Chapter 712: The Transcendents' Dilemma
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 712: The Transcendents' Dilemma
"Do you truly think our Witch Academy is soft-tempered? Pulling petty tricks right under our noses!"
After being blocked, the Transcendent Witch who had first attempted to stop the match spoke with a sharp shift in tone. She hadn't expected anyone to actually dare interfere with her actions.
Just moments ago, she had moved to halt the Dream Demon, only to be obstructed by another force.
"The examinee's actions are currently entirely within the rules. Do you Transcendents intend to personally negate the validity of a Witch Contract?"
Neither side yielded an inch. In just a few sentences, the issue had escalated to a matter of racial principle.
The validity of the Witch Contract served as the "credit" of the Witch race within the Void; they could not allow it to be ruined by their own hands.
"You think you're worthy of lecturing us on our own Witch Contracts?" The Witch gave the other party no chance to explain. "If anything happens to Xiao Han during this joint exam, the Witch Academy will pursue this to the bitter end! We won't let a single person involved off the hook."
At that moment, another Witch stepped forward, forcefully suppressing the Dream Demon into the ground.
The Transcendents from the other academies sighed as they watched the Witches move with such terrifying speed. They wondered if the Dream Demon had managed to kill the target in that infinitesimal window of time.
"You people!"
The Transcendent Wyrmkin leading the Dragon Blood Academy looked at the Witch in shock. "Are you really going to lay hands on a student and ignore the Principle of Transcendent Non-Interference for the sake of a single examinee? This is nothing more than a squabble between students!"
"A squabble? Then perhaps you can explain why this thing was on his person." At that moment, Lina stepped forward. With a wave of her hand, she summoned the suppressed Dream Demon into her grasp.
She utilized a Dream Demon Spell—the most suitable tool for dealing with a creature that could phase between dreams and reality. Without this spell, she would have had to rely on other, more cumbersome methods; after all, not every Witch specialized in dream research.
"A Dream Demon? A creature of the Abyssal Demons. What does that have to do with us?"
"This thing was on your student. And not just him..." Lina flicked her finger again, dragging several figures forward. With a series of thuds, the silhouettes of Dream Demons drifted out from their bodies as well!
"And what about these people?"
"This only proves the sinister intent of the Abyssal Demons. They feigned an invasion of the Expansion Realm while actually intending to use Dream Demons to infiltrate and sabotage our joint exam." At this point, a Transcendent Wizard from the Wizard Academy spoke up, shamelessly offering an explanation for the group.
Hearing this, many present couldn't help but marvel inwardly—those Wizards really were thick-skinned.
"With one sentence, you wash your own students completely clean." Lina looked as though she might laugh from sheer anger at the Wizard's audacity.
"Doesn't your Witch Academy have examinees like this as well? Or is this a play directed and acted by the Witch Academy itself to stir up trouble?" The Wizards pointed at the students who had been hauled out; several of them were indeed from the Witch Academy.
"If that's the case, then the Witch Academy's conduct is far too unsightly!"
As the narrative shifted, members of other Transcendent academies began to point fingers at the Witch Academy. For a moment, the scene descended into chaos.
It was clear that all the academies were exercising extreme restraint. Despite the suffocating tension where a Transcendent war could break out at any second, not a single person actually made a move.
Theoretically, the other academies were in the wrong for conspiring, but according to the rules, their operations were entirely legitimate!
Setting aside the Witch Contract for this exam—which hadn't been violated—even if they tried to blame the Abyssal Demons, the permission for those demons to enter the Expansion Realm had been granted by the Witches themselves.
Granted... the Abyssal Demons had paid a price so steep it made even the Transcendents wince.
But compared to that price, killing an existence with infinite potential—one who might very well become a Truth Witch in the future—was well worth it.
They could not stand by and watch the Witch race gain another Truth Witch.
They preferred the mediocre Witches. No matter how powerful those Witches became, no matter how much they wandered the Void or caused trouble, they were merely giant infants riding on the coattails of their race's heritage. They posed no threat.
But they would not allow another figure like a Truth Witch to emerge!
Talent was something visible from the very start. A mediocre person remained mediocre even after ascending to the Transcendent realm, while a genius remained radiant even before reaching it.
The birth of every Truth Witch represented a massive leap forward for the Witch race.
They were envious. They truly could not bear to see it.
"Enough! The joint exam is still ongoing. For the Witch Academy to resort to such violence over a single student..."
"Shut up, Birdman! Who gave you the right to speak here?" The Witches cut off the Holy Angel without giving him an ounce of face.
"Quarreling is meaningless. We are here to solve the problem, but you Witches give us the impression that you want to 'solve' us instead!"
"If that's what you think, we Transcendent Witches don't mind doing exactly that. Want to try us?" Lina's domineering reply, coupled with her predatory gaze, actually intimidated the gossiping Holy Angel into silence.
It wasn't until another figure stepped out to smooth things over that the conversation could continue.
"Alright, everyone, listen to me. At its root, this is nothing more than a fight between students. Why escalate it to this level? If the students of the various academies see this, they'll think the mentors of the Witch Academy lack any sense of grace."
"This matter originated with the Dream Demons. Once the joint exam is over, we can go question the Abyssal Demons together. Why argue here and let those demons have a laugh at our expense?"
"At worst, we'll just perform a resurrection. Let the matter end here for now, and we can discuss the rest later. How about it?"
"Fine."
A voice suddenly agreed to the suggestion, causing even the Transcendent who proposed it to freeze.
They had only suggested it in passing; they didn't actually think the Witches would hand over the corpse for them to resurrect.
The Witches knew exactly what they were up to; otherwise, they wouldn't have appeared en masse to cause trouble the moment the incident occurred.
The gathering of so many Transcendent Witches showed just how much they valued this candidate who hadn't even ascended to Transcendent status yet!
But the more the Witches valued her, the more it proved the other academies had made the right move.
If the Transcendents didn't intervene and kept it as a "squabble between students," then the students and teaching assistants would have needed the Dream Demon's power to completely annihilate the Soul Essence.
But if a Transcendent acted... it wouldn't be that complicated.
With a wave of their hand, a Transcendent could wipe a Soul Essence lifeform out of existence entirely. They didn't need the messy methods of a Dream Demon.
This was the dimensional suppression of a Transcendent over a non-Transcendent!
However, when they saw the figure who had spoken, many of them felt a cold shiver run down their spines.
Because the Witch who had said "Fine" was the Dean of the Witch Academy—Mei Lind!
Faced with such an out-of-spec Witch, many Transcendents instinctively trembled. It was as if the image of her using the Great Weakening Spell to suppress them in the Main World was flashing through their minds once again.
Even though she had personally ruined her own Great Spellbook, her Great Weakening Spell in the Main World's Core World had kept them suppressed to this day.
No one dared to underestimate such a Witch. Even if she had lost her Great Spellbook—or perhaps because she had lost it—she had spent all these years in the Main World suppressing her inner restlessness.
Many believed that she was even more terrifying now than she had been back then.
"You... you... Mei Lind? Why are you here!"
"Why shouldn't I be?" Mei Lind's figure appeared, her demeanor incredibly casual.
Appearing alongside her were several other Witches who looked like they were just there for the show. However, among the followers was a Witch holding a long blade, her expression so grim it was clear she wasn't there for entertainment.
"Mei Lind, as the Dean of the Witch Academy, do you intend to forcibly interfere in this matter?"
"Of course. This involves a Little Witch recognized by us Witches. As the Dean, I naturally had to come and see the cause of all this."
"A Little Witch?!"
Hearing this title, many of the Transcendents present furrowed their brows.
The Witch Academy's side wasn't particularly shocked. After all, everyone knew about the "Honorary Little Witch" status authenticated by the contract. Even those who didn't know felt the recognition of a "kindred spirit" through the contract's witness when they met Xiao Han.
But the Transcendents from the other academies felt a sense of impending doom. A Little Witch... if they remembered correctly, wasn't that the form a Transcendent Witch took after falling from her rank?
If that was the case, things were going to be troublesome.
Witches were notoriously protective. Even if one lost her Transcendent rank and became a Little Witch, she was still a recognized member of their kind. They would even voluntarily sign a Little Witch Contract, shifting from racial identification to contractual identification—a bond even less likely to be betrayed than that of a Transcendent Witch.
"Indeed. Teaching Assistant Yang Yuehan of the Witch Academy has signed a Little Witch Contract under the witness of us Transcendent Witches and the Primal Witch, becoming an Honorary Little Witch. If you didn't hear clearly, I can explain it to you again," Mei Lind said.
This was the first time Dean Mei had publicly announced this identity. Previously, the news had only circulated among the Transcendent Witches.
As for the students who were currently pinned to the ground by the Transcendent pressure... though they didn't fully understand what was happening, they could guess that the identity of the teaching assistant named Yang Yuehan was... incredibly significant?
After all, anyone who could get so many Transcendent mentors to stand up for them couldn't possibly be ordinary!
The other Transcendents, having understood the situation, were now nursing massive headaches.
They hadn't expected the implications to be so vast. Dean Mei Lind had even brought up the "Primal Witch"!
However, Mei Lind wasn't lying. She had indeed obtained that contract from the Primal Witch, and it did indeed bear the Primal Witch's signature and certification. There was no flaw in her claim.
"Then what do you want!" At this point, a Transcendent from the Wizard Academy stepped forward under the pressure, asking with a darkened face.
"What do I want?" Mei Lind looked at the Transcendent Wizard, enunciating every word. "Naturally, exactly what you just suggested. Resurrect Xiao Han, and we'll let this matter slide for now. We can settle the accounts later. If you cannot, then prepare to face the wrath of the Transcendent Witches!"
"Why should we bear the responsibility? This was clearly done by the Abyssal Demons!"
"Who did it and who participated in it—we know, and you know."
"Where is the evidence? Without evidence, on what grounds do you..."
"Since when do Witches need evidence? Do you want the 'evidence' of us killing you and then searching your souls? Don't worry, we'll resurrect you afterward. But if the evidence shows you really were involved... Heh."
"You! You Witches..."
Clearly, the Wizard was so enraged by Mei Lind's shameless behavior that he couldn't even speak coherently.
Even though these were things everyone knew in their hearts, the Witches refused to play by the rules or follow the unspoken conventions... it left them with no recourse.
They were simply a bunch of unreasonable lunatics! The only time they ever listened to reason was when it was written into a Witch Contract!
"Enough talk. I've given you the chance. Weren't you just clamoring to end this boring dispute quickly?" With a wave of Mei Lind's hand, the "corpse" lying on the ground slowly floated before them.
In that moment, a dilemma appeared before them.
They weren't entirely sure if the Dream Demon had truly killed the Soul Essence of this... Little Witch.
But that didn't matter anymore. What mattered was whether she could actually be resurrected.
If she couldn't, they would likely face the immediate fury of the Transcendent Witches. This matter would not be settled today!
If she could be resurrected... then their elaborate plan and layout would become a laughingstock.
Even so, they still had two choices.
The initiative for the resurrection was currently in their hands. It would be easy for them to strike during the process and kill her permanently; the Witches wouldn't have time to stop them.
But doing so would carry consequences even more severe than failing to resurrect her!
Yet, were they really supposed to just resurrect this "Little Witch" and let the matter go?
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
From the beginning, they only ever had one choice...
To prevent the resurgence of the Witch race. For that, they were willing to sacrifice their lives. They were merely Transcendents stationed in the Main World; they believed that the Great Worlds of their respective races would remember their contributions and take good care of their kin.
"...The matter of resurrection... should be handled by the Holy Angel Academy. As a Transcendent race that believes in the Holy Light, they are more skilled in matters of life and resurrection."
Under the immense pressure, the Transcendent Wizard finally broke and shifted the burden to the Holy Angels!
In any case, the Wizards and Holy Angels had never gotten along.
"You!" The Holy Angels, who had intended to remain "objective" bystanders, were suddenly called out. The group of Holy Angels instantly became restless.
In a flash, they realized the Wizard Academy was trying to dump the trouble onto them!
If this Little Witch truly could be resurrected, then the "villain" who would have to kill her permanently would have to be one of the Holy Angels!
How did they become the scapegoats? This wasn't how the plan was discussed at the start...
Damn it all!
However... they had no reason to refuse. The Holy Angels' understanding of resurrection was indeed top-tier.
After all, they cultivated believers; miracles like healing, limb regeneration, and even resurrection were basic operations for them. When it came to resurrecting a non-Transcendent, the Holy Angels were undeniably experts.
Meanwhile, Mei Lind silently took two steps back, coming to stand beside Bai Yu. she gently placed a hand on Bai Yu's shoulder, as if signaling her not to be impulsive.
Bai Yu turned her head to look at her. Despite her outward expression of fury, her eyes revealed a calm and indifferent heart.
Just as she had told Sheryl before, she believed in Xiao Han!
Yes, she believed in Xiao Han, but Xiao Han's "death" was a fact. Even if this matter was settled for now, she would not let the people before her go... none of them.
Bai Yu was the Witch who knew best whether Xiao Han was truly dead, followed by Mei Lind.
Was Xiao Han really dead?
How was that possible?
The Omni-Link Main Network Tree located in the Expansion Realm was still operating, and the power network maintaining the joint exam had not collapsed.
These technologies and techniques, built upon Xiao Han's Domain Order, were proof enough that Xiao Han was still alive in another form—and doing quite well.
But a play had to be performed to the end. Since Xiao Han was cooperating so perfectly, how could they waste such a generous favor?
More importantly, these two Witches knew of another concept.
That was the "Soul Dwelling" dream space—the Dream Authority manifested within Xiao Han's Great Soul Subject.
Therefore, even for Transcendents, it was absolutely impossible to completely kill Xiao Han right under their noses!