Anomaly of Fate
Chapter 48: Phase Two

Chapter 48: Phase Two

Velren sheathed his katana and approached Eterna.

The girl, as if only just noticing someone drawing near, subtly shifted her stance. She then rested her fingers lightly on the hilt of her rapier—ready.

Velren blinked before raising both hands high.

"Whoa, it’s just me."

Eterna didn’t relax. Instead, she locked her gaze onto him, her posture still taut.

Then, she spoke:

"What’s the name of my Vital Crest?"

Velren hesitated.

"What?"

She didn’t repeat the question. She simply stood there, waiting with an unwavering caution.

Velren felt a prickle of unease but answered.

"Wh— When Stars Decide."

Only then did she relax—just slightly.

"One can never be too careful," she murmured.

Velren exhaled. That... actually made sense.

With all the strange abilities floating around in this exam, there was no telling what kind of tricks other students possessed. Illusions, mind control, shapeshifting—who knew? A moment of carelessness could mean defeat.

So, yeah. He could understand why she did that.

Still...

He drifted his gaze to the battlefield—to the unconscious bodies of the four students that were sprawled across the ground. Then, back to Eterna.

In contrast to them, she didn’t have a single scratch. She didn’t even look tired.

What kind of girl is she?

She suddenly spoke, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Took you long enough."

Velren’s brow twitched.

"What? Isn’t it more like you were way too fast?"

She tilted her head slightly. "Hm?"

Velren crossed his arms, scanning the beacon that now glowed red in the sky.

"How long ago did you even take the beacon?" he asked.

Eterna glanced up at the floating light, then back at him.

"Pretty long. My battle ended since... quite a long time ago."

Velren gulped at her words.

’She really is a monster.’

Then, Eterna’s gaze turned sharp, pinning him with an unreadable expression, causing Velren to stiffened.

"Wh-what?"

"You just thought of something rude, didn’t you?"

Velren let out a nervous laugh, waving a hand.

"Whaaat? Nooo, of course not!"

Her piercing stare didn’t waver.

’And she’s sharp too...’

Not long after, something strange was happening to their beacon.

Velren’s eyes narrowed as he watched the red light slowly fade—not all at once, but from the top down, as if being erased bit by bit.

"What the—?"

The glow vanished entirely, leaving only their class sigil embedded on the panel at its base.

Velren blinked.

"What the hell just happened? Is the exam over already?"

Eterna, however, wasn’t looking at the beacon. Her gaze was already fixed somewhere deep within the forest.

"Unlikely," she murmured.

Then—

Another beacon shot into the sky. But unlike before, it wasn’t red or blue—it was white.

Then another.

And another.

One by one, new white beacons erupted across the island, dozens of them illuminating the sky in a scattered pattern.

Velren immediately tensed at the sudden sight.

And then, as if responding to the shift, a voice—resonant, omnipresent, and absolute—echoed across the entire island.

[—ATTENTION ALL PARTICIPANTS—]

The air itself seemed to hum with the force of the words.

[THE FIRST PHASE HAS CONCLUDED.]

[THE NEXT PHASE SHALL NOW COMMENCE.]

"Next phase?"

The voice continued.

[CURRENT STANDINGS:]

[—1ST PLACE: CLASS 1-A—]

[—2ND PLACE: CLASS 1-D—]

[—3RD PLACE: CLASS 1-B—]

[—4TH PLACE: CLASS 1-C—]

Velren’s stomach dropped a little.

"Fourth?!"

But before he could voice his frustration, the voice faded, leaving only the eerie rustling of leaves and the distant calls of unseen creatures.

Velren turned to Eterna.

"Wha—next phase?"

She didn’t reply immediately. Instead, she glanced up at the white beacons, then back down—already setting her sights elsewhere.

Her expression barely changed, but he could see it—the sharpened focus on her whole figure.

"I had a feeling this was too easy," she muttered, already moving.

***

The wind howled past them as Velren and Eterna sprinted through the dense jungle once more, weaving through thick roots and underbrush. The sound of their rapid footsteps blended with the distant calls of unseen creatures.

Velren exhaled sharply.

"Damn, are we really in last place?"

For a moment, Eterna was silent, flickering her gaze toward the sky where one of the white beacons now hovered. Then, almost absently, she muttered:

"...Only seven."

Velren furrowed his brows.

"What?"

Eterna didn’t slow her pace.

"Earlier, before the announcement and the beginning of the next phase, I saw three golden beacons, two blue, one green, and ours—the red beacon."

Velren processed her words.

"Wait... that’s only seven beacons controlled. What about the rest?"

Eterna’s expression remained unreadable as she continued running.

"That’s why I’ve come to an assumption."

Velren frowned.

"Which is?"

Eterna’s eyes sharpened.

"Rather than focusing on taking control of a beacon... there must be teams who have a different plan in mind."

"...And that plan is?"

Eterna finally turned to him.

"To actively hunt the other classes," she said.

"Instead of securing a beacon, they might be eliminating their competition directly."

Again, what Eterna said might be right. The rules never explicitly stated that you had to control a beacon to win. That left room for other strategies—like making sure that the other classes couldn’t gain points by taking beacons themselves. If enough teams adopted that method, then it made sense why so few beacons had actually been claimed.

But the real problem?

Velren had no idea how many of his own class’s teams were still standing.

For all he knew, he and Eterna might be the only ones left for Class 1-C.

That thought barely had time to settle before something flashed in his peripheral vision.

A low, distorted hum rippled through the air, followed by an intense pressure—like space itself had momentarily twisted.

Both Velren and Eterna instinctively jumped apart.

The moment their feet left the ground, the entire area between them ruptured.

A jagged, violet fissure carved itself into the earth with a crackling roar, energy writhing within its depths like a living thing. Then, with a violent snap, the fissure collapsed inward—dragging everything near it down in a chaotic implosion.

Dirt, shattered rock, and splintered tree roots blasted upward, the ground itself caving in where they had once stood.

Velren landed on one knee, with his katana already drawn.

Across from him, Eterna was just as composed—her hand was already resting lightly on her rapier’s hilt, and her icy gaze locked forward.

As the thick smoke and dust settled, new figures emerged from the haze.

Another team.

"Speak of the devil..."

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