The Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City’s imperial city region, Lornosbill Thicket battle zone. The strongest teams of black and red, Demon God Knight Bella and Priest Isaman on red against Blood Berserker Veronica and Curse Master Sally Roy on black.
Both sides were opposing professions, knight vs. swordsman, priest vs. curse master, so there was no obvious issue of profession restraints. At the outer circle, the mages on both sides, Priest Isaman and Curse Master Sally Roy, were the first ones to engage in battle.
Under the light wave attack, Curse Master Sally Roy was shaken to the point where she was sent flying. The black barrier emitted by the netherworld artifact, “Dark Divine Right”, was also shattered into dust by the spell.
“The power of your light magic has surpassed the Radiant Church’s papal heir, President Maria. You hid it really well.”
Although Sally Roy’s entire body was a little shaky, she did her best to stand up, a clear trail of blood running down the corner of her mouth. The tremors earlier had resulted in internal injuries. Isaman’s combat power was beyond her expectations. With President Maria’s strength as a reference, she figured she had at least a 70% chance of winning with the power of the netherworld artifact, “Dark Divine Right”.
“Uh, Senior Sister Sally Roy, just admit defeat. You could have become a dark horse with your power, but I’m really sorry!”
With a gentle face, Isaman urged Sally Roy to withdraw. Her combat ability had been above Sally Roy, to begin with. Even though Sally Roy had the “Dark Divine Right” netherworld artifact, she still couldn’t beat her. Probably only Bella and her roommates, Princess Kriss and the others who were also transmigrated cheat members, could fight on par with her.
However, Sally Roy wasn’t the type to give up easily. She raised her netherworld artifact and intended to decide the winner in one move. In this other world, it was not uncommon for mages to fight each other with their ultimate attacks, but it was rare. After all, unless one side completely overwhelmed the other, it would be a lose-lose situation for both parties.
“Senior Sister Sally Roy, why trouble yourself so! It’s not too late to withdraw. Bella is a little mean, but she’s not really going to do anything to you!”
“Junior Sister Isaman, I’ve never chosen to take the easy way out in my life. This has nothing to do with the bet between Bella and me!”
Isaman was partly aware of Bella’s bet with these underworld young mistresses. Even though she wanted to interfere, she figured it was best she gave up. The underworld young mistresses were also problem students in Olsylvia Academy. With that, maybe they’d be easier to manage with Bella as their leader!
Intense dark magic energy gathered behind Sally Roy and transformed into the shape of a black Netherworld Dragon. As her energy increased, the black dragon’s form grew more and more vivid, as if it were alive. In contrast, Priest Isaman still made no obvious movements. She judged that she wouldn’t need to fight using her own divine artifact.
“That girl, Isaman, she won’t be able to take it head-on… No, it’s impossible. Humans can’t take on an ultimate attack from the demon world!”
Curse Master Sally Roy didn’t believe it. The skill she was using belonged to one of the Demon World’s kings, Meteor. If even President Maria did not dare to directly face the move, where did Isaman get her confidence?
Even though there was some hesitation, there was no way to stop an ultimate move once it was released. The dark dragon quickly condensed into a solid entity and sprayed a jet of black energy towards Priest Isaman. The fierce energy shot towards Priest Isaman like a stream of flames. This move, “Netherworld Dragon’s Breath”, was considered a forbidden move in this foreign world and belonged to the level that could destroy a big city.
If it wasn’t for the isolated boundary space that Priest Isaman had set up beforehand, Sally Roy wouldn’t have dared to use this move. In the face of the incoming black energy attack, Priest Isaman’s face was calm the whole time, seemingly unconcerned about Sally Roy’s ultimate strike.
When the Netherworld Dragon’s breath attack was about to arrive, Isaman stretched out a finger, emitting a divine golden light from her fingertip. In an instant, it shattered Sally Roy’s “Netherworld Dragon Breath” into dust. Sally Roy herself was unable to evade and was hit by Priest Isaman’s move, “Adjudicator of Light”.
As Priest Isaman gained the upper hand and was just about to defeat Curse Master Sally Roy, the battle between Bella and Veronica, the Blood Berserker, also came to an end. Veronica had accidentally allowed Bella to sneak up on her earlier, giving Bella an opening. She was pricked in her right hand by a poison dart.
Bella had already applied a paralyzing agent on the poison dart, which was the bile of the Deep Sea Demonic Snake. Veronica’s attack speed slowed under the paralyzing effects, and her right hand that held her sword turned numb, causing her to not be able to hold her two-handed sword as tight.
“Damn it, I fell into your ploy. Bella, you bad girl…”
“I couldn’t help it. Who told you to wear the god armor? I wouldn’t be able to obtain you if I didn’t pull any tricks, Young Mistress Veronica.”
The heavy knight’s armor on Bella’s body showed obvious signs of damage. The sword in Veronica’s hand was the one which had been awakened by the blessing of Bella’s Demon King blood. If her hand had not been paralyzed, it wouldn’t be just the armor. Even the protective barrier around Bella’s body in her non-transformed state had a chance of being penetrated by Veronica.
Bella only defended and did not attack, allowing Veronica to swing around her scarlet greatsword indiscriminately. She defended with the small round shield on her hand to the end. The Deep Sea Demonic Snake’s bile would slowly spread the numbing toxins throughout a person’s body, accelerating as they moved.
Veronica looked back and saw that Sally Roy had already been knocked to the ground. Priest Isaman’s “Adjudicator of Light” had knocked off the “Dark Divine Right” on Sally Roy’s right hand. Having lost the protection of her netherworld artifact, Sally Roy was declared defeated.
Bella took advantage of the moment when Veronica was distracted to grab her right hand and gave it a light twist, disarming her large bloody sword. Then, with a tug, Veronica fell into her arms.
“Damn it… I haven’t lost yet. I can still fight… I… Bella, you bad—”
“Rest for a while, Veronica. We can talk tonight…”
Bella lightly tapped the acupuncture point at Veronica’s back, knocking out the underworld’s young mistress. Even though she had a problem with the Blood Skull, that didn’t stop Bella from hitting on their leader, Young Mistress Veronica.
By the time Bella picked up Veronica and came to the other side, Sally Roy was already defeated. She looked confused, probably doubting her life at the fact that her move was actually broken by a simple motion from Priest Isaman.
“Isaman, you’ve scared her silly. Really, couldn’t you have gone easy on her a little?”
“Senior Sister Sally Roy is very strong. If I went easy on her, that would have been disrespectful. I can’t do that.”
Bella and Isaman successfully advanced. After knocking out the most likely dark horse, Curse Master Sally Roy and Blood Berserker Veronica, they became the winners of Lornosbill Thicket’s battle zone as the red side and directly advanced to the thousand-man finals in the imperial city.
Not far from the thicket, in the plains battle zone, the battle here also came to an end. The top expert, Princess Kriss, who was considered a dangerous character on the black side, was besieged by her own group mates during the preparatory stage of the battle.
Unfortunately, Kriss’s battle prowess was more perverse. Before Bella arrived, Kriss was able to massacre the rest of the black group relying on her own strength. She then went along the road and wiped out the red group’s teams she encountered along the way.
When Bella came over with her temporal swap magic and replaced her shadow double in the plains, the rest of the red side had already been defeated by Swordsman Kriss. Only Necromancer Kleina and Shadow Warrior Young Mistress Inie were left. Bella could only lament that she was late. Had she come earlier, she would have been able to bully her senior and junior sisters a little, just like she did back at the thicket battle zone, taking advantage of them and whatnot. Right now, they had all been instantly destroyed by Kriss, so Bella didn’t even have the opportunity to pick up any scraps.
When Bella arrived, Kriss was brandishing her sword, slashing away at the army of skeletons summoned by Necromancer Kleina on the opposing side. While seemingly numerous, the quality of the skeletons left much to desire for.
And with the longsword wielded by Swordsman Kriss having a sword aura that was ten meters long by itself, she could attack more than a dozen units with just one swing. With such overly strong attacks, the skeleton legion’s numerical superiority couldn’t show its use at all. And being the “mole”, Kleina purposely summoned skeleton infantry soldiers with insufficient combat power.
For the more powerful White Bone Dragon Knights, Necromancer Kleina could actually summon some, but she made an excuse by saying she didn’t have enough dark energy. No matter how cunning Shadow Warrior Young Mistress Inie was, she knew just about as much as Bella when it came to magic. They were all “outsiders of the discipline”. If Necromancer Kleina said she couldn’t do it, then it wouldn’t be good for them to keep prying.
Bella changed into mage clothes and swapped with the black shadow double that was following Princess Kriss the whole time. Princess Kriss and Shadow Warrior Inie were in the midst of battle, so neither of them noticed Bella’s appearance.
Swordsman Princess Kriss was similar to Priest Isaman from before: they both wore very simple equipment. This could be a habit of transmigrators to act tough. When it came to weapons, Kriss also wasn’t wielding a super mighty sword. She just casually used the swordsman’s training longsword to beat down the well-equipped Shadow Warrior Young Mistress Inie until she couldn’t fight back.
Inie’s equipment was also a legendary item, a special armor called “Dancer of the Night” that came with its own shadow ability. Unfortunately, Kriss didn’t rely solely on her sight to determine the target of her attacks but rather her sixth sense. Shadow Warrior Inie could be considered to have met an opponent that restricted her ability.
If the shadow confusion ability didn’t work, then she could only meet Kriss directly. Kriss’s battle prowess in a head-to-head battle could already rival a dragon knight. Inie’s close-combat ability was not to be belittled, but she was no match for Kriss’s perverse strength. Hence, she was always in a disadvantageous position.
Though Necromancer Kleina supporting the rear was also wearing legendary equipment—in fact, a whole set of necromancer’s legendary equipment, “Grey Fairytale”—she was a “mole” who went easy the whole way through. She just kept sending summoned cannon fodder skeletons over while she herself hid far away, not daring to provide magic support.
Bella suddenly appeared close by where they were fighting and saw the member from the black side’s team that constantly summoned skeletons but never showed herself. Since she was dressed as a mage, Inie was overjoyed. If she couldn’t beat Kriss, she could just get close and defeat Kriss’s teammate. That would be the same as eliminating her too.
This was a team battle. As long as one member of the team was defeated, the entire team would be disqualified. The mage Bella hadn’t appeared in that many battles before this, so Inie misjudged. She thought that Bella hadn’t participated in the previous battles simply because she wasn’t fit enough and had to hide and watch.
With her speed advantage, Shadow Warrior Inie evaded getting tangled with Princess Kriss and aimed at Bella the mage. Bella was wearing a mage’s cloak to cover her face, so Inie didn’t even realize that this mage was just Bella acting small. If she knew, she wouldn’t have dared to sneak up on her so easily.
“Stop, Young Mistress Inie. It’s dangerous!”
“Who are you trying to kid? As long as I defeat this weak mage companion of yours, victory is mine! Kriss, I may not be able to beat you, but I have my ways to win.”
Kriss did not chase after her. She just stood still and continued dealing with the skeleton army. Kriss knew that the fake mage Bella had perverse abilities in close combat, so it really was more dangerous there than on her side. Moreover, she was also the type to bully pretty girls, adding to the danger.
Young Mistress Inie, who felt that something was off, didn’t care that much. She had already appeared in front of Bella and stuck her weapon, “Night Reaper”, directly at the life crystal in front of Bella’s chest. Inie, with an assassin’s speed, intended to take advantage of her opponent’s slow reaction as a mage to quickly deal with her before she made a counterattack. She would break the life crystal in front of her chest so that they had to withdraw early.
As Inie believed she was about to succeed, Bella suddenly turned to dodge, evading Inie’s sharp blade. Inie was stunned for a moment. She didn’t think that this mage would have such quick reflexes. In the time of her daze, Bella took Inie’s weapon, “Night Reaper”, the sharp end of which was blocked by the purple crystal gloves that had suddenly appeared on Bella’s hand.
After signing a contract with Crystal Dragon Purple Crystal and Thunder Dragon Queen Geleman, she, as the master, could borrow some of their abilities, such as the gloves on her hands that were as tough as a Crystal Dragon’s skin. Thus, Inie’s weapon failed to inflict any damage to her.
“Your hand… Damn it, let go of… my weapon… Otherwise, I…”
While Inie was still complaining, the cunning Bella unleashed Thunder Dragon Queen Geleman’s lightning magic. The deep blue electricity shot out from Bella’s “Crystal Hand” and followed along Inie’s blade before spreading throughout her body. This move had no counters for most of the martial professions in this Other World dimension. Except for assassins and some archers who wore leather armor, most martial professions wore conductive metal armor, so the damage caused by lightning magic was off the charts.
Inie was instantly paralyzed when she was struck by the sudden bout of electricity. Before she fainted, she had a good look at Bella’s familiar face under the cloak. It was her! Had she known, she wouldn’t have sneak-attacked.
Bella was able to control the size of the lightning magic and only stunned Inie. She didn’t harm her body. Bella had also just thought of this idea, so she decided to give it a try. She didn’t think she would actually succeed and subdue Inie in one fell swoop. The electric shock effect worked wonders. It seemed like there’d be new humiliation plays in the future.
After Inie fainted, Necromancer Kleina directly surrendered, and the competition in the plains ended with Princess Kriss and Grand Duke Baize’s win on the black side. They had first defeated the rest of the black group before beating up all of the red group’s teams. This was a true 1v15, which had already surpassed Bella’s record with Priest Isaman in the thicket battle zone.
The other battle zones weren’t as intense as Bella and Kriss’s. Most of them relied on some cooperation to attack each other, but this side went directly to beating every other team alone. Soon after the battle was over, Bella and Kriss each received a medal of honor from the competition organizers. It was called “Warriors of Lornosbill” to commemorate the team that performed the most outstandingly in the semifinals.
The imperial city finals would only formally begin the next day after the end of the semifinals. A great deal of preparation was needed to arrange the arena in the imperial city for the students. More than a thousand students who had advanced received invitations to enjoy a feast in the Manasvir Empire’s capital, imperial Macnadix City. As for those who didn’t pass, the Emperor made an exception this time and invited the six thousand eliminated students to the imperial city to watch the competition as well.
Under Bella’s secret interventions, the three thousand girls who were eliminated declined the Emperor’s offer, passing that instead to the lucky ones among the over ten thousand boys who were previously eliminated. The girls withdrew to Bella’s home base, resting at the Christian hotel in the imperial capital’s eastern district. For Bella, this was the only safe place in the entirety of the capital.
Bella herself did not go either. The imperial city was already under the influence of the demons behind the curtains. She didn’t want to take any chances before she figured out the nature of the Creator behind the demonic beings.
Still, the main thing was, forget the imperial banquet. Empress Manya Felan herself had already been snatched away by her, so there were not many pretty women to look at during the feast anyway.
Bella returned to Christian Hotel and hosted her own feast while cultivating good relationships with her newly harvested underworld young mistresses. Naturally, Bella ignored the Emperor’s invitation. Olsylvia Academy students attending the dinner were four transmigrated male Saviors. WIth them around, the demon disguised as the Emperor would go to them if they wanted to start anything, not Bella.
