The door opened to reveal a massive floating orb. It was bright white and the size of a small house. Silva was led toward the orb but didn’t get too close.
“The core of the labyrinth. We will infuse it with the heart, and for that, I need you all to use your mana to suppress the mana of the core for a second,” Silva said.
“The labyrinth works on this core. If we are to stop its mana, wouldn’t that cause issues?” Jade asked.
“It will, but only for a second. All we need is one second; before the disconnect reaches all the labyrinth, the core will have been set back in place,” Silva replied.
They all agreed and took their positions around the core, ready to go. The reason Silva had to do this was because the core’s mana would reject the heart.
The heart needed to be inside the core, and the mana would be allowed to flow again, then it would assimilate the heart, and the heart would do what it does best.
The labyrinth was generally a living thing, and so it could also turn into an abomination. That was exactly what Silva was going for with this stunt right now.
“All right, on the count of three, all of you suppress it. One, two, three.” When Silva called three, they all immediately did as he said.
Their mana collided with that of the core and immediately suppressed the flow. Silva instantly used flash step.
He placed his fist against the core, and the heart dissolved right into the core like it was made of butter.
Immediately after he pushed it in, they all retracted their mana, allowing the original mana to flow. It came in contact with the heart, which immediately began changing it.
The body of the core changed color, turning deeper and darker shades of purple, with several black pulses.
It gave off a new and more powerful mana form, and Silva could sense the mana of an abomination, meaning his plan had worked.
“Seems it is a success. I’ll come and check the next set of monsters that are spawned,” Silva said.
With that out of the way, he made sure to settle certain things in the labyrinth, briefing everyone on their roles to play.
He also needed to have a one-on-one talk with Fay in secret. She was the only one not present, and that was for a reason.
She had much to lose in this; her brother was in the academy, and her father was now a viscount. He wasn’t sure how she would take it if he suddenly told her the whole truth.
There was a high chance she would have to side with the kingdom and be against him. If that came to be, he would hate himself, but whatever must be done must be done.
A private talk would allow them to speak without any pressure or interruptions, and he would be the only one to know her response.
This way, she wouldn’t need to worry about someone harming her for what she would say.
—
The day of the school duel competition kicked off, with several fights scheduled for the first day.
Among the first fights of the day, Lia was paired against someone from Class A. Her opponent was also an ice user, so this was about to be interesting.
Silva and the rest arrived at the arena and took their seats. The only person missing was Michael, but no one really paid it any mind.
Soon the duel time arrived, and both students walked to the center of the arena. Lia’s opponent used a wand with a blue crystal at the top.
She had dark brown hair and eyes and was a bit taller than Lia, with a well-endowed chest and back. It wasn’t that Lia was lacking, as she was steadily developing as well, but this girl had already reached a level some adults never attain.
Even with just her breathing, her chest heaved up and down, drawing the eyes of most of the boys.
“You think because you grew up with Silva you can just cling to him always?” the girl suddenly asked Lia.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Lia asked, confused.
“I’ll make Silva see me today by defeating you. I’ve had my eyes on him for so long, waiting and praying for the opportunity to catch his attention.
So when I heard I was paired against you, it had to be a heavenly sign that this was my opportunity. This is the time I’m supposed to take you down and take Silva’s attention.
I will show you that my ice is not inferior to yours in the slightest, and you being in S Class was a fluke. I should be the one there with Silva,” the girl said.
“Hmm, I don’t think my Silva has a thing for delusional girls. You might as well give up now,” Lia replied.
“You! I’ll kill you!” The girl gritted her teeth and charged at Lia, flicking her wand and firing about ten ice lances at once.
“Ten at once, pretty impressive,” Aaron commented.
“Indeed, but that is far from enough to stand against Lia. She is her own monster,” Leah added.
And indeed, Lia was her own kind of monster. She stomped her foot on the ground, and a large ice wall rose to block the attack.
After blocking the attack, the ice wall shattered and reassembled into over a hundred ice blades, all pointed at her opponent.
The girl looked at the ice blades and was filled with more hate, because in her eyes, Lia was only showing off to draw Silva’s attention.
“I won’t let you have your way!” the girl yelled. Lia launched all the blades at the same time. The girl tried to cast a spell to block the attack, but she was too slow.
At the last moment, a teacher who was acting as the referee dashed into the arena using wind magic and deflected the most dangerous blades while pushing the girl out of the way.
The attack was so powerful that the teacher was not able to stop it all.