Chapter 201

The glow of Healing Magic faded from Sheffy’s hand. She straightened her posture and looked directly ahead.

“You ready?”

“?!”

The wind and clouds turned turbulent.

But in truth, the wind, clouds, and sun still hung high in the sky, unchanged.

What had changed was the view and physical sensation from Timani’s perspective.

Just moments ago, everything had been calm and still—but in the blink of an eye, the magic particles before her surged and scattered wildly, like water reaching a boil, fleeing from some “dangerous” existence.

Only someone with particularly strong Magic Perception would have been able to feel it.

This sudden wave-like pressure…

It was overwhelming.

And tracing it back to the source, there could only be one explanation.

—Sheffy had unfurled her wings.

Her neatly aligned six wings pierced through the sky. The Demon Clan Princess stood with one hand on her hip beneath the shadow of her wings, her eyes deep, her smile faint—like a god or demon.

Timani focused even more intently, swallowing hard.

But this also helped her reconfirm the true purpose of this battle.

Just like this… it still wasn’t enough.

A stream of flame encircled her, rising and leaping. Timani’s crimson eyes shifted into golden vertical pupils, and fire surged around her, as if trying to scorch the clear skies into a dark night, clashing from afar with the oppressive undercurrents.

The standoff between dragon wings and black wings compressed the air in this vast space to the point of thinning.

Xiarette and Belith could both clearly see the state of things now. Instinctively, they deployed a defensive barrier, sealing off this area from the battlefield.

—Mainly to shield the weaker Livra from the pressure of the magic.

After all, if they hadn’t done it, Sheffy probably would’ve activated her own defense magic to protect Livra.

Sheffy protecting Livra…

Just thinking about that was pretty irritating.

If they could just finish setting up the defensive barrier first, Sheffy wouldn’t have a chance to interfere. Wouldn’t that save them from swallowing a whole bottle of jealousy?

What a brilliant idea!

Some flickering fire particles floated over to Sheffy’s side. A flame landed on her fingertip. She raised her hand, gazing at the flame like it was snow the color of fire.

She gently raised it to her lips and blew it away.

Sheffy looked up—

—and finally saw a trace of tension in Timani’s expression.

“What’s wrong, Fire Lizard? Finally realized I’m not as weak as you thought?”

“I never once thought you were weak… A six-winged demon has no weaklings. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have taken multiple higher races working together to drive them to the edge of the continent.”

Timani continued gathering magic within herself, forming a circulating current without the slightest carelessness.

That attitude—Sheffy liked it.

“Mm-hmm, that’s more like it. Don’t get distracted, or you might suddenly lose, y’know?”

“I know you’re strong… but…” Timani began advancing slowly, step by step, and every footfall stirred up fiery torrents beneath her feet. “Just this level of power isn’t enough to survive in the Flaming Lands of the Fire Domain… Sheffy, you’ve never been there, have you? You don’t know what kind of monsters the elders of the Fire Dragon Clan are.”

“I don’t know now, but once I meet them, I will.”

“Don’t talk like it’s that easy…! You really don’t—!”

“Ah, ah, I get it, I get it. So, how about this instead?”

Before Timani’s emotions could spiral out of control again, Sheffy clapped her hands together.

The sharp sound of her palms meeting cut off Timani’s words.

Sheffy offered a suggestion.

“I’ve more or less figured it out—you’re just dead set on stopping me from going, right? Then how about this: if you can beat me here, I’ll listen to you and stay. But if I beat you, then stop saying whether I can or can’t go. That kind of resolution—you should be able to accept it, right?”

“I understand.”

“You understood that fast this time?”

“I won’t let you go. Absolutely not.”

“!”

A storm of fire suddenly surged forth without warning. Sheffy sidestepped to dodge it and was just about to shout “sneak attack!”

But…

When she turned her head, she came face-to-face with Timani’s unwavering, resolute gaze—there wasn’t a hint of retreat in those determined eyes.

This was the first time Timani had fought for such a seemingly senseless reason.

—To make someone stop.

To be honest… Sheffy felt pretty warm inside.

Wuwu… Father King, Mother Queen, your daughter’s grown up! Look, look! For the first time ever, someone other than family cares about me this much!

However…

While she was grateful to her friend…

This time, she might have to give her friend a proper beating.

The surge of magic in the darkness and the searing heat of the flames clashed—tension spiked higher and higher.

Even with the protection of the defensive barrier, Livra could feel the rising temperature in the atmosphere, her heart tightening with worry.

Ehh?! They’re seriously going to fight?!

“Miss Xiarette! Do you still have any donuts?!”

“I do, what’s wrong?”

“Take them out—quick! Miss Shaya said that the highest etiquette for spectating a battle is to watch and eat at the same time! We can’t disrespect Teacher Shaya’s fight!”

“…”

You really are Sheffy’s well-taught student!

Sheffy took the initiative to deactivate all her defensive magic.

Then, she simply tapped lightly in front of her with her fingertip.

She created a “black hole” no bigger than a grain of rice.

Not knowing what that was, Sheffy chuckled softly, as though showing courtesy.

“Come on then, Fire Lizard. You can make the first move. We both have to give it our all—only then will we reach a conclusion. So don’t hold back. If you don’t go all out, I’ll be heading to the Northern Flaming Lands, alright?”

“『Scarlet』.”

“Hm?”

Sheffy hadn’t even finished her provocation.

When she looked left and right, she was already surrounded by raging flames. In just a blink, it was as though the entire world had become a sea of flowing fire.

From the spectator’s point of view…

It was a scarlet domain, with Timani at its center.

Starting with Domain Magic right off the bat?! You really don’t plan to hold anything back, huh?!

But…

That’s just perfect.

At its core, the principle was simple: Domain Magic created a space favorable to the caster, forcibly pulling their opponent into an environment that granted them the upper hand. It also isolated external interference—no reinforcements could reach them.

Within this enclosed environment veiled in flames, the battle would only end in one of two ways: either a victor would be decided, or the caster would exhaust their magic.

To put it simply—

This was the fairest form of combat.

Outside the domain—

Before the fiery curtain of 【Scarlet】 had formed, Timani had flapped her dragon wings to stir up a gale, trying to blow Xiarette and the others far away to avoid collateral damage.

But since Xiarette was here, there was no need for Timani to put in that effort.

Empowered by Xiarette’s magic, the Holy Sword deployed a powerful defensive barrier. When the wave of heat swept over, Livra instinctively shielded her little head with both hands and shouted a pitiful “save meee!”—though in truth, there was no risk of injury.

A golden wall of defense enveloped the three of them. The hot wind that managed to travel this far was reduced by the barrier to something that felt cool against the skin.

Their safety was ensured.

But a nervous and uneasy heart couldn’t be soothed simply by physical safety.

Livra knew that Teacher Shaya was strong, but…

But that was an entire sea of flames out there! Enough to roast half a lake’s worth of fish into burnt crisps!

“Lady Xiarette! Princess Belith! Miss Shaya might be in danger! We need to…! Ugh… I’ll just get roasted, but please, the two of you must go help her! I… I’ll go call for backup?”

“Come back.” “Sit down. No need to panic.”

“Eh?”

The two who would usually be heartbroken if Sheffy tripped on flat ground…

Now, seeing her swallowed up in that sea of fire, they were calm and relaxed, even swaying their heads slightly?!

They were even reminding Livra not to make a fuss.

Livra was on the verge of a breakdown, yet they looked completely unbothered…?

Belith let out a cold snort and gave Livra a sideways glance, a sudden swell of superiority blooming in her chest.

Hilarious. And she calls herself Her Royal Sister’s disciple? She doesn’t know my Royal Sister better than a single strand of my hair.

Completely lacking in competitiveness—such was the judgment of the Second Demon Princess.

“Relax a little, Princess Livra.” Xiarette even started plucking weeds beside a rock to weave into a flower wreath—clearly planning to hang it around Sheffy’s neck later for fun. “Sheffy will win. Just sit here for a while, or go take a nap, either works.”

“She… she’ll win? She’s not in danger?”

“Who do you think my Royal Sister is?” Belith bared her small fangs—this breed of hers was fiercely adorable. “And if you keep asking stupid questions like that, I’ll break your legs. Don’t think I won’t just because you’re a foreign princess.”

“Understood! Teacher Shaya will definitely win!”

“?”

Livra’s strength lay in her keen sense of timing.

Damn it, she was about to get her legs broken—how could she not tell right from wrong?

That was exactly what made Livra clever.

She worried, but she wouldn’t continue worrying over things where the answer had already become clear.

For example—

—That Teacher Shaya might be even stronger than she’d imagined, strong enough that even this sea of fire posed no threat to her.

Therefore—

“Teacher Shaya, you’ve go—! Huh?!”

“Ahhh… I’m so jealous of that fire dragon. I wanna spar with Lady Sheffy too.”

Where did this person suddenly come from?!

In a flash of light from the Holy Sword, someone suddenly appeared and crouched right in front of Livra—it was none other than the Little Holy Sword Sylatrella.

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