My F-Rank Sagea is Secretly an EX-Rank Calamity

GRAND ARENA — SEMI-FINALS

Remi stepped onto the cracked stone of the arena, her eyes locked on Fang as he entered from the opposite side.

He came to a stop a dozen paces away, a smug, relaxed smirk sitting comfortably on his face.

"This marks our final match of the Semi-Finals, featuring another clash between an Umbrax-tier student and an Auric-tier student," Lady Vespera’s voice echoed over the grand arena. Her tone was notably cooler now, devoid of her usual theatrical excitement. "You may begin!"

The roaring stands instantly fell dead silent.

"Don’t lose focus now, Remi," Fang warned casually as he summoned his Sagea to life.

A tide of crimson mana burst outward, and Cora materialized beside him. The forty-foot serpent reared up, her thick crimson scales gleaming under the stadium lights as she bared fangs dripping with dark acid.

"Corrosive Neurotoxin!" Fang ordered.

Cora’s hood flared wide, expelling a thick cloud of sickly purple gas that surged across the ring like a tidal wave.

"Trying the same trick on me?!" Remi scoffed, immediately springing backward to buy herself time. Her hands blurred through a sequence of spell signs. "Stone Wall: Armor Style!"

The ground beneath her erupted. Slabs of earth shot up to form a defensive wall before shattering into liquid stone that wrapped tightly around her body, molding into a form-fitting suit of rocky armor.

"She’s using basic earth magic against an Auric tier?" a student in the stands muttered in disbelief.

The cloud of neurotoxin washed over Remi, but the corrosive gas hissed harmlessly against her thick stone shell, unable to touch her skin.

"Smart play. I like it," an Argentum student remarked, leaning over the railing with an appreciative nod.

"Now let me show you how it’s really done!" Remi planted her boots into the stone, her mana spiking as an orange spell circle expanded directly beneath Cora’s belly. "Grenade!"

Fang’s smirk flickered. ’Damn! She’s fast!’

Cora let out a furious hiss, but the serpent was too massive to dodge in time.

The magic circle exploded in a violent pillar of superheated fire, enveloping Cora in a sphere of raw heat. Dense steam blown back from the blast instantly choked half the arena.

"WHOA!"

The crowd erupted into wild cheers at the sheer force of the counter.

Remi stood ground, her chest heaving slightly as she stared through the vapor.

As the steam cleared, however, her heart sank. Fang was standing behind Cora, completely unblemished. Cora’s scales were charred black in a few places, but the serpent looked more annoyed than hurt.

Before Remi could re-engage, her stone armor cracked violently and dissolved into fine dust, having reached its absolute limit.

"Oh no..." she whispered.

Fang let out a loud chuckle, stepping past his beast. "You’re surprisingly tough for an Umbrax student. But let’s see you handle this—Red Viper Blitz!"

Cora’s slit eyes flashed. The massive serpent lunged forward like a striking whip, her jaws open wide.

"No way am I taking that head-on!" Remi yelled, turning on her heel and sprinting for her life.

The entire audience watched in suspense as the petite girl sprinted across the arena with a forty-foot crimson cobra tearing up the stone behind her.

"Honestly? I’d be running too!" a student yelled from the front row.

’I can’t keep running like this,’ Remi thought frantically, glancing back over her shoulder. ’If I trigger Feral Frenzy right now, it’ll drain the rest of my mana pool. But if I don’t move, that thing is going to flatten me!’

"Now, Cora!" Fang commanded.

Cora’s heat-sensing organs locked onto the heavy thudding of Remi’s pulse. Remi froze for a fraction of a second as a suffocating weight slammed into her chest—a mental lock.

Cora blurred. Before Remi could even twist around to defend herself, the snake’s massive tail whipped through the air like a steel log, striking her straight in the ribs.

CRASH!

The force of the blow launched Remi across the ring, sending her skidding violently along the dirt before she slammed hard into the reinforced stone arena wall.

A collective gasp echoed through the stands.

"Direct hit!"

"She took a full-force tail whip to the body!"

Remi lay crumpled at the base of the wall, gasping for air as pain radiated through her side.

"Get up, Remi! I told you not to lose focus!" Fang yelled, sounding almost frustrated that she was down. "Cora! Corrosive Pit: Crimson Geyser!"

Cora moved in like a predator. Her heavy fangs plunged deep into the floor beside Remi, pumping liquid venom straight into the stone bedrock. Seconds later, the ground split open, bursting into geysers of boiling, acidic blood-venom that surrounded Remi in a ring of acid.

In the VIP seat, Asher’s eyes narrowed into a cold glare. ’Isn’t he taking this way too far?’

Surrounded by bubbling acid, Remi slowly forced herself up, her teeth gritting against the heat.

"Are you serious?!" she shouted over the noise of the bubbling liquid.

’I can’t leap out. The moment I jump, those geysers will catch me mid-air... unless...’

A splash of stray acid clipped her leg, and Remi yelped, wincing at the sharp burn. "Ouch!"

Then, her eyes snapped wide.

"Hydrowave: Full Immersion!" Remi screamed, slamming both hands forward.

A torrential blast of pressurized water erupted from a massive blue rune circle. The sheer volume of the wave didn’t just extinguish the boiling acid; it surged across the ring like a localized tsunami, catching both Cora and Fang off guard.

The heavy current swept the forty-foot cobra and its master clean across the arena, smashing them directly against the far boundary line.

Remi didn’t waste a single millisecond. "Levitation!"

Her boots lifted off the ground, carrying her over the flooded floor and dropping her back onto solid stone.

"Feral Frenzy!" she chanted mid-air.

Dark shadow-mana erupted beneath her boots, wrapping around her arms and legs like sharp armor as her eyes glowed with wild, unleashed power.

"She’s using that skill again!" a student screamed.

Over by the far wall, Fang dragged himself out of the water, thoroughly soaked from head to toe.

"Okay... I absolutely hate being wet," Fang snarled, his hair dripping into his eyes as he wiped his face in frustration. ’This is so embarrassing! I bet Rowan is up there laughing his ass off right now!’

His face flushed red with sheer irritation.

Before he could give another order, Remi vanished from sight. She opted to confront the beast head-on.

She materialized directly beneath Cora’s jaw, throwing an aura-infused uppercut straight into the cobra’s throat. The force of the strike snapped Cora’s massive head back, causing the entire forty-foot beast to crash backward onto the arena floor.

The crowd blew up into a deafening cheer.

Up in the competitor stands, Rowan let out a quiet chuckle. He hadn’t expected to see Fang get embarrassed like this, but more than that, he was impressed by Remi’s absolute refusal to back down. Even the high-ranking members of the Order of Veil watched with subtle nods of approval.

Remi wasn’t done. Sprinting down Cora’s length, she grabbed the serpent’s massive tail with both shadow-wrapped hands and heaved with all her strength.

Cora was lifted clear off the floor.

"NO WAY! SHE’S LIFTING THE DAMN COBRA!" a student shrieked.

Fang’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. Nobody in the history of the academy had ever grabbed a Sagea by the tail and lifted it like a ragdoll.

"You big useless worm, take this!" Remi grunted through grit teeth.

She began spinning in a rapid circle, dragging the forty-foot snake through the air. Cora let out a confused, dizzy screech as her massive body whipped around in mid-air.

"What in the hell is wrong with this girl..." Fang stammered, realizing he was seconds away from losing control of the fight entirely.

’Astral Vesta, unlock Iron Coil!’

[ASTRAL VESTA NOTICE]

[IRON COIL SKILL UNLOCKED]

"Cora! Iron Coil!" Fang roared.

In an instant, Cora’s scales turned slick and metallic. Remi’s shadow-infused grip slipped on the frictionless skin, and her hands slid off the tail.

Before Remi could recover her balance, Cora coiled her heavy body mid-air, snapping downward and wrapping around Remi like a vice before slamming both of them straight back into the arena floor.

BOOM!

The ground cracked beneath them. Remi gasped for air as Cora’s metallic scales tightened around her chest, squeezing the breath right out of her lungs.

Fang walked over, wiping wet hair out of his face. "Still want to keep going?"

Remi couldn’t breathe. Her vision was starting to spot, and she knew if this went on for another five seconds, her ribs would give way. She shook her head frantically.

"Cora, recede," Fang ordered.

The giant snake dissolved back into red mist, returning to Fang’s mana core.

The pressure vanished, and Remi collapsed onto the stone, gasping desperately for air as her chest heaved.

"Sorry about that," Fang said, crouching down next to her with a slightly sheepish look.

The arena burst into a deafening chant that shook the entire structure,

"REMI! REMI! REMI! REMI!"

Fang looked up at the roaring crowd, then looked back down at Remi with a dry smile. "Jeez... now I’m just jealous."

Remi managed to sit up, rubbing her aching ribs as her breathing stabilized. "I’m... just as surprised as you are."

Fang let out a raspy chuckle and extended a hand to pull her up.

"And that concludes our Semi-Final matches!" Lady Vespera’s voice boomed over the speakers, holding back for a moment to let the students finish their cheers. "We now have our two winners moving on to the Grand Finals—Rowan Flynn and Fang Richter!"

She paused as the crowd roared again.

"And here I thought the Semi-Finals were intense," Lady Vespera continued, her voice regaining its lively, dramatic edge. "A two-on-one final match is simply too thrilling! And guess what, everyone? The Finals start right now!"

Asher let out a quiet sigh. "They really aren’t giving us a break, huh?"

Beside him, Nova’s golden physical form dissolved, turning back into a glowing blue system interface hovering beside his vision.

[TIME TO GO BACK TO PLAYING ASSISTANT.]

’Are you complaining?’ Asher thought back dryly.

[OF COURSE NOT.]

"This is your final reminder," Lady Vespera announced, her voice ringing clear over the ring. "The Finals will feature three participants: Asher Flynn, Rowan Flynn, and Fang Richter. In this match, Asher will face both Rowan and Fang simultaneously! If Asher fails to win, Rowan and Fang will duel each other to decide who moves on to the Sovereign Challenge!"

A heavy hush swept over the audience as the sheer absurdity of the rule set settled in.

"Will all three participants please step into the arena!"

Asher stood up from his leather chair.

[TELEPORTATION MAGIC WILL BE QUICKER.]

’I can walk, it’s fine.’

[NO, IT IS NOT.]

Before Asher could take a step, a cool sensation washed over his body. In the span of a single heartbeat, the VIP suite vanished, and he found himself standing directly on the battle floor in a flash of dark light.

’I told you I was fine!’ Asher scolded mentally.

[TRUST ME. THIS WAS BETTER.]

Gasps erupted across the stands as the students watched Asher instantly materialize in the center of the ring, his dark aura settling around him as his two opponents turned to face him.