The white flakes fell with celestial grace, creating a spectacle of ephemeral beauty as they gently landed on the ground. Each one seemed like a small crystal, reflecting the sunlight dazzlingly, a scene that invited one to pause and contemplate the wonder of nature.

However, the tranquility was abruptly interrupted by a deafening roar. A large fireball streaked across the sky and crashed violently into their refuge, followed by a series of explosions that shook the ground beneath their feet. The fire voraciously consumed the snow, turning it into pools of boiling water and leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Boom!

"Damn it! We're under attack!" exclaimed the boy, his voice filled with anguish, the palpable fear evident in every word. Without wasting a second, he drew a massive sword from his ring, preparing to face the looming threat. Beside him, the young man in the wizard's robe began to cast a spell, his face serious and focused. The girl, equally determined, unsheathed her sword, nervously.

The three of them were now on high alert, their senses sharpened by the urgency of the moment. They desperately searched for the enemy, but the silence that followed the roar was oppressive, enveloping them in a sense of emptiness and bewilderment. There was no trace of the attacker, only the lingering echo of flames consuming trees around them.

The mage boy's agonized scream echoed in the air as he felt the viscous green liquid envelop his feet, like a toxic tide devouring everything in its path. With horror, he watched as his flesh melted like butter under the scorching sun. The intense pain clouded his mind, making him feel as though he were burning in the flames of hell.

Being a mage, his body lacked the physical resilience needed to face such a threat, and the green liquid continued its relentless advance, consuming his flesh bit by bit. An intense itching sensation coursed through his mind, like miles of sharp needles piercing his brain, causing him to scream in agony.

"Cut it off! Cut it off! It hurts! It hurts!" he cried out desperately, his voice reduced to a wail of torment as his eyes turned white from the intense suffering. The group leader, emerging from his initial daze, moved with determination to help him, raising his weapon with the intention of cutting off the flow of the corrosive substance and saving his comrade.

But before he could act, something unexpected happened...

Slash!

The leader barely had time to react, swinging his massive sword in a desperate attempt to stop the attack that threatened to reach his neck. His eyes met those of a woman with red hair, whose cold, piercing gaze filled him with unease.

Before he could fully react, a gut-wrenching scream filled the air as a large amount of green liquid fell onto the mage boy's body. He writhed uncontrollably, his screams filling the air with pleas for mercy as he begged someone to kill him quickly and end his agony.

With the passage of seconds that felt like an eternity, the boy lay still, his body no longer responding. The green liquid, voracious and corrosive, had quickly consumed every fiber of his being. Not even the bones remained, vanished in the maelstrom of viscous substance.

The group watched in horror as the scene unfolded, the weight of grief and powerlessness crushing them as the unknown threat inexorably surrounded them. The girl, tense and trembling, experienced such a terrifying situation for the first time. Fear overtook her, driving her instincts to flee, away from the horror unfolding before her eyes.

The leader helplessly watched as his companion fled, feeling a knot in his stomach, horror written all over his face as a massive tentacle emerged from the shadows, falling with alarming speed toward the girl. Silence descended upon the place, only broken by the dull sound of the tentacle's fall and the muffled screams of the girl as she watched it descend upon her.

Boom!

The ground broke, just like the leader's hopes, as he witnessed the tragic death of his companion, literally crushed to death by the tentacle that emerged from the shadows. Terror seized him as he watched his two companions move so easily, dropping his sword, accepting that he was going to die in this place.

His gaze fixed on the red-haired girl, his mind struggling to recognize her: Eleonor Ember. Behind a tree, another familiar figure emerged: Adelaida Viridis, with her characteristic green hair waving in the breeze.

And lastly, his gaze fell on a boy with white hair and red eyes, sitting with unsettling calmness on a tree branch: Anthony Von Valeriano, whose expression remained tranquil as he sat next to the tree where he crushed the girl.

The leader understood with a somber resignation that this was a battle he could not win. With a final sigh, he closed his eyes, accepting his fate as his head fell to the ground, ending his struggle and leaving behind a trail of sadness and resignation. Darkness enveloped everything, and in that sepulchral silence, the truth faded away into the shadows.

"That was easy," said Adelaide with a furrowed brow, as she looked at the spot where the boy's body had lain just minutes before, now reduced to a somber memory. She felt strange contemplating the outcome of their actions, overwhelmed by the sense of guilt that enveloped her at having caused another student's suffering.

She glanced sideways at Anthony's indifference, whose attitude seemed unaffected by the weight of the tragedy they had just witnessed.

"Relax, this isn't real," Eleanor intervened with her soft voice, like a light in the midst of the darkness enveloping them. Her friend's words snapped her out of her somber thoughts, reminding her that all of this was nothing more than an illusion.

"If I were you, I'd start getting used to it. One day you'll have to face situations like this, where making difficult decisions will be inevitable. You better take this as a type of training for that moment," Anthony said with a disconcerting calmness before fading again into darkness, leaving behind an echo of his words that resonated in the young women's minds.