The initial stages of the Summer Selection included the weaker teams being weeded out, and such was reflected on the floating leaderboards with the teams eliminated being removed from the board, and the teams with now three strongholds captured leading the way.

Near the bottom, dozens of teams each had one stronghold each, and they were able to take that time to rest and recover or progress further as the shrinking bubble finally started moving inwards.

"So...when are we heading out?" Fatera asked, a food bar dangling out of her lips as she seemed to have picked up the bad habit of having half-eaten food just hanging around in her mouth.

"When you finished eating that bar." Wu joked, and Fatera tilted her jaw up, swallowing the rest of the bar whole, "I was joking!"

"I wasn't." Fatera said, coughing and nearly choking, though she tried to act casual and calm as if nothing has happened. The great Fatera simply cannot be defeated by food in her windpipe.

"The next stronghold inward is two thousand five hundred meters away, and there are a few others that are five hundred away, sideways to us." Augen said, sitting back down into the circle before he placed pieces of rubble in the shape of a diamond, "The strongholds to the side, including ours, are the ones in the outer radius of the battleground, and the closest one to us is also close to two other squads."

"Whoever moves first will be able to take control of the stronghold first," Wu nodded, squatting down opposite Augen, "But they also would have left their previous strongholds in a vulnerable position by splitting up."

"Or even completely unguarded." Ver added, and Wu agreed with that assessment.

"Taking it a step further...does that mean those that will push forward also have some sort of mobility tools like Ver?" Lera asked, and that question made the group pause slightly. It would either be a reckless gamble, or a calculated risk mitigated by superior mobility across the battlefield.

Either way, that doesn't really change what they have to do. So they continued moving ahead after a short break. This time, the group split up to gain more information with Ver heading laterally to probe the strongholds that were, for sure, currently occupied, while the rest of the group continued working towards the more inner stronghold.

"It looked like one of them is still defended," Ver said after poking her face through a Whirlpool Purple on top of a tree. After seeing all that she needed, she slipped right back, teleporting back to the stronghold they had already captured before she started moving in the other direction.

In the meanwhile, Wu's squad was making steady progress through the woods, Lera's Cast Array ensuring that the sounds of their movements are silenced with Augen standing by her side for sensory purposes. Wu had his Void suit fully set up and ready to go, and they just kept their head down and kept moving.

That was when suddenly, everything around them started shifting out of the blue. In an instant, Lera's Cast Array was frozen in place as it bumped into another pre-established structure Cast also with its foundations buried deep into the ground, and massive spanning traps activated from all around them.

Augen's Waving sensing went from complete peaceful silence to an unbearable loud screech as the trap Casts became activated from all around them. In its resting form, the Cast felt no different from the Wave of the Academy itself, but once activated, you have to be Wu to not feel its influences.

"Bubble bubble!" Lera casted immediately, semi-transparent bubbles forming around all four of the members when massive blasts of the Wave were fired straight at them.

"Where is the enemy?!" Fatera asked loudly as the shields rocked around them.

"I...they are everywhere!" Augen shouted back before smoke started rising all around. Then, the earth underneath them started loosening before a pair of heavily armored Channelers clawed out from the dirt, their massive hands grasping onto Augen's ankles, "Shit!"

"I got it." Fatera said, her body immediately dashing to Augen's side before she stomped down at the Channeler's hand. She kicked right through, and the Channeler's wrist squashed like mud even though the hand is still locked around Augen's ankle like a deadweight.

"Rapid Layering: Void Do-" Lera was about to activate an all-encompassing Void Domain when suddenly, the ground underneath them suddenly rose up and a fighter with blades coming out of every inch of her body dashed right in front of her, ready to cut down the country girl.

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"This is your end, Lera Huten." She said, her voice cracking as she slashed her bladed fist right across Lera's chest.

"No you don't." At the last instance before the impact, Wu dashed right in front of Lera, his gauntlet catching the blade as metal clashed against metal. Wu felt the pressure even through the armor, and he unleashed a close-range blast that blew the Wave user back.

"Regroup outside!" Wu shouted from under his breathe as Fatera picked up Augen and Lera grabbed onto his shoulder. Then, they both launched themselves up into the air, trying to get away from the trap.

That was when they saw three individual chariots full of people getting ready to blast them down from the moment they became airborne. A quick count revealed that there are at least six Wave users around.

Then, as the orbs started bombarding towards Wu, he let out a surging roar before sending through a massive surge of the Wave from the One-Shotter gemstone to the Void Domain Cast written over his body, and a dark orb exploded outward with him as the center, sniffing out all potential use of the Wave and instantly deactivating the floating Chariot Casts.

"On." At that moment, Lera, Augen, and Fatera whispered at the same time, turning on their anti-Void domain Cast that was one of the fruits of labor from their island training. This small person-sized Cast allowed them to move through Void Domain with ease, while all flow of the Wave was stagnated everywhere else.

As the Casters started free-falling through the air with the Void domain active, Wu and Fatera took this chance to get away, the domain itself moving with Wu and recreating some distances.

"DAMN IT!" The ambushing squad got together after being able to save themselves from falling to their deaths at the last moment when Wu moved out of range, "AFTER THEM! GO!"

"They knew we were coming," Augen said, as Fatera landed hard beside Wu and started running alongside him.

"Two squads at least from the colors." Wu said quickly, deactivating the Void Domain as the heat from the Casts started forming sweat patches over his skin, "Ver? What's the status of the second stronghold?"

"I took it." Ver said, her voice confused, "It's...empty. I have a bad feeling about this. I am coming to you now."

A purple whirlpool formed right over Wu's body, and Ver popped out from within it moments later as he started freaking out. She landed gracefully and gave him a playful wink as the rest of the group watched on in shock.

"That is sick!" Fatera let out a chuckle, "It's like ya gave birth to her, Wu!"

"How did you do that?" Wu asked, when Ver leaned in close and whispered right into his ear.

"When we did that thing in the Palace...I marked your body."

"What thing?!" Lera asked, her ears far sharper than what Wu and Ver expected, and they both turned to her with their hands out and waving quickly.

"Nothing!"

"STOP!" A sharp voice called out from behind before Augen sensed a ranged attack coming in close. Then, the two ambushing squads moved in to surround them once again, "Your time is up, resistance."

"Resistance?" Wu blinked in confusion when the group of other students walked out, each of them with a small pin of a bloodied rose over their chest.

"Yes, resistance against the great progress. Resistance against the inevitability of our victory." The man in front said, his eyes deep and dark before a ring of Wave formed around his wrist. He fixed his hair back before swinging his hands up, the soil moving according to his command before the earth-dwelling Channeler teammates of his jumped out, along with countless other decoys made from mud that looked exactly like him.

At the same time, the other squad set themselves up with ranged attacks, leaving the close quarter combat to the ground team.

"I don't suppose you are the only team, right?" Wu asked, and the man smiled and nodded.

"Well, your paint gives off a special signature in the Wave that can be tracked through the pins, so...You won't make it out from here alive."

"Well...guess we fighting." Wu shrugged, looking towards Fatera who could no longer contain her excitement, "Go crazy, the One who Wins."

Then, Lera switched on her version of the Void domain: Drown, blocking out all of the information going out from the range of her Cast Array while swallowing every single person in the ground team altogether. The groups clearly had intelligence of Wu and Lera's special Casts, and they started moving the moment they sensed their Wave abilities being shut down.

However, before they were even able to reposition themselves, Fatera had already appeared in front of them, emerging from the darkness silently with her face twisted by excitement, and with single punches, she took down each and every one of the ground team.

At the same time, Ver dropped straight through a Whirlpool Purple underneath her feet, taking Wu with her before they went around, taking down the team in the sky one after another as Ver wielded her Sky Splitting Sword and Wu letting off One-Shotter blasts at point-blank range.

The moment they got in the range of their Void Domain, the battle was already over.

As Lera deactivated the Void Domain: Drown, revealing the bodies of the ground team as the sky team dropped one after another, Wu then truly understand the extent of effects his invention had on battles in this world.

From the moment the Void Domain is created, battles in this world were no longer be fought the same, and the Wave users of this world, beyond those in his squad, had yet to know how to fight around it. With this overwhelming tactical advantage, they would be able to fight on and win against the others.

At this rate, not even those in the Union or part of the Boarded will be able to stand against them. Or so he thought.