The young girl was leaning against a fence, humming a nursery rhyme, when her young friend arrived, carrying a tray of fruits and various meats.

"Again?" She frowned. "I told you that I won't give you money later."

"Hehe, don't worry, it's a gift, you don't owe me anything."

I handed her the plate, she kept warning me for a while until she took the first bite.

Later, she asked me to bring something for her father too.

(The poor cannot eat when they are hungry, but when they have a little, they share among themselves.)

*

*

The battlefield arena was rumbling, and every seat was filled. A few students were scrambling to their feet, which usually meant that a famous student was about to perform. All the important personalities of the academy were gathered - the professors sitting in a special spot, and in the middle, the Dean.

They had been called urgently to watch a fight involving Thomas, an important figure among the students. However, since the case of Dora had been covered by the council, they saw this as a simple dispute between him and the weakest student and considered it a ridiculous case among the professors.

"I don't understand young Thomas. Why would he fight an E-rank? This is ridiculous," said one of the professors.

"I'll have a talk with him later. This is not like him."

As they talked, Candace watched the two opponents closely.

A few months ago, a special person had warned her about the potential of Dora, but after the result of the entrance exam, she had focused on him less and wasn't expecting a serious fight.

"I crave to wot how it befell, fine? 'tis not 'i Thomas' habit to challenge a weaker opponent, find me what's going on 'twixt 'em."

They nodded in agreement and observed quietly.

No matter how strong Dora was, an E-rank would always be an E-rank. It was a universal law by this point, and Dora could never beat Thomas.

The two combatants were already standing in the center of the arena, poised to engage in a fierce battle. A teacher stood nearby, ready to signal the start of the match.

"This is an official exhibition fight between E-rank Anesidora Carper and C-rank Thomas Villeneuve," announced the teacher. "The rules are the same as in traditional mock battles: you win if your opponent is unable to continue the fight, surrenders, or is severely injured, except in the case of a special technique."

As the spectators murmured, many of them mocking Dora's low rank, some expressed their doubts about Thomas' abilities.

"Isn't he the one who lost to a goblin-golem?" one person quipped.

"Why didn't he just surrender?"

The majority of the crowd was unaware of Dora's deadly reputation among E-ranks. They had gathered for what they believed would be an easy humiliation of a weaker opponent. The unfortunate Dora, who had previously crossed paths with one of the strongest students, was about to pay the ultimate price.

But little did the crowd know, they had also gathered for an execution.

"Begin!" The teacher signaled the start of the match and then vanished.

The spectators erupted in excitement, eager to witness a bunny being devoured by a lion. sinister.

Dora and Thomas gazed at each other without a word, both aware of the high stakes of the fight. Thomas looked at the stands where the council members and Zuri were and nodded.

"I think I'll lose no matter what," he said.

"Hm?"

"This kingdom prefers the worst kind of people. You only have to hide behind someone like her if you lose, and no one will expel you. You know that, don't you?"

Dora looked at him with a puzzled expression before laughing lightly.

He put his hand on his forehead and stared at Thomas with his ruby eyes.

"You know what the difference between you and me is? You think about that because you know I can win. I only think of crushing you."

"I'm only making sure you won't backtrack on your words," replied Thomas as he unbuttoned the cape of his uniform, releasing his aura.

A wave of energy passed through the arena, leaving behind a warm and calming sensation. Dora let the waves flow through his body and slowly spread his arms.

"It's delicious. It's the first time I've felt something like this. It feels like a wind at dawn."

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Thomas raised his hand and pointed it at Dora.

"A compliment from you is as valuable as trash."

"Don't mind me. I'm not talking about you." Dora replied.

Suddenly, a black mist appeared all around the arena in the blink of an eye.

"Huh?"

In the stands, the spectators looked around. Most surfaces were covered in mist, which gave a sinister sensation.

Eryl frowned, showing a sign of anxiety for the first time. The council members were incredulous about the situation, while on the teachers' side, none seemed particularly upset.

The mist was only worrying in its origin, but in itself, it did not emit anything notable at the moment. In their center, they did not notice the lady in a young girl's body, who was tense in her seat, her eyes wide.

On the battleground, Thomas looked around him and turned back to Dora when he heard his laughing.

"Is this your doing?" he asked.

Dora, arms outstretched as if about to hug the sun, closed his eyes.

"To achieve such richness in the quality of one's aura, one has to inflict grueling training on his body. Even with effort, not everyone can filter the mind to this level of purity. It is truly a work of art... And talking about a work of art..."

He opened his eyes and looked at Thomas with a mournful smile.

"I heard that you were a master magician, let's see which of us is the best in this field... Synergy: Sigma-Gamma, Omega body."

The black mist suddenly ignited, causing a violent yellow explosion that shook the entire arena. Dora's aura was as bright as a shockwave, emanating a blinding yellow glow.

Many spectators had hoped for a quick victory, but the current phenomenon was more than enough to fulfill their wish. With their eyes closed and their arms shielding their faces, the waves of energy shook the very foundation of the building.

Even the most experienced audience members were left paralyzed by the shock. Moonra screamed in disbelief, but his voice was drowned out by the deafening explosion of the aura, mixed with the screams of the terrified spectators.

Many students fell unconscious, those who managed to stay awake felt extreme burns one moment then a cold that tore the skin the next, at intervals of a few hundredths of a second.

On the ground, Thomas had jumped several meters back and was trying to understand what was happening, shielding his face with his hands.

Suddenly, a gigantic jaw appeared from the eruption of light a few meters in front of him.

He leaped into the air to evade an incoming obstacle. As he looked down, he realized that it was a snake made of stone. Before he could fully comprehend what was happening, three more giant stone snakes charged at him.

"Wind spirit"

Several balls of air formed around him and rushed towards the snakes, shattering them into pieces.

As the light faded, the terrain became visible once again. The spectators, who were a little more at ease, were left in awe of the scene they had just witnessed.

The destroyed stone serpents had transformed into hundreds of rocks that were swirling around Thomas like a cyclone.

The young man deftly jumped from one rock to another to avoid the hurricane, but as he was about to escape, an invisible force held him in the air and hurled him into one of the rocks.

“Argh!…” he groaned in pain.

He barely managed to dodge four small rocks that shattered the rock he was standing on.

(... Damn, wind, rock, and gravity? This guy...)

Just as he spoke, a flaming rock brushed past him. He turned around, stunned, and saw all the rocks covered in flames, one after the other. The cyclone had transformed into a hurricane of meteorites while maintaining the shape of a gigantic bubble spinning on itself.

The spectators were all standing, no one understanding what was happening. They had seen and felt the burst of energy coming from Dora, and Thomas' actions showed that he was the one being hunted, but what they were seeing was impossible.

On the council side, Dora's aura having dissipated, they noticed that they were in an orange bubble.

“E... Eryl?” Solaria turned towards her maid.

"It's only a safety measure to support Greed's pressure."

“Pressure?”

The maid sighed and dissipated her aura. A shiver ran through the group, and Sunnah fell to her knees. Eryl reactivated her shield immediately.

"Pressure is an ability unique to those who bear the name Sin. Consider it like an attack that hits directly to your spirit. The spirit is a part of you that you can't boost with stones or training, so it will always be vulnerable to spirit attacks. The only way to handle it is to be of the same level or stronger than the user, or have spirit abilities from birth, like Lady Freya. If you don't have any of that..."

She pointed at the students around them, most of whom were unconscious. Hope looked at them in fear, remembering the day Dora had made him give up just by releasing his energy.

(So... it was...)

As the fight raged on, an explosion caught his attention. Thomas was covered in balls of light as he flew at high speed between the meteorites, destroying those he couldn't dodge.

(If I try to escape, his gravity magic will pull me back in... I need to get rid of him from here...)

He pressed on one of the stones and made a powerful leap. The stone attracted all the stones around it and grew in volume. He repeated the process with another rock, continuing the operation.

"You're not the only one who knows how to use the earth element!"

"It wouldn't be funny."

Thomas jumped and turned around.

Dora was also in the vortex, holding a blue energy orb in one hand and a white one in the other.

"Blizzard!" From his blue orb, a snowstorm formed and ravaged the cyclone.

“Thunderwave!” From the white orb, a cloud of lightning joined in the dance.

The vortex presented a mind-blowing spectacle to those who observed it, so astonishing that no one dared to say a word. Barron slowly lowered his hands, his eyes shaking in disbelief. Lisa clutched Eryl's barrier, morally unstable after trying to distinguish how many elements Dora had mastered.

"Aah... Th-This one is not a rock in fire... is that... magma?... No! It looks more like some kind of metal... What the hell is this guy?"

The entire council was mesmerized by this young prodigy who possessed exceptional abilities, far beyond many of them. Despite being only an E-rank, he displayed proficiency in the use of various elements, leaving everyone stunned, especially the nobles and Hope.

“How is this possible?” Mercy whispered in disbelief. Although they had witnessed Dora's fighting abilities before, this was the first time they had seen him use pure magic. He had already mastered every weapon, and now he was reproducing it with different elements, including gravity magic.

Even the teachers were dumbfounded and could not understand how this was possible.

“Aren’t Avatars supposed to master many elements?” asked one of them.

“It still makes no sense, Mister Fuller. A prodigy with three elemental affinities is already rare, but this student used every basic element. How is he doing it? Who rated him E?... D-Dean?!”

The Dean sat in tense silence, her eyes fixed on the battle. She suddenly noticed that her hands were emitting a white light, and her irises had turned white.

“Dean! Your eyes!” exclaimed one of the teachers.

Realizing what was happening, she placed her hands on her knees, her expression increasingly terrified.

“I know... He is... He is like... like me... He's a Sin too.”