'Am I reaching my limit?' Having already used a large portion of his mana reserves and sustained multiple injuries, Adonis sighed.

The purple-haired magic knight then clenched his hand and sent it forward, hurling it at Toni's throat.

Responding immediately, Toni released his mace and launched his enhanced foot toward Adonis's injured shoulder, leaving the weapon embedded in his opponent's flesh.

"Donny!" Arriving on the island, Maxwell swung his hammer at the Tier 9's body.

"You're late." Seeing Maxwell as the bigger threat, Adonis channelled Earthly Aura into the mace stuck in his arm and ejected it toward Maxwell.

DUMM

WHOOSH

With Toni threatening to sever his entire shoulder with his latest attack, Adonis pivoted his body away from the incoming kick.

As he turned his body, Adonis was greeted by the first Rising Star behind him.

"Ah!" Wasting no time, Tarzy hurled an enhanced cross with his transformed right arm.

WHOOSH

"You're here too?" Adonis frowned.

"I also haven't left yet!" Maxwell heaved his hammer once more at the silver-eyed young man.

"It's a peasant party!" Toni grinned menacingly and covered his entire arm in magma.

Lava magic: Magma armament

"I was hoping we'd come together under different circumstances." Adonis continued with his pivoting momentum and grabbed Tarzy's quilled arm over his shoulder.

SPLURT

"Hm!" Although the quills continued to dig deeper and deeper into his injury-rich arm, Adonis threw Tarzy Goliath over his shoulder.

"Wha-" Unable to react to the swift manoeuvre, Tarzy was thrown right into Maxwell's approaching hammer.

SLAM

"ARHH!" On collision, every bone in Tarzy's arm was shattered...

Although that wasn't the only thing to be destroyed, along with the first Rising Star's arm, Maxwell's hammer was reduced to mere fragments of metal.

SHATTER

Ignoring the damage he'd just caused, Adonis met Toni's attack head-on with his fist.

Inferno magic: Hell's Armament (matter variation)

When the magma and ivory flames met, the same scene occurred: Adonis's Inferno magic completely devoured Toni's lava magic.

"Your magic is weird." Fearing the mysterious flames would spread to his unprotected flesh, Toni quickly retracted his arm.

Unrelenting, Toni lowered his arm and ejected a majestic crimson flame from his palm.

Blaze magic: Flame Beam

Aiding the assault, Tarzy fired multiple long quills from his hand.

Transformation magic: Abominable quills

Using the small metal shards from his destroyed hammer, Maxwell fired numerous sharp pellets at Adonis.

Metal magic: Shot string

Before Adonis could even attempt to dodge the assault, Marie used a magic circle beneath his feet to multiply his weight.

Gravity magic: Ton zone

Now anchored to the ground, Adonis was unable to dodge every single attack, forcing him to endure a searing pain in his upper thigh, deep stabs in his lower abdomen and multiple shallow gashes in his entire body.

SIZZLE

SPLURT

SPLURT

"ARGH!!!!!"

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"They got him!" Flora exclaimed.

"...It's not over." Learning his lesson from last time, Lutz didn't jump to conclusions.

"How's he even moving?" Jerald mumbled.

'I'll be the one to finish him.' Luna smiled and hopped onto the platform, creating a large magic circle above her head.

"Star Magic: Inferior Comet!" Luna combined Earth, Lightning and Wind magic into a single small ball of energy.

Upon creation, Luna shot the small ball directly at the seventh Rising Star.

WHOOSH

"Nature magic: Gorgeous Hunter." Enhancing her bow and arrow using Earthly Aura and wind magic, Flora let go of the thick bowstring.

WHOOSH

"Inferno magic: Hell burrow."Feeling the surge in mana around him and unwilling to endure any more injuries, Adonis fired a beam of ivory flames from the soles of his feet.

BWSHHH

(matter variation)

Before the attacks were shot at him, Adonis destroyed the ground directly below him; creating a deep tunnel.

***

A tent on the forest's outskirts.

"That boy shouldn't be able to move."

"His endurance is insane."

"If he doesn't die from a direct attack, he'll die from bloodloss."

'He'll be okay.' Hiram's lips curved upwards slightly.

***

The forest's centre.

After about two minutes, Adonis exited his underground tunnel, approximately 50m away from the mayhem.

BOOM

"..." Donning a pained expression, Adonis leapt out of the hole he'd created.

'Fuck... What is this?' Dismissing the ivory flames he'd used to create the tunnel, Adonis touched his chest.

"S-shi..."The pain in the young man's soul had escalated, quickly overwhelming the extreme physical pain he'd continued to suffer.

"T-too hot." Sweating profusely, Adonis ripped off his damaged undershirt, exposing his injured abdomen.

'I think I should stop using magic... It's making it worse.'

Apathetic to her opponent's pain, Marie appeared before him and cleaved her gladius horizontally.

WHOOSH

'I need to finish this soon.' Slowed down by his injuries and his soul pains, Adonis barely ducked Marie's attack.

"I never thought you'd dirty your blade with the blood of a mere commoner." Faking a carefree demeanour, Adonis moved forward, invading the princess's personal space.

"I came to speak to you about something." Unwilling to engage in Adonis's banter, Marie straightened her expression.

"And what could the Imperial princess possibly wish to speak to me about?" Adonis drove his knee toward Marie's gut.

"S-something about you... You seem different." Marie frowned and caught her fellow Rising Star's knee.

SLAP

"I changed? You met me last week." Adonis chuckled.

"T-that's true. But your eyes, no our eyes. They were the same..." Marie slashed her gladius downwards with her other hand.

"My eyes are still silver, we're still twins Princess Jupiter." Adonis said sarcastically and stepped to the side.

"Never mind." Marie sighed, realizing he'd never take her seriously, at least not in the current setting.

'Your eyes... Are darker. You're not the same person who saved me during the outing.' Marie rotated her blade and slashed it horizontally.

Adonis reached out and gripped Marie's sword arm, halting the attack.

The purple-haired youth pulled the princess closer, bringing their faces inches from each other.

"Thank you..." Marie whispered.

"For?" Adonis frowned.

"S-saving me at the outing."

"Haha, don't thank me." Adonis smiled confidently and punched Marie in the gut, sending her flying toward the rest of his opponents.

Before Adonis could rush after the princess, he was encased by a shell of thick metal.

Metal magic: Iron Maiden

"I've got him!" Maxwell, who stood now in a crowd with the rest of the team grinned.

'My soul is disrupting my mana sensing.' Adonis scowled.

"Inferno magic: Hell Grenade." Before Maxwell could unleash the spikes of the iron maiden, Adonis destroyed it using a ball of ivory flames.

"So much for a few seconds." Maxwell frowned.

'He was holding me off for something.' Adonis's soul vibrated violently, prompting him to cough up three cups of blood.

"Arghh!"

"Looks like adrenaline is wearing off." Tarzy taunted.

"It's over." Toni declared smugly.

Seeping blood from every hole in his body, Adonis looked at the crowd of first years who now stood 25m in front of him.

'I was careless.' Adonis's expression worsened when his eyes landed on the multicoloured large magic circle above his opponents.

"So that's what you were doing while I was underground." He straightened his posture.

"Well, it's the quickest way for us to finish this." Lutz said.

'I'm surprised Amber got Toni and Luna to cooperate.' Adonis looked at both Luna and Toni.

"No matter how fast you, you won't be able to dodge this." Amber declared.

"Even your Inferno magic can't match this." Luna grinned.

Luna, Amber, Lutz, Jerald, Toni and Flora channelled their respective magic affinities into the magic circle, causing it to vibrantly glow.

Acting as external batteries, Maxwell and Tarzy funnelled all of their mana into the vibrating magic circle.

"I see." Adonis studied the intricate ruins that continuously shifted and glowed.

'Amber coordinated everyone with an emitter-type magic affinity to collectively cast one big spell. A spell designed to deal with my current fighting style completely: hell shroud is too thin of a veil to completely neutralize the attack and the spell will be too large for me to pre-dodge.'

'My only survival option will be for me to disrupt the spell before it's finished.' Adonis exhaled sharply and closed his hand, allowing only his index finger and thumb to stick out.

"..." Adonis pointed his index finger at the magic circle.

'Is he seriously going challenge our spell?' Lutz scowled.

"What's he going to do?" Tarzy looked at Amber.

"He's bluffing." Amber announced.

***

A tent on the forest's outskirts.

"No one is invincible, he should've known that."

"His lacklustre mana usage is catching up to him."

"What a creative idea."

"I expect nothing less from the Light prodigy."

"The chances of him surviving are non-existant."

Drowning out the voices of the professors and assistants, Elder Mars watched the battle silently.

***

The forest's centre.

"ARGGHHHH!" Adonis's soul shook violently as he gathered mana into the tip of his index finger.

"Donny?" Noticing something was wrong, Maxwell's mana supply wavered.

Adonis ignited an ivory flame on his fingertip...

"Huh?" Before the manifestation of his magic affinity, Adonis's soul shrunk.

BWSHHH

Following the combustion of the terrifying flames, Adonis's soul underwent another sudden transformation: enlarging to over double its size.

"WHAT THE FU-"

{Kukuku...}