The Star of Elysium
"What do you mean, Merlin?" George asked, his brows furrowed as he wiped a streak of obsidian dust from his cheek.
Nana exhaled slowly, her dark purple braids still humming with a lingering kinetic charge. Her voice was uncharacteristically cautious as she explained, "Davina… she told me their strategy wasn't to stop us. It was to stall. They wanted to prolong the battle just long enough for Merlin to arrive."
George shifted his gaze and noticed a genuinely fearful expression on Arthur's face—a look he had never seen on the prince before. "Arthur, why do you look so scared?"
Arthur swallowed hard, his knuckles whitening as he leaned on the hilt of his sword. "Because Merlin is the youngest mage in the history of my country, Elysium, to ever join the Round Table of Knights."
"Round Table of Knights?" George asked, his confusion deepening. "What is that?"
Arthur's voice was hushed, as if speaking the name too loudly might summon the man himself. "They are the most elite magicians in our kingdom. Merlin is considered a prodigy of the highest order. His raw mana capacity and combat intuition are said to be on par with that of a Star Mage."
"Star Mage?" George repeated, trying to piece together the hierarchy of power they were suddenly facing.
Kayn, ever the student of magical theory despite his exhaustion, interrupted to clarify. "Don't you remember, George? We learned about the several classifications for mages in Professor Logs' class a few years back. The first classification is Academy Level. This is the lowest tier—the starting point. Then there's a Second-Class Mage, the second tier. Above that is a First-Class Mage; students like Julius and Sun are already operating at that level, probably on the cusp of Star Mage."
Kayn took a breath, his shadow-affinity aura flickering weakly. "Next is a Star Mage—the fourth tier. In military terms, a Star Mage is equivalent to a second lieutenant. Currently, you, me, and Nana are officially ranked as Second-Class Mages."
George blinked, finally grasping the weight of the situation. "Wait, so what is Arthur?"
"Even though I'm the son of the King, I'm only a First-Class Mage," Arthur explained, a somber, realistic note in his voice. "If what Davina said is true, and we are facing someone with the output of a Star Mage... we're in deep trouble."
At that moment, the atmosphere in the courtyard shifted violently. The air became thick and heavy, crackling with a raw, immense power that made it difficult to breathe. Merlin appeared before them as if he had been woven out of the very mist of the necropolis. He looked perfectly refreshed, his attire pristine, radiating an almost ethereal calm that contrasted sharply with the battered and bruised state of Team A.
"So, you guys actually managed to defeat my teammates," Merlin remarked, a confident, effortless smile playing on his lips as he surveyed the field. "And look at all those flags you've collected. You might as well hand them over to me now and save yourselves the embarrassment of being defeated in front of all the spectators watching."
George stepped forward, his emerald eyes blazing with a mixture of fatigue and unbreakable defiance. "I'll never give up," he said, his voice steady. "I never quit."
"I guess I'll have to take them by force then," Merlin said, his smile widening as he blurred into a streak of motion.
He rushed Team A with terrifying efficiency. His first target was Arthur. Merlin delivered a brutal thrashing to the exhausted prince, finishing the exchange with a point-blank water blast that slammed Arthur into the ground, knocking him unconscious instantly. Merlin leaned down and calmly plucked the flag from Arthur's belt. "Would you look at that? The fifteen-point flag. It seems our teams are even now. All I need to do is take one of yours, and I win."
George stepped up, his stance firm despite his trembling legs. "You can try, but you won't succeed."
Merlin's smile grew right before he lunged. Despite his exhaustion, George's instincts flared, allowing him to narrowly dodge the lightning-fast opening strike. He countered with a swift, desperate swipe of his Saint's Sword, but Merlin moved like water, easily flowing around the blade. Merlin countered with a precise, powerful kick to George's sternum that sent him stumbling backward, the air gasping from his lungs.
"Now!" Nana roared, leaping into the fray. She swung a devastating punch infused with arcs of purple lightning, while Kayn lunged from the side to land a blow of his own. Merlin displayed incredible agility, twisting his body in mid-air to evade both attacks simultaneously.
Thinking quickly, Kayn tapped into his remaining reserves, conjuring a swirling wall of dense shadow that momentarily blinded the prodigy. Using the distraction, Nana found her opening and connected with a thunderous punch to Merlin's shoulder, sending him skidding backward across the obsidian tiles.
As Merlin righted himself, his expression shifting from amusement to annoyance, a loud, resounding gong echoed throughout the necropolis.
"Dear candidates, there are five minutes left!"
A glowing, magical countdown manifested in the sky, the numbers bleeding crimson against the purple clouds. Merlin's calm demeanor finally cracked. Realizing the urgency, he began firing a frantic, relentless volley of high-pressure water blasts while simultaneously rushing the remaining three members of Team A. George, Nana, and Kayn fought with everything they had left, their determination unwavering as they traded blows against Merlin's overwhelming power until the final second ticked away.
"Harvest candidates, stop!"
The command was absolute. A group of cloaked Watchers, their faces obscured by deep hoods, materialized across the battlefield. They moved with silent, practiced efficiency, retrieving the unconscious candidates from the ruins. One of the Watchers approached George and his teammates, his hand outstretched.
"Hand over your flags," the Watcher commanded.
Under the watchful eyes of the survivors and the silent statues of the Jaws of Fate, he began to meticulously count the points, the silence of the necropolis returning as the trial reached its official end.