The profound knowledge of magic displayed by the twins was immediately classified and kept strictly within the school's walls. The highest-ranking officials began an intensive study of the scripts, realizing that the keys to refining and revolutionizing magic were finally in their hands.
By the next morning, the twins were already bored with school. They had genuinely expected their peers to be closer to their level, but they were deeply disappointed by the mediocre performance of the other students.
As they took their seats, Mr. Xenes walked in. He was their designated Class Guardian. In the academy, a Guardian is assigned to every new set of students to oversee their affairs until graduation, distinguishing them from Class Instructors like Mrs. Ariel.
"Leon and Leo," Mr. Xenes began, his voice flat. "The administration has decided to promote you both to a different class—the Elite Class—due to your exceptional test scores. Follow me." He turned to leave but stopped abruptly. "Oh... and you, Glen. You have been promoted as well."
The three of them followed him through the winding halls until they reached a classroom situated at the extreme end of the academy building. As soon as Mr. Xenes led them inside, they felt an immediate shift in the environment; the air was thick with a much higher density of mana.
Inside the classroom were seven students—four girls and three boys—all in their mid-to-late teens. They greeted the newcomers with looks of disdain, their expressions radiating a heavy superiority complex. To them, the princes and Glen were merely children playing at being mages.
Mr. Xenes signaled for the new arrivals to introduce themselves. Glen stepped forward first.
"I am Glen Rashford, and it's a pleasure to meet you all," she said calmly with a polite bow.
"Oh... and my name is Leon del Elvis, the Sixth Prince. It's a pleasure to meet you," Leon said.
"...And I'm Leo del Elvis, the Last Prince. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Leo added.
Despite their titles, the senior students remained indifferent. These were the best of the best—elite prodigies rumored to be capable of rivaling S-rank mages while still in school. Their mana reserves were immense, and they felt no need to bow to younger royalty.
Mr. Xenes sighed at the tension. "Could you all introduce yourselves as well?"
After a brief, awkward silence, the veterans spoke:
"I am Sean McCain," Sean said, his voice cold.
"I am Laura Whales," Laura muttered.
"I am Jane Freeman," Jane scoffed, looking away.
"I am Amy Rashford," Amy added (Glen's eyes flickered at the name).
"I am Freya McKarie," Freya said.
"I am Jake Freeman," Jake responded curtly.
"...And I am Damian. Damian Vinci, the Class President," the final boy said.
His voice held a unique, heavy authority. Leon and Leo narrowed their eyes slightly; Damian was clearly the strongest person in the room.
"Alright, I'll leave you all to get acquainted with each other. I'll be back in an hour," Mr. Xenes said, departing the room and leaving the twins and Glen to take their seats in a heavy, awkward silence.
Suddenly, Damian stood up and walked toward the princes. His face was a mask of cold indifference, devoid of any smile or joy.
"Princes, huh? I hope you are as strong as they say," he began, his voice dropping an octave. "The oldest prince, Prince Marcel, was once the Class President. I hope you don't disgrace his efforts or stain the royal family name."
Rather than being intimidated by the President's authoritative tone, the twins felt a surge of genuine excitement. They had finally encountered worthy opponents; for the first time, being at school actually made sense to them.
"I'll try not to disappoint you," Leo said with a smirk.
"I'll give it my best," Leon added, his eyes sharpening.
Damian sighed in disdain and walked away. Meanwhile, a different kind of tension was brewing across the room. Amy and Glen stared each other down; they were step-siblings from the House of Rashford, and as the offspring of rival wives, they were sworn enemies.
Soon, Mr. Xenes returned to the classroom, and it was time for the main event. Every year, a new Class President is elected, and by tradition, the strongest student holds the title. Prince Marcel had held the presidency for four consecutive years during his seven-year tenure.
Since his graduation, Damian had served as the Acting Class President, as he had been the second strongest at the time.
With the new arrivals, the academy was ready for a fresh election. Mr. Xenes unfurled a scroll containing the official pairings for the tournament.
"For the first match: Laura will challenge Freya; Jane will challenge Damian; Amy will challenge Glen; Jake will challenge Leo; and lastly, Sean will challenge Leon," Mr. Xenes concluded. "The battles begin in one hour. You all know the rules: the winner of each round is promoted to the next. The showdown of the Elite begins now."
Among the elite prodigies of the class, Damian reigned at the top, followed closely by Amy. While she had managed to defeat him in a few previous encounters, Damian had almost always emerged as the victor.
Soon, Mr. Xenes walked back in with his signature calm demeanor. "Alright," he announced. "The battle begins now!"
He clapped his eyes together, and suddenly, reality shifted. Without chanting a single syllable, he drew everyone into a pocket dimension with a single clap of his hands. Glen was amazed; it was the first time she had ever witnessed the creation of a pocket dimension. The rest of the class, however, seemed unimpressed; they were used to this, as every election was held within this private realm to prevent the destruction of the academy.
The first fight was Laura vs. Freya. They both stepped forward into the center of the arena while the others watched from the sidelines, their auras clashing with intense pressure. Each fight was strictly timed for ten minutes; when the clock ran out, the student who had sustained the least amount of damage would be declared the winner.
"Begin!" Mr. Xenes signaled.
Laura struck first. She lifted her hands high and muttered, "Burn bright: Fireballs!" Six gigantic spheres of flame materialized above her head, which she immediately launched at her opponent.
Freya countered instantly with her own spell: "Moon Spike: Piercing Blast." Condensed streams of water shot forward, colliding with the fireballs and turning the arena into a thick cloud of steam. Sensing an opening, Laura sprinted through the mist to close the gap for a physical strike. However, halfway through her charge, she felt an intense, crushing pull toward the earth.
"Gravity," Freya muttered.
Laura was pinned ruthlessly to the ground. As Freya walked slowly toward her to finish the match, a sudden crack of lightning filled the air. A thunderbolt—a trap Laura had set earlier—struck Freya from behind. She collapsed in pain, paralyzed and unable to move. With both combatants conscious but immobilized, the timer ran out, and the fight ended in a tie.
The next round featured Jane and Damian. They both stepped forward into the center of the pocket dimension, waiting for the signal with bated breath.
"Begin!" Mr. Xenes muttered.
Immediately, Jane cast a double-layered shield around herself. Among the elite, Damian was known as the most ruthless combatant; everyone knew he favored opening his matches with devastating surprise attacks and long-range bombardment, though his close-quarters combat was equally terrifying.
Just as Jane stabilized her defenses, a barrage of lightning struck her position, but her shields held firm against the electrical onslaught.
"Nice. You know me too well," Damian said with a cold smirk. He stretched his hand toward her, his voice dropping into a rhythmic chant: "Eternal flames, disaster untamed, hear my call: Ravaging Flames."
A small, bead-like ball of pure crimson manifested at his fingertips and launched toward her. Panicked, Jane immediately layered eight more barriers, overlapping them in a dense honeycomb pattern. No... even this won't be enough, she thought desperately.
The moment the red bead touched the first layer, the result was a catastrophe. The ensuing explosion felt like an atomic bomb detonating within the dimension. Even Damian had to shield himself from the backwash of his own power, while Mr. Xenes quickly reinforced a barrier to protect the other students watching from the sidelines.
However, Jane was no longer at the point of impact. She had used the flash of the explosion to teleport above Damian. "Gravity times a hundred!" she screamed.
The sudden localized force shattered Damian's passive shield, but before the gravity could pin him to the earth, he vanished, leaving only a flickering afterimage. He reappeared instantly in the blind spot above Jane, delivering an intense kick from behind that launched her toward the arena floor.
Jane crashed into the ground, but she was a veteran of the elite class for a reason. She immediately countered with a powerful fire blast from a prone position. Before it could reach Damian, he met it mid-air with a fire blast of his own. The collision of identical elements sent a violent shockwave through the air. Suddenly, Damian's mana pressure surged, forcing Jane's flames backward.
With a final burst of authority, his attack overpowered hers completely.
The single, overwhelming move brought the battle to an end as Jane was knocked unconscious by the blunt force of the blast. Damian was declared the winner, and the arena reset for the next match.
The princes were genuinely impressed by the battle; they could clearly see that Damian hadn't gone all out yet. They exchanged a knowing smile, finally convinced that they had found a worthy opponent in this academy.
Now, it was time for the sibling rivalry to reach its boiling point. Amy stepped forward with practiced grace and arrogance, while Glen followed with a calm, stoic resolve. Under her breath, in a tone so low only she could hear, Glen whispered, "I won't lose... no matter the cost."
The two sisters locked eyes for a long, silent moment before Mr. Xenes muttered the command:
"Begin!"
In a blur of motion, Amy vanished and reappeared instantly behind Glen, throwing a devastating punch. Glen reacted immediately, casting a three-layered shield to defend herself. However, Amy's physical strength was monstrous; the impact shattered the first two layers and left the final one spiderwebbed with deep cracks.
Before Amy could land a second strike, Glen whispered, "Open." A portal tore open beneath Amy's feet, the suddenness of the maneuver catching her off guard and sending her plummeting through.
As Amy fell through the exit portal, Glen teleported high above her. She pointed one hand downward, supporting her wrist with the other to stabilize her mana. "Burn! Dragon's Breath!"
A tiny, hyper-condensed yellow sphere manifested in Glen's palm and hurtled toward the falling Amy. It looked like a miniature nuke being dropped from the heavens. The resulting explosion was immense, shaking the very foundations of the pocket dimension. Glen levitated in the air, waiting for the thick smoke to clear, hoping the strike had been enough to incapacitate her sister.
Suddenly, a blur of motion cut through the debris. Amy appeared at Glen's side, driving a brutal kick straight into her gut.
"Do you really think that was enough to stop me?" Amy smirked. As blood trickled from the corner of Glen's mouth, Amy sent her crashing into the arena floor with a 360-degree roundhouse kick.
Amy descended upon her like a predator, punching Glen further into the dirt. Each blow was so powerful it carved a fresh crater into the ground. "I don't even need magic to defeat you!" Amy laughed, her expression turning maniacal. Even when Glen managed to manifest a shield mid-punch, Amy's raw physical force shattered the barrier and still connected with its target.
Finally, Mr. Xenes blew the whistle to signal the end of the ten-minute round. Amy was declared the winner, leaving a battered Glen behind.
The atmosphere in the room shifted as it was time for the main event: the princes' turn. Jake stepped out proudly; his twin sister, Jane, had lost to Damian, but that was expected. He was determined to redeem the Freeman name.
Leo followed, walking toward Jake with a calm, eager smile. He was finally going to engage in an actual, sanctioned battle.
It's time to see if these princes are like their brother Marcel, or if they're just a bunch of excuses, Damian thought, his eyes narrowed.
Don't disappoint me, kid. I want to fight one of you next. I've heard enough about the 'Disaster Princes' and I need a taste of those rumors, Amy thought, a sinister smile playing on her lips.
The air grew thick with tension as the two combatants faced off, waiting for the signal. Mr. Xenes took a deep breath and shouted:
"BEGIN!"