Huff!
A huge burning peach blossom bloomed amid the dim starlight, replacing the witch's shattered figure.
Then, petal after petal drifted down with explosive cracks. Layer upon layer of crystalline ripples spread around them—the aftershocks of shattered spacetime.
The starlight projected into the Small Universe suddenly flared.
Fourteen stars flickered in varying brightness, gleaming in unfathomable colors.
"You really are hard to kill."
A hoarse, grating voice echoed from behind those fourteen stars, carrying a hint of smug frivolity. "I sacrificed two heads just to trade for a flower... and a book? What a terrible bargain."
As it spoke, a slender black shadow coiled and retracted, sweeping Shi Hui's spellbook from where it had been left into the depths of the starlight. It was a serpentine tail covered in distinct scales, its length impossible to measure.
"...Without your spellbook, how much magic can you still use?"
Almost simultaneously, another slender tail shot out from the depths of the starlight and lashed desperately toward the depths of the universe. Wherever it passed, the void trembled, rippling with rings of colorless waves.
Beyond the starlight.
In the darkest corner of the Small Universe.
A point of cold light flashed, abruptly blazing with boundless radiance.
The radiance outlined a witch's graceful figure, growing from small to large. One moment, she was a little girl with blond hair hanging down her back; the next, she had become a mature woman of boundless charm. After several such transformations, the light solidified, and the First University Vice Principal appeared once more in the Sea Demon King's sight.
Only, compared to when she had first broken through the maze domain, her broad cloak was much more damaged this time. Nor had she managed to bring out the spellbook in her arms. It had been trapped alongside that