Theo lowered into a proper stance.

Holding his umbrella in front of him, he let out a slow breath.

Yellow lightning crackled into existence beside him, forming four bolts.

’It’s been a while since I sparred with her,’ he thought, his eyes narrowing slightly. ’Let’s see how far I’ve come.’

Without hesitation, the bolts shot forward.

They split instantly.

Two streaked straight toward Elise.

The other two curved to her sides, cutting off her escape routes.

Elise simply raised her staff.

With a single smooth motion, she spun it through the air, deflecting two of the incoming lightning bolts.

The other two missed her completely, continuing toward the back of the training room.

Elise frowned slightly.

’’You’ll have to do better than that.’’

Theo glanced at the ground for a moment.

A wide smile covered his face.

’She always deflects them in the same way,’ he thought. ’Isn’t that handy?’

The two lightning bolts stopped at the back of the room, going completely unnoticed.

Elise still looked at him, tilting her head slightly in confusion.

As always, she calmly waited for his next move.

Theo slowly walked closer, gaining her full attention.

Water began swirling around his umbrella.

Then—

He lunged forward.

Elise immediately swung her staff toward him.

The two met mid-air, water clashing wildly.

Theo pulled back one step—

Then swung low toward her legs.

Elise narrowed her eyes slightly, jumping up.

Theo immediately stepped in, tossing his umbrella toward her with all his strength.

’’...?’’

Elise caught the umbrella in confusion.

’’Perfect,’’ Theo muttered, smiling.

The force from the throw pushed her slightly higher into the air.

Only then did a soft rumbling noise echo out from the back of the room.

A dark cloud had formed on the ground, golden light flickering faintly inside it.

Elise glanced behind her.

One of her eyebrows raised immediately.

In an instant, a blinding flash shot out of the cloud.

A massive yellow beam soared through the air, crackling wildly as it went straight toward her.

Elise gripped her pole tightly, a grey light radiating from her palms.

The grey light spread toward the lightning beam, surrounding it completely.

But... nothing happened.

’’What is this...?’’ she muttered, frowning.

The grey light immediately disappeared.

A split-second before the beam hit her, ice exploded from her hands.

CRACK!

The lightning beam shattered against a wall of ice.

Theo’s eyes widened slightly.

’That’s... insane.’

In the blink of an eye, the entire back half of the training room was consumed.

The floor, walls, everything... had frozen over completely.

Even the air seemed to have grown colder.

Theo instinctively took a step back.

’That fast...?’ he thought, a shiver running down his spine.

He knew Diamond Cores were strong — hell, Elise was probably still limiting her power even now.

Yet... knowing and experiencing were two completely different.

’If she wanted to...’ he thought slowly. ’She could kill me without me even realizing.’

Elise dropped onto the ground in front of him.

She stared at him with narrowed eyes.

’’What was that spell?’’ she asked, her voice a mix of coldness and curiosity.

Theo scratched the back of his head.

’’This is my Thunder st—’’

Just then, a buzzing noise echoed out from Elise.

She raised her hand, signaling Theo to pause.

Without another word, she picked up her phone and turned away from him.

Seconds passed, her expression growing darker by the second.

Finally, she put it down again and quickly turned to Theo.

’’You’ve improved a lot,’’ she said. ’’The trap you set up was meticulous, but most importantly, you forced me into it yourself.’’

She tossed his umbrella back.

"Unfortunately, we’re done for today."

Theo caught the umbrella cleanly, but nearly let go as it was extremely cold.

As she walked toward the exit, she paused for a moment.

’’If I had to suggest anything else, you should learn some movement spells.’’

He nodded immediately, his gaze locked onto her back.

For a moment, everything went silent.

’’Is... something wrong?’’ he asked hesitantly.

Elise turned for a moment, her face remaining expressionless.

"For you? No," she said calmly. "But something just came up."

With that, she left the training room.

For a few seconds, Theo remained where he stood.

CRACK!

He jumped forward, glancing back immediately.

All the ice behind him shattered into tiny flakes, slowly drifting to the ground.

’’Jeez,’’ he muttered, feeling his heart jump in his chest.

Theo let out a slow breath, forcing himself to relax.

The fight replaying over and over in his mind.

’It was a good attempt,’ he thought. ’At least I know what to work on now.’

But that wasn’t the only thing on his mind.

Now that Elise had left, his training was cancelled.

This gave him time to do something else.

’The arena,’ he thought. ’It’s about time I check that out.’

Theo didn’t hesitate.

He turned and left the training room, heading straight for the arena.

The fight kept replaying in his mind, as did her advice about a movement spell.

’I should definitely search for one when I’m home,’ he thought, turning the corner.

His mind churned as he continued walking.

It didn’t take long before the massive colosseum-like arena finally came into view.

The building stood far taller than all others, the university’s golden-red manticore banner placed everywhere.

As he approached the entrance, a group of students standing off to the side caught his attention.

He recognized them immediately.

’The kids from the first day,’ he thought, his expression darkening slightly.

One of them noticed him as well and nudged the others, a grin spreading across his face as they all turned.

"Oh look who that is," one of them said. "One of the two beggars."

Theo let out a quiet sigh, ignoring them as he kept walking.

"Are you really here to try and compete?" another added, feigning surprise.

He paused for a second, pretending to think.

"I guess the prizes are pretty good for people like you."

The group laughed loudly behind him.

Theo walked toward the entrance of the arena without slowing down.

’Not worth fighting,’ he thought. ’If anything, I might meet them in the arena later.’

Two sets of large doors appeared in front of him, both with a sign above them.

One for spectators, the other for participants.

’I’ll check it out first,’ he thought, heading right.

He raised his badge in front of a scanner at the entrance.

A green glow shone softly as the gate unlocked in front of him.

The moment he stepped inside, the sound of combat entered his ears.

’There’s a fight going on now?’ he thought, tilting his head.

By the time he reached the top, the full view opened up in front of him.

Theo slowed slightly.

’’This is... absurd.’’

The arena stretched out far beyond what he’d expected, the battlefield alone easily five football fields long.

The surrounding stands rose in layers, lined with massive screens that showed the fight below so even the furthest spectators wouldn’t miss anything.

BOOM!

Theo’s attention snapped to the field.

A transparent mana barrier lit up, blocking a large fireball from inside the arena.

"Amazing," Theo muttered as he took a seat.

Just then, a voice rang out behind him.

’’Bets, bets — place your bets here and become a big winner!’’

His head snapped back, finding a betting stand just behind him, along with several food stands surrounded by other students.

’That’s... unique,’ he thought. ’I guess gambling is a way to entertain people with enough money.’

His focus slowly dropped to the fight below again.

Two students were already in the middle of an exchange.

One used fire.

The other moved through shadows.

Large fireballs were sent flying through the arena as the fire user aggressively tried to press down on his opponent.

The shadow user didn’t meet him head-on.

He slipped away into shadows each and every time, slowly getting closer and closer.

Theo watched for a few seconds before leaning back slightly.

’They look quite young,’ he thought, raising an eyebrow. ’Are they pre-admission students like me?’

It would make sense, as neither of them seemed to have a second element either.

Theo narrowed his eyes, quietly analyzing the fight.

’The shadow user is at quite the disadvantage element-wise,’ he thought. ’Yet... he’s holding the fire user off perfectly.’

He paused for a moment, watching the fight a little longer.

’If he continues like this, he’ll win.’

Several exchanges followed.

Theo slowly saw the momentum shift in the field.

The fire user began to tire out, his mana having bottomed out.

That’s when the shadow user, who’d been waiting all this time, finally struck.

Shadows wrapped around the fire user’s legs.

In an instant, the shadow user reappeared, holding a knife to the fire user’s throat.

A loud mechanical voice echoed out across the field.

’’Winner — Elias Stone.’’

Theo nodded slowly.

’As expected.’

He pushed himself up from his seat, his gaze still fixed on the arena below.

’Should I step in as well...?’ he thought, weighing it for a brief moment.

A faint smirk formed on his face as he turned toward the stairs.

’Yeah... might as well.’