An swiftly made his move. He charged toward the Headmaster with a bze surging within him. He closed the distaween himself and the Woman. An raised his hands high and gathered fmes of intense heat and power. The fmes swirled around him, f a bzing inferno that threateo e everything in its path.

  With a shout that echoed through the battlefield, An unleashed his fire power.

  "Extreme Magic: Bzing Inferno!"

  A torrent of scorg fmes erupted from An's outstretched hands, swirling and spiraling toward the Headmaster. The intense heat radiated from the inferno as it expahreatening to engulf them both. An poured every ounce of his magical energy into the spell to trap the Headmaster within the bzing maelstrom.

  However, the Headmaster, her powers unrivaled, dispelled the Bzing Inferno with a mere wave of her hand. The fmes vanished as if they had never existed, leaving An drained and vulnerable.

  The Headmaster’s face did not ge from her stern look. "Impressive, An. You've certainly e a long way with yic," she aowledged. "But using your extreme magic three times in a day... you're pushing your limits."

  An, panting heavily and visibly drained from the exertiohe Headmaster's gaze with a defiant gre. " Yeeeaaaahhh…It was worth a shot," he admitted trying t and look cool despite straining his speech.

  An gathered the remaining fmes and unleashed a fiery stream toward the Headmaster, she reacted swiftly. With a deft movement of her staff, she intercepted the stream of fmes and redirected it back toward An, demonstrating her mastery ic.

  An, uerred, absorbed the returning fmes bato himself, preventing any harm from ing to him.

  An summoned four swirling fme circles beh the Headmaster. He unleashed a powerful intation,

  "Fme Pilrs!"

  The fmes erupted like t pilrs, reag for the sky with intense heat and ferocity; however, the Headmaster remained unmoved, her body revealing an invisible barrier of psychiergy that surrounded her. The fmes crashed against this unseen defense, creating a vibrant dispy of magic meeting magic. The sheer force of the attack caused the surrounding ground to tremble, but the Headmaster's protective barrier held strong.

  The Headmaster aimed her staff at An. He felt a powerful force lifting him into the air. He struggled against the invisible grip, trying to break free, but the Headmaster's trol was unwavering. With a swift motion of her staff, she sent him hurtling downward.

  An, quick to react, surrounded himself with a fiery armor, using the st of his fire power to cushion the impact. The fmes absorbed much of the force, but it was clear that he was reag the limits of his magical endurance.

  "You are quite resourceful, but you don't have enough fire power left to even scratch me," The headmaster decred while still radiating with immense energy. "You wasted all of your power earlier. If you had been at full strength, maybe you would have sted longer and been able to leave a mark, but the result would have been the same in the end."

  Risebelle's gaze met Roselle's, and there rofound uandiweewo sisters. They both khat the situation was dire, and sacrifices might have to be made to stand any ce against the formidable Headmaster.

  With fire in her eyes, Risebelle made her choice. She leaned in close to Roselle and whispered, "I have to do something. I ’t let him die like this. If I don't make it, remember the secret phrase Kintave us."

  Roselle nodded, her blue eyes filled with worry.

  Risebelle took a deep breath and turo face the Headmaster, her resolve unwavering.

  The Headmaster's sinister aura enveloped An as she held him up, his body suspended in the air. She gazed at him with cold, unyielding eyes, her i clear.

  "I'm going to drop you, An," she decred while grinning with satisfa. She slowly raised him higher “But not just from this distance. I'm going to drop you from a height so high that nothing will be left of you. Before I do, though, I'll grant you the opportunity to say your st words. Make them quick."

  An, suspended in the air by the Headmaster's unfiving grasp stared defiantly into her cold, unyielding eyes. He couldn't help but remember the seemingly trivial question he had posed earlier.

  With a touch of defiance, he spoke with a smile on his face, "You know, Headmaster, I never got the ce to ahat question, but I'll tell you now. In a fight between a fire mage and a water mage... the one who wins is the oh the stro will."

  Before the Headmaster could respond, An tinued with fmes swirling around him. "My will is unbreakable. No matter what you do, you woinguish the fmes burning within me!"

  The Headmaster raised An even higher remaining cold in her gaze.

  "That's enough of your empty words, An," she retorted with a dismissive tone. “I will say this, you tried to make things iing with that little riddle of yours but it was only an act of your panig wasn’t it? I’m afraid Desperation won't ge your fate. Farewell, An."

  Just as she prepared to release him to his doom, a sudden burst of energy disrupted her pns. Risebelle's on fired and for a brief moment, the Headmaster's invisible barrier flickered ience, divertitention.

  With a quirk of her brow, the Headmaster turned her gaze toward Risebelle, curiosity mingling with annoyance. “And ray tell, did you hope to aplish with that pitiful attack, child?"

  Risebelle, despite her weakeate, stood firm and resolute. She locked eyes with the Headmaster. "I hoped to get your attention, and it seemed to work. Now I want you to see something..."

  With a nod to Roselle, Risebelle instructed her sister, "Fire."

  Roselle, positioned with Runebelle on the ground beside her, unleashed the tremendous power of her on towards the Maractor. The on's bst was massive, and it headed straight for the device that had been the source of so much turmoil.

  However, as the energy from Roselle's attaeared the Maractor, an invisible barrier shimmered ience, defleg the destructive force.

  "I anticipated you children might try to destroy the Maractor," The Headmaster decred while now shifting to a smirk. "So, I took the liberty of linking it to my own magical power. Did you really think you could outsmart a mind like mines? You won't be destroying it anytime soon."

  Risebelle's shock was evident in her wide, i blue eyes. The Headmaster pulled her into her arms by simply holding out one hand towards her. The Headmaster's grip was firm and her iions were far from gentle.

  Risebelle's struggle intensified as the Headmaster's grip tightened arouhroat. The dark yellow energy that surrouhe Headmaster's hands seethed with dark power, and Risebelle felt the pressure on her netensify.

  The Headmaster's fury was relentless as she spoke, "I've been waiting for this moment for so long," she hissed, her words dripping with venom. "To crush one of Kintovar's creations, to prove ond for all that her experiments were nothing pared to the true power of the magical academy."

  Risebelle's eyes darted around desperately, searg for any way to break free from the Headmaster's hold. Her sciousness began to fade as oxygen became scarce, but she refused to give in.

  The Headmaster's insults cut deep as she berated Risebelle and her sisters. "Fake mages, artificial mages," she spat, her anger boiling over. "Kintovar's abominations, born without true magic…You're all nothing more than a mockery of what a mage should be!"

  Risebelle's vision blurred, arength was leaving her, but in the depths of her strength, she tio search for a way to escape the Headmaster's deadly grasp.

  With a cruel smirk, the Headmaster released her grip on Risebelle allowing the young girl to fall to the ground gasping for breath. Risebelle's body, weakened from the frontation, hit the ground with a thud.

  The Headmaster loomed over her, her yellowish aura still pulsating with dark energy. "I'm not going to finish you now. Your torment has only just begun."

  The Headmaster’s psychic pressure intensified. Risebelle found herself on the ground, uo move. She was left gasping for breath, her body bruised and battered, but her spirit unbroken.

  “Mwaahahhaha! That’s it! Squirm! I’m going to break you into pieces!”

  Just then, Risebelle begins to ugh through her battered and immobilized state. The Headmaster was baffled by the sudden outburst, looked at her curiously, "What's so amusing, child?"

  Risebelle, her smile unwavering, mao speak through her ughter. "You," she said between chuckles, "with all your power, yrand pns, and your arrogance... yoing to die right here, you filthy human."

  The Headmaster's initial surprise gave way to a burst of ughter of her own. "Oh, you are a funny child," she remarked, her amusement tinged with a hint of dession. "But I've heard enough of your delusions."

  Risebelle fixed her gaze on the Headmaster aed, "It's no delusion. Your death will involve 'Lip-gze'."

  The Headmaster’s face from amusement to fusion. She leaned in slightly as if trying to make sense of the term. "I beg your pardon?"

  Risebelle repeated the secret word, "Lip-gze."

  The Headmaster's fusion deepened as she tio stare at Risebelle, uo grasp the significe of the word or its e to her impending demise.

  The Headmaster, leaning closer to Risebelle, asked with amusement and curiosity, "Do you even know what 'lip-gze' is, child? Are you sure you're not fusing it with something else?"

  Risebelle, despite her dire circumstances, maintained a calm demeanor. She responded, "I kly what 'lip-gze' is, and I'm not fused."

  The Headmaster, deep in thought, pohe word "lip-gze." She furrowed her brow, her mind rag to decipher its significe. It seemed like a puzzle, a hidden message. What in the hell could something like that could mean?

  With a faint hint of frustration, she muttered to herself, "If Kintovar's creation is saying it, then it must mean something, but it sounds so ridiculous!"

  Risebelle, with a mischievous look in her eye, decided to eain herself by impersonating Kintovar's way of speech. She began speaking while raising one finger and mimig Kintovar’s way of speech, "Well, you see, lip-gze is a magical co that's used to make your lips all shiny and you—"

  The Headmaster's patience had its limits, and Risebelle's pyful impersonation of Kintovar's way of speaking had pushed her to her breaking point. With a stern and anding tone, she silenced Risebelle before she could finish her sentence.

  "Shut your mouth, you piece of trash," she anded with no mercy. "Since you've chosen to annoy me, your torture will ence immediately!"

  The Headmaster was moments away from enag her cruel iions when an ued interruption shattered the silence of the battlefield

  "I don't think so. You’ve really gotten full of yourself these days, old hag."

  A brilliant beam of energy burst forth from an unseen source, slig through the Headmaster's invisible barrier with ease. The beam narrowly missed the Headmaster's body, but it was clear that its purpose was to demonstrate its incredible power rather than harm her.

  When the dust settled, Dr. Kintovar appeared otlefield, joined by Becky and Sybil.

  Roselle's face lit up with excitement. She couldn't tain her joy as she excimed, "It's Dr. Kintovar!"

  Risebelle oher hand lowered her eyes and muttered with a hint of disappoi but still wore a smirk on her face. "She’s te."

  Dr.Kintnced around at the gathered individuals otlefield and said, “Sorry to keep you all waiting, but are you ready for a show?"

  The Headmaster, though visibly angered by Dr. Kintovar's arrival had to remain as fident as she always was. She pointed a fi Kintovar and decred, "So, you've finally e out to front me face to face. Wele… to your final resting pce!"