Once Mathias took a breath of fresh (admittedly frozen) air, he tiredly pulled himself up to the surface.

All the other ones were killed.

"L-..." His throated seized up.

Growling instead, he staggered to the only area she could be.

And froze.

The naga was standing there in momentary terror was it followed the cut on Lisanna's cheek from the harpy, deepening it, as the other seemed to be holding her long, braided hair. It was severed off as the naga was curiously inspecting the other human.

Except once it saw Mathias, it gasped. A spear punched through its chest.

His body collapsed soon after as he verified the rest were all killed - in large part thanks to the oxen herd that continued to roar at the sight of the two humans.

Jenna from above, nodded in interest as she saw the four orbs finally gathered in the same place. While it was not done precisely how it was intended, it was a more-than-adequate result for first-years in their first-week.

"I suppose they've finished."

Their bodies floated up - even the severed lock of Lisanna's hair. Since they were floating up as completely dead-weight, their bodies rotated around a little and they finally settled on the central pillar with Lisanna laying face-down on Mathias' chest, completely sprawled out.

Jenna looked at the others doing completely normal weapon training for the past forty-five minutes and plucked two from the crowd.

They were also ones who were quite unappreciative of her gesture of goodwill earlier. Also, they were ones that were more advanced in physical prowess so it wasn't unreasonable to think that they could take a crack at it.

"Ayla Argentine and Erik Huntis, you're up next! The rest, continue the training with those two."

Mr. Shields was watching with Jenna at the interesting spectacle and stole away their weapons that floated alongside their bodies.

"... They're improving," he said as he glanced at the azure veins on the Juniper Wood staff and azure light on the Ash Leather grip.

Both were fairly good for enchantment so the weapons the school supplied typically had some other feature than just being found in a storage room. Even the metal pipes were customized to be sufficient tools for students in a high-tier magic academy.

"Wh-?! What happened?!"

"Why!? Wha- oh, God, no!"

The students hearing the screams from inside earlier had new apprehensions about the stone citadel that formed in the training field.

Erik and Ayla noticed the two that were feuding earlier were laid out, with Lisanna passed out on top of Mathias. Red and blue blood, ash, gore, mud, and even some feathers clung to the sopping wet, blue-skinned teens as healers were finally allowed to treat them.

Half of the fun for Jenna was to see their apprehension.

It took a little less than an hour for the two return to consciousness; and when they did they saw Ayla and Erik laying in a heap beside them.

Neither said a thing, despite Mathias feeling a little less pain in his throat. Honestly, he'd prefer to ride out the momentary muteness and let others go into their fate blindly. He just didn't want to talk about it - if he even could.

Jenna did not force them to continue weapon training. She just said, "it's fine. Watching is good experience, too."

But both Erik and Mathias broke bones; Ayla and Lisanna had many, many more deep lacerations that would take time to heal. Given that, it was imperative to have them back to peak condition for next week.

James and Eldrich were in the air formation. Lisanna gagged at the recollection of the bird and the human-like bodies she gutted and turned towards Mathias. She buried her head into his shoulder as she escaped from the reality that was her pain, mentally and physically, seeing all that she had to see today.

He just wanted to distract himself so he spent the rest of the time treating the scars on Lisanna's face and the terrible burns and cracked skin on her arm.

It was easier than feeling his own aches. But Lisanna did not seem to mind.

She was already sleeping as he was busily trying to at least remove some of the cues that might make him recall the training again.

"... H-help...!"

"P-please...!"

Ayla woke first, but Erik was not far behind. Both groaned as the healers assured them that they were already treated. They would be fine in a couple of days, but they still could do some moderate exercise tomorrow.

"... M-Mathias... Help...!"

They turned to a boy with a blank expression who just turned motioned them to crawl forward. He was not getting up unless he had to.

"Well done," Jenna said to the four. "I'm quite glad you've all passed. Mathias, your spear handling is still somewhat poor, offensively speaking; Lisanna, you should be more conscious of the surroundings; Erik, your swordsmanship is getting there with that blade, but it still leaves much to be desired; Ayla, I am impressed with your ability to use a rapier in this course, but there are more efficient uses, even considering the opponents you've fought."

"... J-Jenna... help...!"

"P-please...!"

Neither could move a muscle. To be fair, it took ten minutes of Mathias coaxing Lisanna's fatigue away, little by little, before she could barely sit up. Since he did it unconsciously, even while completely unconscious, he was slightly better than the rest in that regard. Granted, it could be said he was cheating. But each attribute had their advantages and disadvantages.

"Oh, fine." Jenna was feeling generous today, even with the slights they inflicted on her.

She brought them to the bleachers where Mathias and Lisanna were sitting unmoving.

"... She looks... different without the braids..." Ayla commented before adding, "Ma-Mathias...! C-Clean... pl-please...! H-help...!"

Mathias sighed, but even that hurt his throat. It was still raw even with the healers' magic and his own. At least, he was proficient enough in cleaning their clothes so all the blood, mud, and ash were sent off before he felt a lull of sleep.

Lisanna awoke to a strange sight.

They traded off on being conscious of their surroundings.

Everything happened in a daze.

Mathias was laying passed out on the bleachers as Erik and Ayla were on the level below. Warm, soothing water surrounded all of them, and it seemed to be held against her cheek, palm, and arm. It flittered to her back, tickling her somewhat, but her body was so tired that she could not move.

At most, she could rotate her head as she heard two dull thuds appear to her side.

It was James and Eldrich.

"Jennifer Ghast and Wendi Aliel! You're up."

"Wha, what, what is...?!"

Jenna dismissively shrugged. "Everyone else finished it. I'd even hazard to guess Jennifer may be able to use a little magic inside. Grab the four orbs in each arena."

Both girls stood stock still, first laying eyes on James and Eldrich who seemed to need intense treatment - and then the course. Everyone else was unconscious. People who seemed stronger than them both. Wendi shook as she bit her lip, lowered herself, and hid behind Jennifer's back. She held tightly onto the girl's waist as Jenna offered them both a simple smile.

Just as Wendi was about to stammer something, a floor fell out from underneath them. And Jenna boomed with laughter.

"Ah, that never gets old..."

Lisanna hid her head back towards Mathias' chest, staring at the stone bleachers. There was no reason to look anymore, none, she thought. It wasn't worth it.

Her hands tightly clenched onto his shirt as he slept.

Beside his head, a severed, platinum blonde braid was seen. "... Is... is that... mine...?"

Jenna overheard the comment. "Ah, a naga did it. You're not losing anything anymore, mind you."

She summoned her strength to reach behind her head. The hair was back; not braided, but back.

It flowed all the way to the base of her spine and it seemed even smoother than before.

"... How?"

"Parlour tricks. It's quite troublesome, from what I've heard," Mr. Shields said indifferently.

"... Is... is that so?" Lisanna said, finally looking at Jenna.

"Yeah. A bundle of tricks, that one. I'm curious how long you intend to sleep on his chest? It's been about an hour at this point," Jenna said before turning to the arena.

"Huh?! Re-really?!"

"Yeah. If you're interested, I won't say anything. Nor will they. Those two are asleep anyways."

Once the water hit them, the two passed out again.

"Hmm... so that's how you do it," a healer murmured, all four crowding around the streams. "I figured it was more important to start at the external level and work inwards for maximum efficiency... interesting, interesting. I can't tell the spell formation... but with the practical effects...? Hmm... I don't know if I can replicate this though..."

They were appraising an unconscious boy's technique, but Lisanna's last vestige of strength abandoned her and she fell asleep. She rolled off of him a little, but the two were very much side-by-side by the time they were finally free.