Chapter 29
The ball, wrapped in Duran’s lightning Aura, flew toward the goal.
“Wind Shield!”
In that instant, Chelsea hastily cast a defensive spell.
A powerful wind blew from Class 5’s goal.
The ball, which had been flying at incredible speed, suddenly slowed down.
But its momentum hadn’t disappeared.
It only stalled the ball for a split second.
With lightning Aura swirling around it, no one could recklessly try to catch it.
Even if someone did, the ball would surely break through Chelsea’s defense and head for the goal before anyone else could touch it.
“Pointless!” Duran sneered.
At that moment, Leo shouted,
“Carr! Get ready for what I told you!”
“Man! If it weren’t for the bathroom cleaning—!”
Carr Thomas summoned his magic.
Carr specialized in earth attribute magic.
The earth attribute was especially good for defense and weight!
A faint brown Mana flared from Carr’s body.
Leo, grabbing Carr’s now-weightless hand, hurled him toward the goal.
It was a plan for a full-body block.
Whoosh! Fwoosh—!
Carr’s body flew toward the goal.
Whoosh—! Shhhaaaa—!
At the same time, the ball broke through Chelsea’s barrier.
Now lighter than the ball, Carr reached the goal before the ball did thanks to Leo’s strength.
“Useless! You’ll go into the goal along with the ball!”
Duran laughed.
But just before being hit, Carr used magic to maximize his weight.
On top of that, Chelsea quickly cast a shield spell on him.
Wham—!
“Gah!”
Thud—!
Only Carr, struck by the ball, was sent into the goal. The ball bounced away.
If someone catches the ball before it hits the ground, their team keeps possession; if not, they lose it.
Thunk—! Roll roll roll.
The ball tumbled across the ground.
Beep—!
“Possession goes to Class 5!”
“Kyaa! Awesome, Carr!”
“We’ll never forget your sacrifice for the class!”
With Leo, Chelsea, and Carr’s teamwork, they barely managed to defend, and Class 5 erupted in cheers.
Carr, seeing his classmates only remember his sacrifice but not his well-being, managed a sorrowful smile.
“Sorry, Carr.”
“You okay?”
“Leo, Chelsea, you’re all I’ve got,” Carr said, touched by the two as they approached with apologetic smiles.
“That was awesome. What’s that strategy called?” Nella, approaching for healing, asked lazily.
“Operation: Friend Shield! Leo came up with this defense for situations just like this!” Chelsea said with a beaming smile.
“Using a friend as a tool for victory… Smart call,” Nella replied.
Carr wanted to cry.
Meanwhile, Eliana, now holding the ball, spun her arm with a flourish.
“Alright! Alright! Let’s go for another point—!”
Whoosh—!
From Class 1’s side, something like a whip shot out and snatched the ball from Eliana’s hand.
“Ooooh! Haul!”
“So cool!”
“That’s the successor of the Snake Spear!”
In an instant, Class 1 had recaptured possession and their morale skyrocketed.
Eliana stared blankly at her empty hands and the ball that Class 1 had taken, then brought her hands together and bowed her head to Carr.
“Sorry, they took it.”
“Give me my sacrifice baaaaack!”
—
“Oh! What brings you to the training ground at this hour, Senior Ain?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I came to observe the Combat Studies class.”
Ain and Len crossed paths in front of the training ground.
“Haha, I see. Of course. Right now, Celia, Duran, and Chen Xia are in class, aren’t they? As a professor of your field, you’d want to see how the ace students of the Knights Department perform in battle!”
“I’m here to observe all the Knights Department students, Len. Not just here for someone specific like you.”
“I’m here to check on all the Magic Department students as well,” Professor Len shrugged.
The two weren’t just senior and junior as teachers.
Both were Lumene graduates who’d known each other since their school days.
Of course, it wasn’t a friendly relationship; as professors from different departments, their rivalry had continued since their student days.
And when Yura, the Summoning professor, was added to the mix, everyone knew it was a recipe for chaos—both professors and students alike.
“By the way, I was surprised when I heard whose professor were put in charge of the first-years.”
“It’s the first time for both of us, yes.”
“Come to think of it, Senior Ain, you were Professor Sedgen’s first student, weren’t you? What was he like back then?”
“He’s exactly the same. He cared deeply for his students. Professor Harrid has changed a lot since then.”
“By the time I reached fifth year, he was already known as the Wailing Wall.”
Reminiscing, the two professors entered the training ground.
And were surprised.
“Bastera? On the very first class?”
“Bold move.”
They quickly realized that it was Class 1 and Class 5 playing Bastera.
‘Class 5 is leading 1-0.’
An unexpected result.
Class 1’s ace players were all present.
It wasn’t intentional, but Class 1 was the elite group, packed with high entrance exam scores.
A match between the top and bottom classes.
No matter how little entrance scores matter months later, for now the gap was still clear.
‘Leo, Chelsea, Eliana, and Tide. And Nella… You could call them the aces of Class 5, but the rest aren’t.’
Ain looked intrigued.
“Amazing,” said Len as he watched the game.
“Leo is definitely a natural leader.”
“I could tell from the entrance ceremony.”
Class 1 used their superior skills to overwhelm Class 5 with individual play.
In contrast, Class 5 relied on teamwork.
At the center of it all was Leo.
He anticipated the opponent’s moves at every moment and, when necessary, came up with split-second ideas to counter Class 1’s attacks.
Len frowned in regret.
‘He only uses Aura!’
It would be nice if he used magic as well, but Leo only used Aura.
He didn’t have a choice.
Leo’s spell interpretation was outstanding, but his Mana reserves were small.
So Aura had become his main power in combat.
Len glanced anxiously at Ain.
Ain, too, was watching Leo—but unlike Len, he wore an expression of deep satisfaction.
Stung by this, Len shouted inwardly,
‘Leo, please use magic too~!’
As Len watched Leo with desperate hope, the match entered its final stages.
Since Bastera required using all sorts of powers, it was exhausting.
Normally, a match would last an hour, but with first-year stamina, twenty minutes was the limit.
Then, Celia’s terrifying attack shook Class 5’s net.
“Celia! Amazing! I think I’m falling for you!”
“Big sis! Make me your little sister!”
Class 1 cheered wildly.
Celia had scored, breaking through three Class 5 defenders at the goal.
“Is she… a monster?”
Carr, struck directly by the ball, muttered weakly before slumping over, unconscious.
“Huff—! Huff—!”
But Celia herself was exhausted after putting in all her strength.
“I took down three, and there’s not much time left! If we stop this next attack and counter, we can win, so we have to turn it around no matter what!”
Celia shouted hoarsely.
Class 5, having lost their slim lead in an instant, was at their lowest.
Meanwhile, Class 1’s morale soared.
From the back, Chloe glared at Class 5.
The brightest star of this match had undoubtedly been Chloe.
She’d allowed an early surprise goal, but afterward, she’d perfectly shut down Class 5’s main attackers—Leo and Chelsea.
No matter what tricks they tried, Chloe was impenetrable.
Facing Leo, who was getting ready to attack, Chloe made up her mind.
‘I won’t lose. Ever.’
Since the first magic class, Chloe found herself unable to ignore Leo.
She had never once thought of herself as behind in magic compared to anyone.
Even compared to Abad, the classmate considered the best mage, she believed her spell analysis skills were superior.
And it was true.
A prodigy of spellcraft, recognized even by the Northern Magic Tower.
That was Chloe Mueller.
But on the very first day, she’d fallen behind in magic analysis.
‘I can’t lose to Leo Plov.’
Chloe clenched her fists tightly.
With Celia now out, there was a glaring hole in Class 1’s defense.
“Attack! If we don’t score now, we’re finished!”
Eliana shouted.
Chelsea blocked Duran, who tried to rush Leo.
Other players did everything they could to isolate Leo and Chloe for a one-on-one.
Leo nimbly weaved through Class 1’s field, dashing for the goal.
With Celia out and Duran tied up by Chelsea, there was truly no one left to stop Leo.
But Class 1 still had one card left.
Chloe blocked Leo’s path.
“You’re not getting past.”
“Sorry, but one-on-one, I think I can break through.”
Leo’s remark made Chloe smirk.
Crack crack crack—!
Leo’s eyes twitched.
Ice formed in midair, and four ice sculptures—identical to Chloe—appeared, blocking Leo like living dolls.
“No way! Ice clones? She’s using a technique that hard? Even my brother can’t do that!”
Chelsea was shocked.
“That’s not just an ordinary clone!”
Magic circles spread around the ice clones.
Each one was essentially its own mage.
“To use a spell like this at her age? Genius,”
Leo said in admiration.
Chloe’s eyes narrowed.
“Are you mocking me?”
‘He took first place in magic theory and dares to tease me?’
Chloe glared fiercely and scoffed.
“Anyway, you’re not getting through! Just give up!”
“With Aura alone, you’re right—I can’t break this.”
Leo smiled faintly.
“With Aura alone, that is.”
Fwoosh!
‘Mana?’
Chloe was caught off guard.
She never expected Leo to use magic at this moment.
Leo’s body multiplied.
‘An illusion spell? That’s nothing!’
Caught by surprise, but if it was just an illusion spell, Chloe could handle it.
It was a foul to attack with magic, but attacking magical illusions was fair game.
‘Which one is real?’
But for Chloe, finding the real one among simple illusions was child’s play.
She focused Mana in her eyes and analyzed the mirages.
Suddenly, Chloe’s expression hardened.
‘I can’t tell which one’s fake!’
With no way to pick out the real one, she couldn’t attack recklessly.
But there was something even more shocking.
‘This… this spell…!’
While Chloe was stunned, Leo passed her and gently tossed the ball into the goal.
Completely overwhelmed, Chloe simply collapsed on the spot.
A flawless illusion spell, impossible to discern.
Chloe recognized the magic Leo had just used.
But she couldn’t cast it herself.
Because the spell Leo used was not human magic.
Chloe stared blankly after him.
As the illusion vanished, leaves fluttered down.
A completely different magical system.
“Elven… Star Magic?”
Mirage.
What Leo had used was a spell created by Luna, the Founder of the Nebula.