It was fast... way too fast... But Seliah could feel everything in that short span of time.

  The boy had been slammed against Drevan’s barrier, completely cornered. She dashed in with a straight thrust, ready to end the fight by stabbing his heart. There was nowhere for him to run.

  Based on her calculations, that repulsion barrier of his would only return after exactly one second... but she’d need less than 0.05 seconds to pierce the skin, and around 0.3 seconds to reach his heart.

  More than enough time to finish it before that defense kicked in again.

  ‘It’s over...’

  First the skin was pierced...

  ......THSSK...

  But then...

  "...."

  ‘...Absolute Rejection...’

  The moment Kaen’s skin was pierced, something invisible tore through the air. A silent wave rippled through the space around him. The world seemed to freeze for both of them. Everything moved in slow motion.

  Seliah felt it first—her blade trembled violently, almost like it was screaming. The pressure surged from the blade to the hilt, then climbed her arm like a sharp, icy shiver that stabbed deep into her flesh and bones.

  The impact came before the sound.

  Her body was yanked backward with brutal force, like an invisible wall had formed and thrown her with zero mercy.

  Only then, a second later, came the sound.

  BWHOOOM!!!...

  The vector explosion blasted the area. The pressure tore through the ground, nearby trees shook, and leaves were launched like a sudden storm had exploded into existence.

  Seliah was literally thrown. Her body spun uncontrollably through the air like a ragdoll caught in a violent gust. She slammed into the ground several meters away with a dry thud and rolled a bit more before finally stopping.

  "...~NGHHK!"

  As Seliah coughed and started to get up, Kaen didn’t waste a second.

  He quickly channeled energy into his right hand. A distorted sphere of vector force began to form, like the air itself was being squeezed.

  "VOOOM..."

  He launched the attack at Seliah without hesitation.

  Drevan, seeing Seliah still vulnerable, clenched his teeth. With a snap, the magic barrier behind Kaen vanished.

  In the same instant, he raised a new barrier in front of Seliah. The sphere hit it hard, sending cracks all over the magical structure, but not fully breaking it.

  At that moment, Kaen focused energy into his feet. His eyes locked onto a point above the trees.

  THOOM!

  The repulsion blast under his feet launched him into the air with force. Not high enough to vanish into the sky, but enough to break through the tree canopy and disappear from view for a few seconds.

  Drevan froze for a moment, watching the boy vanish.

  "That bastard can jump that far??"

  Seliah got up angrily, brushing dust from her face and clothes.

  "ARGH!! What an annoying little brat...!"

  She kicked a nearby stone, sending it ricocheting off a tree.

  ‘What the hell kind of magic is that?!’

  "Seliah, should we go after him?"

  She took a deep breath, and the rage on her face slowly faded, like it had never been there.

  "Haaah... Let him go. We need to fall back."

  "But what about Half-Mask?"

  "Tsk... nothing we can do now. That damn academy probably already sent magic knights into the forest... Let’s retreat. He’ll get the message."

  She turned and started walking toward the direction Velkro had been thrown.

  "Let’s just grab Velkro and get out..."

  "...Alright!"

  ‘Next time we run into that kid... I really am going to kill him...’

  ===

  Elena sighed as she looked around, restless. Like she was searching for something... or someone.

  Her sharp gaze, the way she held her head up... she looked like a sentinel waiting for a silent return.

  "You okay, Elena?"

  "~Hmn??"

  Rayden walked over with a bottle of juice in his hands, offering one to Elena.

  "Huh, yeah... I was just distracted."

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  In truth, she just wanted to make sure Yenne’s group would return safely. Otherwise, her entire plan would’ve failed.

  She knew the first major issue in the magical world would begin with Yenne’s capture. The Magic Tower would have to abandon entire research lines to try and save her...

  Rayden frowned slightly, his voice still calm:

  "You sure? You’ve been kinda... tense since that mage vanished."

  "I said it’s nothing!"

  "Alright..."

  She still wasn’t comfortable with Rayden constantly trying to be nice to her. Of course, it was admirable, the kind of thing you'd expect from a noble of a great family. But it wasn’t the kind of attention she was looking for.

  ‘Well... at least he brought me a drink...’

  She thought that, if it were Kaen, he probably would’ve asked her to buy the drinks and bring some snacks too.

  She finally opened the bottle and took a sip.

  "..."

  "This is awful..."

  "Sorry... I thought you’d like it..."

  **

  She was sitting on the ground, leaning against a stone wall. The dust from the battle had already settled. The dark mages had retreated some time ago, and the Veyhart knights were combing the area, searching for traces or traps left behind. Some had spread out into the forest, looking for any injured or missing students.

  ‘Let’s just wait...’

  "......."

  That’s when an excited voice broke through the air.

  "ELENA... hey... ELENA!"

  "Haaah..."

  Elena let out a long sigh.

  ‘...Is she seriously treating this like some kind of game?’

  Lyra came running, waving enthusiastically as she called out.

  She finally got closer.

  "Some professors came with them too—"

  "The professors?!"

  "Yeah! Aeryn said she’s gonna kill every dark mage she finds!"

  She spun dramatically and struck a pose, pointing to the sky.

  "Like this! 'YOU THERE, YOU’RE DEAD!' BAM!"

  Elena put a hand to her face, clearly embarrassed, but couldn’t hold back a muffled laugh.

  "...You’re a noble’s worst nightmare..."

  "~Huh?.. What do you mean?"

  "Well, if it’s Aeryn, that actually doesn’t sound impossible."

  Elena was still quietly laughing at Lyra’s little act. But then, something in the distance caught her attention. Her eyes widened suddenly, the smile disappearing in an instant.

  Marco and Yenne were arriving.

  She stood up immediately, quickly walking toward them, her eyes locked on the two, trying to figure out the situation before anyone said a word.

  ‘They just got here??... Only the two of them?’

  Both were out of breath, their clothes torn and dusty. They looked like they had just escaped a fight.

  Marco and Yenne only noticed her when she was close enough to speak.

  "...Hey! Where’s Kaen?"

  Yenne slowly lifted her head at the voice. Her gaze met Elena’s for a brief second before turning away, clearly uncomfortable.

  She clicked her tongue, annoyed.

  "Tch... that idiot..."

  Marco took a deep breath and stepped forward.

  "We ended up getting surrounded by dark mages. Kaen stayed behind to hold them off."

  "What?! Alone?! Is he insane?"

  Lyra jumped in, unable to hold back her shock.

  "We already told the magic knights. They said they’re going to start searching."

  Elena pressed her lips tight, trying to keep herself calm as the anxiety grew inside.

  ‘Shit... he really is a...’

  She wanted to curse him out, blame him for being such an idiot. But... was it really his fault? The only person who actually knew what was going on and why... was her.

  The truth was, Kaen was dealing with problems that were never meant to be his.

  "Now we just have to wait..."

  Rayden, even if he wasn’t the type to get involved, noticed the tension. He could see the connection between Kaen and Elena.

  It was impossible to ignore. Even if she never said a word, he still knew something was going on between them.

  "Which direction did you come from?"

  A voice cut through the moment like a precise blade. It wasn’t cold... but it had a firm tone, young and almost mocking.

  Everyone turned instantly.

  Aeryn hovered slightly above the ground, her golden eyes glowing with calm intensity. Her dark hair and robe swayed gently with the energy in the air.

  "We came from tha—"

  FWOOOOOSH!

  Before Marco could finish, Aeryn shot off like a rocket in the direction he pointed.

  'That kid is seriously stupid... I just hope I’m not too late.'

  ====

  Kaen tried to land softly, using counter vectors to nearly cancel out his weight.

  "Huh... ahn... damn it."

  Instead of a smooth landing, his body came down at the wrong angle and he crashed sideways.

  "THRAMM!"

  He lay on the ground for a few seconds, arms spread, legs awkwardly in the air like he’d been tossed by a giant.

  "Huff... huff... shit..."

  The scene would’ve been funny if his body wasn’t screaming in pain.

  He slowly started getting up, brushing dust from his hair while every inch of his body throbbed.

  "...She really... wanted to kill me... hahah—"

  "Hnnnghh..."

  For a moment, his vision blurred. A painful pulse hit his chest, then spread across his entire body.

  "...fuck. Maybe I shouldn’t have used Absolute Rejection... that psycho bitch..."

  The pain wasn’t just from effort. Right after using Absolute Rejection, some of the energy that hadn’t been fully released had bounced back against his body.

  Drevan’s barrier behind him stopped the repulsion from dispersing. The impact reverberated internally, making the energy slam back into him like a wave violently returning to its source.

  Luckily, he managed to control his energy at the last second, or he would’ve been thrown right into Seliah’s sword.

  ‘If I had more mana, I would've shattered that shitty barrier.’

  ‘Guess I need to use this better next time...’

  Kaen was breathing heavily, dragging his body step by step toward the Transmutation Garden.

  Blood had trickled down, mixing with the dust and dampness, but he didn’t care. He barely noticed anything around him. Everything hurt.

  ‘Did I just get lucky?’

  A lot of what happened had been calculated. He’d absorbed mana until he overflowed, making his Inertia Core pulse like it was alive. The effects weren’t just sharper senses.

  But yeah... tricking the dark mages? That part might’ve been pure luck.

  Any mage who saw him right after he completely filled his Inertia Core to the brim would’ve thought, at the very least, that Kaen was someone at the end of Class 3. The dense aura and absurd mana pulses could fool even the most experienced eyes.

  It made the enemy mages hesitate. And in that short window, he took down Velkro.

  "Pfft... I just hope Yenne doesn’t hate me."

  He’d called them dead weight, practically forcing them to leave him behind. Marco, not so much... But Yenne might’ve taken that personally.

  But he hadn’t had a choice. It would've been completely impossible for the three of them to escape together. And even being the fastest, he almost didn’t make it.

  The jump he used to escape Seliah nearly broke his feet.

  "Agh....."

  He let out a low groan as he moved his arms.

  "Now I just need to find those two—"

  KRUUUUMP!!!

  A dry, heavy impact echoed through the trees.

  Kaen turned immediately, instinctively shifting into a defensive stance, even with pain shooting through his whole body.

  His vision was still blurry, but it was enough to see the figure emerging from the dust.

  A tall man, messy green hair, and a broken mask covering part of his face. The exposed side revealed a sharp gaze filled with contained rage.

  The mage stared at him in silence. On his arm perched a black crow with glowing violet eyes.

  "A boy with white hair and red eyes..."

  As soon as he finished speaking, the crow dissolved into black particles, like corrupted mana smoke vanishing into the air.

  ‘I completely forgot about that...’

  The half-masked mage also had tracking abilities, just like Seliah. He used magical crows to follow targets over long distances.

  ‘They really brought in the best to find Yenne.’

  "Where are the mages you were fighting?"

  ‘~...This is bad...’

  Kaen’s eyes burned. The pain in his body pulsed with each heartbeat.

  Even so... his mouth opened slightly.

  "They gave me a free pass, so—"

  "...."

  The air around them turned heavy.

  Kaen felt a chill run down his spine. The mage cut him off with a dark, heavy glare.

  "The mission to capture the girl from the Magic Tower might’ve failed... but at least, I’ll kill you before I go."

  The corrupted mana around his body rose like living tentacles, pulsing and twitching in chaotic rhythm.

  ‘I take back what I said about being lucky...’

  Hey... so you're reading this? Thanks. Seriously.