Three days had passed since the last stage. The final stage of the Inter-Academy Exchange arrived under a sky still buzzing with residual excitement from the third trial.
The grand arena had been reconfigured into a series of elevated duel platforms, each reinforced with layered defensive arrays capable of containing high-level combat.
The projection screens floated high above, ready to broadcast every exchange to the packed stands and the VIP section.
The referee’s amplified voice rolled across the arena.
"The final stage of the Inter-Academy Exchange will now begin! This stage will consist of one-versus-one battles between the remaining students of the two surviving academies!"
A large board of names and numbers materialized in the air.
"Gloria Academy currently has twenty-seven remaining students!"
A wave of murmurs passed through the crowd. Twenty-seven was still a formidable number, especially with several 4th-years and core fighters still active.
"Clementine’s Sword & Magic Academy..." the referee continued, glancing at the much shorter list, "...has four remaining students!"
The disparity drew another ripple of commentary from the stands. Four against twenty-seven.
On paper, the numbers looked brutal.
Yet after the third trial, almost no one in the arena truly believed the outcome would be decided by quantity alone.
The format was announced clearly.
Each match would be a single one-versus-one duel. The academies would alternate sending out representatives.
A student who lost would be eliminated from the final stage.
The academy that eliminated all opposing students, or held the last remaining fighters when the other side could no longer field anyone, would claim victory in the Inter-Academy Exchange.
Gray stood among the small Clementine group with the same calm expression as always, though the earlier spark of motivation Aurora had given him had not faded.
Seraph and the other two girls stood nearby, faces serious as they looked across the arena toward the much larger Gloria contingent.
On the opposite side, Gloria Academy’s twenty-seven remaining students were already lining up, their expressions a mixture of determination and residual caution.
The memory of the third trial still hung over them.
The referee raised his staff
"Both academies, prepare your first representatives! The final stage... begins now!"
The crowd leaned forward as one as the ultimate confrontation between Clementine’s Sword & Magic Academy and Gloria Academy was about to start.
Gray shifted his weight, already preparing to stand and walk toward the platform. Before he could fully rise, multiple hands pushed him firmly back down onto the bench.
"Sit."
"You’re not going first."
"Not a chance."
The two 4th-year girls from Clementine - both of them solid fighters who had survived the third trial through a combination of skill and sheer stubbornness - held him in place without hesitation.
The 3rd-year girl joined them, her expression unusually serious.
Seraph stood in front of him, her arms lightly crossed as she looked down at him with a calm but unyielding gaze.
"We’ve already discussed this," one of the 4th-years said quietly.
"You’re the only reason we even reached the final stage with a real chance of winning. There’s no point in sending you out early and letting them chip away at your stamina or force you to reveal more cards than necessary."
The other 4th-year nodded.
"We’ll eliminate as many as we can first. Preserve your power. You’re the last line, not the first."
The 3rd-year added in a lower voice,
"Even if we lose, as long as you’re still fresh when the numbers get low, we still have a path to victory."
Seraph met Gray’s eyes directly.
"I’m going first."
Gray looked at the four of them for a moment.
Their expressions left no room for argument. They had clearly decided this among themselves while he had been distracted earlier.
He leaned back against the bench without further protest.
Seraph turned toward the arena.
As the default weakest among the four remaining Clementine students - despite already having manifested sword aura - she was the logical first representative.
Sending her out early allowed the stronger 3rd- and 4th-year girls to conserve themselves for the middle stretch of the gauntlet, while still chipping away at Gloria’s numbers.
The referee’s voice rang out.
"Clementine’s Sword & Magic Academy, send your first representative!"
Seraph stepped forward onto the elevated duel platform, her sword resting lightly at her side.
A golden sword aura already flickered faintly along the blade as she faced the opposite side of the arena.
The Gloria Academy representative was a tall 3rd-year youth named Caden Vale.
He carried a long, single-edged saber and moved with the confident stride of someone who had already survived multiple high-stakes encounters in the earlier trials.
His aura was sharp and aggressive, the kind of presence that belonged to a student used to dictating the pace of a fight.
When he stepped onto the platform, the crowd immediately took notice.
"That’s Caden Vale from Gloria’s third-year combat division!"
"He’s one of their faster saber users. He eliminated three people during the second trial alone."
"Seraph’s going first? She’s strong, but Caden isn’t a soft opener."
In the VIP section, several nobles leaned forward.
Gloria watched with a cold, evaluating gaze. Aurora rested her chin lightly on one hand, her expression calm but attentive.
The Emperor remained still, observing both fighters with equal weight while the Saintess’s silver eyes settled on Seraph’s faintly glowing golden aura with quiet interest.
The referee raised his staff.
"Begin!"
Caden moved first.
He exploded forward with a burst of footwork, saber already tracing a sharp horizontal arc aimed at Seraph’s midsection.
The strike was fast and clean, designed to force an early reaction and test her defensive habits.
Seraph’s golden sword aura flared brighter along her blade. She stepped in rather than back, meeting the saber with a rising cut that redirected the force upward.
Sparks of gold and silver scattered as the weapons clashed.
CLANG!
The impact pushed both of them half a step apart.
Caden immediately chained into a second and third strike, his saber flowing in continuous, whip-like motions that tried to overwhelm her with speed and changing angles.
Seraph’s golden aura condensed, forming a thin, luminous edge that let her meet each attack with precise, economical parries.
The crowd reacted instantly.
"She’s matching his speed!"
"That golden aura is denser than I expected from a 2nd-year."
"Caden usually overpowers people in the first ten exchanges. She’s still clean."
Caden clicked his tongue and changed tactics.
He widened the arc of his saber and infused it with a sharp wind attribute, creating thin cutting currents that extended the reach of every slash.
The air around his blade whistled as he launched a flurry of diagonal strikes meant to hem Seraph in against the edge of the platform.
Seraph’s eyes remained steady.
Fwoop!
Golden light pulsed along her sword as she activated a more focused application of her aura.
Instead of meeting every extended cut head-on, she began cutting through the wind currents themselves, disrupting the attribute reinforcement before the physical blade arrived.
Each time she severed the wind edge, Caden’s follow-up strike lost a fraction of its power and precision.
SHING!
CLANG!
The exchange accelerated.
Caden pressed harder, using rapid footwork to circle and create new angles.
Seraph mirrored him, her golden aura leaving faint trailing afterimages whenever she changed direction.
Their blades met again and again in a tight, high-speed contest of timing and control.
In the stands, a group of 3rd-year students from a neutral academy watched with open intensity.
"She’s reading his rhythm."
"Caden’s saber style relies on continuous pressure. If she keeps breaking the attribute layer, he’ll have to overcommit."
"That golden aura isn’t just for show. It’s stable under repeated impact."
Caden clearly felt the same thing.
His expression tightened as he disengaged for a brief moment, then poured more mana into his saber.
A visible spiral of wind formed around the blade as he launched his strongest early technique.
"Gale Spiral Severance!"
The extended cutting force shot toward Seraph in a spiraling wave meant to overwhelm both her defense and her footing.
Seraph did not retreat.
Her golden sword aura erupted along the full length of her blade, forming a dense, luminous edge.
She stepped directly into the spiral and cut upward through its center with a single, clean motion.
FWOOOOSH!
SHING!
The spiral split apart.
Wind attribute scattered harmlessly to either side as her golden edge carved a straight path through the technique.
Caden’s eyes widened as Seraph continued forward through the dissipating force and immediately pressed her own attack.
Now it was her turn to dictate the pace.
Swip!
Golden light trailed behind every movement of her sword as she launched a series of precise, flowing strikes.
High, low, diagonal, thrust, each one carried the dense weight of her sword aura and forced Caden onto the defensive.
His saber flashed rapidly as he blocked and redirected, but the cumulative pressure of the golden aura made every clash heavier than the last.
The crowd’s tone gradually shifted at the scene in front of them.
"She’s taking the initiative!"
"Caden’s being pushed back!"
"That aura is actually suppressing his wind reinforcement on contact!"
In the VIP section, a noble who had previously dismissed Clementine’s depth muttered under his breath,
"She’s only a 2nd-year... and she’s pressuring one of Gloria’s better 3rd-years in a straight exchange."
Another noble beside him gave a tight nod.
"The golden aura is unusually pure. No fluctuation under stress."
Gloria’s expression remained cold, but her eyes tracked every movement of Seraph’s blade with clear focus.
Aurora’s faint smile had grown a fraction more pronounced.
Caden refused to yield.
He stomped hard against the platform and used a short-range burst technique to create distance, then immediately launched a second named art.
"Crosswind Fang!"
Two intersecting arcs of condensed wind and saber force scissored toward Seraph from different angles.
Seraph’s golden aura flared in response.
She rotated her body, cutting through the first arc with a rising slash while simultaneously angling her blade to deflect the second.
The dual impact still forced her back two steps, boots sliding against the reinforced platform, but she kept her balance and her guard intact.
Before Caden could follow up, she was already advancing again.
The fight settled into a fierce, extended rhythm.
Caden relied on speed, attribute extension, and continuous offensive pressure.
Seraph answered with dense golden sword aura, superior stability, and increasingly accurate reads of his timing.
Every time he tried to overwhelm her with volume, she cut through the supporting attribute layer and forced him to meet her blade directly.
Every time he tried to create distance, she closed it again with calm, measured steps.
Sweat appeared on Caden’s brow. His breathing slowly grew sharper, and the earlier confidence in his posture had been replaced by focused intensity.
Seraph’s expression remained composed.
Golden light continued to flow along her sword without visible strain, the aura holding its density even after prolonged contact.
The crowd was fully invested now.
"She’s outlasting him."
"Caden’s output is dropping. The aura clashes are costing him more than her."
"If this continues, she’ll take it."
In the VIP section, the Saintess observed the golden aura with quiet evaluation.
"Stable. Continuous. No wasteful leakage," she murmured, almost to herself. "Her battle qi is still immature, but the foundation is clean."
Several nearby nobles who had children of similar age shifted uncomfortably at the comparison.
On the platform, Caden made one final large commitment.
He poured the majority of his remaining mana into a wide, high-powered saber technique that combined his fastest footwork with a dense wind-enhanced slash meant to end the exchange in a single decisive blow.
Seraph met it head-on.
Her golden sword aura condensed to its sharpest point yet.
She stepped in, timed the interception with precision, and cut through the core of his technique with a single rising motion.
CLAAAAANG!
Caden’s saber was forced high.
His stance broke.
Seraph continued the motion without pause, bringing the flat of her aura-coated blade against his shoulder and chest in a controlled finishing strike that triggered the platform’s safety threshold.
Caden’s body glowed with the light of elimination.
He vanished from the arena a moment later, teleported out of the final stage.
Silence held for half a second.
Then the crowd erupted.
"She won!"
"Seraph took down Caden Vale!"
"First blood to Clementine!"
On the Clementine bench, the two 4th-year girls and the 3rd-year exchanged brief, sharp nods of approval.
Gray watched with the same calm expression, though a faint trace of acknowledgment existed in his eyes.
Seraph lowered her sword.
The golden aura around the blade slowly receded as she turned and walked back toward her side of the arena, breathing evenly, her posture still steady.
The referee’s voice rang out over the noise.
"Victory to Seraph of Clementine’s Sword & Magic Academy! Gloria Academy, send your next representative!"
Chapter 393: Inter-Academy Tournament (XLV)
10 min read