The moment the announcer's trembling voice ceased, the shimmering mana dome overhead shattered into millions of sparkling, dissipating particles.
"Zenni!"
Miss Karrie screamed, sprinting across the dirt arena flanked by a frantic team of medical staff carrying emergency stretchers and high-grade cooling salves. She skidded to a halt in front of me, her hands hovering nervously over my smoking, charred shoulder.
"Are you out of your mind?! Are you okay?! Sit down right now!"
"I'm fine, Miss Karrie. Told you I had it under control," I said, a muffled, raspy chuckle escaping the unburned side of my mouth.
"Shut up and let me work!" she snapped, her face pale as she looked at my left hand.
Ordinary healing magic was entirely useless for injuries this severe; standard spells could mend cuts and bruises, but they couldn't conjure missing tissue out of thin air once it had been incinerated down to the skeletal frame. Only Divine Regeneration had the cosmic authority to knit, regrow, and perfectly restore evaporated flesh. Luckily for me, the only person in the entire kingdom who possessed that rare, godly attribute was none other than the offspring goddess herself...my older sister, Principal Elicia. I knew she'd heal me privately later, so I didn't care about the damage right now.
Working with frantic speed, Miss Karrie poured a soothing, numbing gel over my skeletal fingers and expertly wrapped my left hand in thick, enchanted sterile bandages. Then, she gently applied a cooling paste to the charred right side of my face, wrapping it in tight, crisp white layers until I looked like a battle-hardened mummy.
"There. That will stop the infection, but you need to see the Principal immediately after the ceremony," Miss Karrie breathed, wiping sweat from her forehead.
"Thanks, Miss Karrie. Appreciate it," I nodded, flexing my safely wrapped, bony fingers.
As she and the medical team hurried over to tend to the still-unconscious Yellow Volcano, the announcer finally found his footing and rallied the crowd one last time.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the official record stand! We have an undisputed winner of the afternoon exhibition...Zenni, the Crimson Phantom!"
The stadium absolutely erupted.
A delegation of high-ranking academy staff and local dignitaries marched down from the lower VIP tiers, stepping onto the dirt battlefield. The lead dean, an elderly elf with a grand silver mustache, stepped forward with a velvet cushion. He picked up a gleaming, heavy gold medal embossed with the Sisiphon Academy crest and carefully draped it around my neck.
"An unbelievable display of resilience, young man, the slums breed true survivors." the dean murmured, patting my uninjured shoulder.
I bowed my head respectfully, playing the role of the humble, exhausted prodigy to perfection.
Up in the stands, the front row was a beautiful mess of relief and lingering shock.
"You absolute idiot! You better not expect us to walk with you looking like a mummy!" Amelia yelled through her tears, though she was clapping furiously, her pink cheeks flushing.
"You actually did it, Zenni! You completely extinguished him!" Aisha cheered, jumping up and down so hard her brand-new ivory and gold uniform fluttered.
Cindy just gave me a deep, profoundly relieved nod from the railing, her hands clapping in a steady, proud rhythm. Behind them, Garret and the freshman boys were practically tearing the benches apart, chanting my name until their throats went hoarse.
But the most satisfying reaction came from the far side of the bleachers. The arrogant fourth-years...the very same seniors who had been spouting profanities and mocking my blood manipulation in the backyard just an hour ago...were now standing on their feet. Their smug smirks were completely gone, replaced by looks of profound respect and awe. They were loudly appraising my victory, nodding to one another and pounding their fists against their chests in the universal upperclassman salute of submission. I had earned my place in their hierarchy through pure, unadulterated violence.
Through the gaps in my facial bandages, I subtly cast my gaze back up to the principal's velvet chair. Oksana was still sitting there, her purple hair catching the afternoon light. She wasn't clapping. She was just staring down at me, a dark, dangerously captivated smile playing on her lips as she lightly touched her chin.
The trap was set, the audience was enthralled, and the Crimson Phantom had just become the most legendary freshman the academy had ever seen.
As the roaring cheers of the crowd slowly began to settle into a steady hum of excitement, the medical staff finished applying their high-grade elemental salves to Yellow Volcano. Because his own body possessed a natural, passive resistance to extreme heat, the boiling blood spray hadn't left permanent damage...he had only suffered minor, superficial burns across his cheeks and forehead.
With a low groan, the massive fourth-year finally regained consciousness. He sat up, blinking against the bright afternoon sun, and gingerly touched his bruised stomach where my final punch had landed. For a moment, he just stared at the dirt, processing the reality of his defeat.
Then, shaking off the help of the medics, he slowly pushed himself to his feet.
The stadium grew quiet as the large magma mage began walking directly toward me. My right hand instinctively twitched, ready for a sore loser trying to throw a cheap shot, but his posture was completely different now. The arrogant, short-tempered bully from the backyard had completely vanished.
He stopped a few feet away, looking down at my heavily bandaged face and my skeletal left hand. A look of genuine humbleness and profound respect crossed his face.
Extending his large, calloused hand toward my uninjured one, he spoke with a surprisingly kind, gentle tone that completely caught the surrounding students off guard.
"Hey, Zenni, I wanted to come over and... well, thank you for the fight." Volcano said, his voice scratchy but soft.
I raised an eyebrow beneath my crisp white bandages, shaking his hand firmly.
"You're thanking me for punching you through a wall, senior?"
He let out a weak, genuine chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, I guess so. Look, I completely underestimated your strength. I came into this ring thinking I was superior just because I'm a graduating senior with a high-tier element. But you... you proved me entirely wrong. Even while using low-level spells of basic blood manipulation, you still found a way to turn my own element against me and defeat me. You didn't just win, you taught me a lesson about complacency."
He looked toward the VIP balcony, then back at me, a respectful smile playing on his lips.
"You've got a terrifying level of willpower, freshman. To hold actual magma with your bare hands just to win an exhibition match... you're cut from a different cloth. The slums didn't make you weak, they made you unbreakable. I'm proud to have shared the ring with the Crimson Phantom."
Hearing his kind words, the bleachers erupted into a warm, respectful round of applause. The rivalry was officially dead, replaced by the sacred bond of the arena.
I let out a soft smile under my bandages, Zenni's lazy, easygoing tone returning.
"Appreciate it, senior. You didn't make it easy on me either. My face is going to be peeling for a week."
"Next time, let's keep the lava out of it," he joked, giving my shoulder a friendly pat before turning to walk back to his team.
The warm applause of the crowd was still echoing through the coliseum when the high-ranking staff suddenly parted, bowing their heads respectfully as a distinguished figure stepped onto the arena dirt.
It was Miss Sasha...otherwise known as Oksana, the Drug Lord of the Emerald Spire.
To hide her true identity from the masses, she adopted a perfectly poised, elegant academic stride. Her beautiful purple-dyed hair caught the sunlight, and she wore a sophisticated smile that masked her ruthless nature flawlessly. She stopped right in front of me, her sharp, violet eyes scanning my bandaged face and skeletal left hand with a look of profound, theatrical admiration.
"An absolutely breathtaking performance, young man,"
Oksana said aloud, her voice loud and clear enough for the surrounding deans and referees to hear. She applauded gracefully, her movements refined.
"Such terrifying willpower and creative mastery. Your unique blood manipulation will undoubtedly shape the very future of this academy. Caria Mastery Academy would be honored to host a prodigy like you for an exchange program one day."
Beneath my thick white facial bandages, I let out a hidden, thoroughly amused smile. Knowing that one of the continent's most dangerous crime lords was standing in the middle of a government-sanctioned academy, playing the role of a sweet professor, was peak dark comedy. To me, her disguise was almost hilariously obvious...the hair dye, the thick layers of expensive perfume masking the scent of her notorious lotus dust...but the academy's dumb guards and oblivious staff didn't notice a thing. They just stood there like statues, completely respecting her fabricated title as an elite scholar from Caria City.
As the nearby deans nodded in agreement with her praise, Oksana stepped slightly closer, pretending to inspect my heavy gold medal.
She leaned in, the sweet, heavy scent of her perfume completely washing over me. The public, professional smile stayed on her face, but her voice dropped to a razor-thin, icy undertone meant for my ears alone.
"Come to the Emerald Spire tonight, don't be late, my lethal little apprentice." Oksana whispered, her violet eyes flashing with a dangerous, intoxicating thrill.
She pulled back seamlessly, tilting her head to the side with a playful, enigmatic wink that sent a subtle jolt of excitement through my veins. Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel, her tailored dress swirling as her four S-rank bodyguards in nobleman suits immediately fell into formation behind her, escorting her back toward the VIP exit.
I watched her retreating figure, my heart pounding with a mixture of dark amusement and intense focus. She had swallowed the bait completely. Sticky Sperm was locked in a dungeon, my student identity was hailed as a legendary academy hero, and the Drug Lord herself had just personally invited the Crimson Phantom back into her inner sanctum.
"Hey, Zenni!"
Amelia's voice suddenly cut through my thoughts as she, Aisha, and Cindy finally managed to bypass the arena security, running onto the dirt toward me with worried faces.
"Are you just going to stand there staring at the visiting professor, or are you going to let the Principal heal you?!"
I turned to my beautiful, freshly scented fan club, Zenni's lazy, carefree smirk returning behind my bandages.
"Just admiring the academic networking, ladies, come on. Let's go find Elicia before my hand actually falls off."