"Verdant Art: Binding Grasp!" I shouted with my staff raised, further tying the four frozen cadets down with vines.

  Elysia yawned, dusting herself off as she strolled back over to us, a triumphant smile on her face. Frost coated the clearing in a thick sheet, and Aurora stood there, stu how quickly Elysia had subdued our supposed oppos. Valkyrie Ursa and Neo Dymium were trying tle out of our bined restraints, but their efforts were futile against Elysia's magic.

  The cadets who'd ambushed us didn't eve a ce to react. Elysia had frozen them in a sed. Literally. I could see the mist rising from their mouths as they breathed, encased in ice from the neck down. Their protective auras would keep them from suffering from frostbite, but they were well and truly trapped.

  Elysia turo me with a mischievous glint in her eyes and a smirk pying on her lips.

  "Well, that was easy," Elysia remarked casually, her aura slowly reg back to its usual state. She turo me and Aurora, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Looks like we won this little petition."

  Aurora finally found her voice, her eyes wide with amazement. "How... how did you do that so quickly, Elysia?"

  "She’s kinda built different," I casually interjected, a small grin f on my face as I tried to keep up with the whirlwind that was Elysia. "Holy, I'm still trying to figure out how her brain works sometimes."

  Elysia let out a chuckle, her fidence radiating off her as she sauntered over to the frozen cadets. The girl in the bd purple outfit who'd attacked me struggled, wriggli and right as sparks off energy erupted from her body in vain.

  Then, Elysia crossed her arms, stopping at Telegraph. "Well, are we done here, buddy?"

  Telegraph chuckled, sighing in annoyance. "Well pyed, perhaps the perception that emergency tract holders do not deserve to be here is an unfortunate bias on our part. It seems we have met our match."

  "Tch," Neo Dymium grunted. "Screw you guys, seriously."

  She grinned maniacally, her eyes widening as she cracked the ice around her. "But don't t us out just yet! Electro Ar—"

  "Frozewofold." Elysia cooly interrupted her, doubling the volume of the block of ice surrounding her with a bored look on her face.

  The look on the rave-themed magical girl's face as she was trapped within ahicker yer of ice was almost ical. She growled in frustration, fring her mana against the ice to no avail as it held her firmly in pce.

  Elysia turned back to us, a satisfied smirk pying on her lips as she gestured for us to follow.

  "Phew. Well, that was... intense," Auriggled, shaking her head. "I didn't expect to see this level of... a beatdown from a first-year magical knight."

  Elysia smirked, her eyes glinting as she turo Aurora. "If you could even call what I just did a beatdown. These spoiled idiots 't even hurt a fly with their half-baked teiques and attitudes."

  The magical girl in the green and white ensemble pouted from the side, struggling as she gritted her teeth in frustration. "Man, why did I agree to follow Neo into this mess anyway? This was stupid from the beginning."

  Auriggled nervously, her eyes flittiween Elysia and me.

  I snorted. "You have free will just like the rest of us. Don't go bming it on others for your own choices."

  She shook her head, pursing her lips. "Okay, I know that was a bit too harsh, but—"

  "Harsh is choosing to jump a team of so-called 'emergency tracts' because you all collectively decided to create a hostile, 'us vs them' narrative in your little bubble," Elysia gred, stepping closer to her. "Which is why Tesseract set our figuration up the way she did. She probably saw this ing."

  The girl in green blinked in surprise, before furrowing her brows. "Wait, what do you mean?"

  "You haven't figured it out? Frostburn should have given you an ination. I'd say it est, if anything," Elysia shrugged, looking up at the sky. "Sunlit Majesty has beeing praised for an exceptional Magic attribute of 19, while being present for the takedown of The Order of the Tenebrous Hand with her team. She's notorious for pushing herself sihe day she was tracted and their team was supposed to be the most promising oo wat this ining css."

  I paused, raising an eyebrow as I turo Elysia. She knew a lot about the students and their backgrounds. It was surprising to see her so informed about our peers.

  "A, Frostburn clearly got one over her. He slipped right past her Proximity Sense skill and demonstrated he had more than enough time to cut her throat if he wao. This was in spite of a signifitly lower level and raw power profile. But he chose not to."

  The girl in green furrowing her brows. "I'm not following. Are you implying that this was... a test beyond a field exercise?"

  Elysia nodded, a knowing glint in her eyes. "Exactly. They're going the extra mile for eion, and it seems like they wao see hoould handle ued situations together. It's not just about power or skills; it's about adaptability, flict resolution, and problem solving. She's sent Sparrow and Ms. Sunlight off somewhere with Frostburn, and paired two separate groups of emergency tract holders with two hostile groups of standard admissions students nearby. I'm certain she expected sparks to start flying, and in any case... well, it looks like she was right."

  I shivered, letting out a shaky breath. I was holy grateful Elysia was here. Without her, who knew what kind of crap Aurora and I would have to deal with.

  "Anyway, I don’t suppose we caught your name?" Elysia smirked, turnitention to the girl in green and white.

  The girl hesitated for a moment before straightening up, her expression shifting from annoyanation. "I'm Vesper. Vesper Nightshade."

  Elysia raised an eyebrow, a flicker nition crossing her features. "Nightshade, huh? That name sounds familiar. Aion to Phosphoros Nightshade, the Knight of Dawn?"

  Vesper's eyes widened in surprise at Elysia's knowledge. "Y-yeah, he's my grandfather. His guidahe reason I even got into this academy in the first pce."

  Elysia shook her head. "Man, he’d be pretty disappoihat you joined in on something like this without a sed thought. But hey, we all make mistakes. The important thing is what you do after."

  Vesper's shoulders slumped, the weight of her grandfather's legacy evident in her expression. "I... I didn't really think things through. Neo seemed so fident, and I just followed along without questioning."

  Aurora stepped forward, her voice gentle. "It's okay, Era… We all make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them and try to do better ime."

  I followed along, a small smile to Era. "Hey. Maybe ime, we find a better way to work together. What do you say?"

  Vesper hesitated for a moment before returning the smile, a sense of relief washing over her features. "Yeah, I'd like that. Thanks... er, fiving me a ce."

  Then, Elysia turo the struggling Magical Knight with the short purple hair and skater dress, narrowing her eyes. She slowly walked up to the trapped magical girl staring down at her cooly. The encing tone she’d shown Vesper

  earlier vanished, repced by an intense gaze that seemed to pierce through the icapsuting the skater-dressed magical knight.

  I tilted my head, a bit apprehe the look on Elysia's face. "Elysia... what are you up to?"

  But Elysia just held up her hand, shaking her head.

  "Valkyrie Ursa, was it? I tell by your outfit and that pin on your wrist that you're a fan of bears. So, just like a cute little teddy bear, you must have a vulnerable soft spot or two. And I think I'm about to find it."

  She put her hands on her hips, leaning over as the frozen figure narrowed her eyes in frustration.

  "Let me out of here, you stuck-up witch. You have no idea who you're dealing with," Valkyrie Ursa spat defiantly, her words muffled by the thick yers of ice surrounding her.

  Elysia chuckled, a wicked gleam in her eyes as she circled around the frozen magical knight. "Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea. I know your type all too well. Let's see... you like bears, you think you're tough stuff but rely too mu your powers, and you have a pent for fshy moves. But you’re not the same girl the Guardians tracted now, are you? You’re really an insecure shit deep down inside and substituted a vapid ay personality for tattoos and a subculture identity. You just like throwing your weight around when you get the ce to."

  "Fuck you." She spat at Elysia's face, straining as her aura pulsed with purple energy.

  Elysia narrowed her eyes, her lips quirking up into a small smile as she wiped her face. "My, my. How exg! Well, I think that ego of yours

  needs a bit of defting, don't you think? Let's see if we 't find that vulnerable spot of yours and give it a good poke."

  Elysia mused, raising her hand as if to cast a spell. But instead of attag, she surprised us all by gently toug the ice with her fiips.

  The frozen barrier shattered into a thousand icy shards, falling to the ground with a soft tinkling sound.

  Valkyrie Ursa stumbled backward, gring at Elysia with a mixture of anger and surprise. "What's yame, huh? You think you're better than me just because you took me by surprise?"

  Elysia chuckled, her fidenwavering. "No, I just thought it’d be fun to level the pying field. Let's see what you're really made of when you are just so thhly out of your fort zone. Besides, I think we all o start getting along a bit better if we're going to survive this mess."

  Ursa immediately threw a viciht hht at Elysia's jaw, but she simply caught her fist with a gentle hand and smiled.

  She looked back at me and Aurora, snickering as she weaved a follow-up punch by the girl.

  "A little hot-headed, aren't we?" Elysia taunted, easily dodging Ursa's pund tering with a swift kick that sent the magical knight stumbling backward.

  Ursa growled in frustration, her aura fring brightly as she fired lightning bolt after lightning bolt at Elysia. But Elysia moved with an almost dance-like grace, effortlessly evading each attack with fluid movements with her hands behind her back.

  "e on, Ursa! Show us what you're really made of!" Elysia's voice was light-hearted, but there was an undercurrent of challehat spurred Ursa on.

  With renewed determination, Ursa gathered her energy and unleashed a powerful bst of purple light towards Elysia. But the girl in silver was ready, her own magic swirling around her in a protective barrier that deflected the attack harmlessly into the distance.

  Elysia's eyes sparkled with mischief as she smirked at Ursa. "Not bad, how about we ge things up?" Elysia's voice was like silk, eg through the clearing.

  Before Ursa could react, Elysia closed the distan a fsh of blue, grabbing her by the throat and holding her in a tight grip. The air crackled with tension as Ursa struggled against Elysia's hold, her eyes wide with shod terror.

  Elysia's expression remained calm, almost detached, as she brought her face close to Ursa's. "I pity you. You fight with strength and rage but ck trol. True power es from mastering yourself first."

  Ursa's eyes bzed with defiance, but a hint of uainty flickered in their depths. She stopped struggling, her body tense as she awaited Elysia's move. The purple-haired girl panted heavily, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she stared into Elysia's unwavering gaze.

  Elysia smirked at her, before turning directly at me. "Hey Lux, catch!"

  I barely had time to react as Elysia tripped the purple-haired girl off bah a sweep, before tossing Ursa at me with fluid grace.

  "Ah! What the hell, Elysia? Don't do that!" I coughed as I leaped out of the way.

  The magical girl nded with a thud, letting out a sharp grunt as she rolled a few yards away and crouched, clutg her arm as she groaned.

  Valkyrie Ursa pushed herself upright, gring daggers at Elysia. "You know what? Screw you. I don't need your lectures or your pity. I'll show you what true power looks like! Say hello to Ursa’s cws."

  Elysia giggled, raising her hand in a sideeace sign and grin. "Now this is getting fun! Here I thought I had a soft-bodied pung bag on my hands, but it turns out she's a feisty one."

  Purple lightning streaked out from Ursa's fists as she held out her hands, her pupils turning into shining orbs as the area around us began to crackle with energy. The lightning coalesced into cw-like whips, and I proactively threw up a Luminary Barrier dome around me in preparation.

  Elysia leaned back, tilting her head as she studied the girl. "Hey, Lux?"

  "Yeah?" I murmured, tensing as I readied my staff.

  She ughed, shaking her head. "She's all yours. We really do have to emphasize a point here with these morons."

  "What do you mean —"

  Before I could finish my sentence, Elysia raised her hand and enclosed the two of us in a blue barrier, making me yelp in surprise as she yawned

  and lounged on a nearby boulder, folding her arms behind her head. "Go on, Lux. Show her what you've got," she called encingly.

  Ursa grunted in frustration before turning around to face me.

  I took a deep breath, fog my energy as I faced Valkyrie Ursa. The crag lightning cws danced around her, ready to strike at any moment.

  She sighed, shaking her head. "Really... with this treatment? No matter, I will take you down and go after the ice bitch if it's the st thing I do."

  Me? Take her on?

  Elysia let out a giggle from outside the barrier. "Don't do anything dumb, Ursa. You're not half as tough as you think you are. If I were you, I'd just give up and make the best of your situation, especially with Lux as the petition. She's possibly an even worse matchup for you thahis is just to drive in a point."

  Ursa cpped her hands together, firing a massive ball of swirling purple energy with a white core at me.

  "Starlight Magic: Ursa Major!"

  It had a ridiculous amount of raw energy behind it. Ursa’s aura made her look like she was right around my current level.

  A...

  The energy inside seemed to fluctuate and drift, as if the core was unstable and the energy was about to explode.

  As it whizzed toward me, I felt a small surge of empathy run through me.

  It owerful... and covered most of the width of the barrier Elysia had enclosed us in. But it moved about as quickly as a dodgeball thrown on aary school ball court.

  I sighed, dropping my summoaff and ran directly at it, throwing out my hand as I eled my mana.

  "Luminary version."

  Ursa smirked, as if her strike had hit its mark. But just as the energy was about to impact me, it suddenly flickered and distorted as I approached it.

  I breathed deeply, fog on disseg its unstable structure as I verted it to bey own. The energy flowed through me, cloaking me in a yer of golden purified mana.

  "W-what?" Ursa shrieked, taking a step back as she shook her head in disbelief.

  I couldn’t reliably just use my Luminary version to agic attacks or anything too plex in a real fight. Usually projectiles were either too inteoo plex, or too fast for me to be able to properly disperse them on the fly.

  But Ursa's attack was another level of unstable. It practically begged me to u with my Talent.

  Ursa immediately charged at me with a loud roar, her fists crag with purple lightning. I braced myself, waiting for her to get closer before unleashing my terattack.

  "Luminary Art: Dawn's Glorious Explosion!"

  I released all the energy she'd thrown at me. And then some, is variant of my Luminary Nova spell.

  The explosion of golden light erupted around and through Ursa, enveloping her in a dazzling dispy of power. She cried out in surprise, thrown back by the force of the bst as she collided with the barrier Elysia had erected. The sound of the impact reverberated through the clearing, sending birds scattering into the sky. She screamed in agony for a brief moment, but several silver and blue honeybed shields suddenly popped up in front of her, cutting the bst short as it dispersed all arouhe explosion tinued all around me, pressing against Elysia's barrier for a brief moment before it shattered entirely.

  I wobbled on my feet, feeling drained as I bany staff.

  "Ugh... I might have verted more energy than I o," I sighed, slumping over as I nded on my butt.

  "No... way." Ursa coughed from across the clearing, struggling to crawl ba her feet. Her e had been torn and burnt, and her aura was almost pletely drained.

  As soon as Ursa got back to her feet, she flinched as Elysia put her arm around her shoulder, smirking. "So, little teddy bear. Get the message yet? We don't need you or anyone else in this school to disrespect or discriminate against emergency tract holders, do we? Remember that the ime you try something like this again. And spread the word around, yeah?"

  Ursa gulped visibly, shaking her head. She gnced between Elysia and me, her eyes filled with fear a. "Y-yes... I'll tell everyone. I won't... I won't cause any more problems," she muttered, her voice barely audible. "Y-yes... just a misuanding. I'll... I'll."

  Elysia giggled. "You better tell anyone else who thought about starting trouble how this went down."

  Then, she gently firmly pihe back of Ursa's neck, frowning. "Because as cute as you are, I didn't find y to zap Lux there cute at all. What if I hadn't shielded her in time?"

  Ursa whimpered, her eyes welling up with tears.

  "Y-yes. I-I'm sorry, okay?! You've made your point."

  Elysia nodded, before smirking and forcefully shoving Ursa ba the ground and driving her ko Ursa’s back.

  "Are you really sorry? Try not tet this lesson, little teddy bear. If you so much as look cross-eyed at Lux or any other emergency tract hain, I will personally hang you out and embarrass you in front of the entire school. Uand?"

  I stared at Elysia with a mix of surprise and awe, nodding in uanding as she gave me a gentle wink.

  She was... scary, in a way. She wasn't like the soft-spoken, polite, and thoughtful Elysia I thought I was getting to know.

  But this version of her was well, badass and protective. In a terrifyingly sadistic way. She definitely didn’t have any problems ying down a beatdown on bullies.

  Ursa bit her lips in pain, gasping for air as Elysia drove her weight down for a moment. Then, Elysia eased up the pressure, tugging

  her head back up and twisting her around to face me before releasing her.

  "Well?" Elysia asked, staring down at her sternly as she let go of the magical girl's hair.

  Ursa whimpered, before responding. "Y-yes mistress, I mean, miss. I won't fet. I'm so sorry, Lux! Sorry mist... miss Elysia!"

  Elysia blinked, staring down for a long moment. "Wait, what?"

  The purple-haired girl gasped, shriveling away and curling up in a ball as she turned red. "

  I... I... I'm so... so... so... sorry, Lux. I... I... I didn't mean... I... I... I just...

  Eek!"

  I stifled a giggle as Elysia froze, flushi red as several seds passed.

  I looked away, fighting to stifle a guffaw, only to catch Aurora staring from the side with a ically mortified expression.

  Elysia snapped out of her stupor and coughed, rec quickly. "Uh, Ursa, I think it's best if we-"

  Ursa stood up, dusting herself off with teary eyes. "Your little teddy bear uands perfectly. We were stupid, useless, and worthless fools in over our heads and should never istress Elysia."

  "Wh... stop callihat! Sheesh!" Elysia yelped, blushing as she shook her head and backed away. "Just... just get out of here, Ursa. Shoo. Go unfreeze your friends gawking at us over there."

  Elysia stumbled back towards me and Aurora, still bright red as Ursa let out aeary whimper and ran off.

  I stared at Elysia bnkly, blinking in fusion. "Um... okay, I'm not sure what that was. Elysia, are you alright? You seem like you've been a bit... well, different and on edge."

  She cleared her throat, her cheeks still flushed as she looked off into the trees. "Ah, sorry about that, Lux. Sometimes people do get carried away, and I don't mind being a bit forceful to make a point. I hope I didn't scare you or anything. I got a bit heated about their ambush."

  I shook my head, before fshing her a grin. "It's alright. Just.... wow, I think you awakened something in that girl. Call me silly, but she seemed like she wao surreo you fully."

  Elysia furrowed her brows, befroaning and burying her head in her hands. "Don't even. Don't even go there."

  She blushed, rubbing the back of her head as her eyes shifted nervously.

  Aurora sighed, g her hands together as she closed her eyes. "Lrahe strength and power to make it through this day without experieng a further pse in sanity. May the heavenly father guide me through any and all awkward and ge-worthy moments that may arise iure."

  Elysia ughed, her cheeks still pink as she turned away to su a breath.

  I smiled, walking up to her and patting her on the back.

  "All jokes aside, thanks for looking out for me back there, Elysia. I appreciate it."

  She blinked, before nodding and chug. "Of course. We're supposed to be… a team, after all. Although…"

  A nostalgic, longing look fshed in her eyes.

  Aurora walked up beside me, putting a hand on her arm. "Oep at a time, Elysia. Let's get a move on, shall we? I don't think we stay here much longer with those four."

  Elysia nodded, grinning and boung on her feet. "Right. Let's get a move on then."

  But then, she turned back, givihoughtful look.

  "Hey, Lux?"

  I tilted my head. "Yeah?"

  Her face softened for a brief moment, and a hint of a mencholy smile appeared on her face. She opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, before shaking her head and turning around.

  "Never mind... It's nothing."