In that single moment, his hand on Ines' shoulder, Noah used two spells at once.

He could have used all four at his disposal, but he wasn't sure if the healer on standby, Irina Veley, would have been able to heal her.

Of course, he used his FFF-rank skill, Roar, first. The sound waves travelled through her body, disorienting her and destroying any modicum of defence she would be able to put up in that tiny slice of a second.

Then he used Frigid Hunger, a layer of frost covering Ines' body as every drop of body heat within her was immediately sucked away.

All processes taking place in her body, the enzymes working away, her nerve impulses, and muscle contractions, all ground to a halt almost at once.

With no heat, they wouldn't be able to work at all.

And immediately the spell formation for Frigid Hunger disappeared, Noah cast the final spell.

Rot.

The energy sunk into her shoulder, and her flesh began disintegrating.

All this, using Roar, Frigid Hunger, and Rot, all happened in the space of an instant.

Ines stumbled back, eyes still wide open in a shock, feeling three distinct effects slam into her in the space of half a second.

A vibration swept through her, and her vision wavered. As she fell, her eyes locked onto Noah's. He still had the smirk on his face.

It was as if time had slowed down to a crawl.

A wave of nausea began to rise through her, and she could almost swear she'd heard the roar of a dragon, but that was nothing compared to the effect of the other spells.

Her body immediately shut down from the lack of body heat, her brain blinking off like a switch had been flipped.

She was still stumbling back, but she knew what it meant.

She'd lost consciousness immediately, and in a few seconds, she would be dead.

Terror gripped her heart, the cold hands of death wrapped around her.

She could feel her body rotting away to nothing from her shoulder. Even as she died, all that would be left of her was dust.

And in the space of that second, as she was about to die, terror in her very veins, she saw it.

Noah as he truly was.

'Destruction.'

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have achieved Overdrive.]

[New Skill Unlocked...]

And that was the last thing she saw before everything went dark.

A dark energy seized her body before it hit the ground, threading through and repairing all the damage.

It started with shaking off the energy of Noah's Rot spell, restoring Ines' flesh.

Then it restarted her heart, bringing back her body heat.

The energy streamed through her body, reversing the extensive damage done, and returning her to the way she was before.

Stunned silence filled the arena.

Nobody could believe what they'd just seen. In fact, some couldn't even understand it.

It had all happened in what felt like an instant.

Princess Ines had surged towards Noah, Noah had dodged, and then they'd seen the flashes of light of spell formations being cast.

Then Ines stumbled back, her body disintegrating from her shoulder.

Then Irina Valey's energy had seized her. And now, she was floating in the air, unconscious.

"That was close."

A voice broke the silence, startling the students.

It was Irina Valey, still in her corner of darkness, but this time, her hand was outstretched, towards Ines.

"What the fuck?!" Someone whispered and it was as if a dam had broken.

"Did you see that?! The Reaper defeated Princess Ines in a single move!"

"Wow! Is he that strong? Is he the strongest first year?!"

"I told you he'll win! Remember when he beat Ben Stanley?"

"What spell did he even use?! All I saw was Princess Ines' shoulder disintegrating."

Professor Oliver stared at the floating Ines, his heart hammering away in his chest.

He tried to calm himself, clearing his throat. He'd seen it. Ines dying. But he hadn't even had the time to react fast enough.

He glanced at Irina, a wave of gratitude in his eyes. Her reaction time was one of the reasons why she was an Archmage.

If the princess had died in his class, he would've been done for. And it would've been his fault. He was the one who said they could go all out.

His eyes moved to Noah Webb, who stood nonchalantly in the middle of the arena.

He could see it now. The kid was a monster. He was just too strong to be normal.

He glanced at the floating Ines, then back at Irina. "I— Is she okay?"

"Yes." Irina nodded, her gravelly voice emerging from beneath her darkened hood. "She just needs to rest as her body returns to its normal state. I recommend she spend her rest in the infirmary before she wakes up."

"Er..." Oliver looked around, scrambling for what to do. He hadn't counted on this happening. He'd thought that with Irina here, no one would need to visit the infirmary.

But he'd been wrong. He hadn't counted on having such a terrifying mage in his class.

He had no doubt about it. By the time Noah graduated, he would be an Archmage.

"Noah!"

"Yes, professor?" The young man turned to him.

"Take Princess Ines to the infirmary for me."

"Then can I have the rest of the class off?"

Oliver blinked. There was no reason to have Noah here anyways. "Yes, of course."

Noah walked forward to the floating Ines, carrying her in his arms.

Then, with a nod to him, the young man left.

"Yes, where were we?" Oliver turned to the remaining students, clearing his throat. "So, new rules..."

He couldn't let what just happened, happen again.

Noah walked through school grounds, carrying princess Ines.

The nearby students saw him, whispering among themselves, but he paid them no mind.

He stared down at her face, studying it.

Now, he had to admit he was curious. What would her reaction be to her resounding defeat?

"Well, princess," he chuckled, "you have my attention."

He took her to the infirmary, informing the nurses of what Archmage Irina had said.

They were worried about having the princess as a patient, but they let them be.

Noah sat beside her bed, waiting.

Time passed on, and after an hour, her eyes finally fluttered open.

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