Pitch-black radiance surged toward Daniel's brain. His footing wavered as an intense drowsiness assailed him; he wanted nothing more than to lie down right there and sleep like the dead.
"She's actually mastered Foundational Death Magic?"
Daniel grew wary.
With his resistance and willpower, he could absolutely tough his way through this second-tier curse spell.
But considering that Li Fei's combat power wasn't all that inferior to Alex's, Daniel didn't rashly advance. Instead, he responded by the book.
Beneath the overwhelming wave of sleepiness, he flared his battle-qi, forcibly scouring away the curse's mana that clung to him like maggots in the bone, and at the same time bit through the tip of his tongue, using the sharp pain to drive off the drowsiness and restore clarity to his mind.
But the moment he dealt with one nuisance, a chain of light wrapped around him once more.
Daniel glanced at Lilith. The petite priestess had already become a drowned rat, her golden hair hanging behind her head like a water-soaked towel, the rainwater stealing away her body heat until her knuckles turned blue, leaving her looking helpless and bedraggled.
Next, Daniel's gaze swept past her and settled on Li Fei, who stood motionless in the downpour. Seeing her do nothing at all, the young warrior couldn't help but knit his brows, feeling a touch of irritation.
Even she has given up.
And yet you still use these flashy little tricks that can't deal even a sliver of damage, stalling for time measured in "seconds"—what's the point of that?
"It's over!"
Daniel exhaled and shouted. His mighty physique, infused with battle-qi, shattered the chain of light with ease, and he charged at Lilith, blade in hand.
Clang! Ding!
Arrow after arrow shot out in rapid succession, leaving Zack unable to advance a single step.
Grace—who carried a heritage, possessed the makings of a grandmaster, and whose aptitude was perhaps not even inferior to that of the Twin Stars—even at only Sequence 8, with all her firepower unleashed, might struggle to defeat two Sequence 7 Transcendents, but merely stalling for a few seconds was no difficult feat.
The problem, however, lay elsewhere.
Alex and Grace were geniuses of the very same caliber.
He, too, had outstanding aptitude; he, too, carried a heritage; and he had, on top of that, a dean for a father.
Innate Talent, effort, resources—Alex lacked for none of them. From childhood he had undergone the harshest tempering, cultivated the most top-tier battle-qi, wielded the most superb equipment, and combat-type Transcendents excelled in fighting power to begin with. Even in a same-rank duel, the current Grace was by no means his match.
Much less when she was behind in Sequence rank and fighting two-on-one.
Boom!
The rainwater evaporated amid the blazing battle-qi as the longsword in Alex's hand came chopping straight down, a golden sword-glow several yards long, brilliant as a rainbow, tearing through the darkness with the momentum to swallow mountains and rivers.
Grace swung her longbow with all her might, using it like a Moon Blade, her lithe form dancing atop the water, just barely parrying that one strike—yet fresh blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.
Without the slightest chance to catch her breath, the longsword in Alex's hand swept in grand, sweeping arcs, gusts of sword-glow shrouding Grace like a hurricane.
Splash.
Grace toppled hard, sending up a great spray of water, and blood spread through the murky standing water.
The gap in strength was too vast; in a single exchange Grace was cut down into grievous injury and stripped of her fighting ability.
And Alex's gaze immediately locked onto Li Fei once more.
No fluctuation of mana, not even a scroll drawn.
You—do you not care in the slightest about this battle? Or are you hiding something...
Alex took a step forward, intending to test the answer with the blade in his hand.
Two more seconds...
Grace struggled to drag her body, heedless of how the increased bleeding instantly dyed the water's surface red, and with great difficulty seized hold of Alex's ankle.
Alex's stride paused. He calmly glanced at Grace, then with one stroke severed her wrist, ending this seemingly futile struggle.
The gray-haired witch hovering in the night sky gave a light wave of her staff, sending Grace and the severed limb together off the field, declaring the Mage Girls Squad down a member.
Li Fei still hadn't moved; only the hem of her skirt danced in the raging wind, like a scarecrow in a wheat field, letting the rain pour over her.
What are you doing? Where has your fighting spirit gone?
Seeing his teammate sacrificed to such a degree, and Li Fei still utterly unmoved, Alex felt anger rise. He roared silently and launched a charge toward Li Fei.
As the menacing enemy bore down on her, Li Fei finally reacted.
She raised her hand and hurled the sword she held.
Hsss...
Faced with Li Fei's movement, Alex's heart clenched. He forced a slide-step, abruptly halting his momentum.
He had always harbored doubts about Li Fei's abnormality and didn't dare make light of that seemingly feather-light throw of a sword. Instead, he focused his full attention and swept his blade across.
Clang!
The dazzling sword-qi effortlessly batted away the limp, feeble blade. Flowing Silver burst into sparks, then went whirling back with a mournful wail, its edge grazing Li Fei's cheek and leaving a streak of blood on her face.
Clatter, clatter...
Flowing Silver dropped into the standing water, and a vast, surging power erupted from within Li Fei's body like a volcano.
Her teammates had truly bought her seven seconds.
"The match is over."
Li Fei murmured, her gaze lingering on that pool of standing water stained red with Grace's blood.
"Ugh..."
At that very moment, the staff in Lilith's hands was cleaved apart, and the enormous impact sent her whole body flying. She went hurtling backward with a wail and, in the end, just so happened to crash right into Li Fei's arms.
"Leave the rest to me."
Li Fei caught Lilith one-handed, gathered her into her embrace, and gently wiped away the blood at the corner of her mouth.
Hearing that gentle tone, Lilith's tense, rigid body went limp all at once, and she fainted in Li Fei's arms.
Lightning flashed within the dark clouds.
Li Fei lifted her eyes toward the opponent rushing in for the kill, and thunder rumbled beneath her feet.
...
"What is she doing? I don't understand! I won't accept this!!"
"She's done for."
"All sound and fury, fizzling out at the end... Her teammates' performance, on the other hand, made me see them in a new light—worthy of a runner-up team's reputation. Can Miss Spell-Encyclopedia only summon fighting spirit against weak opponents, and just slack off the moment she meets someone strong?"
"I actually used to envy her teammates, riding her coattails all the way into the finals... Now it seems I was wrong."
"To think I bet ten gold coins on her! Is there still time to switch my bet to the Cleaver Squad?"
The stands erupted in an uproar; quite a few people even rose to their feet, brimming with discontent and disappointment, intending to leave their seats.
Three against one—the Mage Girls Squad was doomed to lose. That result was hardly surprising, but Li Fei's performance was simply too dreadful, bad enough to make people furious.
Even her fangirl club no longer cheered for her.
"She's already tried so hard..."
"Stop making excuses, sis. From now on, let's switch to stanning Miss Grace."
"Wait."
Suddenly someone noticed the blind spot:
"Why... is she smiling?"
...
Miss Spell-Encyclopedia's first defeat—it's mine to claim!
Daniel let out a long, drawn-out howl, his form like a flicker of fleeting light, sending ripples spreading layer upon layer through the standing water.
An opponent like this—no need to leave her to Alex.
So he thought, the distance between him and Li Fei steadily closing, his body feeling lighter and more nimble than ever before.
The momentum of his powerful charge, his unshakable conviction of victory, together with the battle-qi bursting forth like a breached dam, all poured into the blade. Its keen edge flickered in and out, radiating a deadly killing intent.
Daniel realized that he was about to swing the sharpest, fiercest slash of his life.
But Li Fei raised her head, her breath scorching and forceful, like a slumbering dragon stirring back to life.
In the instant their eyes met, Daniel's heart plummeted, as though he'd been marked by a dragoness. The grin gradually spreading across Li Fei's lips drained the warmth from his body in an instant, leaving him chilled to the core.
At a time like this, how can you still manage to smile?!
"Haaaah!"
In the end, Daniel did deliver that slash. The moment the long blade swung out, the inexplicable fear and dread in his heart were all cast aside, leaving only an unflinching, forward-charging conviction.
The resplendent blade-glow tore apart the night, burning his spirit, vital essence, and energy to their utmost—a sight that could be called stunningly magnificent.
Faced with the enemy's peak strike, Li Fei merely curled her lips and murmured:
"WHOSYOURDADDY?"
Accompanying those words of unclear meaning, Li Fei twisted her waist and threw a punch.
The instant the fist flew out, there came the sound of wind and thunder, wrapped in the momentum to overturn rivers and seas. The surging force scattered the raindrops, and waves of air swept out in all directions.
Boom!
His battle-qi dissolved and crumbled, his leather armor blasted into fragments, his bones snapping in rows. Like a Survey Corps member charging unhesitatingly at an Aberrant, Daniel went flying backward at even greater speed, tumbling through the air, vomiting blood without end. After he slammed into the ground, he rolled over a dozen more times, finally coming to rest lying on his side in a puddle in a twisted posture, like a marionette broken and tossed aside, his fate—life or death—unknown.
—This punch, over two hundred points of strength. What do you have to block it with?
Li Fei thought mockingly, the smile on her face deepening.
"Heh..."
Zack, still entangled with Grace's mirror image, was stunned. His mouth fell open, unable to believe everything he had just witnessed, his thoughts thrown into utter chaos.
—Is it a bloodline ability? A special physique? A secret art? An Innate Talent specialty? Or something else entirely...
Alex, too, halted his movements.
That fleeting glimpse of matchless, colossal power plunged him into an icy abyss, a sense of powerlessness welling up in his heart.
But in the next instant, Alex gripped the sword in his hand, gave a soft laugh, and with soaring fighting spirit launched a charge at Li Fei!
"What happened? How did he get one-shotted just like that?"
"My god—so Miss Spell-Encyclopedia wasn't fighting halfheartedly after all; she was giving her teammates a chance to show themselves. We wronged her."
"That's right. After all, the moment she made her move, the match was decided on the spot... But how did she do it?"
"A secret art? Not very likely—such terrifying power couldn't possibly be granted by an ordinary secret art, and she shouldn't have had the time or resources to cultivate a high-level one... Perhaps Miss Spell-Encyclopedia is of grandmaster bloodline? Or carries the bloodline of a Titan or Behemoth or the like?"
"Am I the only one envying Lilith? Holding a little sister in her arms while she kills—so much sense of security..."
The reversal of fortunes set the spectator stands completely ablaze.
"Some people are simply born destined to be protagonists."
That infinitely glorious figure in the rainy night made Klein laugh in spite of himself, yet inwardly he felt an inexplicable ease.
Originally, Klein had been preoccupied with the result of the previous match. He felt that, had he not hesitated and failed to decisively play his trump card, the outcome might well have been rewritten.
But at this moment, watching Alex dodge and weave, struggling bitterly, he even felt a little relieved—for he realized that no matter how desperately he fought right now, there was no way he could defeat this unfathomable classmate. Rashly playing his trump card would only make his odds of seizing the runner-up spot even slimmer.
Klein's mood gradually settled, and he turned his full attention to observing his opponent in the next match.
...
—Too weak, too weak!
Li Fei drew the dagger [Darknight] from beneath her skirt, and with just a casual, offhand swing she could flick aside a longsword as heavy as a thousand jun.
It had to be said, Alex was extremely strong—one could call him a Kova in divine equipment, and his combat style was even more well-rounded, capable both of the grand, steady kingly approach and of flexible, ever-shifting guerrilla tactics circling around Li Fei, leaving almost no opening to exploit.
Clearly, he had already reached the pinnacle of the low Sequences; only a genius of the same tier could contend with him.
But all of this appeared pale and powerless before the eighth-tier Dragon's Strength, the masterpiece of buff spells.
Li Fei casually kicked out, and Alex could only avoid her edge, terrified of being touched. Even when he found an opening to counterattack, the moment Li Fei twisted her body he had to withdraw at once, lest he suffer a grievous wound.
Under such a passive situation, even with Lilith held in her arms, Li Fei could firmly suppress him.
Yet he didn't give up, locked in unending combat with Li Fei, doing everything in his power to seek that one sliver of dawn that was victory.
Whoosh—
Li Fei swept one leg across, rolling up a surging gale. Alex's pupils contracted; he immediately threw himself into the standing water, rolling and floundering to dodge. But the raised leg came chopping down like a heavy axe, and the sole of her shoe ultimately stepped onto his wrist.
Crack... like a dead branch crushed beneath a wheel, a horrifying, crisp snap came from his wrist. Alex strained to pull his hand back, but the piercing agony told him that his left hand had already lost its fighting power.
Whether or not it was a coincidence, Alex—who had severed Grace's wrist—now suffered the same broken-wrist torment; just as Daniel, who had swept Lilith flying, had been knocked back over twenty meters by a single punch.
The overwhelming power left the battle without suspense, yet Alex still persisted, ceaselessly sparring with Li Fei.
Clang, clang, clang...
The dagger and longsword clashed with crisp rings, scorching sparks flying everywhere. The recoil split open the tiger's mouth of Alex's hand; the slick blood and the numbness made his blade begin to waver, and the mighty, surging flame of his battle-qi teetered on the verge of collapse.
Under steadily mounting wounds, Alex's vision began to blur, his body temperature slowly dropping, his steps growing ever heavier... He was merely relying on a battle instinct forged through a thousand temperings to dodge Li Fei's attacks, numbly swinging strike after strike.
Clang—
Amid the ear-piercing screech of metal grinding metal, Li Fei's dagger once again grazed his armor, and the mighty force pierced through the armor to shatter his breastbone. Alex spat out a great mouthful of blood and toppled, staggering.
Am I... going to lose...
Alex's eyelids gradually drooped, veiling his dim, gray eyes.
"Get up, Alex!"
Daniel, who was in the middle of being treated, suddenly struggled to prop up his upper body. Heedless of the pain of his wounds splitting open again, he shouted: "Wasn't it you who said—as long as you don't stop walking, the road will keep stretching onward?"
"Alex!"
Zack split apart the relentless mirror image with one axe-blow and likewise let out a roar.
As his companions' cries reached his ears, light kindled once more in Alex's eyes.
"It's not over yet..."
Amid the pounding of his heart, Alex murmured, his cooled blood boiling once again.
The revolution-speed of his battle-qi abruptly broke past its limit; the battle-qi that had been like a candle guttering in the wind suddenly grew dazzling and blazing, burning fiercely like a divine flame of gold.
In this moment, the mysteries of the Law of War opened to him. Alex pressed hard against his chest, hot tears brimming in his eyes. He was stirred by the courage that welled up within him in the face of a terrifying opponent, moved by the trust his companions placed in him, and he recalled, too, the grilled meat his father had handed him after every harsh training session.
So delicious...
Before he knew it, tears were streaming down Alex's face. He abruptly lifted his head, and in his eyes there remained only the figure of Li Fei. His legs, too, began to move of their own accord.
"Li Fei!"
Alex howled, his surging potential bursting open, and like a moth to the flame he swung at his terrifying, powerful opponent the most utterly sublimated strike of his life:
"Defeat me, or be defeated by me!"
That tragic, resolute scene gripped and shook the hearts of all the students. For the first time, the cheers in support of Alex drowned out those for Li Fei.
"You can do it, golden big brother!"
"Alex! For the glory of the War Academy!"
"A warrior never admits defeat!"
The fighting spirit in countless hearts awoke from its slumber, transforming into an invisible power that lent its blessing to this single strike, seeking to create a miracle in a hopeless situation and turn the tide.
—A battlefield breakthrough? Useless!
Li Fei smiled, a touch ferociously, and took a step forward. Her deep-crimson battle-qi swept out, mighty as a prison, colliding with the surging, biting golden sword-glow.
Boom!
Amid the earth-shattering roar, the gold and crimson hues intertwined and exploded, more dazzling than the silver serpents falling in the distance. Even the torrential curtain of rain was blown apart, and the bitter, fierce force ran rampant in every direction.
The leaping play of light and shadow formed a magnificent, sweeping image: a golden heavenly god, his divine body torn to pieces by an evil dragon ablaze with abyssal flames, falling amid a roar.
"Who—who won?"
Under the students' scorching, anxious gazes, the light and shadow dissipated.
And on the ground there now lay a deep crater, gurgling rainwater pouring into it, washing over Alex, his armor riddled with cracks.
While the figure of the black-haired woman, standing in place, was at this moment as deep and dark as a black hole, leaving the entire arena in silence.
Victory and defeat were decided.
The golden radiance metamorphosing toward high-grade battle-qi had, in the end, failed to cross that final step—snuffed out, before it could create a miracle, by an even greater miracle.
"Alex..."
Watching with his own eyes as his proud, powerful, dependable companion—the one who made him feel honored to share in his glory—was defeated, Daniel slumped back onto the cold ground, soul-stricken, a thick, bitter taste filling his heart.
"No, this is impossible."
Zack, too, stood frozen in place, the great axe in his hands drooping limply, despairingly awaiting that abyss-like phantom stepping ever closer toward him.
A burly, hulking man of one meter ninety, before the graceful, alluring woman in the red dress, appeared somehow small and powerless. The sound of her high heels stepping out, unhurried and unrushed, should by rights have been elegant and pleasant—yet Zack was trembling.
Bam!
With a single punch, Li Fei defeated her opponent as effortlessly as snapping withered branches, and the outcome settled into the dust.
And the crook of her arm holding Lilith remained, from start to finish, strong and powerful.
Rumble...
Lightning and thunder still raged, as if the abyss were howling, celebrating the birth of a Demon Lord.
Li Fei embraced Lilith with one arm and spread the other wide, lifting her head to embrace the raging wind and pelting rain. The boundless white light illuminated her matchless features, and the corners of her lips, raised in wild abandon.
She was laughing wildly.
...
Clap, clap, clap...
His Excellency the Dean was the first to rise, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth, offering applause to the champion—and to the most dazzlingly brilliant new student in the Magic Academy's entire history.
Even Herbert, the ever-stiff and rigorous old mage, rose right after and applauded as well, his gaze lingering on Li Fei, unable to tear itself away for a long, long while.
The makings of a grandmaster?
In his two centuries of teaching, Herbert had seen far too many—a great many of whom had already faded from memory, left far behind by a man who, in his youth, had been of mediocre aptitude.
The reason he had once strongly recommended Li Fei's promotion to gold-grade student was that she had the makings of a Bai Mengtian.
But now, Herbert realized that Li Fei's potential might not stop there.
Perhaps, years from now, the story passed from mouth to mouth would become "Bai Mengtian has the makings of a Li Fei"—Li Fei of the Magic Academy's Loxibrook branch.
Such a possibility, however infinitesimally slim, still set the old mage's heart surging.
Whoosh—
In the end, the applause swelled like a rising tide, echoing on and on throughout the Magic Academy.
____
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