Tanor stared at the third stage Elemental Apprentice before him, his hands clenched into tight fists.  He couldn't believe this. The cornered rabbit turned out to have a lion as a protector. But how? Who was this man?

“Elder Raotin?” Planos said from next to his uncle. He recognized the man before him. He was an elder from the Seven Heavens Academy. But why was he here?

Suddenly, he recalled a victorious smile on a second stage Master’s face. With a sinking feeling, he understood that they had made the same mistake Gradas had: underestimating Aurelie. She hadn't fallen into their trap, they'd fallen into hers. They were the victims of her second elaborate plan (in this world, at least).

Tanor had drawn the same conclusions, but it was useless to have said conclusions now. Now, they had to run. But that was easier said than done. In the Elemental Realm, the gap between each stage was like the distance between the lowest point of the Marianas Trench and the highest point of Mount Everest, possibly larger. There was no way they would be able to get away easily, even with the many Enchantment Scrolls his master had given him.

‘But, if I sacrifice myself, then Planos could escape…’ Tanor thought. As one of the older generation, he had the responsibility of keeping the young ones safe. With a glint in his eye, Tanor rushed at Raotin, while yelling, “Run!” over his shoulder to his nephew.

Planos didn’t hesitate for a moment, turning heel and dashing the opposite way. But he had to stop before he could even take five steps.

“May I ask where you are going in such a hurry, Planos?” Mrs. Dreslin asked. She had shifted into her Elemental Form, and had blond hair with deep blue eyes. There were also streams of water flying around her, creating a looping pattern in the air. While it was true she would have some trouble against Tanor, she was more than capable of stopping Planos. Moreover, Planos was her student. She knew his Martial Techniques and his fighting style such that even if the two of them were at the same level of cultivation, her win would be assured if they fought.

Flicking her wrist Mrs. Dreslin sent out a tentacle of water out. It shot behind Raotin and snagged Aurelie around the waist, pulling the young girl towards her. Tanor lunged towards the redhead as she shot by, but Raotin stopped him by the simple impediment of moving in front of her.

Grabbing both Aurelie and Planos, Mrs. Dreslin ran away from the other two Elemental Apprentices. She was well aware that the tension between the two was rising higher and higher, and that a fight was liable to breakout at any moment. While she would be able to withstand being close if that happened, Aurelie definitely couldn’t, no matter how extraordinary she was. As for Planos, stopping him from getting away was her job in the first place, so she couldn’t leave him behind.

After moving far enough away from the confrontation, Mrs. Dreslin sat Aurelie up against a tree. While doing this, she put down Planos and allowed several rings of water to form around him. She tossed a white pearl into the water, and it instantly froze, binding him.

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Having done that, she knelt by Aurelie’s side, putting her hands on the younger girl’s shoulders.

“Pull your Spirit Energy back into abdomen and don’t resist.” The teacher instructed, while sending her own Spirit Energy into the girl to scan her injuries. What she found caused her to frown, then sigh.

“Getting injured again, and you only just recovered, too…” she muttered under her breath, before she began to heal Aurelie’s wounds. She used not only her power over water (which let her control Aurelie’s blood flow and stop internal bleeding) but also utilized a Healing Technique, which was the healing version of a Martial Technique.

Just as Mrs. Dreslin finished healing Aurelie, a soundless and invisible explosion of pure energy burst from where Raotin and Tanor were.

Aurelie grit her teeth, spreading her own Spirit Energy around her in an attempt to counteract the pressure from the fight. But it hardly made a difference. It felt as though her body had been encased in stone, and she could barely breathe. She was slowly being crushed by the pressure. Just when she thought that she couldn’t take it anymore, Mrs. Dreslin enveloped her within her own Spirit Energy shield. Aurelie went to ask why it had taken her so long to do that, but she quickly realized that the entire exchange had taken less than half a second. She shuddered to think of what would have happened if Mrs. Dreslin hadn’t moved them. Instantaneous death that lasted for a painful eternity, she was sure.

~~~~~~~

The fight was over less than five minutes after it started. Elder Raotin easily took care of Tanor, appearing in front of Aurelie, Planos, and Mrs. Dreslin. The two women smiled, though they had expected this outcome. Aurelie then turned and looked at Tanor. She blinked in surprise at his appearance. Earlier, she felt as though she were encased in stone, but Tanor was, quite literally, encased in stone. There was a block of stone his height and width behind Raotin, and his head was sticking out of the top. It was actually a rather funny sight to behold, but Aurelie wasn’t laughing.

Out of the corner of her eye, she discreetly scanned Raotin. Well, she meant to, but upon seeing him, she almost let out a shout. For a second, she saw Zane standing there. But her rapid blinking quickly broke the illusion up.

Actually, Elder Raotin was very different from Zane. Though he was still rather handsome, he was shorter, pretty scrawny, and had mischievous air about him. In fact, the only similarity between him and Zane was the black hair and green eyes that Raotin’s Elemental Form granted him.

Aurelie sighed. Was that really all it took to remind her? Black hair and green eyes? God, she was getting desperate.

Looking back at the two adults, Aurelie opened her mouth to say something, but Planos cut her off.

“Wait.” He said, in a rather excited voice. “What crime are Uncle Tanor and I being accused of?”

“For trying to harm a possible future member of our school.” Elder Raotin said coolly. While it was true that no one really cared if you killed, fact of the matter was, if Aurelie died, then it would be a black mark on the Seven Heavens Academy’s record.

“In that case, you have to arrest Aurelie too! She killed Farn!” Planos cried. The look in his eyes clearly conveyed his intentions. ‘If I’m going down, I’ll take you down with me!’