After the workout ended, there was a short break before sparring practice began. During that time, Kailith spotted Maruti again and walked straight toward her.
"Why did you signal me to refuse her offer?" Kailith asked, her red eyes narrowing slightly. "Was it because you're friends with Esdeath?"
Maruti didn't answer right away. Instead, she closed her eyes, her expression as if she was listening to something far away. When she finally spoke, her voice was calm and slow.
"I don't know… It feels like a higher existence is telling me to stay away from her. She will only cause us trouble in the future."
"Higher existence?" Kailith repeated, her tone carrying a hint of doubt.
Maruti didn't respond immediately. She took three slow steps forward, then paused and glanced over her shoulder with a sideways look.
"The tides of time are changing… the call of fate is coming."
With those mysterious words, she walked away without another explanation.
Once she was sure she had reached a place where no one could hear her, Maruti turned around, scanned the area, and let out a long sigh.
"Phew… acting like a charlatan is so cringe."
---
When the sparring matches began, students quickly chose opponents they were comfortable with. Violet picked Ethan. Sylvania chose Sasha, Maruti's sister.
Emma, however, ended up facing Cassandra.
The match started fast—Emma lunged forward, her fist cutting through the air with sharp precision. At the same time, jagged spikes shot up from the ground, and above her head, rotating stone spears spun at deadly speed before launching straight toward Cassandra like bullets.
But Cassandra moved lightly, slipping between every attack without breaking her emotionless expression.
"Iron Golem!" Emma shouted, slamming her palm into the ground. The floor cracked, and from it rose a massive golem of iron and earth, standing seven to eight feet tall. It swung its heavy fist, slamming Cassandra so hard she went flying several meters through the air.
Emma's eyes lit up with triumph—she finally had the upper hand. But then—
"That's enough for now."
The soft voice came from directly behind her. Emma froze. Slowly turning her head, she saw Cassandra standing there, completely unharmed, her calm silver hair swaying slightly.
"H-how…?" Emma stammered.
She looked around the arena, and her breath caught. Ethan, Sylvania, and Violet were standing nearby, watching quietly with worried expressions. The massive iron golem was gone. The earth was perfectly smooth—no cracks, no spikes, no sign of her earlier attacks.
"You never moved at all," Cassandra said in her flat voice. "You were just dreaming."
"Nightmare powers are really terrifying," Ethan said with a long sigh, rubbing the back of his neck.
"That's why I ended it quickly," Cassandra replied in her calm, flat voice. "If I use it too much on someone, they start to lose track of what's real and what's a dream. That kind of confusion causes serious mental damage."
Sylvania shivered slightly at her words, her skin prickling. "Is there… any way to protect ourselves from that kind of power? I mean, there's a demon lord with the title Lord of Nightmares. Even the title alone feels terrifying."
Most people wouldn't know about demon lords' titles, but as the daughter of a Count, Sylvania had been taught about them from a young age.
Cassandra nodded. "After the soul path, and the time and space path, the dream path is one of the hardest to walk. Refining essence stones for it is just as difficult."
She didn't pause, continuing in the same even tone. "The ingredients and resources for dream path essence stones are often inside the demon realm, or they're extremely rare anywhere else. And physical strength alone isn't enough to obtain them."
"Then how do you have so many dream path essence stones?" Violet asked, unable to hide her curiosity.
"My father," Cassandra answered without hesitation. "He once stole them from the Lord of Nightmares himself. Because of that, the Lord of Nightmares definitely hates us more than any other humans. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to do something against us one day."
A cold chill ran through all of them at her words.
"We really need to get stronger—fast," Violet muttered, her voice tense.
"I'm already arranging for essence stones that can boost your mental and spiritual strength," Cassandra said, her calm voice easing their worries slightly. "With those, you'll have at least some defense against these kinds of powers."
Even so, Emma didn't look any more cheerful. She let out a frustrated sigh. "Ha… I feel like I'm falling behind. I haven't even been able to improve my physical strength."
Her mood had already been bad since earlier—when it was her turn to absorb essence stones for speed, strength, and durability, she managed a few. But when she tried the iron bone essence stones or steel tendon essence stones, her body rejected them and she fainted.
Thankfully, there were no lasting side effects, but because of that, her physical strength was still the weakest in the group.
Ethan stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. Physical strength isn't everything. Having mastery over your magic and using offensive and defensive essence stones that match your fighting style is much more important."
"He's right," Cassandra added, her voice steady as always. "You've grown a lot compared to before. Your killer move is powerful, and it has both offense and defense."
Emma's eyes softened at their encouragement. Her frustration slowly faded, replaced with a spark of motivation. Her mood brightened noticeably.
Just then, a tall shadow fell over them. They turned their heads to see Sasha standing there with a blank expression, her presence almost heavy.
"You wanted a duel, right?" she asked, her eyes fixed on Sylvania.
Sylvania straightened immediately and nodded. "Yes. I want to gain experience fighting someone with high physical strength and a destructive fighting style." Her mind flashed back to her last fight with Kailith—how panic had made her lose focus, disturbing her own spell and causing backlash so bad that she fainted on the spot.
"I'm not going to repeat that mistake again," she promised herself silently, before stepping forward to follow Sasha toward the dueling area.
Ethan and Violet exchanged a glance and gave small nods to each other before heading off to arrange their own sparring match.
Meanwhile, Cassandra and Emma decided to stay back, choosing to watch the duels as spectators.
------
The duel between Violet and Ethan started. Ethan immediately activated his wolf stealth skill to turn invisible.
Of course, he was going easy on Violet because Ethan could already be considered a top-tier Rank B, just one step away from becoming a Rank A awakened. His raw strength exceeded both Esdeath and Maruti. If he decided to go all out, he could easily defeat dozens of Violets without breaking a sweat.
But to his surprise, the outcome was completely unexpected.
"Gravity!" Violet muttered, and immediately the surrounding area's gravity grew so heavy that Ethan's stealth skill was disrupted, forcing him to bend down to the ground.
"This..." Ethan was so shocked that his mind froze for a moment.
Violet didn't even glance at him as she used her Rank C essence stone. "Universal Pull!" she called out. At once, the gravity shifted into a vacuum-like force that pulled Ethan straight toward her.
But Ethan's lips curled into a faint smirk as he thought, "There's no way a Rank C essence stone is enough." He quickly activated his own skill.
This was a skill he had gained after killing an anomaly-class monster called the Mountain Priest. That creature was once a monk who died in the mountains and became a ghost, eventually merging with the mountain itself. It had an extremely heavy body and barely moved, but its defense was incredible. After a difficult battle, Ethan had managed to kill it and obtain the skill.
But then—
Swap!
His body suddenly began lifting into the air, floating toward Violet.
"How?" Ethan quickly pulled out his sword, which he had never planned to use, and dug it into the ground to stop himself from being pulled closer. Thankfully, it worked, and he managed to halt his movement.
Violet didn't give him even a second to recover. "Gravity Ripple!" she chanted.
Invisible ripples surged through the air, colliding with Ethan. His sword shattered instantly, and even with his dense, durable body, a sharp cut appeared on his cheek as if sliced by a blade.
Violet seized her advantage, lowering her own gravity to move faster. She closed the distance in an instant and—
"Gravity Punch!" A wave of invisible purple energy surged into her fist as she struck Ethan. He was sent flying several meters away.
"Was Violet always this strong? This is already Rank B power!" Ethan thought as he crashed to the ground, tasting dust.
Even Violet herself was astonished by her own strength. She remembered how she had beaten Mirael with one punch before, but even then she hadn't felt this powerful.
"Was I always this strong? It feels like an instinct surged inside me... some kind of enlightenment," she murmured to herself.
Even Cassandra's emotionless eyes lit up slightly. "This girl definitely has the potential to be S rank."
And then Cassandra's gaze shifted toward another duel, this time between Sylvania and Sasha.
Sasha wore a tight boxing-style outfit, her hands and feet wrapped with white bandages. She moved barefoot, each step hitting the ground with a heavy thud. Her movements were so fast and sharp that the air itself seemed to shiver.
Sylvania struggled to dodge and block, her staff swinging desperately. Even then, she could clearly feel that Sasha was holding back.
"Wind Blade!" Sylvania shouted.
Countless blades of sharp wind whistled through the air toward Sasha. But Sasha weaved between them with ease, her speed so fast that her body looked like a blur. She closed the distance in an instant.
Sylvania quickly flapped her wind magic to lift herself into the air, trying to put some space between them. But with just a single jump, Sasha was already right in front of her again.
A wild, confident smirk curved Sasha's lips as she spun her body in midair and lashed out with a kick.
"Water Barrier!" Sylvania cried, summoning a wide sheet of shimmering water shaped like a tall mirror.
Sasha's kick landed against it with a loud splash. One kick. Two kicks. Three kicks. She followed with two rapid punches, splashing water everywhere—but the barrier remained unbroken.
"Not bad," Sasha said, grinning wider, "but this isn't enough!"
She pulled her arm far back, gathering her full strength, and then slammed her fist forward.
Splash!
Her hand tore right through the barrier, aiming straight for Sylvania's face.
Sylvania's eyes widened. Panic froze her body—she couldn't dodge in time.
But then, as if time slowed to a crawl, a soft, beautiful, almost dreamlike voice echoed in her mind.
"I am water~"
Her blue eyes glowed faintly, like sapphires under sunlight. She whispered without thinking, "I am water…"
Sasha's punch connected—but instead of pain, Sylvania's cheek melted into rippling water.
Her body lost its human form and turned completely into water, falling to the ground in a glimmering splash before reforming into her human shape again.
Sasha froze for a moment, unsure what had just happened. She lunged forward, throwing kicks and punches as fast as lightning, but every single blow only splattered harmless water.
From the viewing area, Cassandra's usually calm eyes widened slightly in rare surprise.
As the daughter of an Archduke and someone who had studied the abilities of Awakened in depth, she instantly understood what she was witnessing. This was mastery—true mastery—over an element.
To "become one" with an element was the highest form of control, something that even Archmages required decades to achieve. A body made of water could only be harmed by very specific methods, making most attacks useless.
Even the most gifted prodigies struggled with this. Gareth, the master of the hero, had needed seven years to reach this stage. The hero himself had taken three years, a record that had never been broken—until now.
And yet, Sylvania had reached this level without even choosing to specialize in water magic. She hadn't trained for it, hadn't devoted herself to it—she had simply… done it.
Before the shock could settle, another gentle, ethereal voice whispered in her mind.
"I am ocean\~"
Her eyes glowed once more. She raised her wand high, and above her head, a massive, glowing magic circle formed, filled with intricate symbols that pulsed with light.
"Ocean Wave!" she called.
The next instant—water.
Water was everywhere.
A gigantic wave erupted out of nowhere, roaring like a living beast, and crashed over the entire arena. It swallowed everything in its path, the arena now looking as if it had been dropped into the middle of the sea.