Chapter 95: Fire and Ice

"Ho? Getting rebellious now, aren't you?"

The humming murmurs of the USMA members of the Elemental group almost reached the skies as they all placed their eyes towards Hannah and Tomoe. They all remembered how Tomoe froze all of them without even blinking an eye. Of course, some of them tried to fight her during the first hierarchy activity, but Tomoe's raw power was truly a league of its own-- her Power Stamina, or Mana as the elemental cool kids want to call it, was almost boundless.

Of course, needless to say, she won in a landslide. There might also be some strong ones with the added elementals in their group, but the fight between Tomoe and Hannah was probably the only thing they were looking forward to; after all…

...Tomoe was also the one who won in her group back when her class was still… alive.

Hannah has a big flaw, however, which might put her in a tight spot against Tomoe. Unlike Tomoe who has an almost unlimited amount of mana, Hannah prioritized raw continuous power… making her mana decrease almost by the second.

And one more thing… was that Tomoe's ability was better in neutralizing people without bringing them too much harm. Compared that to Hannah… then they should already have a winner if everything falls into place.

But still, this should be quite a battle to remember.

"I know you're all heated up."

But before any of the students could start their matches, Katherine suddenly clapped her hands; and as soon as each of the students' attention was on her, she quickly tapped something on her tablet.

The students were wondering what she had just done, but they did not need to wonder for that long as an orchestra of drones slowly whirred their way out of nowhere towards their class.

"W… What?" Gary, who was about to set up his phone, could not help but kick the tripod he erected away in frustration. He was already losing subs ever since the announcement that the Academy would be broadcasting their activities… but the realization of it truly happening finally put the final nail in the coffin. Gary… would probably lose all of his subs by the end of the day.

He did not know why, however. As when he checked Riley's inactive YouView channel, his subs were increasing by the minute. Does he need to get kidnapped!? Is that it!?

"..."

"As I said the other day," Katherine then continued, "The citizens will be watching your performance from now on… and will be voting accordingly. Even if you win here, it doesn't guarantee that you will get the title of Mega Student, as that would depend on your votes by the end of the month."

"Ma'am… I know you already explained all of this last week," one of the students raised their hand, "But wouldn't the villains outside learn about us with this?"

"Most villains would already know what you're capable of 3 seconds after you start fighting. Our abilities have already been on the planet for hundreds of years, creating preceding strategies..." Katherine explained, "...Better to show them you're not to mess with in the first place."

"Yeah man, the teach is right… and who would learn from a weakling like you anyway!?"

"What did you say, stretchy face!?"

"I'll also be careful with what I say from now on," Katherine clapped her hands, "After all, you're already being broadcasted."

"W… what the."

"Don't worry, as the other classes are also in the same position," Katherine then said, "But since this is the only Mega Academy currently active…

...The whole world might just very well be watching you."

The blades of grass on the ground were almost plucked away as most of the students all took in a deep breath at the same time. They weren't even real superheroes yet…

...and the world would already be judging them.

"Alright, you know the drill. You can decide amongst yourself on how to start," Katherine then said as she floated in the air. And as she reached a sufficient height, a drone suddenly approached her… before handing her what seemed to be a cup of coffee.

"..." Katherine could only blink a couple of times, before deciding to take it. That's weird, she thought. Since when was the Academy giving out free coffee?

She then carefully smelled the coffee, and seeing as it was just aromatic-- she proceeded to take a sip without thinking any further. But as she did so… she noticed that the drone that handed her the coffee was still beside her… its lens pointed directly towards her… or rather, the cup she was holding.

"..." Katherine then squinted her eyes as she scanned the cup, only to see the label 'Starbeans' printed on it.

Starbeans… was a popular coffee shop. And soon, it finally clicked to her what was happening; she then looked towards Riley, only to see him looking at her with his eyebrows furrowed.

Seeing this, the only thing that she could do was rotate the cup to hide the label; and as soon as she did so, the drone flew away.

It would seem Riley was right on the money…

...the government was starting to exploit them. Soon, some of the students might even be offered brand deals. She could only wish that Riley remained calm through all of this; if not, then the blood on her hands that were already solidifying would grow even heavier… until she could no longer lift them up.

"Should we start then?"

Back in the ground, Hannah was currently walking around and circling Tomoe, cracking her knuckles as she did so.

Tomoe, on the other hand, only calmly bowed as her palms slowly opened to the sides.

"W… wait!" But before the two could start duking it out, one of the foreign students stepped forward, "W… why don't the two of you fight us first so we could progress--"

But before he could even finish his words, an iceberg instantly covered him and the other members of the Elemental group.

"..."

But with a snap of Tomoe's finger, the iceberg prison also quickly melted away.

"...Understandable, have a good day."

The foreign student then said as he moved away; followed by the rest of the group as they all sat on the ground without uttering any more words. Katrina was also one of the people that was frozen-- she truly wanted to fight with Hannah and Tomoe so she could test herself against Riley's circle... but since everyone else backed off, it would be quite embarrassing to voice out her wishes now.

"Hm. show off," Hannah then let out a small snicker as she looked at Tomoe, "I like that, don't even think about holding back. Show my brother you have enough strength to stand by his side and protect each other."

Tomoe quickly nodded as she heard Hannah's words. Lately, Riley has not been calling him and only meeting up with the First Subordinate. She was supposed to be a major part of the group, but at this point, she might as well just be a ghost member.

"Please take care of me, Hannah-aneki."

"P… please stop that. I only said that as a joke," Hannah once again chuckled. But after a few more moments, she stopped walking in circles and nodded at Tomoe, who bowed in response.

"Let's go!" Hannah then rushed towards Tomoe, but a translucent darkness quickly wrapped her entire body as she was quickly encased in a block of dark and murky ice-- not even allowing her to take a 3rd step.

"...That's it?" The students that were watching on the side could not help but exclaim as they saw Hannah confined in the ice prison.

Tomoe, however, did not move her eyes for even a second. And soon, even through the thick and murky ice… she saw a smile slowly building on Hannah's face.

Bubbles then started trickling around her, boiling the ice wrapped around her skin at an incredible rate; but not enough that it would explode.

Seeing this, Tomoe also let out a smile of her own. As expected of Riley's sister, she thought.

And soon, an ocean of mist exploded throughout the field, blinding everyone within its embrace.

Tomoe quickly covered herself in a wall of ice to protect herself but doing so decreased her visibility even more as the ice she produced had the translucency of saturated cola.

"..." Tomoe then closed her eyes. And soon, she felt a heat coming from above. She then opened her eyes to look, only to see a flaming silhouette sparking and trickling beyond the thick mist.

Of course, Tomoe already knew that Hannah would be attacking there as she purposely left her top open-- and so, without even taking a pause, Tomoe raised her finger, causing multiple rods of ice to emerge from the wall she created. Since the icicles were blunt, there was no way it would-- !!!

Tomoe could not help but widen in shock as the rods went through Hannah. She quickly retracted all of her powers, but it was already too late.

"N… no!" However, as soon as the silhouette fell towards her, it quickly dissipated into smoke; like a puff that instantly reached the end of its life.

"On your left."

"!!!" Tomoe quickly put up an ice wall to her left, only for her to feel a heat coming from her right. She put up another wall, but it was already too late as Hannah's flaming fist went through the thin barricade, threatening to incinerate her face.

However, before Hannah's fist reached her face, the flames died down-- leaving only Hannah's bare knuckles to touch her cheek.

But perhaps 'touch' was not the word to use… as Tomoe rolled away a few meters on the ground like a ragdoll.

"Oh shit!" Hannah hissed as she quickly rushed towards Tomoe, "You okay!?"

But seeing as Tomoe's body was tightly wrapped in some sort of dark ice, it would seem she was… still alright. Hannah then quickly looked towards Katherine; and since she only glanced at them before looking away, it would seem that this was still in the realm of 'inflicting a little harm'.

Hannah then returned her eyes towards Tomoe, only to see her emotionless eyes staring at the skies.

"...You okay?"

"Yes."

"W… well," Hannah then let out a cough as she stretched her hand to Tomoe, "C… consider this as some sort of hazing," she said while letting out the most awkward laugh possible.

"...Hazing?" Tomoe breathed out as she reached for Hannah's hand.

"Yeah… To welcome you in our sisterhood."

"Sisterhood?" Tomoe's confusion grew by the second as Hannah helped her up.

"Y… yeah," Hannah said as she scratched her chin, "Silvie and I already duked it out… I lost of course, but a sisterhood was formed that day. So… I guess welcome to our family?"

"...Family?"

And as soon as Tomoe heard those words, the frozen fractals that were on her face were suddenly melted by the tears trailing from her eyes.

"W… what the… Don't… don't cry… I might get penalized or some shit...

...Why are you crying!?"