Chapter 130

Eliana eyed the duplicate that looked exactly like her with wary suspicion.

‘Is this Professor Albi’s magic?’

It was well known that Albi could use fairy magic with the power of his evil eye.

Even someone as combative as Eliana couldn’t charge in recklessly when faced with a spell she’d never seen before.

As Eliana remained cautious, her double smirked.

“Did you just sneer? This copy just sneered at me!”

Eliana, offended, pointed an accusing finger.

But seeing her double channeling mana, she grew flustered and readied her own spell.

Flash—!

“Huh?”

Eliana was startled by the spell her double used.

It was none other than Eliana’s own specialty—[Shining Blade].

Eliana, momentarily flustered by the rain of light blades, grinned.

“Copycat, huh?”

Eliana fired off [Shining Blade] herself and canceled out the attack from her double.

“This is some kind of illusion magic, but that kind of stuff won’t work on me!”

With a confident expression, Eliana launched her spells.

Before anyone knew it, the duel had become Eliana versus Eliana.

The students watched the fight, captivated.

Honestly, a duel between Albi and Eliana wouldn’t have been interesting at all.

The outcome would be obvious.

But with Albi conjuring an identical double of Eliana with an unknown magic, no one could predict who would win.

Brilliant light magic lit up the dueling platform.

Both Elianas moved swiftly, casting spells at each other.

After a while, the Magic Department students grew confused.

“Which one is the real Eliana?”

Albi’s magic was on another level.

It made a mockery of any assumption that this was just some advanced illusion—it perfectly replicated Eliana’s mana and spells.

It was convincing enough that people might believe there really were two Elianas.

At that moment, Carr muttered,

“Maybe the prettier one’s the double?”

“For sure!”

“Then that means the other one is the real one!”

“Hey! Are you kidding me? How could one look prettier than the other when they’re identical!”

Annoyed by her classmates’ attempts to identify the fake, Eliana snapped,

“Idiots! Stop paying attention to them and focus on your duel!”

“Ah!”

Startled, Eliana focused again on the fight.

The double was getting harder and harder to handle.

‘It’s using the exact same magic as me, so why is there such a difference? Is it because it’s a copy made by Professor Albi? Maybe it’s even stronger than me?’

Those thoughts popped into her head.

At that moment—

The double activated another spell.

Eliana saw the attack and was shocked.

‘[Shining Rain]?!’

It was the unique spell Eliana had completed during the break.

As the magic rained down on her, Eliana squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation.

But just as she braced for impact, the double and the spell both vanished.

With the match decided, Eliana’s strength left her, and she collapsed to the ground.

“Well done.”

Albi said blandly.

But knowing it was high praise, Eliana blushed and looked sheepish.

“Th-thank you.”

“Next student, step up.”

Eliana left the platform.

The other Magic Department students followed the same process as Eliana.

Defeats piled up, but the first to beat their double was Chelsea.

“Impressive. Even though it used the exact same magic as us, it felt like its stats were higher overall.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? It had the same power as me.”

Chelsea looked puzzled by Carr’s words.

The other students were confused as well.

Most felt Albi’s double was stronger than themselves.

Meanwhile, Chloe and Abad also defeated their doubles in turn.

The other students gawked at the sight.

“They made it look even easier than Chelsea did.”

“In the Knights Department, they call Celia, Xia, and Duran the ‘Monster Trio.’ Maybe we should start using a nickname like that for ours.”

The students whispered among themselves.

“Ugh!”

Among them, Emio—who’d held third place in the Magic Department through the midterms—seethed.

‘What’s the difference between me and those guys?!’

Everyone except one student had finished their duels.

The last student, Leo, climbed onto the platform as all eyes watched him.

“I wonder how the class rep will do?”

Eliana murmured, while Chelsea answered as if it was obvious.

“Of course Leo will win! He was the only one to get through the vice principal’s spell at the opening ceremony!”

“That’s true.”

As Chelsea and Eliana talked, Emio, who’d been listening, snorted.

“You do realize Leo Plov’s real strength only shows when he’s [All-Class], right? In this duel, where most Magic Department students have already lost, there’s no way Leo Plov can beat Professor Albi’s double using pure magic alone.”

Chelsea scowled.

“Leo’s magic dueling skills are top notch too, you know? Besides, you lost horribly to Leo in the flying magic contest last semester.”

“That was a test of flying magic. There was some fighting, but he used [Aura] too.”

Emio insisted.

“In a pure magic duel, I won’t lose to him.”

Chelsea looked at Emio with pity.

‘What’s there to brag about, beating Leo in a pure magic duel when he’s not even a pure mage… And honestly, I think Leo would still win.’

As the students debated who would win, Len focused on Leo.

‘Let’s see how much he’s grown over the break.’

Anna, seeing this, sighed deeply.

‘Professor Len’s obsession with Leo only got worse during the break.’

Over the break, Len and Anna stayed at the school to prepare a curriculum that could tempt Leo to transfer into the Magic Department.

Anna hadn’t even gone home, and working with Len had made her realize once again what a genius he was.

The second semester curriculum Len prepared during the break was all about magic combat.

Of course, it wasn’t just any magic combat class.

‘A class to teach how to defeat knights and summoners using magic.’

In other words, it was designed to clearly demonstrate the superiority of magic, practically a declaration of war from the Magic Department to the others, with Leo as the focal point.

When Anna first heard Len’s plan, she was stunned.

She tried to persuade him otherwise, but Len wouldn’t listen.

‘I have no intention of downplaying Leo’s [All-Class] talent! In fact, I completely misjudged his potential last semester!’

Len, who never compromised on magic, was forced to back off after recognizing another talent—that alone was remarkable.

‘But my belief that magic suits Leo Plov best hasn’t changed! No, I’m even more convinced after last semester! Only magic can make Leo Plov complete! Leo’s focus must absolutely be magic!’

When the theory-focused Professor Len began preparing a practical magic combat class, Anna wondered if it would even be enough to tempt Leo.

After all, people strong in theory often fell short in practice.

But watching Len prepare changed her mind.

‘Even as a mage myself, I’m tempted. He really is a genius.’

Len’s thorough preparations continued through the entire break.

The problem appeared about a month after the break began.

Anna shuddered at the memory.

—

As always, Anna stopped by the faculty office before heading to Len’s office and found a letter addressed to first-year Magic Department Professor Len.

“Where did this come from?”

Puzzled, Anna checked the sender.

“Seiren Academy?”

Anna’s face grew startled as she headed for Len’s office.

“Welcome, Assistant Professor Anna. Another fun day preparing class—”

“Do you think it’s fun preparing class when I can’t even go home?”

“Heh. Don’t deny it. I already know you enjoy helping with my class prep. You can’t help being a mage, Assistant Professor Anna.”

Anna couldn’t argue, so she sighed deeply and handed Len the letter.

“A letter came for you.”

“Where’s it from?”

“Seiren Academy.”

“Seiren?”

Len looked surprised that a letter had arrived from their rival school.

After reading it, he burst into laughter.

‘What is wrong with this man?’

“Of course Leo is perfect for a mage! Look at this, Assistant Professor Anna! It’s a letter from Seiren praising Leo’s magical talent! They say we have to teach this future archmage well! Hahaha! As expected of our rival—they know real talent when they see it!”

“Well, Leo did interpret the Founder of the Nebula’s magic.”

It hadn’t been officially announced, but the magic Leo had restored for Luna was causing a stir in the world of elven magic.

Impressed, Anna read the letter Len handed her.

Then she noticed something Len had missed on the back and her face went pale.

“Hehehe! Now I’m curious about the back. Give it here, Assistant Professor Anna.”

“Professor, you really shouldn’t read that… It’s nothing important… So, about class prep! Let’s focus on class prep, okay?”

Anna desperately tried to keep Len from seeing it.

“What’s in it that has you so flustered?”

“No, Professor! Don’t look!”

Anna shook her head with all her might.

But the letter ended up in Len’s hands anyway, and Anna covered her face.

Len’s expression gradually vanished as he read.

By the end, he let out a low laugh.

Fwoosh—!

The letter in his hand burned to ash.

“Have those pointy-eared freaks lost their minds?”

It was something no one would ever imagine coming from the usually gentle Len.

He was a man who never lost his composure.

But the contents of the letter were enough to enrage him.

Anna shivered at the killing intent radiating from Len.

The letter’s contents were simple.

It was an invitation for Leo Plov to come to Seiren as an exchange student.

The problem was the length.

At least one semester.

In other words, half of his first year would be spent studying at Seiren.

If Leo spent a whole semester at another school, it would throw off the entire curriculum.

Worse, the letter also read: ‘Since Leo Plov has an outstanding understanding of [Star Magic], only studying at Seiren will allow his magical potential to truly shine.’

“So what, they want me to just send him away? Heh. Interesting. Very interesting.”

“Professor, please calm down. Calm down.”

Anna did her best to calm Len’s fury.

Len wasn’t the type to show his anger easily.

But when he snapped, nothing could stop him.

Being told to hand over his greatest treasure of a student was more than enough to drive him to the limit.

“Don’t worry, Assistant Professor Anna. I am completely calm. Hehehe.”

But for some reason, Len was calm.

“This only happened because Leo is so talented, isn’t it? Heh, Seiren does have good eyes.”

Len’s gentle smile turned cold.

“We’re changing the lesson plan. Our problem isn’t internal anymore. In this Lumeiren, I’ll completely obliterate those Seiren bastards.”

Veins bulged on Len’s forehead as he smiled menacingly.

This wasn’t just about losing a favorite student.

It was practically a declaration of war from Seiren against Lumene.

As a proud Lumene graduate, Len could never let this stand.

So there was only one answer.

“Heh. I’ll grind those Seiren magic teachers’ faces into the dirt like slimes.”

—

Thinking back to the break, Anna sighed deeply.

‘And then when Azonia asked to transfer Leo, he nearly smashed his entire office.’

As Anna recalled those events—

Leo stood silently facing Albi.

The other students looked puzzled.

Albi’s evil eye glowed, and [Mirror Force] activated.

‘[Mirror Force.] The spell that creates a double identical to the enemy.’

It was considered the ultimate in illusion magic.

Of course, if the target’s power far exceeded the caster, it wouldn’t work.

‘But against weaker opponents, it makes a perfect duplicate. Like a mirror.’

And [Mirror Force] draws out the duplicate’s abilities to their absolute limit.

That’s why most first-years lost to their own doubles.

The duplicate simply made better use of their abilities than the original.

Against anyone weaker, this spell was nearly invincible.

Leo’s completed double gathered mana.

Flash—!

Students gasped at the magical formula drawn in midair.

“Wait… is that [Star Magic]?”

“Hang on! Leo can use [Star Magic] that well?”

As the students reeled in shock, [Star Magic] rained down on Leo.

Leo gave a little laugh as the spells came at him.

Bzzt—!

Mana flashed in Leo’s eyes.

Crackcrackcrackcrackcrack—!

The sound of magic being shattered rang out.

The spells approaching Leo unraveled in an instant.

“How did he block that?”

“I didn’t even see him cast a spell.”

The students murmured in confusion.

“What did you do, Leo?”

As Carr panicked, Chelsea looked at him in disbelief.

“He dispelled the magic.”

“What?”

Carr gawked.

Abad and Chloe stared at Leo in shock.

‘Albi’s [Mirror Force] is a magic that replicates the target. The spells the copy uses are ultimately your own spells. So it’s easy to dispel them like that.’

Any skilled mage could do it.

The problem is, by skilled mage, you’re talking about professor level—Len or Albi.

But Leo, a mere first-year, had pulled it off.

‘Ah… No wonder Seiren is after Leo. With this kind of talent, who wouldn’t be drooling?’

Len shuddered with excitement.

‘Leo Plov will go down in history as the greatest mage Lumene’s Magic Department has ever seen! I’ll make sure of it! No matter if it’s Seiren or Azonia, I’ll never let them have him!’