Grace scowled.
The statue still stood incomplete.
That should not have been possible. By now, Class S should have finished synchronization, secured the final statue, and pressured the remaining classes into surrender or retreat. Instead, the mana flow remained unstable, the nodes refused to harmonize, and the battlefield was devolving into something she wasn't sure she could control anymore.
"What's taking so long?" someone shouted from the perimeter.
"Why hasn't it activated yet?"
"Did something go wrong?"
"What is Iris doing?!"
Grace forced herself to tune out the noise.
She studied the statue from her command position, searching for the break in her plan. Iris remained focused at the center, hands pressed against the stone, mana flowing steadily. The support student beside her mirrored the effort.
Everything looked correct.
But it wasn't working.
