Chapter 45

As Richter finally commits to crushing Kanne and Lawine, Frieren works a spell that Genau insists is impossible and splinters the barrier ringing the basin. The feat reaches Serie herself, who has long awaited the elf's return. With the wards gone, the rain they held back comes down in sheets. The downpour is all the two young mages need: drawing on the water now everywhere around them, Kanne and Lawine overwhelm Richter and take the match.

Their team departs with its bird secured. The Thirteenth Party, drained of mana, regroups and resorts to bare fists against a rival group, brawling their way to a Stille of their own. Across the grounds other parties scramble to defend or seize their birds in the final hours. When the sun sets, Genau calls an end to the first trial and announces that six parties have advanced. In a distant tavern, Stark nurses a drink and notes that two days have slipped by since the exam opened.

Frieren shatters the barrier enclosing the Grobe Basin, a feat that draws Serie's notice. Kanne and Lawine defeat Richter once the rain returns, and the Second Party keeps its Stille. The Thirteenth Party wins one through a fistfight, and two further parties claim theirs. The opening exam ends at sunset with six groups passing.

Water-Manipulation Magic, or Mizu o ayatsuru mahō, ran on April 7, 2021 in that year's nineteenth issue, spanning nineteen pages of volume five. It brings the exam's opening stage to a close and maps to the anime's twenty-first episode. When Genau learns that Frieren carries a Holy Emblem, he dubs her the Last Great Mage.