Chaos erupted.
A ring of fire flared instantly to rlin's left, Ethan, his green eyes burning as his blade swept wide, flas carving through the sand.
A dozen students reeled back, so countering with jets of water, others hurling chunks of stone ripped from the ground.
To his right, Seraphina's ice blossod across the dunes, jagged walls erupting in perfect, crystalline arcs. Students skidded across slick surfaces, daggers and blades clashing, frost crawling up their boots.
Shadows darted between them, Dorian, his pale hair flashing as his twin daggers cut through confusion. His movents were precise, ruthless, like a predator weaving through prey.
Nathan's laughter carried over the din, sharp and reckless. "Co on, then!" He blurred in lightning, daggers sparking as he clashed with a cluster of students who'd decided strength in numbers was their only hope.
Adrian bellowed, swinging his battle axe in arcs wide enough to carve trenches in the sand. Liliana moved near him, her water forming spears that lanced through fire and stone alike.
All around, affinities clashed, water against fire, stone against lightning, ice against darkness.
Sand exploded upward in geysers, light bent and cracked, the air itself scread with power.
rlin stood at the center of it, golden eyes cutting across the battlefield.
For a long mont, he didn't move.
He watched. He asured. He waited.
'They're giving everything already. Burning themselves out in the first clash.' His jaw tightened. 'If I step in now… it'll end too fast.'
He shifted his stance slightly, letting the heat of the desert settle into his skin. Lightning flickered faintly across his shoulders, wind stirring at his boots, water coiling in whispers at his fingertips. His aura pressed outward, faint but undeniable.
And students noticed.
Heads turned. Whispers broke even amid chaos.
"rlin's not moving."
"He's just—watching."
"Doesn't he need to fight?"
Fear crept into their voices.
–––
A spear of stone shattered near his feet.
rlin glanced up.
A tall boy with cropped brown hair glared at him from across the sand, his palm pressed against the ground. His voice shook but carried. "Don't just stand there, Everhart! You think you're above us?!"
rlin's eyes narrowed faintly. He said nothing.
The boy grit his teeth and slamd his palms down. A wave of jagged stone spears erupted in a line, tearing across the sand toward rlin.
rlin exhaled once.
Lightning cracked across his body. His figure blurred, vanishing from sight. The next instant, he stood behind the boy, golden eyes gleaming faintly.
The boy froze, his breath catching.
rlin's voice was quiet, almost gentle. "You shouldn't have drawn in."
A flick of wind burst outward, sending the boy sprawling across the sand unconscious before he even realized what happened.
Silence rippled outward.
Then whispers.
"He—"
"Did you see—"
"He didn't even—"
rlin turned back toward the battlefield. His expression was calm. Almost cold.
The chaos roared on, affinities tearing through sand and sky. But already, the students' attention had shifted. Already, eyes darted toward him, fear sparking in every glance.
rlin stepped forward at last, the sand crunching beneath his boots. His golden eyes locked on the storm of combat before him.
'If they want in this, then I'll show them what the gap really looks like.'
—
The desert churned with chaos. Firestorms twisted into walls of ice, lightning carved trenches across the dunes, and water hissed into vapor under the sun's rciless blaze. Dozens of students fought in shifting clusters, their affinities crackling in wild clashes.
And through it all, rlin walked forward.
Every step was deliberate, sand shifting beneath his boots as though the ground itself bent to his weight. He didn't rush, didn't flare his power recklessly. Yet students noticed. Heads turned even mid-battle, eyes snagging on the golden glow at his back.
Elara watched him from across the dunes, her violet eyes sharp beneath the curtain of her silver hair. She didn't move, didn't call out, but her grip tightened around her twin blades.
Nathan broke from a group, sparks dancing across his daggers, laughter still riding his lips. But even he faltered when rlin's gaze brushed over him.
The free-for-all had begun only minutes ago, and already the battlefield shifted. Alliances frayed, fights stalled, because one figure had finally decided to move.
rlin stopped at the crest of a dune. He looked out across the chaos, golden eyes calm.
'They're burning themselves fast. Three-star bodies straining under affinities that eat through stamina like fla to oil. They think this is a sprint.'
A ripple of mana coiled around his hand. Wind. Lightning. Water. They answered him in quiet threads, waiting.
He lowered his arm slightly. His voice, though soft, carried across the sand.
"Co, then."
–––
The challenge lit sparks.
Three students nearest broke away instantly, rage and fear tangled in their faces. One, a broad-shouldered boy with fla affinity, hurled a torrent of fire across the dune.
The second, a girl with long braids and earth affinity, drove her hands into the sand, pillars of stone shot upward, racing to trap him. The third, a wiry boy with water affinity, swept his arm wide, a blade of liquid cutting sharp as glass.
The storm of attacks converged.
rlin exhaled once. Lightning coiled across his skin, wind snapping around him. His figure blurred.
The firestorm collapsed into empty sand. Stone pillars slamd into each other, spraying rubble. The water blade carved air.
Gasps broke out.
rlin stood behind them. Not a single grain of sand clung to his boots. His hand rested on the broad-shouldered boy's shoulder.
The boy froze, terror crawling across his features.
rlin's golden eyes glead. "…Too slow."
A flicker of wind burst outward. All three were hurled sprawling into the dunes, knocked unconscious before they understood how.
—-
"—What?!" a voice cracked.
"He dropped them like—like nothing!" another cried.
All around, students faltered. Dozens of pairs of eyes locked on rlin.
And then fear turned to frenzy.
"Take him down first!" soone shouted.
The words spread like wildfire.
Within monts, seven, no, nine students converged on him. A tide of fla, ice, stone, and lightning crashed forward, affinities braided together in sheer desperation.
rlin's jaw tightened. 'So they've chosen as the enemy.'
The air thickened. Lightning cracked around his shoulders, golden arcs dancing across his fra. Wind howled at his boots, the sand whipping into miniature storms. Water shimred faintly at his fingertips, coiling like serpents.
The storm hit.
Flas roared. Stone spears scread. Ice blades sliced through air. Lightning cracked in jagged arcs.
rlin's figure vanished into the barrage.
For a heartbeat, students cheered.
Then the storm imploded.
A wave of wind tore outward, scattering fire into embers, stone into rubble, ice into glittering shards. A single burst of lightning split the sky, blinding white, and when it cleared rlin stood at the center, untouched.
Gasps choked the air.
"…Impossible," soone whispered.
He moved.
In less than a breath, he blurred through the nine. His strikes were precise, efficient—wind snapping into knees, lightning jolting through blades, water slamming into stomachs. One by one they dropped, unconscious before their bodies hit sand.
rlin stopped at the far side, golden eyes calm. His breathing hadn't changed. Not once.
–––
The battlefield shifted again.
Students who monts ago had been locked in duels broke apart, instinctively pulling back. Whispers cut jagged through the heat.
"He's not even—he's not even sweating."
"That's not human."
"Six stars… it has to be."
Dorian Graves crouched on a dune, daggers glinting in his pale hands, crimson eyes narrowing. He said nothing, but the set of his jaw hardened.
Seraphina's silver eyes locked on rlin too, her ice affinity blooming faintly at her fingertips. Calculating.
Nathan barked out a laugh, spinning his daggers. "Now this is more like it!" Sparks licked across his fra, his grin feral. "Don't hold back on , Everhart!"
rlin glanced at him. His gaze didn't linger, but it was enough. Nathan's grin twitched.
—
From across the dunes, Morgana's violet hair caught the sun. She hadn't moved since the start, her arms folded, her gaze fixed only on him. Her lips curved in a faint smile.
"He's not even pressing past a fraction of it," she murmured.
No one heard her.
–––
The desert roared on. Dozens of students still fought, desperate to prove themselves, desperate not to vanish into insignificance beside him.
But more and more, the center of gravity tilted.
Toward rlin.
He stood at the heart of it, golden eyes steady, waiting for the next wave.
'This is only the beginning,' he thought, the wind stirring sharper around him. 'If I release even half… they won't last minutes.'
—
The desert battlefield burned.
Smoke curled from shattered dunes, shards of ice glinted like teeth across the sand, and the sun's heat shimred against distorted air. Already a dozen students lay unconscious, their bodies scattered like discarded dolls. The instructors monitoring through the pods marked their nas quietly, removing them from the rankings.
And at the heart of the chaos stood rlin.
Golden arcs crawled lazily across his fra, wind tugged at his clothes, and faint traces of water trailed his fingertips before evaporating into the heat. His chest rose and fell steady, unhurried, like soone strolling through a garden, not surviving a free-for-all with sixty opponents.
Around him, silence gathered.
Not complete, there were still skirmishes on the edges, still grunts and shouts and the crackle of affinities tearing through sand. But in the center, within the invisible ring that had ford around him, no one dared move.
They'd seen what happened to the nine who tried.
rlin's golden eyes scanned the circle. His lips curved, faint, humorless.
'They've decided to wait out. Or… no.' His gaze flicked, catching Seraphina's silver eyes, Nathan's sparks in the corner of his vision, Dorian's crimson glare like knives. Elara's violet gaze, unflinching. Liliana's nervous blue. Ethan's narrowed green. Adrian, already twirling his massive axe in one hand as if it weighed nothing.
'They're planning.'
The tension cracked when Nathan stepped forward.
"Alright!" His voice cut across the field, sharp and bold. Sparks leapt with his words, tracing down his daggers. "Enough gawking, yeah? We all saw it, Everhart's a damn monster. Stronger than all of us, sure. But if we don't take him now, none of us stand a chance of ranking!"
Murmurs rippled. So students nodded fiercely. Others looked uncertain, glancing nervously between rlin and their supposed allies.
Seraphina's voice slid cold across the dunes. "He's right. This isn't about pride. It's survival. We take him down together."
Dorian scoffed, crimson eyes flashing. "Together? Hmph. Call it what you like. I'll carve him open with or without you." His daggers shimred, frost curling along their edges.
Liliana clenched her fists, blue eyes bright but nervous. "If we're doing this… then fine. But I'm not letting anyone die."
Ethan just yawned, green eyes half-lidded. "Tch. All of you are exhausting. But fine, if I don't do sothing, it'll be boring." Flas hissed across his longsword as he dragged it through the sand.
Adrian lifted his axe to rest across his shoulders, golden hair shining under the simulated sun. His grin was wide, confident. "Heh. If we're swinging at giants, I'd rather swing hard. Let's go."
The circle closed.
Elara said nothing. She hadn't moved since the free-for-all began, violet eyes fixed on rlin alone. When the others finally began stepping forward, she followed—not behind, not ahead, but beside them, blades gleaming faintly at her hips.
rlin's jaw tightened. "…So this is it."
The ground trembled as affinities surged at once. Firestorms licked the dunes, ice cracked into jagged walls, lightning slashed the sky, water shimred in coiling waves. Sandstorms howled to life under Adrian's axe swings, each one splitting the ground.
The strongest of the first years, all converging.
On him.
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