Rina was sitting on Narisse, who remained unconscious on the ground. She had managed to defeat her without much difficulty and, satisfied with her own performance, decided to take the opportunity to strike what she considered an impressive pose. Meanwhile, her eyes followed Enrico from a distance.
'Enrico is impressive... He fought them as if he already knew every move they would make. Could they have been enemies in the future?'
Throughout the entire battle, Rina had noticed that Enrico displayed a certain hostility toward Elowyn's subordinates. Because of that, it seemed quite likely that some kind of enmity had existed between them in the future. She was eager to discover how far Enrico could go, especially because the fight finally seemed to be reaching its climax. Unfortunately, to her frustration, everything had been interrupted by the arrival of that elf.
"He seems to respect that elf."
Aoi suddenly appeared beside Rina, carrying the unconscious Velka over her shoulder. Rina looked at her for a moment, while Yumeha had already run over to Enrico to check if he had suffered any more serious injuries.
"Well, if you look around her, you'll notice that natural magic is quite strong."
Aoi spoke while analyzing Elaris from a distance. Every race had access to the same magic circles, but some possessed natural characteristics that made certain styles easier.
Elves, for example, had an exceptional affinity with natural magic, while orcs were known for their compatibility with combat-oriented magic. Among them, there were practically no users specialized in support, since most used their magic to attack or strengthen their own bodies. Of course, there were exceptions, but they were extremely rare, something close to one person in a million.
After Yumeha finished her analysis, Enrico finally walked over to his friends. He had to admit that, if he had not improved the Elemental Clone, he probably would not have been able to perform so many attacks during that battle.
[Unique Ability: Elemental Clone — new ability unlocked: switch positions with the clone.]
[It's a good ability, but it still has the same limitations. Don't forget that.]
The clone continued to have its limitations, but Enrico knew that the ability would evolve as his circles increased. As soon as he approached the others, Kai and Serenya were the first to come closer, both clearly curious about the difference in his power.
"How did you get so strong?"
"I simply trained."
"What kind of training?"
Valença also immediately approached, wanting to discover what kind of training had produced that improvement. Enrico, however, already had an answer prepared.
"Family secret."
"Please tell me!"
The three continued asking questions, while Enrico simply maintained a calm expression. Deep down, he considered it something positive. During the fight, he had created a strategy to make himself appear even stronger than he really was. Hiding the clone behind the rocks and using the position switch made it seem as though that absurd speed belonged to his own body.
He had deliberately limited the clone's movements, keeping it at a level that ordinary eyes could not follow, allowing the others to only sense the presence of its mana.
[You know, I've been thinking... you're an idiot for telling Elowyn to look behind her, but that was just a distraction, wasn't it?]
"Yes."
Enrico answered without showing any regret.
Meanwhile, Seraphina approached with a smile on her face. Enrico immediately noticed that there was something different about that expression. It was not just happiness. There was an obvious satisfaction there, as if she had finally managed to do something she had wanted to do for a very long time.
"It was really nice seeing you hit the princess in the face."
The statement made everyone around them look at Seraphina in surprise. For a few seconds, no one said anything, but her reaction made it clear that there was a story behind it. Serenya was the first to comment, remembering what Seraphina had been like when she arrived at the forest.
"Seraphina... when you appeared here, you looked terrified."
Seraphina's smile disappeared for a moment. She lowered her gaze slightly, while Enrico watched in silence, beginning to realize that the reunion between those two had not been merely a coincidence.
"Did she do something to you, Seraphina?" Kai asked worriedly.
"You don't need to worry, it's simply something from the past."
She simply answered, trying to turn that page for now, as she still was not ready to tell them what had happened, even though she had managed to overcome, at least for now, the fear she felt. Enrico, on the other hand, did not know much about it, especially since Seraphina did not even appear in the original story. However, since Elowyn did a lot of shit in the story, especially together with Lan, the two ended up being some of the most annoying characters to him.
'Tsc, I have to get stronger and discipline her just like with Lan.'
[Good luck with that, because after today, this girl is going to end up getting even stronger.]
'I know.'
He already knew that because he knew the original story. He knew how quickly Elowyn could grow in the future and, most importantly, the enormous potential she possessed.
'She's not on the level of those five monsters, but comparing anyone to them would be unfair.'
[Who are these five monsters?]
'Two of them are Elaris and Kai.'
[Sorry to tell you this, but Kai doesn't seem to have that much potential.]
Enrico looked at the system with a poker face and began counting on his fingers several of the abilities Kai would have in the future.
"God of War Ability, Sword Saint, Infinite Evolution, the strongest user of magi—"
[Wait, I'm still reading the story. Let me discover it.]
Enrico looked at Kai, who seemed to be feeling down. Kai did not just have five unique abilities, three powerful magics, and a powerful weapon. To Enrico, he had much more than that, and Enrico had all that potential in his hands. He would make good use of it.
On the other side, Elowyn watched all of her defeated subordinates. She would have to make them stronger or find someone better. Well, that did not matter now. The most important thing was discovering who Enrico was and why his essence was so empty, without causing any discomfort to her eyes.
'I'll find out. Everything about him.'
Minutes later, Elaris arrived at the administration office, and after the teachers returned, the healing mages took care of all the injured. It was easy to see that the battle outside the city had been difficult for the teachers. Apparently, more than fifty Nartheis of Ranvil Level had appeared. That had been the worst attack in years.
'It must have been difficult for them.'
Elaris then noticed that Enrico was thinking a lot while observing everything, but before she could ask anything, Director Hao called everyone inside and scolded all of them. After that, he imposed a punishment: Enrico's side would be suspended for three days, which left everyone desperate, while Elowyn's side would be suspended for a week. In addition, both sides would be prohibited from challenging anyone to rank up for a month.
'This is difficult. Director Hao is quite strict, although, considering what happened, he should be even stricter.'
The director needed to impose some kind of punishment, but he did not want to interrupt the growth of Class A and Class S. This was because several Nartheis had begun appearing across the continent and, to make matters worse, many of them were Ranvil Level. There should have been few of them outside the dungeons, since most appeared or ended up going to Floravita.
After watching everyone leave, Hao sat down and sighed.
"Many mages and knights died in this battle, and we almost let some of them get inside."
The continent needed stronger mages quickly for a few reasons. Besides the dungeons becoming more difficult, the Nartheis were appearing much more frequently, even in places where there was no dungeon.
"It's as if the Nartheis' golden age is approaching."
Hao looked thoughtfully at the sky through the window as he remembered when the king sent Damian on a mission to the Aquatic Kingdom.
"I hope you come back, friend. Then you can train the boy who managed to interest you, because we need that..."
Hao placed a hand on his chin, remembering Virelle, who was also interested in training Enrico as her disciple.
"Or perhaps someone else will arrive first, like Virelle... or even me."
No matter what he had to do. He needed stronger mages and knights. That was why he would speak with Enrico and ask for permission to use his idea about Ego Weapons and mages.