(Narrator Mode / The Writer)

  I'm a lazy person, so let's just skip right to the battle. Would that be alright? Even if it's not, what can you do either way?

  (Hold up, keyboard warrior. You can't just fast-forward my life because you forgot to outline the pre-match locker room banter. But fine, hand over the mic. I've got an expansion-pack boss fight to win.)

  (First-Person: Ragna's Perspective)

  The five of us—me, Lior, Jade, Azra, and our new fire-happy addition, Valerius Cinder—stepped out onto the arena grounds.

  Across the dirt stood our five opponents. They were our seniors by exactly two years, and every single one of them was wearing an identical, matching blue cloak. There were two girls and three boys, and they were looking entirely too confident for people about to fight a squad of elemental prodigies.

  My Spirit Sense pinged. Something felt deeply odd about them, but in the heat of the moment, with the crowd screaming in my ears, I completely ignored the warning. Worst CEO mistake ever: actively ignoring the glaring red flags.

  The bell rang. The battle began.

  My group didn't hesitate. We charged straight at them with everything we had.

  But the cloaked seniors? They just stood completely still. They didn't draw weapons, they didn't chant spells, they didn't even drop into a defensive stance. Instead, their bodies just started to emit this faint, weird glow.

  I locked onto one of them, bringing my weapon down for a heavy, devastating strike.

  And then... he just wasn't there.

  Before my brain could even process the absolute lack of physical contact, the exact same guy disappeared from my front and materialized directly behind me. A massive force slammed into my back, completely smashing me face-first into the dirt.

  I groaned, spitting out gravel. What the hell was that? That wasn't magic. It wasn't a Qi technique. It didn't follow the laws of any combat system I had spent the last five years mastering. It was something else entirely.

  As I dragged myself off the ground and the battle erupted into total chaos around me, the Colosseum announcer's voice boomed over the amplification array, generously providing the exposition I desperately needed.

  "What a shocking display!" the announcer yelled, doing the play-by-play commentary. "For those unaware, these five seniors hail from a completely different region! A place where the people use Spirit Arts for battle and other stuff, and possess absolutely zero magic potential!"

  Zero magic? I dodged another invisible, physics-breaking strike, my eyes wide.

  "They do not form Cores!" the announcer continued. "Instead, they have spirits that reside directly within them! There are different ranks and classes for these Spirit Arts, ranging from the 1st Class to the 7th Class! The two girls we are witnessing today are of the 3rd Class, and the three boys are of the 4th Class!"

  Are you kidding me? A whole new power system? I felt like a max-level player who just walked into a new server without reading the patch notes.

  I was genuinely struggling. Standard attacks weren't going to work against these Spirit Art users. They were bypassing our defenses and attacking with erratic, spirit-driven movements.

  "Alright, playtime's over," I muttered, wiping dirt from my face. If I couldn't hit them normally, it was time to use some actually powerful techniques.

  I tapped into my Qi, my hands flying through the signs Azure taught me.

  Poof. Poof. Poof. Poof. Poof.

  Five perfect Shadow Clones materialized in a circle around me.

  "Go get 'em, boys," I ordered. I sent one clone charging directly at each of the five cloaked opponents to completely overwhelm their board.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lior saw Lior completely popping off. He raised his hands, casually summoning a barrage of lightning bolts while simultaneously showering the entire enemy squad with high-tier water elemental magic. It was a brutal combo—soak 'em, then shock 'em. Basic science, but highly effective.

  Then Jade decided to turn the arena into a literal horror movie. Using his wind magic, he violently dragged a massive cluster of storm clouds right over the Colosseum, plunging the entire battlefield into pitch-black darkness. Before the seniors could even adjust to the sudden nightfall, Jade slammed his hands into the dirt. Thick, massive tree trunks erupted from the ground beneath them, acting as the ultimate crowd control, holding all five of our slippery opponents securely in place.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  And to top it off? He casually spawned five actual hurricanes and sent them barreling toward the trapped seniors.

  "Alright, let's stack those damage multipliers!" I yelled. My clones and I simultaneously unleashed a massive Draco-Phoenix Slash. We angled the fiery, draconic energy perfectly, merging our slashes directly into Jade's spinning hurricanes. Lior didn't miss a beat either, lacing the flaming tornadoes with his chaotic blue lightning. We basically created a blender of fire, wind, and electricity.

  But the absolute MVP of the combo was Azra. The brooding shadow boy was practically thriving in the artificial darkness Jade had created. Drawing on that massive power boost, Azra condensed a terrifyingly huge ball of pure dark energy and just hurled it directly into the center of the trapped enemy formation.

  The impact was catastrophic. The elemental hurricanes tore through them, leaving the seniors severely injured, and Azra's darkness bomb finished the job, knocking every single one of them completely unconscious.

  Match over. Flawless victory.

  (Hold up, Writer. Don't think you're off the clock. Drop some ominous foreshadowing for the audience, I need to catch my breath.)

  And so, Ragna and his team were ecstatic. They talked, they laughed, and the fiery new addition, Valerius Cinder, quickly became a good friend to them all. They enjoyed their overwhelming victory, completely oblivious to the future. Because who knew that the very next match was going to be even greater, substantially harder, and painfully emotional?

  (Alright, alright, enough with the doom-posting, Shakespeare. Give me the mic back.)

  We grouped up in the waiting area, riding the absolute high of that one-sided massacre. It felt incredibly good to have a competent team for once.

  "Ah, yeah!" Lior grinned, looking around at the squad with unmistakable pride. "It's been a whole five years. Let's talk about what we actually achieved in isolation. I'll go first." He puffed out his chest. "I successfully learned five new techniques and finally broke through to Qi Formation Stage 1!"

  Jade leaned against the wall, casually twirling a small gust of wind around his fingers. "Me, too," he smirked.

  Azra just nodded from the corner, his expression flat but his eyes gleaming with a hint of satisfaction. "Me, too," he echoed.

  Valerius rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little sheepish compared to the rest of the overpowered boy band. "Well, I managed to learn three new techniques... but I'm still on the exact same level as before," he admitted.

  I just stood there, crossing my arms and biting the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing out loud. They all turned to look at me expectantly.

  Five techniques and Qi Formation Stage 1? Oh, this was going to be the most satisfying corporate flex of my entire reincarnated life.

  "What about you, Ragna?" Lior asked, crossing his arms and waiting for me to inevitably say I was at Stage 2.

  "Umm..." I started, preparing to drop the most devastating, ego-crushing stat reveal of the century.

  But before I could even get the words out of my mouth, my back suddenly felt freezing cold. A thick wisp of black smoke erupted from my shoulder, and Yang’s spectral head materialized right next to my ear.

  "Ha! You lowly peasants!" Yang boomed, his ancient voice echoing off the waiting room walls. "My master is sitting pretty at the absolute peak of Qi Formation Stage 3! You're nothing but a bunch of idiots!"

  I slapped a hand over my face. Seriously? You just stole my thunder.

  Valerius practically jumped ten feet in the air, his hands instantly igniting with defensive fire. "Guys!" he yelled, looking completely confused and utterly terrified. "What the hell is this thing?!"

  "Don't worry," I sighed, waving Valerius down and shoving Yang's snout away from my face. "It's just Yang. He's kinda my familiar. Just forgive his rudeness, he hasn't had social interaction in a few centuries."

  Lior, Jade, and Azra completely ignored the floating dragon ghost. Their eyes were locked onto me, wide with absolute disbelief.

  "Forget about the ghost," Lior stammered, pointing a shaking finger at me. "But is that true?! Are you actually—"

  "Yes," I smirked, deciding to just own the flex Yang had stolen. "Peak of Stage 3. And I learned a lot of techniques."

  The silence in the room was deafening. My boy band of elemental prodigies looked like they had just been told the sky was green. It was beautiful.

  But the universe, as always, absolutely refused to let me enjoy a victory for more than five minutes.

  The amplification array hummed to life again.

  "Will Team 7 please proceed to the arena! Your second battle is about to begin!"

  We cracked our knuckles, riding the high of our new power levels, and marched back out onto the Colosseum dirt. We were feeling unstoppable. We were feeling confident.

  And then I saw our opponents walking out from the opposite tunnel.

  (Alright, sit back kid, let the Author set the stage.)

  The crowd went absolutely feral. The five girls stepping onto the battlefield weren't just any regular seniors or weird spirit-arts users. They were the absolute apex predators of the Academy.

  Leading the pack was the Golden Princess herself, Starlia Lesse. Right beside her, cracking her knuckles with a terrifying grin, was Leonica Crimson. Backing them up was the half-dragon muscle-head Nyra Emberlyn, the Primordial of Purple's descendant Alita Cosmos, and the terrifyingly cold Elysia Frostvale.

  A bit of garam masala and some extra spice. This is exactly what we need for the plot.

  Arya Bhardwaj, chilling in the VIP beach of his realm, casually popped a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "Oh, man. This is getting interesting."

  (Give me the damn wheel back, I'm the one taking the hits here!)

  I stared at the lineup of absolute monsters standing across from me. My own sister, the girl I was supposed to befriend, and three other girls who could individually level a city block.

  "You gotta be fucking me," I muttered, all my previous arrogance evaporating instantly.

  (Yeah!) The Writer's voice echoed directly into the narrative void. (And with a big stick at that. With extra garam masala and spice added right onto the stick. Enjoy!)

  I drew the Dawn of Zenith, my hands actually sweating. The universe definitely hated me.