None of the students could figure out how Raze moved so quickly. One moment he was in front of them, and in the blink of an eye, he was somewhere else entirely. To most, it felt like teleportation. But a few students who had their senses sharpened noticed something strange, a gust of wind followed by a deep footprint crushed into the ground where Raze once stood.

What puzzled them even more was how Raze had stopped the attack earlier, with his bare hand. It didn't seem like he had used any magic at all. There was no chant, no glow, just raw power. Maybe his uniform was enhanced somehow? They could only guess. But the most confusing part, the thing that made everyone murmur and exchange glances, were the words Raze spoke at the end.

And only a few had actually seen what Raze had done just before.

"He's stopped that attack… twice now," Panla said, her voice low but firm. "No… that can't be. Are you saying these people… they're from the Underfang Guild?"

She didn't shout, but the way she spoke made nearby mages freeze. Even with their expressions hidden behind masks, Panla could feel the shift in mana, the tension, the fear. The disruption in flow confirmed it. What Raze said wasn't just a bluff.

"You stopped my measly attack, and now you think you're someone important?" the head mage barked. "I can tell just by how you're standing there, you think you're above the rest of us. Just because you've shown a little skill, don't start acting like a god."

He pointed at Raze accusingly, his voice rising in fury.

"None of you were even skilled enough to get into the Central Academy. You're all beneath me, and far beneath the Dark Guild!"

His rant bordered on madness. Clearly, Raze blocking the attack had hit a nerve. But despite his anger, the students were still nervous. Dozens of enemy mages surrounded them, waiting for the order to strike. And Raze, he was just one person.

What could one man do? Wouldn't standing up to them only make things worse?

Raze lifted his head and stared directly into the head mage's eyes.

"You're not the Dark Guild," Raze said calmly. "They'd never act like this."

He stretched out one hand, and a sword materialized from thin air, long, slender, and glowing with a faint blue sheen. Tiny sparks of lightning danced along the blade's edge. It looked both elegant and deadly.

Chiba and Yolden looked at each other in awe. Their minds went back to the conversation they'd had with Raze earlier, the one about the difference between the Dark Guild and the Grand Magus.

"Is Raze a magic swordsman? Since when does he carry a sword?" one of them whispered.

But the sword wasn't the only thing drawing attention. While everyone's eyes were fixed on it, they didn't notice the lightning twisting around Raze's other hand, crackling and coiling between his fingers like a storm waiting to explode.

Then Raze shifted his gaze. The moment he broke eye contact, the head mage attacked, thrusting out his hand and firing another lightning strike.

Without even looking, Raze swung his sword. The blade cut cleanly through the lightning, splitting the energy in two.

"Everyone!" Raze shouted. "Protect the students. Their lives are what matter most right now. There will be other ways for us to reach the Central Academy!"

His words weren't meant for the enemy, they were for his allies.

And while the surrounding mages were still frozen, stunned at how easily Raze had just blocked another powerful strike, he raised his hand. A pillar of lightning shot up into the sky and then came crashing down onto several enemy mages, stunning their bodies and locking their limbs in place.

That was the signal.

Beatrix shot to her feet. With one graceful motion, she summoned her staff and slammed it into the floor. A glowing platform surged beneath the students who had been seated in a circle, lifting them out of reach, away from the chaos that was about to unfold.

The four teachers who had been stationed elsewhere were still on the ground, watching in complete disbelief. The display unfolding in front of them was beyond anything they had expected.

They had seen these students fight before, sure. But what they had seen during the beast attacks… that had only been a glimpse.

Sparks burst from Raze's feet, and his body vanished, reappearing behind an attacker. In a single, seamless movement, he slashed through them. The mage dropped instantly, lifeless.

The others responded by casting spells of their own, but they couldn't track him. Raze moved too fast, darting from spot to spot. And when spells did hit near him, he simply sliced through them, leaving trails of lightning in his wake.

And he wasn't the only one acting.

From her ring, Safa summoned the Lux Spear. As fire magic surged toward her, she spun the spear with practiced grace, dispersing the flames with each rotation. She dashed forward and drove the spear into a mage's gut.

"Those attacks earlier… they really hurt," Safa muttered through clenched teeth.

She pulled the spear out, turned swiftly, and fired a blast of Light magic straight into the chest of another mage behind her. The hit was dead center, pinning them to the ground.

All three had now joined the fight, Beatrix, Liam, and Dame. They leapt down from the floating platform Beatrix had created. Beatrix summoned her sword; Liam summoned his; and Dame clenched his enchanted gauntlets tight.

They landed together with thunderous force, and then scattered.

Each of them rushed into the fray, targeting every mage they could see. The enemies were so overwhelmed by just five individuals that they had no time to focus on the students or even react to the teachers.

And the teachers, wide-eyed, were only now realizing that what they had seen before… was just the surface. This was their real power.

Back on the battlefield, Raze faced the head mage once more.

"Now that the others are cleaning up, that just leaves you," he said.

His expression didn't shift. It was calm. Icy. Focused.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you. I need you alive."

****

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