Fiona's Magic Restaurant, a dining establishment run by Grand Magus Fiona at Fusion Academy.
As the most popular restaurant within the academy, the Fusion Festival saw an explosive surge in foot traffic over its three-day span, and to meet the increased demand from outside guests, the restaurant's workload during the festival multiplied several times over.
So much so that Grand Magus Fiona, despite possessing a monster with 4000 Attack Points (metaphorically speaking), didn't even get a chance to watch the main event: the Class Year Team Duel Challenge. Instead, she diligently busied herself in the kitchen, prepping ingredients for the evening rush.
"Today's turkey looks great. Tonight's special set menu will be roast turkey with fried potatoes."
Fiona, who had already held the title of national Grand Magus a century ago, had a true age no one knew—and frankly, no one dared ask.
Thanks to the abundant magical flow in her body, high-level mages often lived several times longer than ordinary people and could maintain eternal youth.
For Fiona, this was doubly true.
By all accounts, she should be a wrinkled old lady over a hundred years old. However, her physical appearance was on par with Miss Erin's.
In fact, because Fiona was more mindful of health and beauty, her skin was even smoother and healthier than Miss Erin's. Combined with her golden hair and silver eyes—a magical mutation from her Grand Magus-level mana—she was absolutely stunning.
Just from appearances, no one would guess this absolute beauty was actually a centenarian.
"Miss Fiona! Miss Fiona!"
Vice Principal Raiden's anxious voice broke through the bustling energy of the kitchen.
Licking a dab of turkey glaze from her pale fingertips, Fiona glanced at the old man at the doorway with her signature silver eyes.
"Oh, it's little Raiden. What brings you here this time?"
It was a strange sight: a youthful, beautiful blonde referring to the white-haired, well-past-middle-age Vice Principal as "little Raiden."
Only someone like Grand Magus Fiona could get away with that.
"It's about the newly constructed Duel Platform."
"Oh? How is it? My latest masterpiece—is everyone satisfied?"
Fiona smiled gracefully.
When Raiden first asked her to enhance the platform for the Fusion Festival, she was less than thrilled.
She was a chef now, not a construction worker.
The first time Raiden roped her into magically patching up the crater left by Dystopia the Despondent, she already had complaints.
But out of consideration for his position, she didn't refuse outright.
This time, when he asked her to build a reinforced platform for the festival, she only agreed because of Fusion Academy's reputation among the national nobility.
Still, as a Grand Magus, Fiona believed that whatever she did should be done to perfection—be it cooking or building a Duel Platform.
"I followed your specs and added multiple levels of reinforcement while keeping the grand visual flair intact. Though really, for student duels, it shouldn't need to be that strong."
"Well... Miss Fiona, could you please come take a look anyway?"
"What's there to see? I'm busy in the kitchen."
"You'll understand when you see it..."
"Huh?"
Catching the look of distress on Raiden's face, Fiona raised an elegant brow, removed her apron, and followed him out.
…
Fusion Festival Grounds—
"Oh my God! What happened to my beautifully crafted Duel Platform?!"
When Fiona arrived at the Duel Grounds, not a trace remained of the grand, majestic platform she had painstakingly constructed.
Just rubble, ruins, and utter collapse.
Only one duel had taken place, and Fiona's masterpiece was already in ruins.
"This is the situation. Please, I beg you, Miss Fiona."
Vice Principal Raiden lowered his pride and pleaded earnestly.
With the first duel finished, the second round of the Team Duel Challenge was at a complete standstill.
How could it continue? The Duel Platform was in pieces... No way they could duel on a heap of debris.
If word got out that Fusion Academy held the rest of its festival duels in a ruin, the other two Duel Academies would laugh themselves to death.
"Are you kidding me, old man?!"
With zero regard for seniority, Fiona (who was objectively the older one) grabbed Raiden's collar (the junior apparently).
"What kind of duel could possibly trash my reinforced platform like this?! That was my masterpiece—three days of blood, sweat, and mana!"
"Miss Fiona, we're truly out of options. Everyone knows that the former national Grand Magus is the so-called 'Omnipotent Beauty.'"
Switching to flattery, the sly old Raiden knew every woman, no matter her age, fell for sweet talk. Probably.
Judging by the diminishing anger on Fiona's lovely face, it worked like a charm.
"Fine, I'll fix it. But you're paying extra."
"Of course, of course! As much as it takes. Just hurry."
Realizing she may have misjudged the students' destructive potential, Fiona accepted partial responsibility.
Besides, repairing was much easier than building from scratch.
A high-level temporal rewind spell.
Just like patching up the crater from Dystopia the Despondent, all it took was reversing the ruined platform a bit in time.
Despite that, time-based spells were incredibly mana-draining. Once she restored the entire platform, even Fiona looked noticeably fatigued.
"Phew. I added several extra layers of magical barriers this time. It should be completely stable now."
Fiona, who always strove for perfection, was confident the platform would hold this time.
"Thank you! Thank you so much, Miss Fiona. The Fusion Academy will transfer your fee shortly."
Raiden bowed with sincere gratitude—though his heart wept a little at the cost.
Conflicted, he knew he should feel proud that the academy's students possessed such overwhelming power… However, ideally, no one should ever use Final Fusion again to deal 20,000 damage in one blow, like Irena did.
With the platform restored, Miss Erin could finally resume hosting the tournament.
"Now then, the second match of the Fusion Academy Festival's Class Year Team Duel Challenge. Representing Year Two: a noble-born duelist, peerless in both status and strength—Deion Kaiser!"
...
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