Volume One: In the Prime of Youth Chapter Fifteen: The City on High Alert

Huo Ye returned home to find Alice meticulously maintaining her twin pistols. Their father was renowned for his ferocious, beast-like combat style, which Huo Ye had mastered thoroughly. However, as a girl, it didn’t quite suit Alice, so she had learned from their mother, Vivian.

Vivian Halls, chief marksmanship instructor of the Reaper Hunter Squad, was hailed as the greatest sharpshooter in the Sola Colony. Unlike Vivian’s dual automatic pistols, Alice wielded a weapon known as the “Gatt-style Long-Short Gun.” True to its name, this weapon consisted of two automatic pistols, but one could be attached to the muzzle of the other, transforming into a sniper rifle. This remarkable versatility made it adaptable to any battlefield condition, though its complexity left few able to master it.

“What brings you to suddenly take care of your guns?” Huo Ye asked casually, removing his jacket and hanging it on his arm.

Without pausing in her careful cleaning, Alice replied, “I forgot to mention earlier—the Academy announced a surprise preliminary exam for today. We’re to make full combat preparations. Looks like it won’t be the sort of relaxing written test I’d hoped for.” As she spoke, Alice placed the final component on the table. She hovered her palm above it, twisting her wrist gently. The part spun in sync with her fingers, assembling itself into her pistol. This was Alice’s unique ability: telekinesis.

Individuals with personal abilities were rare among Espers, but as the saying went, possessing a unique ability didn’t guarantee becoming the strongest Esper—but the strongest Espers always possessed one. The greatest proof of this was humanity’s number one, Eddie Halls.

Huo Ye, adopting a teacherly tone, said, “Isn’t that a good thing? Young people need more combat experience. Only knowing how to wield a pen isn’t much use.”

Alice puffed up indignantly, cheeks full like a hamster. “Hmph, when it comes to wielding a pen, you’re better than me, aren’t you, Night Rain…”

Huo Ye darted forward in a flash, a hand still sparking with black lightning clamped over Alice’s mouth. In a hushed, urgent whisper, he said, “Shh… For heaven’s sake, keep it secret! We’re not the only ones in the house right now.”

Alice pushed his hand away. “What are you afraid of? Xiaoyu’s gone out, she’s not home.”

“And what if she’s outside the door listening? We can’t overlook that possibility. Be cautious!” Huo Ye insisted in a low voice.

Alice gave him a look of utter disdain. “You’ve written yourself silly, haven’t you? Coincidences only happen in stories. If things were really that coincidental, I’d write my entire school life into a book.”

Huo Ye rolled his eyes and stretched out his arm, palm facing the door. After five seconds, he exhaled in relief. “Phew, no one’s outside.”

Alice drew a sharp breath, her gaze toward him as if he were a different species. “You really used spatial abilities for something like this? Don’t tell people you’re my brother.”

Just as Huo Ye was about to launch into another verbal sparring match, a sudden blare of sirens erupted outside—the citywide alarm of Bancroft. Before he could process what was happening, Alice leapt from the couch. Her twin pistols flew into their holsters as she grabbed Huo Ye’s arm and pulled him toward the door. She explained, “That alarm only sounds for a Disaster attack—Bancroft is under assault!”

“What?” Huo Ye dashed out the door after her. The streets were packed with people forming two surging streams.

One was the ordinary townsfolk of Bancroft, mostly merchants running shops within the Academy who kept its economy turning. They were the most vulnerable in a Disaster attack.

The other was the students of Bancroft—elite Espers of their generation. When Disaster threatened their city, they had to stand and fight.

Bancroft was situated in the heart of the Wildlands, and everyone had steeled themselves for situations like this before they’d chosen the Academy. For the senior students, it was almost routine.

This was Huo Ye’s first time experiencing such a spectacle. He’d hunted Disasters with the Hunter Squad before, but had never been on the defensive. He asked Alice, “Where do we go now? Should we join them?” He gestured toward the students rushing for the city’s edge.

Alice nodded. “Exactly. Academy rules: when the alarm sounds, Espers stationed in any part of the Academy go to defend that sector.”

Huo Ye paused for a moment. “Then we should head south. Let’s go!”

“Right!”

—

In the Bancroft principal’s office, Director Jiang Tong stood by the blinds, parting them to peer at the crowds outside. “Isn’t this year’s exam a bit too much?” he asked.

The old man sitting calmly on the sofa behind him merely smiled. He was Bancroft’s principal, Jack Wilson, known to all as Old Jack. Sipping his freshly brewed coffee, Old Jack replied, “What’s there to worry about? Tan Xiao, Huo Xialan, and the Hunter Squad stationed at Bancroft are already on their way back. It’ll take them three hours at most. If they don’t leave the city, the Disasters are unlikely to launch a full-scale invasion. Besides, haven’t we coordinated with the Hunter Squad already? When the time is right, they’ll take over the battlefield.”

“But risking students’ lives… I still think we ought to do less of that,” Jiang Tong said anxiously.

Old Jack sighed. “They’re students now, but more than eighty percent of them will be soldiers who fight and bleed on the battlefield one day. If they don’t learn to risk their lives now, in a protected environment, they’ll only get themselves killed in the future.”

Jiang Tong let out a despondent sigh. “This exam is also a test for Bancroft itself—whether we reclaim our former glory or become a laughingstock depends entirely on these students’ performance.”

—

On the way to the southern defenses, Huo Ye couldn’t stop thinking. Ke Zhen had just warned him not to reveal his Dark Compatibility during the exam, and Alice had mentioned a combat test. Now, out of nowhere, a Disaster attack alarm had sounded at exactly this moment. Huo Ye pondered deeply.

Perhaps this truly was an unprecedented, grand-scale exam. The Academy could easily have orchestrated the Disaster’s attack on Bancroft—after all, such events weren’t unheard of. But whether this was an exam or not, Huo Ye knew his only task: to kill Disasters.

The students gathered atop Bancroft’s towering walls. Within lay the soil of their studies and lives; beyond, the vast army of Disasters had yet to breach the city’s force field. Bancroft’s force field was formidable, and though the enemy remained distant, the students could see, stretched along the far horizon in a dense, unbroken line, a black tide of Disasters. A chill crept into every heart.

It wasn’t rare for Disasters to break through and assault Bancroft, but usually only four or five dozen at a time. The Academy’s Hunter Squad was always stationed there, and students sometimes took city defense missions for extra points. Such small groups were nothing to fear. But this—this was an unprecedented sight for nearly everyone present, even for Huo Ye.

Encircling Bancroft were at least ten thousand Disasters.