Open Scheme

Li Yue stood on the shattered ice. Everything around her was gone, leaving only a vast expanse of white. This feeling was like returning to Yakutsk—the moment she had first accepted the God's remains and severed herself from her past. Back then, she had nothing, and now, she felt that sense of losing everything once more.

“In the end... everything is lost. Better to have nothing from the start than to possess and then lose,” Li Yue murmured. The giant beast's body sank into the depths, shattering into bubbles and dissolving into nothingness within the lake waters.

Li Yue stepped across the floating ice, her heart rising and falling with the waves. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down and suppress the maddening urge to tear everything apart. Her hands trembled slightly as the long sword forged from blood crystals shattered piece by piece, sinking into the lake.

She reached forward, weakly extending her fingers as if trying to grasp something. A snow white sparrow landed on her fingertip. It felt warm, its feathers soft and fuzzy. For a fleeting moment, the hardest, coldest part of Li Yue's heart seemed to be touched.

She stared at the tiny bird, wondering why such a lovely little creature would land on her finger. Its eyes were clean and clear. Such a simple creature actually felt no fear toward “Death.” Li Yue smiled faintly and leaned in for a closer look, but the tiny creature soon dissolved into specks of light, vanishing into the air.

Halos of light rippled through the atmosphere before fading into the void. Li Yue watched it all, feeling as if something were missing from her heart.

No wonder it didn't fear death... These things are nothing but my own beautiful fantasies... nothing more... Is everything destined to be lost? Why am I suddenly thinking of these things? Is it because of the God's remains?

She pursed her lips, her body transforming into a blood shadow that surged toward the depths of the lake. She left behind a single sigh as her figure vanished into the horizon.

A powerful aura flashed and vanished. All the monitoring magic placed in the vicinity failed simultaneously. Even the projection in the Garden Hall developed a blank void, as if that entire region had completely ceased to exist.

“Why did we lose all vision of this area just now?” a professor asked, pointing at the black zone in the center of the lake. Everything there seemed to have vanished, turned into a void.

Ishtar looked up, her eyes narrowing as she studied the area. For a brief moment, she had sensed an incredibly powerful aura, one that felt even more superior than her own. That aura was even more decayed than her Withering, carrying a scent that threatened to turn all things into dust.

“What a terrifying aura... That feeling... Tsk,” Ishtar whispered, her attention returning to the projection.

The pitch black area in the center gradually restored itself. Under the repair of several magical eyes, fragmented images of the region reappeared before everyone. The shattered surface of the Frozen Lake and the aqua blue water were now fully exposed to their gaze.

“The ice of the Frozen Lake is two grades harder than mithril or blue steel. It is over ten meters thick. Even if several Mages bombarded each other there, they shouldn't be able to leave much of a mark.”

“That was the attack of a Great Mage, and no ordinary one at that. To be able to shatter ice ten meters thick in a single instant...” A professor frowned deeply. “This magic user is stronger than anyone sitting in this room...”

“This aura... it belongs to an extremely powerful vassal. One of the vassals of ‘those three’... No... impossible... It could only be that person's vassal...” Ishtar crossed one leg over the other. A hint of killing intent hid within her scarlet eyes, yet her emerald green eye betrayed a trace of worry.

“How is this possible? For such a powerful magic user to infiltrate the exam... we must terminate the assessment and launch a suppression operation immediately,” a professor said, standing up. He scanned the room, and many others nodded in agreement with his view.

“There is no need for that yet. We can give the trainees who haven't earned enough points a bit more time.” Albert, wearing a trench coat, pushed the door open and entered with a warm smile. He pulled over a chair and sat down, idly flipping a butterfly knife. The handle and blade clicked rhythmically as they collided.

“Director Albert, what do you mean by this?” Ishtar stood up, her eyes narrowing as she sensed a hint of danger.

“That fellow in the forest, and those people from the Church whose brains have been rotted by a divine oracle—we can't let them act so unscrupulously anymore,” Albert said with a smile, crossing his legs and looking quite relaxed.

“What exactly do you mean?”

“There is a massive problem, but I have found a helper. Soon, the trouble will be resolved.” Albert smiled, his interest growing as he watched a section in the center of the projected forest slowly disappear.

Li Yue walked slowly across the frozen lake surface. The surrounding temperature began to shift; the biting cold faded, and the falling ice crystals gradually turned into rain. The vegetation began to grow increasingly lush.

The torrential rain here was swept up by biting winds. The area was brimming with vitality and magical energy, yet there were few animals. It seemed this territory was occupied by a creature of significant status.

Behind Li Yue, in the center of the Frozen Lake, mountains of ice rose from the ground like a massive wall. A blue robed mage was casting a spell in the far distance, using the ice mountains to isolate the central area from the outside world.

Li Yue glanced into the distance. She sensed no enmity from that direction. Her eyes narrowed, her blood red vertical pupils scanning the environment. She had considered sending a sword strike toward the blue robed mage, but the dangerous aura emanating from her immediate surroundings forced her to shift her focus.

This aura... it is so annoying... but it is certainly quite strong...