Two months had drifted by since Vibe Fasue-Xiv first walked through the gravity-suspended gates of Hysteria Academy, yet to her, it still felt like a dream wrapped in symphonies of chaos and curiosity. In that time, her once-fractured classroom had slowly woven itself into a tightly knit ensemble of prodigies, rivalries, and ever-evolving friendships—led by none other than the youngest and most terrifying authority figure in the realm: Miss Yaomie.
At just four years old, she ruled her peers with the unshakeable command of a general and the poise of a queen. Her dazzling brown hair fell like a curtain over her glowing eyes, and her power, Order, carried a presence that made even the wildest student sit upright with a single wave of her dainty hand.
But today was not a day for routine.
No—today, the veil of academia would lift.
Today was a crucible.
A test.
And Miss Yaomie's eyes shimmered with the thrill of it.
She led her class fifty strong beyond the marble towers of the academy and into a vast, open field surrounded by ancient floating crystals. They buzzed faintly with anticipation—barriers, sensors, and arcane observers all linked into a giant, concealed system that had watched over Hysteria's legendary battles for generations.
The field gleamed beneath the twin suns.
It was beautiful.
It was unforgiving.
Yaomie turned, her uniform fluttering slightly with the breeze, as she stood atop a raised obsidian podium. Her voice rang with elegance and edge.
> "Listen well, Class A1-Ω," she began. "The games end here."
Eyes widened. Even Nagant, with his ever-present scowl, quieted down.
> "From this point forward, you will not simply train. You will battle. You will struggle. You will bleed—through effort, not injury. Because here at Hysteria, potential means nothing if you can't survive the pressure that comes with it."
As the students tensed, Miss Yaomie gently unfurled a scroll, its contents glowing with parent-sealed sigils. She silently read through the records—one by one—her face a canvas of shifting expressions: impressed, amused, intrigued… cautious.
> "Hmph," she breathed as she passed a cluster of names. "Jettro. So-waa. Kamaro. Absolute monsters."
Then her gaze halted.
> Vibe Fasue-Xiv.
There was no proper classification. No solid explanation. The entry was a blur of conflicting observations:
'Accelerated movement? Sound manipulation? Ghostly duplication? Chrono-slippage?'
Miss Yaomie narrowed her eyes. The girl had defied every scan and diagnostic run since her enrollment. But there was something else—something deeper in her energy signature. A hum that pulsed through dimensions too delicate to measure.
> "You don't bend the rules, Vibe," she whispered, lips curling slightly. "You… rewrite them."
---
Far beyond the planet's crust, high in the silver-mist currents that drifted between dimensions, an ancient presence stirred.
Cloaked in torn silence and cloaked mist, a servant of a Demi-God hovered, their form unfixed, their intent sharp. A single eye opened in the void, its slit pupil locking onto the girl below.
> "So this is the source," they whispered. "The resonance that echoes between time signatures. The girl who walks on sound…"
They vanished, leaving the cosmos to stir uneasily in their wake.
---
Back on the battlefield, Miss Yaomie raised her hand, and golden threads unfurled through the air, snaking from student to student, pairing them like the lines of a sacred score.
> "Pairings are as follows."
The field quieted, tension building.
> "Round One: Dorie and Miree… versus Manasan and Jettro."
Manasan's body flickered with plasma, and Jettro's gauntlets hissed with compression bursts. Miree's gaze hardened, her grey pupils darkening like gathering clouds.
> "Round Two: Rose and So-waa… versus Gama and Pavi."
Rose smiled sweetly, her rose-hued hair dancing as she summoned crystalline thorns from her palm. So-waa was silent, friction swirling around her boots.
> "Round Three: Woa-mee and Jin-nah… versus Nico and Kamaro."
Kamaro cracked his neck, wires twitching under his skin. Jin-nah ignited her aura with fire-red sparks, eager to go toe-to-toe.
And then—
> "Round Four…" Miss Yaomie paused.
All heads turned.
> "Vibe Fasue-Xiv—solo. Versus Nagant and Jiamming."
Gasps rippled across the class.
Even Nagant blinked. Jiamming scoffed, flipping his staff into his palm.
> "You're tossing her in alone?" Nagant called, voice dripping with disbelief. "What is this, a prank?"
Miss Yaomie's smile didn't waver.
> "This is what's fair."
Rose furrowed her brows. Jin-nah looked to Vibe, concern flashing across her fire-lit eyes. Miree's fingers twitched.
Yet Vibe?
Vibe simply stepped forward.
There was no hesitation in her stride. Only the slight shimmer of displaced air as her body seemed to blur at the edges—like a tuning fork struck at just the right frequency.
> "Two of you?" she said softly. Her voice echoed, not in volume—but in resonance.
> "Then I won't have to hold back."
Nagant clenched his fists. Jiamming cracked his neck.
And Miss Yaomie? She watched with quiet intrigue.
> "Round One," she declared, raising her hand high. "Begin!"
The field exploded with light. Sigils activated, locking each quadrant in place. Screams of power and impact filled the air as Dorie's wind collided with Jettro's impact gauntlets.
But while the other matches unfolded in fiery bursts—
All eyes… drifted to Vibe.
To the girl who stood alone.
And the storm of sound yet to come.