Duran's ball, wrapped in Lightning Aura, flew toward the goalpost.
"Wind Shield!"
Chelsea urgently chanted a defensive spell.
A strong wind blew from the goalpost of Class 5.
The ball, which had been flying at an incredible speed, slowed down momentarily.
However, its momentum didn’t completely disappear.
It only managed to stop the ball for a fleeting moment.
Since the ball was wrapped in Lightning Aura, it couldn’t be caught carelessly.
Even if someone grabbed it, it was clear that the ball would break through Chelsea's defensive magic and fly into the goal before anyone else could touch it.
"What a pointless move!"
As Duran sneered, Leo shouted.
"Cal! Get ready for what I told you!"
"Ah! If only I didn’t have bathroom cleaning duty!"
Cal activated his magic.
Cal was an earth-attribute magician.
The specialization of the earth attribute was defense and weight!
A faint brown magic radiated from Cal's body.
Leo, holding Cal’s hand—lightened by gravity magic—threw him toward the goalpost.
It was a plan to defend with a human body.
Whoosh! Swoosh-!
Cal’s body flew toward the goalpost.
Woosh-! Whish-!
At the same time, the ball also broke through Chelsea’s defensive magic.
Because Cal, made lighter by gravity magic, reached the goalpost faster than the ball due to Leo's strength.
"It’s useless! Both Cal and the ball will enter the goal together!"
Duran sneered mockingly.
But just before the ball hit him, Cal used magic to maximize his body weight.
On top of that, Chelsea quickly cast a shield spell on Cal.
Thud-!
"Ack!"
Smack-!
Only Cal, hit by the ball, entered the goalpost, while the ball bounced away.
If someone caught the ball before it hit the ground, they would retain possession, but if it was dropped, possession would be lost.
Tap-! Roll-.
The ball rolled on the ground.
Whistle-!
"Possession goes to Class 5!"
"Kyah! Awesome, Cal!"
"Your sacrifice for the class! I won’t forget it!"
Cheers erupted from Class 5 as Leo, Chelsea, and Cal barely managed to defend successfully.
Cal gave a sorrowful smile at his classmates, who only remembered his sacrifice and didn’t worry about him.
"Sorry, Cal."
"Are you okay?"
"Leo, Chelsea, only you two care."
Cal felt moved as Leo and Chelsea approached him with apologetic smiles.
"That was amazing. What kind of strategy was that?"
Nella, approaching to heal him, asked lazily, and Chelsea beamed brightly as she replied.
"The strategy is called 'Friend Shield!' Leo thought of this defense plan anticipating a situation like this!"
"Using a friend as a tool for victory? Brilliant decision."
Cal felt like crying.
Meanwhile, Iliana, holding the ball, spun her arm in circles.
"Alright! Alright! Time for another point...!"
Whip-!
From Class 1's side, something like a whip shot out and snatched the ball from Iliana's hand.
"Whoa! Haul!"
"So cool!"
"As expected of the successor of the Snake Spear!"
Class 1, which had quickly regained possession, experienced a surge in morale.
Iliana, staring blankly at her hand and then at the ball taken by Class 1, clasped her hands together and bowed her head toward Cal.
"Sorry, they took it."
"Give me back my sacrificeeeeee!"
***
"Oh! What brings you to the training ground at this hour, Senior Ain?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course, I’m here to observe the combat class."
Ain and Ren met at the entrance of the training ground.
"Haha! I see. Well, that makes sense. Right now, Celia, Duran, and Chen Xia are in class! As a professor in the Knight Department, you must be curious to see how skilled they are in combat!"
"I’m here to observe all the Knight Department students, Ren. Unlike you, I didn’t come here blatantly to watch someone specific."
"I’m here to observe all the Magic Department students as well."
Ren shrugged his shoulders.
The two weren’t merely colleagues as teachers.
Both were graduates of Lumerne and had known each other since their school days.
Of course, they didn’t have a good relationship; they were rivals from different departments and had carried on a long-standing ‘bad blood.’
If Yura, the Summoning Department professor, joined in, it was widely known among professors and students alike that the trio would become a perfect storm of chaos.
"By the way, I was surprised when I heard that the professors took charge of the first-years."
"It’s the first time for both of us to handle lower grades."
"Speaking of which, wasn’t Senior Ain Professor Sedgen’s first student? How was it back then?"
"Same as now. He cared for his students deeply. Professor Halind, however, has changed a lot since those days."
"By the time I became a fifth-year, he was already called 'The Wailing Wall.'
Reminiscing about their school days, the two professors entered the training ground.
And they were surprised.
"Bastera? From the first class?"
"That’s bold."
The two professors’ eyes lit up when they realized that Class 1 and Class 5 were the ones playing Bastera.
"The score is 1-0, with Class 5 in the lead."
It was an unexpected result.
Class 1’s best players were all participating.
Although unintentional, Class 1 was the elite class, made up of students with high average entrance exam scores.
It was a match between the top and bottom classes.
While entrance scores would become meaningless in a few months, the gap was clear for now.
"Leo, Chelsea, Iliana, Teid, and Nella... They can be called Class 5’s aces, but the rest of the players aren’t noteworthy."
Ain showed a look of interest.
"Impressive."
Ren, watching the game, expressed admiration.
"Leo is clearly a natural leader."
"You could already feel that during the entrance ceremony."
Class 1, relying on their exceptional individual skills, continued to overwhelm Class 5.
In contrast, Class 5 focused on teamwork.
The core of that teamwork was Leo.
He predicted the opponents’ moves at every moment, sometimes displaying quick wit to counter Class 1’s attacks.
Ren looked regretful.
"If only he used magic as well as Aura!"
Though using magic would have been better, Leo only utilized Aura.
Of course, he had no choice.
While Leo had exceptional skill in analyzing magic formulas, his mana reserves were limited.
As a result, Aura had to become the main ability in combat.
Ren glanced nervously at Ain.
Ain was also watching Leo closely.
However, unlike Ren, Ain was observing the match with a very satisfied expression.
Feeling frustrated, Ren shouted inwardly.
"Leo! Use magic too~!"
Ren looked at Leo with an eager heart.
Meanwhile, the match entered the latter half.
Since Bastera involved using all their abilities, stamina consumption was significant.
Typically, the game lasted for an hour, but for the first years, twenty minutes was the limit due to their stamina.
At that moment, Celia's terrifying attack shook the net of Class 5's goal.
"Celia! Amazing! I think I’m falling for you!"
"Big sister! Please adopt me as your younger sibling!"
The Class 1 students cheered excitedly.
Celia had successfully scored, breaking through the defense of three Class 5 students in front of the goal.
"Is she... a monster?"
Cal, who had been hit by the ball directly, muttered with a drained expression before slumping over and fainting.
"Huff-! Huff-!"
But Celia, who had used all her strength, was also in a state of exhaustion.
"We’ve knocked down three players, and there’s not much time left! If we block this attack and counter, we can definitely win, so don’t let them turn the tide!"
Celia shouted with difficulty.
Class 5, which had barely held onto their advantage, instantly lost it, and their morale plummeted to the worst.
In contrast, Class 1's morale soared to its peak.
From the rear, Chloe was watching Class 5 intently.
The standout performer of this match was undoubtedly Chloe.
Although Class 5 had scored an unexpected goal early on, Chloe had perfectly blocked Leo and Chelsea, the core of Class 5’s offense, thereafter.
No matter what methods they tried, they couldn’t get past Chloe.
As she watched Leo prepare to attack, Chloe resolved herself.
"I won’t lose."
Since the first magic class, Chloe had become aware of Leo, no matter how much she tried not to.
She had never thought of herself as falling behind anyone in magic.
She believed her ability to analyze magic formulas was superior even to Avad, who was considered the strongest magician among their peers.
And she was right.
At the Northern Magic Tower, she was considered a genius of historic proportions in magic formulas.
That was Chloe Muller.
But from the very first class, she had fallen behind in magic analysis.
"I’ll never lose to Leo Plov."
Chloe clenched her fists tightly.
With Celia out of the game, Class 1's defense had a noticeable gap.
"Attack! If we don’t score this time, we’ll definitely lose!"
Iliana shouted.
Chelsea blocked Duran, who was charging toward Leo to mark him.
The other players also tried their best to create a one-on-one situation between Leo and Chloe.
Leo dashed quickly through Class 1’s territory, heading toward the goalpost.
With Celia gone and Duran tied up by Chelsea, there was no one left to stop Leo.
But Class 1 also had a trump card.
Chloe stepped in front of Leo.
"You’re not getting past me."
"Sorry, but one-on-one? I think I can manage that."
At Leo’s words, Chloe smirked slightly.
Crack-crack-crack-!
Leo’s eyes glimmered.
Ice quickly gathered in the air, forming ice clones that looked exactly like Chloe.
Four ice clones, like living dolls, blocked Leo’s path.
"No way! Ice clones? She’s using such advanced magic formulas? Even my brother can’t do that!"
Chelsea exclaimed in astonishment.
"These aren’t just ordinary clones!"
Magic circles unfolded around the ice clones.
Each one could be considered a magician on its own.
"To use this level of magic formula at that age? She’s a genius."
Leo marveled.
Chloe’s eyes twitched.
"Are you mocking me right now?"
"You even took first place in the magic theory exam yourself!"
Chloe sneered at Leo with an intimidating glare.
"Either way, you can’t get past me! So just give up!"
"You’re right. With just my Aura abilities, I can’t break through this."
Leo smiled faintly.
"With just Aura abilities, that is."
Whoosh!
"Mana?"
Chloe was flustered.
She hadn’t expected Leo to use magic at this moment.
Leo’s figure multiplied into several copies.
"Illusion magic? How shallow!"
Though caught off guard, illusion magic was something Chloe could easily counter.
While it was against the rules to attack a player with magic, illusions created by magic could be attacked freely.
"Which one is real?"
And finding the real one among simple illusions was a trivial task for Chloe.
She focused her mana on her eyes to see through the illusions.
At that moment, Chloe’s expression froze.
"I can’t distinguish which one is fake!"
Without knowing the real one, she couldn’t attack recklessly.
But what surprised her even more was something else.
"This... this magic...!"
While Chloe was in shock, Leo bypassed her and lightly scored a goal at the goalpost.
Too stunned to react, Chloe slumped to the ground.
A flawless illusion magic that made it impossible to tell the real one apart.
The magic Leo had just used was one that Chloe knew as well.
But Chloe couldn’t use it.
Because the magic Leo used wasn’t human magic.
Chloe stared blankly behind her.
As the illusion disappeared, leaves scattered into the air.
A fundamentally different magic system.
"Elf magic... magic of the stars?"
It was a mirage.
The magic Leo used was created by Luna, the Founder of the Constellations.
End Of Chapter
