In a different part of the forest, Aurora and her team were in an intense battle against Lucian's clone. They ran into him fairly early, yet it seemed the Headmaster was playing a cat-and-mouse game. Whenever they got close, he disappeared under the shadows of the thick canopy of the trees, and they had to search for him again. Luckily, there were always clues left behind; traces of mana, a scent, or broken branches that they could follow.

"It is getting harder and harder…" A boy said, from the group that belonged to the Misfits of Nature. "I can barely feel his presence that he leaves on the ground."

"It is a test." Another boy added, belonging to the Misfits of Metal, "He is testing if we can find him; I see no other reasons why he never attacks and leads us on a goose chase with increasing difficulty."

"The question is, where is he leading us." Aurora wrote, also scanning her surroundings as she was still on the Headmaster's trail. Her deep, amethyst-like eyes were flashing, covered by magic, as she could see traces of Lucian's aura linger around them.

"Are we about to walk into a trap?" One of the group asked.

"Highly possible." Aurora wrote, watching the trail lead deeper into the forest. "Let's go and keep in formation!"

As they continued to follow Lucian's trail, Aurora had a particular feeling rising at the back of her mind. They were indeed being led, but to where? And why? Looking at the trees around her, they looked the same, and it didn't seem any different, and neither did the treelines look to be getting thinner. They weren't being led out of the forest, so it wasn't possible that Lucian was trying to disqualify them by leading them out of bounds… if that was even possible.

"Wait!" Aurora signed with her, stopping and halting everybody who followed her at once. Nobody asked anything and just looked around attentively, trusting their leader's senses. She had to notice something, and everyone was ready to battle at a moment's notice.

But it was not that, not about noticing Lucian. It was about the trees. Being lost in a forest could have the same effect; all the trees start to look the same, and you don't know where you are heading. It wasn't unusual, but Aurora started to realize what her subconsciousness was trying to tell her. They were not just seeing similar trees; they were seeing the same trees that they were circling around for who knows how long. She had experience in tracking down Undead, yet it took her so long to realize this because she was so hyperfocused on not losing Lucian's trail.

"Stay!" She ordered, rushing forward, disappearing amongst the trees while the rest looked at each other, unsure, but none refused her order.

Around ten minutes later, to everyone's surprise, Aurora reappeared, right behind them, coming out from the trees, surprising theme.

"We were thrown into a loop." She wrote, watching them. "Following his trail leads me in a circle. I tried to deviate, but that simply put me back at the starting position."

"Are we in a formation?" One asked, summoning earthly light around her body, trying to feel their surroundings.

"No. We were poisoned." Aurora answered, turning some of their faces paper white. "One that affects our mind and decision making. It is subtle."

"But it isn't lethal." The boy from the Misfits of Nature commented, already scanning his insides, noticing the traces of foreign mana in his energy channels. It constantly interacted with their mana but not in a deadly or harmful way.

"It isn't." Aurora nodded, "It has to be the scent of his that we were not just inhaling but focusing on and following. Now we are 'trapped' in it."

"I can't expel it." The boy added, furrowing his brows, "It flows with my mana, but I can't separate it into two."

"Try casting a spell," Aurora said, and when he waved his hand, a sprout popped up from the ground between them.

"It doesn't interfere with it at all." He added but then continued, grasping what Aurora wanted to confirm. "But it decreased."

"We need to use up our mana so we can expel the poison and free ourselves of this insidious trap." Aurora nodded while looking at them, "Get into a defensive formation; we will go one by one! Once you finished, drink your mana recovery potions and switch out!"

A moment later, they were in formation while the first one sat down, meditating and dispersing his mana, spending it rapidly to purge himself of the weird, magical poison. The leaves around them rustled the moment he started, and Lucian's body appeared, heading toward them at a breakneck speed.

The moment it happened, all of them felt as if their mind jolted a little, trying to suggest to them not to fight back and accept his attacks as salvation. To let them land on their bodies without any resistance.

"To your senses!" A white light burst out from a girl among the group, washing through them, chasing out their weird thoughts, and Aurora was already in front of Lucian, wielding a long, curved saber, slashing down with all her might, leaving a deep, black arc in the air.

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"Good girl!" Lucian smiled, blocking Aurora's blade strike with his white, fluffy tail, parrying the follow-up slashes too.

"Continue!" Aurora wrote, leaving the message behind with a swoosh of her hair as she engaged in a one-on-one duel against Lucian. Her violet eyes were focused, only blinking when Lucian's, making sure he could not ignore or pass by her, not even under a fraction of a second.

"Your form is strong and sharp," Lucian said, watching white hair flutter from his tail, shaved off by Aurora's saber. "Let me be its grindstone for a while."

With a clap, Lucian formed a black spear between his palms as they distanced themselves. Grabbing on its shaft, spinning it once, he went on the offense, and Aurora could only barely dodge. She watched as the tip of the spear whizzed by her, slicing open the front of her shirt but not deep enough to split open the skin under it. She counterattacked at once, trying to aim at Lucian's open body, still in the motion of starting to pull his weapon back.

"You were trained well," Lucian said again as a black arm, looking like a sludge, grabbed forward from his stomach, halting Aurora's blade mid-air. It caught so strongly at it that she couldn't move it at all. Next, she heard crackling lightning coming from her right as Lucian was swinging his spear, trying to knock her out.

Aurora was not one to hesitate; she just let go of her weapon, ducking, forming multiple violet-colored magic circles around her arm and holding onto her braceleted wrist; she blasted out a black, ominous sphere, swallowing Lucian and everything around him.

"Watch out!" One of her subordinates shouted, joining in the battle, holding a bronze, circular shield, appearing behind Aurora, tanking the fist strike that came from seemingly nowhere.

Lucian materialized from nothing as the loud bang echoed around them, already teleported away before Aurora's spell could land.

"Not good!" Aurora thought that also appeared on her face, and she was, to everyone's surprise, looked on; she tried to palm-strike her own subordinate.

"Too late!" Lucian smiled, and with a hand move, the previously protective comrade of Aurora turned towards her, blocking her attack with the shield. At the same time, a similar armor appeared around his body, holding another spear.

"Don't join in!" Aurora sent, as quickly as possible, through their bracelet, "Not until you purge yourself! He can manipulate you with the mana inside of you!"

Now, she was facing two, one being her own. It had become increasingly challenging to stay focused or even find points where she could adequately counter any of them.

"Let me help!" Arrived a familiar voice that Aurora did not expect. A literal wave of water splashed forward from between the trees, washing the armored member of the Misfits of Metal and altering Lucian's spear strike, making it miss Aurora.

Aurora did not ask what she was doing here and was not about to refuse any help; she simply nodded and moved in tandem with Yanura, who came with a few of her friends, aiming to take down Lucian together. The battle changed once again, forcing the Headmaster to take a defensive stance.

"How interesting!" He smiled, glancing towards the group, still in the middle of purging themselves and replenishing the lost mana afterward.

His red eyes glinted in a strange light, and some of the misfits felt a tugging on their consciousness, compelling them to do as the Headmaster asked… or ordered.

"Protect your minds!" Sion's lieutenant, assigned to the group, called out firmly, pushing his own mana to the maximum, covering everyone in a golden haze, trying to help them remain clear-headed. Even though it wasn't fully possible, at least none of them moved in to attack Aurora and Yanura's small group.

"Good." Lucian nodded, dodging a deadly, highly pressurized jet of water that cleanly cut through multiple trees behind him. "I am happy to see some of you can not just protect their own mind but their companions too." Then his eyes traveled towards Yanura, "And to see that rivals can still come to help each other in time of need."

"..." Yanura was not about the answer; all her focus was on her spells, synergizing them with her friends, attacking in combined water spells, and keeping the pressure on Lucian while Aurora managed to finally knock out her own comrade and join in the battle properly.

Soon, a few of the misfits also arrived, jumping in after being 'cleaned,' attacking when Aurora fell back, cooperating without words. With that, it became evident that Lucian would be surrounded, and even if he managed to defeat some of them, he could now only do that by opening himself up to a deadly strike.

"Good… Good! You can stop now!" He laughed, suddenly stopping, recalling all his mana with a grin. Everyone else stopped, too, except Aurora.

"Wha-" Yanura and the rest of Aurora's group also gulped, watching as her black saber slashed down without hesitation, severing Lucian's head from his neck.

"Oh shit!" One of the misfits gasped, but no blood came from Lucian's headless body, which was still standing there, arms folded before his chest. To further reinforce the surreal imagery, his severed head continued to laugh, his red eyes looking at Aurora.

"Good. You passed." He spoke clearly, and his smile was delighted, "When in a dire battle, fighting for your life, if the enemy says stop, why are you stopping?" He asked, glancing at everyone else, "An Undead won't play nice. You managed to withstand my weak attempt at mind-controlling… which is great. I am happy about that. Yet when I just said stop, without any spells reinforcing my words, without using any magic, you did as told… Learn from your leader! Once you fight against someone, go all in! You can't tell if he or she is controlled by the Undead! Even if he or she seemingly comes to clarity, once infected, they are gone! The merciful thing is to kill them!"

"..."

"Well… All-in-all... not bad." He continued with a much softer tone, smiling, "I am satisfied with what you showed me here." He said while his body flicked his wrist, presenting a golden egg to Aurora. "Your reward."

And with that, the surprised group was teleported away while the system announced that the Misfits of Darkness and the Sapphire Witches jointly obtained the third Golden Egg.

"Kids…" Lucian chuckled as his body slowly disintegrated, "They still need a little bit of training next year… but they are promising. All of them… heh, this year's Egg Hunt is turning out to be special… Next year… I may forbid them from attending!" He laughed, imagining the face Lia would show him when he made it into an official rule in the following semester.