Lisa Augustine, along with her team of four mages, arrived at a base exuding a menacing energy. Just going near it made chills run across their skin as if the air temperature was noticeably lower. She related to the wary expressions of her teammates.

A blockade of ice wall was set on the only viable entrance, and it was immediately clear to everyone who the keeper of this base was. There was only one person at the Amellan Academy who used ice.

"She never plays fair," her teammates quietly grumbled, reluctant to go further.

Lisa knew—better than anyone—Elena wouldn't know 'fair' even if it slapped her across the face. Better yet, she would've challenged it to a duel. To never apologize and always pay back with interest—that was the type of person Elena was.

If the menacing ice and the physical nature of the exam—the only field Elena excelled at—weren't enough to discourage them, Elena was also a person who had almost stabbed a student before. Going up against her went beyond just a risk of injury.

However, they had to act. This was a practical exam that determined their final grade for the first trimester. If the score wasn't satisfactory, they could even end up being sent to the slums.

"Since I don't hear any arguing inside, she must be alone," Lisa stated, encouraging her team. "Come on, guys. If we can't capture this flag, we can't win. We got two fire mages here, she stands no chance."

Two random fire mages may not pour in much confidence, however, Lisa was their fire mage. Is there anything more reassuring than someone holding the spot of the first priestess candidate of their generation to be on their side?

Joining their firepower, two fire mages melted the ice standing in their way and entered the base. Immediately, they were stunned to a halt. Their breaths were visible, and every surface inside glistened in the sunlight. Everything was covered with a thin layer of ice.

They recovered some courage after noticing a single person standing in the centre of this ice palace appearing already exhausted. Her raven hair was tangled from previous struggles, but her deep blue eyes were piercing and present.

"What's all this?"

Elena smirked. "Just remnants of the previous teams that came here to lose."

Now it was clear: the abundance of ice was due to previous fights that had taken place here, and for some reason, she wouldn't melt it. This ice served as a stern warning for the next team that entered.

"We came here to get your flag!" Lisa announced.

"Feel free to try and take them," Elena flicked her wrist, pointing them to the flag still hanging in its post and one resting on the ground beneath. The outcome of previous battles was clear. One flag even delivered itself to be captured by her.

Lisa acted before her team could think further about what it meant and ordered them to charge. After all, Elena was still here, standing with her flag untouched while other teams were nowhere in sight.

A battle erupted, and their earth mage quickly found themselves at a disadvantage. Hindered footwork rendered them unable to effectively harness the icy ground. The slick conditions proved challenging, giving their opponent the upper hand.

Concluding that assistance was necessary, especially considering the defeat of four other teams, they chose to retreat and seek help from their teammates. This decision also provided a sense of relief as it meant avoiding a direct confrontation with Elena.

The rest, however, tried their best. The water mage struggled as every drop of water she tried to extract from her pouches was instantly frozen. As she pondered her next move, the two fire mages charged at Elena.

Incidentally, Lisa slipped on the ice and fell onto her back. The other fire mage persisted, prompting Elena to draw water from the ground where they had melted the ice entrance.

Since both the water she drew and the attacker were moving in the same direction, Elena's rushed attempt to control the water resulted in it splashing on the ground beneath them. The fire mage was surprised but somewhat relieved, as Elena seemed to lack control.

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"You missed," he taunted.

"Got it right where I need it," Elena grinned beautifully as she stepped in, swinging her fist at his face.

For her first attack, Elena chose to punch a person instead of attacking with her element. Naturally, she solidified the water under his feet just before she struck, causing the impact to make him slip on the ice and crash to the ground.

"Hey! That's against the rules! You can't hurt people!" the air mage, still reluctant to jump into the struggle, complained, outraged by the sight and also fearing he would receive similar treatment.

"I can't hurt them with elements, There are no rules about physical attacks," Elena stated smugly.

"She never plays fair…" Lisa grumbled to herself, repeating the worries of her teammates.

It seemed that Elena had created an environment that only she could expertly traverse, employing her physical combat skills honed through Warrior's Practice against them. She moved with the grace of a figure skater on ice, yet struck with punishing force.

This made students fearful of her punches, causing them to maintain their distance. This strategy played into Elena's hands as she only needed to guard the flags. Consequently, they abandoned their only viable strategy of attacking her all at once.

While they were squabbling over who should attack her, Elena focused on the non-fire mages. With their strategy heavily relying on the fire element, they missed this peculiar detail, allowing Elena to cleverly use their flame bursts, which could melt ice, to her advantage.

Elena, as it turned out, couldn't melt her own ice. With some effort, she could forcibly break pieces of it and manipulate them through the air, but she couldn't effectively change their shape.

So, the fire mages, by swinging their flames around, inadvertently melted the ice into a liquid. This liquid was something she could refreeze into any shape she wanted. They had overlooked her glaring weakness, and as a result, she was wiping the floor with them.

"It feels so wrong that she can move so well on ice."

In a frantic attempt to stop her, one of the mages came up with an idea to disperse all the water into numerous tiny particles, making it unusable and thus preventing her from accumulating it and pilfering their precious liquid. However, this merely made her smile as she froze it mid-air, causing a rain of ice nails to fall upon them.

This terrifying event quickly led them to abandon their efforts.

Elena's control was precise enough to keep the sharp droplets from hitting anyone directly. Instead, she let them land close to their feet, scattering on the ground—just enough to create a sense of danger. She only needed to be careful with this tactic around the water and air mages, since fire mages hastily melted the droplets before they reached the ground.

Pretty fast, she had only fire mages as her opponents. Elena was having so much fun as they threw everything they had at her, yet failed to make a scratch. They thought melting her ice domain would work to their advantage as she seemed insistent on freezing it again and again. However, they only seemed to end up getting hit over and over again as a result.

Wind scatters water. Fire melts ice. Four beats one.

They thought they had every advantage. But when they try to scatter water, she turns it into sharp needles. When they melt ice, she reshapes it again. Four against one meant nothing when one was this powerful.

The students struggled. Signs of fatigue were present in them, but their opponent was laser-focused. Strikingly so, she even played with their minds.

After the fire mage boy tapped out in defeat, Elena swiftly gathered all the remaining liquid water from the ground and splashed it at her last opponent—Lisa.

The attack didn't seem very severe, yet Elena grinned, and Lisa's face turned pale in terror. Lisa was drenched from head to toe, and Elena freezes water.

Seeing the menacing grin on Elena's face, Lisa knew what was coming next and fled in panic. Her teammates clumsily followed.

Elena smirked as she watched them run with their tails between their legs, knowing she had won the psychological battle.

Then she took one slow breath and relaxed slightly. The time was nearing.

The rest of her team arrived carrying back earned flags, passing by panicked escapees.

"What happened here?" Maya asked, rushing to Elena, who appeared somewhat lightheaded.

"I need a moment, I'm overheating," Elena replied.

"Overheating?! In this frozen kingdom, how can you possibly be overheating?!" Frankie exclaimed, shivering in the cold.

"Heh," Elena responded, wearing a mysterious smile.

Maya's team brought in two more flags before game-end sirens sounded, the last one scored by unexpectedly running into Isaac's team on their way back to the base. Originally, the team members were anxious, believing they had only secured two flags. However, upon returning, they were surprised to find that not only did Elena defend their flag but also got spoils in the process.

Four flags in total were naturally enough to tie with Kasper's team in first place. One other team managed to get two flags, leaving a whopping seven teams empty-handed.

For the next days of the event, a new rule was implemented that prohibited physical attacks as well. Maya was slightly amused despite feeling sorry for the ones who got punched by Elena.

After the first year's finals concluded, ten girls were named to pass to the next evaluation stage. Among them were Elena, Lauren and Maya.

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