Chapter 390: Fireball Hex was on the level of a Grand Mage and even at that tier, he was impossible to kill. It wasn’t that it was difficult but it was just straight up impossible. The Empire had spent years attempting to destroy him, deploying entire military units and powerful spells, only to fail over and over. In the end, it took Stella Duvraine’s runes to seal him away. Hex’s immortality wasn’t just a title; it was a fact. He could regenerate from being vaporized, disintegrated, or torn apart. His soul was bound to his vessel in a way that made death meaningless, at least that was how the Empire described him. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚 So how, in the name of the gods, did she kill him? Veyra exhaled slowly, and her skin rippled like glass touched by a hammer. The crystallized flesh shattered silently, flaking away in glittering fragments to reveal completely healed skin beneath. The sight was shocking enough that both allies and enemies paused to take in her restored beauty.... Her silver hair had become far more silky making it flow down her back. Her skin was flawless and it glowed under the moonlight, making her look like a goddess. Even Rain, still recovering from divine backlash, forgot for a moment about the pain searing through her body and wondered if maybe she was slightly interested in women after all. "You." Veyra raised her bone sword and pointed it directly at Aria, her expression calm but cold enough to freeze the air around her. "You made me a widow." The girls collectively stiffened. "Huh?" Aria blinked in genuine confusion before realization struck her like a slap. "Oh. You were married to Azel?" A ripple of shock surged through the group. Even Grand Mage Luke, still partially paralyzed by the Reaper curse, widened his eyes. Azel... married? And to someone like this... this ethereal, terrifying beauty? Rain, Sybil, Charlotte, Sylvia, Flare, even Esme and Esther couldn’t form a coherent thought for several seconds. The idea didn’t make sense. They all knew how Azel flirted, joked, teased... but married? Already? It felt impossible. "Of course I was," Veyra answered naturally as she tossed her hair back with a graceful flick. "I even got permission from his mother to bear his child." The girls’ hearts collectively imploded. Veyra’s voice softened to a quiet mutter. "Though... we haven’t actually done anything together yet..." For a moment, they all froze again. That last part shouldn’t have made them relieved but it did. "But that’s not the point," Veyra continued firmly as she lifted her blade. "I’m here to kill you." Aria sighed and casually threw Ald to the side. The professor screamed as he tumbled across the courtyard floor, rolling like a ragdoll before coming to a stop. "He was quite strong, you know," Aria said lightly as she turned to face Veyra. "While I was transporting his body, I checked and—" she smirked "—he had quite a big member. Shame you didn’t get to..." The sentence never finished. Veyra blurred forward faster than the sound of Aria’s voice with her bone sword already swung. Aria barely raised the Reaper Blade in time. Their weapons collided with explosive force, sending a wave of frigid wind across the courtyard. Students stumbled back, shielding their faces as the gust tore past them. "You’ll die today," Veyra said coolly, and the sky above darkened. Clouds twisted unnaturally, swirling as if pulled by invisible threads. Tiny flecks of white drifted downward. Snow. In the heart of the Starbloom Empire... snow. "Wow... it’s snowing, It’s not even time yet." Sybil whispered, briefly awed as she extended her hands. But the flakes never landed on her palms. Instead, every snowflake twisted mid-air, sharpening into tiny blades of frost and shooting straight toward Aria like a coordinated swarm. Aria vanished from the impact zone and reappeared several meters away, but Veyra had anticipated it. She arrived at Aria’s flank instantly, divinity bursting from her body like radiant steam. Her sideways stab forced Aria to flip backward in a lightning-quick arc. Still, dozens of enchanted snowflakes converged on her mid-motion, tearing holes in her clothing and striking her skin with sharp thuds... yet the cuts bounced off her flesh harmlessly, unable to pierce it. Nari, on the other hand, was completely unconcerned about Aria’s predicament. Her attention was on Luke. "What do you say, Grand Mage?" Nari asked with a deceptively innocent smile. "Should I heal you and borrow your mana for a little while? Or will I have to take you by force?" Luke’s expression hardened even as Rain pressed both hands against his chest. The divinity she wielded, though agonizing, radiated outward in a warm gold glow. The light poured through Luke like sunlight through stained glass, dispelling the Reaper curse layer by layer. As his body regained mobility, he raised a hand and clenched it toward Nari... attempting a mana explosion to knock her away. Nothing happened. Nari smirked. "Your little mana burst trick won’t work on me... Not anymore." She flicked her umbrella lightly, and dark energy gathered around her shoulders. "You’re a bit troublesome to deal with, but I suppose I expected that." Her skin darkened as black veins pulsed beneath the surface. The transformation was quick and flawless, and the moment it ended, she was no longer Nari... she was Mallicite and she had begun floating into the sky. Luke forced himself to float upright, even though his breath still wavered. "Where is Lorraine?" "Lorraine isn’t here," Mallicite answered, voice neither male nor female but an eerie blend of both. "My Boss needs your mana to complete the ritual. After that, you can save her." "You will not get any," Luke declared. Mana spiraled around him once more, swirling brighter as he prepared to fight even with depleted resources. Mallicite exhaled through a body made entirely of shifting shadows. "You will try." Shadow tentacles erupted outward like a storm of writhing limbs. They extended in all directions, aiming to bind, pierce, or consume. But before they could reach him, they froze mid-air. "You’re late," Luke said calmly as he looked to his left. Torrent rose into the sky with an exasperated sigh. "Shall we?" Luke nodded once. Torrent sighed. "We shall." High above the Academy, their mana collided with Mallicite’s shadow tendrils, creating explosions of light and darkness that blossomed like flowers in the night sky. Sybil watched with wide eyes as bright flares ignited across the heavens, each burst containing more mana than she possessed in her entire body before drinking the enhancement potion. The scale of the fight was overwhelming. ’Terrifying...’ she thought, looking away from the flashes to check on Rain, who was healing herself with the remaining divine light. "We need to find Nari," Rain said as she pushed to her feet, determination replacing her exhaustion. The wind from the ongoing battle whipped at her hair. "There’s no need to look far," Sybil replied, pointing upward. On top of the Academy’s tallest building, the large emblem stood with Lorraine tied to it like a sacrificial ornament. Nari stood beside her, gathering mana from the clashing Grand Mages. The torrent of energy spiraling toward the emblem was enough to make the air glow. "I’ll try to close the distance," Sybil said. "Take me," Flare insisted, grabbing Sybil’s wrist. "I need to get Lorraine out." Sybil didn’t argue. She wrapped an arm around Flare and shot into the sky like a green comet. Nari noticed them immediately and unleashed several blasts of blue flame. Sybil twisted through the air, dodging each one with agile bursts of wind, then launched Flare upward toward the emblem. Flare reacted instantly. She activated five barrier enchantments at once... each one layering over the other to form a shimmering fortress of golden light that encapsulated Lorraine completely as she chugged her enhanced mana vial without hesitation. Heat exploded through her veins. She could feel her entire body screaming under the pressure, but she held firm. ’Mana is something I never had in spades,’ Flare thought as the liquid fire surged through her, igniting every nerve. ’Everyone made fun of me for it... and I’m sure Azel noticed too. But he didn’t care. He still treated me like I mattered. If Azel wants to save her, then I want to save her too.’ Nari fired another barrage toward her, but instead of burning Flare’s skin, the flames melted into her body, absorbed like fuel. Flare’s eyes widened. ’Mana... I feel it.’ She opened her eyes and they glowed a brilliant crimson. ’I can use a proper spell now.’ She gathered every ounce of power into her palm... the spell she’d always wanted to cast but never had enough mana for. It made her happy. ’Fireball.’ The moment she released it, the spell erupted not as a ball, but as a roaring comet of pure fire... a massive blazing unstoppable fire. It shot straight across the sky and collided with Nari in a thunderous explosion that shook the entire Academy grounds.