Ashley: I Admit Defeat

Ashley was truly sweating profusely.

She stared at Liszt as though she were looking at a demon.

He waved his staff, his expression solemn, stern, and sacred like the water god of myth—or a deep-sea mermaid stirring the tides. His pale purple swallowtail coat fluttered in the air, while his long hair flowed in the warm early-winter sunlight, dancing slowly with the surrounding water elements.

Seeing Liszt strike such a pose, the spectators in the stands all showed admiring looks.

He truly deserved to be the second-ranked saint that the Seaside Morning Post most wanted to date. That abstinent-looking face alone was enough to stir one's feelings.

Still, why did those dancing water elements look a little yellow?

It was probably the sunlight reflecting off them.

That was what they thought.

That perverted glasses-wearing freak absolutely could not be allowed to finish his magic!

Absolutely not!

This was only the initial stage of the spell. The gathered urine-water was still just a few drops, but if his magic fully took shape, it would become an enormous urine bomb worth twelve whole bottles!

She had to stop him!

She absolutely could not give up.

At this very moment, it was undoubtedly the most critical and perilous moment of Ashley's life.

Since he was using a vortex to gather water elements—

Ashley raised her staff and also began chanting Water Element Gathering. However, she created a water-element vortex completely opposite to Liszt's and hurled it at his whirlpool.

She would make these frontier barbarians understand what a true genius was, and what a true noble was!

The two opposing vortices crashed together, grinding against and wearing each other down, slowly canceling one another out.

She truly was a rare Magic Genius. At this most critical moment, she had finally unleashed her magical potential.

Ashley was still chanting Water Element Gathering, yet she had created a reverse spiral.

The few scattered droplets of urine element stopped spinning and struck the ground, where they were soon dried by the wind.

This time, they had tied.

Only the last spell remained.

When Liszt saw his magic had been neutralized, he was not annoyed. On the contrary, he was remarkably calm, even sincerely delighted.

Exactly. This was how it should be. A smile split across his lips as he watched the opponent before him. This was how it should be!

What a thrilling duel of honor, Lady Ashley, he praised in his heart.

What a piss-boiling idiot's duel, you beast Liszt, Ashley wailed inwardly.

It seemed that, because she had been too focused on casting the reverse vortex, she had leaked a drop or two. Ashley's pale expression was as white as death.

She glanced at the time during the exam from the corner of her eye. Seven minutes had already passed.

Three minutes remained.

There was one final spell left, the last trial.

And it was the hardest trial of all.

This last spell was not water-element magic.

It was Holy Light element magic.

This time, Ashley had caught up with the thought process of those bastards and immediately saw what this Holy Light Magic was meant to do.

Sensory Blessing

Low-tier Magic, enhancement-type magic

Mana Points cost: three

Holy Light Blessing upon a living being, increasing all bodily senses by one hundred percent, including hearing, touch, sight, and more, lasting five minutes

This was an all-purpose Support Magic. It could be used to detect enemies or assist swordsmen in battle.

But increasing all the body's senses—

Naturally included the urge to urinate.

This exam had finally entered its climactic final phase.

Liszt cast the spell first. He waved his staff, and Holy Light burst forth around him, brilliant and sacred, as though it could transcend all suffering in the world. The Blessing Spell landed directly on Ashley.

Bastard!

Ashley could no longer remain standing. She leaned half against the ground, curling up as her pupils trembled violently.

Ashley only felt all her senses magnify. Every pore on her body seemed to be breathing, and her field of vision had become incomparably broad.

The river that had already been on the verge of bursting its banks had long reached its peak under the enhancement of Flowing Water and Water Surface Fluctuation. Now, beneath the radiance of Holy Light, that urge to urinate had surpassed the limits of what a human could endure!

Only willpower—only willpower beyond humanity—could maintain reason amid this flood!

Ashley also cast Sensory Blessing on Liszt, but what pained her was that the man in front of her remained utterly unchanged.

He was still elegant, still calm. His back had straightened completely, as though nothing in the world could destroy his grace.

How exactly did Liszt manage it?

Could it truly be as he said—that he was the real noble, the man who truly possessed noble qualities?

Although the surrounding spectators had no idea what was happening or why Ashley was half-kneeling on the ground.

She had probably suffered severe internal injuries.

They knew that the two sides must have engaged in the most profound and intense magical contest. The reason they could not see it was simply that it was too profound; their levels were too low to see through it.

What a truly profound duel.

"Two minutes."

Two minutes remained until the exam ended.

No matter what, Ashley had endured until now. Victory was within her grasp.

"One and a half minutes."

A faint smile had already appeared at the corners of her mouth.

Ashley knew her condition was dangerous. She had reached the limit of what she could endure; any slight disturbance could make her collapse.

Only the final straw was needed to break the mule of reason.

But fortunately, Liszt had already used up all four Memory Slots and had also exhausted all ten Magic Points.

He could do nothing more.

"Examiner Ashley." Liszt slowly pushed up his glasses and said calmly, "Congratulations on enduring until this point."

"I respect your will."

"But your struggle ends here."

"I am about to use the ultimate essence of Nezha's Turbulent Sea Stream on you," Liszt said with sacred solemnity. "The ultimate magic Brother Ansu taught me—"

"Tidal Song."

Ashley's pupils trembled violently.

Tidal Song?

She had never heard of such magic.

Had Ansu created it himself?

What kind of genius was he?

The utmost Ashley could do now was modify existing magic. She was completely incapable of creating magic from scratch.

And Liszt had already run out of Mana Points—

She watched Liszt's movements intently.

His expression was solemn and sacred. His left hand rested against his lips, his right hand covered his left, and his lips parted slightly as he chanted that sacred prayer:

"—Shh~ shh~ shhhhh~ shhshh~."

"Shhshh~ shhshh, shh~"

?

What the hell was this?

Yet for some reason, upon hearing that sound, Ashley's body reacted on its own.

It was an instinct copied from this body, a copied conditioned reflex!

An instinct she could neither escape nor resist.

This was the final straw that broke the mule!

Liszt even walked up to her, shushing once into her left ear and once into her right, back and forth, surrounding her from every angle with shushing whistles, as though she had reached the sea and the melodious sound of tides filled her ears.

The moon called to the tides, and Ashley could no longer resist!

Before the vast sea, she was as helpless as a little girl.

She was about to pee!

"I..." Ashley was nearly crying as she whimpered softly, "I admit defeat. I'm sorry. I was wrong."