The next day.
The atmosphere in the Terra Branch practical magic class was as stifling as ever.
Bell sat in the back row of the classroom, the seat beside him empty.
Kyle sat diagonally in front of him, turning back several times as if wanting to say something before ultimately leaving only a back slumped with disappointment.
Bell did not look at him.
He simply stared at his open notebook, where every rune seemed to twist into Cecilia’s smiling face.
“Utilize him.”
He couldn't do it.
Looking at Kyle’s guileless face, he could not connect the words “friend” and “pawn.”
That was not his way of doing things.
If he became that kind of person, what would be the difference between him and Cecilia?
The classroom door was pushed open.
Everyone assumed it was Instructor Hood, who was always slow and methodical.
But the person who walked in caused the air in the entire classroom to freeze instantly.
The newcomer wore a simple instructor’s robe, yet it could not hide the innate arrogance and aggression radiating from him.
A cynical, mocking gaze.
Leovet Victor.
Why was the ace instructor of the Ignis Branch appearing in a Terra classroom?
After a brief, dead silence, whispers surged like a tide.
“It is Instructor Leovet!”
“Heavens, what is he doing here?”
“Could it be...”
A voice, suppressed with excitement, spoke the thought on everyone’s mind.
“It is for Cecilia Lucas! It has to be!”
“Exactly! Every instructor in the academy has taught her already, except for Instructor Leovet!”
Amidst the chatter, Bell became the most inconspicuous background element.
Everyone’s eyes instinctively searched the room for the figure of that genius girl.
But Cecilia had not come today.
Leovet scanned the room, a mocking curve hooking the corner of his mouth.
“It seems you are quite satisfied with the status quo.”
He walked to the front of the room and leaned casually against the desk.
“I regret to inform you all that your mild mannered Instructor Hood decided his teaching level was no longer sufficient for the needs of this classroom and has volunteered to prune plants in the Logistics Department.”
“From today onward, I will be taking over this course.”
His gaze slowly swept across the room, pausing on Bell for a mere fraction of a second before shifting away as if nothing had happened.
Just then.
The back door of the classroom was pushed open gently.
A slender figure walked in.
Cecilia.
She wore a spotless academy uniform and held several heavy tomes in her arms, her face wearing a perfectly measured expression of apology.
“My apologies, Instructor. I was consulting materials in the library and arrived late.”
She performed a flawless noble lady’s curtsy toward Leovet at the podium.
Leovet watched her, his mockery receding slightly to be replaced by a keen scrutiny.
“Miss Lucas, it seems your thirst for knowledge has surpassed your respect for the classroom.”
“It is my fault. I am willing to accept any punishment.”
Cecilia’s answer was airtight, her pure eyes staring straight at Leovet without flinching.
Bell’s heart leaped into his throat.
He could feel it.
There was a silent confrontation between the two of them.
The air was thick with the scorching tension of ice colliding with fire.
“Punishment will not be necessary.”
Leovet suddenly laughed.
“Find a seat. I only hope my class does not make you feel like you are wasting your time.”
“Of course not, Instructor.”
Cecilia smiled as well, a look that was sweet and pure.
She turned and walked with light steps directly to the empty seat beside Bell, sitting down.
A familiar, sickly sweet, and icy aura instantly enveloped Bell.
“Big brother,” she whispered, leaning in.
Bell’s body froze.
“Today’s task is simple.”
Leovet’s voice rang out from the podium once more.
“Manifest a mana creation that belongs entirely to you, and maintain it.”
“You are not permitted to use any existing spell models. Use your will to shape it from nothing.”
This command left most of the students in a daze.
Shape it from nothing? How was that possible?
Leovet did not explain, merely crossing his arms and watching the class with interest.
Cecilia was the first to move.
She extended a fair finger, and at its tip, a wisp of holy white light gathered.
The light flowed, quickly forming a lifelike white dove.
It had full plumage and an elegant posture, even tilting its head to curiously observe its surroundings with obsidian eyes.
“Whoa...”
Gasps of admiration echoed from the surroundings.
Bell’s heart sank.
He knew this white dove was made for him to see.
It was a warning.
Leovet glanced at the white dove, his face devoid of expression.
“Flashy but hollow. Nothing more than a soulless shell.”
He walked over to Bell’s desk and tapped the surface.
“And you? The eldest son of the Lucas family, do you plan to mold a lump of mud?”
Bell gritted his teeth and reached out.
He closed his eyes, struggling to muster the meager earth element mana within his body.
A crude block of earth, barely recognizable as a wolf, slowly took shape in his palm.
It was crooked and looked as if it might crumble at any moment.
“Pathetic.”
Leovet’s voice was filled with disappointment.
Bell hung his head even lower.
“However...” Leovet’s tone shifted. “At least this is something you molded yourself.”
He turned back to face Cecilia.
“Talent is the cheapest of gifts. Because it is not something you earned.”
“True power stems from creation, not imitation.”
The smile on Cecilia’s face remained perfect.
“The instructor is right.”
She raised her hand, and the holy white dove flew gracefully onto her fingertip.
“Then, what do you think of this kind of ‘creation’?”
The moment the words left her mouth.
The body of the white dove began to twist.
The holy white light rapidly faded, replaced by an ominous grayish black.
Its neck twisted one hundred eighty degrees at an eerie angle, and its obsidian eyes instantly became two hollow, bloody holes.
It opened its beak and let out a silent scream filled with agony and malice.
The temperature in the entire classroom plummeted.
That silent shriek pierced the eardrums of everyone present, reaching into the depths of their souls.
The air in the classroom felt as if it had been frozen solid.
The students turned pale and instinctively shrank back, as if that twisted grayish black dove were some living source of plague.
Fear.
Pure, unadulterated fear.
Bell’s breathing stopped.
It was exactly the same feeling as on the clock tower rooftop when his eye had been gouged out.
That absolute, suffocating malice that toyed with life and twisted rules at will.
He was finished.
Leovet had provoked her.
And the one to bear that fury could only ever be himself.
At the podium, the playfulness on Leovet Victor’s face finally vanished completely.
He did not look at the monster; instead, he fixed his gaze on Cecilia’s face, which still wore that perfect smile.
“I see.”
He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, yet it carried clearly through the deathly silent classroom.
“Your understanding of ‘creation’ is to tear something beautiful apart and then cobble the pieces together into something hideous to flaunt your own power.”
He stepped forward, ignoring the terrified looks of the surrounding students, and walked step by step to Cecilia’s desk.
He stopped and looked down, scrutinizing the monster that was constantly seeping black malice.
“It screams, yet has no vocal cords.”
“It bleeds, yet has no heart.”
“It imitates agony, yet knows nothing of what agony truly is.”
Leovet’s voice was like a sharp scalpel, precisely dissecting Cecilia’s masterpiece.
“This is not creation, Cecilia Lucas.”
“This is merely a child’s infantile, hysterical... imitation show.”
For the first time, the smile on Cecilia’s face showed a slight stiffness.
Deep within those pure eyes, something shattered.
Her power had always brought nothing but awe and fear to everyone.
No one had ever dared to use the word “infantile” to describe her.
Leovet gave her no time to react.
He extended a finger.
No mana fluctuation, no elemental convergence.
Like an ordinary person brushing dust off a table, he lightly tapped the top of the monster’s head.
“Pop.”
A soft sound.
That monster radiating endless malice and agony, the existence that made the entire classroom feel like a frozen cellar, instantly dissolved into a handful of fine gray dust.
It drifted down, settling on the spotless desk.
As if it had never existed.
Leovet withdrew his hand, not even bothering to brush away the dust clinging to his fingertip.
He turned back to face the entire classroom.
His gaze swept over the crooked dirt wolf on Bell’s desk and then landed on Bell’s pale face.
“Do you see?”
“True power is not destruction.”
“It is definition.”
“I define it as trash, and so it does not even have the right to struggle.”
Bell’s heart was gripped tightly by those words.
Definition...
He looked at Cecilia.
The girl remained seated, her head bowed so that her expression was hidden.
But Bell could feel it.
The coldness radiating from her was a hundred times more terrifying than that monster from moments ago.
“Today’s class ends here.”
Leovet’s voice broke the silence.
“Class dismissed.”
Those two words were like a decree of amnesty.
The students in the classroom woke as if from a nightmare, scrambling to pack their things and fleeing the room as if for their lives.
They did not want to spend another second in the same space as those two monsters.
Kyle’s footsteps faltered as he passed Bell, giving him a worried glance.
But Bell did not look up.
Kyle eventually sighed and left quickly.
In the blink of an eye, only three people remained in the large classroom.
Bell, Leovet, and... Cecilia.
Bell’s hands were shaking.
He wanted to flee immediately, but he didn't dare move.
He knew that the moment he moved, Cecilia would coil around him like a predatory viper.
“Miss Lucas.”
Leovet’s voice spoke again as he leaned against the podium with his arms crossed.
“It seems my class truly was boring for you.”
Cecilia slowly raised her head.
That innocent smile was back on her face, as if nothing had happened.
“How could it be, Instructor?”
Her voice was as sweet as ever.
“Your class was very interesting.”
She stood up, lifted her skirt, and performed a perfect noble curtsy to Leovet.
“I learned a great deal.”
Then, she turned and walked with light steps to Bell’s desk.
Bell’s body tensed instantly.
Cecilia did not look at him.
Her gaze fell upon that crude, crooked dirt wolf.
Leovet had just said...
“Your little mud wolf has more vitality than that pile of dust.”
The corner of Cecilia’s mouth curved upward into a tiny, bone chilling arc.
“Big brother.”
She called out softly.
“This toy of yours is truly cute.”
She extended her jade white finger, just as Leovet had done moments before.
Then, she lightly tapped the top of the dirt wolf’s head.
That slender finger hovered over the head of the dirt wolf.
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