"Flame blast!"
Lily's shout echoed throughout the arena as blazing fire erupted from her outstretched hand. The flames spiraled together into a concentrated torrent, roaring across the battlefield toward Ludger with enough heat to distort the air itself.
The audience flinched from the sheer intensity.
The stone beneath the attack blackened instantly.
But Ludger didn't retreat.
His expression remained calm—cold even.
The moment the flames reached him, transparent energy surged along his arm, extending outward into a razor-sharp blade made entirely of condensed neutral mana.
With one smooth motion—
Slash!
The fire split apart.
The attack that would have overwhelmed most students was cleaved cleanly in half, the two separated waves of flame crashing harmlessly into opposite sides of the arena.
Gasps spread through the crowd.
Lily's eyes narrowed.
He cut through it too easily.
Not weakened.
Not slowed.
Completely destroyed.
Ludger's foot slammed against the ground as he accelerated forward. Cracks spread beneath his step from the force alone while his body shot through the battlefield like a spear.
Fast.
Far too fast.
Lily immediately abandoned the idea of trading attacks directly. Her injured arm already throbbed painfully from the earlier damage caused by the mana bullets, and every second spent in close range against Ludger felt like standing beside a blade aimed at her throat.
She grabbed her staff with her good hand.
Wind exploded beneath her feet.
A violent gust launched her upward into the air just as Ludger reached where she had been standing.
Boom!
His blade carved through empty space.
The shockwave from the slash split apart loose debris across the arena floor.
Lily rose rapidly above the battlefield, strands of silver hair whipping wildly around her face as she breathed heavily.
Distance.
She needed distance.
Against someone like Ludger, getting cornered meant death.
But Ludger looked upward calmly.
Then Lily felt danger.
The hair on the back of her neck stood up instantly.
Mana condensed around Ludger's fingertips.
Tiny spheres of compressed energy formed one after another before firing upward at terrifying speed.
Mana bullets.
Lily's pupils shrank.
She twisted her body midair as the bullets tore past her. One narrowly missed her shoulder while another brushed against the edge of her cloak, instantly erasing part of the fabric into scattered mana particles.
Not burned.
Not pierced.
Disrupted.
That was the terrifying part about neutral magic.
Most elemental spells relied on stable mana structures to exist. Fire, water, wind, and earth all needed shape and balance.
Neutral mana interfered with that balance.
It destabilized magic itself.
Lily had realized it the moment his bullets pierced through her defenses earlier.
The reason her elemental barriers failed wasn't because they lacked durability.
Ludger's mana directly dismantled their structure.
Which meant fighting him using conventional elemental spells was almost pointless.
A normal mage would panic after realizing something like that.
Lily instead forced herself to think faster.
If the four basic elements were vulnerable to disruption…
Then she needed to use the elements she understood least.
Light and darkness.
Those two behaved differently from ordinary elemental mana.
Harder to control.
Harder to shape.
But harder to disrupt as well.
Ludger suddenly jumped.
The sheer force behind the leap shattered the ground beneath him as he launched himself directly toward Lily in the air.
The audience erupted into cheers at the aggressive pursuit.
Mana flowed around Ludger's arm again, extending his blade further until it resembled a translucent crescent attached to his body.
His eyes locked onto Lily.
No hesitation.
No wasted movement.
He intended to end the fight immediately.
Lily pointed her staff downward.
"Steam!"
A sphere of water appeared beside a blazing orb of fire.
The two collided instantly.
Fwoosh!
Dense white steam exploded outward, swallowing the air around Ludger completely.
The entire arena vanished beneath the thick fog.
The crowd leaned forward trying to see through it.
Ludger narrowed his eyes while moving through the steam carefully.
His vision was almost completely blocked.
Annoying.
He swung his blade.
The slash carved a temporary opening through the mist, but within moments the steam flowed back into place like living clouds.
Ludger clicked his tongue softly.
"She's buying time…"
Then he heard her voice.
"Arrows of balance!"
The moment Lily spoke, darkness mana gathered around her.
But instead of behaving like its usual unstable liquid-like form, the darkness began compressing itself into sharp elongated shapes.
Five arrows slowly materialized around her body.
Black.
Thin.
Elegant.
Golden lines of light traced across each arrow like veins glowing beneath the surface.
The spell wasn't perfect.
Not yet.
Lily herself knew that better than anyone.
Purifier had been built entirely around destructive balance between light and darkness. It was explosive, unstable, overwhelming.
But Arrows of Balance was different.
This spell demanded precision.
Control.
Constant adjustment.
Darkness naturally resisted fixed shapes. It wanted to spread and flow endlessly.
By mixing it with light mana, Lily forced the darkness to maintain form without collapsing.
It was like trying to control liquid while simultaneously sharpening it into a blade.
Incredibly difficult.
Incredibly exhausting.
But perfect for this situation.
The arrows vanished into the steam.
Silent.
Hidden.
Ludger's instincts screamed at him immediately.
Danger.
Real danger.
He stopped moving.
The arena became strangely quiet.
Even the crowd sensed the tension.
Ludger stared into the endless white surrounding him.
Nothing appeared.
No movement.
No sound.
Then—
Tap.
Something touched his back lightly.
Every muscle in his body reacted instantly.
Barrier!
Transparent mana exploded across part of his back.
Clang!
A black arrow ricocheted away violently before embedding itself deep into the arena wall behind him.
The audience gasped loudly.
Ludger's heartbeat accelerated slightly.
Fast.
Too fast.
He never even saw it coming.
"Arrows of balance!"
Lily's voice echoed again through the steam.
This time five arrows shot forward simultaneously from different directions.
Ludger's eyes sharpened instantly.
Two blades formed around both arms.
Clang!
He deflected the first arrow.
Clang!
Then the second.
Another came from above.
Another from behind.
The attacks flowed endlessly from impossible angles.
Yet what truly frustrated Ludger wasn't their speed—
It was the fact they refused to disappear.
Every arrow he knocked away curved through the air before attacking again moments later.
Like hunting beasts circling prey.
The constant ringing of metal-like impacts echoed throughout the arena.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks of black and gold scattered every time his blades collided against the arrows.
Ludger's movements remained precise, but sweat slowly formed along his forehead.
Why won't they break?
Another arrow lunged toward his throat.
He knocked it aside.
They keep returning.
One swept low toward his leg.
He jumped over it.
Can she actually control all five manually?
His eyes scanned through the steam carefully until he finally caught a glimpse of Lily in the distance.
Her body trembled slightly.
Her breathing had become rough.
Sweat dripped down her chin while her glowing eyes focused intensely on the moving arrows.
Ludger immediately understood.
Mental strain.
Controlling all five independently was overwhelming her.
A smile slowly formed on his face.
Good.
That meant the fight already favored him.
He didn't need to overpower the spell directly.
He only needed to survive longer than Lily could maintain it.
So Ludger stopped trying to advance recklessly.
Instead he focused entirely on defense.
Clang!
Another arrow deflected.
Clang!
Another.
The audience watched in amazement as the battle transformed into a relentless exchange between impossible precision and impossible control.
Lily gritted her teeth.
Her head hurt.
Every arrow required separate calculations.
Direction.
Speed.
Position.
Timing.
And Ludger was adapting frighteningly fast.
She could already feel her concentration slipping.
One mistake would ruin everything.
Still—
She smiled internally.
Because Ludger had already fallen into her trap.
One arrow vanished.
The crowd noticed immediately.
Then another disappeared moments later.
Only three remained.
Ludger's eyes flashed.
Now.
The instant the pressure lessened, he exploded forward.
The arena floor shattered beneath his acceleration.
He weaved between the remaining arrows with terrifying speed, his body moving like flowing water while his blades knocked aside every incoming attack.
Twenty meters.
Fifteen.
Ten.
Lily stood completely exposed.
She no longer had enough focus to defend herself directly.
Victory.
Ludger could already see it.
But then—
Lily smiled.
Not nervously.
Not desperately.
Smugly.
Proudly.
Like someone looking at a fool who had finally realized the trick too late.
Her lips moved slowly.
"It's over."
Ludger's instincts screamed.
He immediately turned around.
Nothing.
The arrows chasing him—
Were gone.
His eyes widened.
Gone?
Then realization struck him.
The remaining arrows…
Were fake.
Illusions.
Back when Lily appeared to lose control and reduce the number of arrows from five to three, she had actually dispersed all five completely.
The "remaining" arrows had never been real.
They were distractions.
Designed purely to occupy his attention long enough for him to lower his guard.
Ludger's heart skipped violently.
He turned back toward Lily.
And froze.
Darkness gathered in her hand.
Gold patterns spread across black metal as a weapon slowly formed itself from mana.
A gun.
No—
The gun.
Corrupter.
The moment it appeared, the atmosphere itself felt heavier.
Even the audience sensed danger instinctively.
Lily's exhausted face carried a victorious grin as she pointed the weapon directly at him.
Unlike the arrows, this attack required no complicated manipulation.
Only one shot.
One opportunity.
Ludger immediately reinforced every barrier he could.
Layer after layer of transparent mana covered his body.
Lily pulled the trigger.
No sound followed.
That silence terrified Ludger more than anything.
Then—
Crack.
One barrier shattered instantly.
Crack!
Then another.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The bullet pierced through every defensive layer like glass.
Ludger's expression finally broke.
Fear.
Real fear.
The dark projectile reached his chest—
Before a mysterious force suddenly grabbed his ankle violently.
Whoosh!
His body was ripped backward out of the arena.
The bullet passed inches away from his torso before exploding against the barrier surrounding the battlefield.
The entire arena shook.
Silence filled the stadium.
Then the referee floated above the battlefield while holding Ludger upside down by one ankle.
"Ludger Wright eliminated!"
For half a second nobody reacted.
Then the audience erupted.
Cheers thundered throughout the stadium so loudly the arena itself seemed to vibrate.
Students stood from their seats screaming Lily's name in disbelief.
Even many teachers looked stunned.
Lily meanwhile could barely remain standing.
The moment the adrenaline faded, exhaustion crashed into her body like a wave.
Her legs trembled violently.
Her vision blurred.
Controlling the arrows, maintaining the illusions, and firing Corrupter had drained almost everything she had left.
Still—
She forced herself to look away from the celebrating crowd.
Toward her teammates.
Leon and Issac were already fighting again against the opponents who had escaped earlier during her battle with Ludger.
The match wasn't over.
Not yet.