As Zeke and Andrei walked deeper, they could hear the faint sound of the so-called class war even from a distance. Just from the sounds alone, they could tell that the war happening between the two classes was extremely intense, seemingly about to reach its climax.
"Let’s hurry!"
Andrei increased his speed, not wanting to miss a good show. Zeke followed behind him quietly, his thoughts stirring. Even though it was risky for them to come here, he still followed Andrei so he could confirm a couple of things that were stuck on his mind.
The first one was the existence of Class Wars.
Class Wars were a long-standing tradition in the academy, and the reason the tradition started was because of the existence of the class leaderboards.
The class leaderboard ranked the classes of each year based on their performance in both theoretical and practical exams.
Every class also has its own value that acts as a representation for their performance as a whole, referred to as class value. In the academy, class value was just as important as personal value.
In the class leaderboards, the top three classes of each year were given bonus resources and special privileges.
One example Zeke had read was that the students of the highest-ranked class were given the privilege of accessing the academy’s elite market, featuring items, boosters, and potions that could normally only be found on the Surface or outside of Red Land.
Being inhabitants of the Underground, the mere mention of resources from the Surface or outside of Red Land was enough to drive them crazy for it.
But that was only one privilege. There was more that Zeke had read, and all of them were extremely helpful for the average Initiate.
The class leaderboard made every class’ relationship extremely tense and competitive, which eventually led to the creation of Class Wars.
Class Wars were two classes waging a war against each other in an exam. It wasn’t an official rule in the academy, but something the students themselves created to compete for the highest position in the class leaderboards.
As such, Class Wars could be enacted in different ways. But the method of competition itself should be closely related to the exam they were taking, as the academy uses the performance of a class in the exam as a basis for the class value.
After walking for a while, Andrei suddenly stopped, and Zeke realized they had already arrived without him noticing. Besides Class Wars, what he wanted to confirm next was the strength of the strongest first-year student of their batch.
No, to be precise...
He wanted to know how strong a "genius" was in Red Land.
***
In a wide open area, explosions erupted constantly, and the shockwaves left behind by each explosive attack kicked up the dirt, scattering it over the battlefield. The colorful forest had long been stripped of its identity, appearing like scorched earth.
All the way from the north to the south, a symphony formed from the sound of blades clashing against each other. The air twisted from the sheer intensity of the war, a sharp, piercing cry following every collision.
In the center of the battlefield, a tall, white-haired woman advanced unrivaled with her spear. She tore apart all the projectiles and spells coming her way, arriving before a quiet, bespectacled man.
The bespectacled man wielded a long, silver staff. Colorful elements in the form of orbs appeared behind him. When the white-haired woman swung her spear, the man launched the colorful orbs towards her.
Woosh! Woosh!
The white-haired woman, also known as Diana, simply cut through all of the orbs like they were nothing.
She brandished her spear and looked at the bespectacled man. But when she saw the man’s lips curl, she suddenly realized something was wrong. She turned her gaze to her spear and saw that it had been corroded, making it unusable.
"Do you think removing my spear from me will change anything, Enzo?"
Diana threw the spear casually, mocking the bespectacled man.
"It’s worth a try. The exam is about to end, anyway."
Enzo mused calmly. While he spoke, he cast another spell. A large, red circle appeared behind him. Even before being fully formed, the air was already twisting from the heat it was radiating.
It was undoubtedly a Great Spell, an attack capable of razing an entire army.
Knowing this, Diana quickly dashed towards Enzo, attempting to disrupt his magic. But when she arrived in front of him again, he blinked away, teleporting to somewhere else on the battlefield.
Diana wasn’t surprised by this. But instead of following after him, she stood still and raised her head, seemingly waiting for something. A few seconds later, a massive flaming orb appeared in the sky, overshadowing everyone else.
When Diana’s side, Class A, saw what appeared in the sky, their expressions went pale from fright. Only one person on the battlefield could create an attack like this, and that person was the representative of Class B, the holder of the 2nd position of the first-year leaderboard, Enzo Wraith.
From Class B’s side, the students quickly fled, dropping all of their weapons. But among them, three individuals remained standing, seemingly staring at Diana from afar.
One of them was Seralune, looking at Diana curiously.
But it wasn’t just those three who remained standing on the battlefield.
The entirety of Class A was also looking at Diana.
With everyone’s gaze falling onto her, Diana remained indifferent. Her face was as frigid as ice, but also as beautiful as snow. She stared at the massive flaming orb unflinchingly.
Under everyone’s gaze, she bent her knees slightly, then...
Woosh!
She sprang towards the flaming orb, her white hair fluttering beautifully.
When the distance closed between her and the orb, her uniform began to burn, leaving behind a trail of ashes. But Diana kept a cold gaze, and when she finally appeared in front of it, she clenched her hand tightly and pulled her arm over her back.
She closed her eyes as she silently activated a skill.
A moment later, she opened her eyes again.
Diana’s gaze was exceptionally bright, as if two pairs of suns were enclosed within them. Time came to a standstill, and everyone held their breath. When she was about to fall back to the ground, she finally released the attack that she was preparing.
Her fist shot towards the flaming orb, but it looked pitifully small.
Yet a moment later, a sharp light erupted from her fist. Like the light of a deity, it pierced through the massive orb, causing a sharp piercing sound. Then, what followed was a scene that would forever be etched in everyone’s minds.
—Enzo’s Great Spell exploded into pieces, its embers spreading over the battlefield.
BOOM!