At that moment, Yu Ge was still looking around the training grounds for Luna. With so many people who’d come to watch because of her reputation, Luna ought to be here too, right? Sure enough, he spotted her in one corner of the stands.

Yu Ge excitedly waved toward Luna.

When Xibolai saw Yu Ge’s gesture, his eyes narrowed. He glanced at Luna, whose cheeks were faintly red, then at Yu Ge. An unhappy expression spread across his face.

“All right, stop looking around. The test is starting.”

Saya swiped a weapon card in front of herself, then reached out with her right hand and gripped the empty air beside her. A long, silver-white alloy sword appeared in her hand.

“Um, which cards should I use?”

Yu Ge timidly raised his hand and pointed to his two pockets. One held the blank cards Saya had just given him—mass-produced magic cards used for training. The other held the god-tier cards he’d created himself. Any one of those could decide the battle.

“You’ll have to judge for yourself. I’ll fight you with everything I’ve got, so I hope you can show me what you’re capable of. I put in a request to place you in the best S-class, but you can’t use any absurdly overpowered cards. Nobody could withstand them.”

Saya took a deep breath, then let it out in relief. Hopefully this guy had some sense of restraint. It’d be nice if he didn’t casually pull out some destruction-tier spell that could one-shot a calamity-tier monster.

“All right.”

Yu Ge shrugged, unconcerned. Fine, he’d use a few more ordinary magic cards. Though that depended on how badly she beat him up.

“As a senior instructor of this academy, I hereby declare this battle valid. Three, two, one—begin!”

Chris, serving as the referee, stood on the floating platform above the arena and announced the start of the battle.

“Magic Projection—Moonlight Slash.”

Saya drew a magic card and swiped it in front of herself. The silver-white sword in her hand seemed to become enchanted, glowing with the light of the moon. She slashed forward, sending a crescent-shaped blade of energy streaking toward Yu Ge.

“What the hell? You’re actually serious?”

Faced with the imposing Moonlight Slash, Yu Ge leaned sharply to the left and dodged the attack. Then, looking completely dumbfounded, he blurted out, “Didn’t that Teacher Chris just say you’re all bark and no bite, and that you’d go easy on me? Why’d you open with a killing move?”

“I told you. I’m going to fight you with everything I’ve got.”

Saya swept her silver sword to the side and looked seriously at Yu Ge, who stood some distance away. Just now, she’d seen him smiling and waving to a pretty girl in the stands, and for some reason it had put her in a foul mood.

Yu Ge broke into a cold sweat. This was bad. The moment this girl started fighting, she got incredibly serious. If my magic hadn’t just put an automatic dodge spell on me, I’d probably have been cut in half already.

“That’s the way, Goddess Saya! Teach that guy a lesson!”

“Moonlight Slash! Of course the Goddess Saya’s swordsmanship is as beautiful as she is.”

“I hereby declare that I’ve fallen in love again—all by myself.”

“Goddess Saya is the best!”

The spectators, especially the men, were cheering for Saya with feverish enthusiasm. You’d think Yu Ge had already turned into some unforgivable villain.

Hey, hey. Yu Ge rolled his eyes and complained inwardly. You guys are way too predictable.

“He actually dodged it.”

Xibolai, standing beside Luna, furrowed his brow. Moonlight Slash was one of Saya’s go-to sword techniques, and it was incredibly fast. Most people couldn’t dodge it. This guy had some skill, at least—but if all he could do was dodge Moonlight Slash, he was still nothing in Xibolai’s eyes.

Luna seemed to think pretty highly of this guy. What was his story?

“Magic Projection—Moon God Flash.”

As the magic activated, Saya seemed to be enveloped in moonlight. She suddenly turned into a beam of light and charged at Yu Ge with such blinding speed that the human eye could barely follow her.

In an instant, Saya appeared in front of Yu Ge. Without changing expression, she swung her silver sword and cut straight through him, cleaving him in two.

The entire arena erupted in an uproar.

“How could…”

Luna covered her mouth in horror. Why had Senior Saya killed him just like that? Even if Yu Ge wasn’t the person who’d saved her, Luna still felt shocked and deeply upset to see someone killed for no reason.

Luna and the spectators weren’t the only ones stunned. Saya was dumbfounded too. Why hadn’t that guy dodged? Had she just killed the person who’d saved her with her own hands?

Saya’s sword hand trembled violently. If she’d really killed her savior herself, how could she ever live with herself?

But no blood sprayed from Yu Ge’s body as it broke into two pieces. It turned into a heap of sand and vanished on the wind. The next second, Yu Ge reappeared some distance behind Saya.

Transcendent Magic: “Sand Double”—Whenever the user suffers a fatal injury, it automatically creates a sand double to take the damage.

“That was fake?”

When Saya saw the pile of sand, she first froze. Then she was overcome with shame and anger. That guy had been playing her for a fool! And she’d been so worried about him!

“You bastard…”

Saya turned around, her eyes wet, and glared furiously at Yu Ge as she tightened her grip on the sword.

“Are you crying?”

Yu Ge stared at Saya’s face, completely bewildered. Why had this girl suddenly started crying? He hadn’t even done anything to upset her. He’d been the one getting beaten up the whole time, and he hadn’t even fought back.

“You’re dead!”

Saya was so angry she was starting to lose her head. She was burning with embarrassment. She’d been so worried about him, and he was still acting like nothing mattered.

With that, Saya didn’t even bother with a sword technique. Like a girl who’d only just begun learning swordsmanship, she simply charged at Yu Ge with her sword in hand.

Saya rushed up to Yu Ge and thrust at him. His automatic dodge kicked in, and his body instinctively slipped to the left. Saya’s sword missed, but her momentum carried her forward and she couldn’t stop herself. Just as she was about to fall, Yu Ge instinctively reached out and pulled her back.

“Are you all right?”

Yu Ge looked at Saya’s stunning face and asked with concern, “Has this girl lost her mind or something? Wait, I just pulled you back to keep you from falling. Why are you blushing so hard—and looking at me like you want to kill me?”

A soft, warm, yet firm sensation traveled from his palm along his nerves to Yu Ge’s brain. He had a vague idea what he was touching, but he couldn’t make his hand move.

Uh. So soft. So springy.

Yu Ge slowly lowered his gaze. Sure enough, his hand was planted squarely on Saya’s chest.

Why the hell can’t I control these hands of mine?!

“Holy crap! That bastard just groped the Goddess Saya!”

“Damn it, why don’t I ever get lucky like that?!”

“Damn it! I’m going to kill that creep for taking advantage of her!”

“Are you even human?!”

And with that, the whole arena went wild.