The S class students closed in on them.

They weren’t exactly organized, but they all knew what the plan was, and that seemed to be more than enough.

Ronan stood near the edge of the formation, his gaze moving slowly across the figures that had stepped out from the treeline.

But his mind wasn’t there.

Grace Light.

The name echoed again.

He tried thinking of anything that could have caused this. Aura’s involvement, Freya’s recruitment, but none of that should have caused a drastic change.

Or maybe he wasn’t thinking hard enough.

Maybe–

"Ronan!"

The word surged back at once.

Class S was closing in.

I got lost in my thoughts. I don’t have time for this. I have to focus on the current situation at hand, and then I can figure out what’s going on.

Elara was looking around, unsure what to do or say. It looked like she called out to him to ask for help in some way.

Ronan analyzed the situation the best he could.

They were surrounded, that was for sure, but the students here weren’t any names or faces he recognized.

Until he saw her. His sister, Irene, and he was whispering something to someone beside her. She was far away from the battlefield, but it was clear what her role was here.

She had been assigned to lead this squadron.

Irene’s eyes met Ronan’s, but she looked away and addressed the rest of the class.

"We have your leader!" Irene’s voice carried cleanly across the clearing.. She did not raise it, but every student in Class B heard it regardless.

Several students of class B shifted nervously. A few glanced toward Darius, still trapped in the statue’s grip, the runes burning brighter with every passing second.

Darius looked like he wanted to say something, but runes surrounded him, making him unable to speak.

Elara’s expression hardened. "What do you want?"

Irene stepped forward just enough to be seen more clearly through the mist. Her posture was straight, and her gaze swept across the group before settling solely on Elara.

"Surrender the node," she said. "And we will let you escape in peace."

A murmur spread through Class B, but it was instantly silenced by the class S students tightening their formation.

Elara didn’t answer immediately. Her eyes moved once toward Darius, then toward the statue, then back to Irene.

Then quietly...

"Ronan."

He didn’t turn towards her, instead keeping an eye on Irene and the rest of class S.

Irene noticed it, but she didn’t say anything, letting them talk.

"Speak," he hushed back.

"What do we do?" Elara hissed.

It was clear she didn’t know what to do, and usually she was the type to try and figure it out herself, but it looked like she was pushing down her pride this once.

"There’s not much we can do," Ronan admitted. "They have us surrounded, our most powerful member is captured and contained, and we are vastly outnumbered."

"Fuck. So we surrender?"

Ronan’s response was immediate.

"No."

Elara’s jaw tightened. "Why? Didn’t you just say we can’t do anything."

"No, I said there’s not much we can do. There’s a difference. But surrendering is not an option, especially if you want to have a chance at willing this war."

Elara seemed to understand.

If they surrendered their node this early, class S would quickly gain the lead.

They’d lock down position, build defenses, and force every engagement on their terms. And with the firepower and military strength class S had, it would be hard to go against them.

"So what do we do? Do you have a plan?"

"No."

Elara scowled. "Fuck you! What’s the point then? You just said we’re surrounded, outnumbered, and down our strongest fighter, and your answer is that you don’t have a plan?"

"There’s still a chance."

Elara exhaled through her teeth, anger flashing for a moment before she forced it down. The situation didn’t give her the luxury of arguing, and she knew that.

"Then give me something. Anything. Because right now, it looks like our best bet is to surrender and ally with class A."

It looked like it hurt to admit that. She had been the one who was against talking to class A, and now that was the only thing they could fall back on.

"...Then talking to them is still the best option," Elara said under her breath. "Even if it’s temporary."

"It is," Ronan replied. "But there’s more to it."

"Why?"

"Time. We get time to figure out an outcome. So yes, try to stall. I will attempt to figure out a way to get us out of this with our node, or at least with Darius."

Elara let out a sigh.

"...Fine."

"You’re offering us a clean exit," Elara said, her tone steadier now. "Are we supposed to believe that?"

"It’s practical for us. I don’t understand what you mean."

"You have us at your complete mercy. If you wanted to attack now, we wouldn’t be able to fight back at all. So why let us leave?"

Irene didn’t answer immediately.

Her gaze lingered on Elara, steady and unreadable.

"We have our reasons. Knowing them is not your concern."

They weren’t in any place to argue, but despite that, the class S students didn’t move in.

Looks like his hunch had been right.

They were tasked with trying to avoid conflict if possible. Or else class B would have already been subdued by now.

Ronan’s gaze moved again, scanning the edges of the formation. He looked for anything he could use.

"Push harder," he whispered to her. "Boarderline antagonize them."

Elara complied without hesitation. The class B students looked at her nervously while she argued with Irene.

No, it wasn’t arguing anymore. It was borderline insulting.

"So you’re pussies then?" Elara mocked. "You have almost twice our numbers, and you are simply too scared to fight?"

It didn’t get a reaction out of Irene, but it got a reaction out of the rest of the students.

Irene went to speak, but someone else beat her to it.

A student stepped forward from the S-class line before Irene could respond.

"You talk too much," he said, voice edged with irritation. "We don’t need to explain anything to them."

His movement broke the stillness more than his words did.

Then Ronan saw it.

Finally,

Something he could use.

"Their right flank is weak," Ronan whispered.

Elara heard it, but she didn’t acknowledge it, focusing on stalling for time.

"Everyone from our group is looking at you right now. Signal for them to attack the right flank, and we will escape from there."

He saw her expression tighten, obviously that wasn’t the response she had been expecting.

The plan was to not surrender and leave without the node, and right now he was suggesting practically the same thing, but using force instead.

But she didn’t argue. It was clear she didn’t have any better ideas at the moment.

He observed class S.

They were angry.

That much was obvious.

Not uncontrolled, not reckless either, but irritated. Their formation held but it wasn’t as smooth as before.

He shifted his footing slightly, dragging his heel across the dirt as if adjusting his stance. Nothing dramatic. Nothing that would draw attention.

Ronan silently made eye contact with the students of B class.

They understood when they saw where his eyes went.

If before he was being subtle, now there was no hiding it.

All of class S was looking their way.

Elara kept speaking.

"You’re hesitating," she said, her tone cutting. "If this is what your class calls control, I’m disappointed."

A few of them moved.

The class B students noticed it too.

There was a weakness in their formation.

The students of class B shifted more towards the right, preparing their escape.

The S-class line reacted instantly.

They tightened the right side before the push even came.

Ronan’s eyes narrowed.

Behind his back, he gave silent signals towards his fellow students.

He pointed left.

They wouldn’t escape from the right, that was just a distraction.

Class S didn’t notice, and they tightened their right line even harder, more and more students moving to reinforce it.

But they didn’t move to attack. They just held their ground.

"Elara."

His voice wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be.

"Now."

Class B moved.

In unison, class B rushed the left side of the formation, not allowing them time to reinforce the weak point.

Ronan gathered a fireball in his hand and hurled it at one of the few defenders of the left.

Not expecting the sudden attack, the student blocked it with his arms, causing dust and debris to fly around.

Elara did the same, sending blasts of pure concentrated mana at the defenders.

While she couldn’t use mana as well as the rest of the students, her raw mana output was more than enough to cause significant damage, even though it was looked down upon.

"Stop them!" one of the class S students yelled in panic.

But they didn’t.

None of them moved.

But Ronan didn’t look back as he continued to run.

The class B members ran in ragged breaths, running alongside him and the rest of the group.