The crowd couldn’t seem to get enough of watching how the War God Mage Academy was operating on the battlefield, but they weren’t the only ones enjoying every moment of it.

Members of the Ember Citadel Team, who had looked rather bleak earlier, now watched with renewed hope in their eyes as they observed how the War God team maneuvered around the arena while maintaining their advantage.

Even though it was widely believed that the War God team was overall weaker than the Bloodline Academy, however, the way they were playing the match told a different story.

From what they could see, this battle format relied far more on tactics and positioning than on sheer strength alone.

Of course, raw power was still necessary to secure and defend the rune points, but the ongoing battle proved that strategy could shift the advantage dramatically, and watching the War God team move with such calculated precision planted a seed of hope in the Ember Citadel members’ hearts.

And they started to feel that perhaps, just perhaps, they too might find a way to win when their own match began, all they just had to do was watch all the moves and tactics that were being used by the War God.

_ _

Meanwhile, Pale and Endrick had already slipped past one of the broken corners of the battlefield as they headed toward the western rune, hoping to reach it before encountering any members of the Bloodline Academy Team.

However, their attempt at stealth didn’t last long, as Carmilla was moving swiftly through the ruined battlefield when her mental senses detected the mana signatures of two unfamiliar mages nearby.

Although she would have preferred to head straight toward the central region as Damien had instructed, however; she knew that abandoning the rune point they had already captured when she knew there was a threat nearby would be risky.

She knew very well that it was unguarded at the moment , and the War God team could easily expand their point lead even further, so she changed direction.

Taking one of the battlefield’s shortcuts while tracking their mana signatures, she quickly caught up to them just before they reached the rune point, bursting from the side, Carmilla appeared suddenly before the two mages and swung her blood scythe in a wide horizontal arc the moment she emerged.

She had caught them by surprise, but Endrick and Pale didn’t panic, the instant her attack appeared before them, they reacted swiftly, maintaining their composure as they prepared to counter the sudden ambush.

Endrick bent low while Pale raised both hands, and a conjured ice shield appeared before him.

Tang!

A sharp sound rang out as the tip of Carmilla’s blood scythe slammed into the center of the shield, pushing Pale backward, he dragged his feet across the ground to steady himself.

“Go capture the rune. I’ll keep her busy!” Endrick said as he stepped forward to intercept Carmilla before she could follow up with another strike against Pale.

Endrick immediately began forming hand signs, but Carmilla closed the distance in an instant and swung her scythe again, attempting to cleave him apart.

With the Creation Stone protecting them and granting each participant three chances to reincarnate, Carmilla had no reason to hold back.

She attacked without the slightest concern about killing the opponent in front of her, seeing the blood scythe descending toward him, Endrick was forced to break his hand signs and dodge awkwardly to the side.

But Carmilla quickly shifted her focus, instead of chasing him, she dashed toward Pale, who had already stepped onto the western rune circle.

Because an opposing mage had entered the rune, the blue light marking Bloodline Academy’s control on the Rune Point began to fade.

It hadn’t been five seconds yet, so the rune hadn’t returned completely to white, but it was already beginning to lose its control.

However, while Carmilla focused entirely on interrupting the capture, she overlooked one important fact: she wasn’t fighting one mage, but two. And she had seriously underestimated them.

[ Mid-Tier Spell – Reinforced Ice Walls ]

Pale raised his hands and finished chanting as a massive and thick wall of ice erupted from the ground, forming a barrier that blocked Carmilla’s path.

As the walls rose, Pale spoke to Endrick.

“No matter what, she must not get through. Don’t forget Alec’s plan.”

Carmilla felt frustration rising as she realized she wouldn’t reach the rune before the ice wall finished forming, she swung her scythe horizontally, releasing a wave of blood energy that streaked forward and carved a long line across the massive ice barrier—but it still held firm.

Puchi!

Just as Carmilla tried to dissolve her scythe back into blood energy so she could reshape it into another weapon, she suddenly felt something pierce through her left shoulder.

When she looked down, she saw the tip of an arrow protruding from her body.

[ Mid-Tier Skill + Spell – Verdant Archery: Ironwood Piercer ]

She quickly realized that the arrow wasn’t made of iron at all, it was wood, but it had been reinforced with dense plant mana, forming a hardened Ironwood tip sharp enough to pierce through even her own defenses.

Turning around, she saw Endrick standing behind her, his left hand gripping a uniquely crafted bow, anger flared in her eyes as she tried to reach for her spirit equipment set, instantly blood-red tattoos began spreading across her body as she prepared to activate it.

But before the transformation could complete, Endrick had already drawn his bow again, as a wooden arrow coated in deep green nature energy formed instantly on the string, and he released it with a cold expression.

Seeing the arrow flying toward her, Carmilla had no choice but to drop her connection to her spirit equipment and defend herself.

By now the scythe in her hand had dissolved back into liquid blood, and then reshaped into a blood shield that formed before her.

Clang!

The arrow slammed into the shield and was deflected, after blocking the attack, she swung her right hand outward, and the blood shield mirrored her movement, shifting away from her face.

But the moment her vision cleared, she realized something was wrong.

Endrick had disappeared.

While she had been raising the shield to defend herself, it had also blocked her view, allowing him to vanish from her sight entirely.

Her mind began to grow restless as she quickly extended her mental senses across the area. After experiencing the first arrow, she understood that getting hit again would be disastrous for her.

Her left arm still wouldn’t move properly after the first arrow.

She couldn’t tell whether she had been poisoned or not, but she could clearly feel thorn-like growths spreading from the wooden arrow lodged in her left shoulder, trying to extend deeper into her body.

And if she allowed those thorns to fully spread, she knew she would be placed in a critical condition.