The building housing the final terminal for the day was an underground parking garage. Even from the entrance ramp, Croy could already hear the sounds of crashes and explosions echoing up from below.
Whoever was down there, the battle was already in full swing.
Moving as casually as possible, Croy walked down the ramp. The parking level stretched out before him — a seemingly empty underground space, save for the minimum twenty students locked in an intense, merciless clash.
The terminal sat in the center of the chaos, and Croy quickly recognized who was defending it.
A hopeful young student tried to approach the terminal's defender, only to be struck down by a whip cracking through the air like a thunderbolt.
Hadn't Inera mentioned she knew some basic whip techniques? This looked far beyond the fundamentals. She moved like a dancer, her motions smooth and controlled, each crack of the whip activating yet another automatic barrier.
Croy also noticed that her whip was anything but ordinary. Inera had activated one of the Spellrunes embedded in it. Each time the whip sliced through the air, it let out a fierce howl, and even when the tip missed an opponent, it looked as if an invisible force was launched from the air itself.
So, Inera had mastered her weapon before him. Croy clenched his teeth.
Around Inera stood one of her teammates. He recognized her immediately.
Emma faced two students alone, her gaze steely and fierce, an unexpected intensity in her expression.
Croy frowned. She didn't look nervous or shy at all; in fact, she seemed almost furious.
In her hand, she held something resembling a modern police riot shield, though it was solid steel and inscribed with multiple runes. Two of them glowed blood-red.
Meaning she could already activate two spells on her weapon simultaneously.
Croy suddenly understood why he always felt uneasy when Emma looked him in the eye.
Her mana was dark, blood-red — the deepest frequency a human's mana could take. It was on the opposite end of the spectrum from his own violet-black mana. This was a more intense mana than even the rebel who had self-destructed when Croy left the military.
Emma was a living bomb.
The two students opposite her attacked. One moved in quickly, a sword in hand, aiming for her flank, while the other launched an elemental spell.
Croy watched Emma's response. The two activated runes on her shield erupted in a vortex of red mana, casting a blood-red aura around her. Croy could feel the power of her mana on his skin, even from a distance.
Suddenly, Emma let out a furious battlecry, making Croy flinch in surprise.
'Is this the same girl who could barely look me in the eye?'
What happened next, Croy barely understood. The spell bounced harmlessly off her shield, while the advancing student collided with an impenetrable wall of blood-red mana.
"I'll kill you!" Emma screamed, a demonic fury in her voice. She spun her shield and struck the student with brutal force.
Before the shield even made contact, her vortex of mana alone triggered the automatic barrier of her shocked opponent — and shattered it. The shield slammed into his face, sending him skidding across the floor until he lay still. Croy could see blood dripping down his forehead.
'What's gotten into her?'
He didn't understand what was happening. The once-timid girl had turned into a true demon, a raging beast incapable of controlling her wrath.
Emma stood amidst a dense aura of blood-red mana, her face twisted with anger. But that wasn't all, Croy realized. She was exhausted. Beneath her inexplicable rage, he could see the weariness from the day's events in her posture.
And yet her mana still stormed around her as if she hadn't expended any of it.
"Emma!" Inera's voice echoed through the chaos in the garage.
But amid the turmoil, Emma didn't even hear her. Ignoring her teammate, she charged at her remaining opponent.
The legs of the student facing her visibly shook with fear. Croy couldn't blame him; Emma had lost control, and at this rate, she could seriously hurt someone.
Three more spells hit her out of nowhere, but they were repelled harmlessly by her mana.
"Emma, stop! You don't know what you're—"
But Inera's desperate plea was cut off as a new opponent appeared before her, diverting her attention.
Other students had begun noticing the raging demon in their midst, their own battles pausing as they stared at Emma in shock.
Was this the work of her mana?
If so, she was a fool to push it this far. These students weren't her real enemies. She couldn't just go around killing them.
Croy couldn't let this continue.
He raised his hand, and violet mana began to gather at his fingertips, forming into a small but dangerous bullet.
'Can I even penetrate this wall of mana?'
With enough density and rotation, maybe. He concentrated, focusing more mana into the bullet, causing it to twist outward from the core.
Sweat dripped from his brow as he aimed at Emma. If he lost focus for even a second, the spell might just explode in his face.
Faster and faster, the bullet spun. More and more strands of mana interlocked until it was no longer a simple orb of mana, but a solid, violet mass rotating thousands of times per second.
Only his Mana Bullet Spell could be manipulated by him with such precision and finesse.
If Emma wielded raw power through her blood-red mana, then Croy would counter her with the precision and delicacy of his own frequency.
He could only hope this wouldn't kill her.
"Mana Bullet"
"Wait, no!"
The voice beside him came just a moment too late.
The Mana Bullet shot forward, too fast for Croy's eyes to follow. All he saw was Emma's barrier of blood-red mana shattering in a single point, sending her hurtling backward like a ragdoll before she crashed hard into one of the parking garage pillars.
Her eyes held a look of shock for a split second before the rest of her mana dissolved, and her head slumped forward.
Croy's breath came ragged.
'What a monster.'
That had probably been one of the strongest Mana Bullets he'd ever launched. It would have shattered any other barrier spell and kept going, piercing whoever was dumb enough to take a direct hit.
But Emma's wall of pure blood-red mana was something else entirely. It hadn't even been a proper Barrier Spell, just the raw quantity and power of her released mana.
Though it broke, the Bullet still hadn't managed to penetrate her automatic barrier, which had flared to life just in time to cushion her from fatal impact. The sheer momentum of the Bullet had knocked her out cold, but Croy had even made a conscious effort to aim somewhere non-lethal.
He'd learned from his blunder with Inera on the first day.
But he needn't have worried. Emma's mana was like a storm unto itself.
Lowering his arm, he turned to the voice he'd heard a moment ago.
Princess Kadutor, Emma's friend, stared in shock at her unconscious friend on the other side of the garage.
"You… you broke through her mana?" she stammered, disbelief clear on her face.
Croy didn't answer. Many of the students had stopped fighting when Emma went berserk, and now their shocked gazes slowly turned to him as well.
"She's only unconscious, don't worry!" Croy called out quickly, hoping to defuse the tension.
Then he turned to Princess Kadutor, scratching the back of his head.
"Uh, sorry about your friend… she looked like she was about to tear everyone apart."
Princess Kadutor was silent for a moment, before she gathered herself.
"No… no, it's better this way. I was going to tell you it wouldn't work, but… how did you…" she trailed off, as though struggling to find the right words.
Then, shaking her head, she glanced at the terminal with a grimace.
Croy raised an eyebrow. Right. They were still in the middle of a competition.
'Is she going to attack me?' he wondered, bracing himself.
Princess Kadutor noticed the shift in his posture and scowled at him.
"What do you take me for? I'm just checking on my friend, leave me alone."
She hurried over to the unconscious Emma. For a moment, everyone stood still, though the other students continued to watch Croy, expressions wary and uncertain.
'So much for staying under the radar.'
He waved awkwardly at the crowd.
"Hello, everyone! By the way, the terminal timer's still ticking!"
A second passed in silence, then realization hit, and the battle resumed in full force.
Croy nodded in satisfaction.
'Much better… wait, why are you all attacking me?'
He dodged a spell and ducked behind a pillar. The student hadn't targeted him deliberately; it was just that, with so many spellcasters as opponents, order had long been thrown out the window.
Croy kept his distance, analyzing the chaos as best he could. Inera was still defending the terminal, but now she was on her own. It was only a matter of time before a stray spell caught her off guard, or sheer numbers overwhelmed her.
Croy somehow didn't want that to happen. If someone were to beat Inera, it had to be him.
Time to thin the herd.
Peeking around the pillar, he spotted three students locked in a free-for-all just a few feet away.
He took out the first one with a well-placed Electric Orb. The second student was taken down by the third, who then quickly suffered the same fate as the first, bewildered as he was by his sudden victory.
This continued, with Croy staying on the fringes, only intervening when he was unnoticed or sure of his target. Once, he was spotted, but he swiftly dealt with the unprepared girl.
One by one, students dropped like flies, some unconscious, others beaten and scurrying away from the mayhem.
Professor Tass certainly had strange tastes when it came to organizing exams, Croy mused.
And then, after what felt both like ages and at the same time, mere moments, he downed a student just as he caught sight of Inera doing the same with two others.
Suddenly, silence fell over the garage, broken only by the pained groans of a few students whose barriers hadn't quite absorbed everything.
Inera met his gaze and flashed him a cheeky grin. Croy waved back.
"Looks like it's just us two?"
"Not quite," Croy replied, nodding to a figure in the corner.
Emma's unconscious body was being carried out by an Academy staff member. They had already been discreetly moving among the students, retrieving the injured and unconscious. With Emma in safe hands, Princess Kadutor stood up as well, miraculously unharmed.
Then again, perhaps she hadn't been. Maybe anyone who tried had quickly learned they didn't stand a chance.
She still bore that serious, self-assured expression. First, she looked at Inera, then at Croy.
The three eyed each other warily, no one making a sudden move.
Inera held her whip.
Croy gripped his Spellsword.
And for the first time, he saw the royal sensor's weapon — a pair of elegant black daggers.
Likely, like the Spellweapons of the imperial twins, these daggers were no doubt powerful artifacts, gifts from her father or another high source.
But every second they waited, time slipped away. His smartwatch showed him that Inera only needed to hold the terminal for about three more minutes to claim the point. Then, the physical battle's outcome would no longer matter.
Croy turned slightly toward Inera. She narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together.
Princess Kadutor seemed to agree, observing Croy's stance before following suit.
Inera was visibly unnerved, forcing a strained smile.
"Two against one? How devious of you. What would Fredrik think?"
Croy grinned, gripping his sword with both hands.
"Fredrik the Mighty wouldn't care what you think."
Inera rolled her eyes.
"The Mighty? Please tell me he didn't come up with that himself."
Croy chuckled, then turned serious again.
"Enough talk. Let's finish this."
But before he could move, footsteps echoed down the ramp to the garage, followed by a voice he'd hoped never to hear speaking to him again.
"Exactly. Let's end this, Belmont."
Lord Jradan stood at the entrance, his mighty Spellspear in hand. Opposite him was Princess Kadutor, with Inera Clayford still in the middle near the terminal.
Croy shook his head. And smiled.
'What a mess.'