“Absolute Zero.”
With a cold, clear command from Seres, she snapped her fingers crisply.
In an instant, it was as if the laws of the world had been rewritten.
Within the entire duel platform, an absolute realm of ice and snow suddenly descended.
The bone-chilling cold no longer felt like mere sensation; it transformed into substance.
A visible, icy blue frost rapidly spread, coating everything within the area in a white glaze.
The air seemed to stop moving, sounds were swallowed whole, and even the light appeared frozen and distorted.
Kurokami Akane remained poised with her blade raised to strike, but a thick layer of ice crystals swiftly formed over her body.
She was frozen in place as if under a paralysis spell.
Her usually calm crimson eyes involuntarily widened, clearly reflecting Seres’s figure.
The power of this ice magic surpassed normal limits, nearly touching the realm of the world’s very rules, and it shook Akane profoundly.
Could she really… control frost magic to such an incredible degree?
Seres’s expression was solemn, fully aware this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for offense and could not be missed.
She forced herself to endure the immense magical and mental strain caused by maintaining the domain, then thrust both hands forward.
The six core ice swords orbiting her suddenly accelerated, humming loudly.
Then, in the midst of their spin, they split and multiplied, becoming countless gleaming ice swords.
These swords fell like a storm of blue meteors, an overwhelming force of destruction, shooting toward the frozen, immobile Kurokami Akane.
Just as the dense rain of ice swords was about to completely engulf and pierce Akane, her crimson eyes snapped wide open.
A terrifying surge of magical energy, far surpassing the earlier dormant volcano-like eruption, exploded outward from her as the center.
“Boom—!”
The thick ice imprisoning Kurokami Akane shattered like glass under a heavy blow, instantly pulverized into countless sparkling shards.
Almost simultaneously, her figure blurred into a black gust of wind, swinging her katana in an unbroken flurry that formed an impenetrable black Blade Curtain.
A rapid series of crisp clangs rang out like rain hitting plantain leaves as the countless incoming ice swords were all cut down with unimaginable speed and precision in the blink of an eye.
Shattered fragments of ice swords clattered and stuck into the ground around her, forming a chaotic forest of ice.
“Not over yet!”
Seres clenched her silver teeth as she once again pushed her magic to its limits and snapped her fingers.
“Ice Crystal Burst!”
No sooner had she spoken than the ice sword fragments embedded in the ground around Kurokami Akane—and even some pieces just severed mid-air—detonated the extreme cold magical energy contained within.
A continuous, violent series of explosions erupted centered on Akane, with blinding ice-blue light mixing with furious shockwaves and countless sharp ice shards, instantly burying the area she occupied.
The loud blasts echoed throughout the Magic Training Field, causing the students in the stands to cover their ears involuntarily.
Seres maintained her casting stance, her chest heaving heavily, gasping for breath, sweat pouring down her forehead, eyes fixed intently on the explosion’s smoke and icy fog, her heart filled with uncertain hope.
“Did… it work?”
However, as the lingering ice mist and smoke gradually cleared, the scene before everyone’s eyes made Seres’s cheeks go pale, her face betraying an expression of disbelief and shock.
Kurokami Akane still stood firmly in the center of the platform.
Except for a few ice shards and dust stuck to her uniform, she was completely unharmed.
Her signature black katana pointed at the ground, her stance calm and composed, as if the chain of explosions powerful enough to tear apart a barrier had been nothing more than a harmless breeze.
Why… why was even my strongest, all-out attack unable to cause her any real harm?
A creeping sense of powerless despair quietly gripped Seres’s heart.
At that moment, Kurokami Akane slightly tilted her head and extended her left hand to gently touch the left side of her cheek.
There, on her fair and smooth skin, appeared a faint scratch.
A single drop of bright red blood slowly trickled down her perfect jawline.
What was even more astonishing was that the wound lasted less than two seconds before visibly healing and vanishing without a trace, as if it had never existed.
“Your strength, and the Faith that supports it, I have indeed witnessed, Seres.”
Akane lowered her hand, her crimson eyes returning to meet Seres’s trembling form, her tone calm but carrying a subtle hint of acknowledgment.
“To wound me under my defense, even to this extent, proves you possess remarkable talent and potential. Your future holds limitless possibilities.”
Then, with a slight nod, Kurokami Akane announced in a clear and authoritative voice:
“Now, I hereby declare—in the name of ‘Star’ No.3—that Seres has successfully passed this exclusive magic evaluation. From this moment, you are the new ‘Star’ No.7.”
Upon hearing this, Seres’s tightly wound nerves finally relaxed completely.
The strength she had been forcing vanished instantly.
Her legs gave way and she collapsed to her knees, hands pressed against the cold ground, gasping heavily.
“I… I actually… succeeded?”
She raised her trembling hand and stared in disbelief at her palm, overwhelmed by an overwhelming sense of unreality.
When Kurokami Akane formally announced Seres’s success and ascension to Star No.7, the Magic Training Field first fell into a brief silence before erupting into deafening cheers and applause like a tsunami.
The celebration was not only for the birth of a new “Star” but also for this girl who had shattered a century-old barrier and risen to the pinnacle from a commoner’s status!
Seres was momentarily stunned by the sudden uproar.
She struggled to stand, awkwardly glancing at the excited, thrilled, even admiring faces around her.
This was the first time in her life she had ever been cheered for so sincerely by so many.
Yet inside, she felt a strange calm.
She cared little for the opinions or gazes of these strangers.
The only thing on her mind was the boy with black hair in the stands.
Seres’s eyes scanned through the noisy crowd, anxiously searching for Aiden’s figure, her heart full of nervous hope.
Aiden… have you… always been watching me like this?
“Seres’s strength clearly surpasses the previous No.7, Rufus. Her control over magic and her original domain magic are extraordinary. No wonder Rufus was utterly defeated before her; it was no accident.”
In the reserved viewing area for “Star” members, the elegant brown-haired noble girl Rosalind gently set down her cup of tea, her gaze fixed on Seres below, her tone tinged with admiration.
“Hehe, looks like our ‘Stars’ will have another beautiful girl member. That makes three beautiful girls among the seven now. Internal meetings will definitely be a treat to watch~”
Next to her, the green-haired youth Aldur lounged casually in his chair, a mischievous smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
“Three? Madam President, Akane, and the newly joined Seres… What about me, what about me? Aldur, did you just forget to count me in?”
Rosalind’s delicate brows immediately furrowed, casting Aldur a displeased glance.
“Do— you— think— you— are— that? My dear Miss Rosalind?”
Aldur instantly wore an exaggerated, mock-serious expression, sizing Rosalind up as he dragged out his words in a teasing tone.
“Looking for a beating!”
Rosalind’s face flushed with annoyance at his irritating expression and tone, and without hesitation, she raised her stylish little leather boot and kicked Aldur’s calf with some force.
However, Aldur seemed to have anticipated it and nimbly sidestepped the blow, his smug grin growing wider.
“The Saintess of Ice Blossom, huh… yeah, she does look the part.”
Aldur ignored the sulking Rosalind and turned to pinch his chin, his gaze once again fixed with interest on Seres, who was still receiving the crowd’s cheers.
He mused quietly to himself:
“Hey, you’re not seriously developing some improper interest in Seres, are you? She already belongs to someone, you know.”
Rosalind shot him a warning glare.
Then, she nodded toward a spot in the lower stands.
Following her indication, one could see Seres tilting her head back, her face shining with a bright, trusting smile like ice thawing under the sun, waving enthusiastically toward a black-haired boy in the stands, clearly sharing her joy of success.
Aldur’s eyes landed on that black-haired boy—Aiden.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, a faint trace of curiosity flashing in his usually playful gaze as he muttered softly to himself:
“Transfer student… Aiden, huh? Interesting. I wonder what kind of unexpected… ‘pleasures’ you, this sudden ‘variable,’ will bring me… or us?”