Despite Cedric’s laughter, the audience remained deathly quiet.

The three giant light spears hovering behind him slowly began tilting towards Theo.

Only...

A massive shadow soon fell over him.

Cedric’s laughter slowly came to a halt.

His smile froze.

As he looked up, the ice wall in front of him crumbled.

Theo was finally revealed.

A colossal water tornado towered on top of his umbrella, completely blotting out the sun.

WOOOSH!

The deafening roar echoed through the entire arena.

Water churned violently inside the vortex, two forces spinning in opposite directions that had previously ripped a Siren apart.

The arena’s barriers lit up immediately as even the judge took a step forward.

Theo only smiled as his clothes fluttered under the pressure.

’’A Silver Core spell, huh,’’ he said, chuckling. "Did you really think I didn’t have one?"

Cedric’s pupils contracted.

Then his expression twisted.

’’Impossible! This isn’t what I was told!’’

Theo didn’t wait for a second.

He slowly brought his arms down.

WOOOOOOSH!

The entire tornado moved along with him, slowly closing in on the ground.

Cedric’s eyes went wide.

Without hesitation, he thrust both his hands forward.

POP! POP! POP!

The three giant light spears shot forward one after another.

They crashed into the water tornado with enough force to shake the battlefield.

Boom!

A massive hole was torn straight through the vortex.

Then another.

Then a third.

Yet a second later, the water surged back into place again.

Every hole vanished as though it had never existed.

Cedric’s face slowly paled.

’How?’

’There’s no dodging that...’

His eyes remained locked on the massive tornado.

Those light spears hadn’t been ordinary attacks.

Each one had contained a large chunk of his mana.

He was sure that outside of Earth-element Silver Cores, every single person would be forced to dodge them.

Yet...

This tornado had swallowed the damage with no problem.

And kept on moving.

’Impossible...’

Crack!

Crack!

The sheer pressure from the tornado made the arena’s tiles crack apart.

Chunks of stone were ripped into the air before being swallowed by the raging waters.

Cedric gritted his teeth.

’’NO!’’

Large amounts of ice mana erupted from his body.

Though he had only just reached the Silver Core and had no spell for it, a concentrated burst of ice soared up into the sky.

SHHHS!

It froze a large chunk of the tornado.

CRACK! CRACK!

The frozen chunks were quickly ripped apart by the water.

Countless shards of ice rained back down across the battlefield.

Cedric’s expression completely changed.

The tornado hadn’t budged in the slightest.

For the first time, genuine fear flashed through his eyes.

The colossal tornado was already just above him now, its deafening noise drowning out everything else. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Then—

BOOOOOOM!!!

The water crashed onto him.

The entire arena ground shook violently as the water spun around.

Entire chunks of stone were ripped from the ground and utterly crushed.

For a moment, Cedric’s figure completely disappeared.

’Oh?’ Theo thought, tilting his head slightly. ’The judge didn’t step in?’

He let out a few deep breaths, calming his body.

’Let’s hope he’s still alive...’

Finally, the water tornado completely burst apart.

It flooded the entire arena for a moment before slowly sinking away into the massive crater it had created.

The entire arena held its breath.

All eyes were locked onto the massive crater.

Water slowly dripped from the shattered stones as the dust settled.

One second passed.

Then another.

Finally, a faint blue glow appeared at the bottom of the crater.

Theo raised an eyebrow.

’Impressive.’

Before long, the barrier completely came into sight.

Underneath it lay Cedric, trembling like a leaf.

The young man simply stared above him, his eyes completely filled with fear.

Several parts of his clothes had been ripped, blood dripping from the small scratches underneath.

’To think the school’s badges were this strong,’ Theo thought, nodding slowly. ’No wonder the judge was so confident.’

For a moment, he fell silent.

Then he glanced at Cedric himself and shook his head.

’He’s never been in a dangerous situation before, huh.’

Theo let out a deep breath and turned around.

’Seems to be a trend amongst all these rich people.’

Many had real combat experience, but usually in a protected environment.

Only a rare few actually experienced near-death situations.

The difference between such individuals was obvious.

They wouldn’t freeze up when faced with overwhelming spells, nor would they lie there shivering afterwards.

’Don’t think it would’ve changed anything for him, but still...’

Theo snapped out of his thoughts as he reached the edge of the arena.

For a moment, he glanced at the judge.

’’It’s done, right?’’

The judge nodded, then began moving towards Cedric as several more staff members joined him.

Theo smiled and continued.

’Better safe than sorry,’ he thought, stepping out of the arena.

For several more seconds, the entire arena remained quiet.

Nobody seemed quite sure what to say.

Many of the pre-admission students were calculating what they would’ve done.

The regular students, on the other hand, were caught up in their emotions.

After all, with the fame Theo had recently gained, his arrogance and insults had spread steadily between them too.

Before the fight, he’d hurt a beautiful, kind lady with his words.

Even just now, the fight had practically been a one-sided beating for Cedric.

Finally, the first voice echoed out.

’’Cedric was arrogant, but Theo went way too far here.’’

The people around him glanced down at the ground.

Cedric had been put on a stretcher, still trembling profusely.

Another voice echoed out through the stands.

’’He’s right.’’

’’What was the need for such a strong spell?’’

More voices began joining in almost simultaneously.

’’That wasn’t proper!’’

’’There was no need for this!’’

Even those who didn’t particularly mind what happened felt like they had no other choice but to join in.

Down below, Theo had long disappeared into the corridors though.

’Let’s see,’ he thought. ’I’m rank 14 now.’

A large smile appeared on his face.

’Doesn’t that mean I just have to challenge two more people?’