I half-expected their battle to get serious… even destructive, Riley thought, but this… this was far beyond that.
He slowly swept his gaze across the arena.
Cracked floors, scorched air, warped barriers—this was the aftermath of power that hadn't even been fully unleashed. It wasn't a clash meant for students, not really.
Just the residual pressure from their mana alone had been enough to bend the environment.
If the academic staff hadn't reacted as fast as they did, the damage would have been catastrophic.
In truth, even that wasn't the full story.
Riley exhaled quietly.
He and Alice had both intervened—subtly, invisibly.
Small nudges of authority, gentle corrections to causality and force, ensuring no stray pressure crushed the spectators or ruptured the seating stands.
To everyone else it looked like the barriers had barely held.
In reality, they never would have.
"Take student Stacia to the infirmary—carefully! Her mana is still unstable!"
