Moon Owl had no choice. She ripped space like wet silk and stepped before Night Frost.

"Fallen One, what's your aim?" Her voice fell like frost on stone.

"Huh? I stumbled in by accident. What aim could I have? Don't slander me—" Her words snagged like thread.

Before Night Frost finished, a cold blade kissed her throat like winter water. A twitch of Moon Owl's small hand, and the girl would fall silent.

"I don't want your nonsense, Fallen One. If you won't talk, I'll take you in." Her tone cut like sleet.

Night Frost's golden eyes tightened like dusk on a cat. Flame bloomed in her palm, and she snapped a side kick.

Moon Owl turned with a swallow's twist. Her cold blade flicked and traced a red line on that pale neck.

One exchange, and Night Frost was on the back foot like a leaf in a gale. She pushed Mana to mend the cut, but it refused to knit.

Blood slid, bead by bead, down her white neck like scarlet dew. It soaked her Magic Armor like rain on lacquer.

Moon Owl was strong, a mountain under storm. Night Frost struggled to breathe, and the Eye Orb stayed silent like a shut eye.

Run, and Moon Owl would catch them like a hawk. Fight, and she'd break them like ice. A dead end pressed like a wall.

No—there’s still a gap. The thought sparked like flint.

"Grant flame to the dragon, grant blaze to my hand," she chanted like a bell. "Tear the shackles of life. Burn all. Let the cut kill."

Moon Owl hurled her cold blade like a lightning shard to break the chant. A translucent Mana shield rose like glass.

The blade lodged at its heart like a pinned moth. Moon Owl tore space and stepped behind the girl like a shadow.

Her kick sent Night Frost flying, a sparrow blown off a branch. The air rang like struck iron.

Moon Owl ripped another seam and fed the cold blade through like a letter in a slit. It dropped from above and pinned the girl's wrist.

"The gap is too wide," Night Frost hissed, tasting ash. "But... Inferno burns here! Καύση στη φυλακή!"

Flame filmed her skin like lacquer. Her golden eyes dimmed like dusk, and Abyssal Aura dyed the blaze black.

The cold blade charred to magic particles like snow in a forge. Moon Owl clicked her tongue, a brief spark of disdain.

She pulled Mana from a Magic Stone and shaped a twin cold blade like ice from air. The forest breathed smoke like a kiln.

This was a forest, dry as tinder under fate. The Black Flame ran like oil on water and set even spring water alight.

Heat tugged her black coat like a restless wind. Moon Owl knew common tricks couldn't drown this Black Flame.

This pocket space couldn't bear her full weight like thin ice. Night Frost wasn't strong, so she had held back like a sheathed knife.

She hadn't expected Night Frost to keep a card like a hidden thorn. The fire wrote that secret in black script.

"Assessment stops," she said, voice flat as slate. "Teacher Shen, teleport everyone out. I'll come after. We must seize the Fallen One."

Fire’s mirage warped Moon Owl's outline like heat over sand. Her face stayed cold as a winter moon.

She raised both hands high like lifting a net. The surrounding void cracked into spiderweb fissures that penned the Black Flame.

Touching those seams, the Black Flame halted like a beast at a cliff. Its edge hissed like rain on coals.

"Traveler who roams the cosmos, pause and show mercy," she intoned like wind through pines. "Rend the void and the real."

Space Mana collided with Black Flame like tide on rock. With crisp snaps, the ground at her feet split like a mouth.

Black fire and soil sank into the void like stones in a lake. Moon Owl drew a Magic Tool like a key from her sleeve.

Sigils bloomed underfoot like frost patterns. She sent herself back into the exam hall like a bird to its perch.

No time to rest; she cut this place off from the world like a sealed jar. That one wouldn’t die; she’d linger like smoke.

Moon Owl had left a thread of spatial ripple on Night Frost, fine as spider silk. Use power, and she’d feel it like a tug.

"Don't use power," the Eye Orb whispered like an old well. "I'll purge your Abyssal Aura. I've heard of that girl's gift."

"Use a hint of Mana, and she'll rip space and step to your face like a mirror." The warning cooled Lingchen Yao like shade.

Frustration rose first, hot as steam. He let the idea of Mana go like a stone from the hand.

What a troublesome foe, like burrs in cloth. His breath sawed like teeth through wood.

"Now give me some Magic Stones," the Eye Orb rasped, dry as paper. "I'll try to open an Abyss channel on campus."

"Your Abyssal Aura is thick as mist. They'll find you soon, like dogs on a trail." Urgency beat like drums.

"This high-grade Magic Stone is [Bug]..." Lingchen Yao winced like a cut. Twenty thousand gone like smoke.

The Eye Orb gulped the Magic Stone whole like a snake. Its round body swelled like rising dough, then sagged like a wilted fruit.

It vomited dense Abyssal Aura like a black tide. Drained, it tried to draw his Aura away like siphoned water.

It barely tore a thin Abyss fissure here, a scratch on silk. The effort left it dim as an ember.

Teacher Shen stood on the stage like a pole. She had all the girls gather at center for a sweep like herding starlings.

Lingchen Yao gritted through wrist and neck pain like chewing ice. He passed a simple check with the agent boys and got sent back.

Only girls can become a Magic Maiden; it’s common knowledge like sunrise. No one expected an outlier like Lingchen Yao.

The Eye Orb clung to his neck like a leech. Though the cold blade’s wound had vanished, pain still gnawed like ants.

If he transformed back, blood would flow again like a spring. The thought stung like nettles.

"This girl plays by no rules," he muttered, half sigh, half hiss. "She left me no gap to slip through."

He dropped onto a bench like a stone on moss. The Eye Orb picked at the faint spatial ripple like a tight knot.

"You carry Abyssal Aura," it said, patient as rain. "Untreated, they’ll tag you as an Abyss monster or underground disruptor."

"Who else would they chase but you, like hounds after a fox? And you’re in the exam hall; they’ll fear you’re here to kill bright maidens."

He swallowed protest like bitter tea. Words died in his throat like winter birds.

"Didn’t think one assessment could punch such a hole," he whispered like wind. "Will strong Monsters crawl from the Abyssal Rift?"

"Relax," the Eye Orb said, calm as a pond. "Bugs are weaker than you think; their edge is numbers."

"But bugs are still bugs; a swarm is still a swarm," it droned like a drum. "Cantata Two stands here, and this place is sealed."

"They can’t get out, like fish in a bowl." The verdict settled like dust.

The Eye Orb gave up; the spatial ripple was stubborn as old bark. It told him to stop using power for a while like fasting.

"Back we go," he breathed like a leaf. He returned to the dorm like a bird to eaves.

Ren Changxiao clapped his shoulder like a friendly hammer. Pain flashed white, and he almost blacked out like a snuffed candle.

Seeing his paper-pale face, Ren asked what was wrong, worry rising like smoke. Lingchen Yao steadied his breath like a man in snow.

"Sprained my neck," he said, light as smoke. "I’ll rest a bit, and it’ll pass."

"Ling bro, the school’s Obsidian Stone wall opened," Xun Xun said, eyes on the window like lanterns. "Know what happened?"

He looked outside, where an Obsidian Stone dome wrapped the school like a shell. A long siren poured from speakers like a horn.

"Seems an Abyssal Rift opened in the school," he said, casual as rain. "Better not go out for now."

"In school? With an Obsidian Stone wall, that’s rarer than snow in summer," Xun Xun frowned like a drawn bow. "Nowhere is safe."

It shouldn’t open inside unless man-made, like a door forced. The thought hung like fog.

"Well, it’s not our business," he sighed like wind through reeds. "Leave it to those who can; we just follow orders."

Lingchen Yao walked to the bed like a tired wolf. He sat, and sleep hit him like a wave.

"Ling—looks wiped out," someone murmured like a moth. Ren and Xun traded a glance and a helpless smile like two dots.

Zzz, zzz, zzz—the sound buzzed like a wire. A weird white worm rolled out of a room like a dropped bun.

It shrieked with a piercing cry like a whistle. It writhed madly, making the girls grimace like seeing rot.

"Abyss Monsters! Why are they here?!" The shout leaped like sparks. Teacher Shen had no Mana and shrank back like a leaf.

Moon Owl handled weak ones from the rift with a lazy hand, like flicking ash. She split the worm in two with one cut.

White pulp burst like a smashed gourd and splattered everywhere like milk. The stench crawled like flies.

[Bug] Monsters aren’t strong, but few like dealing with them, like cleaning sewers. They breed and endure with absurd speed.

If one lives, a legion follows like rain after thunder. And they’re truly disgusting, like mold on bread.

"Teacher Shen, report to the Academy," Moon Owl said, crisp as a blade. She sealed the Abyssal Rift like corking a flask.

The Order Keeper reserve joined the hunt for strays like hounds. This space had only one exit besides the gate.

The bugs had nowhere to go, like ants on a plate. Time alone would clean them out like a tide.

"That one isn’t here," Moon Owl said, frowning faintly like a crease. When did he slip away, like smoke?

He couldn’t be a boy, could he? The notion pricked like a thorn.

"Agent exam results are out!" Wang Qipeng called from his desk like a bell. Ren Changxiao and Xun Xun crowded in like sparrows.

Lingchen Yao clutched his neck and rushed from the bathroom like a startled cat. The wound wouldn’t heal; the spatial ripple clung like burrs.

Since he got the Eye Orb, he almost stopped having nightmares, like a lamp in fog. Still, sleep came in shards like broken glass.

"Brother Wang, when did you join the student council?" Xun Xun asked, eyes bright as coins. It was a big limb to hug.

"Can’t spill heaven’s secrets," Wang said, mysterious as incense smoke. "Trade secret."

"Ha, you’re a street diviner," Xun Xun teased like a pebble. Wang answered with a hand chop like a swift blade.

"I’ve only got the pass list," he said, cool as tea. "No ranks. Ling bro, brace yourself; failure is the mother of success."

Ren Changxiao patted Lingchen Yao’s shoulder again like rain. Lingchen Yao nodded, helpless as a reed.

"Here you are—ID and password," Wang said, fingers tapping like raindrops. Lingchen Yao gave them, and they leaned closer like fish.

"Monsters, 29 points; plants, 14; minerals, 11," he read, voice steady as a drum. "Long answer, 7; bonus, 8. You passed."

The words dropped like sweet water. Lingchen Yao sank to the floor and breathed out long like a wind.

He’d cleared the first step, a stone in the river. He had more chances to reach the Magic Maidens’ world like a path opening.

"Our dorm might spawn an agent?" Xun Xun grinned like a fox. "I hear Magic Maidens are all fair and lovely."

Lingchen Yao flicked his forehead like a bean. The thwack popped like a seed.

"It’s only the first step," Wang said, voice even as a metronome. "The school will run agent courses; no failing allowed."

"You must find a fitting partner, but the choice lies with the Magic Maiden, like the moon choosing water." His gaze was calm.

"Agents face two evaluations yearly," he added like a bell. "One for strength, one for integrity. It’s no easy road."

That night, Lingchen Yao went over the questions with Qianchun like a lantern shared. She started late, but learned quick like spring grass.

She got nearly a third right, bright as morning. It left Lingchen Yao a little ashamed, like dust on a mirror.