"Did you really think I could keep anything?"
After wiping the water from her face, Iris seemed considerably less angry. She removed her hair tie and hairpin, letting her lovely hair cascade over her shoulders. Pulling a peach-wood comb from her handbag, she began smoothing out her damp strands as she spoke. "By the second day, the Sword Demon's belongings were no longer in our hands. They've been inspected by at least five different agencies by now. Even without me, someone else would have snatched them. When the Sword Demon vanished in the Distant Sky Realm last time, didn't the administration office nearly pull it off?
"And are you telling me you never searched the Sword Demon's things?" Iris sneered. "Weren't you curious about her secrets? How are you any nobler than I am?"
Lois's expression darkened. In truth, they all understood that once Sonia's wanted poster was issued, all of her personal belongings were bound to be confiscated for investigation.
Whether Iris had been involved or not, that once-bustling four-person dorm room was destined to be left with the voices of only three.
"Even if the administration office came and took everything, I could accept it. But who the hell do you think you are, Iris?"
Adele snapped with venom, "You approached Sonia for endorsements on behalf of your family's chamber of commerce, and which time did Sonia not put your family's work first? Which time did she not pour her heart and soul into doing the absolute best job? Anyone else has the right to be so utterly shameless, but you're the last person who gets to act like this!"
"Did my family not pay her? She wasn't some charity whore!" Iris scoffed. "Quite the contrary—she was an exceptionally expensive one."
"You—"
Adele was so furious her stomach felt ready to burn through. She summoned another water sphere and hurled it forward. But at that moment, the shield-axe sorcerer detached his hexagram shield and struck the sphere with a sharp swat, sending it rebounding toward Adele with increased speed!
*Smack.*
Adele instinctively shielded her face and dodged, but she felt no impact.
Lowering her hands, she saw an insulated bag held in front of her, perfectly intercepting the trajectory of the water.
"Nice work! I'll buy you a meal sometime!"
Adele promptly ducked behind Xiu. "Ingrid, hurry up and beat that big loudmouth, and then we'll throw Iris, that little loudmouth, straight into East Lake!"
"Iris, if you weren't afraid of us, you wouldn't have waited until now to come back to the academy," Lois said calmly. "You know full well how many concessions Sonia made for your family's chamber of commerce out of friendship as classmates, and how much extra support she provided. All of that was because you said you wanted to earn your parents' approval, that you wanted to inherit the chamber of commerce, and that you didn't want to become a mere bargaining chip in a political marriage."
Iris's lips trembled. She leaned forward slightly, exhaling a breath of white mist. "Did I ever beg her to help me?"
"I just don't understand," Lois said. "You used to come over and help her put on her combat outfit... I thought you wanted to be her friend."
"Unlike you three, I am a count's daughter. People have only ever sought to be *my* friend."
Iris put away her peach-wood comb. "Though, I did consider being friends with her... back when she was still a One-Wing Sorcerer.
"Even if she was just a village girl from the provinces, a beautiful female sorcerer with potential was certainly worth befriending.
"But she ran too fast. Far too fast.
"I used to be able to feel superior in front of her, but when I spoke to her on behalf of the chamber of commerce, do you have any idea what I felt?"
Iris gathered the front section of her hair into a small ponytail, tied the remaining hair behind it into a larger ponytail, and threaded the larger one through the base of the smaller one. That way, the high ponytail naturally perched upright without pulling her forehead hairline taut. "That day, she wore the exact same high ponytail as me. Yet she was far more beautiful than I was, far more confident, and far more powerful.
"I actually felt inferior.
"Pedigree, looks, hard work—I couldn't match her in anything." Iris suddenly laughed. "You understand that feeling, don't you?"
Lois fell silent. Adele condensed another water sphere, looking as if she wanted to attempt another sneak attack, while Ingrid quietly fixed her gaze on the shield-axe sorcerer.
A crowd had begun to gather along the campus path. It was unclear whether someone had already gone to notify a professor.
"Were you jealous?" Lois asked.
"How would I dare? She was already a Sanctuary sorcerer by then." Iris shook her head. "Being jealous of a Sanctuary sorcerer is an idea so foolish even I found it absurd. I still had to win her over on behalf of my family; our family wanted to recruit a Sanctuary sorcerer as well... But when news of the starry sky incident broke and my family told me to find a way to seize every item related to Sonia, even I was shocked by how unhesitating I was.
"In the past, I genuinely considered being her friend." Iris's smile brimmed with spiteful satisfaction. "But now, I am also genuinely delighted by her treason."
"You deliberately took our things and mixed them with Sonia's so your family could siphon off some insignificant scraps without anyone noticing."
Ingrid spoke up suddenly. "Are the gifts Sonia gave us still in your hands?"
Iris glanced at her, sneered with contempt, and nodded. "That's right. Those trivial little trinkets are indeed in my safekeeping."
"Give them back!" Ingrid's resonant voice rang clear through the biting wind and snow.
"To be honest, I despise the three of you quite a bit as well,"
Iris said leisurely. "I only came back this time to pick up a few things. I never expected to run into you three, let alone with the guard my father assigned me right by my side.
"Since you provoked us first, it's only fair that we fight back." Iris spread her hands. "Still, I can forgive you. After all, you're the friends of a whore, so it's only natural you'd lack basic manners—"
"Ingrid!"
"Ingri!" Lois and Adele shouted at the same time, though the former was trying to stop her while the latter was cheering her on. Ingrid shed her bulky down coat directly, revealing the camisole beneath and the spring-blade sword strapped to her arm.
With a flick of her wrist, the spring blade extended to full length, condensing a razor-sharp sword glow!
The shield-axe sorcerer did not underestimate her in the slightest just because she was a female college student. The moment her sword glow descended, countless fine threads tethered his shield to the earth, as though rooting him into the very bedrock!
*Clang!*
Ingrid's strike triggered an undulating crimson glow across the shield, and the brief collision repelled the sword-wielding girl through the air. The shield-axe sorcerer slotted his short sword into the gap of the hexagram shield. The crimson light rapidly converged, and when he drew the weapon back out, the short sword had transformed into a longsword wrapped in red lightning!
"This is bad," Lois gasped, her face draining of color.
"What's wrong?" Adele asked, and Xiu turned to look as well.
"That parry just now was the shield-axe sorcerer's most famous miracle, Charged Defense. It absorbs most incoming damage and converts it into power for oneself. That's a miracle only a Two-Wing Sorcerer can learn. And considering he's a noble's bodyguard, he's not only a Two-Wing Sorcerer, but most likely an experienced abyss warrior!"
Indeed.
From inside the fray, Ingrid could already feel the immense pressure radiating from the shield-axe sorcerer. His movements were unadorned and ferocious, his use of sorcery spirits stable and efficient, with almost no wasted motion or openings. That was combat instinct forged only through relentless life-or-death struggles in the perils of the abyss!
Ingrid had ventured into the abyss just last month with Leonie's team. Whether they were body sorcerers or academic sorcerers, everyone in that team had mastered the art of wringing their power to the absolute limit purely for the sake of survival.
Although she had fought many perilous battles in the Void Realm before, none of them compared to the abyss—because in reality, there were no second chances. Only in such high-pressure crucibles could a sorcerer scrub away extraneous flaws, paring combat actions down to pristine simplicity and streamlining the deployment of sorcery spirits to the utmost efficiency. Failure to do so meant burying one's bones in the abyss!
When she had emerged from the depths to see the starry sky once more, Ingrid had felt as if she were reborn.
She knew this was merely the probing phase. Once the shield-axe sorcerer mapped out her attack patterns, what followed would be a tempestuous, lethal onslaught!
*Crackle!*
The red lightning along the shield-axe sorcerer's blade whipped wildly like frenzied serpents. He shifted from defense to offense, strapping the shield to his left arm and gripping the longsword in both hands as he delivered a relentless flurry of slashes against Ingrid. Each strike crashed down like thunder splitting black clouds, reverberating like mountain tremors!
Only now did he unleash the true might of a Two-Wing Sorcerer, fiercely burning his gold sorcery power. Though Ingrid was on the verge of condensing her silver void wings, she was still fundamentally a Silver Sorcerer. Meeting a Two-Wing Sorcerer head-on was impossible; she was forced back step after step, her blade groaning under the strain!
"Asking for trouble," Iris mocked with a cold chuckle. "Getting worked up over someone like that... you're just as stupid as that whore who threw herself at a cult leader. Adele, your idea wasn't bad, though. It really is time to toss you into East Lake to cool off your heads."
Lois and Adele were in no mood to trade barbs with Iris. Watching Ingrid struggle, anxiety gnawed at their hearts. Adele hurled another water sphere, but the shield-axe sorcerer didn't even bother to dodge; it couldn't even graze him. Lois had chosen the path of a healing sorcerer, leaving her with virtually no combat capability.
They could only watch helplessly as Ingrid fell deeper into dire straits, unable to lend the slightest aid. Even Adele began to regret not studying harder during normal classes.
If only Sonia were here...
Lois shook her head vigorously and shouted, "Ingrid, stop fighting!"
"No."
Ingrid took a heavy bash from the shield-axe sorcerer's shield. Her steel-soled boots carved a furrow half a meter long into the ground. She coughed up a mouthful of steaming blood, but her hands still clung tightly to her hilt, her eyes fixed firmly on the enemy.
"I will make her pay the price!"
*Clang!*
When the spring blade clashed against the red-lightning sword, Ingrid's body abruptly went numb, and she nearly collapsed. Crimson lightning coursed through her, constantly paralyzing her nerves. With every exchange, the red electricity had built up inside her, and it had finally breached the threshold, inflicting a state of paralysis that even her Square Sword Body could not withstand!
Though she could still grip her weapon, she couldn't move her feet!
The shield-axe sorcerer slotted his sword back into the shield once more. The medium hexagram shield began spinning violently around the tip of the blade, crimson lightning accelerating into a furious whirlpool like a crazed chainsaw!
As he hoisted the shield-axe high, the spinning shield reached peak velocity. A lightning bolt split from the sky to wrap around its rim—a grinding wheel of thunder poised to reduce flesh and bone to dust!
The watching students gasped in horror. Adele collapsed to the ground in terror, while Lois lost all reason and lunged forward. "Ingrid—!"
A second later, someone seized Lois by the arm. She turned to find the black-haired young man they had just met. Meanwhile, Ingrid had already constructed her sorcery procedure.
A warm yellow barrier rose from the ground, firmly shielding Ingrid!
Miracle: Sword Body Barrier!
Watching the luminous defensive miracle, Xiu's lips curved slightly upward.
Lois breathed a sigh of relief at the sight, but her panic instantly resurfaced. Ingrid was a One-Wing Sorcerer, and that was merely a first-wing defensive miracle. How could it possibly withstand the thunderous Super Shield-Axe Discharge of a Two-Wing shield-axe sorcerer?!
Ingrid had thought the exact same thing. She channeled healing into herself non-stop, preparing to evade the instant the Sword Body Barrier shattered.
*Boom!*
"Eh?"
"Huh?"
To everyone's utter astonishment, the thunderous shield-axe failed to break the Sword Body Barrier. Instead, the invisible sword qi reflected by the barrier struck the shield-axe sorcerer hard across the torso. Scalding blood splashed onto the icy ground, sending up plumes of vapor.
"Ingri is amazing!" Adele sprang up from the ground. "Hurry, smash that big loudmouth!"
Ingrid was stunned as well. She didn't remember Sword Body Barrier being this powerful. How could...
There was no time to ponder the details. Regaining her stance, she drove her boots into the ground, her chilling sword glow dancing anew!
The shield-axe sorcerer stanched his bleeding almost instantly and pressed on without hesitation. Though he had no idea how a One-Wing Sorcerer had managed to hurt him, as long as he watched out for that move, he would be fine. Even through standard attacks alone, he could hack a one-winged sword sorcerer to death!
Yet as time went on, Ingrid remained entirely unscathed. It was the shield-axe sorcerer who accumulated countless cuts, his black clothes turning dark red with blood!
*How is this possible?*
*Was she hiding her strength just now?*
*What kind of sorcery spirit effect is this? Why am I losing?*
It was not just the shield-axe sorcerer who was gripped by dread; Ingrid herself couldn't comprehend what was happening to her.
She only felt the cold wind buoying her body, the light illuminating her blade. Her limbs felt so light she could almost fly. Every slash struck the enemy's vitals with uncanny precision, and every second she could effortlessly evade his attacks—it was as if the world itself were helping her fight.
She vaguely recalled hearing about similar phenomena. For example, water sorcerers fought with divine aid at sea, and fire sorcerers were invincible amidst an inferno; casting spells in an attuned environment made a sorcerer virtually unstoppable. But where could a sword sorcerer find such an environment? It couldn't possibly be that the winter wind was so cold it cut like a knife, could it?
With that idle thought, Ingrid delivered a casual slash. The tip of her blade skimmed across the hexagram shield, carving a deep fissure into its surface. The icy wind howled through the crack like a forest of blades, leaving both combatants flabbergasted.
Ingrid suddenly remembered a past chat with Sonia.
A "legendary sword sorcerer" could conjure a sword environment—where a casual swing could unleash hundred-meter sword qi, or imbue strikes with armor-piercing effects on par with ultimate decay.
"Haha, Iris, who's the one getting tossed into East Lake to cool their head now?"
The situation in the courtyard had become crystal clear. Though Adele had no idea why Ingrid was suppressing a Two-Wing Sorcerer, that didn't stop her from perking right back up. "Did you think bringing a bodyguard meant you were untouchable? Outside campus, there really wasn't much I could do to you, but now that you're back at school, who do you think still respects you?
"Sure, you're a count's daughter. You're rich and powerful, so no one dares badmouth you to your face—except me! But do you dare check the school forum? Do you know what people are saying about you? Everyone knows you benefited from Sonia's favors, and then you were the very first to rush in and loot her possessions!
"From now on, everyone who knows you will walk on eggshells around you. Everyone who sucks up to you will do it with extreme caution. Every compliment you hear will carry a hidden sneer, and every greeting will be laced with distant contempt. Because you're a shameless little loudmouth, and you aren't worthy of trust!
"Did you think it was just Sonia's brilliance outshining you and exposing your ugliness? Even without her, you'd still be a clown! No one will ever respect you, nobody!"
Adele took the chance to fling another water sphere. It sailed past the battlefield and smacked right into the dazed Iris. Drenched and shivering, Iris sneezed, a bone-chilling cold penetrating straight through her down jacket.
She saw a ring of students gathered nearby—some whispering, some pointing, some recording videos on their devices. Freezing droplets trickled from her hair down to the tip of her nose, and her body began to shake. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself as Adele's words echoed relentlessly through her mind: *No one respects you... Everyone looks down on you... Everyone is laughing at you...*
Iris bowed her head and covered her ears, panting heavily. But Adele's voice remained painfully distinct, grating like a biting blizzard: *"...Your guard is about to lose! In a moment, we'll throw you into East Lake so you can think long and hard about what not to do and what not to say!"*
Iris looked up to see the shield-axe sorcerer bleeding profusely across the ground. Her breath turned ragged and shallow, the cold in her limbs a visceral foretaste of what awaited her. Adele's voice was so piercing, the watching students' murmurs so suffocating, their gazes digging into her like needles, stinging her all over.
*Don't mock me... You're not allowed to look down on me...*
*No!*
A trace of vicious malice flashed in her eyes. Suddenly pulling a standard-issue handgun from beneath her coat, she aimed straight at Ingrid, cocking the hammer and flicking off the safety in a single breath. The surrounding students screamed in fright—firearms of such lethal power were strictly permitted only during duels supervised by professors! Under normal circumstances, a shot could kill someone outright before anyone could even attempt to save them!
*I cannot lose!*
Iris pulled the trigger hard—only to find her finger squeezing empty air.
Stunned, she looked up to see a masked young man standing right before her, holding the standard handgun and casually studying its construction.
"You..."
Iris managed only a single syllable before her voice was cut short. The barrel of the handgun was shoved violently into her mouth. The freezing metal pressed against the back of her throat, and the icy reek of death flooded her body. It was as if her spine had been ripped out; Iris slumped limply onto the ground.
She tried to reassure herself that he wouldn't dare pull the trigger, but when she looked up, she met only a pair of indifferent eyes.
No fury, no joy, no emotion whatsoever—as though snuffing out a life was nothing more than an inconsequential daily chore to him.
Tears welled up uncontrollably and spilled from the corners of her eyes. Iris had never lost her composure so utterly. With a gun barrel shoved down her throat, she burst into loud sobs before the eyes of the entire crowd, letting out muffled, whimpering wails.
The fight between Ingrid and the shield-axe sorcerer had already ground to a halt. Lois called out cautiously, "Xiu—"
*Bang!*
The gunshot startled dozens of onlookers, sending them ducking to the ground with their hands over their ears. Everyone watched in shock as the black-haired young man withdrew the handgun, its silver barrel glistening with a thread of saliva.
"A blank," he said with a chuckle. "I knew a Sword Flower student wouldn't murder a classmate."
He crouched down, pressed the handgun back into Iris's hand, and engaged the safety. Iris stared at him blankly, her mind completely shattered.
He produced a packet of tissues, drew one out, and offered it to her. "Wipe your mouth."
Iris obediently took it, delicately dabbing away the wetness around her lips.
"Watch your mouth in the future, Miss." He patted her shoulder, picked up his insulated bag, and walked away. After notifying the professors and healing sorcerers, Lois hurried to lead her roommates away from the scene, catching up to the black-haired young man ahead.
Iris remained slumped on the ground in a daze. Quite some time passed before a healing sorcerer arrived and pulled her aside for an examination. At that moment, a crushed, deformed bullet fell from the muzzle of the gun, clattering crisply against the ground.
The sound seemed to snap Iris awake. Looking at the bullet on the ground—one that had clearly been fired yet had somehow failed to exit the barrel—she suddenly broke down, wailing like a devastated child. Rubbing her eyes and hiccuping through her tears, she wept her heart out, entirely unable to contain herself.
"You took way too big of a risk just now!" Lois rushed over and grabbed Xiu's hand. "What if that handgun hadn't been loaded with a blank? You would've become a murderer!"
Chapter 1038