The previous two students had just left the arena, and no one else had stepped up to fight yet.
Upon hearing Princess Aurelianne's words, Hilda paused briefly. She was about to advise against it when she caught a meaningful glance from King Augustus. She quickly shut her mouth, afraid of saying anything more inappropriate.
At this moment, King Augustus spoke with a diplomatic smile, "Of course you may. I would very much like to see the Princess's skills - perhaps it could serve as a valuable lesson for our students."
His words were impeccable, easily winning goodwill. Even the Empire's diplomatic ministers couldn't find fault with what he said. Moreover, since this was the Princess's own wish, they had no grounds for objection.
Hearing the King's words, Hilda finally understood her error. She had just committed a major faux pas by speaking out of turn in front of foreign envoys. How could they ask a visiting princess from another country to demonstrate her swordsmanship? But the mistake was made, and now they could only proceed with it.
After all, she had expressed her desire to see it. Now that the Princess had clearly shown her willingness, trying to dissuade her would be deliberately undermining the Princess's gesture. How dare she risk that?
So Hilda quickly said, "Your Highness, please feel free to take the stage. I will have the instructors prepare for your match."
The Princess nodded calmly as a sharp aura emanated from her body. She walked sideways to the aisle of the audience seats. Just as she walked out, the female student who was previously in the arena passed by. The two crossed paths in the same aisle.
Feeling Aurelianne's sharp aura, Joanna couldn't help but turn to look at her retreating figure. It was someone she didn't recognize. She came to Hilda's side and, seeing the King, gave him a deep bow. "Your Majesty."
The King waved his hand, indicating there was no need for formalities. Joanna straightened up and looked at her sister, Instructor Hilda. "Sister..." She wanted to ask about her performance, but noticed Hilda holding a communication crystal, apparently conveying some urgent message. So she tactfully remained silent and stood beside her sister, simply raising her head to watch the arena.
By now, the girl Joanna had just seen was standing on the arena before countless spectators. She wore a long dress integrated with armor, its flowing material constantly undulating with a faint fluorescent glow that appeared wonderfully ethereal. However, this left Joanna puzzled. That girl was someone she had never seen before, and wasn't even wearing the academy's uniform. Even the students below looked extremely confused at the newcomer's appearance.
At this time, several instructors below, having received Hilda's message, calmly announced: "A quick announcement - this new contestant is Princess Aurelianne Sol from the Karensia Empire."
A wave of exclamations rose from the audience. The Empire's princess participating in their kingdom's academy evaluation battles? The students, naturally ignorant of politics, were just extremely excited. They were all itching to challenge this Imperial princess. After all, if they won and brought honor to the kingdom, wouldn't they be set for life?
Even Joanna was incredibly surprised. A princess from the Empire? No wonder her sister was so busy earlier that she didn't even have time to respond. Obviously, she had been quickly notifying the instructors below.
The instructors' voices resonated through the amplification: "We look forward to Her Highness providing an educational match for our students." This was met with cheers and applause from the audience.
King Augustus finally breathed a sigh of relief. By announcing the princess's title first, any sensible student would understand they needed to deliberately lose to the princess. Even if they got a hothead, Augustus had contingency plans - at worst, the instructors could intervene. They just needed to arrange for a relatively weak student.
It wasn't that he didn't trust the princess, but no one had seen her fight before, making it difficult to gauge Aurelianne's true strength. If the princess happened to lose to an ordinary student, losing face, then the diplomacy between the Empire and Kingdom could end prematurely. Conversely, if their own people lost, it would suggest the Kingdom's students were weak - unable to defeat even an underage princess who was primarily a mage with swordsmanship as merely a secondary skill.
That's why just proposing to watch this battle, given the clearly unequal status, was already quite inappropriate. Win or lose, it wouldn't benefit anyone. But after weighing the pros and cons, Augustus could only decide to prioritize letting the academy lose. After all, doing so would only embarrass individual students who could be compensated afterwards.
Finally, a student stepped onto the arena, his face radiating obvious pride. He was already fantasizing about his glorious victory. If he could defeat the Empire's princess, he would bring immense honor to the kingdom. He might even earn the King's recognition and possibly become a two or three-star noble...though that would have to wait until after the match. But undoubtedly, his fame would skyrocket to the kingdom's peak. He had to win this match, and win spectacularly.
At this moment, the audience noticed something strange. The princess hadn't brought any weapon onto the arena. Even the instructors found this peculiar. Though warriors could use various weapons, not just swords, swordsmanship was the Star Academy's fundamental skill, carrying noble elegance. Everyone aspiring to nobility naturally learned swordsmanship.
So an instructor called out, "Your Highness, would you like us to select a weapon for you?"
Aurelianne shook her head. Suddenly, faint silver light points rose around her body. Everyone's eyes widened. Behind Aurelianne, the silver light points gradually formed an mysterious entity. It was completely black except for two moon-like eyes. Its lined-up teeth seemed to be grinning.
What was that thing?!
In its hands, white light extended to form a moon-like sword hilt. The silver construction continued into a slightly curved blade, like a silver sword.
Before everyone's eyes, that grinning mysterious entity threw down the sword.
Clang!
The blade landed firmly, piercing straight into the hard arena floor. That sturdy ground, which hadn't been affected by other students' battles, was actually pierced by this sword falling from above.
Finally, Aurelianne walked to the sword that shone like the silver moon, reached out one hand, and effortlessly pulled it out. Lastly, she raised the sword, facing the student who had just entered the arena.
After this display, his earlier confidence had transformed into bewilderment. By now, he could barely maintain his grip on his sword.
That... could it be... magic?
Could magic be used like this?
Even the audience below wore shocked expressions, this extraordinary technique surprising countless people. Even Duke Balo's gaze was fixed on Aurelianne, his eyes showing interest.
The instructors below finally recovered from their stupor and hurriedly announced, "Let the battle begin!"
Though the student was shocked by Aurelianne's magical weapon manifestation, he wouldn't easily surrender under his fantasies of future glory. Perhaps this was all just an illusion.
The moment the match began, he charged at Aurelianne with wind-quick steps.
At this time, the King also recovered from witnessing Aurelianne's magic. He had seen that spell quite clearly. The blade was just manifested magic - what was truly shocking was that mysterious entity summoned behind Aurelianne. It seemed unrelated to the six elemental magics, appearing somewhat chaotic, like a fusion of light and darkness.
Augustus was curious but couldn't directly inquire about what was clearly the other party's secret. So he casually asked Viktor beside him: "Council Member, you're Princess Aurelianne's teacher, correct?"
"Mm." Viktor nodded casually.
Getting confirmation, the King continued, "I'm curious, because as far as I know, you're a mage, and shouldn't have taught Princess Aurelianne swordsmanship. So, Princess Aurelianne must have had more than one teacher?"
At this point, Viktor didn't say much, while the King took his silence as confirmation. He continued: "To teach students more knowledge, every teacher should have their own strengths and specialties. Council Member Viktor, what subjects do you excel at teaching?"
Augustus looked at Viktor, awaiting his answer.
Suddenly, an uproar arose from the surrounding students. Exclamations of shock rang out, and the nobles were utterly astonished. Hilda's eyes widened, and even her sister stood beside her, gravely watching the arena. Duke Balo, having witnessed the entire process, quietly closed his eyes again.
Augustus, not knowing exactly what had happened, turned to look. The scene before him left him completely shocked.
The battle had already ended, somehow. Aurelianne stood in place, having not moved at all. Yet her moon-light blade had directly pierced through the charging student.
The student stood frozen, his sword slipping from his hands and clattering onto the arena floor. He looked down at his body - the pierced area felt no pain, not even a drop of blood had spilled.
Only when Aurelianne withdrew her moon-light blade did he collapse to his knees. A wave of weakness rushed to his head, his body too stiff to move.
At this moment, countless people couldn't help but stare at the arena. What happened?! Was someone killed?! But no blood had spilled on the arena, and no one dared make assumptions.
Regardless, shock and confusion were written across everyone's faces.
Aurelianne gracefully bowed to the student: "Thank you for the match."
With that, she turned elegantly toward the audience.
King Augustus witnessed this scene, his expression becoming extremely serious.
At this moment, Viktor finally gave his answer.
"I thought carefully about what I've taught Aurelianne, and indeed it's quite a lot."
"So if I had to say..."
Augustus turned his gaze back to Viktor, who had his hands clasped together and wore a smile as he looked at him:
"I suppose..."
"I'm somewhat skilled in teaching everything."
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