Ah... doubt still coils like fog. If I rush in to argue with her, they’ll call me crazy on sight.

Gotta wait for the right wind and the right window.

Bored and restless like a caged sparrow, Qianya leafed through magic in the library. The stacks were a sea of miracles, each spell described down to the grain. She lit up, scribbling like rain across paper all afternoon, dozens of spells captured in ink. But her mana was a shallow pond—at best, she could cast a single one.

Dusk slid in like ink over water. Time had sprinted past; warmth rose, reluctant to leave this hidden ocean of books. Any one of these tomes, if let into the wild, would bait a world war like blood in the tide.

She had hunted all afternoon and found no spell of time. Even at god-tier, was time still a forbidden door?

Forget it. Belly first. Cafeteria, then the moon.

She shook her head and borrowed one book at the door. Behind her, the student librarian watched her departing back, murmuring with a crooked smile, like a reed in the wind. “Someone still borrows the most basic magic text? Starting from the first step?”

Night settled like frost. The freshmen assessment had basically wrapped. Taoran stared at the data slate, eyes blank as still water. These freshmen had no issues. Yet the intruder last night ran toward the freshman dorms and vanished like smoke. Could it be—

Send people, now! Taoran spun, voice sharp as a snapped branch. The intruder’s hiding in the freshman dorm!

…

I wonder if Xuewei’s eaten. If she already had dinner, me bringing food might be awkward, right? Qianya murmured down the hall like a drifting leaf, not seeing the tall stranger coalescing ahead.

Wah! Sorry! I didn’t mean it!

She had collided with someone twice today. Guilt gnawed like ants; fear pinned her gaze to the floor.

It’s fine, it’s fine~ Little sister, I don’t think I’ve seen you before. You’re a freshman, right~?

Mm. Qianya nodded, her gaze lifting like dawn. She had bumped into a senior with green-gold hair, her eyes the same blood-red as Qianya’s—a whirlpool that tugged at the soul like a red maelstrom.

Second-year... right? Her eyes paused on the badge at the girl’s chest, but as she tried to read the name, her whole body locked like ice.

Can’t—can’t move!?

Tsk~ Peeking at someone’s name is rude, you know. Your parents never taught you that, little cutie~?

A finger tilted Qianya’s chin up into those deep crimson swirls. Somewhere unseen, the gold-haired girl’s pupils narrowed into vertical slits, her voice a devil’s whisper brushing the ear like cold silk. A child as weak as you would be crushed like an ant out there. Only here do you get to breathe safe... Do you know the true reason the student council president built this academy? That’s right. She wants to raise students stronger than herself, to anchor this school’s place beyond these walls. You weak ones are only fodder for those at the peak. They preach a peace where everyone can attend class, but it’s only to make you offer yourselves up willingly to the blade.

To me, this academy worships the law of tooth and claw more than the outside ever did~ Only you blind lambs believe the weak can live safely here. Hahahaha!

After the sneer had curdled, the gold-haired girl grew bored. Her fingers brushed Qianya’s cheek with a collector’s greed. Such a face... top-shelf among the pieces I’ve ever owned. If you weren’t vermin, the world would crown you a goddess chased by countless hearts. But you have neither rank nor strength. Outside, you’re a lone lotus, waiting to be plucked. Even if I don’t take you, someone will. Why should I hand you away? Don’t you agree, my little cutie~?

Damn... She’s trying to pin my soul to stone.

Qianya couldn’t move; her body turned to cold rock, frost crawling from flesh toward statue. She bled out one broken line between clenched teeth. To your... mom?

Ah...? The girl’s smile froze like thin ice, her eyes turning glacial. She stared straight into Qianya’s gaze. A dying quip? Take it back. I won’t let you die boring. Your soul will be fixed in stone, never fading until the world ends. If you don’t want a future worse than death, apologize now, while you can.

Qianya felt her throat loosen like a knot unpicked. Air returned, a bright blade in the dark.

Exhale. Her mind flashed like lightning over water. She had never felt this clear.

So this petrification can be undone. Then I have one task—make the scene loud enough to shake the hive.

Do you eat fried flatbread?

...?

Didn’t catch that? Qianya looked at her with sudden pity, like rain softening stone. I’ve seen your kind. As a child, you glimpsed supreme power and worshiped it like the sun. Then you gained shocking strength, swelled with vanity, obsessed with how others see you. No matter how you paint your image, you’re still weak. You can’t drag the stronger down from their saddles. You only bully those beneath you to prop up your paper-thin pride.

Enough!!!

Rage flared like a struck match. The gold-haired girl’s hand clamped Qianya’s throat. Pale skin lost color and hardened like rock, pain creasing Qianya’s face into shards.

That’s why I hate vermin... mouths that only spit cheap words!

I’ll make you wish for death! In a future without end, you’ll pay for every word with regret!

Crap, I went too far... Is anyone even noticing!? Panic cracked inside Qianya like ice underfoot. As stone crept toward her skull, a cool breath washed the hall, crisp as spring over river stones. A water-shadow streaked along an invisible thread and slammed between them, forcing the gold-haired girl back.

Made it in time. Dawn Sugar Snow tapped her right hand lightly, gaze flat as a lake as she looked at the intruder, then turned with worry toward Qianya. Qianya, are you alright? Petrification—your soul’s untouched, so we can heal it. Head back to your room and take cover. I’ll handle this.

Uh...

I can’t move. I can’t speak. Qianya’s heart sagged like wet cloth.

Dawn Sugar Snow pressed a palm forward. The wall melted into a falling water-curtain. Qianya’s hardened body slid through and was carried into her room like a leaf through a sluice. The gold-haired girl didn’t interfere. She watched Dawn with bright curiosity, then laughed, a cat over prey. Stealing someone’s quarry is a bad habit, you know.

You’re the intruder, aren’t you? I didn’t see you on the freshmen list. Dawn’s tone was even, her eyes cataloging the face, confirming twice over.

You’re not a second-year either. Looks like you imprisoned the original owner of that uniform. I see.

...Hey, are you even listening to me? The gold-haired girl’s smile went stiff, offense prickling like thorns.

You like to solve problems with power, right? Then come. Dawn faced her, right hand shaped like a sword-grip. A blade of water condensed like ice from mist.

Ho... A delightful freshman. Looks like the student council president invited a special god. I hit the jackpot! Hahaha!!

Red light poured off her in twisted streams, and two huge vertical pupils unfurled behind her like twin moons turned to slits. Divine pressure rolled over the building like a stormfront. She dropped the mask, ready to crush swiftly with her full weight.

Hmph.

[Water-Form — Ten Thousand Blades]

Her domain unfolded; the corridor stretched wide like a canyon in Dawn Sugar Snow’s inner sea. The gold-haired girl only grew more excited at the shifting scene. Hahahaha! You’re even more fun than I thought! Dance with me! Strip down to the raw instinct and let a god’s fire burn all!

Only a running mouth? Dawn was already behind her like a shadow in rain, an invisible water-wire looping once around the girl’s neck.

Uh!?

Before her neck could be cut, the girl recoiled. Black flame clothed her like obsidian scales, burning away the wire and racing down its tail toward Dawn Sugar Snow. Faced with that roaring fire-dragon, Dawn’s gaze sharpened like a blade. A water-dragon surged up, twin serpents clashing mid-air, and both collapsed to steam and ash in a heartbeat.

Dawn’s figure dissolved into vapor, a ghost in mist. Around the intruder, countless water-swords took form like raindrops finding edges, slashing from every angle.

Flashy nonsense!

Black flame swarmed her into armor, and with one hammer-blow into the floor, firewalls erupted like cliffs, evaporating the ring of blades into white breath.

Heh.

Dawn Sugar Snow stepped into sight mid-air, snapped her fingers, and the vapor knit back into blades like frost finding shape.

My Authority isn’t just playing with water. If time weren’t tight, I’d stay and spar longer. What a pity...

The student council is almost here. You’re done.

Hmph! You’re the one done!

They stood taut, bows drawn, both ready to end it in one stroke. Dawn moved first, drawing down a storm of water-swords like a flock diving, while the gold-haired girl stood unbowed. The vast vertical pupils behind her peeled open like a wound in the sky; black flame congealed into a dragon that roared upward toward the heavens.

[Spiral Current, Ten-Thousand-Turn Blade-Light!]

Swords circled Dawn, faster and tighter, invisible water hardening into visible ice. Each ice blade carried her intent and divine magic, every one splitting sky and earth. As the spin climbed in speed, her form and the myriad blades blended into one—a gigantic ice lance. It fell from above like a verdict from heaven, spearing the dragon and tearing even the seams of space.

Impossible!?

The gold-haired girl glared up at the descending spear, the last image a reflection of Dawn Sugar Snow’s calm eyes. In that heartbeat, a warning from a senior echoed from the past. They said the Creator, at the beginning, made several helpers. The first gods. Among them walked an icy-blue silhouette.