My F-Rank Sagea is Secretly an EX-Rank Calamity

Chapter 33: The Seven-Day Silence

>>>>>RAVENHURST ACADEMY<<<<<

A spatial rift suddenly manifested in the middle of the underground hall, startling the gathered students.

Sparks of gold and crimson showered the stone floor. The guards on duty immediately drew their weapons, forming a wall of steel, but the spatial rift didn’t yield an enemy invasion.

Nova Vesta stepped out.

Her glowing aura flickered. In her arms, she carried Asher. His uniform was shredded to ribbons. Dark, backlashed lines of mana webbed across his neck and arms, and his eyes were shut tight. He was completely limp against her form.

Nova Vesta didn’t pause for the guards. She walked straight past them, carefully lowering Asher onto the flat stone of the central fountain pedestal. She pressed her hand to his chest, channeling a slow, steady pulse of golden light straight into his chest.

"Stand down," she told the instructors sprinting out from the corners of the hall. "He dragged Soren through the rift. He survived."

Lord Malovik pushed through the crowd, his eyes wide as he looked over the battered student. "Is he—"

"His core is intact, but his mana channels are shredded," Nova Vesta interrupted cleanly. "Heal what physical damage you can. He will need his strength."

Nova straightened up, her glowing eyes meeting the academy lords. "I know that you are unaware of who I am, although this is not the right time for introductions and backstory. Ravenwood is in danger, and more importantly, the lives of every student here."

She held out her hand, projecting an aetherscope that revealed the exact location of the enemy’s hideout. The surrounding students all tensed up at the visual.

"Right now, the Grim Prodigy is yet to be released. Seven days, to be precise. After that, this city becomes a plain—or rather, the entire world. We have seven days to come up with a very strategic plan."

"Pardon me..." Lady Vespera called out.

"Call me Nova for now," Nova commanded.

There was a sudden collection of gasps across the hall.

"You mean Nova... as in, Nova Vesta?" Lady Kaelen asked in surprise, her eyes widening.

Nova gave a simple nod, ordering Lady Vespera to speak.

"Pardon me, Lord Malovik," Lady Vespera turned her gaze to him. Malovik gave a slight nod in return. "At first, we planned on sending students who were capable of showing resilience and raw power in battle..."

Nova’s eyes narrowed slightly. "I am well aware of that. It’s a solid plan, but it still requires refinement."

>>>>>>RAVENWOOD’S BORDERS<<<<<<<<

A thick, dark mist blotted out the sun above the border wall.

BOOM!

A streak of yellow lightning detonated against the dirt. The shockwave blew away stones and trees, throwing Rowan and the others back several yards. Erebus withstood the wind with its shadow claws dug deep into the ground.

Fang dug his knuckles into the dirt to anchor himself, while Caspian flipped back and landed in a low crouch with his daggers drawn.

When the dust had settled, Malix was standing in the center of a fresh crater. Yellow electricity hummed off his black armor as he looked down at the academy elites like they were insects.

"Is this the best Ravenwood has left?" Malix laughed. "A handful of kids and a bleeding veteran?"

Maverick was leaning heavily on Dualityx, breathing heavily. His python hissed low beside him, its scales ragged.

"You talk too much for a kid who brought an army just to crack a wall," Maverick rasped, forcing his legs to lock.

Upon hearing this, Malix raised his hand, and through sheer magnetic force, his heavy halberd ripped out of the mountain rubble and flew straight back into his grip.

"Defiant little ants..." Malix growled, his voice vibrating in their chests. "I’ll tear off your limbs and string them along the academy gates!"

He swung his halberd in a massive horizontal arc. A wave of dense, compressed yellow lightning tore through the dirt, plowing a trench straight toward Rowan’s squad.

"Hold the line! Together!" Rowan shouted, ordering his Sagea.

Erebus surged forward, throwing up a thick wall of shadow-stone.

"Wolveria, Shatter Back, Frostbite!"

Seraphina ordered, leaving Wolveria to flash-freeze the ambient humidity, creating a shockwave of icy needle shards aimed directly at the attack.

Laurette fired orders at her Sagea as well. "Scorpius, Merciless Venom Shot!"

The massive scorpion’s tail erected and shot a stream of corrosive black fluid directly at Malix.

While most of them used defensive attacks, the others used the offensive to avoid Malix from casting another spell immediately.

BOOM!

The lightning hit the barriers.

Seraphina’s ice shattered instantly into a cloud of powder. Rowan’s shadow-stone cracked violently, spitting dark sparks. Rowan went down on one knee as the kinetic feedback slammed straight through his internal channels.

The shield held—barely.

Through the smoke, Malix was already airborne, hovering twenty feet in the air. He raised his halberd high above his head again with both hands, yellow electricity swirling around the blade into a localized hurricane that pulled loose rocks right off the ground.

"You fought hard, children," Malix sneered down at them. "Now drown in the dark."

"How the hell is someone so strong without even attacking with a Sagea?!" Caspian yelled in a mix of terror and frustration.

"Malix. Stand down."

A cold voice rang directly inside Malix’s head.

Malix froze mid-swing, his eyes twitching in irritation. Beside his ear, a faint, eye-shaped magic symbol floated in the air—the communication symbol of Lucian Morgaunt.

"My Lord!" Malix snapped, his aura flaring in frustration. "I have them cornered! Give me five seconds and I’ll clear the entire gate!"

"The objective is complete... for now," Morgaunt’s voice echoed, completely emotionless.

"Lyra has successfully planted the Sunless Mandate upon the seal at Bleakstone Maw. The unbinding has begun."

"Then let me flatten this academy while the seal rots!" Malix yelled.

"No," Morgaunt commanded, his tone sharpening. "The spell will take approximately seven days to break the seal. A full assault now will force the Academy Lords into a desperate, all-out counter-strike before the Grim Prodigy is ready to be controlled. Pull back to the quarters."

Malix glared down at the squad.

Rowan stood his ground on one knee. Caspian, Fang, Seraphina, and Laurette were all exhausted and barely holding their stances, but none of them were looking away. They were staring straight up at him, ready to fight to the death.

"Do not waste energy on children who are already walking toward their execution," Morgaunt added. "Withdraw."

Malix gritted his teeth so hard a vein bulged on his forehead. Slowly, reluctantly, he lowered his halberd. The electricity around his blade faded back into idle sparks.

"You got lucky today, academy scum," Malix called down, his voice echoing over the ruined border.

He raised his hand, gathering the thick black mist out of the sky and pulling it into his palm like a dark vortex. He pointed the tip of his weapon directly at Rowan.

"Enjoy your seven days of peace. Clean your wounds, pray, and sharpen your little blades... because on the eighth day, Ravenwood turns into a graveyard."

With a sudden burst of yellow light, Malix launched himself into the sky, vanishing over the mountains toward Bleakstone Maw alongside his retreating troops.

The black mist cleared, leaving behind a quiet, twilight sky.

Silence returned to the border.

Maverick finally let go of his strength, dropping onto his back and staring up at the clouds, his chest heaving. Caspian sheathed his daggers, his hands trembling slightly from adrenaline.

Fang sat down heavily on a fallen rock, wiping sweat from his brow.

Rowan pushed himself up off his knee, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Seven days. They hadn’t won this battle. They had simply been handed a ticking clock before the executioner returned.

"Any idea why he suddenly left?" Rowan turned to them, asking softly.

The others shook their heads in silent disappointment and exhaustion.

[QUASAR VESTA NOTICE]

[TOTAL MANA RESERVES: 27%]

’Seriously? I knew he was strong, but I didn’t even give out orders that much!’ Rowan thought, grimacing at his system display.

[OPPONENT’S NATURAL MAGIC WAS HIGHLY POWERFUL] [THE DARK CLOUDY MIST ABSORBED YOUR MANA SLOWLY]

[QUASAR VESTA COULD NOT DETECT IT AT THE TIME]

’Hmm... I get it now.’

Rowan let out a heavy sigh, climbing onto Erebus’s back.

’Quasar Vesta, craft six advanced healing potions.’

[REQUEST RECEIVED] [PROCESSING REQUEST...]

[REQUEST COMPLETED]

[THERE ARE SIX ADVANCED HEALING POTIONS IN THE SYSTEM STORAGE]

’Nice!’

"Listen, I know you guys are exhausted, I am too. But there’s no time to spare for relaxation.

Here, use this," Rowan said, easily dropping an advanced healing potion into each of their hands.

"We all have crafting skills, correct?" he asked, his expression serious as he looked over the group.

The others, looking famished at the advanced healing potion, nodded in agreement and looked up at him.

"Then we have to take care of this mess and establish a different barrier."

Seraphina’s jaw clenched, her hand gripping tight around the glass bottle of the potion.

’Why is he being so nice? It feels... weird.’