The tension followed him through the door.
The Obsidian Library should have felt like relief — and in a way, it did. The moment One from All and Riku stepped through the heavy stone entrance, the suffocating weight of the dining hall fell away, replaced by something older and stiller. The ceiling climbed so high it disappeared into shadow. Floating crystals cast a cold blue glow across thousands of books — not paper, but leather and thin hammered metal, built to survive the ambient magic that would have reduced ordinary pages to ash. The air smelled of dust and iron and something faintly electric, like the room itself was charged.
It was the kind of silence that felt earned. Heavy with knowledge and the memory of people who had stood in these same aisles trying to close the gap between themselves and something greater.
One from All's eyes moved the moment they walked in. Not at the books — at the spaces between the shelves. At the shadows. He could feel it even here, beneath the library's calm: the presence of other monsters, tucked into corners, pretending to read while measuring every person who walked through that door.
He kept his face neutral. He was doing the same thing.
"This place is huge," Riku whispered, his voice genuinely awed. "Not even my kingdom's palace had this many books."
"It's a place of power," One from All said quietly. "The Anym in here isn't wild. It's settled. Like a beast that's been sleeping for a very long time." He scanned the aisle markers. "Which means anyone who trained here seriously is carrying knowledge we don't have yet. Let's fix that."
Riku stopped at a shelf labeled 'Liquid Dynamics and Oceanic Force'. "I think I'll start here," he said, reaching for a thick blue book. "Maybe this can teach me how to move the water without… you know. Without drowning everyone".
One from All nodded. "I'll be in the next aisle. I'm looking for something on Void stability".
One from All moved deeper into the library. He found a section where the books were covered in dark chains. These weren't forbidden books, but they were heavy. He reached out to touch one, but before he could, a shadow moved from behind a pillar.
"Don't touch that, kid. You'll probably break your arm just trying to lift it".
The voice was deep and very rude. One from All turned around slowly. Standing there was a guy who looked a few years older than him. He was tall and had broad shoulders. He wore a dark vest over a torn shirt, and his arms were covered in scars that looked like lightning bolts.
"I can lift it just fine," One from All said. He didn't look away. He gave the older guy his sharp, teeth-only smile.
The older guy snorted. He stepped closer, and his aura was like a physical weight. It felt like standing next to a mountain that was about to fall over. "I told you on day one—don't get in my way. You 'Anomalies' think you're special because you have some flashy tricks. But this school eats people like you for breakfast".
"I'm not here to get in your way, I don't even know you" One from All said, his voice staying cold and calm. "I'm here to get stronger. If you're as strong as you look, you should be busy training, not talking to me".
The rude guy narrowed his eyes. For a second, it looked like he was going to reach for the collar of One from All's jacket. But then, a loud CRASH came from the other side of the aisle.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I promise!"
A young girl came tumbling out from behind a stack of fallen books. She looked about fifteen, with messy blonde hair and a white robe that was way too big for her. She had dropped a giant stack of books, and they were scattered all over the floor.
She scrambled to pick them up, tripping over her own feet as she did. "I was just trying to reach the top shelf, and then the ladder moved, and then my robe got caught, and—oh! Hello!"
She stopped and looked up at the rude guy and One from All. She had bright blue eyes that looked very kind, which was strange for this school.
The rude guy groaned and rubbed his temples. "Not you again, Sora. How many times are you going to knock over the library today?".
"It was only twice!" the girl, Sora, said. She stood up and brushed the dust off her robe. She looked at One from All as if she had never meet him before and her eyes went wide. "Whoa! Your hair! It's half-and-half! That's so cool! And your energy feels like... like a big empty hole! That's amazing!"
One from All blinked. No one had ever called his void energy "amazing" before. Most people just called it scary.
"I'm Sora!" she said, skipping over to him and ignoring the rude guy's angry face. "I use Saint Magic! Well, my version of it anyway. It's mostly for healing, but sometimes I accidentally blow things up with light. It's a bit of a problem. Do you want to be friends?".
One from All was taken aback. This girl was a "monster" who used Saint Magic—the kind of magic usually used by holy priests—but she was here at the International Magic School. That meant her Saint Magic was probably powerful enough to level a city.
"I don't really do 'friends'," One from All said, though he didn't use his scary voice this time.
"That's okay! I can be a friend for both of us!" Sora chirped. She turned to the rude guy. "And Kael too! Kael is my friend even though he tells me to shut up every five minutes".
The rude guy, Kael, growled. "I am not your friend, Sora. I'm your competition. Stop talking to the commoners and go back to your prayers".
"Kael is just grumpy because he can't find a book on how to be nice," Sora whispered to One from All, not very quietly.
Kael's face turned red. He looked at One from All one last time. "The test is in three days. If you survive the first hour, maybe I'll learn your name. Until then, stay out of my sight". He turned around and walked away, his heavy boots thumping against the floor.
Sora watched him go and then turned back to One from All. "He's actually very nice once you get past the part where he threatens to break your legs. So, what are you looking for? I know this library really well because I spend a lot of time hiding in here".
Riku walked around the corner then, holding his blue book. He saw Sora and immediately looked nervous. "Uhm... who is this?".
"This is Sora," One from All said. "She uses Saint Magic. Sora, this is Riku".
"Hi Riku! You smell like the ocean! That's a lot of water energy!" Sora said, leaning in close to him. Riku turned bright red and stepped back.
"We're looking for advanced Anym control," One from All said, getting back to business. "I need to know how to keep my void from expanding too fast when I'm fighting".
Sora tapped her chin with a finger. "Oh! It should be over in the Meditation Wing. It teaches you how to keep your soul quiet so your magic doesn't go crazy. I use it so I don't accidentally turn the classroom into a giant glow-stick".
She started walking, her oversized robe flapping behind her. "Follow me! I'll show you!"
One from All and Riku followed her. As they walked through the library, One from All felt the eyes of other students on them. They were a strange group.
Sora led them to a quiet corner of the library where the air was very still. She pulled a small, dusty book off a shelf. It didn't look powerful, but when One from All took it, he felt a spark of cold energy. It was perfect.
"Thanks, Sora," One from All said.
"No problem!" she said, beaming. "We have to stick together, right? Most of the people here are mean, like Kael or that Valen guy. But we're the nice one's!"
One from All looked at the book in his hand. He wasn't sure if he was "nice," but he knew he needed this girl's knowledge if he wanted to navigate the school.
They spent the next few hours sitting on the floor in that quiet corner. One from All read about how to compress his black Anym into a tiny, dense point. Riku read about how to create "Soft Water" that wouldn't crush everything it touched. Even Sora sat with them, reading a book on ancient Anym, though she kept falling asleep and dropping the book on her face.
Every time she dropped the book, a small burst of golden light would puff out from her, making the obsidian floor glow for a second. It was beautiful, but One from All could feel the heat in that light. If she ever got truly angry, she could probably burn the whole school down.
She really is a monster, he thought.
As the hours passed, One from All felt a strange sense of calm. For the first time since he got to the school, he wasn't just thinking about destroying things. He was learning. He was growing.
But he knew the calm wouldn't last. The piece of paper in his pocket—the one with the drawing of the broken world—was still there. Someone was watching him. Someone was waiting for the test in three days to kill him.
He looked over at Riku and the sleeping Sora. He realized that if he wanted to survive, he couldn't just be the strongest alone. He needed to make sure his "allies" were ready too.
"Riku," One from All said softly.
Riku looked up from his book. "Yeah?".
"When the test happens... don't hold back. If you try to save the world, you'll end up dying. Use the water. Drown whatever they put in front of you".
Riku looked scared, but then he looked at the sleeping Sora and back at One from All. He took a deep breath and nodded. "I'll try".
One from All went back to his book. He spent the rest of the night memorizing every word. He practiced moving his energy in his mind, feeling the black loop spin faster and faster until it was just a blur of darkness.
When the library crystals started to dim to show that it was late, they finally stood up. Sora woke up with a start, a little bit of drool on her chin.
"Is it time for bed?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Yeah," One from All said. "Let's go".
They walked back to the dorms together. The school was quiet and dark. The stone walls felt even heavier at night. When they reached the residential blocks, Sora waved at them.
"See you tomorrow, friends! Don't let the obsidian bedbugs bite!" she joked before tripping over a rug and disappearing into her room.
One from All and Riku went to their own doors.
"She's weird," Riku said.
"She's dangerous," One from All corrected him. "That's why she's here".
One from All went into his room and locked the door. He didn't look at the window this time. He went straight to the center of the room and sat down. He didn't use his desk lamp. He just sat in the dark.
He opened his hand, and the black void appeared instantly. It was smaller now, more compact. It didn't leak out like smoke anymore; it stayed in a tight, spinning ball. He could feel the power inside it—it was like holding a tiny, angry star made of nothingness.
He thought about Kael. The older guy was strong, and he was definitely hiding his true power. And then there was the white-haired boy, and the "other" anomaly Elara mentioned.
He had two days left.
One from All closed his eyes. He didn't feel like a student anymore. He felt like a weapon that was being sharpened. And in two days, he was going to show the whole school what a "World Destroyer" really looked like.
He stayed like that until the sun came up, the black void spinning silently in his palm, eating the shadows of the room.
End of Chapter 7