At that mont, Gabriel and Clarissa’s expressions were uglier than ever. They had barely started, yet two of their people were already down.
Gabriel gritted his teeth and surged forward, a fist wrapped in violent Mana as it smashed straight toward Zora.
He couldn’t afford to hesitate.
Unlike those two useless fools, he needed to subdue Zora imdiately and force the antidote out of her.
He was convinced of it.
Even if Zora was also at mid-stage Earth Realm, she had only just broken through.
His foundation was deeper. His experience richer. His control is sharper.
There was no way she could match him.
If Zora knew what he was thinking, she would have laughed aloud.
Battle experience?
She had ruled a clan in the Eastern Continent for a thousand years. Life-and-death fights were as common to her as breathing.
Comparing himself to her was nothing short of a joke.
Boom!
She t his punch head-on.
Their fists collided, violent energy exploding outward in a shockwave. Gabriel staggered back a full step.
Zora didn’t move an inch.
Gabriel’s heart flipped violently. He stared at her, eyes wide with disbelief.
Impossible!
Even weakened, he should still be stronger. How could her power overwhelm his?
A cold sneer curved Zora’s lips.
She gave him no ti to recover from the shock.
In the next instant, she advanced like a shadow, attacks pouring down in a relentless storm, every strike aid straight at his vital points.
"Since you ca looking for death," she said coolly, eyes sharp as blades, "Then I’ll grant your wish."
Her intent was clear.
Decisive.
rciless.
Bang!
Zora and Gabriel crashed into each other again, fists and palms colliding as violent waves of Mana exploded outward. The night air rippled, dust scattering in chaotic spirals.
At the start, Gabriel still clung to confidence.
But as the exchanges piled up, that confidence was crushed bit by bit.
Shock crept into his eyes.
He quickly realized sothing terrifying.
In raw power, he was already being suppressed.
Forced to abandon head-on clashes, Gabriel tried to rely on technique and experience, weaving sideways, dodging, searching for openings. He believed that no matter how strong Zora was, she couldn’t possibly match him in combat finesse.
Yet reality struck him harder than any blow.
Her movents were clean, efficient, and too deadly.
She fought like soone forged in endless battles; every step of hers is asured, every strike of hers seed rciless. There was no waste in mana or movents and no hesitation in her strikes either.
Cold sweat soaked Gabriel’s forehead.
Why was he always the unlucky one whenever Zora appeared?
Everything had been planned perfectly. The rumors, the trap, the ambush. Any other person would have been crushed beyond recovery.
But Zora alone had overturned it all.
At the side, Clarissa finally realized sothing was terribly wrong. Her face drained of color as she watched Gabriel being pushed back again and again.
"How... how can my Gabriel not be her opponent?!"
Her eyes flicked toward Silvan and Adrian, only to see them still pinned to the ground under two furious furballs.
Gritting her teeth, Clarissa stomped hard and lunged toward Zora.
The mont she moved, a white blur flashed.
"Ahhh!"
A piercing scream tore through the night.
Clarissa didn’t even see what hit her. A sharp pain exploded across her face, hot and burning.
Not far away, Shihtzu calmly licked the blood from its claws. The lazy, adorable look it usually wore was gone. Its golden eyes were sharp, filled with icy hostility as it stared at Clarissa.
Dare touch its master?
Then pay the price.
Clarissa stumbled back, clutching her face. Warm liquid seeped between her fingers. When she looked down and saw the blood, her mind went blank.
She finally understood.
That "harmless" little beast she’d seen curled on Zora’s shoulder... was anything but harmless.
"You little beast! I’ll kill you!"
Clarissa shrieked in fury, slashing her sword toward Shihtzu.
Shihtzu didn’t even bother blocking.
Its figure flickered, vanishing and reappearing at will. Clarissa’s blade cut nothing but air, over and over again. To Shihtzu, she was nothing more than a clumsy toy.
It darted around her, striking when it pleased, leaving her spinning in rage and panic.
Black and White exchanged looks, both silently impressed.
As expected of a beast king.
Boom!
Gabriel’s body was sent flying, slamming hard into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.
Before he could even gasp, Zora was already there, and her foot ca down squarely on his chest.
Crack.
*Gaaaah!*
Pain exploded through his body as he coughed up blood, staring up at her in disbelief.
Zora looked down at him calmly, her tone faintly mocking.
"So this is all you’ve got?"
Disappointnt flickered in her eyes.
She had heard Clarissa and the others praise Gabriel to the skies, as if he were so untouchable figure.
Seeing him now...
That was all?
Gabriel, already battered to the brink, spat out another mouthful of blood when he heard Zora’s words. His chest burned, his organs ached, and yet the deepest pain ca not from his body, but from the disbelief gnawing at his mind.
It wasn’t that he was weak.
It was that Zora was absurdly strong.
Her strength had long surpassed the limits of an ordinary Earth Realm mid-stage cultivator. Even among special enrollnt students, such power was rare to the point of being unreasonable. Gabriel simply couldn’t understand it. No matter how he calculated, no matter how he compared, nothing made sense.
"Hmph, Zora, don’t get complacent!" Gabriel roared through clenched teeth, blood staining the corners of his mouth. "You killed Sera, my sister. I will avenge her sooner or later!"
Zora let out a soft, mocking laugh, her expression dripping with disdain. "Avenge Serestia? With such pitiful strength?" she said coolly. "Keep dreaming."
From the very beginning, she had found both Serestia and Gabriel insufferable.
She never sought conflict, yet they returned again and again like flies drawn to rot, stirring trouble wherever they could. Individually, they were nothing more than annoyances, but repeated often enough, even mosquitoes beca unbearable.
"Hmph," Gabriel sneered, though fear flickered beneath his hatred. "This is the academy. Killing fellow students is forbidden. If you dare kill , you won’t escape the academy’s punishnt either!"
His eyes glinted sharply, like a wounded wolf baring its fangs.
Beneath the threat was calculation.
He knew he had lost today. It was a complete defeat. But as long as he could survive this mont, there would be chances later. As long as he lived, revenge was still possible.
Nearby, Clarissa, Silvan, and Adrian were utterly stunned.
They had charged in full of arrogance, convinced this would be an easy humiliation of Zora.
Instead, in barely the ti it took to exchange a few moves, their so-called backing had been crushed under her foot.
Their faces were pale, sha burning hotter than fear.
Adrian felt especially miserable.
He had personally confird that Zora was alone in the special enrollnt dormitory.
Who could have imagined that "alone" ant accompanied by monsters like those three terrifying little creatures?
This wasn’t luck.
This was stepping straight into a pit dug by fate itself.
They wanted to help Gabriel, but reality was cruel. Black, White, and Shihtzu blocked them completely, their strength leaving no room for interference.
Zora looked down at Gabriel coldly, completely indifferent to the venomous hatred in his eyes.
She understood such people far too well.
If she let him go today, he would lurk in the shadows like a poisonous snake, waiting for the chance to strike again.
Leaving behind such a threat was never her style.
And yet, as he said, this was the academy. People ca and went, and acting too openly would invite unnecessary complications. That hesitation, however brief, did not escape Gabriel’s notice.
A smug curve tugged at his lips despite the pain.
"Zora," he sneered hoarsely, "I advise you to let go. Otherwise, the trouble you’ll invite won’t be sothing you can bear."
In response, Zora smiled.
It was a beautiful smile, elegant and calm, yet chilling to the bone.
Her foot pressed down harder on Gabriel’s chest, grinding deliberately, the force precise and rciless.
"You and Serestia are indeed siblings," she said lightly, "Both of you are equally annoying."
The sharp pain made Gabriel gasp, his vision swimming, hatred in his eyes deepening into sothing almost feral.
"Don’t get too proud," he spat weakly.
Zora narrowed her eyes slightly, the look both lazy and dangerous, like a cat that had finally decided how to play with its prey.
"It doesn’t matter I don’t kill you here today," she said softly with a nod, "there are countless ways to ruin a person."
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