Somewhere deep in the foliage-heavy second sector of the Trial Grounds—where the sun dared not shine and the birds seemed to laugh instead of chirp—four students dangled, defeated not by beasts, nor magic, nor rival teams.
But by vines.
Yes. Vines.
Sentient, smug-looking vines with a thirst for humiliation.
Blanche was pinned horizontally against the trunk of a massive tree, limbs splayed like some ancient, aristocratic sacrifice. Her pristine cape was half-crumpled, half-eaten by leaves. Hair slightly tousled. Dignity in critical condition.
above her, slightly to the left, Yuxin was dangling upside down, suspended by an ankle and gently spinning like a cursed wind chime.
Her voice came out in a groggy drawl.
"I… I'm gonna throw up…"
"No, no, no, don't you dare," Blanche barked from above, sounding like a noblewoman whose dinner party had just caught fire. "If you vomit in a radius of three meters I swear I'll disown this entire team—"
"I CAN'T CONTROL PHYSICS—!"
Yuxin twirled again. Slowly. Pathetically. Her expression was a swirl of nausea and rage. Her arms flailed uselessly, trying to reach for something. Anything. Even a rock.
To the far right, Vilaphine Nhrfreya was… hanging upright, arms locked behind her back, eyes narrowed into a flat, unimpressed stare.
No movement.
No sound.
Just internal existential judgment.
"This is why I hate group activities," she muttered.
The vine holding her gave a little sproing, just to taunt her. Vila squinted at it.
"I will burn this forest to the ground if I get free."
And then there was Ruka.
Poor, sweet Ruka.
Dangling by a single leg from a tree branch, upside down like an awkwardly caught fish. Her oversized Clothes academy had fallen to her face. She was crying softly.
"H-help… m-my socks are slipping…"
"Why only your leg?!" Blanche snapped. "Why do you get a discount bondage package?!"
"I don't know!! I was just walking!!"
Blanche tried to struggle.
Her limbs didn't move.
Her summon glyph sputtered once, then flickered out with a passive-aggressive poof.
"Oh, wonderful," she muttered. "We're dying like amateurs."
"No, no, I got this," Yuxin said unconvincingly. "I can still use my Astraga. I just… need to not be upside down, and not dizzy, and not on the verge of blacking out."
Vila's head turned ever so slightly.
"So useless."
"Excuse me—I'M TRYING—"
"Try quieter," Blanche hissed. "My wrists are being slowly eaten by moss."
"Guys…" Ruka whimpered again, voice tiny and broken. "I think I hear something…"
All three turned—or, well, twisted slightly—to listen.
There was, in fact, rustling.
Followed by growling.
The bushes nearby shivered.
Blanche's eye twitched.
"No. Absolutely not. I refuse to be mauled while trussed up like a forest ham."
"I will scream," Yuxin warned.
"Already doing that internally," Vila whispered.
Then—
A squirrel.
Just a squirrel.
It ran past.
All four of them stared at it like it was the end of the world.
"…I hate this school," Yuxin said.
"You said that yesterday," Ruka sniffled.
"And I'll say it again tomorrow!"
The forest was still laughing.
It had to be.
No other explanation made sense for the fact that Team Blanche—the allegedly "well-coordinated, tactically elite" group—was still dangling like failed laundry.
"Yuxin," Blanche said suddenly, voice sharp despite her current crucifixion pose against the tree, "your shadow Pact. Can it shoot?"
From above, Yuxin groaned. She was still spinning. Slower now. But definitely dying inside.
"…Shoot? Like… projectile?"
"Yes."
"Then yes. Like, literally. Like an actual projectile. Bang bang. Pew pew."
She sounded more dead than alive.
Blanche snapped her gaze down toward Ruka, who was still dangling by one leg like a panicked carrot.
"Aim at the vine on her ankle. Free her. She's the only one close to a knife."
Ruka's eyes went wide.
"WAIT WHAT?! N-NO WAIT—if you shoot that, I'm gonna fall FACE FIRST!"
"So?" came Vila's voice, flat and merciless. "Would you prefer hanging here all day, or your face hurting for five seconds?"
Ruka's lip quivered.
"I choose… hanging!! I'm not built like you people, I bruise like a peach!!"
"Ruka, we're running out of time—" Blanche hissed, trying to summon something again, and failing. "Yuxin is about to pass out, and you're worried about your face?!"
"YES?? It's the only part of me that gets compliments—"
But it was too late.
Yuxin's eyes were starting to unfocus.
Her voice came out like a half-sigh, half-cough.
"I… I can't…"
"NOW, YUXIN, BEFORE YOU GO UNCONSCIOUS!!" Blanche snapped, full noble-commander mode activated.
Ruka screamed.
"WAIT—WAIT—WAIT—LET ME PREPARE FIRST—!!"
Yuxin, with the last ounce of brain cells left functioning, raised one trembling hand. A small shadow spiral shimmered around her wrist. It focused into a dart.
Then—
THWIP!
The shadow bolt launched upward.
It sliced clean through the vine wrapped around Ruka's ankle.
"WAAAUUGHH—"
THUD.
A solid, gravity-fueled, bone-rattling impact.
Ruka hit the dirt face-first. There was a pause. Then a long, drawn-out groan.
"My... nose… I think my face… broke my fall..."
Yuxin, still swinging slowly above, finally went limp.
"…nailed it…"
Then she passed out cold.
Like a depressed bat.
Vila stared.
"She's dead."
Ruka, dazed but functioning, rolled over and immediately clutched her face.
Blood.
From the nose.
Then her eyes landed on something nearby: Vila's knife, which had been dropped 15 minute ago She lunged.
Grabbed it with shaking fingers.
Staggered to her feet—barely.
"I got you, Lady Blanche—hold on—!"
She limped—no, crawled with pride—toward the tree where Blanche was tied like a glamorous scarecrow.
With a single awkward hack, she cut through one vine.
Then another.
Blanche dropped to the ground like an elegant sack of potatoes.
"Finally," she muttered, brushing herself off. "Remind me to burn this forest."
"Yes, ma'am," Ruka said, saluting through the nosebleed.
Blanche barely waited a second.
The moment she had enough motion in her arms, she summoned.
The glyph flared.
"Terranova. To me."
A deep rumble answered.
The Spirit of Earth emerged—colossal and glowing with moss-lined power. It lumbered forward like a living fortress.
Blanche pointed dramatically at Vila and Yuxin.
"Save them. Carefully."
Terranova complied.
Giant arms reached out with surprising gentleness, cradling the elf and the unconscious gremlin in vines of protection.
Blanche exhaled.
Then finally looked at Ruka.
She was still clutching her face, blood dripping onto her Clothes.
"You did well."
"I want to go home."
"We are home," Blanche replied.
"Then I want a refund."
The forest trail stretched ahead like a cruel joke with no punchline.
They had been walking for what felt like eternity—legs numb, feet blistered, mouths dry, and souls irreparably damaged from prior trauma. The sky was beginning to shift, bleeding warmer hues into the canopy, though no one had the energy to appreciate the aesthetic.
Blanche led the formation.
Her posture was still noble—spine straight, pace controlled—but there was a distinct twitch in her right eye. The kind that only appeared after thirty minutes of arguing with vines and one too many sarcastic comments from the shadows.
Behind her, Ruka shuffled like a guilty puppy, her Clothes now decorated with dried dirt, grass stains, and faint traces of blood from her earlier face-first reintroduction to gravity.
"How much further…" she whispered to herself, dragging one leg.
"Five kilometers," Blanche called out without turning, voice clipped.
"...That sounds like a lot."
"It is. But we already did forty-five."
"That makes it worse…"
And at the rear of the group—moving with silent, predatory grace despite the weight on her back—was Vilaphine Nhrfreya.
She carried Yuxin in her arms.
The elf's expression was as flat as ever, but her grip on the unconscious girl was surprisingly steady. Efficient. Protective, in her own emotionally bankrupt way.
Yuxin, for her part, was limp like an overcooked noodle. Her head lolled slightly to the side with each step Vila took, a weak mumble escaping her lips every now and then.
"…m'gonna kill that vine… personally…"
"You said that already," Vila said softly. "Six times."
"…make it seven…"
Then—
A sudden shimmer in the air.
Magical frequencies shifted.
Above them, dozens of projection glyphs snapped into existence, glittering faintly in the sky like fractured glass. Each one tuned to the same voice.
Cool.
Clear.
Unshakeably composed.
Like a royal decree wrapped in military protocol.
"Announcement to all active participants in the Sylvan Trial—this is your official relay broadcast Izanami Yuki. Please cease forward motion and listen closely."
The group froze instinctively.
Even Blanche, who looked like she hadn't stopped walking since birth, slowed and turned her head.
"As of this moment," the voice continued, "Team Kael has reached the finish point. I repeat, Team Kael has officially finished the trial."
There was a beat.
A silence like pressure in the chest.
"As such, one bracket slot has been filled. There are fifteen bracket positions remaining. Fifty-three teams still remain in the field. Consider this your warning, not a courtesy."
Even from the tone alone, you could almost see Yuki's cold stare behind the crystal announcement array. Calm. Unbothered. Radiating the energy of a government official announcing that taxes would now be paid in blood and tears.
"Best of luck," she concluded. "Or don't. Either way, you move faster now."
The glyphs vanished with a shiiiing.
Blanche exhaled through her nose.
"…He actually finished first. That musclebound gorilla—"
Vila adjusted Yuxin slightly, tightening her hold as the girl slumped deeper into unconscious muttering.
"She's sweating more than usual," Vila noted.
"That's because she almost died," Blanche replied flatly.
Blanche pressed her fingers to her temple.
"We're finishing this. Now."
"Do we run?" Ruka asked, horrified.
"Yes. With dignity."
"…Running hurts…"
"Suck it up."