The five candidates chosen as group leaders were the same five who had stood beside Adrien and Billy when the storm being's avatar descended upon this world.
They had already felt what real Magic combat meant long before the rest were ready to face it.
That encounter had not been a test or a drill, it had been survival. Thankfully, they were not actually fighting the being head-on but Adrien and Billy took the burden for them.
Facing an avatar of an ancient storm god had given them a scale few could imagine, showing them just how vast, violent, and unforgiving the world truly was once Magic stepped beyond theory of this facility.
That experience changed them. It stripped away any lingering illusion that Magic was something to play with or show off. Power carried weight, and mistakes carried death.
The memory of lightning tearing the sky apart and pressure crushing the air remained sharp in their minds, pushing them harder than any command ever could.
