While Zack continued explaining, almost ranting, about why the fifth and sixth floors were difficult, Vera stood quietly at her spot, her gaze fixed on the tower, her expression calm, yet clearly entertained by what she was seeing.

Her eyes did not shift even once.

It was already easy for her to guess how Ezra managed to defeat the two Elders on those floors.

After most of the candidates had finished their attempts in the tower, there had not been much open discussion about what truly happened inside. The trial was individual, and because of that, many chose to keep their experiences to themselves.

Still, some spoke.

Only to those close to them. Like Zack, Cedric, Niki, Tracy...They shared what they could to their leaders and naturally, that information spread.

Veda being the type of person he is, passed what Tracy told him to his group. Henry did the same while Priscilla did share some information, but a little. As for Bale, he shared as well.

And Vera...

Of course, Vera also shared.

But knowing what to expect did not guarantee success. The illusionary figures didn’t follow a fixed pattern, sometimes they changed, even when the same opponent appeared, their approach could differ slightly, and that alone was enough to break any prepared plan.

Vera tilted her head slightly, her mind still moving, slowly breaking down Ezra’s method piece by piece.

There were multiple ways to pass those floors. Some methods were simple and some required more effort.

Even for her...

There was only one efficient method she could think of, but Ezra...

He used something different.

Which made it two methods that she could easily think of.

He must have used the handgun with more rounds...

She thought calmly.

Since the Elders, at that time, never understood that concept yet. Even now, most of them still don’t know how handguns can possess more rounds.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she continued the thought.

As for my method... To defeat Elder Paul, you must take a risk.

When he forces you into that cycle...attack, defend, reload...you stop blocking one of his shots.

You let it pass, which could lead to you losing if you can’t evade... Well, that gives you one extra round and when he runs out...

She raised her hand slightly, forming the shape of a gun with her fingers.

"Bang."

The sound came out softly, yet it was enough, the people around her flinched slightly, startled by the sudden action.

Their eyes turned toward her.

Vera blinked once, then tilted her head with a faint, innocent look.

"What is that reaction?"

She asked calmly.

"Did you all just see a ghost?"

They immediately shook their heads.

"It’s nothing, Lady Vera."

At that exact moment...

The seventh-floor light on Ezra’s side turned green.

This time...

It caught almost everyone off guard, except for two people.

Veda and Vera.

Zack’s fingers tightened into a fist, his jaw clenched slightly as his eyes shifted toward Vera, only to see the faint amusement in her expression and that alone irritated him more.

On Veda’s side, the reaction was completely different.

Cheers broke out.

Some of the members even turned toward Henry’s group who were close to where they stood, making faces, clearly unable to hide their excitement.

The ranking Zack and Keith had set was already broken.

"Hahaha..."

Keith let out a relaxed laugh, his shoulders loose as always.

"I didn’t know someone like this existed in this trial."

He said, his gaze drifting toward Veda’s group.

"Now I’m curious... how far he’ll go."

"Idiot."

Fay stepped forward and smacked the back of his head.

"You’ve already seen him before."

Keith blinked.

"Huh?" he looked at her confused.

"The one who helped us draw the trap layout. The one you kept praising, saying ’wow this’ and ’wow that’ because of how neat and detailed it was."

Keith froze for a second.

His eyes widened.

"Eh... really?"

The memory of the blindfolded boy surfaced.

"But... he was blindfolded."

He said, still confused.

Fay shook her head slowly.

"You wouldn’t know since you were sleeping that day when we were sending Sir Veda off with him and the medic that followed them."

"Ohhh..." Keith nodded slowly, then... "Oh..."

Inside the tower...

The moment Ezra stepped onto the seventh floor, his expression remained calm and unchanged.

He walked straight to the circle without hesitation.

No wasted movement and no extra glance around.

The Akai match began.

His eyes landed on his opponent.

A girl, black hair, long and smooth, black eyes, deep and still. Her skin, pale white and her features sharp enough to show she was still in her mid-teens, but her presence wasn’t normal.

It was calm, refined, almost too elegant for someone that age.

Yet beneath that...

There was something else. Killing intent, subtle, but real.

Ezra recognized it instantly.

The memories from his past life, the dreams that felt too real, the emotions that had started blending into him...

They made it easy to notice, especially with how he could feel her gaze, lingering on him like a predator.

"She’s definitely a Novice..." Ezra muttered quietly.

Which means...

The light turned green.

I need to change my approach.

They both reached into their space bags at the same time, their movements fast, but Ezra immediately noticed something was off.

Elder Portia’s speed...It was almost faster than his.

He didn’t need to rely on sight alone to know this. The faint shift of air, the small friction of movement, the way her hand brushed against the inside of her bag...

His hearing picked it up, that alone told him everything.

Ezra’s focus sharpened instantly.

This was different from before.

Previously, his reaction speed had been controlled, but not pushed to its limit. He had been moving with ease, almost casually, as if the earlier floors were nothing more than warm-ups, but now...

That was no longer the case.

He was facing someone who moved like a professional.

Their Cognis surged at the same time, the alchemy circle formed between their palms.

Steel reshaped and Guns were born.

Portia fired first.

The sound came before the movement fully registered.

Ezra’s ears picked it up instantly, and in that single moment, he understood what she had created.

His eyes twitched slightly.

She’s not simple...

He raised his head as his own gun finished forming, to see a series of thin needles slicing through the air toward him.

His eyes sharpened as he moved.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Each shot was precise with the bullets striking a few needles, knocking them off course, breaking its path, sending small fragments spinning across the air.

The feeling returned, the same control he used during the fourth trial, the same timing and understanding of space and motion he used when he came face with the same barrage of needles. He shifted his stance slightly, feet grounding firmly, shoulders relaxed but ready, as he continued shooting the needles down one after another.

The rhythm built.

Then...

He heard it again.

The ignition of alchemy.

"So... that’s how she wants to fight."

It clicked in his mind.

Well... he thought to himself, his face calm without even a trace of panic as he kept his eyes fixed on her movements.

She fired another series of needles at him.

It’s a good thing I chose to use the Glock 19 with an extended magazine of fourteen rounds.

He muttered inwardly, a faint smile forming on his lips as his grip on the gun tightened slightly and his senses sharpened further.

He took a slow breath in, then out, letting his Cognis flow steadily through his body, stabilizing himself as he raised the gun and began shooting the incoming needles down one after another. Some of his bullets collided directly with the needles, while others were angled in a way that forced the needles to crash into each other mid-air, creating a messy clash of metal that scattered across the space between them.

Each bullet struck with precision, the sound of impact stacking over itself as fragments of steel dropped to the ground.

Again, she released another flourish of needles toward him, but this time Ezra’s expression shifted slightly, the faint smile on his face becoming clearer as he had already measured the timing.

He now understood exactly how long it took for her to reload and fire again, and he had already compared it to how long it took him to clear her attacks.

With that understanding settled in his mind, he adjusted his stance slightly.

Then he moved.

As he continued shooting the incoming needles down, the moment his senses picked up the surge of Cognis from her side signaling her next attack, he acted without hesitation.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He fired at her directly with one hand, the recoil pushing lightly against his palm, while at the same time his other hand moved instinctively, catching a needle that had slipped past his line of fire and was heading straight toward the center of his eyes.

Without pausing, he twisted his wrist and threw the needle forward, letting it collide with two incoming ones, disrupting their path.

In one smooth motion, he brought his gun back up to his right hand and fired again, clearing the remaining needles that threatened to reach him.

The floor echoed with the sharp sounds of metal hitting stone and bullets striking through the air, and in that brief exchange, Portia’s body jerked as two holes appeared on her head and one on her chest.

She fell.

Her form broke apart into dust before it could even hit the ground.

The door to the next floor appeared immediately.

Ezra let out a quiet breath, the tension leaving his shoulders slightly, then he stepped forward without wasting time and entered the next floor.

The eighth floor.

The floor where Felix’s mother would appear as his opponent.

This will be interesting.

Ezra thought to himself, a faint curiosity rising in his chest as he considered the woman who gave birth to the person he wanted to kill the most in this entire trial.

As he stepped onto the circle, the air shifted slightly and her figure appeared in front of him.

A woman with long black hair and deep black eyes stood calmly, her pale skin reflecting the faint light of the space, her slender body carrying a controlled shape that made her presence feel refined rather than soft.

She wore the Ashenlocke military uniform, and on the side of her coat rested two stars that marked her status.

Her gaze fell on Ezra.

Cold and contemptuous.

It felt as though she could already judge his worth just by looking at him, even though she was only an illusion.

Ezra narrowed his eyes slightly, noticing the resemblance between her and Felix, especially in the way she looked at him, but he did not dwell on it for long as his focus sharpened immediately.

Comparing her to Portia, there was no need to think too deeply about it, her Binder rank presence alone made the difference clear.

She was far beyond what he had just faced.

His fingers shifted closer to his space bag, ready.

The light turned green.

Ezra moved instantly, his body responding without delay as he completed the sequence with full focus, his Cognis flowing properly as his gun formed and he fired first.

The bullet shot forward.

She tilted her head slightly, almost lazily, letting the bullet pass by the side of her face as if it never posed any threat to her.

Then, without rushing, she caught another bullet.

Ezra’s eyes sharpened.

She lifted her right leg slightly, balancing on one foot with complete control as Cognis sparked through the hand that held the bullet, and in the next moment, the bullet changed, reverting back into a small steel nugget.

She dropped it onto the floor.

Ezra paused for a brief moment, just enough to process what he had seen.

"She turned it back..."

he thought, staring at her with more focus than before.

"This will be hard."

His gaze shifted to her weapon.

In her hand was a Horned Pistol, loaded with ten rounds, its structure steady and refined.

She lowered her leg calmly, her posture relaxed, her face carrying a faint expression of mockery as if she had already decided how this fight would end.

Ezra narrowed his eyes again as he studied the gun.

"She thinks she can end this before her ten rounds run out,"

he thought, raising his brow slightly as he observed her stance more carefully.

"Then let’s see how this Akia will end."

His eyes darkened slightly with focus, his grip on the Glock 19 tightening as more Cognis flowed through his body, preparing himself for what was about to come.