The Unvanquished: Child of Nihility-Chapter 81: The Thorns Strike

Chapter 81: The Thorns Strike (Underhanded. Typical of Thorns...)

"You’re really something," Wyns said, his voice low – but this time, he didn’t bother hiding the sharp edge underneath. There was no calm, no diplomacy left. Only humiliation.

He gave a single nod to the four Thorn cadets behind him. They stepped back immediately in understanding. And with how they moved, it was clear this wasn’t their first time doing something like this.

The air shifted.

From Wyns’ outstretched fingers, a strange energy began to coil – thin threads of black and blue lightning-like essence twining around his hand, burrowing into the envelope he still held.

It crackled once.

Then surged.

’He infused it with energy... It was never just a message.’ Morca’s eyes narrowed slightly. He didn’t speak.

In one sharp movement, too fast for most to see, he thrust out his arm –

Wham!

Tyler’s body shot backward – lifted from her seat like a gust-struck leaf.

Caught completely off guard, her cry was cut short as her figure flew across the air and landed with a hard thud far from the booth.

BOOM!

An explosion tore through the space Morca and Tyler had been sitting in just a second before.

Tables shattered. Flame and mana light erupted in a compressed radius. The booth was gone – obliterated.

Utensils clattered. Dishes crashed. A deafening silence followed.

The cafeteria stilled.

All eyes were now on the smoke-wreathed crater in the middle of the first floor.

And standing in its center... was Morca.

Unburnt. Unshaken. His coat fluttering lightly in the aftermath wind.

Crimson light flickered in his right eye. Darkness spiraled in his left. Not a speck of dust touched him.

Smoke still curled from the shattered booth as silence blanketed the floor.

But to Tyler, something didn’t sit well.

’That blast–’ Her thoughts halted.

The moment the explosion triggered, she remembered: Morca’s hand didn’t push her with panic. It was calculated, firm... exact.

Her gaze darted toward the still-rising smoke. Then she saw it. In that instant – just before the impact – Morca had vanished. Not flung. Not shielded. But faded into the shadow. Blank.

Yes, at the last moment of the attack, Morca’s unique skill Blank had activated – phasing him out of the existing dimension, his body slipping through the attack as if it were smoke meeting fog.

Even now, as the firelight licked around the crater, he stood there.

His figure was visible – yet not. To the eye, Morca was present. But to the senses... there was nothing. As if he had turned into a ghost or shadow. The stillness was too unnatural to be human.

Tyler’s heart pounded.

’That... that’s not just speed. He became the shadow of the attack.’ She was the closest to Morca, so she noticed him.

Around them, cadets had begun to rise from their seats. Murmurs turned to gasps.

"What just happened...?"

"He... he dodged that?"

"No... he phased through it – like he wasn’t even there!"

"Is that... a forbidden skill?"

And then – a streak. In a blink, a silent shift in space.

Crack!

In the next heartbeat, Morca was no longer where he was once standing.

He reappeared beside Wyns who was now slammed against the reinforced crystal-glass wall of the cafeteria’s side panel. No one even saw him move.

Wyns’ breath choked out of him as his back hit the glass.

’How’s this poss–’ Wyns couldn’t react at all. He raised his arm too late –

Shlink!

Morca’s blade, Avoc, materialized from pure black steel and blood-threaded energy – slender, sharp, humming with death.

It pierced clean through Wyns’ thin arm.

"Aagh–!"

The cry barely escaped.

Before he could react, Morca wrenched the blade sideways, slicing flesh – but not fatally.

Then –

Bam!

He grabbed Wyns by the collar and drove his face down – slamming him into the polished marble floor of the pavilion.

Glass trembled. And blood smacked the tile.

"Talking of fast growth after joining the so-called division, huh?" Morca’s voice wasn’t loud – but it carried through the pavilion like a blade dragged across bone.

Bam!

He stomped Wyns’ head again, grinding it against the smooth floor. "How long have you been in the division?"

’No! This is not true... I can’t move... no!’ Wyns screamed inwardly. He couldn’t believe he was being beaten like a pup – and worse, in a public place like the cafeteria pavilion.

’No, I must fig–’ he couldn’t finish his thoughts when –

Bam!

"Carve this into your dumb mind..."

The four Thorn Division members still standing – each of them previously confident – stepped back instinctively, a cold chill coiling around their spines.

The lady in the group thought confusedly, ’How could that be? Wyns is being beaten like that without even reacting, and by a first-year Unique Cadet?’

If before she was confident that five of them working together could bring Morca to his knees, now she even doubted if ten could achieve that.

’So this is how strong a Unique Cadet is. Maybe even the sub-leader cannot... no...’ The relaxed youth who had been spinning a thin steel thread between his fingers now had beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"...Go tell the whatever’s hiding–"

Another stomp.

"Fly to come to me himself if he dares."

Morca leaned down, his left eye swirling darker now, his aura fueling his anger.

"You even dared to make the first move."

His final stamp cracked the floor beneath Wyns’ head, leaving the second-year cadet groaning in a puddle of blood and broken pride.

All around them – shock.

No one dared speak.

Then –

"He... he really just crippled a Thorn?"

"Who is this guy...? He didn’t even try–"

"That wasn’t a confrontation. That was a one-sided beating."

And in the upper floors – eyes narrowed. Watching. Calculating.

A new shadow had entered Eden Domineer Academy. And the Thorns had drawn blood from the wrong one.

---

Step. Step.

Morca stood tall and turned without a word. His boots clicked softly on the polished floor. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Step. Step.

Each pace toward the remaining four Thorn Division members echoed like a slow-count heartbeat – drawing tighter, heavier gasps from the cadets watching.

His expression unreadable. His blade – still in hand.

’Shit, we’re f**ked,’ one of them thought.

The lady among them stepped a half-inch back subconsciously.

The four second-year cadets who once followed Wyns with arrogance were now motionless, their shoulders taut, feet sliding backward without even knowing it.

They didn’t see a first-year anymore. They saw a monster walking toward them.

Step. Step.

A silent rhythm that crushed their pride with every step.

---

Above – First Floor Staircase

Maya had just reached halfway up the second-floor staircase.

Her long green curls swayed slightly as she stopped beside the edge railing. The golden star on her shoulders glimmered beneath the shifting light.

She had watched everything: the deceitful envelope, the sneak attack.

At first, her lips pressed into a thin line.

’Underhanded. Typical of Thorns...’

But what came next – how Morca counterattacked. The eruption, the blur, the activation of his unique skill, the dominance that followed. And now the fear that followed his presence – it made her eyes narrow slightly in surprise.

’He wasn’t even trying... And the skill he used to avoid that attack just now looked weird – as if he vanished into thin air and reappeared just in time for ordinary cadets not to notice.’ Her gaze lowered toward the youth walking forward like a quiet executioner.

A smirk flickered at the corner of her lips.

---

’Damnit, I’ll just face him head-on,’ thought the one who had spoken earlier and been cut short by Morca. He was about to make his move...

And Morca was ready to take his final step to deliver the next message...

When a low, commanding voice drifted through the cafeteria like a calm wind slicing across a still lake.

"That’s enough."

Silence fell. The sound had no volume, but it halted everything.

Everyone turned instinctively.

Floating slightly above the cafeteria’s eastern corridor, an aged figure stood. Clad in gray-blue ceremonial robes embroidered with academy sigils, his sharp gaze swept the entire pavilion like a judge from an unseen tribunal.

An instructor? No... someone higher – the Pavilion Master.

His voice continued, even and controlled.

"The five of you Thorns – will be deducted 10,000 academy points for the damage and also clean the pavilion for two weeks."

His gaze slid to Morca.

"As for you – Unique Class cadet, Morca Sherman..."

He paused slightly, as if choosing his words.

"Take this as a warning. Review the Academy’s rules in your device. Fighting within the Central Zone – unless under scheduled academy events – will be punished." He paused before continuing. "However, since you acted in defense and not aggression... you will not be deducted academy points and no further punishment. But let this serve as your first and final warning."

The silence resumed again, but now it was heavier.

Finally: "If there is a next time... regardless of the trigger – punishment will follow."

The aged figure turned slowly and vanished from sight – his departure as quiet as his appearance.

---

Morca said nothing. He gave one last look to the four Thorns... then turned, and walked back toward another table – as if nothing had ever happened.