Dante, Lexa, and Vexian stood within the outer observation deck of the voidship as it slowly backed into its assigned docking platform.
Even after spending an entire day aboard it, the sheer size of the vessel still amazed them. Looking down from its side, Dante could finally appreciate just how enormous it truly was — hundreds of passengers moved through its corridors with ease, yet the ship never once felt crowded.
'Tch...'
He clicked his tongue. A single trip had cost them three thousand AP each, and that was with the provisional student discount. If this was considered affordable, Dante could only imagine the absurd price of owning a private voidship.
Still, private ships were faster. Much faster. The public routes stopped at multiple terminals along the way, turning what could have been less than a day's journey into an entire day of travel.
He pushed the thought aside. Anything comparable to a private voidship would cost an astronomical amount of AP — something he simply couldn't afford.
His attention shifted outside. The moment the clouds parted, an endless sea of mountains revealed itself.
"..."
No one spoke. There wasn't much to say. At first, Dante assumed they were approaching a mountain range. Then the voidship continued flying. Five minutes passed. Ten. Twenty. The mountains never ended.
Instead, new formations continued appearing beyond the horizon. Some mountains rose like gigantic pillars, perfectly cylindrical with impossibly flat summits. Others curved into strange arches as though giants had bent the earth itself.
Jagged peaks pierced high into the clouds while massive plateaus stretched for kilometers before ending in sheer cliffs. Scattered throughout the endless stone were crystal-clear lakes that reflected the afternoon sun like polished mirrors.
The area was almost barren of forests. Only isolated patches of greenery surrounded freshwater lakes and rivers, looking insignificant against the overwhelming dominance of stone.
Everywhere Dante looked — mountains.
Nothing but mountains.
Some regions were covered in snow despite the bright sunlight. Others resembled rocky deserts where golden sand drifted between weathered cliffs. Elsewhere, enormous sinkholes plunged so deeply into the earth that Dante doubted anyone could climb back out without flying.
The terrain twisted endlessly — natural bridges connected towering cliffs, ridges spiraled around mountains, entire valleys disappeared into darkness before reappearing several kilometers away.
Trying to navigate the place by carriage would be a nightmare.
Up.
Down.
Around.
Then straight through another valley before climbing yet another mountain. It was unlike anything Dante had ever seen.
"...Combat Territory Mountains..."
Now he understood. Calling this place a forest would have been ridiculous. It wasn't a mountain range either.
It was an entire continent built from mountains. Even from thousands of meters above, he couldn't estimate where it ended.
His eyes couldn't measure its scale. If someone told him these mountains occupied the same landmass as three or four empires combined, he would've believed them without question.
"What the hell happened here..."
The question escaped him unconsciously. What kind of catastrophe, or what kind of beings, could create a world like this?
Beside him, Lexa remained silent. Even Vexian, usually quick to comment on beautiful scenery, simply stared outside with widened eyes. The vastness left all three of them speechless.
A gentle vibration passed through the hull. The voidship slowly descended before docking against the massive mountain terminal carved directly into the cliffside.
Once the boarding bridge extended, the passengers began disembarking. Waiting near the exit stood two familiar figures — Elric, Amber.
Dante grinned.
"Yo. You ready?"
Elric offered a refined nod befitting a noble.
"I am."
"Good." Dante stretched lazily. "Let's go."
Before either Elric or Amber could ask where they were headed, Dante placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
Space distorted, the world blurred, and an instant later the five of them disappeared from the terminal.
They reappeared atop a plateau several kilometers away. The area resembled a strange fusion between mountains and a rocky desert — cracked stone stretched in every direction while weathered cliffs surrounded the plateau, wind carried fine grains of sand across the ground, and towering mountains continued endlessly toward the horizon.
It was quiet.
Perfect.
Dante clapped his hands once.
"I don't want to waste time. I need to know what all of you can do. "
His lazy expression became slightly more serious.
"So — take your positions."
Lexa nodded without a word before walking several dozen meters away. Dante casually snapped his fingers, and the ground trembled — stone rose from the plateau, shaping itself into a large chair
. He sat down as though it were a throne before effortlessly pulling Vexian onto his lap. She had grown accustomed to it by now, though a faint blush still colored her cheeks as she settled comfortably against him.
Resting his chin on one hand, Dante observed the others. Amber remained standing beside Elric.
Noticing her hesitation, Dante snapped his fingers again, and another stone chair rose from the earth. Amber blinked in surprise before offering a graceful bow.
"Thank you."
She sat elegantly, folded her hands in her lap, and quietly prepared to watch the battle unfold.
Dante slid his arms around Vexian's waist, comfortably pulling her against him as she settled onto his lap, his chin resting lightly on her shoulder while Vexian instinctively leaned back, rubbing her cheek against his with quiet contentment.
A short distance away, Amber watched the two in silence.
She wasn't surprised by the intimacy between them — rather it was how natural it seemed. Nothing about it looked forced. It wasn't the relationship she had imagined between a master and his subordinate.
More importantly, her thoughts were elsewhere.
Space.
He manipulated space.
Only moments ago, Dante had taken all of them from the academy's docking terminal to the Combat Territory in the blink of an eye.
Neither she nor Elric had even felt the transition — one moment they had been standing at the terminal, the next they were standing atop a lonely mountain plateau. The amount of mana, the amount of control, the level of mastery required — neither of them could even begin to estimate it.
Amber and Elric exchanged a brief glance.
They were thinking exactly the same thing.
Spatial abilities.
Temporal abilities.
Void.
Chaos.
Pure mana manipulation.
Energy manipulation.
Those abilities belonged to an entirely different class of skills — rare, unpredictable, feared. And Dante possessed one of them.
The carefree, shameless young man before them suddenly seemed far more dangerous than either of them had first imagined.
Dante's voice broke the silence.
"Lexa."
The dark elf immediately turned.
"Yes, Master?"
"I don't want you going all out." He thought for a moment before deciding. "I'll limit your output instead. You can use your techniques however you like, but don't exceed seventy percent of your total power."
Lexa frowned slightly. She understood the purpose immediately — Master wasn't restricting her techniques, he was restricting her efficiency.
She would have to think, fight smarter, win while handicapped.
"...Understood."
A few meters away, Elric's brows narrowed. He wasn't insulted, not exactly, but being told his opponent would intentionally fight while holding back certainly wasn't pleasant.
Still, he kept his composure. If Dante truly believed seventy percent was enough, then either he was grossly overestimating his subordinate, or he knew exactly what she was capable of.
Elric intended to find out which.
The surrounding terrain favored him. Towering cliffs cast long shadows across the battlefield. Jagged rocks. Broken ridges. Dark crevices.
There were more than enough places for his shadow techniques. His confidence steadied. If he lost despite every environmental advantage, then he would simply acknowledge reality.
Dante casually waved a hand.
"You can begin whenever you're ready."
Neither of them moved immediately.
Instead they quietly studied one another. Lexa's breathing remained steady, her posture relaxed — she looked less like someone preparing for battle and more like someone waiting for instructions.
Elric, meanwhile, carefully memorized every detail — her stance, her balance, where her eyes rested, how she shifted her weight.
She wasn't giving him anything.
'Interesting.'
Dante watched them for another few seconds before speaking again.
...
"I figured you'd ask for this."
Elric looked over.
"You wanted to see my subordinates fight before making any decisions. You weren't going to blindly trust my words."
A faint smile appeared on Elric's face.
"I'd be a poor schemer if I did."
Dante chuckled.
"Fair. You also wanted this immediately. No preparation. No planning. No time for me to coach them after learning your skill. You wanted the most honest assessment possible."
Elric's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He hadn't expected his intentions to be read so quickly.
"...Correct."
Dante shrugged.
"I would've done the same."
Then he casually pointed toward Lexa.
"So go ahead. See whether I'm exaggerating."
For the first time, a small smile appeared on Elric's face.
"...Very well."
He liked this. Not because Dante had accepted the challenge, but because Dante had immediately understood why it had been proposed.
That alone told Elric something important — this wasn't someone who merely possessed strength.
He possessed awareness.
Meanwhile, Amber observed everything from the side. She paid less attention to the upcoming fight and more attention to the strange relationship between Dante and his subordinates.
Lexa accepted criticism naturally. Vexian seemed perfectly content simply remaining beside him. Neither of them displayed the fear usually seen between nobles and retainers. There was respect. Absolute loyalty. But strangely, there was also comfort.
They spoke naturally. Disagreed naturally. Even Dante himself showed none of the excessive dignity nobles often tried to project. It felt oddly genuine. She couldn't quite explain it.
Dante gently patted Vexian's hip.
"You comfortable?"
She smiled without opening her eyes.
"Mhm."
"Good."
He returned his attention to the battlefield.
"Alright. Enough waiting. Start."
Almost instantly, the shadows beneath Elric's feet rippled.