Chapter 138: Tessa vs kurugishi

olmo was still observing how things were going. He faced the student and decided to call the next pair of people that would be facing off with each other. Next up will be Tessa and Kurugushi. Kurugushi was from class 2. Tessa was from class 1. Tessa wa a D-rank.

She had previously shown how strong she was without even using any of her abilities while Kurugushi was a C-rank. But then, Tessa was tested without using her ability and she ranked D, which means she might have been hiding something. All right, in place olmo said, now begin.

Meanwhile, jelo , who was watching the scene, saw how serious Ken was looking. This dude was enthusiastic just now.

Jello understood the look on Ken’s face. Was Tessa really enough to make him that serious? If he recalled well, during the attribute testing, she was the only one that got a rank D without using her abilities. Even Ken had to muster up all he had, and he barely got a rank D.

But she, she didn’t even use her abilities, just raw strength, raw speed, and raw stamina and all. She didn’t use anything special. She didn’t use any trick, and yet she got the rank D.

The thing is, if you could get the rank D without using abilities, using it would mean she may actually be as strong as a rank C? Jelly himself wondered, he thought to himself, that could probably be what’s going on in Ken’s mind.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. It’s good to see Ken serious once in a while, he thought.

Here’s your fight:

—–

**Kurugushi vs. Tessa**

The first strike came without warning.

Kurugushi closed the distance in a single burst, her fist already arcing toward Tessa’s jaw before the mage had finished drawing her breath. Tessa threw up a barrier — a shimmering lattice of violet light that crackled as the blow connected. The shield held, but the force of it slid Tessa back two full steps, her boots scraping against the ground.

Tessa retaliated immediately. She flicked her wrist and a lance of condensed energy shot forward, humming with raw magic. Kurugushi didn’t dodge. She brought her forearm up, and where the spell met her skin, it didn’t burn — it *froze*. Not with ice, but with something older. A stillness. The energy drained from the spell like water pulled into sand, and the lance dissolved into a faint mist that curled around Kurugushi’s arm before fading.

Tessa’s eyes narrowed.

She pushed both palms outward and the air between them warped. A wave of force ripped across the space — not aimed at Kurugushi’s body but at the ground beneath her feet. The concrete buckled and cracked, throwing Kurugushi off balance just long enough for Tessa to close in.

Tessa drove her knee upward. Kurugushi twisted, catching the strike against her hip, and grabbed Tessa’s outstretched arm with her free hand. The moment their skin touched, Tessa felt it — a deep, biting cold that had nothing to do with temperature. It was a *slowing*. Her magic, which hummed constantly beneath her skin like a second heartbeat, began to quiet. The flow dulled. Her next spell stalled in her chest like a held breath.

Kurugushi squeezed and threw her sideways.

Tessa hit the ground rolling and came up on one knee, breathing hard. She could feel the stillness creeping up her arm, settling into her bones. But she wasn’t out. She pressed her palm flat against the ground and *pushed* — not with force this time, but with will. A pulse of raw, unfiltered magic radiated outward in a perfect circle, invisible but devastating in intent. It hit Kurugushi like a wall of pressure, not enough to throw her, but enough to stagger her, to interrupt her focus.

The stillness on Tessa’s arm flickered. Then it receded, pulled back like a tide.

They stood across from each other, both breathing hard.

Kurugushi moved first this time — low and fast, sweeping toward Tessa’s legs. Tessa jumped, propelling herself upward with a burst of magic, and from mid-air she sent down a barrage of small, precise bolts. Each one was aimed with surgical intent — not to overpower, but to pin. Kurugushi deflected the first two with her palms, the magic unraveling into that same dead mist as it touched her. The third caught her shoulder. It didn’t penetrate — it locked. Her arm seized, not in pain but in absolute stillness, frozen in place as if time itself had decided to stop moving around it.

Kurugushi landed hard on one knee.

Tessa dropped back to the ground, breathing, and raised her hand for a finishing strike. A concentrated sphere of violet energy gathered above her palm, bright enough to cast sharp shadows.

Then Kurugushi smiled.

She turned her head slowly toward Tessa, and with her free hand — the one that wasn’t locked — she *exhaled*. Not air. Something else. A wave of pure stillness rolled outward, silent and invisible, and it hit Tessa square in the chest.

Tessa’s spell didn’t fizzle. It simply *stopped*. The sphere above her palm hung there, motionless, not fading — just frozen in place, suspended between existing and not. And then it was gone, like it had never been formed at all.

Tessa’s magic went quiet. Completely, utterly quiet. Not suppressed — *silenced*.

For a long moment, neither of them moved.

Then Tessa did something unexpected. She laughed — short, breathless, almost impressed.

“How long does that last?” she asked.

“Long enough,” Kurugushi said, still on one knee, her locked arm still unmoving.

Tessa looked at the arm. Then she looked at Kurugushi’s face — calm, steady, patient.

Neither of them had the strength to attacke again.

They both knew the truth of it. Tessa’s magic was silenced, but Kurugushi was down, locked in her own stillness, and the wave she’d just released had cost her. They were even. Perfectly, frustratingly even.

Tessa lowered her hand.

Kurugushi let out a slow breath.

A tie — not because either of them gave up, but because both of them couldn’t fight any longer.

seeing this, Ken’s face became more serious. Like, as if he was pissed off. Jelo noticed it on his face. They both knew the bitter reality. Tessa was way above his league. A power that rivals that of a rank c. Ken just had to accept and get stronger if he wants to reach the level Tessa was in. Jelo himself wasn’t too worried .

He believed he was at least stronger than Tessa. But he knew he had to watch out. She was on to him. And she was also very powerful. Those two things alone were enough to keep him on his toes.

Mira who had been talking for a long time, didn’t notice that Jelo wasn’t listening. Can you hear me? Are you listening to me? Jelo who was lost in thought, suddenly just snapped out of it. Oh sorry, I’m listening.

Yeah, so I’m saying, had Tessa held out a little longer, she would have definitely kicked Kurugishi’s butt.

Don’t you think? Jelly looked at her. Is that really what’s on her mind right now? Kurugishi losing to Tessa?

I mean, she had just seen just how terrifying Tessa’s strength was. And what’s on her mind right now is Kurugishi losing. Olmo who was surprised by how strong Tessa was, faced Steil , and hurriedly discussed something with him.

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