“What happened?”
“Was she wearing Chains with Weight Magic during the entire fight just now?!”
“How, how is that possible?!”
The dead silence was shattered, and an outcry like a surging tide burst from the stands.
That unbelievable speed and power… could it really be true?
Or were they dreaming?
People looked at one another, searching for any sign in each other’s eyes that this was all a dream.
Some even pinched themselves unconsciously, and only after feeling pain were they forced to accept this absurd answer.
This was reality; everything was real.
“You lost.”
Aixi’s calm voice rang out atop the arena, snapping the dazed Kaelan back to her senses.
She staggered back a few steps, her legs giving out as she collapsed to the ground in disgrace.
“…How could this be? Did you never use your full strength before?”
She looked up at Aixi, her voice trembling in disbelief.
Aixi retracted her fist and said indifferently,
“Magic is just one way to become stronger. Kaelan, you are all too arrogant. And also…”
She paused, her voice not loud, but it carried clearly throughout the whole arena.
“Never underestimate the Rose Knights.”
With that, she turned and prepared to leap down from the stage, leaving Kaelan sitting alone in the midst of the wreckage, staring blankly at her retreating back.
The fierce wind carried by that punch had not only dispersed the Fire Dragon, but had completely shattered the pride Kaelan relied on for survival.
Was magic really not the only way?
Feeling gazes coming at her from all sides, Kaelan lowered her head, clenching her fists, her face burning red.
From those stares, she could keenly sense their disdain.
She, a genius of magic, had lost to someone with no magic talent.
…No, impossible!
She couldn’t lose!
That useless Aixi must have used some other trick to defeat her!
Magic is the one and only!
Her eyes, bloodshot and crazed, glared as she, taking advantage of Aixi’s turned back, squeezed out the last drop of mana in her body and once more unleashed Fire Dragon’s Breath!
“Watch out!”
Leanna and the others shouted in alarm, but Aixi turned around unhurriedly, swinging her heavy hammer toward the incoming attack.
For a moment, a wild gale howled!
The Fire Dragon was blown away by the wind once again, and Kaelan, refusing to admit defeat, was swept off the stage, slamming heavily into the wall of the stands and spitting out blood before passing out.
After all this, Aixi simply turned and walked down from the ring, as if she’d just crushed an ant.
In the stands, Instructor Anderi had buried his hands deep into his hair, his knuckles turning white from the force.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Impossible! Impossible! How could she lose?!”
He muttered, dazed, his mind blank from being unable to accept the consequences of defeat.
Suddenly, as if realizing something, he jerked his head up and began to scream hysterically,
“Fake! I want to report this, I want to report it! That useless girl must have used some disgraceful trick!”
By the end, his shout had even taken on a note of desperate sobbing.
He could feel the gazes of his colleagues and students around him—some shocked, some pitying, but most laced with silent mockery—yet he no longer cared about any of that.
He simply couldn’t bear the consequences of Kaelan’s defeat.
In this moment, he had not only lost his status as a Mills Academy instructor, but even his long-held belief in the Supremacy of Magic had been destroyed.
If, in this world, magic was not the measure of a person’s worth, then what meaning did everything he’d done in the first half of his life have?
How was he any different from those so-called lesser people?
In a daze, he became lost in confusion.
On the other side, Leanna and the others had already rushed over to surround Aixi.
“Amazing, Aixi!”
“I knew you could do it!”
Seli pumped her fists in excitement and said, “If you ask me, you should’ve taken off the Chains with Weight Magic right from the start and given them a real thrashing!”
Joina just smiled with pursed lips, a sly light flashing in her eyes:
“That might not be the case—losing hope after having it is the most painful of all.”
Teresa didn’t join in the noisy celebration. She simply stood quietly to the side and exchanged a knowing look with Aixi.
As Aixi’s sparring partner, she knew better than anyone how much sweat Aixi had poured out over the past month and how much she’d improved. So, from the very start, she knew Aixi would win.
At the same time, she also understood that what Aixi lacked now was not strength, but confidence.
This battle was the one in which she’d personally shatter her childhood Dream Demon and regain her confidence.
After a round of celebration, everyone returned to the Temporary Encampment of the Rose Knights.
As soon as she walked in, Aixi strutted like a proud peacock finally spreading its tail, head held high, stepping lightly straight toward the Saintess’s lounge.
Arriving at the lounge, she gave a proper bow to Isavel, who was seated at the head of the room, then with a hint of pride and a slightly raised ending to her voice, she said,
“Saintess, I’ve already completed the punishment you set. Next, it’s your turn to fulfill your promise.”
Seeing her so smug, Isavel smiled dotingly.
But soon after, she reined in her smile, and at the same time adopted a look of reluctant unwillingness because her plan had failed, replying coldly,
“I understand. Since you’ve completed your punishment, you can go. Five days—I’m giving you five days to return home. After that, you must come back here and continue your training.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Catching the unwillingness and defeat in Isavel’s tone, Aixi’s heart leapt with delight, and she could barely stop herself from grinning.
If word got out that she’d managed to make the villainous Saintess eat humble pie, her status in the Rose Knights would surely soar!
But, that wasn’t the most important thing right now.
Right now, she couldn’t wait to see Selis and tell her the good news in person.
But… where was Selis?
After searching all over, she finally learned Selis’s whereabouts from the maid Renia.
In the garden at the back of the encampment, beneath gentle sunlight, Selis was carefully watering the roses in the flowerbeds with a small watering can.
Her pure white dress fluttered softly in the breeze, while the crystals on her earrings refracted a gentle halo of light.
Aixi quietly approached and gently wrapped her arms around Selis’s waist from behind, pressing her cheek close against Selis’s warm and slender back.
“Lady Selis, I did it!”
“Mmm, I knew from the start that you could.”
“Lady Selis…”
Basking in Selis’s warmth, Aixi closed her eyes.
For some reason, in her embrace, Aixi always felt a mother’s warmth.
Something came to her mind, and her arms tightened unconsciously, as if drawing strength.
Sensing her hesitation, Selis smiled gently and encouraged her, “Whatever you want to say, you can tell me.”
It was a long while before Aixi finally summoned her courage, and in a slightly nervous but incomparably firm voice, softly said,
“I want to bring you with me, back to my hometown.”