The training ground's air had frozen under the tension of the impending clash.
Ikki Kurogane and the others stood at the edge, holding their breath as they focused on Kashu and Stella facing each other in the center.
After Kashu had bluntly pointed out that the nature of Stella's power was not natural interference, but a far more profound conceptual interference—
A practical battle meant to awaken the sleeping dragon was already inevitable.
At that moment, Stella's face still showed a mixture of disbelief and confusion.
"I've had my ability for so long, yet I... never truly touched its core?"
She looked at Kashu, her eyes filled with urgency and bewilderment.
"What should I do? Can I really awaken my true power just by fighting you?"
A faint smile curled across Kashu's lips, his tone carrying the soothing patience of someone coaxing a child.
"Don't be nervous. Fighting me really will be enough."
He was not merely saying that. It was a conclusion Kashu had reached after careful thought.
From the moment he had first heard Stella call herself a natural-interference type, he had sensed something strange.
That astonishing flame magic power of hers was merely the innate breath of a dragonkin, a shallow manifestation beneath the surface.
As one who had pioneered the excavation of origins, Kashu could clearly sense the dormant dragon power within Stella.
Using the restless magic power in his own body as a catalyst, he would surely be able to help her ignite that sleeping spark!
After receiving Kashu's confident answer, Stella took a deep breath.
She cast aside the cluttered thoughts in her mind. Her gaze suddenly sharpened as she devoted herself completely to the battle before her.
She and Kashu had never formally crossed swords. Although she had admitted during the department store