The golden teleportation light faded as Professor Lydia completed the emergency extraction, safely depositing both Draekon and Lyralei into the medical wing.
Professor Marcus nodded thoughtfully, reviewing the final examination status on his tablet. "Alright, it appears all zones are nearly concluded. Well, one last situation remains unresolved."
"The awakening," Professor Gareth hummed, his frame leaning forward with genuine interest. "To think we'd witness two separate awakenings within a single hour. That's extraordinarily rare in examination history."
Professor Kazuki agreed, nodding grimly. "Yes, but unlike Lyralei's case, it seems Serina is genuinely ready to go all the way through her breakthrough. She has the mental fortitude Lyralei lacked."
Professor Vincent adjusted his mechanical augmentations, which whirred softly. "Lyralei... what a fascinating and disappointing case simultaneously. To come so close to true awakening only to be sent hurling backward in catastrophic failure. Her body and mind simply weren't synchronized."
He paused thoughtfully. "Still, this will serve as valuable experience for her future development."
Professor Marcus elaborated, his voice taking on a pedagogical tone. "Failed awakenings occur when mind, body, and soul operate out of perfect synchronization. In Lyralei's case, her body advanced too quickly, outpacing her mental processing. The mismatch caused complete systemic collapse."
Professor Kazuki nodded with understanding. "Indeed. There's a vast difference between those who've experienced even a single Chain Strike and those who haven't—a difference between day and night, like comparing a still ocean to a raging river. The cognitive gap is simply immense."
The camera zoomed dramatically onto
Zone 3: Frostwind Tundra
Serina's staff flickered with unstable magical energy, barely maintaining cohesion. Her eyes had rolled back, glowing with brilliant white-silver lightning that crackled independently from her conscious control. Her body trembled violently, caught between states of existence—neither fully conscious nor completely unconscious.
Raul sighed with visible disappointment, his mask tilted slightly. "You should experience the full sensation your body is currently undergoing. Do you understand what's happening to you?"
He paused, letting the revelation sink in. "You've just transcended from Level 3 Mana Circuit Manipulation to Level 4. You've reached a threshold that most practitioners spend their entire lives struggling toward. Most never achieve it."
His voice carried genuine respect mixed with frustration at her unconsciousness. "Come on, show me. Show me this new power you've unlocked!"
Raul sent a concentrated death aura—pure killing intent weaponized—directly at the unconscious girl.
Serina's body reacted on pure instinct, survival programming overriding her absent consciousness.
A massive bolt of lightning crackled upward, not directed at Raul's body but at the ground itself. The impact tore through inches of ice, shattering it like crystalline glass with a sound like a thousand breaking bells. The electrical discharge continued forward toward Raul with destructive force.
Raul punched it reflexively, deflecting the strike—but the next lightning bolt completely tore his left arm clean off at the shoulder, the limb flying through the air trailing blood.
He dodged backward, laughing even as his severed arm regenerated with wet crunching sounds, flesh reforming at impossible speed. "Interesting technique? Or some kind of spell?"
The lightning continued erupting from Serina's body in increasingly violent waves, the air itself ionizing and crackling with a sound like broken electrical equipment.
"No," Raul realized, his tone shifting to genuine analysis. "This is pure, unfiltered magic. Raw elemental power with no technique structure or spell formula. Just raw power amplification."
Multiple wind cutters manifested around him—Serina's chaotic magic creating secondary effects—sharp as razors, cutting through the frozen air and leaving glittering ice shards in their wake. They sliced Raul repeatedly, drawing blood from dozens of wounds.
Yet nothing seemed to truly injure him. His body continued moving, continued fighting, as if the wounds were merely inconveniences.
Then Raul adopted a defensive stance, his entire body becoming rigid and immobile. "Titan Slaying Arts: Iron Mountain Stance!"
A faint but visible orange aura surrounded him—pure physical defense amplification that made him look carved from stone itself, an unbreakable pillar that could not be moved.
"Is this truly too difficult to break through?" Raul asked, his voice carrying a note of challenge.
He closed the distance rapidly, his speed explosive—
Serina's unconscious body suddenly moved—not toward Raul, but toward herself. Her hands clenched around her own staff with desperate strength.
Raul's eyes widened. "What are you—"
Point-blank, Serina's staff detonated with catastrophic thermal overload.
"Thermal Acceleration Dynamics!"
A massive fireball erupted from the destroyed staff, releasing all accumulated magical energy in a single, uncontrolled explosion. The blast completely scorched Raul's upper body—torso, shoulders, head—leaving only smoking stumps where limbs had been.
The temperature spiked so violently that the surrounding ice melted instantly, turning to steam that obscured everything in thick fog.
Duel casting?. No... that was Thermal Acceleration Dynamics—a theory that she discovered.
Superheats magical energy until it becomes volatile matter. Advanced combat theory.
His body regenerated quickly, carefully, skin reforming and scorched hair regrowing. When he finally solidified, there was a smile on his face despite the obvious pain. "Haha... that actually came dangerously close to finishing me. Impressive."
He cracked his shoulders experimentally, testing the new flesh. "Excellent work achieving Level 4 Mana Circuit Manipulation. That's a genuine accomplishment. Now take a good rest."
Serina collapsed immediately, her body finally shutting down completely, consciousness surrendering to exhaustion.
Raul gazed at her with something approaching respect. "It's unfortunate you'll have to descend to C-Class for this examination. But talent like yours doesn't disappear. You'll advance faster than anyone—back to your proper tier before the next academic year even begins."
He gestured at the devastated landscape around them. "All of this destruction? It's merely pebbles compared to the mountain of talent you genuinely possess."
Raul's satisfied smile suddenly froze.
His entire demeanor shifted to visible anger as he turned sharply to his left, where a figure stood with deliberate casualness.
Agni stood there with his characteristic bored expression, though his dark eyes carried something dangerous now—something that hadn't been there before.
"Well," Agni said quietly, his voice carrying unusual weight, "I thought deeply about your words. And honestly? I agreed with you completely. I won't find what I'm looking for, probably never will."
He paused, his gaze fixed on Serina's collapsed form. "But I realized something else. I can't let you send her to C-Class. She's become a genuine friend—the first real friend I've made here. If her dreams get crushed over a ranking system, I'd feel terrible about it."
His voice became firmer, more resolute. "Plus, I have to confess that I lied to her about something important. I owe her for that."
He took a step forward, his posture shifting into something resembling combat readiness. "So yeah, I'm going to stop you right here."
Raul chuckled, but his laughter carried dangerous anger beneath it. "Stop me? That's..."
His expression shifted. His anger transformed into something else entirely—genuine interest mixed with excitement.
He smiled, a predatory expression that made the air itself seem colder. "Actually, I like that. Show me this passion you claim to have for a friend. Show me you're willing to fight for something beyond yourself. If you can do that... I'll let you live."
Earlier.
Agni had been lying peacefully on a thick tree branch, ostensibly trying to sleep. His eyes kept opening though, consciousness refusing to surrender despite his exhaustion.
His mind raced with thoughts of what the black-masked individual had spoken.
You wouldn't find it.
He frowned at the words echoing in his memory. The older student's contempt had been absolute, unshakeable, certain. And the worst part? Agni couldn't entirely disagree.
He eased his tense shoulders, gazing at the calm forest atmosphere surrounding him. The trees were peaceful, the wind gentle, the world harmoniously still. Yet his internal landscape felt completely hollow.
He released a deep sigh. "No one changes fundamentally in just a week. I'm no different from when I left the palace for this academy."
He closed his eyes again, trying to force sleep. "I shouldn't think so much about this. It's pointless."
But then a memory surfaced unbidden.
Serina's excited expression as she explained her research: "The highest recorded Chain Strikes occur in dancing and painting, not combat! Do you know why?"
Her grin had been radiant. "Most living creatures can't survive four consecutive Chain Strikes in combat. That's why it's such a hot research topic—because imagine the advantage! Someone capable of delivering four perfect Chain Strikes could dominate literally any opponent!"
Then she looked slightly guilty. "I do feel a bit bad that it's primarily researched for killing purposes. But then again, almost everything eventually gets used for competitive survival and warfare. That's just nature."
When we finally master Chain Strikes universally, I'm sure people will mature enough not to turn it into complete bloodbaths."
Her soft, hopeful smile had been genuine.
Agni groaned audibly. Can't sleep with that image burned into my mind...
The comfortable memory was immediately replaced by darker recollection—the black mask's final threat: "Don't come into my sight again. If you do, I'll take your head off permanently."
It's not my dream anyway, Agni thought, trying to rationalize. Even if she gets eliminated to C-Class, someone with her talent will achieve her goals regardless. She doesn't need me...
But why did his chest feel so hot? Why did it feel so familiar, like the burning sensation he'd experienced in the forest against Walton the Heir?
Then, at that moment, Agni looked up at the sky.
A massive black dragon descended through the clouds—Ashen in his draconic form, scales gleaming. He was spitting rivers of flame.
Then Raul appeared from nowhere, punching the dragon down with devastating force.
Agni's body moved on instinct. He jumped from the tree, landing hard in the snow.
"The impact nearly shattered his legs, but he ignored the pain and rushed toward the distant combat."
This hot rush... it's telling me I should go and face him.
Back to present moment.
Agni's eyes shook as he stared at Raul's smiling expression. Then his eyes widened.
The intensity radiating from the black-masked senior was suddenly, viscerally clear to his perception—a pressure that made reality itself seem thin. So intense. So overwhelming. So intoxicating.
A thick drool filled Agni's mouth without his conscious control.
His void-black eyes began sharpening with something inhuman, irises transforming into vertical slits—not two, but twenty-four distinct slits arranged in perfect geometric precision, each one glowing faintly with golden light. Together, they formed a mandala-like pattern, intricate and mesmerizing, every slit connecting seamlessly to the next.
Creating a pattern that looked more cursed than human.
"Yeah..." Agni muttered, his voice taking on a different quality—deeper, more resonant, almost hungry. "This is it. This is what I've been looking for."
The burning sensation in his chest exploded outward, spreading through his entire body like wildfire.