No! I don't want to be a Super Necromancer!

His breathing was steady. His posture relaxed. Not a single drop of urgency tainted his movements.

And that terrified Jethro Aquafrost.

His grip tightened around the hilt of his blade, knuckles whitening beneath the leather gauntlets. 

Mana surged within him and caused icy-blue tendrils of frost to coil around his weapon. 

The temperature around him plummeted as a biting cold radiated outwards in sharp waves.

For any non-fire elemental warrior, the effects would be immediate—limbs stiffening, reflexes dulled, and movement speed significantly reduced as the numbing cold seeped deep into muscle and bone.

"Frozen Blade." Damien Bloodbane's slight confusion cleared instantly. "So that's how you managed to survive this long with your horrendous fighting skills."

Frozen Blade was a high-level Water Knight technique, typically reserved for B-Rank Awakened. Its potent blend of offensive power and elemental control made it a skill only the elite could wield effectively.

But the Aquafrost Clan was notorious for its ice-based training programs that pushed the limits of conventional mana techniques.

"They must've found a way to force this high-level skill onto lower-ranked Awakened." Damien mused.

"Frozen Blade?" Jethro Aquafrost sneered as his mana surged even stronger. "This is Frozen Storm, dumbass. Prepare to die!"

But before he could make his move, a powerful gust of wind whipped through the plaza and gently pushed the two apart. Dust swirled into the air as the frost on the ground cracked under the sudden pressure.

Out of the swirling dust, a middle-aged man materialized.

He was clad in sleek black mage robes, the fabric shimmering faintly with arcane runes that pulsed blue like living ink. His dark hair was streaked with silver at the temples, giving him an air of wisdom.

His lips were curled into a slight smile at that moment, but only a fool would find comfort in it after his shocking entrance.

"Enough."

The single word carried unnatural weight.

Damien Bloodbane could feel it thundering in his heart. 

"Mana augmented speech." Damien Bloodbane was surprised. It was mana manipulation at an extremely high level.

"Young Master Jethro," the man continued, his tone laced with polite reprimand, "I don't think Clan Leader Jeremy Aquafrost would appreciate such a public demonstration of our clan's secret program."

Jethro froze mid-breath, his mouth hanging open as the frost mana swirling around him flickered and died out like a snuffed candle. His bravado shrank instantly, replaced by the sharp awareness of clan politics and consequences.

But Damien Bloodbane wasn't focused on Jethro anymore.

His instincts, honed through endless battles, should have picked up even the faintest hint of the man's presence. 

But there had been nothing—no aura, no ripple in the mana around them. 

One moment the space was empty, the next this mage stood between them as if he'd been there all along.

"He completely bypassed my detection." Damien Bloodbane's ice cold mind raced to analyze the possibilities. "That simply meant he was observing us from many kilometers away and instantly teleported to this place." 

"Or he was really here all along, which meant his stealth skills are absurdly high. Either way… This man is a monster." Damien Bloodbane concluded swiftly.

The man's steel-gray eyes flicked to Damien, and for a moment, it felt like they stripped away all his defenses. Weighing him. Dissecting him.

Then, the faintest ghost of a smile tugged at the man's lips.

"You're interesting," the man murmured before flicking a small ice shard through the air with a casual movement of his wrist.

Shua!

It shot toward Damien like a bullet.

But Damien's reflexes kicked in instantly. His right hand snapped upward and his fingers closed around the shard at the last possible moment.

For a split second, he felt the sharp edge graze his fingertips, the force behind it far stronger than the man's casual toss suggested.

"If I'd been even a fraction slower…"

The ice shard would have smashed straight into his nose. And shattered it, probably.

The smile on the man's face grew wider. "Good. Very good. I am Varis Vanderbilt. Young man, what is your name?" 

At his words, the Aquafrost youths and several onlookers nearby gasped in shock.

"Varis Vanderbilt! The A-Ranked Ice Mage of Northern Cloud College? What on earth is he doing here?"

"Holy shit. I never thought that I would be able to see an A Ranked powerhouse in this shit hole!"

"E-Elder Vanderbilt? He's actually Elder Vanderbilt! He's our clan's Guest Elder!" An Aquafrost youth exclaimed loudly in surprise and no small amount of pride.

"Guest Elder huh." Damien Bloodbane sighed deeply internally and steeled his heart for an extension of the drama that was unfolding.

His fate with the Aquafrost Clan seemed to be quite bad.

"My name is Damien Bloodbane." Damien Bloodbane stared at Varis Vanderbilt's eyes, fully expecting the recognition and the recoil to appear.

He was not disappointed.

"Damien Bloodbane? The E rank trash that sought to marry Jennifer Aquafrost?" Varis Vanderbilt's eyes narrowed in surprise before turning into utter disdain. 

His attitude flipped 180 degrees in an instant, the slight sense of interest turning into hostility immediately.

"Hmph. You actually dare to bully my Aquafrost Clan members with your pathetic physical skills? You have balls of steel huh? Let me do you a favor and remove them for you!" 

Without warning, a swirl of ice-cold energy suddenly appeared in front of Varis Vanderbilt and surged towards Damien Bloodbane's nether regions, coalescing into a sharp ice blade as it did so.

"Fast!" Damien Bloodbane's eyes widened in shock.

SHING!

Damien Bloodbane's instincts exploded into life and caused him to execute [Sovereign Stride] by reflex, his form blurring as he propelled himself upward and forward in a graceful arc.

The icy blade sliced through the space he had just occupied, harmlessly missing his nether regions by a hair. 

At the same time, a Death Bomb appeared in each of his palms, dark spheres of energy pulsing with corrosive power. 

An utterly magnificent and horrific blast of killing intent exploded forth from Damien Bloodbane at that moment and engulfed Varis Vanderbilt.

Against an A Rank powerhouse such as Varis Vanderbilt, he would be a fool to use anything less than his full power.