After an exciting and surprising battle, the thousands of students and authorities began to disperse. The battle was short but quite intense; the attendees got a taste of what it means to be a noble.

"That was awesome."

"Yeah, it was splendid. I hope there will be more battles like this."

"Hmm... I doubt it. We just witnessed the peak of the first-year students."

"You guys are right. Let's go get some refreshments while we wait for our turn. The urge to fight has me too eager."

After that stimulating battle, hundreds of students were brimming with energy and eager to fight. The fatigue accumulated over the days had suddenly disappeared.

Mathias woke up after a while on a stretcher, inside the infirmary being attended to by a beautiful lady with purple hair. She had noticeable dark circles under her eyes due to the hard work she did daily. Miss Myriam was a Phase 4 wizard specialized as a healer. Her affinity with water allowed her to treat wounds and other problems through unique properties. Healers were quite rare among the paths of the ethereal.

"I lost," was Mathias' first thought as he watched his body being treated with bubbles of water. The girl named Lina was a true monster; he never imagined she could use partial domain in Phase 2. Most talents around the world achieved it only after reaching Phase 3, including his father.

"Don't feel bad, young man. It was an excellent fight. A little more, and you would have won with that final attack. Young Lina was left completely vulnerable," Miss Myriam reassured the green-haired boy, who looked crestfallen. She had seen that face of disappointment thousands of times in the past, bringing painful and unpleasant memories.

"I don't need your consolation. A Flamegood would never give up on something like this. I'll keep training, and sooner or later, I'll have my rematch," Mathias decided to learn from this defeat, his eyes bright with determination and a small smile.

"These damn nobles are so arrogant. I worried in vain," Miss Myriam muttered, slightly furrowing her brow as she steadily treated Mathias' wounds. They were closing at an astonishing speed; the blessings of ether brought a new era for medicine.

Hours passed, and dozens of battles occurred in the meantime, but none were as exciting or surprising as the one experienced hours before. Bruno had to fight against another young man of Brazilian descent, both using twin swords. Since the use of powers or real weapons was not allowed, it was purely a skill-based sword fight. Dozens of students crowded around to witness this duel of swordsmanship, most of them followers of the warrior's path.

After 5 intense minutes of fighting and hundreds of sword clashes, Bruno managed to break through his opponent's guard and with a quick kick to the chest and a swift attack to the opponent's chest, he achieved victory. The students surrounding the arena cheered with excitement; the path of the sword was very popular and beloved by the warrior's path, so seeing two great exponents made them burst with happiness.

"Well done, mate."

"Would you mind giving me some advice later?"

"Good feints and counterattacks. Would you like to cross swords one of these days?"

Bruno, feeling dizzy amid the crowd, put a silly smile on his face and nodded slightly to the barrage of questions. "Have the warriors always been so intense?" he thought to himself as he made his way through the crowd.

From the side of the central arena, another battle arena could be seen. Due to the delay and the growing enthusiasm of the students to fight, they decided to expedite the process by creating 2 additional arenas; therefore, they could finish the exam before nightfall.

From the second battle arena, a girl with disheveled blue hair and ragged clothes was limping slowly. She had a swollen and bruised eye, as well as bite marks on her exposed arms. The audience present was quite scarce, but everyone had their mouths open and their eyes full of disbelief at what had happened.

Two girls from the wizard path had fought without any neatness or technique; they simply pulled each other's hair, threw dirt in each other's faces, scratched, and bit each other, as if they were wild cats.

"Well done, Tania," Lina said in a friendly tone as she offered her shoulder to walk on. Since Bruno had recently fought and Luis with Kaller were getting ready, she was the only one available to go see her. The battle itself was a disaster, but she somehow managed to win.

"Of course," Tania replied, giving a thumbs-up sign of victory. The pair of girls walked slowly toward the infirmary.

"The final battle is coming. It will be interesting," interrupted the quiet silence the blonde-haired girl.

"Who do you think will win? I'd say Luis. He's a Phase 2 archer, whereas Kaller is a Phase 1 fighter with no offensive abilities," honestly said the aching girl limping with each step.

"Tania, Kaller's ability has a second function..."

"What?" Tania asked immediately, looking doubtful. During this week together, they had grown closer, and she learned about Kaller's condition as an ether-cursed.

"To read emotions on every occasion and all the time, including battles," Lina said solemnly, recalling some situations.

Tania remained speechless for a moment as she quickly thought of thousands of situations.

"Has he beaten you?" she asked in a lower tone than usual after staying silent for a moment.

"Yes, several times," she affirmed with a bitter face.

Tania's eyes widened, and a deep fear took root within her; she had seen Lina's power firsthand, so she never imagined that this Phase 1 boy could defeat her.

"Hahaha, what expression is that? Come on, treat your wounds and let's go watch the final battle of the star squad." Due to the recent victory, Lina's spirits were high, and an intoxicating happiness flooded her. People greeted her and complimented her constantly.

"If Kaller loses, it'll be an even better day," she thought to herself as she greeted a group of boys who were looking at her.

In the central arena, a brown-haired boy with a slender build faced off against a dark-haired giant who stood at 1.90 meters. However, all the attention of the present audience was on the small boy; despite his tender appearance and childish face, he was a Phase 2 archer against a Phase 1 fighter.

"Who organized this fight?"

"It's too much of a difference."

"I guess it'll end in an instant."

"The little one will win quickly."

"SHHHH," the present audience heard a loud noise and turned to see an annoyed Lina trying to watch the upcoming battle calmly.

The group of boys who had been talking closed their mouths instantly and refrained from making comments.

"You know the rules, right?" Both young men nodded slightly in response.

"Begin!"

Luis jumped backward, and a rain of arrows began to fall from different directions. In just a few seconds, more than 10 arrows had been fired; this ability was known as "rapid fire," one of the main specializations of the archer.

Kaller began to move in a zigzag, dodging the incoming arrows slightly and deflecting some with the back of his hand. These fluid and precise movements

left several fighters with their mouths open; the difficulty of such action was quite high.

Luis, expecting his attack to fail, quickly slid to the side, raising a curtain of smoke. Inside this curtain, his shooting rate had decreased, but his brute power had increased; he had switched from "rapid fire" to "piercing shot," an ability that traded quantity for power.

Swoosh.

A powerful arrow shot out of the dust cloud, coming directly towards his calf.

PAAAM.

A kick shattered the arrow into multiple pieces.

"What kind of reflexes are those!" a student from the audience exclaimed.

"It's inhuman!"

"That arrow was coming way too fast!"

Tania watched in amazement as Kaller easily dodged the rain of arrows and, when attacked from a blind spot, reacted instantly to intercept it.

Luis felt a constant pressure on his shoulders; every tactic, every attack, every move was seen by his opponent as if he were an open book to him.

Swoosh Swoosh.

A piercing arrow came from above, aiming for Kaller's head, while another came for his ribs.

Without a second to hesitate, Kaller made a half-turn and broke the arrow coming from the sky with a kick and, taking advantage of the momentum of the turn, he kicked with his other foot to break the second arrow.

The smoke screen had disappeared, and Luis was standing holding a bow, aiming at the ground; he was running out of ideas.

The audience present was impressed by the fight happening before their eyes; the level of that boy was too high. He dodged arrows as if they were coming in slow motion, responded to any attack with reflexes from another world. They couldn't believe he was a Phase 1. If Lina Airgood was the peak in terms of handling abilities, Kaller was the peak in terms of close combat.

"Lina... you were right," the surprised Tania said in a low voice; that quiet and unsocial boy named Kaller was a monster just like Lina.

Bruno was left speechless by such performance; he realized he had a lot to learn compared to them. Currently, he was the weakest in the squad, which brought about a feeling of inferiority.

Luis raised his bow, preparing another round of rapid fire, but Kaller hurried forward. Trying to create distance, he jumped to the side and began the arrow barrage, but Kaller easily dodged them and arrived in front of him.

PAAAM.

A strong punch hit Luis' right cheek, sending him flying to the opposite end as he rolled on the ground.

"Is that all, Luis?" Looking at him coldly with those emotionless eyes, the usual friendly Kaller had been replaced by someone else.

"I..."

PAAAM.

A kick hit Luis' left cheek, sending him flying to the other side.

"If that's all, you disappoint me, Luis," throwing those venomous words, the small Luis felt a strong pain in his chest; once again, he found himself powerless against adversity. He had promised himself never to repeat such an event, but he was on the ground with his mouth full of blood and no will to fight. He had failed himself.

"Do you know what some people said about you? That you were an immature and cowardly child, that your parents had died because of you. Seeing you now, they were right. You're weak, very weak. You crawl like a worm waiting to be stepped on by someone; people like that are of no use to me in my squad," in a tone dripping with malice, Kaller approached slowly towards Luis, his eyes looking at him with disdain.

"YOU BASTARD!" shouted an angry Luis; his mind had clouded, and anger invaded his entire being. The topic of his family easily drove him out of his senses.

"YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!" The fighting spirit that had disappeared was suddenly reignited. Luis stood up, spitting blood.

Kaller watched as the young boy raised his bow and stretched the string to the maximum; his fingers began to bleed due to the pressure exerted. With a hateful look, he placed 3 arrows and released the string, aiming in his direction, "triple piercing shot."

"Heh... that looks better," Kaller, with a quick movement of legs and arms, broke the 3 arrows instantly. However, to everyone's surprise, another round of piercing arrows was coming towards him.

"Shit" Kaller thought as he saw 5 arrows coming his way this time.