When enemies met face to face, hatred came naturally.

Most of the Sorcerers within the Divine Grace Society had joined the Cursed Spirit faction because they could no longer tolerate the corruption of the sorcerer world.

The major sorcerer clans controlled everything.

Ordinary Sorcerers lacked inherited bloodlines and family techniques, meaning they started at a massive disadvantage from birth, crushed beneath the overwhelming superiority of clan heirs.

For most of them, the future looked hopeless.

And honestly, the criticism was not entirely wrong.

The sorcerer world really was dominated by the old clans. The higher ups were filled with conservative relics clinging to outdated ideals.

Even the Academy itself had been founded jointly by those same elite families.

Still, there was one undeniable fact.

The Academy faction continued to uphold the duties of Sorcerers, exterminating Cursed Spirits and maintaining order within human society.

Compared to that, the Divine Grace Society had openly sided with the Cursed Spirit faction, abusing cursed powers freely while spreading chaos throughout society.

Every last one of them had blood on their hands.

That much was true.

They constantly preached about how rotten the sorcerer world had become, yet they themselves fully understood that their own crimes were unforgivable.

Justice?

Order?

Bullshit.

They simply enjoyed doing whatever they wanted.

No excuses needed.

No grand ideology required.

The Divine Grace Society just hated the Academy faction.

The hostility between both sides was obvious.

No more talking.

The fight started instantly.

"You arrogant little brats!"

"You seriously think two Grade One Sorcerers can take on dozens of us?!"

"Kill them!"

As heirs of elite clans and celebrated prodigies, Zephyr and Sylas perfectly embodied everything the Divine Grace Society despised.

They wanted those two dead more than anyone.

In an instant, dozens of techniques flew toward them simultaneously.

The two immediately dodged while counterattacking at the same time.

Sylas formed hand signs calmly as moisture in the air condensed into countless floating droplets.

"Water Bullet Art."

"Thunder Arts!"

The water bullets struck with the destructive force of artillery shells.

Several Sorcerers were pierced clean through instantly, massive holes blown straight through their torsos.

The water rounds exploded afterward, perfectly combining with Zephyr’s lightning technique and wiping out huge groups of Divine Grace Society Sorcerers inside the VIP room.

Their combat power was absurd.

A blur flashed forward.

One Sorcerer specializing in hand to hand combat rushed directly at Zephyr and threw a decisive punch at his face.

In his mind, these two clearly specialized in techniques.

That usually meant close combat was their weakness.

Normally, that assumption would have been correct.

Very few Sorcerers excelled at everything.

Unfortunately for him, Zephyr and Sylas belonged to that tiny minority.

Not only were their techniques terrifying, their physical combat skills were equally monstrous.

With Cursed Energy reinforcement, their bodies had reached the absolute top tier among Sorcerers.

Boom!

The attacking Sorcerer never even understood what happened.

The instant he threw his punch, Zephyr countered with lightning fast speed and unleashed a brutally smooth combo.

Sixteen punches.

Every single strike landed cleanly.

The Sorcerer exploded into a cloud of blood mist as organs and blood sprayed everywhere.

Zephyr’s hand to hand combat was already exceptional.

Combined with the explosive speed enhancement of his lightning technique, very few Sorcerers could survive even one hit from him.

In the blink of an eye, more than twenty Sorcerers had died.

Four of them were Grade One.

The strongest among them was the martial arts specialist from earlier.

As a Grade One Sorcerer, he had managed to survive sixteen punches from Zephyr.

Well... technically speaking, he died around punch number six.

Zephyr simply finished the remaining ten because he wanted to complete the combo.

Savage didn’t even begin to describe it.

The Divine Grace Society knew Zephyr and Sylas were powerful.

But they had never imagined they were this powerful.

The moment the battle started, over half their forces were already dead.

Left with no choice, the surviving Sorcerers prepared to flee in fury.

"Run!"

"We’ll remember this!"

"Next time we meet, we’ll make you repay this debt with interest!"

Zephyr grinned mockingly.

"Next time?"

"Who gave you the confidence to think you’re leaving here alive?"

Sylas narrowed his eyes.

"Dragon Current Art."

Instantly, the scattered water throughout the room gathered together beside him, forming a massive serpentine water dragon.

With a furious roar, the dragon surged toward the escaping Sorcerers.

The moment it passed through them, every drop of moisture inside their bodies was stripped away.

Several horrifying mummified corpses collapsed onto the floor.

Today, nobody from the Divine Grace Society was escaping.

In one corner of the room, a parrot inside a cage silently watched everything unfold.

Two streets away.

Inside the lobby of a luxury hotel, a white-haired man sat calmly on a sofa.

He slowly opened his eyes, amusement flickering across his face.

"As expected of the prodigies Cursecraft Academy places so much hope in."

"Their strength really is impressive."

"If they’re allowed to keep growing, they’ll become major problems."

Winifred stepped forward respectfully.

"Lord Mordren, isn’t abandoning the Divine Grace Society a bit wasteful?"

"It doesn’t matter."

Mordren sounded completely unconcerned.

"They’ve already outlived their usefulness."

"Continuing to involve ourselves with them would only drag us down too."

"Think of it as an early greeting gift for Zephyr and Sylas."

"We’ll meet them eventually."

"I understand."

"Though..." Mordren suddenly glanced toward the hotel entrance with curiosity.

"It seems you failed to shake off the little tail following you."

"What?"

Winifred froze in shock.

A sharp whistling sound cut through the air.

She caught the incoming object instinctively and opened her hand.

It was only an ordinary stone.

The only unusual thing about it was the faint trace of Cursed Energy and technique residue lingering on its surface.

True Hit Art.

Once activated, any attack released at a target within sight would pursue them relentlessly until it landed.

Used in reverse, it became an absolutely flawless tracking ability.

Compared to the Divine Grace Society, Caelum was far more interested in the real mastermind behind everything.

He casually walked into the hotel and headed straight toward the pair.

Winifred looked stunned.

"You?!"

Mordren asked calmly,

"Someone from the Academy?"

"He’s in the same class as Zephyr and Sylas," Winifred replied slowly.

"But... I’ve never even known his name."

"His presence is so weak I unconsciously overlook him almost every time."

A Sorcerer with almost no presence at all.

Yet somehow even harder to deal with than Zephyr and Sylas.

Mordren no longer viewed Caelum as some ordinary student.

His expression gradually turned serious.