?


    Just as Den''s arms were about to reach Callius'' heart, suddenly, a gust of wind blew inside the arena.


    THUD THUD


    Followed by the voice of two things hitting the ground.


    "Hmm?"


    Den was surprised as he felt something was amiss. Then the reality soon came.


    His hands that were supposed to be piercing Callius'' heart were no longer connected to his arms.


    SPURT


    As the sound of liquid gushing out of a wound was heard, the pain connected to his nerves.


    "AAAAAAAH!"


    And then, a shout filled with anguish reached the audience.


    At that moment, everyone was surprised to see the events unfolding. The barriers of the arena had yet to be lifted, but someone had just appeared inside.


    There, standing in the center of the arena, was a woman with long blonde hair and glowing blue eyes - Seraphina Riftwind, the Vice-Headmaster of the Academy.


    "Good grief… You sure are troublesome…."


    Her presence was awe-inspiring as everyone held their breaths. For some reason, suddenly, the dean of the magic faculty appeared inside the arena when no one was expecting it.


    "Have you had your fun?" As she spoke with a swift tone, she sighed, looking at the troublemaker that was the culprit of this fa?ade with tired eyes.


    "I had. Thank you for the opportunity, Vice-headmaster. I will make sure to listen to you next time." As Callius spoke with a serious expression on his face, the headmaster also regained herposure.


    Even though she felt like she was being used like a tool, right now, more than her feelings were on the line.


    "AAAAAAH! MY HANDS!" A shout weed her once again as the culprit of the shout was kneeling on the ground, trying to grab his hands.


    But since he didn''t have one, he couldn''t grab either of them….


    Seraphina looked at the pitiful guy below her with a serious and murderous expression. She wanted to kill him right here, right now, but she didn''t. After all, this boy before she was going to be the card she could use to pressure ckwood Family.


    "You brought this upon yourself, Den," Seraphina said, her voice tinged with no emotion.


    As she spoke, Seraphina''s spatial magic enveloped Den, creating a glowing seal that held him in ce. With his dark powers neutralized, he could no longer pose a threat to anyone.


    At least, that was what she had in mind, but before she was about to use her powers to seal the boy before her, a voice came before her.


    "Don''t use your spatial magic to entrap him, Dean Seraphina."


    It was Callius. He had already consumed a mana potion and a healing potion. Thus, his wounds were healing at a rapid pace.


    "Why?" Seraphina asked.


    SWIRL


    First, he released fire from his hands and obscured the view of those present around him.


    SWOOSH


    Then, before she could hear his answer, suddenly, Callius disappeared from the ce he was in as fire engulfed his feet.


    THUD SPURT


    Reappearing before Den, he pushed his hands into Den''s chest, in a ce just on the left side of where his heart was supposed to be.


    Then he grabbed a heinous-looking centipede from there, and he trapped it into a specially made ss jar.


    "Now you can do it." He answered with a smile as he showed the wriggling centipede, which was filled with dark mana. "He was about to self-destruct." Saying that he had signaled the Den, who had already lost his consciousness from the pain.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The ce where Callius put his hands in was filled with disgusting-looking dark veins as well as the dark mana, but now the dark mana was getting pumped outside.


    "I see." Seraphina turned to Callius, her expression softening once more. "Thank you for your vignce," she said. However, following her words, her expression got more serious. "Though you also seem to possess quite a knowledge about demons….Or is it your eyes?"


    "Whatever you want it to be."


    "We shall speak about this matter and your actionster. Now, I have a crowd to manage." With that, Seraphina waved her hands, making a vortex appear and disposing of the fire surrounding them.


    With amanding presence, Seraphina addressed the stunned audience. "Citizens of the academy, there is no need for panic. The situation has been handled, and there is no longer any danger."


    The crowd looked on, still in shock from the intense battle they had witnessed. But Seraphina''s words brought a sense of relief and reassurance.


    "We will thoroughly investigate this incident and take the necessary actions," she continued. "However, the duels will continue as scheduled. Let this be a reminder that the path of a mage is not to be taken lightly. We must use our powers responsibly and with wisdom."


    The crowd nodded, taking in her words, and some even apuded in agreement. They trusted their Vice-Headmaster to handle any situation that arose within the academy.


    She was not just a powerful mage but a leader who inspired respect and confidence in those around her.


    As the audience began to disperse, Seraphina approached Callius with a stern expression. "I won''t ask you how you knew about him rted to demons. There are too many eyes out there right now. However, know that this matter will not end here." Seraphina looked at him with wary eyes. She didn''t look like she trusted him fully.


    Callius nodded, his serious expression matching hers. "Of course, Vice-Headmaster. I understand the responsibility thates with my actions." After all, the woman before her could kill him with a wave of her hand, and it also made sense that she wouldn''t trust him.


    After all, he had contacted her only yesterday and informed her about the possibility of Den bing a demon, and it even took quite a good amount of small pieces of evidence to even made her look favorably at this usation.


    It was also quite normal for her not to look favorably at this usation as the information about a fourth-rank student as well as an heir belonging to a renowned family is something that could break the grounds….


    Seraphina gave him a nod of approval before turning to leave. "I will leave you to your recovery then."


    With those parting words, Seraphina disappeared using her spatial magic, leaving Callius to reflect on the events of the day.


    ''Sigh….Dealing with this woman is for sure hard…But, it went pretty well….''


    Though, rather than reflecting, he had an amicable smile on his face as he knew everything went ording to his n.


    ''My both strength stat and endurance stat increased by 0.1. As expected, fighting while pushing my limits is for sure the best.''


    After all, the sh that happened right here increased his stats enough for him to be satisfied.


    ''And, those bastards will need toy low for a while.''


    But the most important thing he gained from here was the existence of the proof that could be used against the ckwood family.


    At the end of the day, they were the ones that were nning something, and now that their idiot son gathered all of the attention on them, they could no longer behave as they pleased. They either needed toy low, or they were going to take the risk.


    But, if they were going to take the risk, he was going to make sure that they were willing to pay the necessary price for that.


    With that thought, he left the arena and made his way toward his room, feeling rxed. But someone was tailing him from his back, and he knew who that someone was.


    ''Sigh… I guess I need to change my face soon.''


    He could only sigh to himself as the little pointy-eared princess behind him was trailing her using her newly acquired moon magic in the daylight….


    --------------------A/N--------------------


    Now, with this chapter, we are very close to reaching the end of this mid-term sub-arc. This arc contained quite a lot of interactions with both ''Heroines'' and ''Viinesses'' as well as building some rtionships. However, I also needed to show where Callius stood when it came to his magical strength, so I used three fights topare him to a heroine, viiness, and viin in this order.


    And to be honest, it was hard to write.


    Anyway, now the next chapter will also be a light one filled mostly with interactions, and then it is about time for another action to be….


    Hope you liked the recent chapters. I am trying to keep them as long as I can.


    You can check my discord if you want. You will be able to see the illustrations here and engage in a conversation with me if I am avable.


    The link to the discord server is in the description of the book.