Miranda remained frozen where she was midair above the trees of the forest, her jaw slackened, falling open as her eyes widened with shock. Her breathing began growing more labored, and she felt her vision blur; she felt blood draining from her head, leaving her dizzy and weak.

The magic circles supporting her elemental magic and her flight magic collapsed, causing her to fall from the air as her body went limp.

CLASP

A trainer caught her body with a serious expression.

Everybody remained dead silent as the sound of rustling leaves and swaying trees hung in the air. The atmosphere darkened despite the bright light of the morning Sun beaming down upon the world around them.

Not a single person could get themselves to move or even say a word about what had just happened.

Miranda had undoubtedly tried to kill Serulia.

The match was already declared over by Mr. Sorwel, and despite that, she deliberately blasted Serulia with all her accumulated power. Chills crawled across their skin as they thought about what would have happened had Cæ not intervened in the last moment by some miracle despite not being anywhere near in that moment.

Silian's expression grew severe as he clenched his fists, thinking about his attack on Cæ more than a year ago.

He had tried doing the same thing for a much more trivial reason and had gotten off relatively easily because it was the first day and because he was sixteen years old. Miranda, in comparison, was twenty-one years old. However, that particular detail didn't make him feel better about what he had done. Experiencing the sheer horror of what had just happened before him and realizing that his own actions closely matched it made him feel even worse about what had happened in the past.

He turned towards Cæ, hesitating for a moment, before turning away as he remembered that he was in the presence of many people.

What he wanted to say wasn't something that he could say in front of others.

He needed to be alone.

Cæ, on the other hand, tried to hide how extremely relieved he was.

His biggest fear was that the others had seen him use pure magic. However, that appeared not to be the case based on the way that the others were acting and speaking. They stared with severe expressions at Miranda and Serulia's unconscious expressions, then they paid attention to Cæ, which they certainly would have done had they detected that he used pure magic.

On top of that, Mr. Sorwel confirmed that the surveillance division of the magicademy didn't monitor the forest actively, which was of great relief to him as well. Since it meant that even the magicademy didn't have any reason to suspect him of being a pure mage.

"T-That was some absurdly incredible timing, Sir Cæ!" Lorden's hand balled into fists of excitement as he shouted at the top of his voice with amazement and admiration. His deep blue eyes sparkled with devotion as even his body language betrayed his deep respect for Cæ.

And yet, Cæ wanted to strangle him on the spot.

"It was nothing, let's go," Cæ brushed the matter under the rug, before quickly flying away.

Unfortunately, he had underestimated the intensity of Lorden's admiration of Cæ.

"Nothing?" He stared at Cæ with a dumbfounded expression. "Nothing?! That was everything! You were nowhere nearby, and then you just turned into a hazy blur and arrived before Serulia in the blink of an eye and had already cast a spell that defended against Miranda's full power! That's incredible, isn't it?!"

Cæ's eye twitched as he suppressed the urge to blast Lorden away with some pure magic.

"Yeah…" Mr. Sorwel frowned at those words, turning to Cæ with a confused expression. "Even I was caught off-guard and didn't make it in time, and I'm a senior mage. How did you, an apprentice mage, make it in time? That doesn't make sense now that I think about it."

Cæ cursed inwardly, swearing to subject his number one fan to unspeakable horrors.

On the outside, however, he was unperturbed.

He ensured that his gaze and attention appeared to remain on Serulia with concern and angst. As if this question was so irrelevant and trivial that it didn't even compare to more serious matters that they ought to have paid attention to.

"I was much closer," he remarked with a completely calm tone. "You were far away in the sky, overseeing the entire match across the forest. I know how strong senior mages are, but even you couldn't have made it in time. On the other hand, I had already reached our territory by the time the match was over, making it possible for me. On top of that…"

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He remarked nonchalantly. "It was part of my plan to have an incantation spell ready ahead of time in case Serulia's stealth magic failed and she was exposed to the offensive squad of Team Miranda before the match was over. Of course, I didn't think I would be using it to protect Serulia from a murder attempt. Thankfully, it all worked out well."

Mr. Sorwel nodded in deep thought. "That makes a lot of sense, actually."

He turned towards Cæ with a gaze of respect and admiration. "When I met Virlyd, I didn't think that the other fellow in contention with him for a spot in this team could possibly make for a better leader, but I was wrong. You are a great leader and a great person. I look forward to training you."

Cæ heaved a profound breath of relief internally.

There was no surveillance of him using his pure magic.

Mr. Sorwel bought his plausible and even reasonable explanation of what had happened, and didn't exhibit any suspicion of what Cæ was saying, nor did the other trainers or students, who were still stunned by the shocking events that had unfolded.

There was only one person who might have seen what had happened.

'Serulia…' His expression grew complicated. 'She saw everything. She'll have known that the incantation excuse was bullshit because she saw me up close before she fell unconscious…'

He felt his heart gripping in a vice as the tingling sensation of nervousness and anxiety began growing in his chest. He merely maintained a composed but serious exterior expression, not letting anybody in on his internal emotions.

"Let's get going," Mr. Sorwel instructed everybody with a serious tone. "You will all need to provide statements to the internal investigative division of the administration soon. I'm sure that Headmistress Lenolia will want to speak with all of you herself."

Cæ's eye twitched at those words as he groaned internally at those words.

Headmistress Lenolia, a master mage diviner with a specialty in people known as the Heart Seer, was going to want to speak with him personally about this issue.

'Dammit… If Headmistress Lenolia peers into my heart with her divination magic, then I'm screwed.' Cæ sharpened his gaze. 'I just hope that there is no need for it in this case, given that the crime that Miranda committed is irrefutable with plenty of eye-witness testimony. She won't need to rely on peering into my mind to gauge the truth.'

He hoped.

If she did, she would undoubtedly find his greatest secret, and there was no telling what would happen from that point on. What followed was a tense return to the main campus from the forest environment.

Their arrival, the grim expressions, and the severity of the air around them were not missed by the students on the campus who studied the trainers carrying two unconscious young ladies in their arms to the medical wing in a hurry. The students watched with idle curiosity as the trainers told the other students to return to their dormitories before immediately storming towards Headmistress Lenolia's office in the administrative wing.

Most of the students in the Capture The Flag team adhered to their instructions and obediently returned to their dorm rooms.

Cæ gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists, before following the trainers carrying Miranda and Serulia to the medical ward. He quickly wound through the corridors in the main campus, leaving passersby stealing a curious gaze at where the student was rushing off to.

He eventually arrived at the medical wing, rushing through each room until he found the one where Serulia was kept, huffing lightly as he caught his breath.

She lay unconscious on a hospital bed as several apprentice mages cast diagnostic spells on her to make sure that she hadn't sustained any internal head injuries from the concussive blast. Their spells of light permeated her body as they carefully evaluated her condition.

The apprentice healer heaved a sigh of relief, turning to the trainer who had brought her there with a nod. "She hasn't suffered any internal injuries; she will wake up in due time."

"Good…" the trainer nodded. "I will remain here to make sure that she is safe. She has been attacked—"

"I can do that," Cæ volunteered, drawing their attention from outside the medical room.

The healer in the room frowned. "And you are…?"

"…A friend."

The trainer smirked at him, misunderstanding his intentions. "Of course, make sure to stay by her side and protect her. I will need to give the Headmistress a statement to further corroborate the story they present."

Cæ nodded, his eyes never once leaving Serulia as he walked in slowly.

In truth, he wasn't here because he had some crush on her, anything of the sort. In fact, the real reason was that he had a crush on her.

He needed to be there when she woke up.

He needed to ask her what she remembered.

What she saw.

If she knew his secret, then—

'Then what?' his expression grew severe. 'Am I going to beg her to keep it quiet? Hope that she keeps it a secret in exchange for me saving her life?'

He clenched his fists.

He liked Serulia.

He had spent a lot of time with her in his room, and he enjoyed her company. She had also proven to be trustworthy when the intelligence she gave him was proven to be accurate and correct.

However, he would be lying if he said that he trusted her with the deepest and most important secret in his life.

He didn't.

He didn't trust anyone with it, not even the Selvigs, if only because he didn't trust the old couple not to let it slip inadvertently, even if they had pure intentions.

'There's nothing I can do.'

For a moment, he considered killing her.

It wasn't a thought he was particularly fond of, especially since he saved her from being killed just ten minutes prior.

'…Why did I do that?' His stormy, gray eyes sharpened as they bore deep into her unconscious form.

Her smooth, supple, dark skin glistened with her sweat while her silky golden hair lit up from the bright light of the morning Sun that illuminated the entire medical room from the windows behind him.

Her expression was serene and relaxed.

"…" he simply gazed at her in silence.

He didn't know the answer to his own question.

He didn't know why he had saved her.

He just did.

Out of reflex.

The moment he saw her in danger, time slowed down in his eyes as he activated his pure magic.

It was the most ecstatic and relieving feeling he had felt in a long time.

The same feeling that a prisoner might experience after coming out of prison.

Or the same feeling one might feel after moving their healed arm for the first time in months after a restricting medical cast was removed. It was the most euphoric pleasure he had experienced in a long, long time.

After that, it was all reflex.

He instantly cast magic even faster than body-casting and reached Serulia in the blink of an eye, and instantly cast a barrier with pure magic, accomplishing what would have been impossible without it.

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