A Storm on the Battlefield

The moment a raindrop fell and touched the ground was also the moment the battle began.

The earth seemed to experience an earthquake beneath hundreds of footsteps advancing simultaneously toward the center of the building.

Esther, after hesitating for a moment, used her Blood Magic to move her friends away from that place. But that wasn't easy at all as the army approaching continuously fired elemental Mana spheres.

She struggled to dodge and created more blood tentacles to block stray shots heading toward her group.

Afterward, Esther consumed a large amount of Mana to create a rudimentary aircraft using her Blood Magic. It didn't even need wings to fly. But in return, the aircraft base was large enough for a small group to sit on.

She would normally have had to use more of her own blood. But thanks to the drops of blood still on the ground, Esther didn't need to use all of her blood anymore.

Haruki and Katia, after recovering enough energy, tried to get up to prepare their spirits once more.

Charlotte held up her staff and began chanting. A new energy flow appeared from her. It had a light yellow tone combined with a bit of emerald green. That was Holy-type Mana, or what people simply called Holy Force.

That Mana stream contained miracles and could drive away all impurities. It was the energy that belonged exclusively to the gods. But in rare cases, when the faith of the disciples reached a certain level, the gods would acknowledge and grant them the ability to use Holy Force.

And this adorable blonde princess was one of those who received that Blessing.

The yellow-green Mana stream, when entering Haruki and Katia, immediately restored their depleted physical strength and Mana.

"Phew... A-are you two f-feeling better?" Charlotte said while panting heavily.

But of course, nothing is perfect. That divine energy was very useful for support, but it would drain the user's own strength and Mana.

"Thank you so much, Charlotte. I won't let your efforts go to waste."

Haruki's eyes, when saying those words, for a very brief moment revealed something. It was the boy's sincere love for his friend. But he quickly turned away and focused on the next developments of the battle.

As for the sweet girl's rosy face, it had already turned a deeper shade of red.

Katia, seeing what was happening in front of her, didn't understand anything at all. She quietly left the two of them and went over to Esther, who was currently both an aircraft and a pilot at the same time.

She erected a wall using her strange Mana flow in front of Esther. When the proud girl received help from her friend, she didn't say anything but remained silent and focused on controlling her special energy flow.

The test was now truly beginning.

A strange boy with short jet-black hair interspersed with some distinctive white strands characteristic of the Midnight family. He stood out prominently in the crowd with both hands still in his pockets.

He was Albert, the crazy genius from the Midnight clan, the most powerful of the five families. He stretched his hand forward and began muttering, looking quite depressed:

"Wake up... Eins."

His shadow suddenly expanded. That was the distinctive power of the Midnight family, Shadow Magic.

Magic that uses shadows, not darkness.

Shadows are the opposite of light.

While darkness is the absence of light.

And then, an entity in human form but with an unusually sharp physique appeared. That shadow held a typical Katana sword in its hand.

"Eins."

Upon hearing the cold call from its master, its body immediately emitted a strange dark blue Mana stream.

"Advance."

Boom!!!

Despite hundreds of warriors running on the battlefield, the creature named Eins rushed forward at full force, dodging each person without touching anyone.

'Its Agility stat must exceed the ordinary E-rank level!'

The shadow weaved through a vast crowd and accelerated straight to Teacher Kenzo's face.

Meanwhile, Takagi Kenzo was still in the process of analyzing the strength of all the students on the field. Suddenly, he sensed an unusually gloomy killing intent.

He lowered his head slightly.

Boom!

The aftershock from Eins' slash created a strong wind that pushed back those approaching from behind Kenzo. Right after successfully evading the attack, he looked up along with a direct kick to Eins' internal organs.

The shadow, upon receiving that devastating kick, immediately disappeared into thin air.

"Oh... this is the first time I've seen magic so similar to Dark Magic."

But it didn't stop there.

A deep red head of hair also began to charge into battle after that Eins. That girl was now the vanguard of the pawns behind her.

"Form up in Alpha formation!" She began commanding the troops so that those advancing moved into their positions. They stood together in a circle with the fleet headed by the shield users from earlier.

Next, she charged forward again, but this time straight toward Kenzo, who was standing like a statue. Holding a spear twice her height, Alice Scarlet thrust directly at his weak point.

Teacher Kenzo wasn't very surprised and just shifted to one side. Next, he pressed his golden yellow Katana sword onto the spear to suppress its user.

"You've fallen into my trap, Teacher." Unusually long white sticks with a bit of yellow in the middle suddenly sprouted from the spear. They pierced straight into his flesh.

However, the Aura around him was too much for it to penetrate. Instead, Alice switched to controlling Teacher Kenzo.

"Good effort, student Scarlet. I like how skillfully you utilize Bone Magic, your family's specialty. 200 points."

Suddenly from the empty space came a voice:

"More accurately, you've fallen into OUR trap."

Around him gradually appeared the figures of three girls.

The Azure sisters had joined the battle with Alice.

The eldest sister, Cynthia Azure, had frozen Kenzo's legs from some point without even him realizing it. Kenzo tried lifting his foot to see how solid it was. But contrary to expectations, the ice sheet gradually rose to his knees and showed no signs of stopping.

The supervising teacher had no particularly special reaction and again looked up at the two girls standing in front of him.

'But if there's no water, how can she freeze...? Ah, that's also thanks to the second sister Selene Azure, who is proficient in Water Magic.'

"So you're also using Illusion magic? Quite a complete plan. Must be from student Scarlet, huh? I'll give each of you 120 points. Including the student hiding behind students Cynthia and Selene."

From behind the two sisters appeared a girl who seemed more shy. She was Luna Azure, the girl who had squeaked when Ryoshu intimidated her earlier. She didn't have any other abilities like her two sisters. Luna could only use Illusion magic, so she was very insecure about herself.

Although the three of them were already quite strong now, they had not yet discovered the full potential of Illusion Magic, so the sisters weren't highly regarded yet. But once they could develop their abilities further, they would become true monsters.

"Oh no... I'm not giving points to BOTH of you. Only to student Luna." The supervising teacher corrected himself.

"Because the other student who's hiding hasn't done anything yet. It's student Ryan, isn't it?"

Cynthia and Selene immediately became more vigilant. They had never seen anyone see through their family's illusion layer before.

Indeed, there was still another person here who was also protected by the Azure family's illusionary magic.

A somewhat tall but also quite thin figure appeared prominently with his fiery orange-red hair, literally blazing.

That boy was Ryan Jackson.

'Why is he only appearing now?'

But he didn't seem to be quite like in the computer version. He was more quiet, reserved, and less impulsive. Ryan didn't say anything but just rushed in and punched the teacher with a fiery fist.

A straight direct punch.

A left hook aimed at the chin.

And then fast and powerful punches to the supervisor's stomach.

Nevertheless, he didn't show any expression and only channeled Lightning-type Mana into his sword. The sword emitted a yellow light beam that temporarily stunned those who saw it.

Next, he knocked Alice's spear out of her hand. The ice patches under his feet were also destroyed just by him slightly lifting his foot. Then, Ryan's mid-punch was also tightly gripped by Kenzo to the point that his hand made a horrific sound.

Crack!

"You attack vulnerable points very powerfully and without any mercy. If I hadn't activated Aura, I would hardly still be standing here. 150 points."

But most terrifying was that the Lightning-type Mana also spread to every corner of his body. Ryan didn't even have time to feel the full pain before passing out.

His body looked as if it had been completely burned. Third-degree burns appeared sporadically on his arm.

And on the side of the Azure sisters, things weren't much better. Cynthia, Selene, and Luna couldn't react at all to Teacher Kenzo's sudden uprising. So when they tried to back away to avoid him, it was already too late.

They quickly fell due to the pressure from that enormous energy flow. Aura combined with Mana had created a much more powerful type of energy.

That power wasn't simply a straightforward addition. It seemed like each wave of energy spreading out was strong enough to kill someone who couldn't withstand this heavy pressure. And his words also carried their own weight.

"Let's see if you can withstand this technique?"

It started raining harder. The raindrops falling on the battlefield also poured down more intensely.

The situation was becoming increasingly critical. Alice Scarlet was kneeling on the ground. On her fair, beautiful face, drops of water were also appearing.

She was still stunned after taking the full light beam from that sword. But Alice had not forgotten her mission. She called her pawns to fight:

"Beta formation!" As soon as the command was issued, attacks from mages and archers immediately colored the sky with hundreds of different colors. If this wasn't a battlefield, many would have mistaken it for fireworks at a summer festival.

Although the plan seemed to be going smoothly, she didn't expect that those efforts were just her futile struggles. They were just final efforts to prove that she was something important in this world.

"80 points for the surround and simultaneous attack strategy. But everything is over, student Scarlet."

And those efforts by Lady Scarlet were quickly extinguished when she saw the yellow Mana flow combined with the fighting energy called Aura.

"Sword technique Kaminari."

The red-yellow lightning began to separate from the sword.

"First sword stance."

His glasses showed a white color commonly seen in detective films. The pressure of Mana combined with Aura was so heavy that it could make all the running students kneel on the ground.

From under Kenzo's feet, a dark figure quickly appeared. It was Albert Midnight.

He had moved down into the teacher's shadow until now and was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack him.

Thwack!

The shadow knife had stabbed straight into Kenzo's stomach.

Although he had achieved his goal, Albert's face remained unchanged. He still found everything too boring.

"Is this enough to get into class A, teacher?"

His tone was as flat as squeezed lemon. However, Kenzo didn't care about the wound on his body but was focused only on executing his technique.

"Loi La Toan."

In an instant, Albert—the one who was born with everything in the world—experienced something new for the first time. That was witnessing absolute overwhelming power.

He seemed to have drifted into a crack in time.

Everything froze.

A cold, dark feeling like lying at the bottom of the deep ocean quickly penetrated his mind.

The entire space around Kenzo, in just that brief period, had undergone thousands of times what is called desertification.

Albert, Alice, Ryan, and the Azure sisters quickly vanished. And following that were hundreds of other students. Along with the building and surrounding trees, they were the last things to completely disappear.

A cyclone with yellow-red outlines appeared in the blink of an eye along with the destruction of everything else.

After the echoes of the ultimate technique faded away, a blood-soaked battlefield gradually emerged. Despair and silence coexisted in that space at that time.