Chapter 48: Ring Three

The morning bell rang three heavy strokes across the Crownland Academy quad.

By eight bell, all fifty cadets of Class A stood lined up along the stone balcony overlooking Ring Three in Sector 4 Shadow Arenas.

The arena air smelled of damp stone, old iron, and fine sand.

Professor Aldyn stood on the raised wooden podium at the center ring.

Behind him, two Discipline Committee officers wore polished silver armbands over their blue uniform sleeves.

"Order!" Aldyn’s voice echoed off the high vaulted stone ceiling. "Today begins the official Physical Ranking Drills for Class A."

The crowd of cadets went completely silent.

"Each cadet will step onto Ring Three for stance evaluation and three combat bouts," Aldyn announced, unrolling a heavy parchment roll. "Your combat output today determines your Sector placement for the rest of the term."

Cedric Vale stood near the front of the balcony rail.

He wore his polished Silver Knight crest on his high collar.

His chest was thrown out.

His mouth held a sharp, smug curve.

Cedric turned his head slightly, letting his eyes slide across the crowd until they landed on us.

He stared directly at Seraphina’s right leg.

Then his eyes moved down to the tarnished Iron badge pinned to my coat.

He smirked.

He leaned sideways to whisper to the two noble cadets beside him.

They both chuckled.

’He really thinks he set the perfect net.’

’He bribed the floor technician.’

’He paid fifty Silver Shards to etch four times gravity runes under the third row of tiles.’

’He expects Seraphina’s stance to shatter the moment she steps into the center.’

I stood with my left hand resting casually inside my coat pocket.

Seraphina stood half a step in front of me on my left.

Her spine was straight.

Her long golden braid hung neatly over her right shoulder.

When two noble girls from House Vane glanced over at me, Seraphina immediately lifted her chin and stepped further into their line of sight.

She didn’t say a word.

She just owned the space.

Beside my right shoulder, Isolde stood half a step behind me, keeping her back to my blind spot.

Her pale fingers rested lightly against the leather grip of her dark belt.

Her shadow on the gray stone floor flickered once, darkening when Cedric sneered in our direction.

"First bout," Aldyn called out, his voice sharp. "Cadet Cedric Vale versus Cadet Rook!"

Rook flinched slightly.

His tarnished Iron badge rattled against his tunic.

"Good luck, Rook," I said quietly as he passed us.

Rook looked back at me, wiping sweat from his forehead. "If I survive three minutes, I count it a win, Cassian."

Rook stepped down the stone stairs onto the arena floor.

Cedric vaulted over the stone railing with an easy, arrogant leap, landing lightly on the gray tiles of Ring Three.

The crowd of noble cadets cheered.

"Begin!" Aldyn shouted, dropping his hand.

Rook drew his wooden practice broadsword, dropping into a low defensive guard.

Cedric didn’t even draw his blade.

He took three slow, deliberate steps forward, steering Rook directly toward the center tile marker.

The moment Rook’s front boot hit the third row of tiles, the hidden array hummed.

Click.

A sudden, invisible weight slammed down onto the center of Ring Three.

Rook’s eyes went wide.

His knees buckled instantly under the sudden four times gravity pressure.

His heavy wooden sword clattered onto the stone floor.

"Ugh!" Rook gasped, forced down onto one knee as the sand around his boots flattened.

Cedric smiled calmly.

He walked around the heavy gravity zone, staying on the safe outer border tiles where the weight was normal.

"Your guard is sloppy, commoner," Cedric said casually.

Cedric drew his practice rapier with a swift flash of steel.

He tapped the wooden tip against Rook’s chest badge, sending the kneeling boy sliding backward across the sand.

"Bout over! Winner: Cedric Vale!" Aldyn called out.

The noble cadets cheered again.

Rook dragged himself up, gasping for air as he staggered off Ring Three.

"He set the array to hit the center four tiles," Isolde whispered from behind my right shoulder. Her voice was ice. "He left the outer rim normal so he can walk freely while his opponent gets crushed."

"Cheap," Seraphina murmured softly, touching her right thigh lightly through her skirt.

Her fingers twitched once.

The memory of heavy weight in her leg was still fresh.

I reached out, letting my hand rest over Seraphina’s waist, pulling her closer to my side.

My shoulders dropped.

My posture relaxed completely as I looked down at the sand-covered ring.

"Let’s go take our turn," I said softly.

"Next bout!" Aldyn’s voice rang out. "Cadet Cassian Voss versus Cadet Cedric Vale!"

The balcony went dead quiet.

Cedric stopped near the weapon rack, turning around slowly.

His smirk widened until his teeth showed.

"Accepted," Cedric called out loudly, stepping back onto the outer border of Ring Three. "I accept the Iron cadet’s challenge."

I walked down the stone stairs.

Seraphina and Isolde walked on either side of me, keeping a synchronized rhythm.

We stepped over the low stone border onto the outer tiles of Ring Three.

Cedric stood twenty paces away near the center.

He gestured with his wooden rapier, pointing it at the center tile where the hidden four times weight was humming.

"Come into the ring, Voss," Cedric sneered. "Or are you going to stay on the edge like a coward?"

I didn’t answer.

I took three unhurried steps forward, walking straight into the center four-tile zone.

The moment my boot hit the stone seam, the array snapped active.

A sharp hum vibrated through the granite risers.

The glowing lines beneath my boots didn’t flare with standard physical force.

They burned a deep, murky blue—heavy vector gravity.

Four times the normal atmospheric weight crashed down onto my shoulders, driving the heels of my boots half an inch into the grit.

’Four-fold gravity.’

’Standard Class A suppression circle.’

Cedric grinned, stepping forward with heavy, deliberate thuds.

The weight didn’t affect him at all—the silver plate of his armor bore subtle counter-etched runes, tuned to nullify the exact vector frequency of Ring Three.

To the spectators in the lower gallery, it looked like sheer physical dominance: the noble heir marching forward effortlessly while the commoner cadet was pinned to the stone.

"Too heavy for you, Voss?" Cedric chuckled, rolling his broad shoulders. "This is what happens when someone without proper lineage steps onto a formal dueling ring. Your blood cannot handle the pressure."

I didn’t answer.

I drew a slow breath, letting the heavy pressure settle across my ribs, my spine, and my knees.

To an ordinary cadet, four times gravity would rupture capillary walls and turn their legs into lead.

To my core?

Deep inside my chest, the black mark pulsed once.

The Abyssal Core didn’t resist the gravity.

It opened.

’It’s an ancient Void Anchor.’

’It pulls.’

Deep inside my chest, the dark secondary reservoir hummed softly.

Slurp.

The heavy four times gravity pressing down on my shoulders didn’t crush me.

My Abyssal core drank it straight through my boots.

The spatial weight turned into raw, dense energy, flooding directly into our `Shared Mana Reservoir Lv. 1`.

System notifications flickered faintly in my vision:

`[External Spatial Weight Detected: 4x Gravity]`

`[Abyssal Core Mechanic Active: Energy Absorption]`

`[Shared Mana Reservoir Absorption Rate: +40 Mana / sec]`

`[The System is... amused by your resourcefulness.]`

I took another easy step forward.

The four times gravity around my body vanished, pulled completely into my chest like water down a drain.

Cedric’s smirk froze.

His eyes widened in shock.

"What... how?" Cedric stammered, taking a involuntary half-step backward. "Why aren’t you down?"

"Down?" I asked softly, my voice carrying clearly across the quiet arena. "Why would I be down, Cedric? The floor feels light today."

Seraphina stepped into the center tile zone beside me.

The heavy weight tried to press down on her right leg.

Before the pressure could touch her skin, my Abyssal core sucked the gravity away from her feet too.

She didn’t even wobble.

She stood regal, her golden eyes locking onto Cedric with pure ice.

Isolde stepped up on my right.

Her shadow on the floor expanded, absorbing the residual dark mana from the floor array.

"Your floor array is very weak, Cadet Vale," Isolde said, her voice cutting through the silent arena. "Did you buy it from a discount merchant?"

Cedric’s face turned beet red.

"Shut up!" Cedric yelled, drawing his silver-plated steel side-sword instead of his wooden drill blade. "You’re cheating! You’re using banned Abyssal artifacts!"

"Cadet Vale, keep your stance!" Professor Aldyn shouted from the podium, his brow furrowed in confusion as he looked at the stable floor.

Cedric ignored the instructor.

Fueled by sudden panic and rage, Cedric lunged forward.

He poured his full Silver-rank aura into his sword, driving a fierce thrust straight toward my chest.

He stepped directly into the center tile zone to reach me.

The moment his heavy Silver aura flared, his own hidden floor array reacted to his mana.

Hummm!

The remaining four times gravity array triggered at maximum power right under Cedric’s boots.

Except this time, there was no Abyssal core at his feet to drink the weight.

Crack!

The heavy spatial pressure slammed onto Cedric’s shoulders like an anvil.

"Argh!" Cedric shrieked.

His knees slammed hard into the gray stone tiles.

His silver sword flew out of his hand, skittering across the sand.

His Silver Knight collar badge rattled violently as he was pinned flat against the stone floor under the weight of his own trap.

The entire balcony of Class A cadets gasped in shock.

I walked over slowly, stopping two inches from his pinned face.

I looked down at him, my left hand still resting comfortably in my coat pocket.

"You should really check the floor maintenance before you fight, Cedric," I whispered softly. "The tiles around here are very heavy."

I tapped his shoulder with the wooden tip of my drill blade.

"Bout over," I announced to the silent room.

Professor Aldyn stood frozen on the podium, staring at Cedric pinned to the floor by his own unseen trap.

`[Combat Bout Complete]`

`[Trap Reversal Executed Successfully]`

`[Shared Mana Reservoir Filled: 100%]`

`[SP Earned: +200 SP]`

`[Current SP Balance: 3,000 SP]`

Cedric lay groaning in the sand, unable to lift his chin off the stone.

Seraphina walked up beside me, her long braid swaying gently over her shoulder.

She glanced down at Cedric with cool disdain, then looked at me with a soft, warm light in her eyes.

"You handled that ring with absolute perfection, Cassian," Seraphina murmured softly, her eyes glowing with quiet, proud warmth.

"Just clearing the floor for us," I smiled.

High above on the balcony, three senior Silver-rank instructors leaned over the iron rail, their eyes narrowing in cold anger as they flagged my Iron badge.