The start of the fight had been...B, Michael just stood there oher side looking at her with eyes full of i, "Nothing?" He said.

  Nothing indeed, she couldn't feel any mana in the area that wasn't remnants of her previous spell, some shadow mana lingered here and there, and while the dummies had been removed (As most of the students vacated the area quite hurried) some of her Lighting mana had lingered here and there.

  A..."I am letting you get the first attack as a present Elizabeth," he was...quite aodating.

  She had expected her oppo for the presentation match to be biased against her, to be a of the [cil] selected to make her life harder. Not...Whatever this was.

  This was so...Mundane, so normal. What one would expect from someoing an assig, where was the hate? The rivalry? The obvious [Vilin] hidden among the sheep?

  "Don't gre at me like that, while I did indeed receive the assigo test you I wasn't ordered to do anything beyond that," Michael said while shrugging.

  "...Fine..." Was all Elizabeth could say while flexing once more her mana within her [Soulscape].

  "....Oh, you se too?" Said Michael as she stirred the mana within her ruined city.

  'I do way more than just se tho.' Thought Elizabeth with a smile on her face.

  And so Elizabeth decided to start with something nostalgic "[Wind]+[Earth] +[Manipution x2]+[Merge] = [Earth Needle]" And with a flourish of her left hand maed the first two magical circles, one for the element of Earth and another for Wind. To those, she superimposed the magical circles for manipution.

  That was enough for her to manipute and trol the earth around her, but she needed more, so those wo magical circles she fused with the [Merge] spell, allowed her to manipute the elements.

  This all occurred in but a fsh of a moment, but even so it was enough for Michael and most of the senior teachers to notice her movements, no one said anything about them so she deemed them valid and moved on with her step.

  The first time she did this her spell was barely enough to create a single Needle...Now...Now she could feel the mana moving freely within her magical circle and the earth around her ready at her bed call, she got the feeling that she wouldn't be able to do a barrage like the one she did before. And that should she wish to do manipution on the same scale as she did with her shadows it would probably empty her mana pool.

  But for this moment? And for what she inteo do? It would be good enough, so with a flex of her will she allowed the spell to finalize, she added the correct calcutions for the trajectory and what she wished, and with a mere thought, the magic circle winked out of existence.

  Immediately after "[Earthen Shield]!" She heard Michael intone a moment before her magic circle winked out, and so the Arena ged.

  First four Earth Spikes got ejected right in front of Elizabeth a flying straight at Michael, the Needles had ay shell of course, which meant that they would be more fragile and could break at impact.

  That should make them less dangerous...Right?

  She wasn't quite sure, but they were at the MPI and should have enough healers anyway.

  For his part Michael had summoned a shield made of earth to defend himself, the thing withstood the attack quite well as most of her Needles broke in tact with the thing, maybe she should add [Metal] to her t?

  It shouldn't be necessary, she had the feeling that she would be able to make the Needles harder if she just spent more mana on them, perhaps adding [Lighting] to the spell to make them work as a taser would be enough?

  "I feel like you are thinking quite the dangerous thing Elizabeth," She heard Michael say as he lowered his Shield.

  In the end, only one Needle had mao pee the thing, it robably because it had traveled fast enough to arrive as he was f the shield, "But most D-Tier [Heroes] would have ended quite wou this...And they say you barely qualify as D-Tier..." Scoffed Michael.

  They tagged her as D-Tier? Why?

  "Oooh, they think that since my [Level] is low I must have low power," Elizabeth said while maniputing some mana and making a mote of mana dance around her hand.

  She didn't miss how the blue-haired [Hero] fli the movements of her fingers as she preteo write something on the air, "Indeed...Your [Job] must give you at least fourteen points... or profi quite the dangerous [Skill]." And unlike before a few magical circles hovered around him.

  As far as she was able to read oters of those it seemed that most were [Shield] variants...And one [Healing] spell?

  Who did he want to heal?

  "That's a secret ?~," Elizabeth said in a singing voice.

  Before at this point, Michael had thrown a barrage of spells at her that made her burn one of her triumph cards...But this time he seemed to be on defense. So maybe she should use a [Barrage] then?

  Maybe she should keep it to the basics, yes. She would do that, so while flexing her mana manipution skill she quickly went for it, "[Fire]+[Earth]+[Manipution x2]+[Merge] = [Shooting Star Bolt]" And more magic circles showed in front of her.

  Like before they fused among themselves before being bound together by [Merge] into a new spell, this time she made hollow bullets within the earth and instead of using wind to propel them she made explosions with her fire manipution to propel them.

  That made them just a little more boost in power while allowio pelt Michael with explosions both from the kiiergy from the bullets and from the fire encased within the hollow projectiles.

  Of course, Michael didn't take that standing "[Wind's Prote from Arrows]!" And he quickly casted another shield spell.

  This time it was a dome made of wind that seemed to be desigo redirect projectiles to the sides, as a few of her initial barrage got redirected behind him, hitting the arena floor aonating behind him.

  And while that was a smart choice..."That was the wrong choice." Elizabeth smiled as the shield got pelted from all around it.

  As the bullets exploded behind it they threw shrapowards the dome, whi turn straihe shield more as it o defend itself from all sides, she wasn't sure how much mana that took from him, but if his face was something to go by it must be quite a mana heavy.

  "[Synapses, Shatter]!" Michael whispered under his breath the first half while screaming the sed, almost as if he had wao hide the first one, and immediately she felt the mana within her spell fizzle out.

  What?

  "What?" Elizabeth said as the spell unraveled under her fingers, she quickly poured her mind into the spell and found a crack within one of the spell nodes of it, as if part of it had broken apart.

  She got the feeling that she could maybe keep it w by stretg one of her [Manipution] nodes further, as the part that broke was the [Earth Manipution] node. But allowed it to break apart naturally for now.

  "You are quite iing indeed Elizabeth, using pound spells? Did I showed you my [Spell Breaker] before?" Asked Michael.

  His what?

  It must have shown on her face as he ughed a little and tihat's a no then? But if I didn't show it how did you know to use pound spells? No way someone as talented and with that much [Mana Manipution] talent would waste her talent like this." Oh...He thought that she built spells like this as a ter against him?

  "Yeah...No, sorry to burst your bubble but I had troubles pre-system with elemental manipution so I went the harder more plex way to solve them." Elizabeth admitted, "Not that I have those problems around, but the habit stuck...I do them in one go if I need anyway."

  She said while materializing the magical circle for [Earth Needle] in one go, "See?" And unlike before she made the whole thing in one go, meaning the Earth Needle didn't shoot from below her, but directly from the magic circle.

  The four of them oer the other, "[Fire's Bulkwark]" Michael intoned and another of his magical circles activated, this time a firewall materialized turning into ash her Needles.

  "How does that even work?" Asked Elizabeth as she felt the needle's presence disappear from her mind. "Did you just burn away the mana of the spell? Or is the fire hot enough to just e my attack by turning it into ash?"

  "Magic," Michael answered.

  Right, as if Magic was enough to just ignore all the ws of physics...

  "I'm running out of magic circles so excuse me, but I do o [Test] you." Michael tinued and she saw something quite iing in him. His eyes started shining as small lines seemed to materialize within them, almost as if... "[The Sage's Eyes]." He had either a [Skill] or a [Spell] that turned his eyes into something else.

  She didn't have enough time to wonder about it as suddenly a magic circle big enough to tain the whole body of her [Father] at his full [Framework] side inside, so that was quite big (Almost 2,5 meters in diameter), materialized in front of him.

  "If you have some defensive [Spell] cast it..." Michael said as his eyes turowards him, it felt as if those things could see through her mana...If felt...Yucky.

  She uood now why Rossie had warned her about using spells that allowed her to peer into other people, the feeling of the mana rebounding out of you...It wasn't pleasant.

  "[Banishment this world]." Michael intoned in a very (VERY) low voice, almost as if he didn't want anyone else to hear him. She wasn't even sure how she had been able to hear him in his whisper.

  But heard him she did, and she saw the magic circle within his eye grow and superimposed with the one in front of him, and as soon as both magic circles joined a humongous beam of pure magic shot towards her.

  "[Shadow]+[Barrier]+[Funnel]=[Shadow's Defensive Aegis]" Elizabeth intoned as the magical circles materialized as she pulled shadows upward with her mana as she pstered the shadows with her magic circle.

  She built the spell to create a barrier that redirected the attack, around herself, she could feel the strain on the barrier as her mana was being drained, but who evehese kinds of attacks on a test?!?

  She didn't have time to focus on it, as her spell was getting battered and the spell seemed to want to break down, so she followed her instincts and prepared her spell, this one would help her deal with her more immediate problem.

  "[Body of Mana]+[Transformation]+[Partial]+[Shadow]=[Shadow Dive]" And as the magical circles formed around her she felt her whole body pulse with mana, the effect was immediate as her body got covered in shadows and the barrier colpsed unto her.

  She was surrounded by the shadows as she dived ihe shadows and the world turned into a shade of dark, she could even see some vestiges of dark fmes in the periphery of it, she could see bodies made of shadows around too, oohter than the rest as he was surrounded by a light blue aura.

  It sthly around the same point where Michael should be, so she assumed it was him, she tried to move in this muted world a some resistance around it, so ever so slowly she moved while feeling her body weighed down, she could feel as if something wao pull her down.

  So while fighting both the atmosphere here and the pull she walked forward, and she noticed everyone seemed to move slower on this side, the beam for example while she couldn't see it, she saw the effects on this side, just as how her barrier was slowly crumbling and Michael's eyes seemed to shih the magic circle in them.

  In the end, she mao fight both effects on her body and walk right behind the shadow she thought was Michael, and so when she positioned herself behind him and allowed the pull she was feeling from the shadows in her body.

  The wained color in an instant and she materialized just behind Michael as she expected, the big ass beam was still battering her shadow barrier, so instead she was about to weave a spell but felt something calling from the remnants of shadows around her. So she called upon it while extending her right arm towards the shadow below her.

  "[Rise]" She intoned following her instincts.

  Michael seemed to stutter as he killed the spell he had called and turned around but it was too te as she saw the handle of something rise from her shadow and she grabbed it pulling it out and brandishing it towards Michael.

  "Now...What kind of spell allowed you to [Teleport] behind me?" Mused Michael as she felt his eyes bore into her as if they wao peer within her [Soul].

  But as soon as that feeling came she felt something [Rumble] within her [Soulscape] and the feeling receded, " A girl needs her [Secrets]." She smiled and poio Michael with her spear, with [Stabby].

  "Care to surrender?" Elizabeth asked while prodding at her mana, she was missing quite the amount of mana so she wao minimize the expending of mana.

  "Fine I guess, you did mao deal with my [Spell Breaker] and my [Destructo Beam]", Michael said.

  She wondered why Michael retending those two had different names, she had heard him quite clearly when he said 'Synapses, break' and 'Banishment this world'.

  But she guessed that everyone wao keep their cards close to their heart, "Good." Elizabeth said while caressing [Stabby], she had missed this on quite but for now, she would let it go bato her shadows.

  The spear sank bato her shadow as if it had never been there, "That is oeresting spell, and my [Spell breaker] doesn't seem to identify it either..." Michael mumbled behind her as he looked at her shadow quite ily.

  Should she expin it to him?

  Maybe if she got to know him more and was sure he wouldn't turn into a hindrance. But for now "Yeah, that [Spell Breaker] does quite the number of the spell [Synapses] doesn't it." She smirked seeing the smile on Michael strain a little.

  'That's right [Sage], if you don't want your spell o go around don't bother me!' Elizabeth thought inwardly while smiling oside.

  "Good, that was a fine exge between a [Mage] and...Whatever Miss Starbright is." Said The crazy old man.

  Rude!

  She was a fine...Whatever a [Magical Hero] is, she fought most of the first half using spells, but the sed half...She wasn't sure what to refer her skill to travel in that Shadowed world.

  She accessed it using a spell, but the tter half didn't feel like the ws of a spell, it was closer to what she had felt when using her [Skill] before her merge, so maybe it was the remnants of her [Skill]?

  "I am pnning to work as a [Magical Girl]," Elizabeth said to the crazy old man.

  Michael her side "Yes, she has quite the skill with [Magical Circles] maybe even has a better hahan Rossaline even." And even uded her efforts.

  Rossie still was a better healer than her, "Indeed I practiced with Rossie so our [Spellcraft] is quite simir." Elizabeth smiled while saying that.

  Both teachers iands and Michael at her side frow that and looked at her weirdly, "What?" Asked Elizabeth.

  "Oh, nothing...Your spells...Aren't quite the same as Rossaline, so to hear you say that you practiced with her...Are you okay?" Michael asked her, "If you need help wink."

  Rude...?

  "I'm quite well thank you very much, Rossie took care of me while I was indisposed after the [Advent] of the [System] even," Elizabeth said.

  What kind of image did they have of Rossie?

  "Teacher?" Michael said turning his attention towards the stands.

  "She is telling the truth, Miss Singh did use her vacations to take care of Miss Starbright while she acclimated to the [System]." Said Agatha from the stands.

  "...Really?" Asked Michael, his voice was full of doubt that seemed to be a refle of most of the other students watg them.

  Rude...What did they think of her lovely Rossie? She was the epitome of an angel!

  "Now now, I'm sure Miss Starbright and Miss Singh are good friends as one allowed her schooling to take a hit while the other did her best to make sure she returo us." Said Agatha from the stands again. "And with that, we have fihe testing of Miss Starbright, all of you return to your csses...We will now finish Miss Starbright's paperwork."

  And on that note, most students groaned as Agatha and the crazy old man walked towards her, behind them was Rossie who just gred at Michael for a sed before smiling at her and taking possession of her right arm.

  "Shall we go then?" Said Agatha while motioning for her to follow her.

  Well, time to see where she ended up after that showcase of her powers, she didn't restrain herself unlike before, so maybe she would get a better assessment this time?

  Time will tell.