A massive iron hammer swung through the air. By the time the dimensional teacher reacted, the gale from its passage had already grazed his scalp. Sports equipment around them tore loose, swirling into the sky.
Thankfully, the trio had crouched low—avoiding disaster. Otherwise, losing their heads wouldn’t exactly be a happy ending.
“What do you want?!” Shalulu shouted from the floor, fury burning in her voice.
No answer came. Instead, a figure flashed into their vision—gone in a ghostly blur before they could blink.
Zeming’s eyes tracked the movement, but his body stayed still. *Too fast to intercept. Revealing myself now would be unwise… unless lives are at stake.*
“Watch out!!”
Leyn’s voice cut through the chaos. A sapphire-blue knight’s lance materialized in her hands. She braced it horizontally, muscles taut.
The spherical-headed man hovered mid-air, hands sharpened into blades—aimed to cleave downward. Leyn’s lance intercepted the strike perfectly.
Meeting her razor-sharp glare and unyielding stance, the sphere-headed man vanished. Not teleportation—just impossible speed. He reappeared beside the hammer-wielder, afterimages lingering like shattered glass in the air.
“That speed… insane,” Zeming murmured.
“Don’t praise him! I almost had him!” Shalulu hissed, teeth clenched. Her missed opportunity stung.
Leyn, however, leaned forward eagerly. Her uniform skirt tightened over silk-stockinged legs as she gripped her lance with one hand.
“Leyn-sensei, this is reckless—”
“Not at all—you know what you can do!”
She launched herself like an arrow. Wind spiraled around her lance’s tip, carving grooves into walls and ceiling as she surged forward. *Yufeng ability… This school never ceases to amaze.*
The sphere-headed man glanced at his partner.
The hammer-wielder raised his spiked weapon—but froze mid-swing. Transparent ice encased him, trapping man and hammer solid.
Seeing his ally immobilized, the sphere-headed man backflipped just as Leyn’s lance pierced the space he’d occupied. Five afterimages scattered behind him, each movement accelerating beyond the last.
“You’re fast. But what does it matter?”
Leyn thrust her palm skyward. A miniature tornado erupted, swallowing the afterimages one by one. Stone cracked under its force.
Crack——
Leyn clashed with the sphere-headed man mid-air. Below, the hammer-wielder shattered his icy prison and charged—a raging bull fused with a tank.
*This one’s mine. One punch’ll do.*
Shalulu stepped in front of Zeming, her ability flaring defensively.
“Shalulu, what are you—?”
“Go find help! You’ll just make trouble if you stay.”
“That’s… not quite right.”
Underestimating him was fine. Treating him like trash? Unforgivable.
“Get out!!”
An invisible force kicked Zeming backward—straight through the wall.
*She actually threw me out… That woman really…*
“…Better leave while I can.” Zeming brushed dust off his clothes, heading for the campus gates.
Every corridor lay littered with sleeping students. He was the only one awake—free to move unseen. *Still… better not do anything too wicked.*
“Hey classmate. Why’re you still wide awake?”
A figure sat beneath a tree. Zeming approached cautiously.
One step. Two steps. Three—
“Shit!!”
He leapt as the ground detonated beneath him. Flames swallowed his vision. The seated figure rolled away, crossbow snapping up to aim at Zeming mid-air.
*An accomplice?!*
Through the fire and smoke, one image seared itself into his mind: a hooded figure in a gas mask. Hatred crystallized in that silhouette.
