier-One squads report to Subsection Delta. Loadouts are preassigned. Trial briefing begins now.”
Riku stood and stretched like he’d just woken up from a nap. “Time to be legends.”
Ren was already walking, earbuds back in. “I was promised chaos. There better be chaos.”
Rei stood without a word, her expression unreadable. She didn’t look at me, but she didn’t walk away either.
We followed the crowd across the arena complex to a new sector I hadn’t seen before. The floor turned from polished stone to reinforced steel, the lighting dimmed, and the walls were etched with shifting lines of blue code. It looked more like a rift monitoring station than a combat field.
Inside, we were each handed a wristband and combat harness gear laced with reinforced weave for containing essentia surges.
Then Baek appeared on a raised platform, flanked by three other instructors.
“This is not a simple match,” she began. “This is your first full-spectrum simulation.”
Behind her, a holographic map flickered to life a twisting canyon environment with three distinct zones, labeled Insertion, Suppression, and Disruption.
“Your squad will drop into an unstable rift sim,” Baek continued. “You’ll be tasked with:
- Infiltrating a fortified zone.
- Neutralizing hostile constructs.
- Shutting down a corrupted essentia core before the rift destabilizes.
Timers are live. Fail any phase, and you’re flagged.”
She let that hang.
“Let’s see who’s here to fight and who’s here to fail.”
Then she called it:
“Squad Delta-7: Kurosaki. Minahara. Riku and Ren Saito. You’re up.”
We were funneled through a tunnel into what looked like a sealed launch room. Hexagonal walls. Holographic panels. A countdown above the exit gate.
The four of us stood in a row—me at the front.
No one said anything for a moment.
Then Riku slapped a hand on my back.
“Alright, Shadow Boss. What’s the plan?”
I blinked. “Wait I’m leading this?”
“You’re standing in front,” Ren mumbled. “That’s the rule.”
“Plus, you’re the only one who didn’t almost get us killed last match,” Riku added cheerfully. “So. Orders?”
Rei said nothing. She didn’t object, though.
I took a breath.
Okay. Fine. Leadership hat on.
“Riku you’re our scout and flanker. Stay mobile. Keep them distracted.
Ren control the midline. I’ll sync my shadows with your crystal terrain for traps.
Rei…”
I paused. She raised an eyebrow.
“…You’re our point-breaker. If we need to punch through anything walls, armor, whatever you lead the charge.”
She gave the faintest nod. “That works.”
“Everyone stay in line of sight if you can. Watch each other’s backs. Don’t play hero.”
The countdown hit zero. The floor beneath us shifted. A bright light flared and suddenly we were dropping through a teleport seal.
We hit ground in a dusty ravine.
The canyon stretched out ahead of us, narrow and twisting, with sheer walls and scattered glowing crystals. The sky above was a dull gray simulation of stormlight, and the air buzzed with the unmistakable crackle of a rift’s unstable essentia.
I dropped into a crouch. The others landed behind me.
Ahead, two sentry constructs hovered silently, scanning with red light. Humanoid shapes, sleek and silver, with long-range rifles mounted on one arm and blades on the other.
“Two hostiles,” I whispered. “Rei, take left. I’ll flank right. Riku, create noise opposite our approach. Ren, prep a lockdown trap in case one gets past.”
Everyone moved without argument.
That was the first surprise.
Riku darted off with a streak of wind. Thirty seconds later, a gust swept up a cloud of dirt, kicking pebbles across the canyon floor and drawing both sentries toward it.
Rei didn’t wait. She vaulted off a rock, her hammer materializing midair. She spun it once, then brought it down like thunder on the first construct’s head. Metal bent. Circuits sparked.
I was already moving sliding through my own shadow, reappearing behind the second construct. It turned toward me, too slow. My shadow rose behind it like a spike and slammed through its torso.
“Hostiles neutralized,” Ren said, crystal glyphs still glowing under his feet. “No alert triggered.”
We moved forward.
The next zone was a makeshift stronghold metal barricades, mounted cannons, and a squad of five heavy-type constructs patrolling in synchronized formation.
I crouched behind a ledge and observed. Rei knelt beside me. Close enough that I could feel the heat coming off her hammer.
“You got a plan?” she asked, still not looking directly at me.
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “But it’s going to take some trust.”
She stiffened slightly. “From who?”
“From all of you.”
I pointed out positions.
“Riku, I need you to create a diversion, then pull back before they lock on. Ren block their retreat with a crystal wall behind them once they move. Rei, when the lead construct turns, you and I move in from opposite angles. I’ll lock the arms. You smash the core.”
Rei stared at me for a moment.
“You’re giving me the core kill?”
“You’re the hammer,” I said. “Let’s use it.”
She blinked.
“Alright, then. Let’s move.”
The plan went off like clockwork.
Riku raced in, throwing wind bursts and taunts like candy. The constructs focused on him, just long enough for Ren to raise a wall of solid crystal behind them cutting off their fallback.
Rei and I hit them from opposite sides.
I wrapped shadow tendrils around the lead unit’s limbs, locking them mid-swing.
“NOW!”
Rei leapt forward, spun her hammer, and crushed its chest plate in a single blow. The thing folded like a soda can.
Together, we took down the rest—fighting back-to-back for the last three.
By the time the dust cleared, we were panting and covered in scuffs but standing.
“Nice call, Kurosaki,” Riku said. “You might actually be good at this whole ‘leader’ thing.”
Ren gave a thumbs up. “Didn’t die. Would squad again.”
Rei looked at me.
Just a glance.
But this time, there was something in her eyes I hadn’t seen before.
Not annoyance.
Not disdain.
Recognition.
The final section of the simulation zone looked… wrong.
Even in a sim, you could feel it the air was heavier, almost oily. The simulated sky above flickered like a dying bulb, and the wind carried a low, teeth-rattling hum.
At the center of a cracked marble platform, suspended by arcs of jagged black stone, floated the core: a pulsing orb of pure essentia, glowing dark violet. Around it, corrupted automatons jerked in staggered loops—like they were shorting out, stuck between simulations.
I slowed, holding up a hand.
“Wait.”
Riku crouched beside me, squinting at the core.
“That doesn’t look like the ones we studied.”
“It’s not,” I said. “This is either a test or a malfunction.”
Rei stepped forward, hammer slung over her shoulder.
“You want to pull back?”
“No,” I said, already forming a plan in my head. “We’re here. We finish this.”
I turned to them.
“Riku, draw the attention of the bots. Circle wide. Don’t engage unless you have to.
Ren, start layering defense glyphs on the approach. Focus on containment in case the core ruptures.
Rei…”
I met her eyes.
“You and I are going to disable that thing.”
She hesitated.
Just for a second.
“Got it.”
We moved.
Riku vanished in a gust of wind, hollering something about “hot bot-on-bot violence.” Several of the corrupted constructs turned to follow him, twitching and sparking. Ren dropped to a knee, carving quick crystalline seals into the ground, forming a shallow dome of layered defense.
Rei and I reached the platform last.
I approached the core slowly. My shadow flickered unnaturally shifting even without my command.
That’s when I knew.
Something was wrong.
“Lynn,” Rei said quietly. “It’s reacting to you.”
The core’s light brightened. Threads of violet energy reached toward my chest like veins of lightning searching for ground. I stepped back, but it pulled again latching onto something inside me.
“I think…” I said slowly, “it’s trying to bond.”
Rei raised her hammer. “Should I smash it?”
“No,” I said, holding up a hand. “Wait.”
The moment I touched it
The world flipped.
Colors inverted. Time stuttered.
For half a heartbeat, I saw something that wasn’t the simulation. Not KISA. Not the academy. Just darkness, and a pair of eyes. Massive, ancient. Watching me.
“Shadowborn,” something whispered in a voice like cracked stone.
Then everything exploded.
I landed on my back, skidding ten feet across the marble. My ears rang. My shadow lashed out like a living beast, snapping at the core as if trying to protect me.
Rei was beside me instantly, hand on my shoulder, face tight with alarm.
“What the hell was that?!”
“I...” I coughed. “I don’t know. But that wasn’t part of the sim.”
“You looked like you were… somewhere else.”
The core cracked. A shriek echoed across the canyon a soundless scream that hit directly in the gut.
The corrupted constructs went wild.
Three turned from chasing Riku and sprinted back, twitching violently. One locked onto Ren, another onto Rei and the last one bolted directly toward me.
I didn’t think.
I let go.
My shadow surged.
Not like before not careful tendrils or precise strikes. This time it roared out of me like a tidal wave. Giant claws formed out of smoke and black lightning. A skeletal wolf’s head appeared above me, fangs bared. It slammed into the construct, tearing it to pieces before I even realized what I’d summoned.
The others froze.
Rei looked at me.
Really looked at me.
“What… was that?”
I didn’t have an answer.
Riku dropped down beside us, panting.
“I vote we all pretend that didn’t just happen.”
“Agreed,” said Ren, limping slightly. “Nothing says ‘school bonding’ like an eldritch meltdown.”
“Lynn,” Rei said again, voice quieter now. “You knew how to control it?”
I stood slowly, pulling my shadow back into shape. It swirled around my feet like an obedient hound.
“Not really,” I admitted. “But I wasn’t going to let it take any of you.”
Rei stared at me.
Then, barely audible:
“You really aren’t like the others.”
We made it back to the sim chamber without further issues.
Baek was waiting.
She glanced at us. At me. Then at the security feed.
“Well,” she said. “That was unexpected.”
“There was a surge in the core,” I offered. “Felt… unstable.”
“The rift template was altered mid-trial,” she replied. “Unscheduled. And your essentia readings went off the charts.”
She stared me down.
“You’re more than you appear, Kurosaki. You’d better learn to understand what’s inside you. Before it gets someone killed.”
I nodded.
But inside, I was still shaking.