Iris’s voice cut through the crowd noise like a blade.

"Damian Valcor hasn’t appeared in the academy for months now. And the Student Council is filled with unworthy people who have also disappeared for the past few days."

Her blue eyes swept across the gathered students.

"After today’s victory, I declare myself to be the Vice President of the Student Council. If there is someone who has an objection, they can come here and fight me."

Whispers exploded through the crowd like wildfire.

"She’s really claiming the position outright?"

"The core Mafia members haven’t appeared for days either. Edrin, Ronan, Lysa, all of them just vanished."

"Even if they were here, they wouldn’t be able to beat Michael Thorne, Leonard Ashford, and Iris Langsten. Those three are all B rank now with their Imperial skills improved."

"It seems the Mafia’s days are really over this time."

Near the back of the crowd, standing in a section reserved for higher-ranked students, Michael Thorne leaned toward Leonard Ashford.

His golden hair caught the arena lights as he kept his voice low.

"Are you sure about this? If Damian comes back and finds out we let Iris do this..."

Leonard waved his hand dismissively, though his grey eyes remained sharp and watchful.

"He won’t appear now. I have my sources, and they’re reliable." His lips curved into a satisfied smile. "Damian has gone to some sort of military training center. He won’t be back for months, maybe even longer."

’I’m getting a bad feeling about this...’

Michael’s expression remained troubled, but he nodded slowly and turned his attention back to the arena.

Iris raised her rapier slightly, the blade catching the light.

"Since no one has any objection–"

Before she could finish, a cold voice resonated across the entire arena.

"I do."

"..."

The crowd went silent for a heartbeat, then erupted into motion as bodies shifted and turned, trying to find the source of that voice.

Students parted slowly, creating a clear path for the one who spoke.

Luna Valcor walked forward, her silver eyes fixed on Iris and her expression icy cold.

Behind her, Alessio moved like a shadow, his small frame tense and ready.

Sakura Sterling walked on Luna’s other side, her hands clenched and her breathing shallow.

The whispers exploded through the stands.

"That’s Luna Valcor! Damian’s sister!"

"She’s the undisputed first rank of the first years. No one dared challenge her position even once."

"But she can’t possibly defeat the second-year Imperial heirs, right? She’s just C+ rank currently, and Iris is a B rank with an Imperial skill!"

"This is going to be a massacre. What is she thinking?"

Thud Thud Thud

Luna continued walking toward the arena platform, her footsteps steady and unhurried.

As she moved through the crowd, something shifted in the atmosphere around her.

Saintly Presence started working passively.

Students with lower Will stats felt it first, a strange sense of calm washing over them, an inexplicable trust settling into their bones.

The anger they’d felt toward the nobles faded slightly, replaced by certainty that whatever Luna was about to do was right and justified.

Those with stronger wills resisted the effect, but even they felt the edges of it pressing against their minds.

Luna climbed the steps to the arena platform, Alessio and Sakura remaining at the base.

She stopped ten meters from Iris, her silver eyes meeting blue without flinching.

Iris felt something tugging at her emotions, a subtle wrongness that made her want to lower her guard, to believe this first-year student wasn’t actually a threat.

She shook her head sharply, her Will stat flaring to life as she reinforced her mental defenses.

’What was that? Some kind of passive skill?’

Her grip tightened on her rapier as she studied Luna with new wariness.

"You’re not strong enough to challenge me, little girl." Iris’s voice carried across the arena, confident and dismissive. "You’re talented, everyone knows that. But talent means nothing without time to develop it."

Luna tilted her head slightly, her silver eyes cold and aloof.

"You shouldn’t have challenged Damian."

She reached towards her Spatial ring and drew her weapon in one motion.

A chained blade uncoiled in her grip, the metal links singing softly as they extended.

The blade itself was elegantly curved, etched with patterns that seemed to shift in the light.

Her mother had given it to her months ago, along with the weapon art that went with it.

Iris’s eyes tracked the weapon’s movement.

’So her weapon is a chained blade... odd choice.’

Whoosh

Professor Seraphina Vale descended from the sky, violet Aura flaring around her like wings before dispersing as her boots touched the arena floor.

She landed between Luna and Iris, her sharp violet eyes sweeping across both students.

"I’ll be officiating this match."

Her voice carried absolute authority.

"Standard academy combat rules apply. The match ends when one participant is injured to the point of being unable to continue, or when one participant verbally admits defeat."

She looked at Luna.

"Understood?"

"Yes, Professor."

She turned to Iris.

"Understood?"

"Yes, Professor."

Seraphina stepped backward, moving to the edge of the arena, but staying close enough to intervene if necessary.

Her hand raised.

"Prepare yourselves."

Luna’s Aura erupted around her body.

It wasn’t a single color like most awakeners.

Multicolored light swirled around her form in beautiful, shifting patterns, all bleeding into each other like an aurora made solid.

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

"What kind of Aura is that..."

"I’ve never seen anything like it..."

"It’s so beautiful..."

Iris’s water-blue Aura intensified, her rapier becoming wreathed in flowing liquid.

Seraphina’s hand dropped.

"BEGIN!"

Emotional Void

Luna’s eyes went completely empty.

Every feeling drained from her mind in an instant, replaced by pure logic and calculation. Fear, hesitation and morality, all of it vanished like smoke in the wind.

’I can’t match her Aura reserves or her rank advantage in a straight fight... I have to use everything I can to end this quickly.’

Her Aura exploded outward, the multicolored energy intensifying until it blazed around her like flames.

Aura Magnification: ×3

The pressure tripled instantly, washing over the arena with enough force to make weaker students stumble backward in their seats.

Iris’s eyes went wide with shock.

’Three times magnification?!’

She didn’t waste time being surprised, her body was already moving. Her form blurred as she crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat, the water around her rapier extending into a spiraling drill.

"Depth’s Pierce!"

The attack came for Luna’s heart, water pressure condensed at the tip of the weapon.

Silent Step

Luna’s body flickered as she reappeared five meters to the left.

But water was already there waiting.

Iris’s blade hadn’t stopped moving. The moment Luna dodged, dozens of water blades materialized in the air.

"Tidal Cascade!"

Each blade moved independently, tracking Luna’s new position like living serpents.

Luna’s hands moved in a complex pattern, her multicolored Aura forming a barrier in front of her body.

Prismatic Shield

The defensive skill manifested as a dome of energy around her body.

The water blades hit the barrier.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

Each impact sounded like cannon fire as cracks spider-webbed across the Prismatic Shield’s surface.

But the final blade shattered it completely.

The force launched Luna backward through the air, her boots leaving the ground, her body rotating as momentum carried her toward the arena wall.

Blood filled her mouth from the internal impact, but she swallowed it.

’Now!’

The moment her feet hit the ground, she pushed off immediately, her body blurring as she activated Silent Step again while simultaneously channeling Aura into her chained blade.

The weapon began to glow with multicolored light.

"Serpent’s Lament!"

The chained blade extended, multiplying in Luna’s grip.

Suddenly there were dozens of Lunas surrounding Iris, each one wielding an identical chained blade, each one attacking from a different angle.

The afterimages moved with perfect synchronization, the blades coming for Iris’s throat, heart, spine, legs, and arms all at once.

Iris’s eyes widened fractionally.

’All illusions except one. But which–’

But she didn’t have time to figure it out.

The chained blades converged as metal links wrapped around Iris’s body from every direction, the real blade and the afterimages overlapping until she couldn’t tell which was which.

By the time the weapon art completed, Iris stood completely bound.

The chain wrapped around her torso, her arms pinned to her sides, her legs locked together. The blade itself pressed against her throat, just hard enough to draw a thin line of blood.

Luna appeared in front of her, the chain extending back to the weapon in Luna’s grip.

Her silver eyes were completely empty, showing nothing.

"Give up."

Iris’s lips curved into a smile despite the blade at her throat.

"Are you forgetting my Imperial Skill?"