Godfrey stepped forward imdiately after.
"Indeed," he said firmly. "If this isn’t handled fairly, then the champion of this alchemy contest is aningless,"
Zora had helped him resolve a problem that had troubled him for years. He had not even found the chance to thank her yet. How could he stand by now?
Anselm did not speak, but he nodded in agreent.
This was precisely why he disliked dealing with people like these. They never cared about truth or fairness, only results and hidden sches.
He had seen too much of this in the Lion Dynasty.
But even by those standards, Thunderclap Academy had gone too far this ti.
Cindral stood frozen in place.
What... exactly was happening?
By all logic, Eamon and the others had no prior ties with Gerrad. There was no reason for them to step forward so resolutely.
Unless...
Cindral’s gaze flickered.
Could it be that Eamon and his group were simply acting on impulse, blindly upholding "justice" without considering consequences?
The thought made him fall silent for a mont. In his eyes, these old inscription masters spent their days buried in research, stubborn and inflexible, ignorant of worldly maneuvering.
Yet everyone present was sharp-eyed. No one was foolish enough to miss what was really happening.
The Alchemists Association had remained conspicuously silent, while the Inscription Masters Association suddenly played the role of righteous arbiters. Wasn’t this inviting trouble for no reason?
Gerrad himself was stunned. He had not expected that people he had t for the first ti would speak up so firmly for the academy. Despite himself, a wave of emotion surged in his heart.
Cindral exchanged a glance with Hector. Both felt the sa bitter regret.
If they had known this would happen, they would never have involved Eamon in the first place.
But regret ca too late.
After a brief pause, Cindral finally said, "Let’s... take a look first."
On the high platform, Zora’s expression had already changed the instant she sensed the cauldron’s instability.
She had personally checked the cauldron before concocting. There had been no issue at all. Yet the flaw only revealed itself at the very last mont.
This kind of thod was too subtle. Ordinary people wouldn’t even know it existed.
Only an Alchemist could pull off such a trick.
Without a second thought, Zora knew who was responsible.
Reynard.
No wonder he had swallowed his losses so quietly in the previous round. He had already calculated everything for this final stage.
A glint of cold light flashed in Zora’s eyes.
She had never been one to let grudges slide.
Reynard watched with smug delight. A cauldron explosion was no small matter. If Zora failed to retreat in ti, the backlash alone could seriously injure her.
But if she retreated...
Her nearly ford Potion would be reduced to ashes.
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted at that ti.
Zora’s figure was swept backward by the shockwave. Sylvandria and the others hastily retreated as well, barely avoiding the blast.
Sylvandria’s face turned pale. This outco lay beyond everyone’s expectations.
Zora’s Potion was completely ruined.
This alchemy contest... was lost.
Reynard’s smile widened, radiant with triumph.
"Zora, weren’t you feeling rather pleased with yourself?" he sneered. "In the end, your concoction still failed."
"Spirit Warriors should stick to what Spirit Warriors do. As for alchemy..." His eyes brimd with contempt. "You’d better not ddle where you don’t belong."
Mariette and the others sighed inwardly. No matter how unfair it was, this was still the result before them.
Reynard lifted his chin proudly.
This alchemy contest was his.
His na would spread far and wide from today onward.
As for Zora?
Nothing more than a stepping stone.
Below the platform, Reesa and the others looked stricken.
It had really exploded. Such a scene had almost never occurred in previous alchemy contests.
"Damn it!" Baldwin’s eyes burned with fury. "That cauldron was definitely tampered with. I’ll bet my life Reynard did it!"
"I knew it the mont I saw him," soone growled. "That man was never anything good."
Cheers erupted from the ranks of Lunar Academy.
In their eyes, this round already belonged to them.
Below the high platform, Rowena, who had been weighed down by frustration the entire match, finally let a smile bloom across her face. Even if her own performance had been miserable, Reynard had won. Lunar Academy had won. That alone was enough to restore her pride.
As for the Spirit Warriors of Thunderclap Academy, their expressions were complicated. They knew very well that, in this contest, their academy had fallen to the bottom. Yet strangely, many of them still felt a sense of relief.
At least... the victory did not belong to the Academy.
Reynard stood tall, basking in the mont, already waiting for the judges to declare him champion of the alchemy contest.
Then, a calm, icy voice cut cleanly through the noise.
"Reynard, aren’t you celebrating a little too early?"
The cheers faltered.
Reynard turned his head, the smug smile still fixed on his lips.
"Zora, what right does soone who failed to concoct a Potion have to speak to ?"
"Zora, you—!"
Sylvandria gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief.
Because right before everyone’s eyes, Zora raised her hand.
Crimson flas coiled around her palm like a living thing, and within that fire floated a lustrous liquid like a living thing, radiating a rich dicinal aura, with its impurities already been expelled along with the explosion.
The entire arena fell dead silent.
Reynard’s expression froze.
Impossible.
The cauldron had exploded. There was no way she could have saved the potion.
How did she extract the potion that lay at the bottom of the cauldron with tons of water and impurities on the top?
Yet reality struck him like a slap.
Zora’s eyes glinted coldly.
In the final instant before the cauldron detonated, she had forcibly extracted the near-ford potion, abandoning the cauldron itself. With no cauldron to rely on, she had used pure fla control to stabilize the temperature and complete it.
Even for her, it had been a gamble with no margin for error.
Fortunately... she won.
What right did a despicable scher like Reynard have to claim first place?
She would never allow it.
The crowd stared in stunned silence, eyes locked on the Potion suspended in her flas.
Even Mariette and the other senior Concocting masters were shaken. Saving a Potion at the mont of a cauldron explosion was sothing even they might not dare attempt.
Yet Zora had done it.
"This girl..." Mariette murmured, a smile slowly spreading across her face. "Unbelievable."
That level of fire control alone was enough to place her far above her peers.
On the other side, Eamon and the two inscription masters exchanged looks of pure astonishnt. Even they had not expected such terrifying mastery.
anwhile, the faces of Cindral, Hector, and Malrick turned ashen.
They had sched, maneuvered, and calculated at every step—only for everything to be overturned in a single, dazzling move. All their efforts... reduced to nothing by Zora alone.
Under the dazzling sunlight, atop the high platform, the woman in white stood radiant and composed. Confidence flowed naturally around her, and her breathtaking beauty drew the eye so completely that it almost stole one’s breath.
Without a single wasted motion, Zora withdrew the flas. The hovering potion, flawless and lustrous, was gently poured into a white porcelain bottle.
She then tilted her head slightly, her gaze drifting toward Reynard. The corner of her lips curved upward, her smile light, alluring, and rciless.
"Sorry," she said softly. "It seems I ruined your plan."
The color drained from Reynard’s face.
Those words were no different from a slap delivered in front of the entire crowd.
After all his scheming, all his careful calculations, he had still lost... to Zora?
"That’s impossible!" Reynard blurted out, disbelief flashing in his eyes. "Even if you managed to save the potion, its internal structure must already be ruined! Its effectiveness would be way reduced. It’s a flawed potion."
He refused to believe it. In his mind, this had to be so kind of trick, a desperate attempt to bluff her way through.
Zora shrugged lightly, looking at him with faint pity.
"If that’s what you think," she replied calmly, "then you’re destined to be disappointed."
She had never left her fate in another person’s hands, least of all his.
Her feat sent shockwaves through the audience. Expressions of disbelief rippled outward, whispers rising like a tide.
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