Boom!

On the training field, two figures clashed at high speed.

The sound of fists colliding echoed nonstop as Caelum and Uliya exchanged blows back and forth.

With her tall frame and perfectly toned physique, Uliya had cut her long hair down to shoulder length for combat convenience, making her movements look sharp and clean.

Since this was only an exchange session, she obviously was not fighting seriously.

She deliberately suppressed her strength while giving Caelum pointers during the spar.

After trading blows with him, she quickly realized Zephyr had been telling the truth.

Without cursed tools, this guy was only around Grade Three Sorcerer level.

Maybe he had improved recently, but at best he was barely touching the threshold of Grade Two.

Caelum’s fist, wrapped in Cursed Energy, shot toward her from an extremely tricky angle.

It grazed past Uliya’s cheek and forced her backward.

She immediately twisted her body and gathered momentum.

Her long, powerful leg traced a perfect arc through the air before crashing toward Caelum’s face with terrifying force.

Boom!

A loud impact exploded.

Caelum barely managed to cross his arms in front of himself in time and was kicked several meters backward.

"Hiss..."

He shook his numb arms and exhaled sharply.

"Let’s stop here for now. My hands are already numb. Heavenly Restriction really is ridiculous. Ordinary Sorcerers seriously can’t compare physically."

Uliya stopped immediately.

She looked completely relaxed, not even sweating.

Then she looked at Caelum.

This guy was also completely dry.

He was only breathing slightly harder than before.

"Alright."

During the break, Caelum looked toward the other side of the training grounds.

Compared to their spar, the fight over there was far more intense.

"Luminous Thunder Spear!"

Boom!

A gigantic spear shaped bolt of lightning erupted violently across the field.

It tore straight through the training grounds, leaving a massive scorched trail before blasting apart an entire section of the spectator stairs.

The watching students nearly jumped out of their skin.

Getting hit head on by something like that was basically a guaranteed death sentence.

Abel narrowly dodged Zephyr’s attack at the last possible moment.

His body accelerated instantly while his hands rapidly formed seals.

Without hesitation, he counterattacked.

"Repulsion Art!"

Bzzzt!

The air warped with ripples.

An invisible force surged outward and blasted a massive fan shaped shockwave across the field.

In mere moments, the training grounds were practically destroyed.

And this was still with both of them holding back.

If they had truly gone all out, the destruction would have been on an entirely different level.

From the spectator stands, the pale faced Knox showed absolutely no interest in joining the activity.

He turned toward Sylas beside him.

"Do those two have some kind of grudge? They look like they genuinely want to kill each other."

Sylas had long since gotten used to it.

"They’ve known each other since childhood. In their families, this kind of competition is normal. They’ve always liked trying to outdo each other."

Knox nodded in understanding.

"You two!"

At that moment, a furious roar echoed across the training grounds.

Their teacher stormed over in rage.

"Stop this right now! At this rate you’re going to flatten the entire field!"

Whoosh!

Knox turned his head.

Sylas had already vanished.

That guy ran absurdly fast.

Late that night.

Under the cover of darkness, two figures appeared outside the academy’s core district.

Uliya.

And Knox.

Knox gestured toward the area ahead.

"Do it."

Uliya nodded.

"Blech!"

She flexed her throat and vomited up three fleshy spheres the size of marbles before tossing them onto the ground.

The spheres rapidly expanded and returned to their original forms.

Three Grade One Cursed Spirits.

And not weak ones either.

Originally, both of them truly had entered Noctis Crown Academy as first year students.

But in reality, they had long since sided with the Cursed Spirit faction.

Honestly, it made perfect sense.

The academy faction was far too rigid and restrictive.

If players wanted to create chaos and quickly farm Interference Value, siding with the Cursed Spirit faction was obviously the better option.

This was basically how most players approached the game.

At the very least, the Four Great Guilds of Jujutsu Realm all leaned heavily toward the Cursed Spirit faction.

Concepts like justice and order meant absolutely nothing inside a game world.

Uliya and Knox understood that perfectly.

They were players.

Whichever playstyle generated the greatest rewards was the one they would choose.

All four Cursecraft Academies existed inside barrier fields. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Under normal circumstances, neither people nor Cursed Spirits could cross the barriers or destroy them from the outside without permission.

But destroying them from the inside was far easier.

As a physical type Heavenly Restriction user, Uliya possessed no Cursed Energy whatsoever.

To the barrier, she was effectively invisible.

As long as she hid the Cursed Spirits inside her own body, the barrier would never detect them during entry.

For the barrier itself, the inside of Uliya’s body was a complete blind spot.

Three Grade One Cursed Spirits.

One Heavenly Restriction user.

And one Sorcerer possessing the combat power of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.

This lineup was more than enough to destroy Astra’s barrier core.

As for why they were doing this, the answer was simple.

Together with the Cursed Spirit faction Sorcerers, they intended to slaughter the entire Cursecraft Academy in order to weaken the academy faction as a whole.

Without question, this was a major event capable of affecting the balance of the entire sorcery world.

Boom!

In the dead of night, a massive surge of Cursed Energy erupted skyward from Astra’s core district.

The violent fluctuations made everyone’s skin crawl.

"What happened?!"

"What’s going on?!"

"That area is... damn it, the academy barrier!"

Amid the chaos, a Grade One Cursed Spirit descended from the sky and immediately began slaughtering academy Sorcerers indiscriminately.

The young Sorcerers reacted quickly.

They rushed into battle.

"Enemy attack!"

However, with the barrier core destroyed, the academy lost its protection.

One Cursed Spirit after another flooded in from outside the academy grounds.

Students quickly began dying in large numbers.

"Flowing Dragon Art!"

Crash!

A massive water dragon condensed from gathered moisture and instantly wiped out every nearby Cursed Spirit.

Sylas arrived just in time to reinforce the battlefield, his expression darker than ever.

"This is bad."

Elsewhere.

Zephyr stared at the completely obliterated barrier core area with a grim expression.

As he sensed more and more Cursed Spirits pouring into the academy, he had no choice but to rush toward the fighting as well.

In the shadows.

Caelum stepped out quietly.

The night breeze brushed past him, carrying familiar scents.

"Uliya and Knox?"

Sorcerers relied too heavily on techniques.

Because of that, they often exposed themselves through tiny details like this without even realizing it.

Ordinary Sorcerers simply lacked the senses necessary to notice.

Beneath the dim moonlight, two figures rapidly fled the academy grounds.

Neither Uliya nor Knox participated in the massacre of Astra’s Sorcerers.

Their mission was already complete.

They had secured the Interference Value they wanted.

There was no reason to directly fight Astra’s Sorcerers any further.

After all, Astra was one of the Four Pillars of the sorcery world.

Anyone who believed Zephyr and Sylas were Astra’s strongest Sorcerers was unbelievably naive.