Academy 5 didn't panic.
That worried us more than alarms ever could.
Kazim confirmed it after intercepting multiple secure channels. "They've tightened everything. Armed escorts everywhere. No gaps like before."
Academy 5 handled older generations—people who had survived long enough to be considered useful, but not valuable. They weren't kept in farms or labs.
They were moved.
"Transfers to Academy 1 have already started," Kazim added. "Convoys. Heavy security."
That changed everything.
We couldn't attack the academy directly. Too many weapons. Too many trained personnel. Too much risk of casualties among the people we were trying to save.
"So we hit them in motion," Ren said.
The plan came together slowly, piece by piece.
Kazim mapped convoy routes—old highways, reinforced roads, predictable choke points where terrain forced vehicles to slow. Monisha coordinated with summoners to prepare large portals, stable enough to move groups of people and vehicles through at once.
This time, extraction wouldn't be individual.
We would take everything.
"The convoy won't stop unless it thinks it has to," Aira said. "Which means—"
"—we give them something they can't ignore," I finished.
I'd be the decoy.
Kazim didn't argue. He just adjusted the plan.
"You draw them forward," he said. "Far enough from the convoy. Once they commit, we move."
The summoners gathered in advance, working quietly, grouping themselves, stabilizing portals. No panic. No hesitation. They'd seen what happened to Academy 4.
They trusted us.
The convoy rolled in at dusk.
Armored trucks. Escort vehicles. Drones overhead. Everyone armed. Everyone alert.
I stepped out onto the road alone.
White armor. Oni mask. Axe resting against my shoulder.
They spotted me instantly.
Weapons locked. Vehicles slowed. Orders barked through comms I didn't need to hear.
Then I moved.
I struck the ground hard, cracking the road, forcing them to stop completely. When the first squad deployed, I didn't wait. I hit fast, loud, destructive—enough to confirm every fear they had about me.
It worked too well.
They diverted more guards than planned.
"That's our opening," Kazim said calmly over the channel.
The convoy hesitated.
That was the mistake.
Portals opened beneath the transport vehicles—controlled, reinforced. Trucks dropped through cleanly, engines still running, drivers shouting in shock as they vanished.
Ren and Aira hit the remaining escorts immediately, disabling vehicles without destroying them. Monisha focused on extraction, pulling people through the portals in groups, directing traffic with sharp commands.
I kept the guards busy.
I didn't need to win.
I just needed to last.
By the time they realized what was happening, half the convoy was gone.
Kazim's voice cut in. "Extraction complete. Fall back—now."
I disengaged hard, retreating into the portal as Monisha sealed it behind me.
Silence followed.
We regrouped on the other side—breathing hard, bruised, but intact.
Everyone was there.
Everyone we came for.
Academy 5 wasn't empty.
But its purpose was gone.
And Academy 1 had just lost what it was counting on next.