Seraphina surveys the damage and heaves a gentle sigh. She sheathes her thin longsword by her thick coat dress, under her pale-blue mantle which is lined with silverwolf fur.

Her silky platinum-colored hair whips in the fierce winds created by the tornado.

"This brazenness is why you'll never be able to beat me, ever."

She kneels down, pressing her palm against the ice. Seraphina was always able to feel it, the soul of her ice. Many years ago she tried explaining the concept to her private mentors, but none of them understood.

It was at that point Seraphina figured out that she was simply many, many cuts above the rest.

Through the consciousness of the ice, she feels the heartbeats of roughly hundred other students trapped in the clutches of her magic throughout the frozen lake.

Since the ice is an extension of her body, and effectively her own consciousness and will, she transmits her thoughts within.

"My name is Seraphina vi Rosenfeld! To all the students who can hear this, you are all trapped within my own ice. I could leave you to hang dry and face Cedric's tornado, or I can release you all.

"The cost is your loyalty to me during the exam! For everyone that accepts this proposal, I will guarantee that every student under me will pass this test.

"So decide in your hearts: fail and throw your future away, or pass and fight alongside me!"

Within the clutches of her ice, all is revealed about a person. From the hearts of the students scattered across the frozen lake, she is able to tell their feelings regarding her proposal.

She can't help but release a small chuckle as all hundred students accept her offer.

Seraphina snaps her fingers, perfectly shattering the ice around each and every student that had chosen to follow her.

"Well met, students! We will rendezvous on the eastern edge of the lake, near the only flagship washed ashore!"

Standing up, she cuts away her communication with the other test takers.

"That's right. To be the strongest is to successfully impose your will unto others. This is the one primordial tenet of the world."

Seraphina walked confidently through the icy lake, her boots crunching against the frozen ground. She glanced back at the students who had just been released from the ice, now following her closely. "Good," she thought, "they seem determined."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

As they approached the flagship, a grand vessel that had run aground, Seraphina noticed a group of students struggling to make their way through the ice. Without hesitation, she raised her hand, and a wave of frost spread out, shattering the ice and creating a clear path for the students to follow.

As she climbed up the deck of the flagship, she surveyed the battlefield.

Her eyes coldly fall onto Cedric, who arrogantly floats high above the frozen battlefield. He meets Seraphina's gaze, winking as he redirects his tornado towards the flagship.

…

"Can the examiners get any more cruel? Sending me into some spider ridden shithole!"

Miriam sits in a cavernous shelter carved into the side of a mountain.

Producing a stream of cold water from her palms, she wipes her hair down. Strands of silk and spider fur come untangled.

She feels both horrified and satisfied at the same time.

"And you," she starts, whilst pointing at Absinthe who lounges by their campfire, "I thought I'd get at least stuck with a fine maiden by my side! Why don't you cut your hair…."

Absinthe rolls over, stretching his arms above his head. "You're so loud. There are only a few more times I can use my Silence or Vanish hexes. If you slap me after I use it, what's the point of me using them at all?"

"Seriously, by the Stormlord, who do you Invoke? Teleporting through shadows and curses isn't really part of a Nocturna Invoker's kit."

"Did I ever say I invoked the Moonmaiden?"

"No… but that's all besides the point! Back to what you suggested earlier, I am not eating spider flesh!"

He rolls his eyes as he digs into his shadow, procuring a wooden bowl.

"Did you seriously think I actually meant that? Heh, even if you cooked the hell out of it, you'd probably be leaking poison… and spider hair."

Absinthe sticks his arm into his shadows, pulling out raw meat impaled by a steel skewer. Despite it being hours since the test started, the meat looks as if it had just been taken out of a freezer.

He hums as he removes some spices and sauces from his shadow, coating the raw meat in flavor.

Miriam's stomach begins to rumble as Absinthe begins roasting the meat skewer above the flames.

"You… you wouldn't happen to have more of those, would ya?"

Absinthe feigns innocence as he replies, "Maybe… but I thought you said you wish you had a pretty little lady instead of me? I might as well not exist anymore."

She stops combing her hair for webs and rises up from her rock. Around her is crackling lightning energy.

Miriam glares at Absinthe, who gazes back casually, before deciding against whatever she was planning on doing. She sits back down and scowls.

"I was about to clap."

"I didn't ask for an encore."

"Shut it. It's a technique where Thalor Invokers compress lightning into a closed fist, and release it just as it begins to singe your palm. Because of the instability, all the energy is transmitted into sound, producing thunder instead of lightning. It probably would've alerted all the spiders in the area."

Absinthe hangs his head back on his shoulders and laughs. "So? What made you decide against it?"

"Because I decided that I need a sword to pass this test. Now, please give me some food."

He smiles as he pulls out a raw meat skewer and tosses it to her, alongside a bowl and some of the spices he used.

'So prideful… all of you Orthodox Invokers.'

"Thanks," she mutters as she holds one of the spices in her hands.