Chapter 406: The Tyrant, The Knight, And The Fist Of Heaven

[Black screen.]

Interviewer

(calm and neutral)

:

State your name and rank.

[Cadet #211: Arjun, First-Year — Support]

Arjun:

(Laughing nervously)

I thought we were dead. No, like, not in a dramatic way. I mean... we knew. Everyone knew.

Night Sanctuary

was going to be our grave.

(Leans forward, quietly)

There’s a moment, right? Where your brain just... accepts it.

That was before

he

showed up.

°°°

[Cadet #142: Lila, First-Year — Healer]

Interviewer:

Who showed up?

Lila:

The Tyrant.

(Smiles faintly, like she hates the word but can’t deny it)

The Tyrant of Apex. Our Ace and savior. Samael.

°°°

[Cadet #46: Owen, First-Year — Brawler]

Owen:

No, no. He didn’t just show up. That’s the thing. Because as strong as he may have been on that night, and as brave as I now know he is... he was still just a single person.

(Shakes his head)

Yet, he was saving everyone in masses! One second, we’re getting slaughtered. The next, hands of stone erupted from the earth, crushing those Solbraith insects like the bugs they were!

°°°

[Cadet #23: Sarah, First-Year — Sentry]

Sarah:

(Arms crossed, scowling)

Look, I’m not saying Samael isn’t a dick. He’s a massive, arrogant, silver-spoon-fed jerk. I hate his face. I don’t know why other girls are all over him. He doesn’t even look that good. My ex looked better. But...

(she pauses, looking down at her trembling hands)

when the barrier came down and the monsters started flooding the area, everyone else was screaming.

Interviewer:

And Samael?

Sarah:

(Averting gaze)

Samael was the one yelling. There’s a difference. We were all scared, while he was taking a fighting stance. It was the most infuriating, and the most heroic thing I’ve ever seen.

...Damn it, he ruined my dating standards.

°°°

[Cadet #38: Victor, First-Year — Summoner]

Victor:

(Sighs heavily)

Fine. Yes. He was "heroic." If you call throwing more than three dozen Cadets across a field like sacks of potatoes "heroic." He didn’t even check if we landed safely. He just kept tossing us. I have a bruise the size of a dinner plate on my left asscheek.

°°°

[Cadet #85: Mira, First-Year — Support + Healer]

Mira:

(Snorting into her hands, then grinning)

Yeah, that tracks. He saves people like he’s disposing of trash. But hey! We’re alive to complain about it.

°°°

[Cadet #Unknown: Anonymous]

Interviewer:

What did you feel when you saw him?

Anonymous:

(Voice distorted)

...Relief.

(Takes a long pause)

And fear. I don’t think those should come together. But they did.

°°°

[Cadet #435: Ekina, First-Year — Brawler + Healer]

Ekina:

He was shouting orders. He didn’t inspire us or anything. He just took charge, and we followed. People called him

Tyrant

as a slur because he banned us from going on missions until we passed the Top 100 rank threshold. But... maybe...

I don’t know.

(Closes her eyes, rubbing her face. She shakes her head after a long pause and stays silent.)

°°°

[Cadet #254: Toby, First-Year — Caster]

Toby:

Bro, forget Samael for a second! Can we talk about Alexia?

(Starts gesturing wildly like he’s at a loss for words)

SHE FELL FROM THE SKY.

I’m not even exaggerating! She just— BOOM! Straight onto the back of the Cyclops’ head! SHE FELL FROM THE SKY!

°°°

[Cadet #129: Chloe, First-Year — Caster]

Chloe:

People are wrong. Don’t listen to Toby. I’ll tell you the truth.

(Leans back)

The sky. You have to understand the sky was black. Then there was this... orange streak, like a comet. That was Alexia. She wasn’t falling, bro. She was aiming. And that’s way more terrifying when you remember she can’t even see.

°°°

[Cadet #67: Jax, First-Year — Support + Caster]

Jax:

(Clutching his chest with literal hearts in his eyes)

Alexia is my queen! She’s my queen!

There I was, about to be eaten by a centipede-like thing. She comes in, punches it away, and gives me her hand.

I’ll marry that girl someday. I’m even fine with being her second, or even third or fourth husband. She’s a High Noble. She can take many husbands, right?

Interviewer:

(Audibly disturbed)

Uh...

Jax:

What? Hey! Why are you judging me?! Hey, where are you going?! Don’t run—

°°°

[Cadet #48: Maya, First-Year — Sentry]

Maya:

(Pinching the bridge of her nose)

Yeah, forget about Jax. He has been creepy about Alexia ever since.

(Looks up)

Anyway! Everyone keeps talking about Samael and Alexia.

(Shrugs)

Fine. They were monsters. But Michael?

Interviewer:

What about him?

Maya:

(Small smile)

He’s the reason so many of us are alive.

Interviewer:

How so?

°°°

[Cadet #50: Rizwan, First-Year — Scout]

Rizwan:

He moved so quietly. Samael, from what I hear, was a force of nature. Alexia was the same. But Michael was the anchor. He was moving through the chaos like a ghost. He was a

Phantom Knight

, saving one person at a time. He’s my hero.

°°°

[Cadet #70: Marcus, First-Year — Brawler]

Marcus:

(Voice shaking)

My legs were pinned under a heap of debris. A monster was closing in on me. I thought... I thought that was it.

Then Michael swept in. He unceremoniously heaved the debris off me like it weighed nothing and protected me until I could push myself back onto my feet. He took a claw to his shoulder. He bled for a nobody like me. I never saw him after that.

°°°

[Cadet #37: Anya, First-Year — Healer + Sentry]

Anya:

(In tears but smiling)

They don’t talk about him enough. He told me I was doing a good job. I was just healing minor wounds, panicking and crying, and he told me I was doing a good job.

°°°

[Cadet #96: Vane, First-Year — Healer]

Vane:

I was there with Anya. She’s right. They don’t talk about him enough. I saw what he did. He lured that three-headed hound away from the retreating crowd. He didn’t have to. He was in better shape.

All he had to do was run faster than us. But he lured that monster anyway.

(Sighs)

History will be kinder to him. I really hope he survives and comes back.

Interviewer:

So, who would you say is your favorite, if you had to choose among those three? Would it be Michael?

°°°

[Cadet #100: Leo, First-Year — Brawler]

Leo:

(Reluctant)

No. It would be Samael. I don’t like him.

(Shrugs)

He’s arrogant. He disregards people.

(Pause)

But... if I had to go through that hell again? I’d want him there.

°°°

[Cadet #404: Rohit, First-Year — Support + Sentry]

Rohit:

The

Phantom Knight

. Michael.

°°°

[Cadet #89: Andry, First-Year — Brawler]

Andry:

Alexia. Obviously.

°°°

[Cadet #Unknown: Anonymous]

Anonymous:

(Voice distorted)

The

Fist of Heaven

. The

Mad Dog

.

Anyone not choosing Alexia is not right in the head.

Except Jax. He’s not right in the head regardless.

°°°

[Cadet #25: Ivan, First-Year — Brawler + Scout]

Ivan:

Samael, duh. And yes, I respect him. I’ve always respected him. I also respect his Shadow, Juliana. From a distance.

(Points vaguely away)

A

very

far distance.

°°°

[Cadet #31: Aiden, First-Year — Brawler]

Aiden:

You know that one old story? Where a benevolent god moved a mountain to protect their followers?

(Smiles sadly)

That night, we didn’t have a god. We had a Tyrant. And the Tyrant was enough.

Interviewer:

So...

Aiden:

I choose my Ace. I’ll always choose my Ace. And only he will ever be my Ace. I don’t care who wins this tournament they are holding right now. No one can replace him.

°°°

[Cut to black.]

Interviewer

(voiceover narration)

:

The legends say heroes are born in necessary times.

The legends are wrong.

Heroes

step up

in necessary times.

Heroes raise their hands when the situation is at its most dire and say, "I’ll do it. I’ll fight. You follow me."

That is exactly what those three did during the Night Sanctuary massacre. New heroes will rise in their wake, forged in the ashes of adversity.

In fact, they already

are

.

Those who survived the horrors of that harrowing night have pushed themselves far beyond the limits set by any other Apex first-year batch in history.

Yes, that’s right.

The current first-year batch now holds the record for achieving the fastest

B

-rank ascension average, with more than eighty percent of them already ranked up at the time of this interview.

That number is only swelling.

New heroes

are

rising. Apex Academy is

still

standing strong.

But we must not forget to celebrate the three brave souls who took charge on that dark night and single-handedly altered the trajectory of our generation.

Their names — Samael Theosbane, Alexia Zynx, and Michael Godswill — have become more than just entries on a student roster.

They are the benchmarks against which all future heroes will be measured.

So we ask you to pray for them. For their survival.

We ask you... to keep rising.

[Video End]

•••

Casey Torr Snowrite kept staring at the black screen of her phone even after the video ended.

She was... not sold.

Her friend, Myra, was staring at her intensely from across the center table. "So? What do you think?"

What

did

she think?

She, Myra, and hundreds of other kids had recently transferred to the Apex Academy.

Usually, Apex holds a Cadet transfer program after conducting their midterms, allowing those who missed the Entrance Exam, or failed it on their first try, to prove their worth and join the most prestigious Hunter institute in the world.

The criteria were simple. The top 20 Cadets from every other big-name institute could apply for a transfer.

This year, however, the program started a few weeks late. It wasn’t a big delay, but the reason for it couldn’t have been any bigger.

Everyone was certain that the transfer rate would plummet this year.

After the news of the

Night Sanctuary

massacre broke, parents were pulling their kids out of Apex, and the media was branding it a deathtrap.

It’s one thing to die in battle, but it’s another thing entirely to die because the supposedly

most prestigious

Hunter institute couldn’t keep its future Hunters safe during an exam.

This year, and many upcoming years, were going to be a nightmare for Apex’s reputation.

But their PR department really pulled through.

First, they temporarily arrested Selene Valkyrn and launched an investigation against her, basically pinning all the blame on her for the time being.

Then, they began granting ridiculous scholarships to commoners, allowing

anyone

into the transfer program as long as they were promising.

After that, to appease the nobles, they lowered tax levies on specialized trade materials and offered exclusive access to newly discovered resource veins in the fringe sectors — territories that were previously under Apex’s strict jurisdiction.

In no time, the slots were wider and the desperation was higher.

The seats, emptied by the very massacre this interview video tried so hard to sentimentalize, were now almost all filled again.

Casey looked up at Myra, who was practically vibrating in amazement.

"I think it’s propaganda," Casey said, her flat voice not mincing any words. She set her phone down on the table with a

thud

. "It is well-edited, high-budget, soul-stirring propaganda. They’re trying to rebrand a slaughter into a

heroic origin

story. And looking at your face, yours and every other Cadet I pass in the cafeteria, it’s working."

Myra’s excitement faltered. "Propaganda? Casey, did you see their faces? That girl, Sarah, was literally shaking. You can’t fake that kind of trauma."

"I’m not saying the

trauma

is fake," Casey countered, leaning back and crossing her arms. "I’m saying the narrative has been polished to be pretty. They’re turning three students into mythical figures to distract us from the fact that the school’s security failed so spectacularly that children had to be thrown like

’sacks of potatoes’

just to survive."

Myra was silent for a moment, processing. Then her eyes sparkled as she leaned in. "But still, propaganda or not, Casey, look at the stats. Eighty percent ascension? My old school barely had ten percent of the first-years hitting

B

-rank by the finals last year. Whatever happened in the Night Sanctuary turned those kids into monsters. Don’t you want to see if we measure up?"

Casey sighed and turned her head.

She looked through the floor-to-ceiling windows of her apartment, gazing at the massive, spire-like architecture floating above an impossibly tall tower.

That was the Apex Tower.

It appeared to be made entirely of uncut metal, without a single seam or joint.

Next to it, the sun was setting, casting long shadows over the patches of greenery throughout the Ascent Isles known as the Sky Gardens.

"I don’t just want to see if

we

measure up, Myra," Casey replied at last. "I want to see the

Tyrant of Apex

for myself. The

Phantom Knight

and the

Fist of Heaven

, too."

It had been less than three months since she transferred here.

In that time, all she had heard the old first-years talk about was that night and how those three saved them.

At first, it was fine, but after a while, the stories became repetitive. Then, they started blowing out of proportion.

At this point, those three were being treated like mythical figures.

Casey threw her head back against the couch’s headrest. "The problem with myths is that they’re impossible to beat. You can’t compete with a ghost story."

Myra narrowed her gaze. "Is that what this is about? You’re worried they’ve set the bar too high?"

No, she was worried that the bar itself was a lie.

People in trauma tend to hallucinate their saviors.

As a member of the Northern nobility, she knew about the real

Tyrant of Apex

and the

Fist of Heaven

. One was the trash of the Theosbanes and the other was the Zynxs’ defect.

Sure, they had both achieved a few noteworthy feats recently, but the stories surrounding them of that night had to be exaggerations.

A way for the weak to cope with the reality of their own helplessness.

She was afraid that when she finally stood in front of Samael Theosbane, she was going to find a boy who simply got lucky.

Myra saw the look on her face and was about to comment, but before she could, a loud commotion roared from the hallway, drawing the attention of both girls.

"What’s going on?" Casey scowled.

Myra got up and peeked through the door.

It sounded like she was talking to someone, and as she did, her voice pitched higher and higher, but even then it remained inaudible against the clamoring cacophony echoing from the lift lobby.

Finally, Myra snapped her head back into the room, her eyes wide with shock. "Casey, come on! Let’s go! You wanted to see if the legends live up to the hype, right?! Come see!"

"...What?" Casey stood up, her brow furrowing as the distant roar resolved into distinct shouts, chanting, and the heavy rumbling of dozens of boots hitting the floor at once.

Myra didn’t answer. She simply grabbed Casey’s wrist and yanked her into the hallway.

The corridor was already flooding with transfer students and old-batch Cadets alike. The atmosphere was electric, charged with a strange mix of excitement and curiosity.

As they rounded the corner toward the grand lift lobby, the noise became deafening.

"What is going on?!" Casey demanded. She had never seen this kind of uproar. It felt like the start of some festival.

"They’re here!" someone screamed — a first-year Casey barely recognized from her Combat Theory class. "Ascent security just cleared the ID of a private shuttle entering the vicinity! The

Tyrant

is here!"