"Phew." Phillip unsummoned his sword anima, the prismatic crystal blade vanishing into thin air, and got off the platform. Behind him, his opponent bled from several cuts but none life-threatening and knelt hazily on the platform. The proctor quickly took the opponent away to receive healing, followed by Phillip's sighing.

"The son of Raeven is distraught over his victory? I wonder why?" A woman with chestnut hair and green eyes strode over with a hand covering her light chuckle, appearing like a prim and proper noble lady, Eleanor Shaw. Eleanor's eyes shone with interest. "Tell me."

"Nothing to concern my lady over." Phillip dusted off his clothes, making Eleanor wince, but he didn't care. He glanced around until he spotted a figure with silver hair fighting against one with red hair. "That's interesting. The princess is matched up against Ms. Thorn."

Phillip and Eleanor walked together toward the battle, noticing the princess seemed more motivated in this battle. Celestina's figure moved gracefully on the platform and in the air with her dragon anima, blasting Isabella off the platform. Phillip smiled. "I wonder why she seems to have it out for Ms. Thorn?"

"Ah, the Raevens only have swords on their mind. Oscar used to be friends with Ms. Thorn, childhood friends, in fact. But she discarded their friendship upon learning the difference of their talents." Eleanor explained.

"That's right. I remember now." Phillip mumbled. "While I understand the logic behind such a decision, Oscar isn't useless."

"Well, who could have known at the moment in the past? Though they were friends in their childhood, cutting that off without hesitation irks me. For one, I'm glad Oscar came here. The princess can have all the fun she wants."

Phillip chuckled. "I recall years ago when we were ten. The princess could not stop talking about some books she had read. Even you, who had great communication skills, became helpless under her endless chattering."

"Ugh." Eleanor cringed from remembering. Before then, she had been known as a great conversationalist with a sharp tongue, but she could always find ways to speak with others. However, Celestina's unrestrained babble on books struck her speechless for the first time. "Despite my best attempts, I could never connect with her on that. I never thought anyone could handle her obsessive love of books until Oscar came along."

"True." Phillip nodded. "I'm glad she seems happier for it."

"Phillip, Eleanor. How were your battles?" Celestina stepped off the platform without sparing a glance at the aggrieved Isabella. However, despite her cool attitude, her clothes were worn down and scorched in different places, and her face, slick with sweat, looked tired.

"Victory in our battles, princess." Eleanor laughed. "How was the battle against Ms. Thorn?"

"She's gotten stronger, but she still spouted so much nonsense about Gilbert, so irritating. She didn't make it easy, but she's no match for me. However, she ruined my appearance. I can't be in public with such a weary appearance; what would that say about the Royal Family?" Celestina scoffed. "I'm going to go change."

"Though it was an unpleasant affair. You look strangely happy, princess." Phillip bowed his head.

"Really?" A wide smile plastered across Celestina's usually cool and collected expression the entire time. She cutely rubbed her cheeks, but the smile remained. She chuckled. "Well, I always feel great beating an arrogant fool who abandoned a good friend. Though he no longer wants anything to do with her, I still have a responsibility to get some revenge every time, no?" Then she put a finger over her lip. "Don't tell Oscar; he'd say that's improper and probably force a book about self-control on me."

"I wonder how the Lower Elite Exalt division is going?" Eleanor looked over the distance to the other side of the stadium.

"I'm more curious about how Gilbert is doing in the Greater Elite Exalt division." Phillip frowned. Time after time, he lost against Gilbert's power, but now he could not fight him because of the gap in their realms.

"Ignore Lockwood." Celestina returned to her serious look, her emerald eyes locked powerfully on Phillip. "I'm sure Oscar is giving his opponents a big shock unless he's against someone from our group."

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…….

"Am I cursed?" Oscar sighed with his head hung low. He fought his first battle against Frederick, his second battle against Emily, and now his third battle would be against Serena. All of whom had prior knowledge of his mastery of Prinstyct and Reis, so they readily prepared for the eventuality. "If I had matched up against random strangers, I would have won by catching them off-guard."

Rather than the easy bouts against unassuming foes, Oscar struggled multiple times while taking damage. The healing station could help his wounds, but exhaustion was building up in his mind. Staring at Serena in front of him, who waved her hand with a fresh smile, Oscar felt ever more drained but smiled lightly back.

"Hello, Serena."

Besides that one strange day when she didn't show up, Oscar constantly found Serena at his door with a basket of food in her hand like clockwork. He thought of turning her away each time but felt bad about it whenever he saw the well-made food in the basket. Thus, it became a routine for Oscar to eat the breakfast made by Serena, who always happily ate with him.

Oscar knew it was unhealthy for her to continue this way, but he didn't know what do to. Telling her that he loved Celestina had the opposite effect, and Serena had gotten closer to Celestina, which still confounded him to this day.

"Hey, Oscar. Fancy meeting you here." Serena sounded chirpy today, but her red wavy hair was out of place in some spots, and her shoulder had a slight cut in the uniform. Her previous battles had not been easy.

Oscar glanced at the cut and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm good. Thanks for worrying about me." Serena looked happy, but soon a fierce expression washed over him as her green eyes locked on Oscar with a strong gaze. "But I can't allow myself to be swayed by your sweet words."

Oscar lifted his Invicus Bulwark. "It would be rude to ask you to surrender. I am eager to see how much you've grown. However, are you sure you can calm yourself?"

Serena laughed, wiping a tear from her eye. "Didn't I tell you in the Safe Zone back at the Inner Hall exam? Despite our relationship, I am quite greedy. Sorry, but I also want to win, so don't worry about me."

Oscar smiled and gripped his buckler. There was no more he had to say to her. His deer anima

Serena lifted her axes, letting out a long breath to calm herself. Her stance was hunched over and low but perfect for her axes.

The proctor sighed, thinking about how these two students should get a room. But he returned to their dutiful self and shouted, "Begin!"

Oscar rushed ahead, not intent on dragging this out because he had had enough of his friends' anti-Oscar strategies, and Serena had an annoying arsenal of spells. His Ein burned on the surface of his bulwark. However, a torrential flood of water came forth in crashing waves.

'Rampaging Torrent'

Serena's spell created small waves, but they were powerful and sharp, like the storm waves that tear apart boats and swallow people. With his body covered by 'Silver Sheen', Oscar cursed as the waters continued to flow, scraping and gnawing at his metallic skin. But the torrents failed to break through.

Oscar canceled his 'Silver Sheen' as the waves receded and looked around for Serena. Then an axe covered in 'Maelstrom Spike' flew right to his side; this axe was her anima and had freedom of motion. His Prinstyct caught onto Serena, who had thrown the axe, and noticed a tremor of Ein about to come out, linking to the ground under him.

'Under me!' Oscar rode on his deer anima, and they leaped away before the axe could slice through him, but more importantly before a large hot pillar of water erupted from his previous spot. He recognized his spell as the one Leon Richter used, 'Geyser Eruption'. The spell focused the Ein on a remote place and erupted in scalding high-pressure water.

Serena did not let up. Oscar foresaw each of her Eins emitting to multiple points on the ground. Multiple geysers were coming to give Oscar no space to dodge.

While he halted as the geysers would soon erupt, a pair of axes flung forward, creating a torrential criss-cross of water. The geysers erupted in droves, filling a vast portion of the platform with steaming pillars of water. Serena's axes cut through these waters, being empowered and slammed into something hard.

Serena looked shocked, spitting out some blood. She recalled her axes and noticed a slight crack on her axe anima. With shock, she stared at the mists, which parted to reveal a shiny figure.

Oscar and his deer anima stood tall. He was coated in 'Silver Sheen', but the surprising thing to Serena was that his deer anima was also coated in the same 'Silver Sheen'

Using spells on an anima was not original to Oscar, but he had neglected it for too long. With his Foundry work and Reis training taking up too much of his time that he had little time to go on missions, Oscar had not reached enough to get a grade-two spell. So the only conclusion was to master it with his anima.

The silver broke apart, and Oscar came out unharmed.

"Combining spells with the anima isn't anything new." Serena lifted her axes.

"Oh? But this is." Oscar formed a 'Silver Lance' on his arm. The deer anima's antlers shaped and formed two sharp lances. It looked as though two lances laid atop the deer's head, with the antlers wrapped around it like vines around a pillar.

Serena shuddered from the devastating Ein flowing from him. It was just a Grade Four Anima, but with Oscar's 'Ein Awaken' and triple spell, it elevated to devastating levels of power.

"Let's finish this." Oscar ground his teeth. This move was too much even for him. Using it once would make his anima collapse from the sheer backlash of doing this. "Face my Treble Lance."