Maui's words suddenly resonated in Talia's ears.

“Your mother wasn’t killed by the Kraken – it was one of the Elders who killed her.”

The Academy had captivated her so much that she had nearly forgotten about it.

It had always lingered in the back of her mind, though, as Talia promised to investigate it when she had the time, but now, the gears in her head began to turn.

As she watched the bristling Elder, who had just created an unreasonable challenge for her, something clicked for her.

Could it be him?

Whoever killed Mom might get close to one of us on purpose—and Riala is both the first-born and the one who looks more like Mom.

Talia shot a glance at Riala, and at the second-year student she was supposed to fight.

Her sister seemed conflicted, but she didn’t say anything.

Instead, Kano, the second-year student who had been tasked to defeat her or be expelled from Elder Kahua’s School, fetched a trident and stepped into the center of the hall where they had been taking the test.

Distracted, Talia didn’t even pay attention to Elder Kahua’s smoldering glances.

In her head, the pieces were starting to fall into place.

Elder Kahua's challenge, his anger, and the clear resentment in his eyes hinted at something more than just strictness.

Could he be the one her father had warned her about — the one responsible for her mother's death?

Talia clenched her teeth in anger.

Why hadn’t Maui told her?

That was a damn important piece of information to have!

If she had known that Elder Kahua had been the one…

Then, she realized something.

Calm down.

I don’t know that Elder Kahua did anything.

Without even realizing it, she had started believing her father’s words because of how furious the middle-aged man in front of her had made her.

Talia glanced at Riala one last time, hoping for a sign of support, but her sister's face stayed blank, focusing on Elder Kahua.

Bitterness welled up inside her.

Of course, Riala wouldn’t speak up — she never had.

Not when the villagers treated Talia like an outcast, not when she begged her to help her pass the Academy’s entrance test.

Why would now be any different?

Talia had hoped things might change between them here.

But Riala’s silence clearly proved otherwise.

Who knows? Talia wondered, maybe I don’t even deserve it.

Her gaze shifted to Kano, the second-year student.

He looked confident – a perfect Elder Kahua student.

Normally, he’d be intimidating, but Talia only felt rage.

She wasn’t afraid in the slightest.

She was furious.

This was preposterous.

But she wasn’t going to back down.

She had no idea how she would manage to defeat someone at the very least ten levels above her.

She only knew she had to.

"Ready when you are," Kano said.

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Talia didn’t tell him that he should be ashamed of himself, nor did she complain to Elder Kahua for a second.

She just walked to the center of the hall in blistering silence.

She had no intention of giving the bastard who had concocted this duel any satisfaction.

The real problem was that she didn't know if she had any way to win this.

The difference between someone in their first year and second year was quite enormous.

Though, it was true that this student wasn't at the end of his second year.

He had just started.

He had been a first-year student until recently.

And first-year students didn't go out to do missions as much as those in the later years.

That meant if Talia was lucky, about ten levels or slightly less would be the only difference between them.

It wasn't insurmountable, usually.

But this guy looked very focused and very dangerous.

More worryingly, she saw a slight crackling of lightning around his trident.

She knew that this boy belonged to the Kāne family, the same family that Elder Krakatoa had revealed Professor Iakopo to be a part of.

The Kāne family's main Affinity was Azure Lightning Water.

This guy, thankfully, didn't seem to have been wielding Azure Lightning, which was an enhanced form of lightning that posed a much bigger danger than Lightning Water but was only available to the main branch of the Kāne family.

So, judging by the looks of it, this boy wasn't a part of the main family branch.

That made Talia's job slightly easier.

But main family or not, Talia needed a plan if she wanted to win this.

I can't bait him into thinking I'm extremely weak, Talia thought, looking at how determined the guy seemed.

That would have worked if Elder Kahua hadn't put Kano's permanence in his School on the line.

Sadly for Talia, it really looked like this guy wasn't going to take any chances.

She had activated [Eyes of the Abyss] and could see Mana swirling all around his body and into the weapon.

The moment this started, he would attack with all he had or close to it.

This made Talia think that if playing coy wasn't an option, the only thing she could really do was to make him angry and make him make a mistake.

Something rash that could give her an opening.

The fact that they were both wielding double-handed weapons meant that she didn't have a gross disadvantage like in the case of someone with a much nimbler weapon, such as a smaller sword or daggers, like the ones that Keanu had.

Until she gained more attributes, she would always be disadvantaged against faster opponents.

Her Glaive was made to destroy Abyssal Creatures, not to duel against pretty weapons.

"What are you waiting for?"

Talia taunted Kano, gripping her Glaive tightly.

Her enemy's trident crackled with electricity, and he immediately lunged for her.

She saw that his physical attributes weren't too high and instantly managed to parry.

Still, the impact jarred her arms.

However, after he swung the weapon a couple more times, sparks flying from his trident, she noticed that Kano had a rather aggressive style, leaving small openings between each swing.

"Is that all you've got?" Talia taunted, as if her muscles weren't hurting each time she parried one of those strikes.

Forcing a smirk, she added, "Well, I thought Elder Kahua's students were the best of the best. That's clearly not the case."

"Fight in silence," Elder Kahua thundered.

"Why do you need to hear the whimpering of your student?" Talia laughed arrogantly.

Anger flashed in Kano's eyes.

He hadn't paid attention to Talia's behavior before this, chalking her antics up to just being an overly excited first-year student.

But now, her arrogance was really rubbing him the wrong way, probably the same way it rubbed Elder Kahua.

And so, his attacks immediately intensified, and his lightning swung in arcs, only barely parried by Talia's Glaive.

The girl quickly slashed herself over the Glaive while backstabbing, using her blood to coat the weapon in a thick, sharp, and long blade that extended the Glaive's already impressive range.

"You know," she panted, narrowly avoiding a thrust of the trident, "are you here because of your family's connections? And what connections are those even, huh? I didn't know someone without Azure Lightning Water magic could actually get into a good School. I wonder what your mother did with Elder Kahua to get you here?"

That clearly put Kano, someone who had never heard another person dare insult his mother like that, over the edge.

Talia had plenty of experience dealing with insults and taunting on Solara – something that a sheltered noble clearly knew nothing about.

"Shut up," he snarled, now backstabbing and summoning a huge ball of electricity over the three points of his trident.

The air grew thick, making it hard to breathe.

Talia felt her arm hairs stand on end, her skin tingling with static.

"You know, maybe Elder Kahua is actually your real father. That's how you got into this School."

Talia laughed, ready to parry the massive attack.

Kano's face contorted with rage, and he unleashed the massive sphere.

Talia tried her best, even empowering her momentum with the Star Glaive's skill and her hands.

However, even with the massive blood scythe that she had managed to generate, the sphere knocked the weapon out of her hands, making her take the brunt of the rest of the impact coming at her.

She felt lightning charring her skin and coursing through her body, threatening to make her lose her senses.

But thanks to her innately higher regeneration and defense, she clenched her teeth through the pain and made it to the other side alive.

She stared at Kano, waiting for him to hesitate, even for a moment, when she could use [Reclaim], the other core skill of her Star Glaive, to get her weapon back and perhaps use her wrist mark's powers to throw the weapon as strongly as she could at him and pierce his abdomen.

But the hesitation or the brashness she had waited for didn't come.

Kano simply summoned another globe of electricity, not even telling Talia to surrender or waiting for her to do so.

No, he clearly had no intention of letting her walk away unscathed.

Talia had made a bad call.

She realized that, without him doing anything stupid, there was no way for her to win this.

"[Thunder Spear]!" Kano screamed, the globe of light on the trident expanding over the weapon, coating it with wild Lightning Water.

Kano took a throwing stance and readied himself to throw the weapon her way.

Talia could almost see it in slow motion as the trident left his hands and barreled at full speed towards her.

She immediately reclaimed her Glaive, preparing to face the lightning head-on, unsure of whether she would survive such an attack.

Then, something happened, and the world turned grey.