In the seventh-floor atrium, sunlight filtered through the transparent glass skylight of the dome, its silken, delicate rays intertwining with faint shadows in the air. Outside the windows, the sky grew increasingly gloomy; hearing a sudden crack of thunder would have come as no surprise.
Lanqi walked the familiar path toward the atrium, still cradling the little black cat in his arms.
Lush potted greenery lined both sides of the corridor, while scattered artistic accents and reliefs blended seamlessly with the surroundings, lending a distinct cultural refinement to the serene top floor.
Even though Lanqi was only a first-year student, he had visited this place several times. To enter an artificial Shadow World, one had to go up to the seventh floor of the Learning and Education Building, where Ikerite Academy housed the artificial Shadow World launch terminal.
Outside, the sky was dim and overcast, but as he stepped into the atrium, the lights grew brighter, evoking an easy sense of comfort.
"Lanqi, you really are such a wonderful guy, meow!"
Boss Cat rolled over in Lanqi's hands, looking exceedingly happy and snug.
Not only was Ikerite Academy bustling with excitement, but the cat also got to witness matchmaking—its absolute favorite kind of story!
As long as Lanqi relied on his own strength to fairly and squarely win the wager against Adams, he would successfully arrange a marvelous date for Loren and Juliana!
Based on its observations of the boy so far, Boss Cat was ready to give him a perfect score of one hundred.
Boss Cat was growing fonder of Lanqi by the minute, and more convinced than ever that he and Tata were made for each other.
A cool, intellectual older woman and a gentle, brilliant, handsome youth—oh, it could hardly wait to see what kind of sparks would fly between them!
Just thinking about it made the little black cat squirm into a happy little caterpillar.
"Right? No one has a bigger heart than me."
Lanqi proudly held out a hand and high-fived the cat's paw.
Even though he never left his name when doing good deeds and never sought anything in return, receiving praise still made him feel warm and fuzzy inside, fueling his drive to accumulate more virtuous karma.
He definitely had to put on a great show for Boss Cat today.
Rounding the marble balustrade, he entered the artificial Shadow World preparation area, where dozens of gazes instantly converged on him.
The most prominent figure was Teacher Teresa, standing before the artificial Shadow World launch terminal holding a slate-like magical device, in charge of guiding participants.
The upperclassmen who had originally been waiting in the conference room on the top floor of the School of Sages' main building had now all assembled in the atrium.
Shortly, the magic screen in the atrium would broadcast the live feed from inside the Shadow World.
Teresa had been the examiner during Lanqi's entrance test.
Now standing before him once again, she was no longer wearing her gentle smile; instead, her expression was fraught with tension and gravity.
Behind her on the magical apparatus, the conspicuous sign reading [Forced Restart Strictly Prohibited] had yet to be taken down.
And Examiner Ferrat being carried off on a stretcher during the third round was still vividly etched in Teresa's memory.
"Lanqi, are you sure you can beat Adams?" Teresa asked nervously.
Regardless of everything else, she still hoped Lanqi would win.
"I'll do my best. Don't worry," Lanqi replied with a nod.
"……"
Hearing that, Teresa felt somewhat reassured.
Whenever she saw Lanqi facing danger or a predicament, she, like the other instructors, never had any idea how he could possibly win.
Yet after watching him for long enough, they had all developed an intuition.
Whenever Lanqi wore that calm, unruffled expression, he was bound to have a plan. Otherwise, he never would have made a wager where he acted first and reported later.
If he lost, Teresa truly could not imagine how Lanqi would convince Loren to apologize.
If Dean Loren were capable of handling his romantic battlefield, he would have cleared things up with Juliana long ago.
When it came to romance, Dean Loren's situation was much like Lanqi's music classroom—a fatal loop that could neither be untangled nor escaped, where looking at it for one second too long would set off an explosion.
They did not have to wait long.
Toward the atrium's entrance, Adams arrived right on time.
Under the light, Adams's silhouette seemed like a brand-new blade slicing through the enclosed hall.
He no longer held back his powerful aura.
He strode toward Lanqi with steady, forceful steps.
"Lanqi, are you ready?"
Adams's voice reverberated across the space. His eyes burned brightly as he fixed his gaze on Lanqi, as if this trip had only one purpose: to defeat Lanqi so thoroughly that he would accept the outcome without hesitation!
"Yes, let's begin." Lanqi nodded and looked toward the artificial Shadow World launch terminal.
"Give it your all, Lanqi! The dean's fate rests on this duel!"
"The School of Sages' honor is in your hands!"
Shouts erupted from the upperclassmen of the School of Sages.
There was no time for prolonged chatter.
Following the standard procedure, Teresa promptly escorted Lanqi and Adams before the Void Gate.
"You may begin."
Teresa spoke in a tense voice as she used the secret key to activate the terminal.
A Void Gate appeared before the two challengers in front of the terminal, displaying a countdown timer.
Challengers had to step inside before the preparation window expired.
Both seasoned challengers, Lanqi and Adams exchanged no more words and stepped directly into the Void Gate.
The seventh-floor atrium fell deathly silent, as though all sound had been completely shut out.
Every pair of eyes locked onto the magic screen.
The screen flashed with dazzling brilliance as an extradimensional rift resembling a spacetime tunnel expanded, then briefly went dark.
When it lit up again, the live broadcast of Lanqi and Adams's Shadow World duel was officially underway!
* * *
Meanwhile, at Jera Memorial Square.
A light drizzle had begun to fall. Many students, clad in raincoats or holding umbrellas, stood on the stone steps watching the contest.
The outdoor giant screen displayed the interior of a prison cell.
Lanqi stood inside the cell.
"I've always said Lanqi rocks the penitentiary chic."
"No kidding. If Headmaster Lan weren't wearing shackles, I wouldn't even be able to tell if he's the prisoner or the warden."
Even confined to a prison cell and dressed in inmate garb, Lanqi still radiated that same gentle, effortless poise.
However…
At the edge of the square, through the eyes of an Aloran Kingdom student, the scene appeared altogether different.
"……?!"
In that traumatic Demon Academy Shadow World, inside the Headmaster's Office, there had been a Glow Demon who looked exactly like this.
Yet appearances were not the most important thing.
It was that distinct aura, that faint, elusive smile—even disguised as a human, she could never mistake him!
The instant the Glow Demon appeared on the outdoor giant screen, meeting his gaze across dimensions felt as though the very air around her on the square had dropped several degrees.
Her near-short-circuited brain finally sputtered back to life. She gazed into the air around her like a drowning person grasping for a lifeline.
Yet for some reason, her brother, who had been right beside her moments ago, had vanished without a trace.
"What's wrong?"
Her classmate from Aloran Royal Academy noticed her distress and called out to her with concern.
She wanted to speak, to scream, to call for help, yet she could not control her vocal cords. Her vision began to spin, and the sounds around her blurred into a chaotic ringing, through which she caught fragments of Ikerite Academy students repeatedly uttering the word "Headmaster."
No matter which way she turned, across every screen large and small throughout the campus, the image of that Glow Demon surrounded her like a kaleidoscopic nightmare.
Was this a dream?
Or reality?
Why was the Glow Demon who haunted her nightmares appearing in the waking world?
And where had her only pillar of support gone—the brother who had stayed by her side through the entire Purgatory Corridor Academy?
As a thunderclap exploded across the heavens, all sensation vanished from her trembling legs, and she collapsed in a dead faint onto the stone steps of Jera Memorial Square!
Chapter 186