She was the observer...she had to have known that close to no one, even inside the Imperial dorm, could control and manipulate their mana.
Yet, when explaining her plan to , she hadn’t hesitated in the slightest when telling to touch the fire with a droplet of my mana.
How had she known I would succeed?
As my words echoed through the coliseum, Mira suddenly paused, lowering her hand, and turning to face from across the coliseum.
We were quite literally the farthest distance apart one could be in the coliseum, yet I could make out her face perfectly.
The strands of hair around her ears blew forward, highlighting her jawline, and, due to the lack of air this high up, her mouth was wide open, gasping for air.
A slightly red blush spread across her entire face, even touching the tip of her nose, contrasting greatly with her ocean-blue eyes.
Although her figure was just barely a blur amidst the thousands of seats within the coliseum, I still looked and narrowed my eyes, because I knew she was looking back.
With her enhanced eyesight, even at a distance like this, she could make out my figure.
As if proving my point, the blurry figure suddenly tilted their head right, while seemingly looking at .
*WHOOSH*
A gust of wind suddenly blew by , not affecting the hundreds of mana particles above, but blurring my already bad vision even more.
Reopening my left eye, as I stared forward, all I could see in the distance was a pair of glowing blue eyes that seed to be levitating in the air.
It was as if Mira’s entire body, except her eyes, had beco invisible.
At that mont, as the pair of floating blue eyes t my single left eye, a voice suddenly sounded.
Although I knew Mira had yelled the words with all her might, the words barely reached , sounding as if soone had just softly whispered into my ear.
If I hadn’t been paying attention, I would have mistaken the voice for the sound of wind.
"My gut told too."
As those words reverberated throughout my brain, my vision suddenly cleared as the wind disappeared, revealing Mira’s figure once again.
A mont later, Mira closed her mouth and spread apart the corners of her lips, her light-red cheeks bursting forward.
As I nodded my head and turned away, refocusing on the magical particles above , a smile subconsciously ford on my face as well.
My biggest worry about the Imperial dormitory was the suppressive environnt...but it seed I had been majorly mistaken.
As I reached my left hand upward and rapidly moved it right and left as if I were waving to soone, hundreds of mana particles disappeared above , like raindrops upon hitting the ground.
After a couple of minutes of collecting particles, easily surpassing thousands, I paused and turned around to face Mira across the arena.
A cloud of more than a thousand ocean-blue mana particles still remained over her head as she jumped up and down like a dog, attempting to get the higher ones.
First place was guaranteed for us by far, so we could stop now.
My exhaustion had caught up to as the adrenaline wore off, and through the hole in the mana bubble above us, the cold air and wind currents of the outside were entering the academy.
Additionally, if we hurried back now, we might be able to get so of the leftover food at the Imperial dorm before the kitchen staff cleaned everything up.
However, a second later, I took a deep breath in before going back to collecting particles, like Mira.
The damage had been done.
We had already created a hole in the magic bubble and possibly awakened a celestial beast that could destroy the entire academy.
So...it would be a waste not to make the most of it.
Thus, for the next fifteen minutes, I used all of my remaining strenght, not wasting a single second, collecting as many particles as I could.
...
...
...
*WHOOSH*
As I reached my hand up one last ti, grasping one last particle and watching it disappear, a sudden blue flash appeared, blinding and forcing to close my eye.
When I reopened my left eye, the few mana particles previously floating above that I had missed had disappeared.
However, imdiately attracting my attention, the academy was no longer bathed in a light-blue hue.
The mana bubble surrounding the academy had entirely disappeared, and the fireball before the phoenix’s beak had returned to its normal fiery red color.
It had ended.
Imdiately, my body, which was on the edge of collapsing, coursed with energy as I suddenly turned my head and looked to my right.
And, when I did, a familiar face was already there, in the distance, staring right at , with an expression that seed to say, "What took you so long to realize?"
Before the two of us could exchange any words, a loud voice, sounding all across the academy and probably even reaching the capital city, echoed.
"Congratulations to all students. The competition has officially co to an end."
"No matter your final placent or number of particles, we’d like to thank you all for participating in this yearly tradition and cultivating a friendly and competitive environnt within the academy."
"Now, for the mont you’ve all been waiting for."
After a brief pause, the voice suddenly reverberated again, this ti in an excited and energized tone that mimicked those of sports comntators.
"YOUR OFFICIAL WINNERS OF THE ONE AND ONLY MANA GATHERING COMPETITION!"
"IN THIRD PLACE, FROM THE THIRD YEAR, ARE THE TEAM OF CHAE, KIM, AND YOO!"
*CLAP*
*CLAP*
Again, a brief intermission ensued, in which I heard the sound of thousands of students clapping from miles away.
As Mira opened her mouth, the principal’s voice rang once again, sohow in an even more energetic tone.
"YOUR SECOND PLACE WINNERS, FROM THE SECOND YEARS, ARE...FANG AND BAI!"
Fang and Bai...the original winners of this competetion and the infamous duo of the second years.
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