## CHAPTER 66: The Obsidian Frost
Caspian didn't wait for the echoes of his threat to die down. He didn't wait for a signal or a breath. He became a blur of lethal intent, his body exploding forward with a speed that defied the crushing gravity of the barrier. He closed the distance in a heartbeat, his feet barely touching the scorched stone, leaving only a trail of displaced dust in his wake.
"**Quick Draw!**"
His hand moved with the fluid grace of a striking cobra. The black blade hissed as it began to leave the leather scabbard, aiming for a clean, horizontal bisection of the woman he once called teacher. But Master Grey was no student. In the micro-second before the steel could clear the mouth of the sheath, she didn't parry; she leaped. With a grace that seemed to ignore the laws of physics, she propelled herself vertically, her cloak billowing like dark wings.
The obsidian blade sliced through empty air, the sheer force of the swing creating a vacuum blade that carved a jagged line into the stone floor behind her.
Suspended in mid-air, silhouetted against the dark dome of the barrier, Master Grey looked down with eyes that burned with a feverish, mad light. She thrust her palm toward the ground, her fingers curling as if she were clutching the atmosphere itself.
"**Catastrophic Flame!**"
Unlike Alium, whose spells required elaborate preparation and visible buildup, Master Grey's magic was instantaneous. A sphere of roiling, violet-orange fire, as large as her own body, materialized in the palm of her hand. It didn't just burn; it screamed. She hurled it downward with the force of a falling star.
Caspian reacted with instinctive precision. He rolled to his right, a tight, controlled movement that brought him inches away from the impact zone.
***BOOM!***
The fireball struck the earth where he had been standing a fraction of a second prior. The explosion was thunderous, sending shards of molten rock and a wave of concussive heat washing over the courtyard. Caspian didn't let the smoke distract him. *Sh-sh-shing!* He fully drew his blade, the black metal gleaming with a sinister luster. He flicked his wrist, tossing the empty scabbard aside—it hit the ground with a dull thud, no longer needed for the dance to come.
With a powerful back-kick that shattered the stone beneath his boot, Caspian launched himself upward. He wasn't retreating; he was hunting.
Master Grey, hovering at the apex of her jump, saw the blurring figure of the boy approaching with impossible velocity. A wide, sinister grin split her face. "You should know better, Caspian Vane," she shouted, her voice amplified by the mana surrounding her. "Than to attack a Diamond-class Sorcerer head-on!"
"**Imescia Oh Drago!**"
She snapped her fingers. From the very air around her, a monstrous serpent composed of liquid, churning fire began to manifest. It coiled around her like a living shield, its scales hissing with white heat. The beast was humongous, its head rising seven feet above her, its eyes two glowing pits of cindered light.
"Go," she commanded.
The flaming serpent lunged. It moved with a sickening, liquid speed, its jaws yawning wide enough to swallow Caspian whole. The heat was so intense it began to singe the edges of Caspian's hair as he moved toward it. But he didn't flinch. He didn't desist. He took a deep, steadying breath, and as he exhaled, the black obsidian blade in his hands began to hum with a low, bone-deep frequency.
"**Ice Blade.**"
The transformation was chillingly beautiful. The deep, polished black of the obsidian blade began to bleed away, replaced by a crystalline, translucent light blue. The air around the sword cracked as the moisture froze instantly. Caspian's pupils flared with a brilliant, sapphire glow, and a freezing blue aura erupted from his body, clashing violently with the serpent's heat.
Caspian leaped higher, his body twisting in the air. He gripped the hilt with both hands, the sword raised high above his head like a frozen executioner's axe. As the serpent's head rose to meet him, its fire-breath inches from his chest, he unleashed his counter.
"**Ice Magic: Cold Snap.**"
He swung the blade with everything he had. A crescent wave of absolute zero followed the arc of his sword. It didn't just cut the fire; it froze the heat itself. The flaming serpent was bifurcated instantly, the front half of its body turning into brittle, blackened glass that shattered into a million sparkling shards before it could hit the ground. The vacuum created by the cold passed through Master Grey like a ghost, the sudden drop in temperature making her breath hitch and her movements stutter.
Before she could even contemplate her next move, Caspian appeared in front of her as if he had teleported through the falling frost.
"**Ice Magic Form 3,**" he whispered, his voice as cold as the blade he held.
Mid-air, he adjusted his posture and footing on thin air, the mana density supporting him just long enough to reset his center of gravity. He raised the sword once more, the sapphire aura intensifying until it was blinding.
"**Snow Falls.**"
The swing was a flash of light—instant and absolute. But Master Grey's reflexes were honed by decades of slaughter. She didn't have time to chant, so she flooded her hands with raw, D mana. She caught the edge of the blade between her palms just inches from her forehead.
The impact released a shockwave of clashing mana that rippled through the courtyard, throwing the unconscious students even further back and rattling the very foundations of the barrier.
"Hmm... impressive," Master Grey grunted, her teeth bared in a snarl of effort. She was struggling to hold the blade in place. The boy was far stronger than his slender frame suggested.
Caspian didn't utter a word. His face was a mask of stone. He stepped forward in mid-air, shifting his weight to apply more leverage. Master Grey could feel the blade getting heavier, the freezing aura of the sword beginning to numb her fingers despite her mana shield.
"Mghh!" She winced as the edge of the blade began to bite into the mana layer between her hands.
"Why?"
For the first time since the clash began, Caspian spoke. The word was heavy with a quiet, hollow grief that he had tried so hard to bury.
"Why???" Master Grey echoed, her voice strained but still dripping with mockery. "Do you still not get it, my dear child? Advancements! Progress! Evolution! For too long, our research has been hampered by the weak and the cautious. It is difficult to capture a noble without causing an alarm, but then..."
She laughed, a sharp, manic sound. "Life smiled back. Five commoners arrived at Althelgard with talent that surpasses even the highest nobility. You are the missing link, Caspian! Your mind is the key to unlocking power that surpasses the Grandmasters! You are the perfect specimen."
She pressed back against his blade, her eyes wide. "And the best part? There are five of you. Along with the Valerius heir and the nobles... and since the Castamir boy already has traces of illegal catalysts in his system, he'll take the fall for your 'unfortunate' disappearances. The perfect crime."
Caspian's face went dull. The last spark of "student" in his eyes died out, leaving only the "Ordinary" monster behind. The realization that she saw his friends as nothing more than biological components enraged him beyond the capacity for words.
He didn't pull back. He twisted the blade within her grip, the sharp edges of the ice-obsidian hybrid shredding her palms as he ripped the weapon free.
"Agghh!" she winced, blood finally flowing from her hands, the crimson droplets freezing before they could even hit her cloak.
Before she could recover, Caspian delivered a brutal, straight kick to her sternum. The impact sounded like a drum being struck. Master Grey was sent sprawling backward, her body skipping across the air before she slammed into the stone floor of the courtyard, skidding through the soot until she came to a halt.
Caspian landed softly on his feet, his blue-glowing sword trailing a mist of frost. He didn't give her a moment to breathe. He began to walk toward her, each footstep leaving a patch of ice on the scorched earth.