Though the black-haired girl held a turtle shell, her gaze stayed fixed on the five Divine College members' wands and swords. Her right fingertips trembled constantly over the shell's surface.

  But watching more carefully revealed that her finger movements had a pattern and rhythm. She wasn't divining at all—she was—

  "Enchanting! She's enchanting!" a professor finally figured it out, his face shocked. "She's carving slowing runes on the Divine College team's wands and swords!"

  "Not just that," another professor said quickly. "There are also weight-increasing runes and heat-amplifying runes. These runes are draining the Divine College team's mana through their wands, creating a huge burden for them."

  Professor Chester said loudly, "Pretending to divine while actually enchanting the Divine College's swords and wands, turning their own mana into weapons against themselves—what ruthless thinking, what deep scheming! This Luo Wei is no simple girl!"

  After speaking, he glanced at Prince Alfried. Seeing no displeasure on his face, Chester's wrinkled forehead gradually smoothed out.

  The professors weren't speaking quietly, so the watching students from other academies naturally heard them too.

  "Wait, their magic wands really are too hot to hold!"

  "That's terrifying. I was wondering what was wrong with them—turns out it's Siria's people playing tricks again."

  "Can the Divine College figure it out? They're not going to lose to Siria like this, are they?"

  "Not sure. Let's keep watching."

  From the match start until now, nearly seven minutes had passed.

  The Divine College team was fighting with increasing difficulty, their momentum growing weaker. If things continued this way, they'd definitely lose.

  Not using their advantages right from the start—not fighting Siria with light magic—was the Divine College squad's biggest mistake in this match.

  Feiru deeply regretted it now. Before the match, Sylvester had suggested he avoid close combat with Siria's people and stick to magical fighting, but he hadn't listened.

  He'd watched Siria's four matches, and the silver-haired girl with her excellent swordsmanship had left a deep impression on him.

  He'd wanted so badly to compete with Gladys, and in his mind, he absolutely couldn't lose. He was heaven's chosen—he should defeat her fair and square in her strongest area!

  But he never imagined his proud swordsmanship would lose to a girl!

  Feiru gripped his sword tighter. The heavy blade nearly crushed his shoulders.

  He didn't know when his sword had become so heavy—so heavy that every time he raised it, he felt a strong sense of losing control. No, it shouldn't be like this!

  Suddenly, he heard voices from the stands. That professor said something about Luo Wei enchanting their swords?

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  Feiru quickly looked down at his gem-studded sword. Too busy fighting to notice before, but now he could clearly see several rapidly operating runes on the blade.

  "Damn it, Siria! Luo Wei!"

  Feiru flew into a rage, immediately retreating and abandoning his sword for his wand.

  But the moment he raised his wand, he remembered—Luo Wei had sabotaged that too. Holding it felt like lifting a hundred-pound boulder.

  Sylvester also noticed the runes on his sword, but to cover Feiru's retreat, he took a direct hit from Gladys. If not for his armor, she might have chopped his head clean off.

  Seeing Hol about to chase past him toward Feiru, Sylvester spun around to block him, shouting, "Feiru! Use your sword to destroy the runes on your wand, then cast Light Purification immediately!"

  They absolutely couldn't let them cast Light Purification!

  Hol smashed his pot into Sylvester's back, yelling to Gladys, "Quick! You chase him—I'll handle this guy!"

  Gladys nodded, gripping her sword tight and quickly pursuing Feiru.

  On the other side, hearing Sylvester's voice, Herbert and the other two finally realized their mana was draining because something was wrong with their wands.

  Though the Divine College people couldn't decode runes, destroying them didn't require professional knowledge. They just had to scratch or erase the rune patterns, cutting off the mana flow within.

  They quickly drew their swords to hack at the extra patterns on their wands. Enchantments were hard to create but easy to destroy—without much effort, the runes dragging them down lost their power one by one.

  How could Luo Wei let them reverse the situation so easily? "Axina, stop them!"

  "Yes!"

  Axina crossed her wrists over her chest, lowered her head, closed her eyes, and trembled her lips, quickly completing her prayer.

  Wind suddenly rose, her hair dancing in the breeze. A pure white swan pattern appeared on her forehead as her charming voice flowed from her throat.

  "Love God's Blessing—"

  "The Goddess's Mercy!"

  Axina's eyes snapped open as she spread her arms wide, brilliant white light erupting from her body.

  That gorgeous face became breathtakingly beautiful under the holy radiance. Her seaweed-soft curls shimmered with golden light in the sunlight, and her azure eyes, clear as the sky, rippled with flowing light.

  When her love-filled gaze gently swept over the Divine College members, they immediately felt a fatal attraction, unconsciously relaxing and staring at her with intoxicated eyes.

  Axina sighed in relief, frowning as she looked back. "Hurry! Five seconds left!"

  The Divine College group had too much mana and much stronger willpower than ordinary people. She couldn't control them for long.

  Luo Wei nodded. "Jack, wind magic!"

  "Yes!"

  Jack immediately released a wind spiral while Luo Wei quickly chanted fire spells. Blazing white flames gathered at her wand tip, radiating extreme heat that warped the air and boiled the muddy water on the ground.

  Working together, they launched a fierce attack. Wind fed the flames like a prairie fire, sweeping toward Herbert and the other two like a dragon's breath.

  Three seconds—enough for Gladys to catch up to Feiru. She gripped her sword diagonally and shot forward like lightning, quick as a gale. Flashing before Feiru, she leaped up, raised her sword high with both hands, and brought it down with thunderous force.

  "BOOM—"

  Earth-shaking, tremendously powerful.

  Explosion after explosion rang out. The massive impact nearly knocked over spectators around the arena. Stone walls collapsed with thunderous crashes as the area below the stands was covered in flames and white light, smoke filling the entire arena.

  The watching students were all terrified. "Can beginner magic apprentices really make this much noise?!"

  "Shit, the ground is so hot! My shoe soles are melting!"

  "Did anyone see clearly? Who won? Was it Siria?"

  "The Divine College is probably going to lose. Siria's bunch of monsters have terrifying mana!"

  Through the rolling dust and smoke, a golden light broke through the arena. Vaguely visible in the flames and ash were huge red wings rising up, their tips growing long golden feathers.

  The professors in the stands suddenly stood up, staring intensely at those wings.

  "Phoenix—is that, is that the Sun God's projection?" they said excitedly.

  Prince Alfried smiled faintly, his dark blue eyes calmly glancing at the arena. "You flatter us. Feiru has been fortunate enough to receive the Sun God's favor—this is the Sun God's blessing upon him."

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