The snowstorm carried their presence long before they fully emerged from the blizzard.
Five mana signatures approached across the frozen biome without making any effort to conceal themselves, their movements calm and organized in a way that immediately distinguished them from the panicked teams probably hiding throughout the Pocket Dimension.
Kael slowly rested one dagger across his shoulder while watching the figures appear through the storm.
“Please tell me they’re here to do something stupid.”
“They’re nobles,” Faelyn muttered beside him.
“So probably.”
A few seconds later, the group finally stepped into view.
Even inside the middle of an arctic battlefield, their uniforms remained immaculate.
Enchanted fabrics protected them naturally from the cold while polished weapons reflected the pale light of the glacier around us.
The contrast between them and the environment almost looked absurd.
They weren’t dressed like people surviving inside a deadly examination.
They looked like nobles attending a military parade.
At the center of the group walked the same silver-haired noble from the academy plaza.
Kaelor Veydris.
Tall, composed, and carrying himself with the effortless arrogance of someone who had spent his entire life believing superiority came naturally through bloodline alone.
Frost mana circulated subtly around the blade resting at his waist while the pressure surrounding him confirmed the rank revealed during the examination.
A Rank.
Behind him, the rest of his team spread naturally across the frozen terrain with practiced coordination.
One carried a massive earth-infused axe resting across his shoulder while another twirled twin water-coated blades between her fingers lazily.
Farther back, an archer surrounded by currents of wind mana calmly observed the battlefield while the last member dragged a chained metal sphere through the snow heavily enough to crack the glacier beneath every step.
Interesting.
Strong team.
Not exceptional.
But undeniably dangerous.
Kaelor’s gaze slowly moved across the shattered battlefield before eventually settling on the remains of the Leviathan partially submerged beneath broken ice.
For the first time since arriving, his composed expression shifted slightly.
“…You killed it?”
Kael immediately smirked.
“Sharp observation skills.”
The noble ignored him completely.
Authority of Knowledge instinctively analyzed the subtle fluctuations in his mana and posture.
Irritation.
Calculation.
Disbelief carefully hidden beneath composure.
Good.
He understood immediately what defeating a Rank A creature implied.
Unfortunately, understanding danger and respecting it remained two entirely different things.
Kaelor’s eyes eventually shifted toward Varkas.
Then toward Faelyn.
And just like that, the atmosphere changed.
Disgust.
Not hidden.
Not restrained.
Pure noble contempt.
“Well,” he said calmly, “that explains the smell.”
The man wielding the chained metal sphere laughed openly behind him while staring directly at Varkas.
“Didn’t think the academy allowed strays into the exam now.”
Faelyn’s eyes narrowed instantly.
“Careful.
You’re already ugly enough without missing teeth too.”
The woman wielding the twin blades stepped forward afterward, her gaze settling on Lyra.
“Interesting group.
A demon, an elf, and peasants pretending to stand among the elite.”
Then her eyes slowly moved toward me.
“And somehow,” she added coldly, “the academy handed one of them S Rank.”
The snowstorm around us intensified slightly.
Or perhaps…
That was simply my mana reacting.
Kael took a step forward immediately, lightning exploding around his body hard enough to illuminate the frozen battlefield in violent blue flashes.
“Say peasant one more time.”
“Why?” the axe wielder replied with a grin.
“Does reality upset you?”
The glacier beneath Kael’s feet cracked sharply.
Good.
He was furious.
Varkas appeared calmer on the surface, but the infernal flames slowly building around his revolvers told a very different story.
Even Faelyn had stopped smiling entirely now while wind mana circulated more aggressively around her chain.
Meanwhile, Lyra lowered her gaze quietly.
That annoyed me far more than the insults themselves.
Authority of Knowledge continuously analyzed the emotional state of my team while silence settled briefly across the battlefield.
Anger.
Frustration.
Humiliation.
Familiar emotions.
Too familiar.
Kaelor eventually sighed softly, almost disappointed by the entire situation.
“You should surrender voluntarily,” he said calmly.
“It will save everyone unnecessary pain.”
Kael laughed.
Not because he found anything amusing.
It sounded like the kind of laugh people made right before violence.
“You walked into the territory of a team that killed a Rank A Leviathan,” he muttered while lightning surged harder around his daggers, “and somehow you still think we’re the ones supposed to surrender?”
“You were lucky,” the archer answered calmly from behind Kaelor.
“Nothing more.”
“No,” I said quietly.
The battlefield fell silent immediately afterward.
Snow drifted slowly between both teams while darkness spread beneath my feet without conscious effort.
Not explosive.
Not theatrical.
Cold.
Heavy.
The kind of pressure instinct recognized long before logic understood why.
Kaelor noticed the shift immediately.
Unlike the others, his expression changed the moment my mana started leaking into the environment.
Interesting.
At least he possessed decent survival instincts.
“You misunderstand something,” I continued calmly while stepping forward across the shattered glacier.
“You looked at my team and saw commoners.
A demon.
Another step.
“You saw people beneath you.”
The black mana surrounding the battlefield thickened slightly while the temperature dropped further around us.
Behind me, Kael slowly started grinning again.
Good.
He understood exactly what was about to happen.
Then finally, I stopped moving.
“And now,” I said softly, “you’re going to learn why that was a mistake.”
For a few seconds, neither side moved.
Snow drifted slowly across the shattered glacier while the pressure spreading from both teams grew heavier with every passing moment.
Kaelor’s group had clearly realized they were no longer dealing with ordinary commoners, but pride still prevented them from backing down.
Around us, mana flowed through the frozen battlefield in unstable waves as if the Pocket Dimension itself understood violence was about to erupt again.
Kaelor slowly rested one hand against the hilt of his sword while frost spread outward beneath his feet.
“You’re confident for someone surrounded by peasants and monsters.”
Kael immediately stepped forward, lightning already crackling violently around his daggers.
“Alright,” he muttered, “I officially hate this guy.”
The noble barely reacted.
“You’ll learn your place soon enough.”
Lightning exploded across the battlefield.
Kael vanished from our side almost instantly, moving so quickly the glacier shattered beneath his acceleration.
Blue electricity tore through the snowstorm while his daggers crashed directly against the earth warrior’s massive axe with enough force to create a visible shockwave across the frozen terrain.
At the same moment, the rest of the battlefield erupted into chaos.
Faelyn launched herself forward immediately after him, wind mana spiraling around her body while her enchanted chain whipped violently through the storm.
The metal wielder barely blocked her opening strike before the chain wrapped around his weapon entirely, forcing him backward through the snow.
Meanwhile, Varkas calmly drew both revolvers and opened fire toward the noble archer positioned behind the others.
Infernal bullets exploded across the battlefield one after another, crimson flames illuminating the blizzard while the archer desperately used wind magic to maintain distance.
Every missed shot still melted entire sections of glacier apart, forcing the noble team to reposition constantly under the pressure.
Interesting.
The nobles were strong.
Not just arrogant children hiding behind family names.
They reacted quickly, coordinated properly, and adapted fast enough to avoid being overwhelmed immediately.
Behind me, Lyra quietly started supporting the group despite her exhaustion.
Water mana flowed outward around Kael and Faelyn while defensive enchantments reinforced their movements and stabilized injuries almost instantly.
Her face remained pale after using Sanctuary earlier, but even weakened, she continued supporting everyone without hesitation.
Good.
That level of mental resilience mattered more than raw power during prolonged battles.
Kaelor’s eyes shifted briefly toward the battlefield before returning to me.
“Your team has talent,” he admitted calmly while drawing his sword fully.
“It’s unfortunate they were born beneath the wrong bloodline.”
Ice exploded around him the moment he finished speaking.
Crystalline structures erupted violently across the glacier while freezing mana spread through the air itself.
Unlike the Leviathan’s overwhelming elemental pressure, Kaelor’s magic felt refined and controlled, the product of elite training and years spent polishing technique rather than surviving through desperation.
Interesting.
He really was strong.
Good.
That made this satisfying.
“You know,” I said calmly while resting my scythe against one shoulder, “people like you always say the same thing.”
Kaelor narrowed his eyes slightly.
“You convince yourselves strength belongs to nobles.
That power belongs to bloodlines.
That certain people are simply born superior.”
Darkness slowly spread beneath my feet while black mana thickened throughout the battlefield.
“Then someone stronger appears.”
I disappeared.
Kaelor reacted immediately, driving freezing mana through his blade while swinging toward my position fast enough to freeze the air itself.
Ice exploded outward around him in sharp crystalline waves capable of tearing ordinary candidates apart instantly.
Too slow.
Darkness burst behind him as I reappeared at his back almost effortlessly before my scythe carved through the storm toward his spine.
Kaelor barely turned in time to block.
The impact shattered the glacier beneath us.
For the first time since arriving, his composure visibly cracked.
Shock.
Because despite successfully blocking the strike, he still slid backward across the battlefield under the force alone.
Interesting.
His instincts were excellent.
But his body understood the difference between us before his pride did.
Kaelor immediately retaliated by plunging his sword into the glacier beneath him.
Massive waves of ice erupted across the battlefield afterward, turning the frozen terrain itself into a forest of crystalline spikes attempting to impale everything nearby.
This time, I walked forward through it.
Black slashes erupted from my scythe one after another, carving effortlessly through the incoming ice before it could even reach me.
Each movement felt smoother than the last.
Lighter.
Faster.
The more the battle intensified, the more natural combat became again.
Not remembered consciously.
Remembered physically.
That sensation spreading through my body every time my power surfaced further should have disturbed me more than it did.
The exhilaration growing inside my mana circuits felt dangerously addictive, especially combined with the lingering euphoria from absorbing the Leviathan’s energy earlier.
Kaelor noticed the change too.
I saw it in his eyes.
For the first time since the confrontation began, uncertainty had started replacing arrogance.
“What exactly are you?” he asked quietly.
Honestly?
Good question.
Behind us, the rest of the battlefield had become complete chaos.
Kael fought like a living thunderstorm, lightning exploding around him constantly while every insult thrown at the group earlier only pushed him harder.
Faelyn matched his aggression perfectly, her chain disrupting enemy positioning over and over while her mobility prevented the nobles from stabilizing their formation properly.
At the same time, Varkas had completely taken control of the ranged battle.
Infernal bullets tore through the snowstorm relentlessly while crimson flames spread across the glacier itself, forcing the noble archer into increasingly defensive movement patterns.
And through all of it…
Lyra remained the one holding the group together.
Healing.
Protecting.
Reinforcing.
Even exhausted, she stabilized the battlefield constantly through support magic alone.
Kaelor noticed it too.
Which was exactly why his expression finally shifted from arrogance…
To anger.
The battle slowly stopped feeling like an academy examination.
At some point, the frozen battlefield transformed into something far uglier.
The nobles had entered the fight convinced they were superior by birth alone, yet every passing minute chipped away at that certainty more violently than the last.
Kael moved through the storm like living lightning, his anger amplifying every strike as thunder exploded across the glacier around him.
Each clash between his daggers and the earth warrior’s axe sent violent shockwaves through the frozen terrain, but instead of slowing down, Kael only became more aggressive. This chapter is updated first at novelping dot com.
The insults directed toward Lyra, Varkas, and Faelyn had stopped being simple provocations in his mind.
Now they were personal.
Faelyn matched him perfectly.
The elf flowed across the battlefield with terrifying fluidity, using bursts of wind magic to constantly reposition herself while her enchanted chain disrupted enemy movements over and over again.
Every time the nobles tried stabilizing their formation, she shattered it almost immediately, creating openings Kael exploited with increasingly savage precision.
Meanwhile, Varkas had unconsciously changed the way he fought.
At first, he had simply supported the group from range.
Now he protected them.
Every infernal shot redirected danger away from Lyra.
Every movement brought him instinctively closer to the backline whenever attacks approached.
Even while exchanging long-range fire with the noble archer through the blizzard, part of his attention remained focused entirely on making sure nobody reached the exhausted healer behind him.
Interesting.
He still carried distrust toward humans.
But somewhere during this battle, he had started viewing us as his people.
The realization clearly unsettled him almost as much as the fight itself.
Behind the chaos of exploding mana and shattered ice, Lyra continued supporting everyone despite visibly reaching her limits.
Her face had grown pale after using Sanctuary earlier, yet she still forced healing and reinforcement spells through trembling hands every few seconds.
Water mana flowed around the group continuously, stabilizing injuries, strengthening movements, and preventing exhaustion from overwhelming everyone completely.
And slowly…
The nobles started understanding something terrifying.
They were losing.
Kaelor realized it first.
I saw the exact moment his expression changed.
Until now, he had carried himself like someone incapable of imagining defeat.
Noble blood, noble education, noble power… people like him spent their entire lives surrounded by the idea that superiority belonged naturally to them.
But reality was standing directly in front of him now.
A demon protecting his allies more fiercely than noble knights ever could.
An elf dominating the battlefield through sheer talent.
Commoners pushing elite academy candidates backward through strength alone.
And at the center of it all…
Me.
The frozen glacier trembled violently as Kaelor forced my scythe away before retreating several meters across the battlefield.
Frost mana exploded around him chaotically now, no longer refined or elegant like earlier.
The composure was gone.
Only rage remained.
“You filthy insects…” he muttered.
The temperature dropped instantly.
Not naturally.
Violently.
Ice spread deeper beneath his feet while pale blue veins crawled unnaturally across parts of his body.
Even his own teammates looked unsettled now as unstable mana spiraled around him harder and harder.
Interesting.
So this was the truth hidden beneath the noble mask.
“You stand beneath us,” Kaelor continued, his voice slowly distorting beneath the overflowing frost mana.
“Your kind exist to serve.
To obey.”
The storm intensified around the battlefield while enormous quantities of freezing energy erupted outward recklessly enough to damage the environment itself.
Snow spiraled through the air in violent waves while entire sections of the glacier cracked beneath the pressure alone.
Then finally, Kaelor snapped completely.
“You are NOTHING but inferior races!” he roared.
“Slaves pretending to stand beside nobles!”
The words echoed across the frozen biome with enough hatred to silence the battlefield for a brief second.
And then the others joined him.
“Demons should’ve stayed chained,” the metal wielder spat while laughing.
“Commoners should kneel when nobles speak,” the woman with the twin blades added coldly.
The archer slowly lowered his bow toward Lyra.
“People like her should feel honored just standing near us.”
Something inside Varkas cracked at those words.
I felt it immediately.
The demon’s expression changed completely.
Not anger.
Something worse.
Pain.
Real pain.
The kind built over years of hearing the same hatred repeated so often it eventually started sounding normal.
And somehow…
That expression irritated me far more than the insults themselves.
Kaelor slowly raised his sword toward the sky.
Mana exploded.
An enormous wave of freezing energy erupted outward instantly, swallowing the battlefield beneath a catastrophic storm of compressed frost mana.
The attack no longer resembled controlled swordsmanship or refined noble techniques.
It looked like hatred itself had taken shape.
“Royal Frost Cataclysm!”
The glacier exploded beneath us.
Massive waves of frozen destruction tore across the battlefield while entire sections of the biome collapsed under the pressure.
Kael and Faelyn were thrown violently backward through the storm while Varkas instinctively moved in front of Lyra, Hellfire erupting around him desperately as he tried shielding her from the attack.
Even then…
It wasn’t enough.
The explosion swallowed everything.
For the first time since entering the Pocket Dimension, pain shot through my body sharply enough to force me backward across the shattered ice.
Blood slowly ran down one side of my face while frost spread across parts of my coat where the attack had connected directly.
Interesting.
So he actually managed to wound me.
The storm slowly settled afterward.
Kael struggled back to his feet through the snow, lightning flickering weakly around his damaged body.
Faelyn’s breathing had become unstable while blood dripped slowly from one arm.
Varkas remained kneeling protectively in front of Lyra, burns and frost wounds covering parts of his body after intercepting the attack head-on.
And at the center of the frozen devastation…
Kaelor stood laughing.
Actually laughing.
“You see?!” he roared while unstable frost mana spiraled violently around him.
“This is the difference between us!
Between rulers and filth!”
Something inside me finally snapped.
The freezing wind stopped feeling cold.
The battlefield stopped feeling loud.
For one brief moment…
Everything became silent.
Then darkness spread.