Charles supported Avelina by the tall tree on the hill near the main gate, arriving late and breathless.
Looking at the chaotic melee that had broken out at the main entrance, he couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on.
“This is… the Albos army? Have they gone to war with the Empire?”
A deep shock filled Charles’s eyes.
He could barely care about his lungs nearly bursting after that marathon sprint and fight with Lin Yue.
Gritting his teeth, he moved from the rear of the battlefield by the main gate back toward the Mage Tower.
The Mage Tower was the heart of the academy’s defenses.
If it were destroyed by the enemy, the consequences would be unthinkable.
As a noble, he might look down on commoners and those with poor talent, but the Empire’s glory absolutely could not be ruined by these foreign invaders.
“Sound the alarm!”
In the crowd, Allen combined magic with the Blade of Laws in his attacks, forcefully holding back over a dozen peak first-tier warriors.
Working with Gus, the two broke through the enemy lines, punching a huge hole in the front, each of them standing as a veritable bulwark.
“Allen!”
Suddenly, the whistle of a battle axe sounded from behind.
Gus activated a new magitek device: the Shield Axe.
The heavy axe instantly switched into a shield form, blocking a sneaky long sword from behind.
With a swift motion, he changed it back to axe form, sweeping aside the soldier and hammering him out of the melee, forcibly carving out a small safe zone for the two to catch their breath.
“Can you hold out…?”
“Just barely!”
Gus, perhaps enjoying the fight a little too much, showed no sign of fatigue or fear.
His face was alight with excitement and thrill at claiming more kills.
Allen took a breath, quickly gathered mana at his fingertips, and patched up a magic barrier to block soldiers charging from the flank.
Boom!
“The ranged squad can’t hold much longer! The Mage Tower’s magic won’t last either!”
No sooner had these words left his mouth than a thunderous explosion sounded.
A dazzling light shone from the top of the Mage Tower, and a thick magic beam crashed down from the sky, smashing into the enemy ranks and blasting a huge group of soldiers trying to encircle the pair into the air, chaos and dust filling the field.
“Retreat!”
Seeing this, the enemy leader shouted a sharp order.
The soldiers pulled back like the ebbing tide, and taking advantage of this gap, Allen and Gus hurriedly withdrew inside the main gate to regroup with the other students.
Lilian supported a wounded student as she hurried over to the pair, her face grim.
“The rune stock for long-range magic is almost gone. Several classmates have already collapsed from exhaustion. If this keeps up, our defense won’t last much longer!”
Yuan also rushed over, panting and covered in dust.
“The side gate’s being probed by the enemy too. Luckily, I was quick and managed to draw them away for now, but I’m almost out of potions!”
Just as everyone was in a panic, a tired but disdainful voice sounded from the rear: “Is that all you can manage with a Mage Tower? If you can’t even hold for this little while, you don’t deserve to be in Avelina’s elite class.”
Everyone turned toward the voice.
Charles was leaning against the wall of the Mage Tower, his face pale—clearly not recovered from the duel and long sprint—but his eyes remained sharp, his staff glowing faintly with magic.
Even after getting thoroughly beaten by Lin Yue, he had accepted his loss.
But that respect was only for Lin Yue, not for these others.
Seeing them in such dire straits, his tone was naturally harsh.
“Charles? What are you doing here?”
Allen frowned.
Though he and Charles had settled their differences, there was still some friction.
He hadn’t expected to meet him at a time like this.
Still, every available hand counted; there was no need to start another conflict.
Charles gave a cold snort and continued, “Where are the teachers?”
“They’re all resting. They were the first to fight and have exhausted their magic.”
Charles raised an eyebrow, then turned to Yuan.
“What about your super potion? Aren’t you going to let them have some?”
He had just experienced half a bottle from Lin Yue and knew its wonders well.
“You think I’m a milk cow? I can just produce more at will? This all happened so suddenly—I didn’t bring that many potions! There’s no time to brew more on the spot!”
Yuan’s potions really were precious and impressive, but if you drank too many, their effects would sharply diminish for a time.
And while the potions weren’t too awful-tasting, they weren’t exactly pleasant either—drink too many, and you’d end up vomiting.
Lilian, seeing that Charles was still mocking everyone at such a critical moment, couldn’t help but say: “Charles, the situation is urgent. Even if you don’t want to help, please don’t make things harder for us. Everyone’s risking their lives to defend the main gate…”
Charles fell silent for a moment.
Hearing the pained moans around him, and recalling Lin Yue’s warnings, he finally made up his mind.
“Who said I wasn’t helping?”
He stepped into the crowd and shouted, “Are there any high-tier magisters still able to fight among you?”
As a noble, Charles had studied military strategy from a young age.
He now took command with the air of a seasoned general.
“……”
No one answered.
“So… I’m the only second-tier mage left in this group?”
The disparity in strength was simply too great, and their resources were running dry.
This wasn’t a battle they could win.
“Rudel, give me all the potions you have left,” Charles suddenly said to Yuan, as if about to do something earth-shattering. “I’m going to use advanced magic…”
A streak of lightning flashed from the gray sky, as if it were heralding a grand finale performance for this hot-blooded young noble.
Isabella walked the streets of the academy, a blue crystal in her hand emitting a faint shield that repelled the spreading red glow.
Thanks to this rare item, she avoided falling into hallucinations under the red light.
The treasure in her hand was the Power Crystal that Mapel had given to Lin Yue.
Why was it so valuable?
Because it couldn’t even be found in regions below three thousand meters in elevation—rare in quantity, low in supply, and with an explosive range of uses.
It could be slotted into magitek as a super battery; held in hand, it could continuously emit a shielding barrier against outside harm; crushed, it would briefly unleash a torrent of primal energy, disrupting high-tier mages’ spells or blocking an attack outright.
Pay special attention to the [blocks external harm] attribute. In the original story, this was a conceptual, almost divine item—anything that could [cause negative effects], it would block, mental interference included.
So, by the late game, when the map was crawling with trash mobs and stat monsters, this thing was incredibly useful.
Who wants to fight with the whole screen a messy blur?
From the moment Isabella got this from Lin Yue, she knew she couldn’t let down his trust—she had to accomplish something…
Her primary goal was to find Lia and her sister—or, ideally, meet Lin Yue.
With Lia’s abilities, any normal crisis should have been handled within five minutes.
But now, nearly twenty minutes had passed since entering the academy, and not a sign of Lia—or even a single hint of fighting—had surfaced.
All she saw were the bodies of residents, students, and teachers scattered across the ground.
The silence was terrifying.
“Sister!”
Just as Isabella was about to leave the area and check for anything odd near the plaza, a familiar, cool voice called out behind her.
“Sister?”
Isabella slowly turned her head, seeing a face identical to her own, anxiously running toward her, and felt a flicker of doubt.
As she relaxed her guard, lowering the crystal, she suddenly noticed that the barrier projected by the crystal turned from phantom to solid.
She sharply slapped Isabella’s hand away, retreating two steps.
The “Isabella” before her seemed to have no idea why she dodged, still anxiously urging: “Let’s go! The enemy’s already broken in! We need to get out of here!”
“What about the teachers and Lin Yue?”
Isabella crossed her arms and maintained a guarded social distance as she addressed her “sister.”
“Isabella” froze, then replied: “They have their own ways to survive. It’s not safe here.”
“No… Lin Yue is definitely still at school. I have to find him.”
Isabella shook her head, her eyes resolute.
She had promised Lin Yue and could not betray that trust.
And using Lin Yue to test this “Isabella” was just right.
“Are you insane! Lin Yue, that worthless brat, if he dies, he dies! He offended Valianna. I wish he’d never escape… Anyway, never mind that, let’s go!”
So that’s it.
Isabella already had her answer.
“Isabella” reached out again to grab her, but was instantly frozen in place.
“What if I refuse to leave, ‘sister’?”
“Sister?”
“Ever since we grew up, my sister has never called me ‘little sister.’ And she would never say such things.”
She knew that while her sister was timid, when it came to big matters she would never back down.
Even if, deep down, she wanted to run, she’d never tell her beloved little sister to shirk responsibility.
All these years, she was always the one in front—no matter how much she hated the situation, she’d grit her teeth for Bella’s sake.
“Disgusting. Don’t pretend to be my sister!”
Isabella’s aura exploded, gray pupils surging with icy blue magic, ice spikes and an ice dragon forming at her side, ready to force her way out.
“Isabella” was stunned for a moment, then her expression turned contemptuous, her gaze shifting to a bored, “How dull” look.
“Of course, you can’t impersonate someone’s closest kin. Second Miss of House Valianna, you’re as sharp as ever.”
The figure of “Isabella” began to blur.
After three seconds, the illusion faded, revealing the knight they’d encountered during the coach ambush, the one Lin Yue had beaten half to death.
“You?”
Clad in silver armor, his face hidden, but Isabella could sense the twisted ugliness of his expression.
“Long time no see. That little brat from House Hawk isn’t with you, huh?”
Before Isabella could respond, a sharp slash came at her.
She summoned ice spikes, conjured an ice wall to block the blow, then leaped back, stepping on a barrel and using wind magic to launch another ice spike in return.
He casually tried to swat the ice spike away, but it exploded on contact, shrapnel blasting into his armor, caving it in.
In a single move, his armor was ruined.
This was a fighting style Isabella had learned from Lin Yue: incredibly agile and unpredictable.
Most people would be down after the first exchange.
“Such pointless tricks!”
Knight Keller, furious, ripped off his helmet to reveal the savaged face Lin Yue had left him with.
He laughed madly, “Looks like you won’t be so easy to finish off this time…”
Second-tier intermediate mage vs. second-tier peak knight.
Last time, she had ambushed him, so he couldn’t even lift his sword.
But now, things were different—he’d come prepared, while she still needed her gear to resist the strange red light.
Who knew what her chances were?
“Where is my sister?”
“How should I know? Probably dead in some nameless corner by now.”
Isabella ignored his nonsense.
She knew her sister had likely been caught up in the turmoil, and was probably involved in all that was happening.
Otherwise, why else would she sneak around in black clothes?
“Church, enemy army, hallucinations… No one could have predicted this.”
Isabella’s mind raced.
She was deeply worried her sister might be in dire straits.
Whatever happened, she had to focus and deal with this knight first…
If she fell here, not to mention finding her sister—Avelina itself might fall.
She had to find Professor Lia; only then could things turn around.
“Bella…”
Isabella wandered aimlessly, the world before her eyes blurred like a dream.
She could no longer tell dream from reality.
It was like eating hallucinogenic mushrooms, only worse—her head felt like it was splitting apart.
Her only instinct now was to find her sister and get her out.
And… to find Lin Yue, and ask him why he had said such hurtful things that day…
These two desires were so intense within her they threatened to rip her sanity apart.
Just as she collapsed to her knees, about to lose consciousness, a black figure slowly appeared in her gray eyes.
In an instant, it was like a lost boat at sea had found its anchor.
The discomfort faded, and all she could see in her eyes was that black-haired boy.
“Lin Yue….”