The entire forest of trees crumbled in nearly an instant as every single tree and plant was decimated by the blast.

Vera was affected by the shockwaves and sent flying backwards even though she had already wrapped herself in layers of vines and multiple tree branches for protection.

All this time, she had only caused Lown's energy to reduce since she hadn't managed to inflict any damage on her. As Vera stabilized herself before crashing into the dome, she turned to stare at the west side of the spectators' area.

Her eyes locked onto a very attractive looking dirty blonde male who nodded gently in her direction.

Vera pushed herself upwards and quickly rolled to the side.

Fwwiiihhh! Bang!

Lown landed from the air directly on her initial position and quickly swung out two of her right arms towards Vera while turning towards the side.

Vera, who hadn't managed to get away completely, was swatted towards the side like a housefly after Lown's arms slammed into her.

Vera waved her hands while in mid-air, causing a nearly dried off branch to shoot out and wrapped around her.

Fwwiiii!

It quickly pulled her towards the side while helping her dodge another one of Lown's attacks directed towards her figure.

Vera quickly brought out more seeds from her storage device and swung them out.

Sshhhhsssshhh!

Once again, green mist oozed out of her figure.

"Not this time," Lown shouted out as she dashed towards Vera direction.

Spreading all her six arms apart, Lown's arms bulged intensely as she clapped her palms together.

Pah! Pah! Pah!

As all six palms clasped one another, a massive wind spread across the place, which instantly cleared out the green gas exposing Vera's position within.

"Gotcha," Lown said with a smirk as she charged towards her.

Fwwiiihhh!

Vera's face showed panic as Lown approached her, but the instant Lown arrived in front of her...

Smirk!

A smirk suddenly appeared on her face, "Gotcha," Vera repeated the exact same words Lown said.

The instant Lown heard those words, a chilling feeling suddenly crept down her spine.

However, before she could react to it, purplish roots suddenly shot out of the ground as her right leg stomped on it.

These roots were four in number, each as thick as five grown men standing side by side. They surrounded Lown from all sides and wrapped around her figure like snakes, completely covering her body in the blink of an eye.

Surprisingly these roots had some kind of red eyes on them, too, making them look even more hideous than they already did.

-"What are those?"

-"Those things are making me uncomfortable,"

-"Gross,"

Most of the spectators had no idea what these plants were except for a few who knew a thing or two about botany.

It was a rare living mutated plant that fed on other living things. The instant they wrap around their preys, they crush all their bones and consume them in a manner of seconds.

Lown tried freeing herself from the hold of these plants, but her strength seemed to be failing her.

She could feel she was getting weaker and weaker by the second as she stayed within.

As seconds went by, the spectators could see the roots quivering and understood that Lown was fighting for her freedom within.

"Hnnngggh!" A loud growl was heard a few seconds later as a bright light shot out from within the wraps of these purplish roots.

Bang!

The roots were suddenly blasted aside as Lown emerged from within with her horns glowing a bright milky light.

She breathed in and out profusely as she headed for Vera's position again.

Those who knew about these plants knew just how rare they were, so they reckoned that Vera would definitely not have more of those seeds in her possession, so they automatically saw this as the end of the battle and Vera's loss.

As Lown's face squeezed up with a dissatisfied look, she dashed towards Vera with intensity.

Vera's face showed a crazy smirk again, which caused Lown to stop her movement a few hundred feet away.

She had a look of wariness as she looked around for any more hidden traps, but after not seeing any, she decided to end this once and for all. As she took a step forward to move, she suddenly felt her muscles constricting.

"Uh! Wh-at's hap-pen-ing?" Her voice cracked as her hand movement stopped.

Her body vibrated a little before she lost connection to different other parts of her body.

The spectators were in shock as they saw Lown standing in place, unable to move.

Vera waved her hand, causing other vines to shoot forward and wrap around Lown's body.

She controlled it so that Lown was lifted into the air and swung around before being slammed heavily into the ground.

Bang!

Vera didn't stop there. She continued repeatedly slamming Lown from place to place all across the grounds of the battle ring.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

After a few more seconds, Officer Cole announced that Lown had passed out and instructed Vera to stop.

The entire crowd were still in shock as they wondered what had just happened and why Lown had suddenly stopped moving.

More especially, the place was in an uproar because this meant there was finally a special class cadet, and someone had lost theirs.

As Vera walked away from the stage, she stared at Gustav's position.

Gustav smiled at her and nodded with a look of satisfaction.

A bright smile appeared on Vera's face in reaction to Gustav's action.

She slowly returned to her seat amidst the shocked and disbelieving faces of everyone.

Later it spread around that the plant that wrapped around Lown had a paralysis toxin which caused such an effect.

Everyone now had looks of understanding and realized that they may have looked down on plant-based bloodline abilities too much.

Seeing this made them change their perspectives.

Only Gustav and Vera truly knew what had gone down and how Lown wouldn't really be affected to that extent by the toxin due to her current level of strength.

'First step accomplished,' A smirk appeared on Gustav's face as he thought.