“When on earth did she first set her sights on me?”
After leaving the girls' dormitory area, Greg walked toward the training room while silently pondering this in his mind.
He carefully recalled his actions ever since his transmigration, trying to pinpoint when Melina had first started noticing him.
Greg suspected that the initial trigger must have been several months ago when he killed Rock Spike to save Silvia.
Second, it was probably when he dealt with the resurrected Undead at the suburban cemetery.
Although his direct consumption of a Demon King Cult executive with his dark mana hadn't been exposed, Melina could probably guess to some extent that the executive's disappearance was related to him.
“So she became interested in me, which is why she couldn't resist contacting me directly right at the start of the exchange program...”
Thinking of this, Greg shivered.
“No, just thinking about her focusing all her attention on me gives me goosebumps.”
“As expected, I have to find a way to get Victoria to draw her attention, and then slowly conquer this dangerous girl.”
Although Greg couldn't be sure if those endings in the original game were Good Ends, he figured that since the two of them often got intimate with each other in their respective routes, they must have had a successful romance route and built an emotional foundation.
So, compared to himself—who was destined to die in every single route of the original game—it was definitely safer to leave this matter to Little Gray, who actually had a chance of making it happen.
With his mind made up, Greg arrived at the training room's floor.
Because it was inside the Magic Tower, the training room's area certainly wasn't as vast as the academy's, but it wasn't small either. After all, this single facility occupied an entire floor.
Although most students had failed to pass the secondary defense and were now in their free-time period, a significant portion of them hadn't forgotten that their purpose in participating in the exchange was to improve themselves.
Thus, the current training room was filled with students from various academies engaging in restricted real combat to exchange pointers, the air thick with the scent of colliding mana and the clashing of weapons.
Greg scanned the training room but didn't see Juno or Vivian anywhere.
However, he noticed a corner of the room surrounded by a crowd of students, who let out occasional gasps of surprise and admiration.
He guessed that this commotion must be their doing, so he walked straight over.
Squeezing through the crowd, Greg peered through the gaps in the wall of people to see the scene inside.
Inside a translucent defensive barrier, two figures were clashing at high speeds.
Juno, the reddish-brown-haired Little Dragon Girl, stood on one side of the barrier, her mouth chanting some ancient and obscure incantation.
As she chanted, crimson runes materialized in the air, swirling around her like living things and radiating a scorching heat.
She pointed forward sharply, and the runes instantly transformed into several fiery spears, shooting toward Vivian on the opposite side with a sharp, air-rending whistle.
This was Word Spirit magic, awakened from the ancient bloodline sleeping within her, carrying the power passed down through the dragon race for thousands of years.
Vivian stood on the other side of the barrier. Facing the oncoming fiery spears, her expression remained as cold and clear as ice.
She merely raised a finger slightly, and a shield condensed from frost instantly formed before her.
The fiery spears slammed into the ice shield, erupting into thick steam and a harsh, sizzling sound, but the shield remained rock-solid, without even a single crack appearing.
Immediately after, Vivian lightly flicked her finger. Dozens of hair-thin ice needles shot out from the surface of the shield like a dense downpour of ice, raining down on Juno in response.
An excited smile spread across Juno's face. Tapping her toes against the ground, she leaped backward like a swift swallow, rapidly chanting a brief Word Spirit at the same time.
A faint golden barrier materialized in front of her. The ice needles clattered against the barrier, shattering into tiny ice crystals that sparkled like gems in the air.
“Amazing...”
“As expected of geniuses from the Five Great Academies. We can't compare to a battle of this level at all.”
Whispers of admiration rippled through the crowd.
Some students watched with unblinking eyes, afraid to miss a single thrilling moment.
Others quietly discussed their assessment of the duo's strength, their voices filled with deep respect.
There were even some male and female students gazing at the two inside the barrier with starstruck, infatuated eyes.
This was only natural. Whether it was Vivian's cold elegance or Juno's vibrant and energetic posture, both made it hard for anyone to look away.
Someone muttered dejectedly in a low voice:
“I really wish I could get closer to them... I'd be more than satisfied even if we were just ordinary friends.”
Though his wish was humble enough, it had no chance of coming true. After all, these two were not people just anyone could approach.
The battle inside the barrier continued.
Juno launched another offensive. Pressing her palms together and pulling them apart, she released a crimson beam of light from her hands. It swept toward Vivian like a giant flaming sword.
Vivian pressed one hand downward, causing an ice shield to rise from the ground and block the flaming sword's slash. At the same time, she lightly waved her other hand, sending several ice spikes flying at Juno from the flank.
Juno flipped to dodge, but one of the ice spikes grazed her shoulder, leaving a white trail of frost on her robe.
The two clashed for several more rounds. The transition between offense and defense was lightning-fast, each collision sending ripples through the barrier.
However, since it was a restricted spar, neither used their full strength, focusing instead on testing each other and honing their techniques.
Ultimately, in a head-on clash of ice and fire, Juno's flames were completely suppressed by Vivian's frost. Juno herself was bound at the feet by an ice ring, losing her mobility.
“I give up, I give up!”
Juno raised her hands, readily admitting defeat.
The barrier subsequently dissolved.
Juno patted her backside as she stood up, stretching her ankles which had gone slightly numb from the ice ring. Then, she immediately dashed over to Vivian in three quick strides, leaning in with an excited expression:
“Wow, Vivian! You seem to have gotten so much stronger compared to last year! Did you discover some secret? Tell me, tell me!”
Vivian ignored her pestering, expressionlessly withdrawing her hand and tidying her slightly disheveled cuffs.
But when she heard Juno's words about "getting so much stronger," a certain person's figure involuntarily floated into her mind.
This brought a faint warmth to her heart, and her lips curled upward into a subtle smile.
Just then, Juno suddenly sniffed the air, as if catching a familiar scent.
“Hmm... This scent is!”
Juno whipped her head around, her gaze piercing through the crowd to lock onto a precise direction.
Then, a massive smile bloomed on her face. “Wow! Did you change your mind and decide to come back to Ember-Eye Tower with me?!”
Hearing this, Vivian followed Juno's gaze with some confusion.
The moment she spotted the familiar figure standing in the crowd, she immediately shifted her gaze back to Juno, her expression turning exceptionally icy.
Rate on N.U.
