Chapter 988: Do You Know the Consequences of Me Dying at Your Hands?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 988: Do You Know the Consequences of Me Dying at Your Hands?
"You! You! You're a complete lunatic!"
Before they heard my second method, they thought this incident might finally be over.
But after hearing it, they were on the verge of a total breakdown.
The Little Witch before them didn't care about compensation at all. She didn't want a single cent.
She wanted to raise absolute hell!
Almost everyone here was at the level of a Teaching Assistant at a Witch Academy. With the power they wielded combined with the methods of a Witch... the consequences were unthinkable!
To act without regard for profit, seeking nothing for oneself—calling such a person a "lunatic" wasn't enough to describe her.
It wasn't just the few remaining Elves or the Holy Angels who hadn't yet committed suicide; even the frozen-but-conscious Wizards and the "Undying" who were still clinging to life were horrified.
Even the Transcendents present trembled with rage upon hearing her words!
If they really let a Little Witch shove Mana Sources into these students' bodies, where would their dignity go?
"Many people have called me a lunatic before. I'm sure there will be many more in the future, but I don't care."
I glanced at the Mana Source in my hand, then at the Forest Elf I had pinned to the ground with my blade.
"You'll do."
"Wait! Stop!" Seeing that I wasn't joking, the Forest Elf cried out in panic!
But as for helping, not a single person stepped forward.
Once a Mana Source was forced into them, the final outcome would be total abandonment by their Transcendent Academy!
This wasn't just a rule at the Wizard Academy; it was the same for all Transcendent Academies.
Once expelled from their own academy, the only place they could go was a Witch Academy. And if they stubbornly refused to accept the status of a Witch Academy student, it was equivalent to voluntarily forfeiting their student status. Their information would be transferred to the bounty boards for "Transcendent Reclamation."
Every single thing they possessed related to the Transcendent world would be stripped away.
They would be left with absolutely nothing...
"What right do you have to tell me to stop? Or are you planning to fulfill my first condition?" As I spoke, the number of Mana Sources condensing around me began to grow.
From one to two... three... four...
"Your first condition is too ridiculous! How could we possibly agree to that!"
"Heh..."
I merely let out a cold snort.
It would be impolite to keep wasting words with these people. After all, I wasn't actually here for the resources.
I was here for the Transcendents.
And the first on the list was... the Wizard Academy.
I looked at the Wizards who still hadn't recovered. They were alive, but only just.
"Let's start with the Wizard apprentices. It's not like it's the first time anyway," I muttered to myself. With a wave of my hand, several Mana Sources shot toward those figures.
If they still had the strength to resist, knocking these Mana Sources away would be child's play. But in their current state, even that was a struggle.
Say goodbye to your "little brothers," boys!
"Stop!"
The moment the Mana Sources left my hand, a furious roar erupted.
Along with that roar, an attack arrived in an instant.
Screech—Crack!
Following the sound of a hard collision and the immediate sound of shattering, I blocked that Transcendent Wizardry head-on.
The price, however, was that a single strike shattered my blade, which had been forged from special ice crystals.
And that blade had been reinforced by Mana and the Order of the Power of Knowledge Domain!
Even so, a casual strike like that finally made me realize that under the crushing weight of brute force, any technique was as laughable as the broken sword in my hand.
However, I wasn't the only one shocked. The Transcendent Wizard who had attacked me was even more stunned!
He had actually hit her!
He had actually struck this Little Witch!
The moment he acted, he had prepared himself to be intercepted by a Transcendent Witch. He had even prepared himself for a furious counterattack.
But he never expected the final result... there was no interference at all.
The Little Witch had taken the full brunt of the blow herself.
Not a single Witch had moved to help her.
Even if it was just a symbolic attack, the pressure from the Transcendent level was an insurmountable wall for a student, like an ant trying to shake an elephant.
Because the gap between the two was the distance of an entire lifetime of Real Time!
Even though the Main World granted Spirit Vision, seeing something was a completely different concept from touching, let alone mastering or dominating it.
Meanwhile, the Witches observing from the shadows were growing anxious.
"Are we really not going to step in? No matter how I look at it, that doesn't look like Xiao Han's clone!"
"Could I really mistake Xiao Han's clone? That's definitely Xiao Han herself, isn't it?"
"Don't panic yet. Let me double-check." At this moment, Bev Alanna, as one of the Deans, was also feeling uncertain.
Serena Politzer, who had stepped forward, watched silently. However, a faint trace of doubt flickered in her eyes.
The "Xiao Han" before them was indeed identical to the one they knew.
Power, aura, Domain Order, even the perception of her life essence—everything matched.
More importantly... the figure before them was undeniably a living, breathing being. That was the key.
It stood in stark contrast to those temporary clones from before.
"Old Hag Mei! Are you sure your head is on straight? The one over there is Xiao Han herself! Are you trying to get her killed?" The moment Bev Alanna connected with Mei Lind, she unleashed a barrage of questions.
"It's not Xiao Han. Xiao Han has already returned to the academy and reported to me immediately. The Xiao Han over there has been a fake since the moment she left the Secret Realm," Mei Lind explained to Bev Alanna while rubbing her temples.
After all, Mei Lind had never seen a Life Clone before, so she couldn't empathize with what Bev Alanna and the others were sensing.
"Are you questioning my judgment? You think I can't tell if someone is a clone or not?"
"You... Fine. You won't believe me until I bring Xiao Han here, right? Why don't you just send her a message and ask her yourselves? You can't mistake a message sent to the Tree of Great Knowledge, can you? Xiao Han's clones only carry Great Knowledge Seeds!"
Prompted by Mei Lind, Bev Alanna immediately sent a message. However, the "Xiao Han" on the battlefield showed no sign of receiving a notification.
"No way... is it really not her?" Bev Alanna stared at the sent message, but she soon received a reply.
"Confirmed?" Serena Politzer asked from the side.
"Hiss... it really isn't her."
"Then who is this Xiao Han?"
"That... let me ask. Huh? She sent it directly. Does Xiao Han have long-distance mind-reading? This Xiao Han is... a Life Clone?" Bev Alanna looked at the reply. It was as if Xiao Han had known exactly what she was going to ask and sent the answers before she could even pose the question.
"Life Clone?" A flash of confusion crossed Serena Politzer's eyes. Clearly, she had never heard of the concept.
"Ha~ Honestly. After all that, it turns out we were just working ourselves into a tizzy over nothing."
"As long as it's not Xiao Han. Since the real Xiao Han has already left, I'm leaving too," Serena Politzer said, her figure vanishing from the spot.
The reason she had gone to such great lengths to come here was for Xiao Han's safety. Now that it was confirmed that Xiao Han's main body wasn't even here, there was no safety issue to speak of, and thus no reason for her to stay.
"Hey! Wait... you're just leaving like that?" Bev Alanna sighed as she watched Serena depart so quickly.
But... since Serena Politzer was gone, didn't that mean she was the highest-ranking person left here?
Suddenly, the urge to cause some trouble began to sprout in her heart.
Back on the battlefield, the situation had turned bizarre following the Transcendent Wizard's furious strike.
No one had expected the Witches to stay their hand!
Had they become so arrogant that they believed a Little Witch could contend with a Transcendent?
At this moment, the Transcendent Wizard had only made a few casual moves, yet his opponent was already on the verge of collapse.
Even her Domain Prototype was being suppressed, unable to display its true power.
"Hmph! Whether in life or in work, one must know when to stop! Since you, Little Witch, have no teacher at the academy to instruct you, then let me be the one to do it!"
The Wizard grew more emboldened as he fought against her Domain Order. This was the first time he had felt the sensation of crushing a Domain. In the past, a Transcendent Wizard like him, who hadn't grasped a Domain, would have to give a wide berth to anyone in the Saint Realm.
However, he still possessed basic rationality. At the very least, his strikes weren't intended to kill, but to severely wound and capture.
He didn't know why the Witches weren't intervening, but if he truly endangered her life, that might change.
"Are you even worthy, you old fossil?"
"Watch your mouth!"
"A mentor fighting a student and you're actually feeling superior? This is as far as you'll ever get in life!" Even facing such a massive gap, my verbal barbs never stopped.
However, he wasn't truly provoked. Even the power of Emotion Body Cultivation struggled to influence him. His consciousness resided on a higher plane. Even though the methods of Emotion Body Cultivation were bizarre, he could use powerful, primitive means to ensure he wasn't swayed by his emotions. After all, Wizards had many ways to maintain their sanity.
These methods seemed extreme in the face of Emotion Body Cultivation.
Those who couldn't resist, like the Wizard apprentices who had laughed themselves to death earlier, were utterly defenseless.
But once someone could resist, these methods became almost useless.
If a person's emotions were a pot of water, the power of Emotion Body Cultivation was the fire beneath the pot.
The Wizard apprentices, faced with boiling water, could only try to stop the boiling by pouring in more water. But Transcendents... they had a massive reservoir. If it boiled, they just added more water.
It was a classic case of brute force overcoming everything.
But that didn't mean Emotion Body Cultivation was useless against them.
If I were also a Transcendent, I was confident I could toss out the water, the fire, and the pot altogether!
At this moment, the Transcendent Wizard realized that since no one was coming to help him, he had been abandoned.
He was like a reckless clown, not daring to use his full strength for fear of being killed by the Witches.
But the longer he stalled, the more time he spent bullying a Little Witch as a Transcendent Wizard...
He had become a laughingstock either way.
And because of this, despair began to grow in his heart... and that was the so-called emotional flaw.
The scope of emotions was far too vast. Once the management of emotions shifted to "manual control," there would always be oversights.
Urgency... anger... resentment... confusion... irritation...
Fueled by these emotions, his strikes became increasingly reckless, eventually taking on the posture of a true Transcendent battle!
Even with the boost from my Time Sense, allowing me to perfectly control every rhythm of the fight, the prospect of victory felt incredibly bleak.
My understanding of combat was still rooted in "crushing" the opponent; that had never wavered.
But at this moment, I saw no possibility of winning.
Did I have anything that could crush the Transcendent Wizard before me?
Combat power, methods, strength, experience...
I was being crushed in every single category.
But to say I had no "crushing" advantage... that wasn't entirely true.
The Time Sense Prototype gave me crushing reaction speed. Emotion Body Cultivation gave me crushing emotional control. And under the guidance of those emotions, there was the contrast between precision and error...
Since I had "advantages" that could crush him, theoretically, I should be able to win!
But all my advantages were being overwhelmed by his even greater advantages...
Is it really impossible to win? A sense of indignation rose in my heart.
Even though I had prepared myself to die powerlessly... perhaps this was the bitterness that came before a powerless death?
Because of that bitterness, the desire to win was born.
Even if I couldn't win... what about making him bleed?
I remembered asking about the gap between a Transcendent Mentor and a student.
The answer I got was that if a student fought a Mentor who wasn't holding back, even just making the Mentor bleed was enough to be proud of.
But facing the Transcendent Wizard before me, I didn't just want to make him bleed... I wanted to wound him severely!
It was just a shame that after the previous slaughter, this body had already reached its limit just by holding out against this Transcendent Wizard for so long.
In the end, it would remain a regret.
But... even if this clone couldn't do it...
Wasn't there another clone back in the Glacial Throne Secret Realm!
"Argh..."
As my Undying nature began to fall behind his Transcendent methods, the signs of my defeat became clear.
Faced with such a flaw, how could a qualified Transcendent fail to seize it?
But in the final moment, his reason won out.
A fully unleashed Wizard's Hand transformed into a massive phantom, carrying the power of a Wizardry Seal to completely pin my body down.
"Got you!"
"Heh, so I'm caught..." After trying my absolute best and confirming there was no escape, I accepted this ending.
This battle against a Transcendent had at least given me a full understanding of the gap between us. It felt completely different from my sparring sessions with Sister Bai.
It was a decent first experience. Even paying the price of a life for the admission... it was worth it.
Of course, the real value was yet to come.
"So... do you know the consequences of me dying at your hands?"