In the personal third-year training room, Serenya—with her hair still short even after these two years—dodged several spears created from the invisible platform she summoned. Her body had become more athletic, allowing her to step on the spears lightly and quickly, propelling herself to evade other spears.
Her eyes moved rapidly in several directions as one hundred spears were created one after another, moving at high speed toward her.
"Air Control: Barrier"
Before those spears could hit her, a dome of air surrounded Serenya as she whispered those words, controlling the air itself with them. When the spears touched the dome, they shattered into several glass-like fragments.
"These spears are still too fragile… I have to improve them more."
Floating in the air, Serenya dispelled the dome with a snap of her fingers and descended to the ground. Stepping calmly, she walked to an area where her mother was watching everything with a satisfied expression, tossing her a towel.
"With this, I don't think the Solcren family will want to refuse your engagement when he returns."
"I hope so, because all that's left is for the Solcren side to accept."
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she remembered that she had tried to formalize an official marriage with the Solcren Ferreira family, but only the Ferreira side accepted the proposal, while the Solcren said that Enrico would only marry someone with high potential—like what was already happening with Rina, Yumeha, and a certain person who irritated Serenya for having entered without asking.
"They talk as if they cared so much about him."
"It seems you don't like his family."
"Of course not. They didn't take proper care of my husband."
"I like this attitude of yours, already claiming he's yours, but words aren't enough, especially since the others are getting close to being approved by the Solcren family as well."
Zenaria was talking about Seraphina, Valença, and Aoi, who had already been convincing everyone due to the potential they had shown in these two years. The three of them had been growing abnormally fast, but Serenya was not behind either, especially because she had awakened a unique ability during this time that placed her on equal footing with the academy's top three—excluding Victoria, who was a monster.
'That damn rank one must be close to becoming sixth circle.'
To make matters worse, Victoria's rapid growth was because Rina and Yumeha revealed that they reached the fifth circle months ago, since Enrico had somehow reached that level inside the barrier, which sparked Victoria's competitiveness, who had not reached the fifth circle at that time.
"What happened with that prodigy brat? She heard just once that Enrico surpassed her and she's already close to reaching the sixth circle, breaking every record the continent ever had? Why do these monsters have to exist right now?"
"It seems your competitiveness is high—"
"Tsk, if it continues like this, when he returns, that damned prodigy is going to catch his attention."
Expressionless at her daughter's sulking words, Zenaria sighed with a small smile, because it had been a while since her daughter smiled since that day, but knowing Enrico would return in a month seemed to bring back her old self.
'It's good to see her like this.'
A memory came to mind of Serenya collapsing while training, full of frustration for having lost two subordinates—one who was killed and another who left her behind, asking her to become stronger.
'Even if I haven't gone through that, I can understand her frustration— a dead friend and the person she loves trapped without knowing if they will come out alive.'
Standing up, she went to accompany her daughter to the classroom since her class was about to begin. On the way, they found a very beautiful girl with long hair and lovely curves, sitting on the stairs leading into the academy created by Hao and reading a paper with deep concentration.
'A beautiful girl… well, that's what I would say if it were a girl.'
"Elian, get up. It's time for class."
Serenya walked past Elian, huffing, seeing his beauty with envy while he seemed to notice her with a somewhat irritated expression.
"Alright, second leader."
"Elian, respect me. I am your original leader."
"I know, but I follow whoever is the best leader I want to follow."
Elian tucked a lock of hair behind his ear, making his appearance even more beautiful than before—something that left Zenaria incredulous because she couldn't believe a boy could have such an appearance, considered the most beautiful in the academy, even among girls as beautiful as her own daughter.
'How is this possible?'
"You're ungrateful and arrogant. Don't forget you're only the seventh and still haven't been approved by the Ferreira family."
"First of all, leader, I am very grateful, because even with a new leader, I still swore to follow you, and second, say that again when you surpass my beauty."
'And to make things worse, he knows he's beautiful and allows himself to be arrogant.'
In these two years, Elian had changed a lot, able to counter all the provocations thrown at him, no longer like before whenever they mentioned him being Enrico's seventh "wife," which she thought was just a joke among the youths.
'What changed the most in him is that now he sees Enrico as a leader and revealed this a few months ago, exactly when they found out his level.'
It wasn't only because of this that Elian wanted to follow Enrico; if that were the case, he would have gone after Victoria after learning how strong she had become in recent months. The main reason he wanted to follow him was the confidence Enrico showed—that he would be able to solve everything even if he still lost something, something Elian learned during the first year accompanying him, and…
'He managed to avenge Caelan's death.'
Elian mainly followed Serenya because he saw she had the power to fulfill his desire to become someone greater; yes, it was something selfish, but none of the three approached her for noble reasons, and Serenya knew that—though now they were more like friends than truly subordinate and leader.
"Don't forget that Enrico considers himself a complete subordinate to my daughter, so you are also completely loyal to her."
"Damn it, professor is right."
Seeing Elian grab his head in despair and her daughter standing with her face in her hands, Zenaria entered the classroom, seeing that all her students—except the two behind her—were already inside. But what was truly incredible was that out of thirty students, sixteen had reached the fifth circle.
'The golden era of Astrong Academy—no, the diamond era—and all because of one or two things…'