Chapter 99: Through the Teachers’ Eyes V

The message appeared above the Citadel.

---

FINAL PHASE

CITADEL CAPACITY: 100

ONLY 100 LIVING BEINGS MAY ENTER BEFORE THE DEFENSIVE WARD ACTIVATES.

---

The orientation hall became silent.

One hundred.

Approximately one hundred and seventy first-years were still active inside the examination.

Then there were the civilians.

The wounded.

The children.

The soldiers.

Far more people than the Citadel could supposedly protect.

The arithmetic was immediate.

Professor Darius spoke first.

"Students."

Selene turned toward him.

"What?"

"Put the students inside."

"All of them won’t fit."

"I know."

He stared at the screen.

"The strongest hundred, then."

Theoran looked toward him.

Darius immediately corrected himself.

"Or the students most likely to survive whatever comes after this."

Selene shook her head.

"Then you’re deliberately sacrificing the weakest."

"It’s an illusion."

"To us."

Darius frowned.

"Not this argument again."

"It remains relevant."

Another professor spoke from nearby.

"Children and critical civilians first."

Darius turned.

"Then most of the students remain outside."

"They can fight."

"And when they die?"

"They wake up safely."

"Then why are you prioritizing constructs over actual students?"

Another voice joined.

"Healers should be inside."

"No. Healers need to stay outside with the fighters."

"The strongest students should defend the Citadel."

"Which means the strongest students are the ones most likely to be eliminated."

"Put the leaders inside."

"Why?"

"Because the classes collapse if their leaders disappear."

"James has already delegated."

"Sophie has too."

"What about civilians?"

"Leave them."

"After bringing them this far?"

The argument spread rapidly.

Healers inside.

Healers outside.

Strongest students inside.

Strongest students outside.

Leaders protected.

Leaders defending.

Children first.

Students first.

Critical patients first.

Class priority.

Individual priority.

Numbers.

Categories.

Tradeoffs.

Theoran remained silent.

Mostly because he was doing exactly the same thing.

Calculating.

Who was most valuable?

Who could survive without the ward?

Who needed it most?

Who would contribute more if preserved?

Who could be sacrificed with the least damage to the remaining group?

That was the uncomfortable part.

He knew what the professors were doing.

And he had immediately joined them.

The Mirage Hermit stood near the screens.

Silent.

But unlike everyone else, he wasn’t watching the students.

He was watching the faculty.

Eventually, Theoran noticed.

His eyes narrowed.

"You’re testing us."

The Hermit looked toward him.

"No."

"You’re enjoying this."

A pause.

"Yes."

Darius turned.

"What is the correct answer?"

The Hermit’s attention shifted toward him.

"Why do you assume there is one?"

"You designed the examination."

"I designed a problem."

"With a solution."

"Several."

Darius’s expression tightened.

"Such as?"

The Hermit gestured toward the screens.

"Watch."

On the largest projection, James spoke first.

"Students enter."

Darius nodded.

"Reasonable."

Sophie immediately challenged it.

"All of us can’t fit."

James’s expression hardened.

"Then the fighters stay outside."

Daphne looked toward him.

"And when the ward activates, the people inside lose their strongest defenders if the Citadel itself is attacked."

James frowned.

Elizabeth said nothing.

Her eyes were moving.

Quickly.

Far too quickly.

Theoran knew exactly what she was doing.

Building categories.

Children.

Critical patients.

Healers.

Fighters.

Leaders.

Students.

Civilians.

Useful.

Vulnerable.

Necessary.

Expendable.

She could probably construct ten different selection models before the others finished arguing.

Then there was Alash.

Silent.

Darius frowned.

"So far he’s contributed less than the other leaders."

The Hermit’s mouth curved faintly.

"Good."

Darius looked at him.

"Good?"

"He’s thinking."

The faculty returned their attention to the screen.

Alash wasn’t looking at the civilians.

Or his classmates.

Or the people who would need to be chosen.

He was staring at the message.

Then at the Citadel.

Then back at the message.

Selene leaned forward.

"What did he notice?"

Nobody answered.

Elizabeth finally looked toward him.

"Alash."

He didn’t respond immediately.

"What do you think?"

His eyes remained fixed on the words above the gate.

"I think that’s suspicious."

Darius frowned.

"The capacity?"

James asked almost the same thing.

"What’s suspicious?"

Alash pointed upward.

"Why one hundred?"

Sophie looked confused.

"The ward’s capacity."

Alash finally looked at her.

"According to whom?"

A faint smile appeared on the Mirage Hermit’s face.

Small.

Barely noticeable.

But Theoran saw it.

Then he understood.

"The message."

The Hermit said nothing.

Theoran looked back at the screen.

Of course according to the message.

They had all read it.

They had all immediately accepted it.

Alash continued.

"The original objective was to reach the Citadel before dawn."

Elizabeth’s eyes sharpened.

Alash pointed toward the gate.

"This says the defensive ward automatically protects one hundred people."

Then toward the open space outside.

"It doesn’t say everyone else has to die."

Theoran slowly turned toward the Hermit.

"You deliberately worded it that way."

"Naturally."

Darius stared.

"You wanted them to exploit semantics?"

"No."

The Hermit finally looked at him.

"I wanted them to read."

Selene laughed.

Darius did not.

On the screen, Elizabeth’s entire line of reasoning changed.

Not which hundred.

Something else.

"If the central ward only protects the interior..."

Sophie followed. ℯℯ𝑙.

"Then we defend outside."

Daphne looked toward the Citadel walls.

"Or create another barrier."

Elizabeth nodded.

"External defensive positions."

James looked toward the approaching terrain.

"Barricades."

"Mana support," Daphne added.

"Scouts," Sophie said.

"Healers," Alash finished.

The conversation transformed.

A minute earlier, the question had been:

Who gets protected?

Now it was:

How do we protect more people?

The faculty section became quiet.

Uncomfortably quiet.

Because nearly all of them had failed to ask that question.

The Hermit turned toward them.

"Interesting."

Darius immediately frowned.

"Don’t."

"You all chose remarkably quickly."

"We were considering options."

"Within the limitation I gave you."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Darius stared at him.

The Hermit looked back toward the students.

"People become remarkably obedient when a limitation appears official enough."

Theoran’s gaze sharpened.

"There are still genuine constraints."

"Of course."

"Mana."

"Yes."

"Time."

"Yes."

"Resources."

"Yes."

"Ability."

"Yes."

"Then sometimes the choices being presented really are the only choices."

"Correct."

Theoran nodded slowly.

"So the lesson isn’t to reject every constraint."

For the first time, the Hermit looked genuinely pleased.

"No."

He gestured toward the students.

"The lesson is knowing which constraints are real."

***

The five classes moved.

Fast.

Elizabeth took command of the logistics.

Not of everyone.

That distinction mattered.

She organized where the wounded would be placed, where the wagons should move, and how the civilians could reinforce the existing structures.

James took the outer defensive line.

Class Two formed the backbone.

Sophie sent Class Three’s scouts onto the surrounding ridges and walls.

Information began flowing almost immediately.

Daphne moved the remaining mana crystals into defensive positions.

Class Five’s Barrier users began constructing layered external protection.

Alash organized healers near the points where injuries were most likely to occur.

Darius slowly smiled.

"Now this looks like an Academy examination."

The Hermit frowned.

"Don’t ruin it."

Then the first monster wave appeared.

The smile disappeared.

***

The professors knew nobody could truly die.

They knew it.

Fatal damage removed a student from the shared illusion.

Nothing more.

The student’s real body remained perfectly safe in the orientation hall.

That knowledge became increasingly useless as the battle continued.

The first monster wave struck the barricades.

Class Two held.

James remained near the center of his formation.

A creature broke through the left side.

Darius immediately expected him to use Space.

James turned.

Then shouted:

"Tristan!"

Lightning exploded across the breach.

James stayed exactly where he was.

Darius nodded.

"Good."

Selene looked toward him.

"Was that another compliment?"

"No."

"It sounded like one."

"I’m evaluating."

The Hermit spoke without looking at him.

"Five."

Darius glared.

"Stop counting."

Class Three’s scouts called out another formation.

Sophie reacted immediately.

"Class Three, northeast! Ice first, Lightning after they group!"

Frost climbed into the air.

Flying monsters changed course.

Lightning met them.

Sophie received another report before the bodies had finished falling.

She listened.

Chose.

Ordered.

No vote.

No hesitation while trying to make every classmate comfortable.

Selene smiled.

"She’s much faster."

Theoran nodded.

"But she hasn’t stopped listening."

"No."

"Good."

Elsewhere, the external barriers flickered.

Several were crude.

Some barely deserved the name.

Yet together they held.

Class Five maintained the primary layers.

Class Four fed mana through the crystal network.

Daphne stood near the center.

But she wasn’t controlling every connection.

Her classmates were.

Nadia adjusted one conduit.

Another student monitored crystal depletion.

Someone else redirected a failing line before Daphne even noticed it.

Then one of the crystal arrays destabilized.

Daphne turned.

Before she could move, three Class Four students fixed it.

She stopped.

Darius noticed.

"She didn’t interfere."

"She didn’t need to," Theoran said.

"Exactly."

The Hermit nodded faintly.

"Better."

Then Darius noticed Alash.

The boy was moving between patients.

Again.

Heal.

Stabilize.

Move.

Next.

Another student was brought forward.

Then another.

Then another.

A Class Five Barrier sector began failing.

Alash looked toward it.

Darius expected him to leave the medical area.

Instead:

"Roland!"

The swordsman turned.

"Take four people to sector three!"

"We’re already holding six monsters!"

"Hold them faster."

Darius stared.

Roland stared too.

Then laughed and went.

Selene covered her mouth.

Theoran’s lips moved slightly.

The Hermit simply watched.

"He delegated," Darius said.

"Yes."

"Terribly."

"Still counts."

Alash immediately returned to healing.

Darius shook his head.

"That boy gives orders like they’re inconveniencing him personally."

Theoran looked toward the screen.

"They probably are."

***

Time passed.

Thirty minutes.

Then forty.

The battle didn’t become easier.

Students began disappearing.

A Class Three student received fatal damage.

Pale light consumed him.

Gone.

Sophie froze for perhaps half a second.

Then continued.

Two Class Two students vanished along the northern defense.

James’s grip tightened around his sword.

He stayed in formation.

Did not chase.

Did not abandon his assigned position to hunt the monsters responsible.

Darius’s expression became serious.

"That’s harder than it looks."

Theoran nodded.

"Much."

Then the first external barrier collapsed.

Mana crystals shattered.

Daphne staggered.

Nadia caught her.

For a moment, Daphne’s body instinctively shifted as though she intended to pull away.

She didn’t.

Instead:

"Remaining crystals?"

Nadia answered.

Class Four began retreating immediately.

No attempt to recover every broken crystal.

No attempt by Daphne to personally save the failing network.

The Hermit’s mouth curved.

"Better."

"Again?" Darius asked.

"Yes."

James raised his sword.

"SECOND LINE!"

Students withdrew.

Organized.

Not cleanly.

But together.

Tristan gave an order on the left before James could.

James heard him.

And did not correct it.

Darius nodded.

"Much better."

The second defensive line lasted fifteen minutes.

Then it broke too.

Stone collapsed.

Another monster wave approached behind the first.

Daphne looked pale.

Class Four’s mana reserves were nearly gone.

Class Five’s Barrier users were exhausted.

The healers were running low.

Students were injured.

Several had been eliminated.

And behind them, the Citadel’s central ward remained perfectly stable.

Protecting one hundred people.

Exactly one hundred.

The faculty became quieter again.

The decision they had rejected was still available.

Retreat.

Reduce the group.

Let the central ward do what it was designed to do.

Theoran watched the leaders.

Nobody suggested it.

Then Alash looked toward the five Guardian Seals.

The Mirage Hermit became completely still.

Darius noticed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Again?"

Theoran glanced toward him.

The Hermit ignored them both.

On-screen, Alash stared upward.

Five seals.

Still floating above the gate.

Still connected by faint golden lines.

The gate had opened long ago.

Yet the seals remained active.

Alash called:

"Daphne!"

She turned.

"What?"

"Can those seals carry mana?"

Daphne frowned.

"They opened the gate."

"Not what I asked."

She looked up.

Really looked.

Several seconds passed.

Then her expression changed.

"They’re still connected."

Selene stepped closer to the screen.

"They found something."

Darius looked toward her.

"Found what?"

The Hermit answered.

"One possible answer."

Darius turned.

The five seals had never been merely decorative.

They were anchors.

The Citadel’s ward had been designed around the network they created.

In theory, additional linked defensive boundaries could be created by redirecting mana through them.

Difficult.

Mana-intensive.

Dangerous.

But possible.

Darius looked toward the Hermit.

"You expected this?"

"I allowed it."

"Different answer."

"Yes."

"Could they simply defend outside until dawn without doing this?"

"If they survive."

"Secondary shelters?"

"Possible."

"Evacuate part of the population elsewhere?"

"Possible."

Darius stared at him.

"So there was never one intended solution."

The Hermit looked almost offended.

"That would be boring."

On-screen, Daphne continued examining the formation.

"If we redirect the ward incorrectly, the central barrier could collapse."

Everyone looked toward the Citadel.

One hundred vulnerable people waited inside.

Children.

Critical patients.

Those unable to fight.

James looked toward the monster wave.

"We don’t have another option."

Technically, they did.

Retreat.

Abandon everyone outside until only one hundred remained.

Safe.

Logical.

Allowed.

Alash looked toward Daphne.

"Do it."

Her eyes moved to him.

"That’s your decision?"

Alash paused.

Then looked toward the other four leaders.

"No."

Theoran leaned slightly forward.

"Our decision."

The hall became quiet.

James answered first.

"Do it."

Sophie nodded.

"I’m in."

Elizabeth looked toward the ward once more.

"Do it."

Daphne remained silent the longest.

Then:

"Fine."

Theoran’s fingers tightened slightly around his cane.

Yesterday, Alash might have attempted the solution himself if he believed it necessary.

Now he had explicitly refused to make the risk theirs by pretending it was only his decision.

The Hermit noticed too.

"He included them."

Darius looked toward him.

"Isn’t that the point of having five leaders?"

"Yes."

"Then why do you sound surprised?"

"Because knowing the point and doing it are different things."

The five leaders moved beneath the Guardian Seals.

Elizabeth.

James.

Sophie.

Daphne.

Alash.

Then all five touched the formation.

And the Mirage Hermit’s expression changed.

Not dramatically.

Nobody else would have noticed if they hadn’t spent the last several hours watching him.

Theoran did.

"What?"

The Hermit didn’t answer.

For an instant, the illusion flickered.

Not visibly.

Not in a way the observation panels properly recorded.

Something deeper.

A tremor through the structure.

Faint.

Almost nonexistent.

But wrong.

The Hermit immediately examined every layer of the shared illusion.

Stability.

Perfect.

External interference.

None.

Foreign mana.

None.

Mental breach.

None.

Everything was exactly as it should be.

Except..

A distant echo.

Something he could not identify.

Theoran watched him.

"You felt something."

"No."

"That was too fast."

The Hermit ignored him.

He said nothing else.

Not now.

The students had more immediate problems.

Mana surged into the seals.

Five points of golden light ignited.

Daphne shouted:

"Connect the eastern line!"

Class Four moved.

The remaining mana crystals joined the network.

Class Five’s Barrier users reinforced the developing boundary.

Then the Citadel ward moved.

Darius stepped closer.

Slowly, the translucent barrier stretched beyond the gate.

Across the courtyard.

Past the first wall.

Then the second.

"Come on," Darius muttered.

Selene glanced toward him.

He ignored her.

The dome continued expanding.

Over wagons.

Over students.

Over civilians.

Over healers.

Over fighters.

Everyone.

The final section closed.

For one second, silence.

Then the monster wave struck.

The barrier bent inward.

Several professors instinctively released mana.

Pointless.

Their spells could do nothing through an observation projection.

Everyone knew that.

Nobody commented.

A crack appeared overhead.

Darius swore.

On-screen, Daphne’s face went pale.

"MORE MANA!"

And something happened the Hermit had not directly instructed.

Everyone responded.

Not merely the Barrier users.

Not merely Class Four.

Everyone.

Fire mages pressed their hands against the crystal network.

Water.

Earth.

Ice.

Lightning.

Metal.

Force.

Healing.

Attributes with absolutely no relevance to barrier construction.

It didn’t matter.

They poured raw mana into the formation.

The system was inefficient.

Terribly inefficient.

Different mana signatures.

Different control.

Different Attributes.

But the five seals normalized enough of the flow to sustain the network.

The ward brightened.

The monster wave struck again.

Held.

Theoran looked across the projections.

Something had changed.

There were technically still five classes.

Five crests.

Five leaders.

Five original groups.

But nobody seemed to care anymore.

Nobody asked which class was contributing more mana.

Which class deserved the safer position.

Which class had lost more people.

Which class had supplied the wagons.

The weapons.

The crystals.

The medicine.

The information.

One student held a mana conduit while someone from another class replaced them when their core ran low.

Civilians repaired structures.

Students protected civilians.

Healers treated whoever reached them.

Class numbers had stopped mattering.

The Hermit noticed too.

"That’s the part Vale wanted."

Theoran looked toward him.

"You admit my class system has merit?"

"Don’t become emotional."

"I asked a question."

"It has some merit."

Darius immediately turned toward Theoran.

"Write down the date."

The Headmaster ignored him.

On-screen, the black sun continued descending.

The barrier shook again.

Held.

One minute.

Forty seconds.

Twenty.

Nobody in the orientation hall was sitting anymore.

Even professors who had shown little interest at the beginning had moved closer to the screens.

Ten seconds.

Sophie began counting.

"Ten!"

The dome cracked.

"Nine!"

Mana surged.

"Eight!"

One crystal exploded.

"Seven!"

Daphne nearly collapsed.

Nadia held her upright.

"Six!"

James remained beneath the barrier with his sword drawn, as though he intended to personally fight the entire monster horde if the dome failed.

"Five!"

Elizabeth continued coordinating mana rotations.

"Four!"

Alash remained beside the conduit.

Penelope beside him.

"Three!"

Another crack.

"Two!"

The black sun touched the horizon.

"One!"

Light appeared.

Dawn.

White consumed the illusion.

Every observation screen vanished simultaneously.

The orientation hall became completely silent.

One hundred and eighty-seven students remained motionless.

For one second.

Two.

The faculty stared.

Then the Mirage Hermit looked across the first-years.

The five black uniforms were easy to find.

Elizabeth.

James.

Sophie.

Daphne.

Alash.

Fifteen years ago, something had changed.

He still didn’t know what.

Recently, something about these five had begun bothering him.

And twice now, when all five had come together inside his illusion, he had felt something he could not explain.

Coincidence remained possible.

But coincidence was beginning to work unusually hard.

A student inhaled sharply.

Then another.

Then dozens.

Alash’s eyes opened.

Around him, one hundred and eighty-seven first-years began waking almost simultaneously.

Some calmly.

Most not.

A scream came from the middle rows.

One boy grabbed his leg with both hands.

"It’s there."

Then louder.

"MY LEG IS THERE!"

Another student began crying.

Someone else laughed uncontrollably.

Students who had been eliminated earlier woke alongside everyone else, equally disoriented.

James immediately began checking the students around him.

Sophie covered her face briefly, then lowered her hands and started counting her classmates.

Daphne remained completely still while Nadia leaned toward her and whispered something.

Elizabeth was already looking toward the stage.

And Alash, remained seated.

His silver pillow held against his chest.

Of course.

The volume inside the hall rose rapidly.

Questions.

Shouting.

Relieved laughter.

Confusion.

Several students demanding to know whether they had passed.

Others checking limbs that had been severed, crushed, burned, or otherwise lost inside the illusion.

The Mirage Hermit waited.

He let the noise rise.

Then he stepped forward.

His hands moved behind his back.

A faint smile appeared.

Alash saw it.

Judging by his expression, he immediately disliked it.

Good.

The Hermit looked over all one hundred and eighty-seven first-years.

Then spoke.

"Congratulations."

The hall erupted.