"No no no no! How?!" The youth who had been standing on top of the platform suddenly screamed frantically as he gazed at the tsunami of notifications streaming into his artifact.
And this was because of one reason:
"A member of your division has died.
Penalty: -1% of your academy points."
This same exact notification kept on popping up in front of him, and within seconds, the number entered thousands.
The youth turned to face the direction of the large wave of fire, his expression completely lost.
"How?" He muttered in disbelief, not even noticing that the platform, which was supposed to be a safe haven for him, started losing its glow.
The youth immediately turned his gaze downwards, intending on checking just who he was going to be fighting during this battle.
And his eyes almost bulged out of his socket as he saw the snow-white hair of Aurora and the other Ravensteins youths standing below.
The youth suddenly noticed another bright thing at the corner of his vision. He instantly turned and saw a gigantic mass of fire moving at supersonic speed towards him.
The youth released a deep sigh, his surprised expression morphing into acceptance.
"Looks like I drew the short end of the stick this time, huh?" The sound of the youth chuckling was immediately followed and drowned by a massive wave of fire hitting the platform, instantly engulfing the youth.
No screams were heard, only the form of the youth getting incinerated.
Aurora and the rest turned their baffled gazes towards the direction the attack had come from, their eyes landing on the figure of Atticus landing gently on the campgrounds.
An AI voice immediately sounded:
"The battle is over. And the winner of this battle is the White Omen!"
No one said anything. Not even a single celebration was heard.
They each simply kept staring at Atticus's form, their faces etched in complete disbelief.
The sounds of notifications entering each of the other artifacts filled the air, but yet, none of them even bothered to check it.
It was sure to be their individual rewards, but none of them had done anything—only 3 minutes had passed! What could they even possibly get?
The countdown timer signifying the time left before they each get transported back to their expanse appeared on their artifacts, but none of them still bothered to check, their gazes still fixed on Atticus.
Atticus swept his neutral gaze around the area, feeling slightly awkward. Although he was already used to the stares by now, he still couldn't help but feel awkward about their intense gazes.
'Especially her,' Atticus turned and locked eyes with Aurora, who was looking at him intensely. She currently had a smile on her face with her hands folded on her chest, but Atticus knew better than to trust that smile.
Atticus awkwardly chuckled, taking his gaze away from her. He clicked on his artifact, intending to check his individual reward for the battle.
And in under a second, Atticus went through all of his rewards. They were basically the same as the last ones, but this time around they were increased to a hundred thousand academy points and a building valued equal to or lower than a hundred thousand division points.
Seeing that there was nothing really new there, Atticus navigated out of that section and instantly went to the academy store. Since the battle was already over, he was able to open it.
Atticus had once again gained a staggering amount of points from the massacre he had just unleashed on the opposition.
But he, of all people, knew that keeping them was an impossibility due to the ticking time bombs he had in his division.
So instead of allowing them to go to waste, Atticus decided to go on a shopping spree.
The space inside his storage ring was very expansive, enough to contain a whole lot of junk if he so wished to purchase.
And Atticus did just that. He bought different varieties of things: potions, runes, artifacts, and even many miscellaneous items that he might not even need in his life.
After under a minute, Atticus felt satisfied with his purchases. He had emptied his points to zero, and the youths were completely free to kill themselves if they wanted now.
It might have sounded harsh, but it was the reality of things.
The countdown timer finally struck zero, and each of them closed their eyes as the terminal simultaneously let out a blinding light that shot upwards and encompassed the whole camp. And then, the camp disappeared from the middle of the forest.
Their reappearance back at the expanse was instant, which brought about the current situation with the whole of the division members being shocked.
Atticus awkwardly cleared his throat, turned, and suddenly started walking away with the gazes of the youths still fixed on him.
'It doesn't feel like I've done anything,' Atticus pondered as he walked. Although the level of destruction he had just caused was truly devastating, Atticus still felt fully energized.
After a few moments, Atticus's legs carried him to the advanced training room.
Atticus smiled. "Training it is," he muttered and approached the door, entering the training room.
The next few days went by quickly.
Atticus didn't make any fuss about the hundred youths in the camp.
He didn't even bother trying to do any investigations about who had targeted him, much to Aurora, Lucas, and the other Ravenstein's surprise.
The days went by peacefully. Atticus kept on spontaneously losing his academy points, which sometimes made him unable to afford training in the elemental room.
He had considered borrowing points from other people but after pondering about it for a while he had eventually decided against it.
Instead, he used those days to spend time with Zoey, who had been genuinely shocked about the new development. To think the training freak himself would actually skip training, it was baffling.
Atticus's demeanor didn't change even for once. One wouldn't even know that he was currently being targeted by an unknown enemy.
Atticus kept on spending time with Zoey, the both of them getting closer every day. He also occasionally spent time with Kael and Ember.
And just like that, two weeks passed.