Twisting the Tide

Elvily asked in confusion, "What question booklet?"

"Sean!" Isha said excitedly. "Sean's question booklet!"

Elvily didn't understand what this had to do with Sean, but before she could think any further, she heard his familiar voice.

"He practices Puppet Technique!"

"Puppet Technique?"

Elvily immediately understood. So the person who had taken a plane and left Holkodo right under their noses had been Zajik's double?

"I didn't expect Miss Flame Crow to have reinforcements."

As Sean finished speaking, one of the attendants surrounding the three women suddenly raised his head, a murderous smile on his face.

His features were identical to Zajik's upstairs.

Taking advantage of the sudden turn of events, while everyone was still stunned by the True Formula, he moved like a ghost. From several meters away, he swung a vicious punch at Elvily.

"Watch out!" Isha and Iris cried out at the same time.

The latter's feet scraped against the ground, sparking arcs of lightning as she darted in front of the girl. Thunderclouds gathered in her hands as she tried to block the punch.

But the fist twisted and stretched in a bizarre fashion, like pulled dough. It curved around Iris and shot straight toward Elvily.

The girl hurriedly raised her greatsword to block it, but was still sent flying.

She hadn't been knocked away by the fist.

She had been knocked away by Sean's body.

Sean seemed to have used some kind of teleportation spell, forcing his way in front of the girl just before the fist landed.

"Bang!"

The Circle of Truth he had used to defend himself shattered like a mirror taking a heavy blow. He crashed into Elvily's arms, his entire body spattered with blood. He looked utterly wretched, barely recognizable, and obviously gravely injured.

But in reality...

Those injuries had all been left by Quill earlier.

Sean had already used Forbidden Meditation to push his body to its current limits. His magic power, dozens of times greater than that of a Tier Two, was more than enough to withstand a single blow from Zajik's puppet.

After all, the puppet wasn't Zajik's real body and couldn't bring out the full strength of a Tier Five.

As her brother-in-law, if he had the ability to stop his sister-in-law from being ambushed, of course he wouldn't let the chance go to waste.

But Elvily didn't know any of that.

All she saw was Sean's defensive spell shattering, Sean covered in wounds, and the clean face she remembered now sullied by blood...

She lowered her head, her eyes trembling.

Until now, Elvily had never fully trusted Sean. Having Iris send Isha to "protect" him wasn't just because she truly didn't want him to die; there had also been an element of "keeping an eye on him."

After all, Sean had guessed what they were planning.

Though she was more willing to trust Sean than others because she had personally saved him, that didn't mean she had no reservations of her own. Even in this dark age, when the world was hostile toward wizards, she was still willing to offer people the basic trust they deserved—but at the same time, she would maintain the basic caution people needed.

Elvily had suspected Sean.

When Iris had just said she would leave no trace of the traitor, Sean's face had even flashed through her mind.

She didn't want Sean to be the traitor. But if he really was, then as long as she survived the night, she would kill him with her own hands.

Yet now this very man, the one she had suspected, had used his frail body to shield her, taking a blow that might have left her seriously injured.

Deep guilt and a flicker of a feeling she had never known before intertwined, flooding her heart like a torrent.

Then a pair of burning wings sprouted from her back.

A shuddering presence slowly spread from the girl.

The temperature around them began to soar, and tiny sparks drifted through the air.

Then, without warning, the attendants rushing in from all around to seize their chance and attack spontaneously burst into flames, one after another. The fire grew more and more intense.

Elvily gently laid Sean down, rose to her feet, and looked up at Zajik on the third floor. Her eyes blazed with flames that seemed capable of consuming everything, and boundless killing intent.

Zajik sensed something was wrong and immediately made his puppet attack the girl again.

But this time, he didn't get his wish.

Elvily merely beat her wings, unleashing a towering wave of flames that swept the charging puppet away. Its skin was burned black and charred. If it had been a living being, that one strike would have killed it beyond any doubt.

Zajik's expression changed dramatically.

"Tier Six?!"

How could she have suddenly advanced to Tier Six?

Seeing the girl flap her wings and prepare to fly toward him, Zajik lost all the composure he'd shown moments ago and hurriedly ordered, "Stop her!!"

Even a Tier Six still had to abide by the principle that magic power was limited.

And advancing in rank didn't mean one's body became stronger as well. If she didn't defend herself, even a Tier Three Wizard could hurt her. As long as they could hold the girl back, Zajik could choose whether to fight or flee as he pleased.

At his command, all the attendants in the garden quickly converged on the main building.

Zajik's plan was sound, but reality didn't cooperate.

Sean, who should have been gravely wounded after taking a blow from the puppet—and who should have at least been half dead—suddenly stood up again like a corpse coming back to life.

His pupils had turned completely gold. As he raised both hands—

"Hmm!"

One translucent Golden Wall after another rose from the ground, instantly covering the entire garden and forming a gigantic Truth Maze. Countless functions and inequalities floated through the air, making the heads of hundreds of attendants buzz and throb with pain. Some of those with lower ranks couldn't bear the impact of all that knowledge and rolled on the ground, clutching their heads.

Iris stared at the absurd scene before her, unable to believe it was real. In a daze, she felt as though she had returned to her university days, with Sean as the math professor who had once terrified everyone and held absolute control over the classroom.

Isha was completely bewildered by now.

She'd only been joking when she said it, but this man really could use magic power to set questions and stump his enemies?

Could the arcane arts really be used like this?

Did this even make sense??

Perhaps the dead Quill hadn't expected that by deliberately telling Sean Elvily was in danger, he would make Sean rush over recklessly to rescue her and throw his life away. That way, Quill wouldn't have lost.

In Quill's eyes, no matter how strong Sean was, he couldn't change the outcome of tonight.

Unfortunately, he had underestimated Sean—and the power of a forbidden spell.

Vice Dean Zajik didn't yet know Sean had arrived so quickly because of Quill. Otherwise, he might have been so furious he would have spat blood. If Quill hadn't run his mouth, then even if Zajik couldn't kill Elvily tonight, nothing would have happened to him. But Sean's arrival had changed everything.

Because Sean hadn't come alone.

Kate was with him, too.

A light appeared on the horizon, driving away the thick darkness of night.

Kate, like the others, hadn't known about Sean's earlier battle with Quill and assumed Zajik had wounded him.

Then an angry roar rang across the sky—

"Zajik, you dared to scheme against my brother? You've got a death wish!"