My F-Rank Sagea is Secretly an EX-Rank Calamity

Chapter 23: Win For Me

"Hey..." Asher turned to Remi. "You’re against an Argentum student, right?" he asked, his eyes not leaving hers.

Remi gave a slight nod, her hands trembling faintly against her sides.

"I’ll do my best, so watch me," Remi blurted out, desperately attempting to sound confident.

Asher let out a soft chuckle. His eyes flickered down to her shaking hands, and his expression softened. "Then... make sure to win for me," he said with a wink.

Remi felt her heart skip a violent beat. Her face flushed, and she could only manage a rigid, silent nod in response.

Suddenly, Lord Zephyr’s voice resonated through the arena, carrying a heavy, authoritative weight.

"Remi Faye versus Sapphire Leanne! Descend to the arena!"

Remi’s heart did a violent flip. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she stood up. Before walking toward the exit, she couldn’t help but steal one last glance at Asher. He gave her a warm, reassuring smile.

’God, I feel so awkward!’ Asher thought to himself, desperately maintaining his cool, straight-faced facade.

```

[NOVA VESTA NOTICE]

[YOU ARE WEIRD]

```

’What?!’ Asher snapped mentally. ’Just what do you know?!’

```

[EVERYTHING]

```

Defeated, Asher leaned back into his seat, crossing his arms defensively and letting out a low, miserable groan.

Down on the opposing side, Sapphire stepped onto the arena floor. As a prominent representative of the Argentum faction, she carried herself with an air of effortless grace.

The crowd immediately erupted into roaring cheers, chanting her name.

"SAPPHIRE! SAPPHIRE! SAPPHIRE!"

Beside her slithered her Sagea - a sleek, predatory Lynx with eyes like cut gems.

"Good to see you again, Remi," Sapphire said, a faint, polite smile on her lips that didn’t quite reach her eyes. "Let’s make this quick, shall we?"

"You may begin!" Lord Zephyr ordered, the Aetherscope capturing his intense, sharp gaze as he looked down at the competitors.

"Go, Sterling!" Sapphire commanded.

The Lynx blurred. Fueled by wind-infused speed, the giant cat kicked up a sharp spray of sand, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

Remi remained entirely calm. Her eyes locked onto her fast-approaching opponent, her mind already calculating and laying out different defensive maneuvers.

"Hydrowave!" Remi cried, summoning a glowing magic circle mid-air and thrusting her hands forward.

A high-pressure torrent of magically condensed water erupted from her palms, tearing across the arena floor to sweep the massive cat away.

Up in the lounge, Asher watched the display, a sudden knot tightening in his stomach. ’Everyone’s been perfecting their skills... what have I been doing?’ he thought, a wave of disappointment washing over him.

Then, a sudden, cold realization hit him.

’I’m up next! I only know basic spells! I’m still not even familiar with Kaito’s new form yet.’

Anxiously, he turned his head to look at Marnie, who was sitting silently at the far end of the lounge. ’I don’t think she has any kind of attack that’ll bring me down,’ Asher admitted internally with a sigh, trying to reassure himself.

Down in the arena, Sapphire’s Sagea proved to be incredibly agile. With a swift mid-air twist, Sterling vaulted off the rushing torrent, scaling the high-pressure water as if it were solid ground and leaping straight toward Remi.

"Mana Shield!" Remi countered.

A translucent barrier of pure mana materialized around her, absorbing the shock as she easily regained her balance.

CLANG!

Sterling’s crystal claws slammed violently against the barrier. Under normal circumstances, the sheer impact would have shattered a lower-ranked student’s defense instantly.

Instead, Remi’s reinforced shield rippled with a faint blue light, absorbing the kinetic shockwave completely and throwing the giant Lynx backward.

The crowd gasped in surprise.

"She blocked a direct strike from an Argentum Sagea?!"

"Is that really the girl they call ’the clever fraud’s’ friend?"

Hearing the harsh whispers of the crowd, Sapphire’s expression hardened. "Sterling, don’t play around. Prism Slash!"

Sterling’s claws flared with a blinding, prismatic light. The Lynx began moving in a chaotic, zig-zag pattern, its speed doubling as it sliced through the air. Each swipe unleashed crescent-shaped shockwaves of light that began to violently chip away at Remi’s defensive barrier.

Remi gritted her teeth. The sheer pressure of the attack was immense, but the mocking murmurs of the students in the stands were even more distracting.

"Come on! Is this really all you Umbrax students learn?!" Sapphire asked, clearly unsatisfied with how easily she was pressing her opponent.

CRACK.

With a sharp sound, Remi’s Mana Shield shattered to pieces. The final shockwave of the Prism Slash grazed her face, leaving stinging claw marks on her left cheek. She stumbled backward, wincing in pain as she clutched her face.

The crowd gasped, and a tense silence fell over the stadium.

In the lounge, Asher gripped his seat, his body trembling. *’What the hell?!’* he cursed internally.

"Will Remi Faye give up now?" Lord Zephyr’s voice echoed through the stadium’s amplification arrays.

’Jeez, Remi! It’s just a scratch - you are so much better than this!’ Remi scolded herself. She pulled her hand away from her cheek, seeing the dark crimson blood slowly dripping from the cut.

"Hey! Get up! Are you just going to lie there like a sore loser?!" Riley Cloverwick yelled from the spectator stands.

Ria immediately joined in, raising her voice. "Come on, Remi!"

Other students snapped back at the encouragement, sneering. "Isn’t she friends with Flynn?"

Ria countered fiercely, "That has nothing to do with this, you guys! Be sensible for once!"

"She’s the only participant who’s actually gotten hurt so far!" Riley chimed in.

The arena went quiet again, the weight of the crowd’s judgment hanging heavily in the air.

"Seriously..." Remi muttered. Slowly, she pushed herself back up to her feet, her head hung low. "Does my relationship with him really bother you all that much?"

Suddenly, Remi’s eyes snapped open. A dark, chaotic energy began swirling violently in her pupils.

"Feral Frenzy!"

Instantly, the atmosphere around her warped. The shadows beneath her feet violently erupted, wrapping around her arms and legs like wild, living vapor.

The crowd’s chatter died instantly.

Up in the lounge, Asher leaned forward against the glass, his heart pounding against his ribs. ’Is that... something similar to Inferno?’ Asher questioned mentally.

```

[NOVA VESTA NOTICE]

[THAT IS NOTHING LIKE IGNIFAX INFERNO]

[THAT IS RAW SPELL MAGIC CASTING]

```

Asher grew incredibly tense, his eyes wide. ’Okay, I have seriously NOT been practicing enough!’

Beside him, Fang’s eyes widened, a sharp grin spreading across his face. "Whoa. That’s some pure, wild aura."

Fang glanced sideways at Rowan, hoping to catch his reaction. He wanted Rowan to see how closely he was analyzing the competition, but Rowan kept his arms crossed. However, Rowan’s eyes had narrowed in genuine interest, a subtle nod of approval escaping him.

Down in the arena, Remi became a complete blur.

With Feral Frenzy active, all calculated patience was thrown out the window. Fueled by raw, primal shadow-aggression, she moved at a speed that rivaled - and then completely surpassed - the wind-infused Lynx.

"Sterling, fall back!" Sapphire panicked through gritted teeth, her eyes widening in sheer terror.

But it was already too late.

Remi appeared directly in the Lynx’s blind spot, her hands shrouded in razor-sharp claws of solid darkness. With a series of lightning-fast, savage strikes, she tore through the Lynx’s light barriers.

The beast shrieked in agony as the chaotic shadow claws completely overwhelmed its defenses, pinning it ruthlessly to the shattered stone floor.

Sapphire gasped in absolute fear. Crumbling to her knees, she raised her hand in immediate surrender before her beloved Sagea could take permanent damage. "I... I yield!"

The dark, chaotic aura instantly dissipated from Remi’s body. She stood panting in the center of the arena, her hands trembling violently from the sheer physical strain of the spell, but her gaze remained intensely fierce.

"And the winner of round four is Remi Faye!" Lord Zephyr announced, a knowing smile playing on his lips as his voice boomed over the amplification arrays.