"All of you, pay attention to the director's announcement."

A voice echoes to all the students gathered in the school courtyard, each forming a line behind their respective class teacher.

The director, seeing that everyone was paying attention, sighed and then spoke.

"Some of you may have already heard, but I'm here to make the official announcement: the fight for the imperial inheritance will now be extended to everyone in the academy."

The director observed everyone's reactions, noticing both fear and excitement among the students.

"Of course, there are some new rules."

"Deaths will not be permitted. By the end of the academic term, students must choose one of the heirs."

"The surviving heirs who have lost their battles, with Nasus being the only one capable of continuing, will have the right to return to succession if they manage to defeat one of the winning heirs."

"This will be mandatory."

The director turns and leaves after finishing his speech, making it clear that the participation of all students would be compulsory.

As he exits, the director bites his lip, thinking, "That damned emperor, it seems like even in death, he doesn't change."

His thoughts circle around this as he walks away.

The front rows, consisting of the three classes of heirs lined up side by side, become the center of attention.

The many students of the academy look to whom to choose in the future.

Ambrose, the second prince; Arthur, the third prince; or Seraphine, the first princess.

Soon, the teachers return to the classrooms with their students.

In Arthur's classroom, Jhon asks, "So what should we do? Should we start recruiting other students?" looking at Arthur.

Arthur closes his eyes, deep in thought.

"I can gather the noble vassals of the Bellator family. I believe Selene can do the same with the noble vassals of the Lunaris family," Nicolas says, looking at Selene.

Selene, lying in the corner as usual, slowly nods her head, indicating her agreement.

Arthur opens his eyes.

"Nicolas, you and Selene do that, talk to your vassal families."

"Sophie and Jhon, try to recruit the commoners."

Sophie smiles and nods firmly. "You can count on us," says Jhon, confident he can recruit plenty of people.

"Now that you've finished your little meeting, let's start the class," says the teacher, his blond hair tousled as always, his green eyes scanning each student.

Sophie frowns at him. "You haven't taught us anything since then. What do you plan to do now?"

She's clearly annoyed with him.

The teacher looks directly into her eyes, sighing.

"I have no interest in your childish tantrums. Besides, there was nothing to teach beginners who couldn't even use the basics of magic, but now it seems you might learn a little."

Not wanting to dwell on it further, the teacher instructs everyone to sit down, activating and deactivating the training mode. The room returns to normal with its chairs and desks.

With everyone seated and looking directly at him, Arthur observes the class attentively.

The teacher begins by discussing various historical records of magic users, how magic has been used, and stories about its evolution.

'There didn't seem to be anything really useful for his quest to become emperor,' Arthur thinks to himself.

Having finished talking about this, the teacher scratches the side of his nose.

"Some of you seem disappointed," the teacher says, looking specifically at Jhon and Sophie.

"The truth is, magic is something that purely depends on a person's talent."

"It's impossible, for example, for someone with magic like Jhon's to defeat someone with Sophie's magic if both individuals are at the same level."

"What I will help you with is to use the true essence of your own magic and how to defend yourselves from the effects of other magics."

The teacher pauses for a moment, stretches his arms, cracking them, and then looks directly at Sophie.

"Shoot a fireball at me."

Sophie ponders for a moment, and in the next instant, she launches a fireball at the teacher.

The teacher extends his hand, mana moves from his body and outward, but instead of becoming his magic as it should, his mana remains in its pure form and turns into a tornado. Sophie's fireball begins to unravel within this tornado until it disappears before reaching him.

"What... how did you do that?" Jhon says, unable to believe his eyes.

"Let's try again. I'll release a more powerful one now," Sophie says, unable to believe her magic was thwarted in such a way.

Nicolas observes in astonishment.

"I've heard that this was possible, but it requires an unbelievable mastery of mana, as mana usually transforms into magic when released from the body," Nicolas remarks.

Arthur is impressed, like everyone else, but his mind is focused on something else. More sensitive to magic than Nicolas and the others, he noticed the mana tornado dissipating the fire. The tornado nearly dissipated, not because Sophie was particularly powerful, but due to the nature of her own magic. She could use magic related to disasters, like fire, lightning, among others, but her true essence was the magic of destruction, meaning she would unravel the structure of anything she targeted.

'Of course, Sophie was nowhere near mastering that. She couldn't even use anything beyond fire,' Arthur reflects, turning his gaze back to the professor with admiration. 'I had misjudged him. Even though Sophie's magic should have been something that surpasses this technique, he was able to undo even that with pure mana control.'

The professor observes everyone's reactions for a moment.

"All magic is ultimately mana. Even if it's a special class of magic, like time magic, it can still be interfered with using pure mana," the professor explains.

"What I used just now was a spiral to contain Sophie's magic until it vanished. You don't have such an advanced degree of mana control, so it wouldn't be possible for you to do that. However, you could cover your own body with mana like a layer of skin."

"This alone won't prevent all damage and effects, but it will drastically reduce them, and it will prevent you from being affected by mental magics," the professor continues.

Nicolas asks, "Do dragons do the same thing? And in their case, they negate all damage, right?"

"Yes, that's correct. But that's an innate ability of dragons. Additionally, as I showed with the tornado, mana takes a little time to nullify a magic, so a mere mana skin would have only a protective effect. In the case of dragons, it's nullified due to their dense mana, which becomes almost an unbreakable barrier around them."

Many other questions arise, and explanations are given.

Soon the class ends, and everyone heads home.

Back at his house, Arthur reflects on everything he learned. It was something he read just a few days ago, but seeing a demonstration from the professor gave him a better idea of how it works. Furthermore, this kind of manipulation would undoubtedly be easier for someone like Nicolas, accustomed to using his magic on his own body.

Sitting on the sofa, Arthur rests his chin on his hand and scratches lightly.

'Selene didn't show any reaction even in today's class. I feel like she can already do this. Sophie's magic, as expected, has tremendous potential if well developed.'

Shifting to a reclining position on the sofa and closing his eyes, Arthur continues to contemplate.

'Ambrose did the same thing on absurd levels, like a true dragon. Yet, he was injured by metals, so mana would only defend against purely magical effects, not in the case of direct manipulation of a material or element.'

Thinking about other matters, Arthur continues, 'Generating an electric field through magnetic variation and controlling it consumes a lot of mana. If I decrease the power, I think I can control five weapons of decent size while charging them with electricity. It would indeed become powerful.'

'For now, I'll change my style a bit, focusing more on close combat. It's been a while since I practiced body modification magic. Plus, concentrating all magical effects into one weapon ensures greater potency.

Arthur was asleep on the sofa, lost in these thoughts.

The next day, during mealtime in the cafeteria...

Ambrose was glaring angrily at the person in front of him. It was Seraphine, who looked at him with confusion. On the ground, without his right arm, was Wilde, wincing in pain, his arm a few meters away.

"Hey, why did you do that?" Ambrose's voice was threatening and irritated.

Seraphine replied nonchalantly, "He bumped into me."

She pointed to the arm on the ground.

"I was just going to toss him aside, but his arm was too fragile and came off when I pulled."

Ambrose looked at Seraphine and lunged at her with a punch. Seraphine watched the punch approaching her without moving, and Ambrose's fist hit her face directly.

Ambrose smiled and withdrew his fist.

"I didn't use magic, yet it's incredible. Your magic is impressive; you used it for defense, and I didn't even sense you using mana. For a moment, I thought my older sister would be defective without mana, but it seems there's something special about you that makes others unable to sense your mana."

Seraphine was lost in thought, ignoring Ambrose's words.

'He punched me, alright. I should kill him as usual, but would it be right to kill him so soon? I mean, it's not even a competition yet. Still, he did attack me, so destroying an arm is fair, right?'

She reached a conclusion.

"You're wrong; I didn't use magic. Your punch simply had no effect because it was too weak."

Ambrose frowned, his smile deepening.

"Right, stop babbling lies, you retard."