Space was warping.
Like a canvas that had been folded inward upon itself being slowly spread back open, revealing the lifelike scenery painted upon it.
In just a few short seconds, a dense jungle appeared on the wide, flat venue.
Now that the group stage had arrived, the venue specs had been upgraded too. No longer were they fighting on flat, unobstructed arenas — instead, one of eighteen kinds of terrain (desert, forest, grassland, and so on) would be randomly drawn by lottery.
Thanks to the Spatial Compression and Conversion Ritual, the Academy could finish the venue setup in a matter of moments.
"Good — the terrain favors us. We can fine-tune our tactics a bit…"
Taking advantage of the few minutes of breathing room before the match, Li Fei put her head together with her teammates, whispering and muttering at length, making minor adjustments to their strategy.
"In a dense forest environment, George's armor isn't going to be easy to deploy, huh…"
Up in the spectator stands, someone began grumbling to themselves.
The exchange tournament was open to the public. Eliminated students and upperclassmen — senior brothers and sisters — weren't required to attend, but they could spectate. Judging from the throngs flowing through the seats, this joint event hosted by the two Academies was indeed quite the draw.
"Aiya, the Model Squad's got this in the bag."
The [Gambler] Lannister lounged back in his seat, hands pillowed behind his head, beaming as he held forth: "Iron-can armor for the face-tank, Annesia for the backline DPS, plus a noble lord clutching a Tier-3 scroll ready to bail anybody out at any moment — how could they lose? There's no way they lose."
"Five minutes, max — the Mage-Girl Squad is doomed! If you don't believe me, let's bet a hundred gold coins…"
He waggled his eyebrows and pulled funny faces, trying to bait the classmate next to him with reverse psychology — but the other guy just nodded, wearing an expression that said, "You make an excellent point."
"Sigh…"
Lannister was a little disappointed, but after patting the contract and the ten-thousand-gold-coin Goldsmith Note tucked away in his inner lining pocket, the smile rose back onto his face.
As soon as this match was over, he could shed the nickname of "Charity Gambling King" for good!
"From here on out, won't anyone who sees me have to respectfully address me as 'Gambling Hero'?"
Arms folded across his chest, Lannister waited at leisure for the match to begin.
…
Time passed quickly. As the students in the spectator stands craned their necks in anticipation, the two best-looking teams of this exchange tournament filed gracefully onto the arena.
"Miss Spell Encyclopedia, once the match is over, would you be interested in having lunch with me?"
Once the formality of self-introductions had been wrapped up, Bruce abruptly spoke, his tone a touch frivolous.
— Have you got nothing better to say? That kind of stale pickup line is so utterly devoid of charm, I'm gonna die of cringe.
Li Fei ignored his invitation outright, smiling sweetly as she looked at the white-haired beauty: "Senior Annesia, please go easy on me."
"Ah, y-yes, sure…"
Annesia was somewhat at a loss in the face of the sudden conversation.
"Please stay focused on the match, hmm."
As the referee, Irena's eyes reflected the lush green field. She smilingly issued the reminder, while fluorescence drifted down from her fingertip.
The fluorescence burst — and George, ruthless and a man of few words, was the first to make his move.
Amid a thunderous, muffled rumble, the power furnace inside the armor was abruptly ignited by battle-qi. The armor, which had been cooling all day, heated up at an astonishing rate, and surging power was instantly transmitted along the mechanisms and gears throughout the entire suit.
Boom!
Underfoot, the green grass was pulverized to mud, and along with the broken, scattered soil splashing up, the massive, hulking iron-can came charging at Li Fei wrapped in fierce wind pressure, exuding a towering, savage aura.
"Catch the bandit by catching the king first, eh…"
Li Fei narrowed her eyes, swiftly shifting to the left while chanting her incantation, planning to give herself a [Flame Enchant] — one of the spells included in the Tier-1 Chaos-school spell bundle.
This buff-class spell's effect was to make the target deal additional fire-attribute damage on casts or physical attacks — the extra damage wasn't high, falling far short of spells like Fireball in raw power, so very few mages were willing to invest the time and effort to delve into this spell.
But in certain specific situations — for example, pairing it with Tentacles, where sky-blotting Tentacles dealt extra flame damage on every lash — the accumulated lethality was actually quite considerable.
"flamma… Damn it!"
But halfway through her chant, her casting was interrupted by a streaking golden light.
Casting wasn't like a video game where you just pressed a button and waited for your character to slowly fill the cast bar — it required a certain degree of concentration. Even Miss System could only help Li Fei master a spell. To actually release the spell, she still had to rely on herself.
Thanks to her progress during this period, Li Fei could manage to run while casting at the same time. But if she went all-out into a dodge maneuver, the spell construct would collapse.
And that golden light that had set off Li Fei's danger-sense had precisely predicted her movement trajectory. If Li Fei hadn't changed direction, the vital point between her brows would have been struck. This forced her to halt her chanting, brace through the backlash of the aborted spell, and forcibly channel battle-qi into her legs — using the Cloud Dragon Fold body-art to forcibly break free of her own inertia and dodge the attack that had caught her off guard.
Thud, thud, thud…
But the moment she dodged the golden light, the iron-can armor at full throttle was now only a few meters away from Li Fei. The behemoth's body rose and fell as it ran, each footfall letting out a tremendous roar, the steel boots leaving deep pits in the collapsing soil — the suffocating, heart-stopping pressure washed straight over her.
Can't go head-to-head!
Watching the armor — now right in front of her — raise its arm and throw a punch, Li Fei's scalp went numb. She immediately dropped her body low, rolling out of the way of the ferocious blow and brushing past the iron-can by a hair's breadth.
— Almost got insta-killed!
Heart still pounding in her chest, Li Fei's expression turned grave as her gaze locked firmly onto Bruce.
The look in someone's eyes when they want to kill you can't be hidden. The malice-laced gleam in her eyes made Bruce's heart skip a beat.
"As expected of a survivor who fought her way out of Viranean…"
Bruce smiled, his hand never pausing. Another gold coin transformed into a tiny meteor, shooting straight at Li Fei's heart.
[All-Or-Nothing Throw] — a required skill for Noble-school Transcendents. They hurled "valuable things" at the enemy; the more valuable the projectile, the more terrifying the damage. On top of that, factors like battle-qi level and equipment damage bonus also affected the precise lethality.
Clearly, the two skills [Do As One Pleases] and [All-Or-Nothing Throw] fully embodied the principle that "wealth is power," and they were the twin pillars of the Noble-school Transcendents' "undefeated in same-rank one-on-one duels in the mid-to-low Sequences" reputation. The more you whaled, the harder you hit. The only downside was that combat costs were a touch high.
— Fuck!
Li Fei gritted her teeth, the battle-qi vortex within her surging up to thirty-five revolutions per second, the Cloud Dragon Fold pushed to its absolute limit. She just barely managed to dodge this strike — but the towering black shadow behind her abruptly came crashing down over her.
This time, Li Fei wasn't able to completely evade the iron-can's offensive.
Even though George's armor packed strong output but its agility was a touch lacking; even though the forest's soft soil further reduced the armor's turning and braking capabilities; even though Li Fei's agility surpassed that of same-rank assassins; even though she had dodged with every fiber of her being — under the pincer attack of the iron-can plus the All-Or-Nothing Throw, she ultimately couldn't escape unscathed.
"Ugh…"
Li Fei let out a muffled grunt. Her left shoulder was just "grazed" — but a body of flesh and blood in the face of metal was just like one made of paper. The colossal force deformed and caved in her shoulder with effortless ease, splintered bone driven deep into the flesh.
Mercifully, her daily devotion to the "Sensitivity Aura cultivation method" had hugely tempered Li Fei's endurance and willpower — under high-multiplier sensitivity, keeping her toes tightly clenched to delay the tidal interval was honestly way harder than a measly bit of fighting-while-injured.
So even wounded, Li Fei could grit her teeth and counterattack — kicking the spot where the power furnace at the armor's back was roaring.
On the surface, this hasty strike didn't seem to work. Even with [Heartshatter] enhancing it, Li Fei couldn't break through the thick armor; instead, she was sent stumbling and falling under the recoil, even losing one of her high heels.
However — she wasn't fighting alone.
Right before that kick was unleashed, her clutch teammate Miss Grace — while firmly suppressing Annesia and interrupting her casting — had landed a "Flame Enchant" on Li Fei.
The seemingly clumsy and powerless strike caused the already-scorching power furnace to become hotter still. The steadily climbing temperature began charring even the heat-resistant materials wrapping the power furnace.
Watching the lopsided battle, some in the spectator stands were already shaking their heads and sighing.
"She even lost a shoe — there's no saving her."
"These two bros really don't have an ounce of mercy for fair flowers… role models for our kind."
"Fer real, women only slow down the speed of our cultivation."
"Still, George's armor really is too strong, huh? It's a touch clunky, but so thick and so hard — anyone else who got even slightly grazed would have snapped tendons and broken bones, while he takes a hit like it's nothing… Even matched up against the Cleaver Squad, he'd still have a shot at winning."
Having made the call that "the outcome is decided," the students started whispering among themselves — some sighing in regret, some pained for her, and some popping the champagne early.
Like Li Fei's ever-growing fangirl club, who at this moment were biting their handkerchiefs in anguish; or Kenneth, arms folded across his chest, smiling coldly and saying nothing; or the Gambler Lannister, who'd somehow gotten his hands on a glass of champagne, mouth split wide as he raised his cup high in celebration of the ten thousand gold coins about to enter his pocket.
"Holy crap, what is that cleric doing?"
Suddenly, someone let out a startled cry.
"martyrium."
Just as Li Fei was struggling to take a single step, the utterly unobtrusive Lilith finally released her second Tier-3 spell — [Martyrdom].
A soft white thread of light linked Li Fei and Lilith together.
The effect of this spell was to transfer the target's damage onto the caster.
— Time to counterattack.
Li Fei's expression turned solemn.
Although they hadn't been exchanging blows for even ten seconds, under the duo's perfectly coordinated and lethal pincer attack, Li Fei looked rather worse for wear. The high heel on her left foot was gone, her black stockings were splattered with mud and grass clippings, and even worn through in places, exposing snow-tender skin.
But her efforts hadn't been wasted — the tactic had executed smoothly.
Lilith had first cast a Tier-3 shield on herself — [Armor of Light] — followed by [Martyrdom], and finally activated the shield from the White Radiance Stone Necklace without hesitation.
Which meant: to deal any damage to Li Fei, one had to first shatter a double-layered shield.
She halted her steadily retreating steps and, with her tiny human body, faced the towering, awe-inspiring steel giant head-on. Fury burned in her eyes as she chanted aloud:
"apis coloniam!"
The answer she got was a fist nearly the size of Li Fei's head.
Boom!
Amid the whirring of mechanisms, George smashed a fist straight down on top of her head, carrying the momentum of toppling mountains. It crashed heavily onto the crown of Li Fei's skull, driving her entire body down by a dozen-plus centimeters, sinking her deep into the dirt.
Crack.
Lilith's first-layer shield [Armor of Light] shattered with the impact. Li Fei was still casting — before Lilith fell, Miss Stepmother wouldn't take so much as a half-step back.
Bruce's gaze hardened. Decisively, he flung out his Tier-3 Spell Scroll!
He didn't like that mindless tactic of rashly tossing scrolls. In Bruce's view, holding his sole Tier-3 scroll back as a threat against his opponent and then dropping it at the crucial moment to seal the deal was far more effective than blowing the trump card at the start of the match.
For example — right now.
As the scroll shattered, a firebird formed from coalesced orange-red flames spread its wings and let out a long cry, soaring as it dove at Li Fei.
The rolling waves of heat swept over Li Fei, but her face showed no fear — like a seeker of knowledge willing to die for the truth, she chanted her incantation with unwavering resolve. And once the damage from this blow was transferred over, cracks appeared on Lilith's [Holy Light Shield].
"Shatter for me!"
A roar came from beneath the helmet. The humanoid armor clasped its two fists together, raised them high overhead, and slammed them down once more upon her head.
Crash…
The Holy Light Shield, like a mirror that had fallen from a high-rise onto the street, broke apart into shards amid a crisp shattering sound. Lilith's delicate body shuddered, and pain surfaced in her water-blue pupils. Trickling blood dyed her bangs red, flowing down the sides of her nose and across her face.
A staff slid out of Irena's sleeve — she understood that one more such blow would mean both Lilith and Li Fei would inevitably have their skulls cracked open.
However — Li Fei was not going to give George a third chance to strike.
The last syllable slipped past her lips, and the spell construct of [Wasp Swarm] bloomed with light in her sea of consciousness.
As mana surged, Li Fei curled the corners of her mouth, her smile a touch cruel:
"You hit me hard, you know — that really hurt."
"Now it's my turn."
The instant her words fell, the burning swarm of mana wasps, obeying Li Fei's will, went into a frenzied dance inside the power furnace.
The towering steel armor stiffened in place as if Petrified. The moment George sensed the chaos and riot inside the power furnace, he didn't hesitate to cut off the battle-qi supply — but it was already too late.
Scalding, boiling heat ran riot inside the power furnace. Even through several centimeters of material, George could feel the metal from his lower back down to his upper thighs starting to grow hot.
"Why not keep going?"
Li Fei's voice was gentle and sweet as she reached out and gave the back of the armor a few light pats — like a kindly mentor soothing a mischievous child.
And the pat, carrying the Flame Enchant effect, sent the heat fully out of control.
"Aaah!!"
Amid frantic shouts, George finally pulled off his helmet — revealing a square-jawed, manly, strikingly heroic face that still looked handsome even with a double chin.
Only that face was now soaked in sweat, wearing the panicked expression of a man whose pants were on fire. He fumbled with the latches, trying to get the searing-hot armor off.
Li Fei glanced at the reddening metal and silently took a few steps back.
Boom!
The earsplitting, muffled blast made Li Fei recall those hand-cranked popcorn poppers she used to see on the streets and alleyways when she was little. She loved covering her ears, heart full of tension and inexplicable anticipation, waiting for the moment when the pitch-black canister, scorched by fire, would let out that satisfying, full-throated bang.
Unfortunately, what got blasted out this time wasn't white, fluffy, fragrant popcorn — but a bloody mist interlaced with metal fragments, plus scattered scraps of derrière muscle tissue.
The scene was rather comical, as if someone had been using their sphincter to set off fireworks.
Mercifully, the insulating protective plate between the power furnace and his limbs was quite sturdy, so George wasn't in any mortal danger — he could still sprawl on the ground letting out lung-powered wails.
As the armor's deafening explosion rang out, the situation reversed.
"What happened?"
"It was fine just now — how did it just blow up?"
"It hurts — it hurts so bad…"
Amid the suddenly amplified clamor, the spectators' gazes uniformly fixed on the unwatchably gruesome figure of George. Subconsciously, they made the kind of motion that one would normally only make in the situation of "upset stomach but no toilet nearby."
"George!"
The bloody popcorn left Bruce stunned. Subconsciously, he called out.
"You've still got the spare attention to worry about other people?"
Li Fei smiled and kicked off her other high heel.
Clang —
Flowing Silver was drawn from its sheath, the keen blade actually slicing open Li Fei's fingers — but she paid it no mind at all. Her whole person was like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, hurtling toward Bruce at astonishing speed.
Bruce's face went ashen as he retreated step by step, simultaneously crushing his remaining two Tier-2 Spell Scrolls. Annesia, pinned down by Grace, also realized the situation was spiraling out of control. She decisively abandoned her conservative playstyle, handing over the spell-shield attached to her bracelet to block the relentless barrage of arrows, while frantically chanting her incantation at top speed.
"Too weak, too weak!"
Li Fei yanked her cloak up to shield her face. Tier-2 spells landing on her could only cause minor injuries — they couldn't impede her steps in the slightest. Bruce then clutched another gold coin, hoping to force his opponent back via All-Or-Nothing Throw — but with high agility combined with the Cloud Dragon Fold, Li Fei's speed was simply too fast. At the cost of merely picking up a fresh cut across her abdomen, she closed the distance between herself and Bruce to within half a meter.
"Let's see whether your gold coin is faster — or my sword."
Her long hair still streaming behind her from inertia, Li Fei swung her sword in a single arc amid a teasing, taunting tone — and blood-light splashed outward.
Opponents — only one remained.
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