——That's enough.
As the Fireball, swathed in scorching heat, howled forward and slammed into Grace — who was still tangled in the swirling dead leaves — Li Fei stopped casting.
Sixty-odd spells. That performance was more than worthy of the sweat she'd poured into it. Any more and it would've crossed the line into absurd.
The layered dead leaves caught fire in the intense heat, then burst apart like fireworks, scattering golden-red embers in every direction.
Li Fei paid the dazzling blaze no mind. Her left hand rested lightly against her right ribs; her right hand was clasped behind her back. With elegant, unhurried composure, she bowed toward the audience below — like a conductor at a gilded opera house, announcing the curtain call to an audience still lost in the soaring finale.
Haaaah—
The applause came like a tide rolling in from the distance — sparse at first, then swelling into a thunderous roar that would not cease. Even the faculty couldn't help but smile, clapping and murmuring their admiration.
It had been a spectacular exhibition match. Exactly as the Dean had said: it showed skill, it showed flair — and it hadn't exposed Li Fei's "true strength." Because measured against an actual fight, that chaotic, haphazard casting order and rhythm meant a warrior could have charged her down and killed her a hundred times over.
But no one watching would think what Li Fei had just shown was her full power. With casting speed like that, that depth of mana, and that breadth of spell repertoire — how could she possibly be weak?
She was obviously holding back.
"Terrifying. Unbelievable."
An aged voice sounded beside Klein's ear, thick with astonishment. "Had she been born four thousand years earlier, even the gods themselves would have been left speechless…"
"Let's just hope I don't run into her too early in the exchange tournament."
Klein gave a wry smile.
For him, coming to the Magic Academy for instruction was only a secondary objective. His core goal was to accumulate thirty thousand academic credits to redeem a certain stored item, and to seek an opportunity within Folded Space C-3 to complete the missing pieces of his inheritance.
Which made the exchange tournament's rewards very, very important.
And while some were smiling, others were on the verge of tears.
Like the firstborn son of the Mettis family.
"Damn it…"
Kenneth's face had gone ashen, his expression twisted, his back molars nearly ground to powder.
As much as he didn't want to admit it, a tide of bitter regret rose irrepressibly in his chest.
Kenneth understood Li Fei better than most. He knew perfectly well that she hadn't even been at Sequence 9 for two weeks yet. To comprehend two branches of Transcendent knowledge and master dozens of spells in that short a time — what did that mean?
It meant the duel they'd agreed upon could not, under any circumstances, go forward.
Even if killing her in a duel was perfectly legal, the moment Kenneth dared make a lethal move, no one from the Mettis family would ever set foot outside Loxibrook again — they would spend the rest of their days hunted without end by the Magic Academy.
Because talent like this was too extraordinary. It surpassed even the Twin Stars. She would inevitably be designated a core cultivation prospect — the Main Academy itself would dispatch high-Sequence powerhouses to win her loyalty.
His gaze drifted to Grace, flickering and unreadable.
From this moment on, the risks of any scheme against Li Fei had been magnified without limit. Kenneth understood: the original plan had to be scrapped.
If Li Fei had been merely a scholarship student, Grace could have killed her in a Folded Space and staged it as an accident. As long as it was done cleanly — and the family greased enough palms — even if the Dean harbored some favoritism, she was unlikely to drive a living genius to her death over a dead one. If it truly couldn't be covered up, they could simply sacrifice Grace. After all, Nicole, by her usual style, would never stand at the city gates to massacre Mettis family members outright. Kenneth was confident that, given time, he could still win Nicole's heart back.
But now, he was left with only two choices:
One: prepare a generous gift, lower his head, and beg Li Fei's forgiveness.
Two: ensure that Grace and Li Fei would both die together inside a Folded Space.
He didn't deliberate long. Knowing Li Fei's character as intimately as he did, the answer came to him at once.
If he went to make peace — that shameless b*tch would accept the gift with a smile, one hundred percent guaranteed, and then go right back to making life hell for the Mettis family.
From the moment he'd happened to spot Li Fei on the street and taken an interest in her, the ending had been written. Between Li Fei and the Mettis family, one side was going to fall.
"I can't let you live…"
In Kenneth's cooling gaze, the last of the dead-leaf embers were scattered by the wind. Grace — who had shielded herself from the blow with a Transcendent item — opened her eyes, and her sky-blue irises turned to follow Li Fei's retreating figure.
Li Fei's gaze, however, did not linger on the poker-faced young woman. She turned on her own and began walking toward the edge of the arena.
"Wait."
Grace's voice rang out. Li Fei's footsteps paused. She looked back over her shoulder with an entirely expressionless gaze.
Li Fei had a vague sense that something big was coming.
Sure enough — under the eyes of the entire crowd — Grace clenched her fists and spoke her request aloud:
"Please. Let me be your dog."
Despite the poker-faced young woman's best efforts to control herself, her voice carried an unmistakable tremor, and a flush of red crept across her skin.
"What?"
"Did I just hear what I think I heard?"
"???"
A wave of commotion rippled through the audience below.
Most of the students had still been lost in hushed conversation about Li Fei's breathtaking performance, and hadn't had their attention on the arena.
But the students in the front rows had witnessed the unfathomable scene with their own eyes. Their pupils contracted in unison; their worldviews took a direct hit.
The faculty, with their keen perception, naturally missed nothing. Some gaped open-mouthed. Others actually rose from their seats.
When Li Fei had revealed her impossible talent moments ago, they'd managed — barely — to keep their composure, forcing themselves to stay calm. They'd been teachers for many years, after all. What kind of student hadn't they seen…
"Please let me be your dog!"
Grace fixed her gaze on Li Fei with absolute, unwavering resolve. She drew a long, deep breath, then repeated her words loudly.
As the last syllable fell, the entire venue went silent.
A heavy, labored wheeze was the first sound to break the stillness.
"In all my years of teaching — raising students who reached high Sequences, striking down those who went astray — I have never… never once… seen anything like…"
A white-haired elder stared wide-eyed at the outrageous scene, unable to stop himself from clutching his chest and gasping for air. Even his mustache was trembling. He was half convinced he was dreaming.
"Wha…"
Irena, who had been quietly sneaking snacks this whole time, froze. An entire bag of fried potato chips hit the floor and she didn't even notice.
"Holy crap! The audacity!"
"Are Magic Academy students always this wild?"
The students who'd finally registered what happened erupted. The whole venue boiled over.
Some were cheering and jeering. Others laughed derisively, finding it absurd. Still others felt a pang of sorrow — their dream girl was apparently chasing after someone else's dream girl.
"I object!"
A member of Li Fei's fan club was the first to protest, firmly opposing this turn of events.
"I think this is fine, actually."
"An ice-cold, secretly-masochistic, deadpan underclassman × the perfect campus beauty? That's a godly ship. I'm fully invested."
But shortly after, another faction within the fan club voiced a completely opposite opinion.
And so the war between Li Fei's solo stans and the shippers began.
"What are you standing there for? Go!"
Among the second-year students, a girl suddenly patted her best friend on the shoulder and urged her forward.
"?"
Lilith was still in the middle of a full mental crash.
"Go stake your claim! Someone just did that to your precious junior, and you're just going to sit there? If it were me, I couldn't stand it."
Lilith's friend egged her on.
"That's right, that's right — we're rooting for you, Lilith!"
Another friend chimed in, cheering her on: "Sure, her looks are about even with yours, and she's a little taller, and her figure's maybe a tiny bit better, and her potential is also maybe a little higher… but never mind that! You're the cutest one in our class! Go get her, Lilith — claim the campus beauty! For the glory of Second Year, Class Two!"
Finally, Lilith snapped back to her senses. Her porcelain-pale skin flushed scarlet in an instant, and she let out a sound of mortified fury:
"You can all go die!!!"
"This…"
Amid the uproar, Kenneth leaned back slightly, his expression stunned.
No matter how he turned it over in his mind, he never could have imagined that Grace, in order to completely earn Li Fei's trust, would be willing to go this far.
Was this what sibling devotion looked like?
Willing to throw away every shred of dignity — all to deliver vengeance with her own hands!
It seemed Grace had also recognized just how terrifying Li Fei's talent was, and was moving to accelerate her plan.
Then Kenneth raised a hand to cover his mouth, concealing the corners of his lips as they curved upward against his will.
In that moment, he was absolutely certain: even if it meant dying alongside Li Fei, Grace would not so much as furrow her brow.
With a double agent this dedicated, how could anything go wrong?
Li Fei — you didn't see this coming, did you!
No — wait — hold it, can't laugh yet, not now…
Kenneth fought desperately to hold himself together. But as he watched Li Fei move toward Grace, his body still couldn't help convulsing, seized by a joy beyond compare.
"Please…"
Grace — red all the way to the tips of her ears — summoned her courage and was about to repeat her plea a third time.
In her eyes was a sincerity that held nothing back.
——I pushed you into the abyss.
So I'll go down into it with you.
A little embarrassment? Compared to the suffering Li Fei had endured, what was that worth?
But then a single finger pressed gently against her lips.
The moment Li Fei's warm, luminous smile filled those sky-blue irises once more, hot tears welled up and spilled over.
It was all worth it…
Li Fei gazed deeply at Grace — tearful as a rain-drenched pear blossom — as if she wanted to brand this image into the very bottom of her heart.
Miss Grace's devotion moved her. She might not be able to bring herself to make her cry again someday soon — so she ought to seize this chance and properly savor this breathtaking, lingering view.
Time stretched on indefinitely. Li Fei stood before the stirring sight and let herself linger for two full seconds — then reached out, used the pad of her finger to brush away Grace's tears, and smiled with a quiet, desolate softness:
"I forgive you."
Then she turned, stepped off the arena, and walked away at a brisk pace — ignoring every gaze fixed upon her — toward the waiting room.
"?"
Grace stood dazed for a long moment before snapping back to herself and chasing after Li Fei's retreating figure.
When she reached the waiting room and pulled the door open, she caught Li Fei in the act of quietly dabbing at the corner of her own eye. Li Fei looked up and smiled at her — as if time had rewound several days, and nothing had ever happened.
——Why are you still pretending, even in front of me.
Grace's eyelashes trembled. She gently closed the waiting room door behind her and walked toward Li Fei. Her fingertips reached out slowly, wanting to touch her — then hesitated, afraid of angering her — and finally stilled, suspended in the air halfway.
"What is it, Miss Grace?"
Li Fei forced a smile. Before she could finish speaking, Grace had already taken her hand — palm pressed to palm, slender fingers threading through the gaps between hers, then closing tight.
"Please let me…"
Grace didn't know what else to say. Clumsy and stubborn, she started to repeat that same phrase again — as if only these words could express what she felt.
"What I asked for originally was: 'beg to be my dog in front of everyone.'"
Li Fei shook her head. "You've done it. That's enough, Grace. Let it end here. We'll still be friends going forward."
In that moment, Li Fei's smile carried a quiet, bittersweet sorrow. Grace read her eyes and understood:
I'm already… too far gone. Don't drag yourself in after me.
"No."
Grace refused the kindness.
Someone warm and good shouldn't have to struggle alone in the mud.
I'm willing to be trampled by her. To be her stepping stone.
With that thought, those eyes — vast and clear as an open sky, yet faintly tinged with world-weariness — grew, against all expectation, a little fierce with heat.
"Please let me be your dog."
Li Fei also understood Grace's heart. She lowered her gaze, her voice drifting quietly:
"Then you might end up seeing… the dark and ugly parts of me."
"I don't care. Whatever it is."
Grace made her vow with aching, unconditional resolve.
——My new home is about to have a new resident.
"Then…"
Li Fei lifted her head, and there it was — a smile Grace had never seen before: coquettish, bewitching, and laced with something wicked.
"Give me a bark first."
"What?"
Grace was struck dumb by the beauty of this unfamiliar, irresistible Li Fei — like a rose dripping with poison and fresh blood — and her mind went completely blank.
"Follow me. Woof."
Li Fei's voice turned saccharine — like honey smeared along the edge of a blade. Alluring and dangerous in equal measure.
The poker-faced young woman's face went crimson in an instant. Even her slightly cool palms began to heat up, a faint sheen of perspiration rising on her skin.
She bit her lower lip. She stared at Li Fei for a long time. Finally she opened her mouth — but no sound came out. She gathered herself for a few more seconds, then produced a soft, low sound:
"Woof."
"Louder."
Li Fei smiled with cheerful satisfaction and made her request in a light, coaxing voice.
"Woof."
The second time came much easier.
"Good girl."
Li Fei's smile was sweet and delighted. She cupped Grace's burning face in her hands — and leaned in.
"And then what? Is that really all?"
"What exactly happened between those two?"
At the lottery ceremony venue, the students had dissolved into chaos.
Why would a beautiful, brilliantly talented scholarship student make such a scandalous public request of an even more beautiful scholarship student?
What did that "I forgive you" really mean?
Would the Isolated Isle Angel accept so outrageous a request?
The sheer volume of information was overwhelming. It defied prediction. It defied anticipation.
"The lottery ceremony this year is incredible. Isn't this way more interesting than the warm-up matches?"
Someone marveled aloud.
"Too dazzling."
Another was still lost in the story that had just unfolded between those two beautiful girls: "This — this is exactly what I wanted to see. A stage of destiny no one could have predicted!"
Watching the chaotic scene, the Dean's smile gradually softened into something genuinely fond.
The Magic Academy had always prided itself on a free-spirited culture, guided by principles of diversity and individuality.
Two female students starting a romance, or one confessing to another — that was nothing new here.
But behavior this outrageous — behavior that had even robbed the students of any interest in the second warm-up match — did require a small measure of disciplinary response.
"What a troublesome child."
Nicole smiled amiably and glanced toward Chloe beside her. "I must apologize for the spectacle, Principal."
The deliberate omission of the word "Vice" from that title said everything one needed to know about the true Dean's emotional intelligence.
"That just now… and this now… is that also friendship?"
Chloe's golden eyes gleamed, gazing in the direction of the waiting room.
Could she see inside?
A ripple of surprise moved through Nicole's heart.
For a high-Sequence powerhouse, seeing through walls was trivial — but the Magic Academy, through years of accumulated operation, had been layered so thoroughly in ritual protections that not even a breath could slip through. Even an existence as extraordinary as Sequence 2 could not, without destroying the rituals, see through the wall and into the waiting room where the two scholarship girls were giving in to impulse.
Nicole had assumed she alone could peer into what was happening in that waiting room.
But evidently, the Vice Principal beside her possessed some remarkable quality that allowed her to accomplish inexplicable things without even seeming to try.
Nicole glanced sidelong at Chloe's golden eyes — in which something like divine runes seemed to drift and flow — and kept her smile steady: "Yes, of course. Girls who are very close often do this sort of thing — if anything, you could say it's precisely a sign of deep friendship.
In fact, I've heard that sisters who are especially intimate will sometimes even raise a daughter together, as a crystallization of their bond."
"I see… thank you."
Chloe nodded thoughtfully — while her slender, pale, exquisitely shaped fingers drifted, as if without thinking, to rest against her own lips.
____
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