An hour had probably already passed since the starting signal was given.

Inside the arena, which was surrounded by huge walls that doubled as spectator stands, young spirit masters were engaged in fierce battles in sections separated by barriers.

Among them, the ones that stood out the most were a girl with braided silver hair that sparkled in the sunlight, wearing a white uniform that was somewhat reminiscent of a nun’s robe, and a dragon carrying her on its back as it soared through the sky as if it owned the place.

The surface of its red scales was covered in flames, and every time it flapped its pair of gigantic wings, tiny sparks danced, somewhat reminiscent of the sun.

Dragons were a high-ranking species among spirits, and among them the red dragon was likely the highest-ranking spirit. The spectators couldn’t even speak, and simply gazed in awe.

As everyone gazed upon it, the red dragon’s body burned even brighter, and an immense amount of spiritual power began to fill its massive body.
An attack was coming. The boy, facing the red dragon with this certainty, took a defensive stance, feeling somewhat like a hero.

“Do it! Salamander!!”

Following the instructions of its tiny master on its back, the salamander took a deep breath, its eyes glaring.

In the next moment, it revealed its sharp teeth and took a breath—no, it unleashed a crimson flame without hesitation towards the small prey below.

The inferno imbued with spiritual power instantly spread with a roar, melting the ground as it approached its target, the boy, threatening to engulf him like a tsunami.

“Oh come on, is this the power a first-year can unleash?!”

“So this is the top freshman this year, the ‘Fire Dragon Priestess’!”

“The genius of the Valhart family…huh?”

The students watching the Salamander follow the girl’s instructions, letting out a mixture of screams, cheers, and amazement. Among the teachers, some raised their voices in disbelief.

But that was a natural reaction. The power of the fire breath unleashed by the girl’s spirit, Salamander, was clearly not at the level of a student. It was probably no different to the spiritual arts of a professional spiritist. If an inexperienced student were to be the opponent, it would not be surprising if there were fatalities.

Lea Valhart, the top new student known as the ‘Fire Dragon Priestess,’ was well aware of this. She knew that if she unleashed a full-power breath imbued with all her spiritual power, most opponents would be burned to a crisp with no chance to defend themselves.

Yet, she showed no concern for such considerations at all. Lea channeled all her spiritual power into the Salamander, unleashing a full-force flame at the boy below.

Despite this, Lea felt no impact from what should have been a deadly blow that would typically leave the target charred to ashes.

And as if to prove her intuition, the flames spreading below her were extinguished by a massive whirlpool of water that appeared from within, and the entire area was covered in a large amount of water vapor produced by the extinguishing of the flames.

The fact that her full-power attack had failed to reach its target made Lea grimace in the steam, only to have her expression distorted even further in the next moment.

“Not bad, you got me worried there.”

“!!”

Contrary to his words, the boy’s voice was filled with composure, showing no hint of worry. The steam was blown away by a gust of wind created with spiritual arts, and the boy appeared before Lea’s eyes.

The boy’s white uniform, the academy’s standard attire, was spotless and in pristine condition, indicating that the previous attack had no effect on him. It seemed he had completely defended against the flames.

When Lea enhanced her vision with spiritual power to observe the boy, she noticed small spheres emitting blue and green lights—water and wind micro-spirits—floating around him. It seemed likely he had used their power to defend against her attack.

To defend against the flames unleashed by her contracted spirit, Salamander, of all things…

“Tch!”

Lea instinctively gritted her teeth in anger and humiliation.

The previous attack earlier hadn’t been intended to kill, but it was an attack that had been unleashed with all her might, intending to char him to a crisp. And yet, it was blocked by a micro-spirit that wasn’t even a contracted spirit, and he didn’t even have a single burn…

There were rumors of an incredible monster in the grade above her, but she hadn’t expected such a vast difference in ability.

“Haa, haa…”

Her breathing became irregular due to the intense consumption of spiritual power. She was unable to stand, so she dropped to one knee on Salamander’s back, trying to catch her breath.

Her body felt as heavy as lead, and she was tempted to collapse to the ground immediately. However, she couldn’t afford to fall. As a member of the prestigious Valhart family, she couldn’t show such disgrace in front of the audience.

“You seem to be struggling, junior. How about we call it a draw?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! There’s no way I’m ending it like this!”

Lea snarled in anger at the insulting suggestion, and the boy, with a troubled smile, muttered, “I guess so,” and reluctantly took out a scroll.

The boy chanted the spell and unfolded the scroll, and a shining dull sword appeared before his very eyes.

The boy picked up his sword and slowly got into a stance. At the same time, the floating micro-spirits were absorbed into the boy’s sword, and it began to emit a blue-green glow.

“Alright, here I come.”

The boy dashed towards Lea as he spoke.

The boy put strength into his legs and leapt, his legs strengthened by spiritual power allowing him to soar high into the air, then he used his spiritual wind art to stay airborne and approach the salamander like an arrow.

Of course, the Salamander was not going to let the boy get close without a fight. It opened its jaws to shoot down the fly floating in front of it, and fired a fireball at the boy. The firepower of the fireball was weaker than the previous attack, but even so, if the boy was caught defenselessly, he would get burned.

Therefore, the boy swung his sword at the approaching fireball.

Then, a crescent-shaped slash covered in water flew from the surface of the sword towards the fireball, and the two opposing elemental attacks annihilated each other as they collided, once again generating water steam in the surrounding area.

“Damn it!”

Losing sight of her opponent, Lea commanded the Salamander to retreat, but before she could, the steam was cleared, and the boy, flying through the air at high speed, landed on the Salamander’s back and pointed the tip of his sword at Lea’s neck.

At the same time, the bell signaling the end of the match and the cheers of the crowd rang out.

In this battle, where the boy, Rogue Aleas, had been purely defensive until now, his first offensive move resulted in Lea’s first defeat, leaving her completely exhausted.

!next

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