Chapter 74: World Of Madness.
The word "BEGIN!" had barely finished echoing through Arena Four when pandemonium exploded across the circular platform like a powder keg detonating.
Five hundred young warriors, fueled by weeks of training and desperate ambition, launched themselves into combat with the ferocity of caged predators finally released.
The cacophony was overwhelming—steel clashing against steel, the sharp crack of wooden shafts meeting flesh, the hiss and crackle of hastily woven spells igniting the air.
Shouts of challenge mixed with screams of pain as the first wave of eliminations began within seconds of the trial’s start.
Bang! Rumble!
A girl from Block A, her auburn hair whipping behind her like a war banner, traced glowing symbols in the air with practiced precision.
"Flame Dart!" she cried, and three bolts of orange fire streaked toward a cluster of Block B students.
They scattered like startled birds, but the spell caught one girl in the shoulder, spinning her around and sending her tumbling toward the platform’s edge.
Nearby, two girls from Block C had formed an impromptu alliance, their swords working in desperate coordination against a trio of spear-wielding girls.
The metallic ring of parried strikes created a staccato rhythm that was immediately drowned out by the thunder of a lightning weave crackling overhead, its purple energy arcing between combatants and leaving the air thick with the smell of ozone.
Bodies pressed against bodies in a writhing mass of violence. The platform, which had seemed spacious when empty, now felt claustrophobically small as five hundred fighters struggled for position.
Those near the edges fought with particular desperation, knowing that a single misstep backward meant immediate elimination and the end of their academy dreams.