Iris’s body dissolved.

The solid form turned to water in an instant, the chains passing through liquid as Iris’s Oceanic Form activated.

She reformed three meters away, her rapier already in motion.

"You can’t touch me in this state." Iris’s voice carried absolute confidence. "My body is partially liquid... Physical attacks pass right through."

Water surrounded her completely now, her form shifting between solid and liquid with each movement.

"The only ways to beat this form are to exhaust my Aura completely or.. eliminate every single drop of my water-form." Her blue eyes gleamed. "You should give up, Luna. You have no chance of winning this fight."

Luna’s lips moved, the words barely audible.

"No chance of winning?–"

Silent Step

Her body vanished and reappeared thirty meters away, her index finger pointed directly at Iris’s chest.

Whispers rippled through the stands.

"Is she surrendering?"

"Why’s she pointing like that?"

"She’s giving up–"

A single point of light appeared at Luna’s fingertip.

Her entire Aura reservoir drained inward, converging on that point until the pressure made the air warp and shimmer.

CRACK

The arena floor beneath her feet split from the density.

Iris’s eyes went wide.

’That–’

Her blue Aura exploded outward as water wrapped around her body in layered shields.

Tidal Fortress

Three rotating barriers formed around her position, each one dense enough to stop the strongest of attacks at her level.

Luna’s voice finished her sentence.

"–Who decided that?"

The beam released as concentrated multicolored Aura erupted from her fingertip, crossing thirty meters in a heartbeat.

The air turned fiery along its path, atmosphere screaming as it rushed to fill the vacuum.

The beam hit Iris’s first barrier.

The shield vaporized completely, water exploding into steam.

The second barrier lasted a millisecond before the beam drilled through.

The third shattered completely, fragments scattering like shrapnel.

And the beam struck Iris dead center.

BOOOOOOM!

The explosion shook the arena structure, stone disintegrating outward from the impact point.

Fire and steam filled the air, obscuring everything in a grey-white cloud.

Debris rained down, superheated stone hissing as it cooled.

Students stared into the murk with wide eyes, hands gripping railings.

The dust settled slowly.

A crater dominated the arena floor, twenty meters across with melted glass-like edges.

Iris lay at the far edge, motionless.

Blood covered her face and uniform, a deep gash across her forehead exposing bone.

Her rapier lay shattered across the rubble.

Professor Seraphina stood beside Iris’s broken form, her shield had caught the worst of the beam’s force, preventing it from killing her.

But the damage was catastrophic.

Burns covered Iris’s arms, her chest rising with shallow breaths. She was completely unconscious.

On the opposite side, Luna stood with her arm extended, finger still pointing.

Blood ran from her nose, her legs trembled from complete Aura exhaustion.

But she was still standing.

Seraphina’s eyes lingered on Luna for a moment, her expression unreadable.

’Was she planning to kill her? And that attack... was it... No, it must have been something else...’

Her gaze shifted to the destruction, then back to Luna’s trembling form.

He voice cut through the silence.

"Winner: Luna Valcor!"

For three heartbeats, nobody moved.

Then the spell broke.

Commoner students erupted into cheers, voices overlapping in waves.

"Holy shit, did you see that?!"

"She completely destroyed Iris Langsten!"

"We’re not leaderless! Even without Damian, we have Luna!"

"That beam was insane!"

"She’s so beautiful and strong!"

Noble students were quieter, their reactions more subdued.

A fourth-year with silver hair leaned toward his companion.

"Iris would have died without Professor Seraphina’s intervention."

His companion nodded slowly, face pale.

"That skill... I’ve never seen Aura condensed to that degree before."

A third-year girl spoke from behind them.

"Two seconds from start to finish... The speed of execution was terrifying."

She shook her head.

Luna lowered her arm as Emotional Void released its hold.

Warmth returned to her features gradually, though her eyes remained cold as she turned toward the crowd.

Her voice carried across the arena.

"All rules established by Damian will continue without exception. I will act as Vice President of the Student Council until he returns."

Her silver eyes locked onto where Michael and Leonard stood frozen.

"Does anyone disagree?"

After several long seconds where nobody dared respond, Luna turned and walked toward the arena steps.

Her legs trembled from Aura exhaustion, but her posture remained straight and her pace steady.

Alessio and Sakura fell into step behind her without instruction, following their mistress away from the destroyed battlefield.

Sakura’s thoughts churned as she watched Luna’s back.

’I knew it! Luna becomes so scary when it comes to anything involving Damian... She definitely wanted to kill Iris! If professor Seraphina had been even a second slower...’

She swallowed hard.

’I’m so glad I killed off those feelings like she told me to... I really don’t want to end up like Iris.’

Alessio walked on Luna’s other side, his dark eyes thoughtful.

’The Mistress didn’t use that skill to rewrite emotions during or after the fight... She could have forced a surrender.’

His gaze flicked to Luna’s profile, noting the dried blood beneath her nose.

’Is it because she wants to keep that ability hidden from the public? Or maybe her Will stat isn’t strong enough yet to overcome an Imperial heir’s resistance...’

He filed the observation away.

’Either way, she’s growing stronger every day. Master Damian would be proud...’

In the stands, Michael stood frozen, his golden eyes locked on the massive crater.

His hands had clenched into fists hard enough that his nails drew blood from his palms.

"Fuck. ." The word came out quiet. "What kind of skill was that?!"

Leonard’s voice answered beside him, equally shaken.

"Did you not notice her Aura Magnification being three times? Even Damian only managed twice during our fights."

His grey eyes tracked the path Luna had taken.

"And the way she compressed all that magnified Aura into a single point... I’ve never seen that level of control from anyone in our year!"

Michael’s jaw clenched.

"I thought with Damian gone, we could finally rise again..." His voice carried bitter edges. "We’ve been training nonstop for over a year now..."

Leonard let out a helpless laugh.

"But it seems an even bigger monster appeared to take his place."

He turned to face Michael directly.

"Can you win against her? Your Imperial skill improved significantly in the past months, right?"

Michael remained silent for a long moment, watching medical personnel extract Iris from the crater.

Her unconscious form looked small and broken, blood still dripping despite emergency healing.

"It’s hard to say." His voice came out measured. "And who knows if what we just saw is everything she has."

He shook his head slowly.

"Four months since awakening, Leonard... Four months, and she’s already at this level."

Leonard’s frustration cracked through his composure.

"What the fuck is up with this family?! First Damian appeared out of nowhere and became unstoppable!"

His hands gestured wildly.

"Then his parents turned out to be some kind of legends in the military that nobody talks about openly!"

He gestured toward where Luna had disappeared.

"Now even his sister shows up and proves she’s just as much of a monster! Is there any normal person in their entire family?!"

Michael’s expression shifted.

"Isn’t that new professor, Sebastian Valcor, also their uncle? The one who just broke through to S rank recently?"

Silence fell between them, heavy and oppressive.

Leonard stared at the destroyed arena floor.

Finally, he spoke, his voice carrying grim certainty.

"This Valcor family... it would take an entire Noble family using every resource they possess to even attempt eliminating them all."

He paused, running through the numbers.

"And even then, I genuinely don’t know what the outcome would be. They might take the entire attacking family down with them before falling."

Michael said nothing, just continued staring at the crater where Luna Valcor had proven the Mafia’s reign was far from over.