"Kevin, what the hell is happening?"
Andrea’s voice was heavy, weighed down by both authority and disbelief, as her eyes remained locked on the broadcast.
The scene unfolding before her felt unreal, bordering on absurd, yet every second that passed only confirmed that it was undeniably happening.
Not just Andrea, but everyone inside the control room had stood up from their seats. The distance between them and the massive projection had vanished as instinctively they crowded closer.
Their eyes were open wide, and breaths came out shallow.
Even beings who had lived through wars, calamities, and the collapse of empires now stared in silence.
Even the Storm Dragon, an existence who had watched generations rise and fall, was gawking openly at the screen, his brows drawn together in genuine astonishment.
Kevin did not look away from the projection.
His eyes gleamed with manic focus; his fingers twitched slightly as if resisting the urge to dismantle the array layer by layer just to confirm what he was seeing.
"A heaven-suppressing formation," he said slowly in a reverent tone.
Andrea turned sharply toward him. "Explain now."
Kevin inhaled deeply, steadying himself before speaking, though excitement still bled into his tone.
"The students seated on the platform are mostly low-ranked. That is intentional. They are acting as mana nodes rather than combatants.
Each of them is channeling their mana directly into the altar, stabilizing and powering the formation at the same time."
He raised a hand, zooming in on the image where dozens of students sat cross-legged, sweat dripping down their faces as they continuously poured energy into the glowing structure.
"The altar itself is the core," Kevin continued. "It distributes suppression waves evenly across the cave.
Anyone who is recognized as a target resurrecting inside is immediately weakened.
Their cultivation is forcibly reduced, and their mana circulation is disrupted by the waves released by the altar; moreover, their reaction speed is also slowed down."
His voice sharpened as the feed shifted to another angle.
"Meanwhile, the higher-ranked students are launching coordinated attacks while the enemies are still destabilized. It is... efficient. Brutally efficient."
"And the earth mages?" Andrea asked, her eyes narrowing.
Kevin smiled faintly, unable to hide his admiration. "They are reshaping the cave’s interior continuously so that the cultists never get a solid ground to fight on."
As he spoke, Kevin gestured again, splitting the display into two distinct feeds.
Gasps rippled through the room.
The second screen showed the forest beyond the cave.
The monster tide that had earlier surged chaotically through the domain now stood still.
The monsters were not scattered or restless; instead, they stood like an army ready for battle.
They were too disciplined.
Hundreds of monsters stood in an organized manner. Silence engulfed the control room.
"The moment the cultists are wiped out inside the cave," Kevin explained softly, "the beasts move again."
On the screen, as the cultists got wiped out, students rose from the platform, their bodies trembling from exhaustion.
Without hesitation, they reached for potions scattered across the ground, consuming them quickly before returning to the raised platform at the cave’s end.
Immediately after, the monsters moved again.
Like a tide released from a dam, they surged forward, slaughtering another wave of cultists who resurrected back in the cave.
The cycle repeated; arrows greeted them mercilessly, followed by a combined assault from all the organized groups.
Meanwhile, the altar was suppressing every batch of enemies the same way.
Hunt. Kill. Revive. Suppress. Execute.
Once in a while, high-ranked SSS individuals appeared, but under the gradual effort from everyone, even they got killed eventually.
"Amazing," Kevin whispered, his voice barely audible.
No one else spoke.
No one could.
Then a hesitant voice broke the silence.
"Um... we found Vorin."
Several professors spoke at once, disbelief threading through their tones. Kevin reacted instantly, shifting the feed with a sharp motion of his hand.
The image changed.
The room stiffened.
"Impossible," Klaus breathed, dread creeping into his voice. "What the hell is he doing there?"
No one needed clarification.
Floating in front of Vorin alone was William.
The first-ranker they had seen on the several screens during the trial.
The human prodigy who had outranked every race’s geniuses during the trial.
"What is that boy thinking?" someone whispered.
On the screen, Vorin attacked.
A vast distortion rippled outward as demonic space energy surged forward, only for it to weaken, fracture, and disperse midway through its trajectory.
Kevin’s eyes widened in disbelief. "Incredible. The domain is actively suppressing space-element attacks."
The implications of that single observation were staggering, at least for Kevin; after all, he was a fanatic for runes and formations.
Then William vanished.
Not entirely.
His body faded, but a faint golden glow remained, clinging to him like a stubborn outline.
"A partial invisibility???" Kevin muttered.
On the screen, William reappeared behind Vorin in a sudden feint.
Vorin’s arm was severed.
The control room froze; they saw Vorin struggling under the strange energy.
Silence reigned so heavily that even breathing felt intrusive. A 15-year-old human had landed a hit on Vorin, the space mage, the crazed fanatic.
Then they saw the verbal fight between Vorin and William; they all heard William calling Vorin "sewage lizard."
Several people physically flinched.
"Is that brat out of his mind?" Someone blurted out they had never seen such a brazen person in their life; the situation was already critical, and he was still provoking the enemy.
Even the Storm Dragon let out a sharp exhale filled with disbelief.
Several moments passed, and then they saw Vorin’s expression shift.
He was filled with rage and confusion when he found out that all his subordinates were gone.
The next instant, Vorin moved and appeared beside William.
He had crossed the distance in a blur and kicked William square in the abdomen, sending the boy crashing into the forest below like a meteor.
"Move!" Andrea shouted, snapping out of her shock. "Establish contact immediately. We need to negotiate now."
Hands flew across formations. Runes flared violently as professors worked at breakneck speed.
Andrea’s chest tightened painfully as anxiety surged through her. She could not afford to lose William; he was the strongest candidate of the trial and had a lot of potential.
She moved to turn around slightly and met the unblinking gaze of the black cat perched on Yue Qinglan’s shoulder.
Those crystalline eyes conveyed their message clearly.
Andrea swallowed hard, then looked at Vorin’s unconscious daughter lying on the ground.
Inside the domain.
William lay sprawled across broken earth; blood soaked his form and seeped into the soil beneath him.
[Ouch. That hurt, lizard bitch.]
Vorin hovered above him, his shadow covered the land beneath, and he looked like an eclipse itself. His eyes burned with manic light as he stared down at the battered human.
"Do you truly believe I need my cult army to slaughter everyone in this domain?" Vorin said slowly, his voice dripping with madness. "I alone am enough."
The pressure around him intensified, crushing the air itself, and he was about to launch a fatal strike.
But then suddenly a ripple appeared in the air, and a translucent screen formed between them.
"Stop right there, Vorin." Andrea’s face appeared, her expression carved from fury. "Do not make another move."
Vorin stopped in his tracks.