Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

Even though it was the height of summer, the venue was as cold as winter, giving the audience a taste of the true winter festival season. Perceiving that something was amiss, Sevia La broke free from the golden cocoon ahead of time. Her pale golden, transparent wings fluttered behind her, slicing through space like a flash of lightning, her sword, not yet fully formed, swung, but upon touching Tilan, it turned into shattered snowflakes and scattered. After the unsuccessful strike, Sevia La swiftly retreated to dodge the ice blade that brushed past her, and then two rose thorn swords burgeoned between her hands like unfolding petals. This time, it would not be so easy. Sevia La's eyes flashed with golden light as her pupils narrowed, locking onto Tilan's position, she surged forth once more. The swift slash came in an instant, but this time it encountered resistance. The opponent too swung in a flash, bending ten swords, with only one piercing the defenses and leaving a wound on Tilan's shoulder. How could this be? Sevia La did not slow her movements, flipping and diving, the blood-red dual swords lifted, igniting with burning flames like a comet sweeping down, drawing a deep red streak against the snow-white night sky. In the span of a sigh, ten fractions of a moment passed, and they clashed again in the night sky, nearly a tangle of red and blue threads. After they split apart, a continuous barrage of flashes and sparks erupted from their intersecting trajectories. The pale golden butterfly wings, the pale blue ice butterfly wings—two distinct color schemes took to opposite sides of the sky. Then both figures flashed and vanished into the night, and when they reappeared, each had acquired several new wounds. However, it was far from over. Tilan continued to chant in Elves' tongue, reciting those ancient poems and curse spells, sounding like a sigh yet filled with nostalgia. ... "When you reach a ripe old age, this is rebirth," "And when you feel your blood grow chill, you will find its warmth," "The velvet butterfly's moth wings shall cover your eyes," "Wandering back into dreams, you shall see the eternal land of fairies," Finally, an immense, resplendent mirror of flower petals slowly emerged in the firmament, seven-colored petals coming together like a fantastical scroll—a fairyland out of reach, and also the legendary tale passed down among the three elf tribes since ancient times. Seven movements, seven pledges, seven colors of golden flowers will bloom in the pupils, which is the gateway to the land of fairies. Snowflakes scattered, and amid the cold wind, they crossed swords time and again, their speed ever increasing, almost instantly high in the night sky and then in the blink of an eye on the ground. The chaotic weaves of gold and ice blue sketched the peril of lethal combat, leaving the onlookers trembling with trepidation. "This kind of response speed..." A high-ranked transcendent observer shook their head. If such girls were allowed on the battlefield, they could slaughter all the participating students present in three minutes, including students like Seraphiel. This was the gap between a genius and a mortal; no wonder Saint Yingo and Edith Academy were so confident before the match. But even the blessings from a Sequence 7 master eventually started to run out in such an intense battle. Gradually, Sevia La could no longer keep up with Tilan, more wounds appeared on her body, and her rose thorn sword, now riddled with notches, was becoming unsustainable. Finally, in an inadvertent moment, a cold sword blade pierced through her chest, impaling her body. The emanating chill spread within her, causing her to lose control of her magic power, gradually becoming slow and numb. Looking up at the ice blue figure still soaring in the night sky, Sevia La wished to grasp the illusion in her sight, but she could no longer raise her hand, and could only slowly close her eyes following that blurring vision. After all, she still couldn't catch up to that figure, she sighed silently in her heart. Mixia, your sister is even more resolute and strong than you were back in the day. In a daze, she remembered the night many years ago when she wriggled free from her parents' grasp, crossed the ceaselessly dangerous traffic, arrived at the other side of the street, and saw the figure leaning against the vending machine, sipping on a chilled fruit drink. "You, you're Temisia?" she panted, hands on her knees in the cold winter air, asking the purple-eyed girl much taller than herself. "It's me." The tall girl with black hair was fiddling with her personal terminal, her gaze fixed on the screen, replying absently. "I, I... I really admire you," she had mustered up the courage to speak her mind at that time. "Oh? Thank you, but admiration is quite a distant emotion," the girl with black hair and purple eyes finally shifted her gaze to look at the child with flushed cheeks in front of her. Across the street, her parents waved anxiously, seeming to want her to stay put and then come over. "Did you come here by yourself?" Temisia asked, bending down with interest to take a closer look at the child. "Mhm," she had patted her chest at the time, and that faint pride and self-satisfaction was still just as clear in her memory today. "That's really impressive." Temisia blinked, her fingers tracing gently through the night air, conjuring a small purple star that captured her attention. "Here," before she knew it, Temisia's other hand produced a colorful lollipop, as if by magic. "This is..." She wanted to take it at the time, but didn't understand why she was being given candy. Seeming to hear her silent question, Temisia began to explain. "This is a reward for your bravery~" Temisia said with a smile, such a smile that she couldn't forget for a long time. "Being brave is always good. When you encounter something you want and like, you should hold on tight and not leave any room for future regret." The black-haired, purple-eyed girl in front of her seemed to be casually sharing her thoughts, but those words unconsciously became etched in her heart, as if they turned into the driving force behind all her actions. Because of this, she had made countless efforts, step by step—boldly self-recommending herself in front of the recruiting teachers from Saint Yingo Academy, breaking free from a remote rural middle school, to enter the number one academy in Star Domain. Her talent was not poor, but there was never a lack of geniuses within Saint Yingo Academy. There were as many as ten students with talent evaluations equal to hers when she entered, and each year brought its share of prodigies from across Star Domain, all aspiring to and gathering at this top academy to compete and study with each other. Subsequent memories became increasingly blurred; she only vaguely remembered talking a lot with the legendary Temisia, most of which was about herself. Looking back now, she felt like a duckling eager to show off in front of adults. If only she had been more humble at the time and listened more to what that figure had to say. Not long afterward, her parents crossed the street to the girl with black hair and purple eyes to apologize, worried they had bothered this girl. At the time, her parents did not recognize that the girl was Temisia, for how could such a figure from the television appear alone on a nighttime street? "Well, goodbye~ I need to go buy a gift for my sister, it's her birthday today," Temisia remembered something and looked at her again. "If she could be as brave as you, that would be great. That child is like a shy little kitten," she said. "Enough about that, if she hears me, she'll think I'm complaining about her again. Despite being young, she's extremely sensitive and fearful, always hiding behind adults," Temisia stood up, waved to her, and slowly disappeared at the end of the street. Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, seven years have passed. Now she too stood on the stage of the winter festival, looking up to that black-haired, purple-eyed figure from those years. Indeed, admiration is a quite distant emotion. Only when she followed in Temisia's footsteps to this point did she realize the hardships, and she found that figure from the past even more formidable and fearsome. However, there was one thing Temisia, the senior, got wrong. Your sister isn't as frail as you imagined. Perhaps she was once, but now she has caught up with you. Thick snow accumulated at the venue, Sevia La landed slowly onto the ground, sinking into the snow, like the only speck in a world of white. In the sky, the girl with black hair and blue eyes was still soaring with her wings spread, just like many years before, that same black-haired, purple-eyed figure. "Edith Academy, Hexia Tilan, wins the championship!" Brilliant fireworks erupted, dots of light swayed and rose into the night sky, exploding at this moment, with myriad colorful trails raining down. And tonight, the once unbeatable legend was broken, while another legend began its rise.