In the deepest part of the forest, where the trees were so close to one another that the days were indistinguishable from nights, Lia and the rest of the Misfits were preparing to set up their defenses for the night. Using the Earth Egg, they made a huge cavern underground, around 40 meters below the surface. From the ceiling, giant roots were sticking out, belonging to the humongous trees above them all. To stop the Egg from tunneling randomly, they tied it to one such root, letting it dangle in the air like some kind of weird ceiling ornament.

Of course, this was not all. From their base, more than twenty tunnels led in all directions, twisting, turning, and leading to hidden doors back to the surface above them. By the time they finished, they were dirty and tired but proud of what they had achieved. It turned out Lia was also correct; all the tunnels, made by the Egg, were displaying its mana-scrambling effects, and most spells went berserk in them. The more potent such spell was, the longer it took for the tunnel's effect to kick in, but none of the 4th-Tier mages in their group managed to cast a perfect, intact spell in them.

"All physical traps are in place. We will know immediately if someone comes down!" Aurora wrote, coming back from one tunnel.

"Great!" Lia clapped, muddy from head to toe, "I just finished creating the bathroom! Koa is there, letting the Egg fill the baths we made, and after that, we can heat it up and get clean again!"

"Oh? You managed to glaze the clay?" She asked with a flash running through her eyes as she also wished to take a bath, very much so. Holding that weird egg was indeed a nasty experience.

"Yeah, we managed to get it together for long enough to make it work! Now it holds water! The tubs get filled up, and we are ready to take a bath! Shishi is doing the heating as we speak!"

"Do we get our own?" Raufon asked, emerging from a different hole, lighting his way with his bracelet.

"Of course! Keily and the boys are finishing up yours!" Lia pointed to a different tunnel. "Koa will join you soon enough!"

"Great!" The others let out a relieved sigh, but then they looked at each other, no matter which group they were from.

"I won't stop her." Aurora shrugged, "Not that I could. She is stronger than me now in terms of mana density. If she wants to fool around, so be it."

"I wouldn't worry!" Lia patted Aurora's back, "I am sure after this competition, you will advance just as she!"

"Maybe." Aurora signed, tilting her head to the left, "Solren said the school is going to help me. Dunno… I'm a bit lost at what to do!"

"Welcome to the club!" Lia laughed, clapping, "But I found my way not that long ago! Kinda! So you will too! For now, relax!"

"Yeah, no!" Aurora showed a smile, speaking to Lia with her rapid hand movements, "We need a good rotation of guards! I have already made a timetable for it! We have enough members to keep our guard up and also have plenty of rest for everybody! As the only soldier here, I am going to take charge of this now!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Lia saluted, not minding her words.

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"You are making bad decision after bad decision…." Lucian murmured, his eyes glowing in the darkness as the moon was hiding behind thick, black clouds. His expression was somber as he was watching Olivia's group that simply ignored the egg he pushed before their way, not wanting to give up their position, leaving it behind. "You are too focused on your revenge… I feared that this may happen." He blinked his eyelids very slowly, taking him multiple seconds before reopening them with a soft sigh. "I can only try one last thing… before you lose your head." As he tapped on the cloud he was sitting on below him, Kafka's group was nearing the Misfits' location, arriving before Olivia.

"They should be here," one of his close friends and classmate said, returning from his scouting mission. "But I found nothing. I was right on top of the egg's image, but nobody was there. I scanned the surroundings. Also nothing. Not in the air, not amongst the trees or in them."

"What about underground…?" Kafka asked.

"The earth seemed perfectly normal. I can't penetrate it with my senses for too deep, but it was intact even around the 10 meters depth!"

"They are being deeper than that, then!" Kafka concluded without hesitation. "Good. With this, we can layer them over with our traps and spells. Olivia is sure to arrive. Let us welcome them!"

"We really going to go against her?" The rest asked. They were not afraid, but they knew this meant that the two strongest people in the Student Council is going to start a war in their last year nonetheless.

"I choose the Six Houses over a madwoman!" Kafka replied with a stern voice. "I don't care about Olivia's vendetta! Right or wrong, my ancestors passed down the records from the Dark Ages! It was HELL." He said coolly, watching each of their eyes in the darkness. "If the peace we enjoy is maintained by the Six and the price for it to not let anyone else become the Seventh? Then so be it! I gladly trade one family for the happiness of billions! Get ready; tonight, we fight!"

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

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When Olivia's group closed in, where the map showed the position of the two eggs in the Misfits' possession, they only held back until they were genuinely close. To their surprise, they did not encounter any scouts or traps, but Olivia was not about to question it. Her thoughts were simple; go in with full force and end it quickly.

"Where are they?" Palivna asked when they arrived at the exact spot, yet it was empty.

"Trap!" Olivia reacted only a second later, casting a spell way before she spoke out.

Under her, a 20-meter-wide magic formation appeared, lighting up the darkness in an orange color. A dome of fire appeared around her group as a flash of white light crashed into it the next moment, coming from between the trees, from Kafka's palm. Both of them frowned instantly, and not because Olivia's fire spell had been blown apart or Kafka's spell scattered in all directions, punching holes into the multiple trees surrounding them.

"Something is messing with our spells!" Both said simultaneously, but it was no time to start thinking as a wild battle erupted between the two 4th-year groups.

Olivia's people were focused on wielding fire both defensively and offensively. Some of them were using flames to enhance their resistance towards other elements, burning brightly in the darkness while Olivia herself was like a volcano. She erupted with an explosive force, shaking the ground and turning trees around her into burning charcoal in a second. With the constant disruption of her spells, it was as if fireworks were being set off every second while she clashed against Kafka. Her opponent had to focus, avoiding the erratic outburst of crimson flames, and also try to focus his own light-based spells. He was proficient in the element of light and metal. He often created small gravity fields to bend his light-based spells and pulled off unpredictable but precise attacks. The fact that his piercing spells were all scattering all around them made it much harder to face Olivia, who was like a firestorm right now.

"What the hell is going on?" Kafka asked himself, baffled, thinking about retreating and reorganizing themselves. He was sure those Misfits did something to the place; no wonder they were so confident. "That is the Amarins for you!" He smiled, dodging a crimson fireball, burning off half of his sleeves.

"That is Olivia… and she is fighting against Kafka, another Council member," Sion whispered as he was crouching dozens of meters away from the battle, next to Lia.

The moment the battle broke out, they came to the surface from their multiple escape tunnels, watching them go head to head.

"We are in place." Aurora silently messaged through their bracelets. Everyone from them was circling the battle of the two council groups, ready to join in when Lia's order came.

"Something is not right." Sion added, "Both of their spells are unstable and unfocused. Is it our Egg's effect?"

"We left them underground." Koa answered, "It shouldn't be like this."

"Look!" Lia chimed in with excitement, and Sion followed her gaze, "Watch the air above them when they clash!"

"I don't see anything," Raufon commented in their group chat, but then Sion gasped.

"An egg! Look! When Kafka's light spell shines, it appears, rotating right above them!"

True enough, there was a completely black egg floating in the air. It was invisible most of the time, but when fire and light clashed and exploded, the shower of blinding sparks revealed it for everyone to see.

"We found our third…." Lia smiled, "Now the question is, what to do…."

"It is evident that Kafka is on our side," Sion said, feeling vindicated, watching him fight against Olivia.

"And I have a grudge against that Palvina bitch." Koa added, watching her fight, barely blinking her eyes. "I say let's go in and beat them now! Why wait?!"

"I agree." Aurora wrote, "This is our best chance! We win, and with the help of Kafka's group, it will be smooth sailing until the competition's end.

"Okay." Lia nodded in the end, "Get ready, Misfits! None of that red-haired bitch's group can escape!"

"Koa…" Aurora wrote, hearing Lia's words.

"What? I didn't teach her to speak like that!"

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"You won't be able to beat me!" Olivia sneered, clashing against Kafka. She was waving her hand, holding a thin, short stick in it.

It was a simple, unassuming brown wand with a smooth surface. When Olivia crafted her unique artifact to use for her spells it ended up looking like a wand. Many mages of the 1st Era used similar weapons to channel and focus their magic. During the Dark Ages, the 9th Tier mages came up with the method of using artifacts to channel their magic and focus their spells. Equipped with them, the weaker mages could also fight and join the battles, defending their home and driving back the Undead.

By the 1st Era, it became the norm for mages to use an artifact when casting magic. Throughout the first thousand years of peace, the most used artifacts were the same type of wands that Olivia was holding in her hands right now. It was an era when most mages carried one around, using it for even the simplest spells. Throughout the ages, many more types of artifacts were designed and popularized; staffs, swords, jewelry, and even robes.

"Neither can you!" Kafka answered, a ring glowing in a bright, golden light on his index finger, pointing at her.

With a twitch of his finger and with a wave of Olivia's wand, their two spells, a bit unstable but still cohesive enough, clashed in mid-air, resulting in a loud explosion, throwing them backward. Both knew the other was right. This was turning into a stalemate, and the longer they dallied, the Misfits could escape them. Or…

"...!" Olivia flinched, jumping to the side, dodging something that she couldn't see but only feel. Looking at her right hand, the sleeves on it were shredded into pieces, and now a pair of purple eyes looked at her. It was Aurora, holding an actual, physical, curved pair of daggers in her hands, watching Olivia unblinkingly.

"Yo!" Lia landed next to Kafka while the rest of the Misfits joined in the ongoing battle. "She has to be eliminated! Tonight!"

"..." Kafka only looked at the short girl beside him before forming a small smile, turning back at Olivia. "Sure."