Finally, the day of the practice session has arrived. The Idun students woke up early and packed with them the necessary items, before leaving for the Eastern Tower in Helios. Everyone except for Sky was awake. As Sky awoke from her deep sleep, she squinted lazily at the clock hanging on the wall. Her eyes widened as she jumped out of bed. "Fuck! I'm late!!!!"

As quickly as she can, she took a shower and changed into her uniform. Stuffing her necessities messily into her small bag, she ran towards the Eastern Tower.

At the entrance of the Eastern Tower, Rood, Lidusis, Dio and two other girls, Lin and Carmille, were waiting for Sky. After the fight in the sports hall, Lin and Carmille became closer to the quartet and joined them as a group for the practical session. Seeing the group waiting outside the Eastern Tower, Sky shouted out as she waved at them. "I'M HERE!!!!!!"

"You were almost late." Rood chuckled, pointing out the obvious.

Sky panted as she reached the group. She breathed deeply to catch her breath. "I... I was tired! So I overslept a little... Just a little. Besides! I'm ALMOST late. Not late, okay?!" The group laughed at Sky's lame excuse except for Lidusis. A small smile slowly curved on his lips. He felt himself adjusting to his new group of friends and was happy being with them.

While waiting for the professors to arrive, Dio began to discuss with Lin and Camille about the Tower and its accomplishments. Sky listened in and she was impressed as she listened to Dio's explanation. Although Dio was not good at his studies, he was capable of gathering information from others because of his sociable personality.

From the corner of Sky's eyes, she saw Tessiana walking towards the Eastern tower and dread began to creep into the bottom of her stomach. Tessiana is scanning the crowd of students, looking for Rood and Sky. She still had suspicions against the two new students, who had shown exemplary fighting skills in the sports hall.

"Tessiana! What are you doing?!" A bespectacled man with blonde hair called out to her. She glanced at him briefly but didn't bother to reply.

The man was Rom, one of the personal attendants of Princess Yutiarien Meria Kansiol, the Kansiol Empire's imperial princess. Wearing a hooded cloak, Yutiarien ran over to Tessiana and held her hand tightly. The princess was a young petite girl with long blonde hair and beautiful emerald green eyes. Since young, Tessiana and Rom have been guarding the princess but the princess preferred Tessiana as she disliked Rom's naggy nature.

"Tessi! What are you looking for??" Yutiarien giggled.

Seeing that it was the princess who asked, Tessiana replied while holding the princess close. "Two interesting people."

Seeing Tessiana's eyes scanning the crowd like a hawk searching for her prey, Sky figured that she was looking for Rood and her. Most likely because of their spectacular "performance" that day. Ever since that day, Tessiana has been trying to get a chance to test Rood and Sky's abilities. But each and every time, somehow a professor would walk past them which would immediately stop her. After being teased by Rood, Sky has just been thinking of ways to get back at him. Seeing her chance, she immediately hid behind Lidusis and pushed Rood out of the group. Now, he is in plain sight.

"Hey! What are you-" Before Rood could finish his sentence, he sensed Tessiana's intense stare and ran off in a flash. Spotting Rood, Tessiana chased after him with Yutiarien following as she held her hand tightly. Rom, on the other hand, lost sight of Yutiarien and Tessiana. He began to panic and looked for them in the crowd of students frantically.

Sky smiled triumphantly as she hid behind Lidusis to hide from Tessiana's radar. She was glad that Lidusis was tall and fit so he could cover her well. Once Tessiana was out of her sight, Sky strolled into the Eastern tower with Lidusis, Dio, Lin and Carmille following her.

In the Eastern tower, there was a large magic circle drawn in the center of the ground. Looking at the runes on the circle, Sky assumed that it was a teleportation circle, meant to teleport the students to the Tower. Staring closer at the teleportation circle, she realized something was off. She has never seen several of the runes that were inscribed on the teleportation circle.

"Look! The Heresis are here too!" One of the students pointed out.

Sky looked up and saw several Heresis including Chevel, walking in. She had heard rumors of the Heresis joining them for the practice session but assumed they were baseless rumors. Feeling alerted against Chevel's presence, she stood closer to Lidusis in a protective manner. Just as she was about to hold Lidusis' hand to pull him closer, a hard fist smashed against the back of her head.

"OW! WHO DID THAT?!" She winced in pain and turned around to look at her attacker. Seeing Rood smiling innocently while cracking his knuckles, Sky gulped knowing that he was angry.

"Who do you think?" Feeling the danger, Sky quickly hid behind Lidusis and screamed out.

"WAAAA! Lidusis! Rood is bullying me! Save me!!!"

"You're the one who bullied me by pushing me towards Professor Rowell! Don't you dare hide behind Lidusis!" Rood shouted out as he tried to get behind Lidusis to grab Sky. But she continued to shift her position behind Lidusis, avoiding his clutches. Lidusis, on the other hand, stood still like a statue in the middle of them as he watched them fight like five-year-old kids.

Sky stuck out her tongue at Rood, "No way! Dream on, Blehhh! Hmpt!" She continued hiding behind Lidusis, waiting for a response from Rood but he said nothing.

That's when screams started to echo in the air from multiple directions. "Sky...... Look. That's the thing I mentioned." Realizing something was off, Sky peeked out and her eyes widened at the sight before her eyes. There is a wraith-like figure floating above the teleportation circle, black and tattered at the edges, like shadows melded together into a humanoid shape. The only thing that can be seen clearly are two creepy blue shining orbs floating in its empty hood. It looks like a creature made from darkness. Amidst the screams, the figure spread out its body, blocking the teleportation circle.

Rood and Sky immediately stood in front of Lidusis as they prepared themselves for fight while Tessiana and Professor Kan began to engage against the figure. However, as Rood mentioned before, the figure doesn't have a physical body. Physical attacks won't work against it. Seeing that their attacks did not work, Tessiana and Professor Kan awaken their powers.

"Tessiana. Awaken!"

"Damion. Awaken!"

As both of them awakened, a frost blue light covered Tessiana while Professor Kan's hair glowed white. The both of them combined their efforts to fight against the strange wraith. Tessiana lunged towards it with her ice sword while Professor Kan used defensive magic to protect the students. During the fight, several students ran to the entrance but the door would not bulge. They were locked in and there was no way out.

Although Tessiana had managed to freeze a part of their assailant, it escapes easily from the ice. Similar to the previous time, it disappears and reappears by some strange form of magic. Their attacks were not working and Tessiana narrowed her eyes as she struggled. She knows she has to defeat this wraith-like figure. She needs to protect the princess who has been dragged into this in the tower. She blamed herself for being careless and placing the princess in danger. Yutiarien frowned as she watched worriedly. "Tessi..."

As the fight continued, Rood noticed trickles of black water seeping out from the teleportation circle and bent down to touch it. Sky's eyes widened at the sight of the black water. She read about black water from books and there is only one place where it is produced.

Ishuella, the cursed land.

Screams started sounding off in the tower as the black water from the ground burst out and wrapped around the students. The water dragged them into the teleportation circle and towards Ishuella. Seeing the danger, Tessiana stopped fighting and ran towards the princess. "Yuti! Hang onto me!" Yutiarien obeyed as she hugged Tessiana tightly. Professor Kan stopped as well and followed Tessiana.

Rood glanced around, "Everyone, hold onto me...... We are getting teleported away so we have to stick together." Sky nodded as Rood began to reach out his fingers towards Dio and Lidusis while she reached out towards Lin and Carmille. But it was too late. Before they could hold their friends, the black water wrapped around them, dragging them through the teleportation circle.

"LIDUSIS! DIO!!!!!!" "LIN! CARMILLE!!!!" Rood and Sky choked out as they tried to grab their friends but to no avail. Their friends were dragged into the black water and it was the duo's turn. The duo struggled as the black water began to drag them. Knowing the possible danger that could befall on their friends, they finally could not hold back.

"My name is Blow. Awaken."

"My name is Lotus! Awaken!"

At the same time, both of them released their mana and broke free from the black water. Sky turned to the figure hovering over the teleportation circle. "What have you done to our friends..."

The figure did not reply and attacked them. Sky released a bright silver light that formed into her twin silver swords. She grabbed her swords and sliced through the wraith. As Rood's magic attribute was darkness, he was able to dispel the attack with a wave of his hand.

He immediately grabbed the figure, pinning it to the ground with his mana. He looked down at the figure with a piercing cold look that could kill. Regret and anger filled his veins after seeing his friends dragged into the black water. "I should have killed you the moment I saw you... This isn't your real body, is it? Where is your real body and why are you targeting Lidusis?"

Sky flinched slightly at Rood's cold voice. Damn, that chilly tone in his voice. No wonder why Shicmuon was stalking him...

"... Who knows?" The figure quickly distorted its form and escaped from Rood's clutches and it sneaked up behind the two of them.

"I think the question of the day is are you both...... really human?" Sky and Rood blinked in confusion. Before they could make sense of its words, the figure dissipated as the teleportation circle let out bright blue light, teleporting them away.