Allen watched the crimson light flood the arena, his expression remaining perfectly calm while the sheer pressure of the core pushed the other applicants back toward the walls.
'Not a bad plan in theory,' he thought, his eyes tracking the violent surge of mana locking Elise, Sable, and Hajin in place. 'Using a three-point synchronized strike to cancel out a static frequency is a textbook high-ranker tactic.'
He took a slow, measured breath.
'But they treated the core like a rock,' he continued, a cold sense of fascination settling over him. 'People see lower-tier cores as mere batteries, but higher-tier cores, especially those harvested from a dragon, are essentially still alive. They possess active defense traits that treat any hostile mana as an invader to be eradicated.'
The air around the three trapped examinees started to warp, the heat rising so fast that the floor beneath their feet began to crack.
