The morning of the Class Competition arrived like a storm waiting to break.
The sky hung gray over the academy coliseum, the circular arena packed with students from every division. Mana barriers shimmered faintly around the combat zone, humming with tension.
Lee Shin stood with his team from Class D — five students, all visibly nervous, all aware that this battle was supposed to be impossible.
Their opponents, Class C, waited across the field.
Their leader, Kang Dae-Jin, smirked as he twirled his spear lazily, arcs of lightning crackling at the tip.
"Try not to cry when you lose, Class D," he called, his voice echoing through the open air. "I don't want to mop your tears afterward."
Laughter rippled through the stands. Even from the Class A section, a few chuckles escaped — but one pair of eyes didn't laugh.
Eun Ha-Yoon leaned forward slightly, her expression unreadable as she watched Shin's calm stance.
On the opposite side of the stadium, Lee Hyun-Seok stood beside her, arms folded.
His smirk was wide, arrogant. "My dear brother finally gets to make a fool of himself in front of everyone," he said. "This will be entertaining."
Ha-Yoon glanced at him once. "You seem awfully interested in someone from the bottom."
Hyun-Seok's jaw tightened. "Because he doesn't belong here. He's a mistake."
Ha-Yoon hummed softly, eyes drifting back to the arena. "Then let's see if that mistake can bleed."
Down below, Instructor Rho raised his hand.
"Both sides ready?"
Class D nodded hesitantly. Shin's teammates were shaking — Ji-Hoon, Mina, two others whose mana signatures flickered with anxiety.
Rho's eyes locked on Shin for a brief moment, an unspoken question flickering there.
Shin gave a single nod.
The instructor's hand dropped.
"Begin!"
The arena exploded into movement.
Class C's front line charged instantly — three spearmen and a mage unleashing a coordinated barrage. Their teamwork was tight, precise, and trained.
Class D scrambled to defend, forming a shaky barrier wall that cracked under the first mana strike.
Mina's barrier spell shattered with a cry.
Ji-Hoon barely rolled aside before a spear sliced through the air where his head had been.
Chaos erupted.
Lightning and fire collided, mana blades sparking against mana shields.
Screams, shouts, and the heavy sound of impact filled the field.
And in the middle of it all — Lee Shin didn't move.
He stood still, sword at his side, watching.
Too aggressive, he thought. They're showing their patterns too early.
He waited until the first spear came his way — a blur of blue light.
In a single step, Shin tilted his body just enough for the weapon to graze past him, then slammed his elbow into the attacker's chest. The boy stumbled back, coughing.
Shin followed up with a low slash — clean, deliberate. The blow didn't pierce, but the mana force behind it sent the student flying across the dirt.
"Wha—what was that?!" someone shouted.
"That was a D-class kid?!"
The crowd began to stir.
Even Ha-Yoon's lips parted slightly in intrigue.
Hyun-Seok's smirk faltered.
Shin exhaled slowly, lowering his stance.
His mana control was sharper now. Every motion of his sword was guided by the ring's faint pulse — steady, rhythmic.
He could feel the mana trails of his enemies like ripples in water.
Another Class C student charged him with twin daggers, fast as lightning.
Shin raised his blade, blocked the first strike, twisted his wrist, and used the opponent's momentum to flip him over.
The sound of the body hitting the arena floor echoed through the silence that followed.
Two down.
Kang Dae-Jin's grin vanished. "You're dead."
Lightning coiled around his spear as he lunged forward, his mana bursting in a flash of blue.
The ground scorched where he struck. Shin barely dodged in time. The follow-up came immediately — a second strike, vertical this time, infused with thunder energy.
Shin's sword trembled under the impact.
Dae-Jin pressed harder, sneering. "What happened to that calm face, huh? Can't handle real power?"
Shin didn't answer. His ring glowed faintly, whispering across his mind.
Steady your breath. Feel the rhythm.
He inhaled.
The world slowed.
Sparks drifted like fireflies.
Every motion of Dae-Jin's weapon traced a glowing arc through the air — predictable, repeating.
Shin shifted, dodged the next attack by a hair's breadth, and countered with a sharp, diagonal slash.
The impact sent Dae-Jin sprawling backward, his armor cracked at the chest.
The audience gasped.
Even the instructors watching from above exchanged glances.
"Was that… a mana-redirect technique?"
"But that's an intermediate-level move — no D-class student should know that!"
Up in the stands, Hyun-Seok's jaw clenched. "He's cheating. He must be."
Eun Ha-Yoon didn't look at him. "Or he's finally learning."
Her eyes glimmered with something sharp — curiosity, maybe even admiration.
"Interesting."
Back in the arena, the battle neared its climax.
Only Kang Dae-Jin remained standing from Class C, his pride and lightning flickering like a storm about to collapse.
He roared and raised his spear high, channeling every drop of his mana into one final strike.
"Thunderfall!"
The air itself screamed as the lightning crashed down — a searing column of blue-white energy aimed straight at Shin.
Dust erupted, obscuring everything.
For a few seconds, no one could see a thing.
And then — a faint glow emerged from the smoke.
A figure stepped forward, his blade humming with a soft silver light.
Shin raised it slowly, mana flowing in perfect harmony through the steel.
With one smooth motion, he cut through the lightning.
The flash dissipated.
Dae-Jin fell to his knees, disbelief in his eyes.
"How—how did you—"
Shin lowered his sword. "Because lightning never strikes the same place twice."
With a final flick of his blade, he knocked the spear from Dae-Jin's grasp, sending it clattering to the floor.
Silence blanketed the coliseum.
Then, as Instructor Rho lifted his hand and declared, "Winner — Class D,"
the entire arena erupted into stunned cheers.
No one had expected it. Not even Shin's teammates, who were staring at him like he'd just rewritten the rules of mana combat.
Up above, Ha-Yoon smiled faintly. "So the bottom can rise after all."
Hyun-Seok said nothing. His expression was dark, furious.
But beneath it, a sliver of unease began to creep in — because for the first time, he realized his half-brother was no longer the weakling everyone believed him to be.
That evening, after the match, Shin sat alone at the edge of the arena.
The crowd was gone. Only the echo of battle remained.
He looked down at his hand. The ring glowed faintly — not bright, just warm, steady.
You've taken your first step, the ancient whisper said softly.
Now, others will notice.
Shin frowned. "Others?"
But the voice didn't answer.
Somewhere, in the shadows above the coliseum, a cloaked figure watched him — the faint gleam of another ring glowing beneath their sleeve.