"Everyone, on !"
Nyra shouted, desperately calling for everyone to gather outside.
Yes, the professors were powerful, but it was still the first night of the hunt. Only the newer professors, along with a few specially skilled ones, were allowed to move.
Even a group of seniors could effectively hold them back with good leadership.
Nyra narrowly avoided a beam of light aid at her face, retaliating with a gust of wind that tore through anything in its path.
Unfortunately for her, the rest of the seniors couldn’t join; they were already struggling against multiple professors attacking from all sides.
It was effectively a deathmatch, and the professors made sure to cut off every path the seniors could use to group up.
This had been a long ti coming; the professors had always wanted a chance to finally humble the so-called "seniors’ alliance."
Being powerful and proud was okay; being complacent and arrogant was not.
And this was the ti they’ll pay for not adapting since they first developed their strategy.
"Keep fire! How can we call ourselves professors if we can’t even keep our students’ pride in check!"
The lead professor in charge of the ambush delivered with telepathy, a subtype of wind magic that allowed him to command the battlefield with little problem.
Urging the rest to continue the relentless barrage of spells while the rest fight the students head-on.
This wasn’t just an exam for the students; it also acted as an evaluation to see if the professors were worthy of teaching at Eryndor.
This was just as important to them as it was for the students.
Spells rained down nonstop.
Fireballs, compressed wind blades, jagged ice spears—every professor focused on suppression rather than elimination, forcing the seniors to keep moving while bleeding stamina fast.
Nyra clicked her tongue as she slid behind a shattered statue, breathing hard.
"Formation C! Fall back in pairs—don’t stop moving!"
A few students responded imdiately, but too many didn’t. So were pinned. Others were already being dragged out by observers after taking hits they couldn’t recover from.
’So this is what it feels like... being on the losing side.’
A shockwave blasted past her cover, turning stone into gravel.
"Tch."
She leapt sideways just as a professor landed where she’d been standing, coat fluttering, staff already raised.
"Still standing?" he said calmly. "Good. Would’ve been disappointing otherwise."
Nyra didn’t bother replying.
She snapped her fingers.
[Jetstream Burst]
The compressed wind detonated at his feet, launching him backwards just enough for her to reposition. Not a win—just space. Space was all she needed right now.
Her communicator crackled. "President—half our left wing’s out! We can’t regroup!"
"I know," Nyra replied sharply. "Stop trying. Scatter and survive. Points don’t matter anymore."
There was a pause.
"...Understood."
That hurt more than any spell.
The seniors’ greatest strength, numbers and coordination, was now useless. The professors had forced them into isolated skirmishes where experience ant nothing without adaptability.
And the worst part?
Nyra could feel it.
That oppressive pressure from earlier hadn’t vanished.
It was still there... watching.
High above, Corvus finally stood.
Not to intervene.
Just to observe.
His presence alone caused several professors to subconsciously adjust their movents, tightening formations, increasing efficiency. No orders were given, none were needed.
Getting recognised by him alone was enough to warrant a promotion.
Nyra noticed it imdiately.
"...Unbelievable," she muttered. "He isn’t even supposed to move yet..."
She clenched her fists, eyes sharp despite the exhaustion.
Fine.
If this hunt was ant to break old habits.
Then she’d survive long enough to rebuild them.
Nyra turned, sprinting toward the darker sections of the academy, abandoning pride, abandoning control, doing the one thing the seniors had forgotten how to do.
Adapt and survive alone.
"Bravo."
Evelina slowly clapped as she saw the chaos unfold, a sadistic grin appearing on her face as she enjoyed every last mont of it.
She was pragmatic when it ca to her evil, but even she couldn’t help but take pleasure in it.
"You even made the professor move..."
Evelina humd as she watched the destruction unfold with interest, as if she were watching a film instead of an actual war.
But then another idea ca to mind, sothing that should be fun while also giving her more power.
Two birds with one stone.
"Cael, can you send your student to save her?"
Evelina pointed behind a few layers of building where Nyra was hiding, even that wasn’t enough to mask her location from her keen senses.
She laughed, curious about what would happen.
"Any reason?"
"It would be useful to have the student council president owe us a favour, but I’d rather avoid the attention that cos with it."
She looked at , her crimson eyes shining, and that always happened when she got a good idea. "I want your student to act as the middleman, so to speak..."
"Kev—"
He imdiately kicked the door open and flashed a thumbs-up. The floor beneath him was already swirling around him as he began to teleport.
"Got it! I’ll make sure to handle her!"
[Dark Step]
FWOOSH!
"Looks like soone doesn’t want to be a third wheel."
I laugh and scratch the back of my head as I watch him disappear, feeling more excitent in that mont than he had in the entire past hour.
He wanted to be anywhere but here, far away from Corvus, and far away from third-wheeling on a couple.
"Guess that ans we have the entire space for ourselves."
Evelina walked towards , placing a finger on my chest with the other on her hip. Undeniably bored with camping and conserving her energy, after all that excitent, who could bla her for lacking a bit of stimulation?
"Then that ans we have plenty of ti to catch up."
***
"No one followed , good..."
Nyra winced, ripping a piece of her uniform to use as a bandage to stop the bleeding from her left shoulder that was nicked by a stray earth spell.
She was already planning on what to do; at this point, she had fully abandoned all notions of regrouping with the other seniors.
The professors were clearly targeting them.
The mont they even managed to get another sizeable force ready, they’d just get attacked imdiately.
"Who the hell cast that thing..."
The way the building crumbled inward, the destructive rain, and the serpent that coiled across the entire infrastructure.
It was like seeing a mini-version of Corvus at work.
Even if she combed through all the details of powerful students in the seniors’ batch, she couldn’t find a dark mage who was capable.
"Don’t tell ... It’s a junior that did that?"
FWOOSH!
Nyra imdiately turned when she heard rustling behind her, her hands ready to unleash another gust of wind that could incapacitate any average mage in a single blow.
But...
"Hello?"
"A-a student?"
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