`Whew, thankfully I did it!` Victoria wiped off the sweat on her face.

The crowd praised Victoria for winning the match. She bowed at them and left the area.

Her opponent was taken by the guards to the recovery bed. As she skipped out of the arena, she thought of Helena.

`I wonder how Helena is doing right now. I hope she wins her match.`

…

Arena NE-7.

Helena stepped on the arena platform. Her dark-purple robe stood out along with her wavy ginger hair that flowed over her shoulders. Her face shone with arrogance, proudly taking her steps towards her opponent.

She was playing with her small but delicate fingers, trying to tone down the excitement she was feeling inside. Her almond-shaped orange eyes curiously scanned the person standing on the other side.

`A mage?`

She let out a strong domineering aura that could make any person submit to her. She cutely giggled, smiling at her opponent.

`It's so fun to see them like that.`

The boy on the opposite side was wearing a dark robe. He narrowed his black eyes as he felt the oppressing aura from Helena.

`Is she testing me?!`

'Bang!'

`Dark Chains!`

Chains sprouted from the ground below her, and she sent them towards her opponent.

`Girl, don't you dare underestimate me! Fire Blast!`

He wanted to teach her a lesson by destroying the chains that were charging at him. He was bound to be disappointed.

The blast only tickled the chains and he was soon bounded by them.

`What? It didn't work?`

`That was a very strong fire blast! The chains should have been obliterated from that!`

Helena tightened the dark chains that bounded her opponent. An evil smile formed on her lips.

"Aaahhh!"

`Ah, here it is. The scream of pain!`

The boy screamed in agony. The chains seemed to have penetrated his skin and tortured his muscles. `This demon!`

He saw the look in her eyes, gritting his teeth as he tried to muster up the strength to break the chains. However, it was all for naught.

All of his strength was drained, and he became unconscious. Helena was disappointed.

She snorted and walked out of the arena without even waiting for the captain guard to announce who won.

"How weak!"

The guards and the spectators were speechless.

"The winner is Demonic Beauty!" The captain guard paused before he announced the winner.

"Damn, what an arrogant young girl."

"Can't help it, let's just wait for the next match."

The spectators shook their heads. Many young people arrogantly acted like this.

Once they experienced the horror of the battlefield exercise will they realize that their arrogance was unfounded.

…

Edward observed their matches and he was satisfied. `We'll let them have a taste of defeat later. Let's see what their reactions will be.`

The two girls returned after a while.

"Victoria, did you win your match?" Helena asked.

"Yeah, I did. How about you, Helena?" Victoria replied.

"Ah, I did it easily. Anyway, senior Edward, will we still match up with others? I want to fight against strong ones."

"Don't worry about that, Helena. You'll soon find a good match." Edward assured them.

"Go find another match. I encourage you to select those with a power-level of at least silver-level. Any lower than that and I'll punish you, am I understood?"

The first matches were just a warm-up. He planned to let them go for 10 consecutive matches.

`This is nothing when you battle against those Elden Prospect candidates.` Edward sneered them in his mind.

If they cannot even defeat these low-level fighters, they should just immediately forfeit the skirmish event.

"Yes, senior!"

"The same goes to you both, Sabrina and Amelia after you've finished your first match." Edward looked at them.

Helena, Victoria, and Jeremias went off to find another match. Meanwhile, Sabrina and Amelia went to their arenas.

…

Sabrina stood atop the arena platform. She wore a navy-blue battle dress with some plate armor attached to her shoulders, neck, waist, and arms.

The floral design at the bottom of her dress made it look fancier than usual. It outlined her body that had slightly developed muscles.

She carried her personal short sword that gleamed with both sharpness and sturdiness.

`A weapon master, huh?`

Her opponent also carried their own personal weapon which was a spear. It was 2 meters long.

`How unlucky.`

Her opponent's reach was a huge adversary in their fight.

`This'll be a tough battle.`

'Bang!'

The two rushed against one another.

The spear thrusted to Sabrina and she deflected it away from her and counter-attacked. Her opponent hopped away from her reach and attacked again.

`So you like jumping around, huh? Freeze.`

She stomped her feet, freezing the ground 3 meters around her. Her opponent's feet were also caught by her spell.

Her opponent canceled their previous attack. Sabrina used this opportunity to launch an attack.

`Weapon Layering!`

She layered her short sword with ice mana essence.

"Oh, she knows weapon layering? How talented!"

The spectators were awed about Sabrina's performance.

She swung her short sword, mildly injuring her opponent. The ice mana essence penetrated through her opponent's body that produced a mild pain inside.

A fire slashing wave was sent downwards, melting the frozen ground.

Her opponent moved swiftly and attacked her again with a slash from their spear. They clashed multiple times, moving around the arena. Soon, the ice mana essence that was transferred to her opponent began to slow them down.

`I need to finish it now!`

Her opponent thrusted their spear at her, but she easily saw through it. She dodged to her right, grabbed the spear, and pushed it downwards.

Her opponent was having difficulty trying to break away from her grasp, but Sabrina was faster.

She slashed her sword towards her opponent's neck without giving them any chances to retaliate or move away.

"Halt! The winner is Cold Ice!"

The spectators applauded Sabrina's performance. Sabrina sheathed her sword and walked out of the arena. She was panting and almost out of breath.

`It took too long for me to finish that. I need to do it better and faster next time!`

She wouldn't be able to catch up to her rival if she keeps this up. She clenched her fists tightly.

On the other side, Amelia also won her match.

"Halt! The winner is Amelia!"

She went back to where senior Edward was and met up with Sabrina.

"Pick your next match now." Edward tasked them to do so.

In the next 3 matches, the five Prospect candidates enjoyed a winning streak and this caught the eye of many old-timers in the arena.

Although Zachariel's match was also being replayed live, the five candidate's matches had a bigger influence.

"Hoho, it looks like that Matthias guy has started to expose his weak-assed Prospect candidates in the arena, eh? Let me see, Demonic Beauty, eh? Let's send her a match request."

[

Arena Callsign: Silver Trickster

---

Class: Elemental Mage

---

Age: 35 years old

---

Power-level: Lower Gold-level

---

Standing: 50W 55L 12D

---

Available Opponents:

'YourDaddy' – Selects

'Cold Ice' – Select

'Demonic Beauty' – Select

…

---

Refresh Opponents

]

A plain-looking male tapped on the magic screen in the southern circular area. He was wearing a ragged mage robe with an insignia of the Mage Guild on his right chest.

His messy black hair and dark eyebags were the unique part of him. Everyone who saw him would rather stay away because of his notoriety to humiliate arrogant newbies that were having a winning streak.

"Mel, are you going to bully another one of those greenhorns today?" A gruff voice resounded behind the sleep-deprived male.

"Yeah. What are you going to do about it, Antonio?" He uncaringly replied to the burly newcomer.

"Let me join in the fun then." He picked JPick as his opponent.

[

Arena Callsign: Bullhorn

---

Class: Mana Force Warrior

---

Age: 37 years old

---

Power-level: Lower Gold-level

---

Standing: 45W 66L 10D

---

Available Opponents:

'Silver Trickster' – Select

'YourDaddy' – Select

'JPick' – Select

…

---

Refresh Opponents

]

Mel, the guy with the dark eyebags, snorted and went back to his own business.

On the northern circular area.

Cody had already returned long ago. Edward briefed him of what had happened.

The five candidates received matches from powerful arena fighters.

"What's this? Silver Trickster?" Helena was browsing on the magic screen searching for opponents when a notification popped up.

[

Opponent 'Silver Trickster' invited you to an arena match

---

See Opponent Details

---

Accept

---

Decline

]

She viewed Silver Trickster's information.

[

Arena Callsign: Silver Trickster

---

Class: Elemental Mage

---

Age: 35 years old

---

Power-level: Lower Gold-level

---

Standing: 50W 55L 12D

---

Return

]

`Hmph! So what if you're a lower gold-level fighter? I even beat a peak-silver level. You won't stand a chance!`

Helena didn't back down on her opponent's challenge.

[

The match starts at 16:45.

Venue: Arena: SE-2.

]

Jeremias and the others also accepted their opponent's requests. Although their opponents were powerful, they weren't one to be underestimated as well.

Edward and Cody looked at their individual magic screens.

`Finally, that trickster is here. Teach them a lesson, please, senior.`

Edward and Cody were also challenged by that guy once and won their matches.

Edward wasn't really worried about the five candidates, while Cody was. However, Edward pulled Cody back.

"Jockey, let them be. We have to let them have an experience on setbacks and humiliation. Didn't we also go through that before?"

Cody massaged his temples. "Okay, okay! You guys, be careful. These matches are going to be difficult than your previous ones. Don't hold back this time, got it?"

He had to remind them about the impending danger.

"Yes, senior!"

The five of them thought that senior Cody only said that because he was worried that they would lose.

"Senior, don't underestimate us! We'll surely win them just like before!" Helena said with great determination.

The other four nodded as well.

"Let's go!"

Helena took the lead as they went to their respective arenas.

Little did they know that an unwelcoming surprise awaited them.