Chapter 85: Chapter 85

The glowing projection of Ivan Baker—the Knight Department’s speed-type Champion—cast a harsh blue light over the courtyard.

“Instantaneous acceleration,” I muttered, my eyes locked onto the shark-eyed boy on the screen. The newly integrated Kinetic Resonance trait hummed warmly in my chest, practically vibrating at the thought of a high-velocity impact.

“Exactly,” Professor Cassandra said, her voice cutting through the terrified murmurs of the elite students. She flicked her pipe, changing the magical projection.

The image of Ivan shrank, replaced by a complex, octagonal tactical matrix.

“You don’t fight a speedster head-on,” Cassandra lectured, pointing to the glowing nodes on the screen. “We measure our Representative based on eight specific counter-criteria: Casting Speed, Area Denial, Evasion, Mana Attrition, Trap Weaving, Spatial Awareness… We don’t try to out-punch him. We turn the arena into a minefield. We kite him, exhaust his Aura, and win by ring-out or technical points.”

I stared at the octagonal matrix.

’Pathetic,’ I thought, my lip curling in disgust. ’No wonder the Magic Department gets bullied every year. This isn’t a strategy for apex predators. It’s a survival manual for prey.’

“Professor,” a sharp voice echoed across the courtyard.

Alicia Raven stepped forward, crossing her arms defensively. Her crimson eyes darted toward Emily, who was standing quietly by the fountain, before returning to Cassandra.

“With all due respect,” Alicia said, “there are only six days left until the tournament. Why are we even bothering with this evaluation? We all know Emily is the only one suited for this.”

Cassandra tilted her head, her cat-like eyes narrowing. “Oh? Enlighten me, Raven.”

“Emily is a Tier-3 Ice Mage,” Alicia stated matter-of-factly. “Her Absolute Zero domain is the only Area-of-Effect spell fast enough to alter the terrain and slow down Ivan’s acceleration. She’s the obvious choice. Re-evaluating the rest of us just causes unnecessary confusion.”

Emily, the icy genius in question, didn’t show a flicker of emotion. She simply watched the exchange with detached, pale blue eyes.

“Is that right?” Cassandra took a slow drag from her pipe. She looked at the blue-haired girl. “Emily. Do you share Raven’s sentiment? Do you think this evaluation is a waste of time?”

“I have no complaints about the evaluation, Professor,” Emily answered smoothly, her voice cool and level. “A fair metric is necessary.”

“The girl herself doesn’t mind,” Cassandra looked back at Alicia. “So why are you complaining, Raven?”

Alicia bit her lip, looking down at the marble floor, a frustrated flush creeping up her neck. “…I apologize, Professor.”

A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the courtyard.

Cassandra exhaled a massive cloud of thick lavender smoke. When she spoke again, the sleepy, indifferent drawl was completely gone. Her aura flared, oppressive and heavy, pressing down on the shoulders of every student present.

“Let me make something perfectly clear,” Cassandra growled, her eyes burning with a fierce, humiliated pride. “I am sick to my stomach of this department’s defeatist attitude. Are you all thinking what Raven is thinking? That Emily will just freeze the ring, so the rest of you don’t even have to try?”

Ren Montclair flinched. The other nobles averted their gaze.

“If there is a single student here who is just going to conform—who is just looking for a technicality to survive rather than a way to actually crush the Knights—tell me now,” Cassandra demanded, her voice echoing off the Spire. “I’ll give you a B-grade and you can go hide in your dorms right now. I don’t teach cowards.”

I was genuinely impressed.

Beneath her lazy, cynical exterior, Cassandra was a Mage to the bone. She hated the reality of their weakness and was desperately trying to ignite a spark of true pride in the ’Golden Generation’. She wanted them to fight.

But her method was fundamentally flawed.

I slowly raised my hand.

Cassandra’s fierce gaze instantly snapped to me. The heavy magical pressure in the air spiked.

“Edelhart,” she sneered, pointing the stem of her pipe at my chest. “Are you volunteering to leave? Go on, then. Take your fiancée and go back to your room.”

Emma, standing right beside me, bristled with violent indignation at the Professor’s tone, her golden eyes flashing. I gently squeezed her hip to keep her in check.

“I’m not leaving, Professor,” I said, my voice calm, projecting effortlessly across the silent courtyard. “I raised my hand because your strategy is garbage.”

The surroundings froze.

Alicia gasped. Ren’s eyes went wide. Even Emily blinked in sheer surprise. Insulting a high-tier Tower Mage to her face was a quick way to end up in the infirmary.

Cassandra’s expression went completely blank for a second. “Excuse me?”

“I said, your strategy is garbage,” I repeated, stepping away from the pillar and walking directly toward the glowing tactical matrix. “Mages always lose because of mindsets like this.”

I pointed at the nodes for Evasion and Trap Weaving.

“What changes if we barely scrape a win by throwing mud, laying traps, and running away for twenty minutes?” I looked around at the horrified faces of my classmates, then locked eyes with Cassandra. “They’ll say the fragile little mage was too terrified to fight, so they had to cheat the arena to survive. We don’t win respect. We just prove their point. And they wouldn’t even be wrong.”

“Alex,” Cassandra’s voice was dangerously low, a warning growl. “Are you suggesting it’s bad to look for a tactical advantage against a superior physical opponent?”

“Yes,” I cut her off immediately. I didn’t avoid her piercing glare. I held it, letting my own oppressive, arrogant aura bleed into the air. “It’s better not to look for loopholes.”

I stepped right up to the glowing projection of Ivan Baker.

“Nothing changes the hierarchy unless it is absolute. Unless it is overwhelming.”

The word hung in the cool night air.

Overwhelming.

The victory needed to shatter the Knight Department’s ego couldn’t be a technicality. It couldn’t be a ring-out. You had to break their Champion at his own game. You had to press the opponent so completely that no one could make an excuse.

“Overwhelming…?” Cassandra repeated the word, her eyes narrowing as she studied me. The anger in her gaze was slowly being replaced by intense, calculating curiosity.

“Ivan Baker’s unique trait is acceleration,” I said, turning to face the elite students. “If you try to freeze the arena, he’ll just shatter the ice. If you try to run, he’ll catch you.”

I looked back at Cassandra, my lips curling into a ruthless, blood-chilling smile.

“You don’t beat a speedster by running away, Professor. You beat him by standing perfectly still, letting him charge, and breaking him in half with a single, superior strike.”

Cassandra stared at me. She remembered the courtyard. She remembered Kaelen Thorne flying fifteen meters through the air from a single, point-blank kinetic discharge.

“…That is a highly arrogant, idealistic fantasy, Edelhart,” Cassandra murmured, though her pipe had lowered. “There is a massive gap between spouting big words and surviving a high-speed Aura impact in reality.”

“Professor.”

I called her out, my voice resonating with the absolute certainty of a man who held the system’s ultimate cheat code in his chest.

Innovation. Achievement. Absolute Proof.

I spread my arms, looking up at the towering Spire.

“Just evaluate me,” I declared, my voice echoing like thunder in the quiet courtyard. “I’ll be the Representative.”

“…You want to be the Representative?” Cassandra asked, her cat-like eyes narrowing in sheer bewilderment.

I calmly held her piercing gaze. “Yes.”

Cassandra stared at me in silence. I could see the gears turning in her head. She was trying to reconcile the ’Trash of Edelhart’ with the person standing in front of her. The cowering, defective boy was gone. In his place was a student radiating absolute certainty, innovation, and a terrifying willingness to challenge the established hierarchy.

To her, a magic manifestation faster than Ivan Baker’s instantaneous ’Flash’ was logically impossible. But my arrogant attitude was exactly what she had been begging her students to show.

She muttered around the stem of her pipe, “…It’s practically suicide.”

“I think he’s right.”

The earnest, determined voice came from my left. I glanced over.

Ren Montclair stepped forward, his fists clenched at his sides. The protagonist’s face was dead serious.

“A good idea?” Cassandra raised an eyebrow at the commoner.

“Yes,” Ren nodded firmly. “If we go into the ring just trying to lay traps and survive, we’re already admitting defeat. We’ll only emphasize the physical inferiority of our magic. Even if the odds are terrible, I think it’s better to raise the standard like Alex said. I want to challenge myself, Professor. I want to fight them head-on.”

I suppressed a smirk. Ren was so predictably noble. But his protagonist energy was incredibly useful for swaying the crowd.

Cassandra looked at Ren, then back at me. She seemed to be questioning her own teaching methods. Had she set the ceiling too low for us because she didn’t trust our potential?

Finally, Cassandra opened her lips carefully. “What do the rest of you think?”

Her eyes landed on Emily Frost.

The Tower Mistress’s daughter blinked slowly, her icy blue eyes shifting from the Professor to me. “It’s not a bad idea.”

Silence hung in the air. Emily casually added, “Alex’s opinion, I mean. It makes logical sense.”

The rest of the students kept their mouths shut, looking nervously at Cassandra.

The Professor let out a long, heavy sigh. As an educator and a true Mage, if her students actually wanted to break the mold and fight for their pride, it was her absolute duty to enable them. Even if she thought we were walking onto a sinking ship.

“Alright,” Cassandra declared, flicking her fingers to dispel the magical projector. “We’ll do it your way. Tomorrow’s evaluation will measure raw, overwhelming suppression. Don’t make me regret this, brats.”

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