A man and a woman, not in academy uniforms, strode through the cafeteria doors.

The 1000-meter stretch from the campus convenience store to the cafeteria was barely a warm-up for them.

Tsukune Naji scanned the apprentices inside, while Jeliana stood beside him, coiled and ready.

“The enemy’s got some brains,” he muttered. “Picking such a chaotic spot.”

Once Tsukune locked onto the target, Jeliana’s pent-up power would explode instantly. She wouldn’t care about the others in the cafeteria.

“That way—the girl with the black case, and the woman five meters behind her.”

True to form, the moment her partner gave the intel and the target was fixed, Jeliana charged out like a storm.

“...She’s really energetic,” Tsukune sighed helplessly behind her.

He swiftly erected a barrier.

After teaming up with this utterly unladylike partner a few times, he always handled the extra details himself.

“Move!”

Qian Nami Shizuru’s warning reached Zhiminghan’s ears.

A danger signal blared.

Behind her, a radiant whirlwind roared toward her.

Bang!

Zhiminghan blocked it with the black case. A numbing jolt shot through her hands.

Before her stood a petite girl in a pink dress.

The kick that attacked her came from this very girl.

Zhiminghan couldn’t fathom how such slender legs held such immense power.

Cracks spiderwebbed across the black case from the impact.

“Oh? Not bad reflexes,” Jeliana grinned, her lips curling after the failed strike.

In that instant, she’d channeled a cheetah’s speed and an elephant’s strength—yet the defense held.

Stuck all day in that stuffy church, Jeliana was finally excited.

Qian Nami Shizuru appeared beside Zhiminghan.

“Spotted us?”

“Yes. And dragged into a barrier.”

“Trouble...”

Qian recognized these enemies well enough.

Yet—

A massive bolt of blue lightning slammed toward her and Zhiminghan.

“Why so hyped?”

“This is a rare chance to fight someone worth it!”

Tsukune Naji stepped forward behind Jeliana.

Qian blocked the sudden attack, her expression turning grim.

She’d seen these two on her organization’s watchlist.

New Wing Divine Church.

“Beast King” Jeliana and “Thunder God” Tsukune Naji.

Both were absolute no-go threats.

Her and Zhiminghan’s situation was dire.

Before she could strategize, they attacked again.

“Don’t bore us, thief.”

“Didn’t I just see Zhiminghan?”

Sharkai Bai, sitting beside Cecilia Xuelian, recalled glimpsing Zhiminghan earlier.

“What’s got you spaced out?”

“It’s just wasting a bit of family food.”

“Pining for some beauty, huh?”

“You call it ‘a bit’!?”

Cecilia had hit the mark. Sharkai deflected, flustered.

Minutes ago, he’d definitely seen Zhiminghan. Now she was gone.

She’d seemed busy since appearing.

“Tch... too salty.”

The cheap dried meat before Sharkai tasted awful.

“Hm?”

Strange liquid splattered onto the meat.

He looked up.

Blood sprayed from a girl collapsing straight toward him.

“Zhiminghan!”

Sharkai hit the floor, Zhiminghan bleeding heavily in his arms.

“You hit too hard.”

“Oh dear, I never bother with restraint—it’s all serious fights for me!”

Ahead, a tall youth lifted another girl by the neck with one hand, beside the pink-dressed Jeliana.

“Qian Nami Shizuru!”

“Oh? More accomplices?”

Tsukune’s gaze fixed on the white-haired boy.

As his words faded, a fist wreathed in gale-force wind punched toward the boy.

Bang! A deafening crash.

Jeliana never missed a fight chance.

But Cecilia Xuelian stepped in front of Bai.

“What’s this? I’m still eating.”

“Interesting. The Cecilia Family’s young lady?”

“Then scram.”

“I don’t want trouble. Just hand over that one.”

Jeliana pointed at the injured Zhiminghan in Sharkai’s arms.

She itched to fight the blonde girl, but duty came first.

“...You did this?”

Sharkai gently placed Zhiminghan in Xia Feina’s arms and rose slowly.

Veins bulged on his clenched fists.

“New Wing Divine Church. Official business.”

Tsukune kept it simple to avoid student disputes.

Yet—

The white-haired boy appeared before him instantly, voice icy.

“This is... Ho-ly! Car-thus!”

Boom!

A massive explosion rocked the cafeteria. Onlookers fled in panic.

Dust cleared. Sharkai handed the rescued Qian Nami Shizuru to Xuelian.

“Take them to the infirmary.”

“...Be careful.”

Cecilia Xuelian took Qian, words dying on her lips as she met Bai’s glare.

His eyes burned with fury.

“Don’t let them escape!”

Jeliana lunged at Xia Feina’s group.

But the white-haired boy appeared, slamming her into the cafeteria wall with one punch.

Seeing Jeliana unconscious in the rubble, Tsukune’s eyes narrowed warily.

Celestial Carving Academy ranked students by uniforms. Yet this D-rank mage in cheap robes unleashed impossible power.

“You’ve got it backward. You’re the ones who can’t leave.”

Tsukune’s pupils widened. Before he moved—

The fist struck his waist.

Like Jeliana—

He flew backward, crashing through the wall.

“Huff... huff...”

His full-body lightning armor now had a gaping hole.

“Problematic.”

No doubt—if not for the armor, he’d be buried like Jeliana.

He shoved aside rubble and stood.

Tsukune gripped a scabbard in his left hand, a deep-blue glowing greatsword in his right.

The stolen divine artifact: “Stello’s Sword.”

He swung it.

A suffocating blue slash tore the ground, racing toward the unarmed white-haired boy.

Sharkai punched straight, no flourish.

Stello’s Sword unleashed a massive blue energy wave. In Tsukune’s shocked black pupils—

It shattered.

BOOOOM!

The cafeteria collapsed into ruins.

Lightning crackled overhead.

Tsukune’s body glowed blue, Stello’s Sword in hand.

Thunder God Mode.

“So, how will you beat me now?”

His lightning-formed body loomed over Sharkai, crawling from the wreckage, battered and furious.

He’d never pass up a fight.