Chapter 184: Chapter 184: Tier 2, Finally

[BOND SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE: INGRID]

[Vitae tier: 2]

[New ability acquired: Kinetic Repulsion (Class F)]

[Description: Allows the user to project a localized, omnidirectional burst of kinetic force. Highly effective for defense, displacing objects, and breaking holds. Requires significant energy but is instantaneous.]

The text materialized in Zaeryn’s mind’s eye, glowing against the backdrop of the closing necrotic flames. His breath caught.

Ingrid... last night? Of course.

But it was the next line that made his pulse spike.

Tier 2?

The realization hit him like a second punch to the gut. He never would have guessed. Ingrid didn’t carry herself like a Tier 2 Warlady, she was too casual, too easy-going, too... normal. If someone had asked him before, he would have pegged her as Tier 3, maybe Tier 4 at best.

But he wasn’t complaining. Not even remotely.

This was exactly what he’d been desperate for. A Tier 2 Vitae signature. And now he had it.

He was a Tier 2 Vitae wielder now.

The flames licked closer, the oppressive cold intensifying with each passing second, pulling at the last dregs of his strength like invisible hands dragging him down. He didn’t have time to read the full file, and didn’t have time to process the implications.

He just needed the ability. Now.

On the sidelines, Ingrid’s arms were crossed, her face tight with concern as she watched Zaeryn stand perfectly still inside the shrinking cage of dark fire.

"Why is he not fighting it?" she asked, her voice edged with frustration. "He’s just standing there like he’s waiting for a fucking cruiser."

"I don’t know. Maybe he’s figuring out a plan?" Genevieve shrugged, though her own voice was tight with barely concealed worry. "He’d better figure it out fast."

Genevieve was right. He was figuring it out, having an internal conversation with his system, scrolling frantically through information and alerts he’d missed during last night’s... activities.

He realized with a jolt that while he had Ingrid’s Vitae signature locked in, he didn’t have Genevieve’s yet. His bond with her was at ninety-seven percent. Close. So close. But not complete.

That wasn’t his worry right now.

System, show me the abilities from Ingrid. NOW! he demanded internally.

The text flashed, bright and urgent against the encroaching darkness.

[KINETIC REPULSION (Class F): Generate a localized field of raw kinetic force to repel attacks and objects.]

[SENSORY JOLT (Class F): Project a psionic burst to disorient an opponent’s senses and disrupt concentration.]

[CONCUSSIVE BLAST (Class F): Focus and project a concussive bolt of raw kinetic energy at a target.]

[KINETIC RUPTURE (Class F): Violently release a 360-degree shockwave of raw kinetic force.]

Zaeryn’s eyes widened as he absorbed the list. So much potential. So many options. Being Tier 2 effectively put him in the category of the strongest students at this academy, not at the top, not with his abilities still at Class F rank, but in the conversation.

And right now, in this moment, these untrained, raw abilities were exactly what he needed to turn the tables.

Following the system’s recommendation, Zaeryn focused on Kinetic Repulsion. But as he reached for it, tried to feel it, he realized he didn’t even know how to begin.

How does this work? he thought desperately.

"It’s over, anomaly," Leia called out from outside the cage, her voice dripping with cold satisfaction. She took a step forward, arms crossed, clearly expecting to watch him finally surrender.

Fuck it. Nothing else to lose.

Zaeryn forced himself back to his feet, ignoring the weakness spreading through his limbs, the way Leia’s necrotic flames were pulling at his very essence. He closed his eyes, blocking out the crowd, the chamber, even the flames themselves.

He didn’t focus on his hands or his speed. He focused on feeling, on reaching for this new, unfamiliar power thrumming just beneath the surface of his consciousness.

He didn’t know how to use it properly. So he just... pushed.

Outside the cage, Leia was smirking, her concentration absolute as she constricted the flames inch by terrible inch. Victory was seconds away.

Then her smirk vanished.

Her head jerked violently to the side as if she’d been slapped by an invisible hand. A high-pitched, psychic shriek, perceptible only to those with heightened sensory abilities, lanced through her brain like a hot needle. Her vision blurred for a split second, and a wave of intense vertigo crashed over her, making the world tilt sickeningly.

It wasn’t powerful, Class F meant it was barely more than a distraction. It wasn’t enough to knock her out, wasn’t enough to cause real damage.

But it was violently distracting.

Her concentration, the iron will holding that complex cage of fire together, shattered like glass.

The necrotic flames, no longer held in place by her focused power, sputtered and instantly extinguished. The oppressive cold vanished. The trap collapsed into nothing.

Zaeryn stood in the center of the mat, panting hard but completely unharmed.

It had worked. He’d used Sensory Jolt instead of the recommended Kinetic Repulsion, acting on instinct rather than instruction. But it had worked.

Leia recovered almost instantly, the vertigo passing as quickly as it had come. But her face transformed into a mask of pure, murderous rage.

Her head whipped toward the sidelines, eyes blazing with fury, locking directly onto one specific person in the crowd. The person she knew had that exact power. The person she’d sparred with before, who’d used that same disorienting technique.

"INGRID!" Leia’s voice was a furious roar that echoed through the stunned chamber, silencing every conversation, every whisper. "How dare you interfere?!"

The entire crowd gasped collectively, heads swiveling toward Ingrid like a choreographed movement.

"Wait, it was Ingrid who did that?" someone whispered.

"What a dirty trick," another voice muttered. "Leia was winning."

Ingrid herself, who had been watching with slack-jawed amazement, looked utterly blindsided by the accusation. "What the hell are you talking about, Leia? I’m standing right here! I can’t possibly have used my powers from outside the barrier!"

"Don’t you dare lie to me!" Leia snarled, stalking toward the edge of the mat, her crimson aura flaring wildly around her like an angry storm. "That was your Sensory Jolt! I felt the signature! I know that ability!"

"I didn’t do shit!" Ingrid yelled back, her own temper flaring at the false accusation. She looked at Genevieve beside her, who just shrugged, looking equally confused and concerned.

Instructor Zelda stepped forward, her voice cutting through the chaos with practiced authority. "Leia, calm down. Ingrid had nothing to do with this. Her powers can’t penetrate the combat barrier from outside. You know that."

Leia froze, breathing hard, her mind racing. "Then who...?"

Her voice trailed off. She paused, the fury on her face slowly morphing into something else, confusion, then dawning realization. Her eyes traveled slowly, inexorably, from the furious Ingrid back to the center of the mat.

Back to Zaeryn.

He was standing there, still panting, still recovering. But meeting her gaze without flinching.

"I did," Zaeryn admitted, his voice carrying clearly across the silent chamber. "I’m the one who used that power."

The silence that followed was profound, suffocating.

"How?" Leia’s voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried the weight of a thunderclap. "How did you do that?"

Zaeryn hesitated. He wanted to lie, to say he’d always had it, to deflect. But he could feel the weight of dozens of eyes on him. If he wanted any kind of trust here, if he wanted allies instead of enemies, lying about something this fundamental would be a catastrophic mistake.

"I..." He straightened from his defensive stance, squaring his shoulders. "I borrowed it from Ingrid."

The words hung in the air like a detonated bomb.

A look of pure, fundamental, reality-breaking shock crossed Leia’s face. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again without sound.

The stunned silence stretched for one, two, three heartbeats before it shattered into absolute chaos.

"What did he just say?"

"He did it?! He actually, "

"That’s impossible!"

"He has Ingrid’s power? How is that even possible?"

"Can he copy anyone’s abilities?"

On the sidelines, Ingrid’s face went pale, all the color draining from her cheeks. Her anger at Leia evaporated instantly, replaced by cold, creeping confusion that made her stomach twist. Her ability. Her Sensory Jolt. The technique she’d spent months mastering.

How... How did he have it?

She looked at Genevieve, who stared back with wide eyes, a silent "Did you know about this?" passing between them. Genevieve shook her head minutely, looking just as stunned.

Jyn and Yuna were on their feet, their faces practically pressed against the energy barrier separating spectators from combatants.

"No way," Jyn breathed, her voice pure, unadulterated awe mixed with disbelief. "He can mimic abilities? Like, actually copy them?"

But the crowd noise was just background static to Leia. Her shock didn’t last long, it didn’t fade so much as burn away, consumed by something darker, something uglier.

"You..." The word came out barely audible, vibrating with barely restrained emotion. She didn’t look angry anymore. She looked disgusted. "You can mimic other people’s powers. You’re not just an anomaly. You’re a thief."