Seeing him at close distance, Almina felt he was more mysterious and also weird. And yet, she also felt some kind of inexplicable familiarity with him.

YMAN's sneaked attack to directly decapitate the enemy had been spoiled, when Almina called out his name out of the blue.

His heart went 'ops' out of a sudden.

Because of this, his attack that was supposed to land on the enemy's neck deviated to its arm.

"Ugh, s**t, this sneaky person again!" The enemy who was still in pain swears in his breath.

Without wasting time, the leader tried to escape to his right, but a kick was coming to his face.

Seeing that the kick wasn't fast approaching, the leader snorted on it.

'Damn, he's not even that fast. If not by a sneak attack, this sneaky black bastard would never land a hit to me!' He grumbled inside.

But contrary to his expectation, he saw the kick deliberately approaching his face. He was watching it like watching it in slow motion.

However, his eyes slowly widened as the kick came closer and closer, and he could not bring his body to evade. The kick wasn't quick like it was a kick from a low-level magician, but why did his body have a slow reaction speed? He felt like someone was cursing him!

Almina had wide-eyes watching at it.

She thought that the black magician would miss his attack. She hurriedly followed up to stab the enemy if ever he evaded the black magician's kick.

However, Almina stopped, the kick bore deep on the enemy's face, under its hood. The leader was sent flying and knocked on the tree.

She wondered if the enemy just let himself get a kick. However, she quickly pushed the thought at the back of her mind when she noticed the enemy was wearing a puzzled face with blood gushing out of his nose.

"Bestfriend!"

She glanced at the one calling her name. She sighed in relief, after seeing that Kesha was fine.

"You again, bastard!"

Seeing the other enemy rushing towards him, Yman was about to use his illusion, "Let me!" But he stopped when Almina muttered at him, and she dashed towards the approaching enemy.

Behind the mask, Yman forced a smile and extended his hand towards Almina, but she was unaware of it.

The enemy molded sharp winds and sent them towards her while laughing maniacally.

But Almina wasn't afraid. He dodges using her sharp and elegant moves. This enemy was weaker and slower than the other one. Almina wielded the ice sword on her left hand and the fire sword at the right.

The enemy was annoyed after all his attacks did not hit the target. Then it molded in both hands a bigger sphere of winds and sent them towards the beautiful girl.

Amina narrowed her eyes and increased her speed while leaping left to right to avoid the spheres.

Then she made a sudden leap, using her Rapid Leap ability together with her Sudden Assault, her figure disappeared, leaving some spec of light particles, forming like a piece of beautiful petals, dancing in the air.

"D-Dazzlingly beautiful..." Yman gasped and subconsciously muttered.

Dancing Petals Of The Twin Blades!

Almina whispered after her figure appeared ten steps away at the back of the enemy.

The enemy stood with an unbelievable face. A vertical and horizontal cut was visible on his body.

"A goddess..." He muttered before his body -- divided into four, then limped and fell on the ground. A moment later, his body was glowing then a deity was sitting on his back when the glow died down. His body went back into normal also. They glanced around to see the other enemy, but it was already gone.

"Kesha, where is that person?"

"Who?"

"The mysterious black magician."

"Eh? He was just standing here awhile ago. I didn't notice when he left."

"Is that so."

"Ah, I could not even say my thanks for saving me!" Kesha shouted.

"Me too." Almina added.

Moments later, many people from the academy arrived. They also said that the juniors successfully arrived at the hospital.

The unconscious enemy was taken to jail and will interrogate later.

Everyone couldn't believe that Almina was able to defeat the level 7 junior trainee.

Almina's name slowly gained popularity after defeating a junior level enemy.

For just a fledgling of level 4, it was rare to defeat level 7 junior trainees. Everyone in the Academy thought that no doubt Miss Almina Amulet was the upcoming Ace second only to Lady Ice.

Together with Almina's popularity, the rumors about the mysterious black magician started to take notice inside the city.

Almina didn't understand, that moment when she rushed in towards the enemy, she felt her power had increased tremendously.

On the other hand, the other academies had different reactions to this. Some started to show wariness at the Human City Zone 7, while some just thought of it as their ploy.

Inside the faculty room of Academy in the Human City Zone 1, a person on his 60 broke into a burst of laughter.

"Hahaha, what kind of fallacy news is this, Principal Li?" The person asked in amusement.

"But Principal Kim, there were many videos regarding this guy that they called, the mysterious black magician." The person of his 50's said in a worried tone. He has a broad forehead and white hair on the side, wrinkled face, and a little beard.

"Oh no, Principal Li, that black magician was probably just a gimmick to scare the magicians of other academies. A magician who used something like black smoke? What a joke! Puffft! Perhaps the academy officials of Zone 7 just came into that idea to scare the other academy trainees to avoid bullying their weak magicians." Said Principal Kim as he tried to suppress his laughter.

"Indeed. Tsk, why do I even think of it as real? Damn, those people in Zone 7 came up with shameful tricks again. Thank you for enlightening me about it, Principal Kim." Principal Li agreed with a sigh of relief.

"Haha, don't mind it, Principal Li. It is my honor to help an ally." Principal Kim smiled then lent his back on a leaning back of his chair.

"Hehe, allying with you was indeed a wise choice for me. Perhaps the rumor about that girl of the Amulet family is also one of their tricks."

"Oh, about that, I'm not too sure about it. After all, that Almond Amulet." Principal Kim's face suddenly turned serious.

"So, do you mean... It could be true?"

"Perhaps, as I said, she is a younger sister of that person who reached the apex of sword mastery. The Amulet family is known for their sword techniques."

"In that case, there is a possibility that that girl could defeat a higher level -- magician?" Principal Li asked with a can't believe face. After all, it was rare for even a talented magician to defeat an enemy with a 3-4 level above theirs.

"Well, honestly, we can't be too sure about that. We all knew that Zone 7 is way too desperate now. So it could also be one of their ploys."

"I see."

"Nonetheless, let your magicians continue pressuring that Academy. They probably will be unrooted at the end of this year. And we could get hold of the hidden treasure lying underground of that city."

"Hehe. Let my magicians handle them, partner."

The two principals shook their hands like a business partner who came into a deal.

When Principal Li left, Principal Kim grinned, "Hehe, this year, our Zone 1 will take the top 1 place in all the rankings. After the Zone 7 would be kicked out from this world, soon the bidding for ownership of that land will take place. Isn't merely that we will take hold of that land, but we also have a high chance to take their talented trainees. That girl -- Almina Amulet -- together with Jin Makorov, will become an unbeatable duo." Principal Kim mused.

The other academies did not show any reactions towards Zone 7. They were busier with increasing their magician's strength.

Inside a room that was only illuminated by a single lamp, a young man was leaning his butt on a crude table.

He was wearing white long-sleeves that slightly loosed to his forearms, doubled with an ash-colored coat, and paired with black pants and shiny black shoes.

The man had a cold gaze, looking at his front without bearing any emotions.

A moment later, his mouth slowly opened.

"Your mission was clear and simple to pressure the magicians of that city. Not only you carelessly went inside the city, but also let one of your men -- be caught by them." The blonde young man said. He was the same person who talked with Jin Makorov. And he also was the one who sent these people to pressure the Human City Zone 7.

The leader of the group trembled slightly. At the moment, they were surrounded by vicious-looking creatures: Human skeletons, beast skeletons, and many more. They were howling that sent chill down their spines. Each of them was waving their hands towards the group.

"B-Boss..." muttered the guy who uses flame magic while grabbing on their leader's hand.

"S-Sorry, Young master Chad, it was actually the fault of that meddlesome person," the leader reasoned out.

"Shut up, you failed your mission and even put the academy at risk." He said and lifted his hand.

The group felt like their backs were being poured by cold water.

The leader hastily opened his mouth. "No, Young master Chad, I assure you that the Academy will not be at risk."

"What do you mean?"

"That guy they caught is not from any Academy. He joined us because he thought that we are some kind of bandit group."

Chad narrowed his eyes.

"Please, Young master Chad, give us a second chance!"

Chad grinned.

A moment later, the room was enveloped by cries and screams.

...

For an entire week, Yman was busying himself for mission and self-training, like the usual day. His unhealthy figure came back whenever he was not activating his Black Mana.

Because of Almina's deeds on defeating a higher level magician, the officials of the Academy decided to advance the training to phase two.

Each instructor would be choosing the desired trainees they wanted to train specially. These included live combat with magic and physical.

Yman was not one of the lucky one to be chosen.

Kiko mocked him, saying it was only natural that no one wanted to train someone like him. It was a waste of effort to train him.

The elders gave them lectures on how to improve their powers.

However, except for combat and physical training, none of the magic tutorials were suitable for Yman.

For the entire week, he managed to level up again, and now he was a level 3 magician.

Nonetheless, Sistela came back to normal after the resonance that time was canceled. But she doesn't have any memories of what happened that time.

Yman was currently laying on the rooftop while staring at the night sky.

He just finished packing up his things. He got good news from Ms. Pai when she came to their room that day of the attack.

It was about a medicine that might heal his Sister's illness.

He would be going to leave tomorrow at dusk.