The Essence Flow

Chapter 176: This Isn't Training

Towan, Len, and Alira burst through the dorm doors, the cool night air hitting them like a relief—until they saw the sky.

Calo sat slumped on a bench, his shoulder wrapped in thick bandages, the fabric already stained a dull red. Beside him, Veik hovered, arms crossed, while Rellie and Ryn stood watch—their postures tense, eyes sharp.

"Hey, guys!" Towan’s voice boomed across the courtyard, his grin flashing white in the eerie light. "You good?" He jerked his chin at Calo’s bandages.

Calo stiffened, not quite meeting his eyes. "Oh... yeah. Thanks." First Classes still made him feel like a cornered rabbit, all nerves and forced politeness.

Towan didn’t seem to notice. He thrust a hand toward Ryn. "I think we haven’t spoken before. I’m Towan."

Ryn eyed the offered hand, then clasped it—a quick, firm shake."Ryn."

Len and Alira drifted closer, but their attention snapped upward as the purple haze deepened, the unnatural glow casting their faces in ghostly light.

Rellie’s voice cut through the silence, quiet but razor-edged.

"Something’s wrong."

The night shattered with a guttural ROARR—a sound that vibrated through bones and sent birds exploding from the treeline.

Then—movement.

A massive wolf lunged from the shadows, its maw gaping wide enough to swallow Rellie’s head whole. Saliva glistened on dagger-length teeth, its breath reeking of rot and iron.

She didn’t freeze.

Instinct took over.

Rellie sidestepped, the wolf’s jaws snapping shut on empty air as her dagger found its ribs. A savage drag of the blade unzipped its flank, guts spilling onto the grass in a steaming heap. The beast collapsed, twitching.

Silence.

Then—

"What the—?!" Towan’s voice was uncharacteristically strained.

Len clapped a hand over his mouth, his face draining of color as the wolf’s blood pooled black in the moonlight.

Alira's fingers tightened around her axe handle as her eyes tracked movement in the treeline. "This isn't the only one," she growled, flames beginning to lick between her knuckles. The air around her wavered with heat as she shifted into a battle stance.

The forest erupted with movement. Dozens of slavering wolves emerged from the shadows, their matted fur bristling with unnatural energy. But these were no ordinary predators - their eyes burned with violet fire, muscles twitching with corrupted strength, saliva sizzling where it dripped onto the grass.

Towan didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, his body thrumming with barely-contained power. "Ryn, Rellie," he commanded, voice cutting through the growls, "protect Veik and Calo. Nothing gets past you." The two nodded sharply, Ryn's daggers flashing as he positioned himself between the wounded and danger, while Rellie's empathic senses flared to track approaching threats.

As more creatures poured from the woods, Towan's stomach dropped. The rear ranks moved wrong - their bodies warped and distended, some with extra limbs, others with exposed ribs glowing purple through translucent skin. This wasn't just infection. The corruption had remade them from the inside out.

Towan’s gaze locked onto Len and Alira, his usual cocky demeanor stripped away, replaced by something harder—something battle-worn.

"We stop these things before they reach the dorms—or the Academy."

His voice carried the weight of lived horror. This wasn’t his first time seeing corruption twist living flesh.Memories flashed—a younger Sylra, unconscious on the floor, veins blackened, life almost stripped away from her. She’d survived. Many hadn’t.

The wolves snarled, their violet-tinged saliva eating into the grass like acid.

Towan’s fists ignited. "No second chances. They’re already gone."

The fight erupted in a blur of fangs and flame.

Towan, Alira, and Len moved like a single entity—their countless sparrings forging them into a lethal team. Towan’s fists caved in skulls, Alira’s axe carved through corrupted flesh, and Len’s precise strikes shattered joints. The wolves fell in waves, but the horde was endless.

A few, smarter than the rest, skirted the edges—loping past the frontline, drawn to easier prey.

Rellie’s dagger trembled in her grip.

This wasn’t training.

The wolves didn’t growl—they hissed, their eyes locked onto her throat, muscles coiled for the kill. Every instinct screamed:

They want you dead.

Ryn’s dagger sank into a wolf’s eye, the beast collapsing with a wet gurgle. His gaze flicked to Rellie—and froze.

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(Last time I saw her… she barely knew which end of the dagger to hold.)

Her form was different now. Precise. Controlled. Each slash carved arteries, each sidestep broke momentum. But—

(Who taught her?)

His mind raced through faces—the weapon masters from the capital? The guards?—until her footwork clicked. A pivot, a feint, the way her wrist rolled on the follow-through—

(Her strikes… aren’t deadly. She wasn’t taught to kill.)

The realization struck like a slap. These moves—he’d seen them before. In the slums. From the one assassin who’d ever spared him. The only difference is that assassin actually killed

Veik eased closer, his back to Ryn’s. "You good?" he muttered, eyes scanning for threats.

"Yeah," Ryn lied, his voice tight.

No wolves reached them.

(Luck. Or something worse.)

"They’re pretty easy to handle," Len remarked, her voice calm as a glacial water spear erupted from her palm, impaling a lunging wolf mid-air. The creature slammed into the ground, frozen from the inside out, its final snarl locked in ice.

"Yeah—"

Alira spun, her boot wreathed in flames as it cracked against a wolf’s temple, sending it cartwheeling into its packmates. "Their attacks are sloppy. Like they’re fighting on instinct alone."Towan’s fists blurred, a barrage of crushing punches flattening two corrupted beasts into the dirt. But his expression stayed grim, jaw clenched.

"Don’t let your guard down." His voice was low, rough—unlike his usual cocky drawl."They’re still dangerous."

A ripple passed through the pack. The fallen wolves twitched, their shattered bones already knitting back together, violet veins pulsing brighter.

Alira's knuckles scraped against the cobblestones as she slammed her fist into the ground. "Shit-!" A ring of fire erupted outward, flames licking hungrily at the wolves' corrupted flesh. Some recoiled with unnatural howls, but others - their minds too far gone - charged through the inferno, collapsing mid-stride as their fur burned away to reveal blackened muscle beneath.

Then the air shook.

A guttural roar split the battlefield as a monstrous bear, its size doubled by corruption, barreled through the smoke. Alira barely had time to register the glint of violet-tinged claws before they were already arcing toward her face.

Time seemed to slow.

Her arms came up wreathed in desperate flames - not enough to stop the blow, but maybe enough to survive it. The fire hissed against the bear's corrupted hide, doing little to slow its deadly trajectory.

"Alira!" Towan's voice cracked across the battlefield. He fought like a demon against the resurrected wolves, their broken bodies stitching back together even as he pummeled them - but the tide of fangs and fur kept coming.

Len saw it all unfold from twenty paces away. Too far for a shield. Her hands snapped up anyway, fingers splaying as she reached deep into her Essentia reserves. A shimmering blue sphere began forming between her palms before she abruptly clenched her fists - and released.

The concentrated water beam struck the bear's ribs with the force of a battering ram. Corrupted flesh sizzled where the purified water made contact, the impact sending the beast skidding sideways just as its claws grazed Alira's forearms.

Alira stared at the smoking furrows in her armor, then at Len. "Thank y-"

"Save it!" Len gasped, doubling over as her knees buckled. The attack had drained her - veins standing out starkly against her pale skin as she fought to stay upright. That single shot had burned through half her Essentia.

The bear was already rising.

Alira's fingers tightened around her stolen hammer, the metal glowing cherry-red as flames coiled up its length. The air around it warped from the heat, distorting the bear's monstrous form like a nightmare mirage.

"Let’s see what Essentia weapons really do," she growled, and swung.

The impact cracked through the battlefield like thunder, the hammer caving in the bear’s ribs with a sickening crunch. The force sent a shockwave rippling through its corrupted flesh, flames searing into its matted fur—

But the bear didn’t roar. Didn’t stagger.

Its face twitched, a single muscle spasm—the only sign it even felt the blow. Its eyes, violet and vacant, locked onto Alira with soulless hunger.

"No. Fucking. WAY."

She leapt back just as the bear’s claws tore through the space where her head had been, the wind of its swing whipping her hair forward.

"Alira."

Towan’s voice cut through the chaos as he materialized beside her, his breathing steady despite the carnage. "Take care of the wolves. You’re better at AOE."

The term felt foreign on his tongue—something he’d picked up from one of Elliot’s strategy books. Whether Alira understood didn’t matter. She’d get the gist.

"Aight." She didn’t know what "AOE" meant, but she did know this: Towan hit harder than anyone. If he wanted the bear, he’d take the bear.

With a ground-shaking stomp, Towan shifted his stance. His Essentia solidified around him like a fortress, the air itself growing dense, unyielding—Eryndar’s legacy made manifest.

(I shouldn’t hold back.)

His next punch wasn’t fast. It wasn’t fancy.

It was a hammerfall.

The bear’s retaliatory claw whistled past his ear as Towan ducked low, then exploded upward, his fist cratering into the beast’s sternum. Ribs splintered inward. The creature staggered back, but Towan gave no quarter—his next strikes targeted joints, pressure points, anything to cripple.

The bear collapsed.

From the periphery, Alira watched between bursts of flame, her lips curling.

(So that’s what brutal strength looks like.)

Towan’s gaze swept over the battlefield—shattered wolves, smoldering earth, his friends breathing hard.

"They’re not getting up again," he confirmed, voice rough but satisfied.

Rellie edged closer, her dagger still dripping. "Someone’s watching." Her eyes never left the treeline, where shadows twisted just beyond the firelight.

Len slumped, her hands trembling. "I don’t know how long I can keep going." A shaky exhale. "I’m running out of Essentia."

Alira wiped soot from her brow, her flames flickering weakly."Same here. I’m tapped."

Rellie didn’t blink. "Don’t worry. It’s just one enemy."

(I AM worried.) Alira’s jaw tightened, but she bit back the words.

Towan jerked his chin toward the rear. "Len, Alira—go with Ryn and Veik. Recover." Then, to Rellie: "How are you holding up?"

She flexed her hands—blood crusted under her nails, arms streaked with grime."Good. I don’t use Essentia. Just my body." A pause. "And it’s very tired."

Towan cracked his neck. "Don’t overdo it. I’ve got plenty left in the tank."

It was true. Neither he nor Elliot had ever hit empty. Their reserves ran deep, inexplicable—a mystery even to them.

Then—

A branch snapped.

Haeren emerged from the forest, his very presence warping the air. A violet aura pulsed around him, thick as fog, his eyes glowing like dying stars.