Transmigrated as the Cuck.... WTF!!!-Chapter 167. Global Crisis

After returning to my dorm the previous night, I had managed to snag some decent sleep. But apparently, peace never lasted long.

At the break of dawn, I was rudely shaken awake by none other than Art. The bastard was practically vibrating with urgency as he yelled in my face, "Get up, Cassius! Miss Celia called for everyone—like everyone everyone. It’s serious."

Still groggy and cursing the universe, I dragged myself out of bed, threw on my uniform half-properly, and made my way outside. That’s how I found myself standing in the central plaza, surrounded by my entire class, bleary-eyed and confused. The air was oddly heavy, and Miss Celia stood before us with a face more serious than I’d ever seen.

She cleared her throat, arms folded neatly behind her back, her gaze sweeping over us.

"Students," she began, her voice echoing through the plaza, "I’ve summoned you here because I require your assistance."

Her tone was formal, calm, but sharp enough to pierce through the morning haze clouding most of our minds.

"The reason I’ve called upon you," she continued, "is... dire. Yesterday, many of you may have sensed an unnatural shift—a wrongness in the air. That wasn’t paranoia or stress. It was very real."

That immediately got everyone’s attention.

The murmur that erupted was exactly what I expected—panicked, confused voices rising all at once. I could already feel a headache forming.

Miss Celia didn’t wait for the murmurs to settle. "All over Cronica, spatial rifts have begun to emerge. From those rifts, monstrous entities are spilling into our world. Horrific creatures... abominations. We’re calling them the Spawns of Vorr’Kael."

A collective gasp surged through the crowd like synchronized breathing.

Of course. Give a monster a terrifying name and people immediately panic more than they should.

Celia didn’t flinch. She likely expected this. "We don’t know the origin yet—no one does. But one thing is certain: every continent is under attack. No region has been spared, not even our beloved Rose Academy. These rifts are not selective, and neither are the horrors that come through them."

Silence fell like a blanket over the crowd. Thick. Suffocating.

Then she dropped the bomb. "That’s why I’m asking you, the students, to lend us your strength. In this global crisis, we need every capable individual. As the next generation of warriors—you are no longer children hiding behind walls. You’re the frontline."

There was a brief pause. Some students looked uncertain. Others whispered amongst themselves, their expressions betraying fear and confusion. A few looked ready to volunteer then and there.

And then, because this world loves me so dearly, Verena decided it was time to talk.

She stood up from where she was clinging to Mia—again—and raised her voice. "Miss Celia, with all due respect, why are we being asked to fight? Shouldn’t the noble houses, the military, or the academy’s instructors handle this? Isn’t it reckless to send students into a war?"

Ah, there it was—the spark of rebellion, the fear disguised as reason. The crowd immediately shifted in her favor. Heads nodded, voices echoed. Suddenly, Verena was the voice of every coward here.

I stifled a sigh. It wasn’t even a dumb question—just a painfully obvious one. Of course, the noble houses and the top-ranked monsters in human skin were helping. But the scale of the invasion made it impossible to cover every inch of the world. Someone had to handle the "small fry," and unfortunately, that job fell to us.

Celia, to her credit, didn’t lash out. She just smiled.

"That’s a perfectly valid concern," she replied. "But let me explain. The elite forces—noble families, regional guards, military, even mercenary guilds—are all engaged. The rifts are appearing everywhere at once. Major cities, borders, even remote villages. We’re spread thin. Which is why you are being asked to handle the lower-ranked monsters. Not because we want to put you in danger... but because we have no other choice."

Her words hit hard. Brutally honest. She wasn’t sugarcoating the situation.

Silence again. This time, it wasn’t the awkward, fidgety kind. It was a silence of reluctant understanding.

I scratched the back of my head, breaking the quiet. "Miss Celia," I said, "when exactly are we being deployed?"

She met my gaze—calm, collected—and answered without hesitation.

"Now."

I blinked a few times, just to make sure I heard her right.

Miss Celia noticed the collective disbelief etched onto our faces and offered some clarification, her tone firm but weary. "There’s no time to delay. We need assistance now. Reinforcements are stretched thin, and it won’t be long before the rifts breach the academy’s interior again. The one that appeared within our grounds has already been neutralized but several outside the perimeter remain open, spewing creatures nonstop."

That silenced whatever thoughts we had.

Zyon took a hesitant step forward, raising his hand slightly like a student in an ordinary classroom. "Miss Celia... how exactly are we supposed to handle this? Like... do we kill everything around the rift and hope it closes? And, uh... are we all going together or—?"

Celia shook her head. "Unfortunately not. You’ll be split into teams and assigned different sectors around the outer perimeter. As for the rifts—yes, your objective will be to eliminate every creature that emerges. Once you succeed, the rift will close on its own."

Zyon gave a stiff nod and quietly returned to the group.

Miss Celia’s eyes scanned across the gathered students, measuring their readiness. Her lips tightened. "If there are no further questions, I’ll begin announcing the teams."

Silence. No one dared to protest.

"Good," she nodded. "Then for the first team..."

Names began to fall one after the other. It felt like a roll call for battle.

"Zyon, Otto, Hartman, and... Lilith."

My head turned instinctively, drawn toward the name. Lilith stood tall, calm as ever. There were no visible injuries on her. She looked as poised as she always did—no doubt she had recovered quickly, just like Celeste, who was also present.

Next, Celia announced, "Art, Ben, Janle, and Celeste."

Then, "Leon, Amelia, Evelyn, and Nick."

And finally—

"Cassius, Verena, Mia... and Kaelira."

My head snapped so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.

I glared at Celia, silently demanding answers.

Unbothered by my glare, she cleared her throat and said with a warm smile, "The final name isn’t one of your classmates, but a volunteer who offered her help during this emergency. A great individual, if I must say. Her bravery is something you should all look up to."

Bravery? My ass.

Knowing Kaelira, she definitely asked for something in return—admission to Rose Academy, citizenship in Alaris, maybe even exemption from criminal charges. The list could go on. But honestly, I wasn’t complaining too much. Having her in my group was infinitely better than having Verena in it alone.

Still, the team assignments were garbage. Out of everyone, why the hell was Verena with me? There was no doubt in my mind: this was personal. Celia had to be doing this just to smite me.

As I glared daggers at her, Kaelira suddenly appeared beside me, her sudden proximity catching me completely off guard. She’d closed the distance so quietly, I hadn’t even sensed her.

I tilted my head, surprised. Fast. Maybe her elemental affinity was speed?

With a sly smirk, she raised an eyebrow and teased, "Surprised? Bet you didn’t see that coming."

I chuckled, shaking my head with exaggerated resignation. "Didn’t expect you to have such a noble heart and knack for public service, Kael. Really warms my cold, dead heart."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, it surprised me too. But hey, isn’t this a good thing? We get to be a team again."

I tilted my head, curious. "I guess so... What’s my reward this time?"

Her expression shifted immediately—raised brow, narrowed eyes, the classic ’seriously, bitch?’ look. I threw up my hands in mock surrender before she could say anything too scathing.

"Okay, okay, I’ll behave," I said. "Let’s just ask Celia where we’re headed and meet the rest of our team first."

She nodded, ready to follow me. But I didn’t even take a full step before I felt the temperature around me drop slightly.

Mia was suddenly inches away, standing right in front of me like she’d teleported.

Her gaze wasn’t on me, though. It was fixed on Kaelira with the intensity of a hawk watching a snake slither too close to her nest. Her eyes flicked between the two of us, sharp and unreadable.

Then, without blinking, she asked, "Who is she?"

Her voice was neutral. Too neutral.

"You two seem... familiar."

Kaelira blinked once, then turned to me, unimpressed. "And who is this little gremlin? She seems... jealous."

I shook my head, then gestured toward Mia. "She is not ’jealous’ she is cautious. And by the way she is my sister. Mia... Mia Lancaster."

Kaelira apparently wasn’t buying it. "She doesn’t look like you... Who did she take after your father or mother?"

I chuckled, self deprecatingly. "No one..."

She just stared at me... With very questioning eyes. freёnovelkiss-com

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