"Five hours?!" Kevin exclaimed in dismay. "I need to move! I'm hungry, tired, and—uh—nature's calling. How do I stop leaking mana?"
Eve gave him a pointed look. "You either learn to stop your mana from leaking or gain an affinity with the Space element. Considering how forceful Alex was, those are your only options."
Lisa chuckled. "Wow, that's incredible. Wouldn't the space collapse if something went wrong?"
"Normally, yes," Eve admitted, "but Alex accounted for that."
Kevin groaned. "Lisa, please help me out here! I'll do anything!"
Lisa tapped her chin in thought. "That'll only anger Alex."
Kevin quickly countered, "But if you help me, Alex will punish you, right? Think about all the things he might do to punish you." He smirked mischievously.
Lisa's face turned crimson. "Where is Alex, anyway?" she asked, changing the subject.
"He went on a quest with Luna," Kevin replied.
Lisa frowned, her annoyance evident.
"He said we'd go together." Irritated, she approached Kevin and reached out to touch him, but the Arcane Mana Barrier flared up, blocking her.
"Eve, let's show Alex how much we've grown," Lisa said with determination.
Eve fused with Lisa, and her appearance transformed.
Now in her Spirit Mode, Lisa radiated power befitting her
The quality of her energy surpassed what she could achieve normally, and in this mode, she could even rival a B+ rank.
The wind around her compressed into green energy, which she channeled into her hand as she attacked the barrier.
"Break!" she shouted, increasing her force.
The sheer force of Lisa's assault sent shockwaves rippling through the field, the very air trembling with the raw wind elements she unleashed.
The ground beneath her feet fractured violently, jagged cracks splitting outward in all directions like the web of a shattered mirror.
Chunks of earth were torn from the land, hurling skyward before crumbling into dust.
Overhead, the sky churned into a chaotic tempest.
Heavy clouds billowed forth, thick and black.
The wind howled like a wounded beast, whipping across the desolate terrain with increasing fury.
In mere seconds, a monstrous tornado coiled into existence, its spiraling form stretching toward the heavens as it devoured everything in its path.
Debris, dust, and uprooted trees were swallowed into its ferocious rotation, adding to the apocalyptic destruction Lisa had wrought.
Yet, at the eye of this storm, the barrier stood untouched.
Instead of weakening, it gleamed even brighter, its surface shimmering with an ethereal light.
The energy field pulsed with defiant brilliance, completely unyielding to the devastation around it.
"Damn it, it's not breaking!" she roared, her voice nearly lost in the maelstrom.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, exhaustion creeping into her limbs as she surveyed the wasteland she had carved into existence.
The once-stable ground was now an expanse of destruction, stretching over 200 meters in all directions—yet the barrier, the one thing she needed to destroy, remained pristine.
She swallowed hard, her heart pounding. "Just how powerful is this barrier?"
Meanwhile, on Alex's side, he observed a sprawling city in the distance.
Covering over 200 square kilometers, it was the largest city he had ever seen.
"Damn, who did Kevin annoy this time? It looks like someone's trying to kill him," Alex mused.
If not Lisa, then who?
Kevin wasn't the type to make enemies—unless someone truly rubbed him the wrong way.
"If it isn't Lisa, Kevin, you'd better run," Alex muttered, lowering his head.
"What are you mumbling about?" Luna asked, her voice coming from his shadow.
Alex chuckled. "Just ignore me for now."
[Arcane Mana: 52,378/100,000]
[(B+) Arcane Mana Barrier – Creates a barrier around the user, capable of withstanding any attack as long as the user has sufficient Arcane Mana, the consumption varying with the power of the attack.]
"It must've been someone at B rank to reduce my Arcane Mana this much," Alex thought.
Since his skill was B+ rank, attacks from lower ranks barely affected his mana reserves.
If it had been an A-rank attack, there would've been nothing left of Kevin—or the training ground