Chương 281: Chapter 279 – Into The Rift.

"It's time..."

"Mmm."

"No other Knights approached us after that..."

"Mhm..."

"It's all her fault! That snobbish blonde parasite ruined the entire afternoon!" Astrella finally exploded, tossing her travel pack onto the neat velvet sheets of her bed.

"The joint exercise starts in less than an hour, and because of that brat, everyone is going to be staring at us like we're poisonous." Gwen sat quietly at the edge of her own bed, her fingers gently tracing the smooth surface of Rusty's small helmet. The little suit of armor sat perfectly still in her lap as he listened to the two girls talk. One complained while the other remained mostly silent, seemingly accustomed to the cold shoulder she received.

"It's fine. Let's just ignore it. I'm used to being..." Before she could finish, Astrella cut her off with a heavy sigh, waving her hands dramatically through the air to emphasize her frustration.

"Don't finish that sentence, Gwen! You always give up so easily. This is the time to show those losers that you're better than them! Otherwise, they'll keep looking down on you forever. We have to make an absolute statement during this exercise." Gwen looked down at Rusty, her grip tightening slightly around his small metal frame. Through their bond, he could tell exactly what she was feeling. She did not truly want to let it go.

She was angry deep down, yet she had clearly grown accustomed to letting things like this slide.

"Don't worry, Gwen. I will protect you." He finally joined the conversation, raising his halberd toward the ceiling as he made his declaration.

"Yeah! Let's beat them all up in the rift, Rusty!" Astrella raised her fist high into the air, and her two fairies copied the gesture to mimic their master.

"Oh, can we do that? Won't someone notice?" Rusty responded immediately, completely on board with the idea. If he could kill everyone who might harm his summoner and get away with it, he would do so without a second thought. However, he also knew that if he harmed a high profile noble like Katherine Grandwell, many more problems would follow. He could not always be there to protect Gwen, so he needed to choose his battles carefully while they were here.

"Rusty, Astrella, don't joke about things like that!"

"Haha, well, we can still beat them up at least. And if it's that snobby noble girl, then maybe something like last time will happen again." Astrella shrugged as she looked at Rusty, who gave a small nod. He knew she was referring to the exam in the forest, where students trying to curry favor with House Grandwell had bullied Gwen.

"That time... Rusty saved me..." Gwen smiled faintly, and her mood began to improve as she recalled those memories. They had been dark times, but the little metallic warrior resting in her lap had changed everything.

"Now that I think about it, if it wasn't for Rusty, we might never have met." Astrella looked at Rusty and smiled even wider. Without him, Gwen would have been eliminated from the entrance exam almost immediately and likely expelled from the academy soon afterward.

"Rusty might really become your knight, Gwen, but first we need to make you into a proper noble lady!"

"Ah..." Gwen blushed slightly as she stood up from the bed. It was obvious that she wanted to prove herself.

"How can we restore Gwen's noble status?" Amid everything that had happened, Rusty finally asked the question that had been bothering him. He wanted to know about Gwen's noble heritage. He knew it was a subject she rarely spoke about, and whenever she did, it always left her looking saddened. He knew that House Rainstar had once stood on equal footing with, or even above, House Grandwell.

Then, for reasons he did not fully understand, the family had lost almost all of its prestige, lands, and influence until little remained besides its name. He also had no idea how many members of the house were still alive or whether they still possessed any land or power that could help them.

"Well, it isn't easy to explain, but if Gwen proves herself as a top-notch summoner and reaches A-Class, she will be able to attract various backers."

"Backers?" Rusty asked as Astrella began to explain.

"Yes. They could be knights like the ones we saw in the gardens, wealthy merchants, or even other noble houses looking to ally themselves with a rising star. With enough support, she could petition the Emperor to restore her family's name and lands. It is rare, but a powerful enough summoner can change the fate of an entire lineage." Gwen listened quietly as her friend spoke. At one point, Rusty looked into her eyes and noticed that she seemed anxious, yet hopeful.

The burden of carrying the future of a fallen house was heavy for someone her age, and he also knew his time with her was limited. There was another serious problem as well. Their time at the Academy would eventually come to an end. Sooner or later, Gwen would have to spread her wings and step into the outside world, where the teachers would no longer be there to protect her. Rusty understood how nobles operated and how scheming they could be.

Even if Gwen gained powerful backers, they would abandon her the moment fortune turned against her. A fallen house trying to rise again was like a wounded beast. Every predator was simply waiting to see whether it was weak enough to devour.

"You humanoids are difficult to understand... but I think I get the general idea." He nodded with his large helmet, and the two girls looked at each other and giggled. At last, it was time to leave. They gathered their belongings and stepped outside, only to find Aranea waiting just beyond their door. She was not alone. Eldric and Aldric stood beside her, along with several other youths clad in armor. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"Oh, I see you've been quite successful." Astrella glanced at the armored youths standing behind Aranea. It seemed she had managed to recruit several knight trainees to strengthen their group. Her two retainers, however, did not look pleased by the newcomers' presence, as though they feared their own positions were at risk.

"They will be useful in the rift." Aranea nodded, her gaze fixed on Rusty. He noticed her looking and immediately waved at her with his small halberd, prompting the pale lady to hide her face behind her fan.

'I wonder if I could ride her spider while in my Goliath form.' Although her interest in him was quite obvious, he paid it little mind and remained focused on the task ahead.

"Shall we go then?" Aranea asked, her voice slightly muffled behind her silky fan. The three newly recruited knight trainees behind her nodded eagerly, though their eyes kept darting nervously toward Rusty. It seemed they had witnessed him expanding his form in the garden, or perhaps the rumors had already spread through the knight dormitory. The group made their way through the stone corridors before arriving at the B1 class gathering point in one of the outer courtyards.

Syber was already there, sitting off to the side and looking bored.

"Oh, more knights are here?" Astrella commented as she noticed more people than expected. Although Aranea had attracted the largest group of knight trainees, she was not the only one drawing attention. Some trainees seemed to be standing around without any obvious summoner to follow, perhaps hoping to show off their skills and catch the eye of a noble.

"Is everyone here?" Their teacher asked as he stepped forward. He adjusted his monocle while looking over the assembled students, then nodded without waiting for an answer. The whispers quickly died away, and the group began moving toward the rift.

"Look, it's B2. I bet they're still mad they came after us." Astrella pointed at Bartholomew and the rest of B2 as they entered an even larger courtyard where all the classes had gathered, including A-Class with Katherine Grandwell.

'Even though our group has more summoners, they have more knights with them.' It was obvious which summoners the knight trainees wanted to associate with. They outnumbered Rusty's side by three to one, and most of them clustered around the academy's most prestigious student, Katherine. The blonde noblewoman did not even glance their way as they arrived. She sat on a bench surrounded by her newest followers.

'Those could become a problem if they attack, but they shouldn't be the main obstacle to my mission.' This was supposed to be a training exercise between two academies. Even if it mainly served as an excuse for knights to curry favor with summoners, it was still meant to be a simple exercise without any major incidents. Yet if events followed their usual pattern, something would go wrong the moment they entered the rift. He needed to be ready.

"Everyone stay close to each other. It's best if we don't get separated." He called out to everyone wearing the bond bands, reminding them of the plan they had discussed the night before.

"Rusty, you sure are a worrywart. Don't worry, we'll be fine. We just need to kill the most monsters and get a better score than those A-Class losers!" Astrella was as overconfident as ever, but he appreciated her ability to lift everyone's spirits with only a few words. Even Gwen found herself smiling in the presence of her greatest rival.

"Students from Mystwood Academy and Rose Knight Academy, the time has come to enter the rift." Knight Major Philibert, who had greeted them earlier, appeared to be leading the operation this time. The headmaster was no longer present, and Philibert stood at the head of a small contingent of heavily armored knights. The air in the grand courtyard shifted as everyone's attention turned to a colossal stone gate at the far end. Countless magical symbols shone across its surface, and moments later it began to open.

A tremendous concentration of magical energy poured from within, and Rusty could clearly see mana particles spilling out the moment the gate parted.

"Beyond this gate lies the rift. Remember what your teachers have instructed you, because once you step inside, the danger will become very real." The groups marched forward in formation, with the A-class at the front while the two B classes followed behind. The massive stone gate was not the rift itself, and that became obvious as soon as they crossed the threshold.

'So that's a rift?' He had previously entered a void gate, a small oval shaped tear in space. What awaited him here was far more imposing, both in size and in the sheer intensity of its mana fluctuations.

"They really built a wall around a rift…" Gwen whispered as she spotted what looked like a gate within another gate. The rift itself was rectangular and framed by massive stone pillars. It resembled a doorway that could simply be walked through, but that was only the beginning of what caught Rusty's attention. They were not inside an enclosed chamber. Instead, they stood within a heavily fortified enclosure surrounded by towering walls and five guard towers arranged in the shape of a pentagram.

The ground, paved entirely with smooth stone, was covered in intricate magical inscriptions and enchantments. As if that were not enough, every tower was manned by armored soldiers and lined with siege weapons. Rusty did not even need to ask his summoner. It was obvious that this was a containment area. Defensive enchantments covered the entire enclosure, while offensive ones were woven throughout the fortress. They were clearly designed to destroy anything that emerged from the rift.

Since it was stable and permanent, it was only natural that creatures from the other side could eventually find their way through.

'So they use these rifts to train themselves and grow stronger, just like dungeons... but these seem far more dangerous than ordinary dungeons…' He continued watching as the first group stepped through the rift, waiting in anticipation for his own turn. There was no way of knowing what awaited them on the other side, but he had already prepared himself for several possibilities.

"Stay vigilant. We don't know what might happen. It could be like last time!" Rusty reminded his companions of the dangers of another red gate incident, but Astrella was quick to dismiss his concerns.

"Stop scaring everyone, Rusty. Everything will be fine."

"I hope so. But don't worry, I'll lead the way!" At that point, every summon large enough to benefit from it returned to its original form. The rift was so enormous that even Aranea's full-sized spider could walk through with her riding on its back. One of the accompanying knights stumbled backward and landed on his backside at the sight of the giant arachnid's true form, drawing laughter from many of the other summoners. Rusty took this opportunity to assume his regular all-purpose form.

His body grew, his halberd returned to its full size, and a mid-sized kite shield appeared in his left hand. Eldric and Aldric also conjured their summons, causing a golem and several snakes to appear beside them. Within moments, the area filled with creatures, prompting the knights to whisper among themselves.

"It's a small platoon of beasts and constructs... are we really needed here?"

"I've never fought alongside monsters before. This will be a great learning experience." Some looked concerned, while others were eager to see how the frontline would hold. They had experience protecting conventional mages who cast offensive spells, but this was the first time they had fought beside summoners, whose style of combat was very different from that of a typical battle mage. As the B1 class approached the shimmering event horizon of the portal, the air seemed to warp around them.

Rusty stepped up to the rift and tested it with the tip of his halberd. Instead of meeting resistance or touching a solid surface, he felt a force drawing the weapon inward. The blade distorted and disappeared into a ripple of violet light, pulling his arm along with it. He did not resist. Stepping forward, he entered the portal first, leading Gwen and the rest of the group. The transition was instantaneous.

The secure atmosphere of the defended area vanished, replaced by a gentle breeze, something that rarely existed in enclosed spaces.

"This place looks interesting." What Rusty saw before him was a strange environment filled with a thorn-covered landscape bursting with vibrant colors. It immediately became obvious why the Knights had chosen the rose as their insignia. Rose petals drifted through the air, while perfectly trimmed hedges covered in long thorns stretched as far as the eye could see. A vast expanse unfolded before them.

When he looked up, he saw a sky filled with drifting clouds, making it feel as though he had stepped into another world entirely.