The forest was thick with the scent of damp earth and something sharp—the smell of Nara's magic. In the sector where nara Group had been placed, the trio moved with a strange rhythm. Nara walked in the center, his hands tucked into his pockets, with a bored expression. To his left was Riku, and to his right was Reina, her skin shimmering with a faint diamond-like glow.
"You're too tense, Riku," Nara said. "The air is telling you where the threats are before they even move. Just breathe."
Riku didn't relax. "It's easy for you to say. You're holding the card. If we get ambushed, it's on us."
Reina let out a small, sharp laugh. "If anyone can handle an ambush, it's him. But he's right. Your energy is leaking everywhere. It's messy."
Riku bit his lip. He knew they were right. He focused on his breathing, remembering the long night of training. He didn't just want to slice things anymore. He wanted absolute control over his element.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to bulge. Four Purgatory Beasts—massive, six-legged boars covered in rusted iron plates—burst from the soil. They were fast, moving like heavy battering rams.
"Mine," Riku said, stepping forward.
He didn't send out a wave of water. Instead, he reached out toward the nearest beast with his mind. He focused on the liquid already inside the creature. With a brutal clench of his fist, the beast froze mid-charge. Its red eyes turned dull as the water was forcibly ripped from its cells, its blood, and its bone marrow. The liquid flew toward Riku, forming a swirling orb, while the beast collapsed into a pile of dry, gray dust that blew away in the wind.
"Now that's a bit more interesting," Reina said, impressed.
Riku didn't stop. He flicked the stolen water toward the second boar. As the liquid touched it, it acted like a vacuum, pulling every drop of moisture out of the second creature upon contact. Two high-level beasts were turned into husks in seconds.
"Not bad," Nara murmured. "But you're still working too hard. Watch."
The remaining two boars lunged at Nara. He didn't move his feet. He simply raised one hand and made a small, twisting motion with his fingers.
"Architecture Magic: Structural Realignment."
The air around the beasts warped. Nara wasn't just hitting them; he was editing them. One beast's head was suddenly swapped with its hind leg. Its ribcage folded outward like the wings of a bird, and its spine twisted into a perfect spiral. The creature didn't even have time to scream before it was rearranged into a grotesque, geometric sculpture. Nara snapped his fingers, and the sculpture collapsed into a pile of cubes.
Reina watched Nara closely. "Architecture Magic is for building, Nara. What you just did... that's a violation of biological law."
Nara turned to her, his white hair catching a stray beam of light. For a split second, his eyes didn't look like they belonged to a student. There was a faint, golden glow deep within them—a hint of a power that felt much older than the magic he was showing.
"A building is just a collection of materials held together by a design," Nara said quietly. "Living things are no different. If you know the design, you can change the blueprint. But don't worry, Reina. I'm only using the 'blueprints' today."
"We have seventy points now," Reina said, checking the red card. "We need one hundred and eighty more."
"Then we stop hunting small fry," Nara said. He looked toward a thicket of trees. "There's another group nearby. I can feel their energy."
They pushed through the trees and stepped into a wide clearing. Waiting for them was a group of three students. The leader was a tall boy with messy green hair and eyes like emeralds. He was tossing a red card of his own into the air and catching it. Behind him stood a girl with a heavy iron mace and a boy who looked like he was made of solid lead.
"Well, well," the green-haired boy, Jiro, said. You guys act like you're the only ones who know how to kill."
"And you look like thirty points," Reina replied, her skin shifting into its diamond form.
Jiro laughed. He slammed his hands into the dirt, and toxic green vines erupted from the ground like hungry snakes. "I hope you can handle a bit of rot."
Riku stepped forward, his hands already glowing with blue light. "We don't have time for talk. Nara, give the word."
Nara stood at the back, his eyes fixed on Jiro. "Riku, Reina. Take the teammates. Jiro is mine."
The fight started instantly. The mace-user charged Reina, her weapon glowing with a heavy brown energy. Reina didn't move. She let the mace hit her shoulder, the sound ringing like a hammer on an anvil. The ground cracked beneath her, but her diamond skin didn't even bruise. She grabbed the head of the mace and began to squeeze, the iron groaning under her grip.
"Is this the 'weight' you're proud of?" Reina asked with a mean grin.
Meanwhile, Jiro pulled a seed from his pocket and crushed it, channeling his energy into it. A massive wooden exoskeleton encased his body, turning him into a ten-foot-tall wooden titan.
Nara finally took his hands out of his pockets. He clapped once and pulled his hands apart as if stretching string.
"Architecture: Perspective Shift."
The wooden titan's arm, which was swinging down to crush Nara, suddenly didn't exist in that space anymore. It was growing out of Jiro's own back. Then, Nara tilted his head, and the ground Jiro was standing on suddenly felt "vertical" to him. The wooden giant stumbled, his balance erased as Nara rearranged how he interacted with the floor.
"Stop!" Jiro screamed, trying to launch toxic spores.
Nara caught the spores in mid-air, compressed them into a solid glass marble, and flicked it back at Jiro's forehead. The marble hit like a bullet, shattering the wooden helmet and sending Jiro sprawling.
Riku stood over the lead-bodied boy, holding the moisture from the boy's own lungs in a frozen orb inches from his face. Reina had snapped the mace in half and stood over the girl.
"We have your points," Nara said, walking over to the fallen Jiro. He touched Jiro's red card, and the points transferred. They now had 120 points.
"You're... you're not humans," Jiro wheezed. "Architecture Magic shouldn't do that."
"The magic doesn't matter," Nara said. "The person holding it does. You were too busy trying to look big. I was busy making sure you couldn't stand."
Riku let the moisture return to the lead boy's body. The three defeated students vanished from the forest back to the Spector's seat back at the school
"That was too easy," Reina said, her skin returning to normal. "At this rate, we'll hit the goal in no time."
"Don't get cocky," Riku warned. "One from All and Levi are still out there."
Nara looked deeper into the forest. He could feel the energy of the other groups. "He's right. The further we go, the more the air change. Let's move."
As they headed North toward a waterfall, Nara felt a powerful presence.
End of chapter 12