As I issued the skill command, my previously well-behaved field of vision was forcibly filled by virtual squares that expanded all the way to the edges of my eyeballs.
It felt like someone had slapped a “Loading” prompt directly onto my eyelids and, as a bonus, compressed and packed away my self-esteem too.
The next instant—darkness flipped to light.
It wasn’t the gentle kind of “daybreak.”
The system flipped my senses in the most unreasonable way possible: the energy slot that had been craving darkness suddenly developed a nearly starving yearning for light.
Humans really could be reshaped by their environment, especially in BHAO, where even your personality could be rewritten by the skill bar.
Dawn Witch
Even under the concealment of CHASE THE STARDUST, my body remained covered in black-and-white chaotic nebulae.
Yet the nebula-patterned cloak seemed to respond to my form change—its luster grew brighter, the patterns deeper, and even the starlight along its edges reignited as if freshly lit.
Well, even though this is only my second time using this form, it feels like it’s already been living inside my body… far too light.
So light that I’m starting to suspect I’ve uninstalled the system function called “gravity.”
However, before I could lose myself in a word like “lightness” that didn’t match my life’s temperament at all, the opponent dragged me back to reality with a scorching rain of arrows.
The density of those arrows felt like someone had written “You don’t deserve to be the protagonist” as a bullet screen and then materialized it before hurling it straight at me.
“Still, facing such a fierce rain of arrows, I probably won’t be able to dodge without actually taking to the air—LIGHT WING!”
Virtual squares stacked and fitted together behind me at a near-violent speed, first forming the skeletal structure of bird wings, then snapping into solid form with a sharp pop the moment modeling was complete.
The scenery on both sides shot backward at insane speed.
The arrows grazing my shoulders retreated along with it.
They should have pinned me to the edge of the racetrack, but only left behind a trail of burning afterimages and wind pressure that made my scalp tingle.
This was speed in Light form.
Back in ATLANTIS, I had thought I was already fast despite the water resistance.
Looking back now, that was as ridiculous as confidently declaring “I’m great at sprinting” while swimming in a pool.
In comparison, MERGE INTO SHADOW’s two-dimensional movement felt more like cheating: ignoring terrain, obstacles, and even philosophical questions like “Where exactly am I?”
LIGHT WING, on the other hand, was pure speed violence—fast enough that you didn’t even have time to regret it.
I really did enjoy flying.
The aerial flight in BHAO gave me a thrill similar to riding a roller coaster in reality: I knew I might fall at any second, yet I still wanted it to go even faster.
Humans really are strange creatures—the more dangerous it is, the more we want to confirm we’re still alive.
“But now isn’t the time to play around—since the battle has started, I have to go all out!”
Riding the turbulent airflow created by my high-speed flight, I took advantage of a brief breathing window to release the Light Shadow Doll.
The doll formed a semi-transparent silhouette beside me, like a small animal forcibly woken up.
It let out a faint protest before spreading the prototype of the magic prism into the air.
I forcefully spun my body in mid-air, striking a “looks-cool” pose—even though I knew it contributed nothing to the actual fight.
Its only value was making spectators think I “seemed confident.”
And pretending to be confident when I wasn’t was one of the things I was best at.
Then, I aimed at FLAME STORM’s displayed position and fired a ray guided by the PRISM STAFF.
The result—
MISS
FLAME STORM easily dodged using some kind of teleportation-like skill.
At that moment, what surged in my heart wasn’t anger, but a very characteristic “Of course it is” feeling.
“Ahaha… Sure enough, a direct ray without reflection is easy to avoid. Shooting straight at the enemy like this—whoever isn’t blind can predict its trajectory, right?”
I scratched the back of my head helplessly.
But in the next second, FLAME STORM countered with FIRE RING, a malicious iron ring of flames flying straight at me.
“I have to say, thank goodness for this sudden rule-change Reward Match. Playing first-person shooter in a fighting game like this doesn’t feel exciting at all!”
Muttering to myself, I used LIGHT WING once again to create distance, narrowly avoiding the attack.
The heat wave from the fire ring grazing the edge of my cloak made my back tense, as if someone had written “Don’t get cocky” along my spine.
I then carefully instructed the Light Shadow Doll to place mirrors in the blind spots of the racetrack.
Since the mirror angles could be adjusted freely, making the rainbow light ray reflect multiple times wasn’t too difficult for me—as long as I was willing to calculate every step clearly, I would eventually reach the answer.
The problem was that life didn’t give you time for exams. Neither did enemies.
And I might have underestimated the impact of my “skill information leak.”
The original Dawn Witch could use mirrors to compensate for the “rays are easy to dodge” weakness, focusing the light into a lethal strike at the perfect moment.
But once the opponent knew the principle, this playstyle instantly downgraded from “clever trick” to “suicide declaration with my weakness written on my forehead.”
Whether it was a close-combat class or a mid-to-long-range class, destroying the Light Shadow Doll and the mirrors was the simplest way to defeat the Dawn Witch.
Crack.
Accompanied by a crisp shattering sound and the Light Shadow Doll’s “Uwaah!” scream, I finally realized how serious the situation was.
Mirror fragments fell like shattered stars, reflecting the racetrack lights and stinging my eyes.
“Eh… Eh?”
If we’re talking unfavorable conditions… I’m clearly at a much bigger disadvantage here.
Because FLAME STORM was a proper combination-attack combat mage.
His style was to press flames directly into your face and ask if it hurt.
My only real output method was basically just the rainbow light ray.
If it turned into a simple exchange of energy or magic bombardment, I would lose due to mana consumption.
Displacement skills generally consumed more than attack skills—this was just like life: the effort you spent avoiding problems was often greater than the effort needed to solve them.
At this point, with both my mirrors and doll destroyed, my situation was as precarious as standing in the middle of the racetrack waiting to get hit by a car.
The Light Shadow Doll’s cooldown was still five minutes away.
Even worse, the doll had no defensive capability—even if I summoned it again, it could be smashed the very next second.
Then I’d be left helplessly pounding my chest in frustration, like a child who had their candy stolen and wasn’t even allowed to cry.
Also—where the hell was the Reward Match we confirmed at the beginning?!
Where was Xieyi Mayne?
Even though FLAME STORM and I were still hostile to each other, Mayne’s intervention should at least split his firepower, right?
Yet from the start of the duel until now, I hadn’t even caught a glimpse of her highly distinctive silver-white figure.
I swallowed a slightly bitter mouthful of saliva—admittedly embarrassing, but this was the first time since BHAO launched that I actually hoped for Xieyi Mayne to appear.
In other words, I had fallen so low that I was wishing for my childhood friend to come save the day.
Life’s bottom line always dug one more layer deeper right when you thought you had already hit rock bottom.
“Ohhh! As Blue Sea Academy’s first-ever Reward Match, Niya-chan is a little nervous about commentating this one~ But—the battle between our UNKNOWN NAME WARRIOR and FLAME STORM is simply too exciting! The moment they entered the duel arena, they started probing each other with long-range skills— but will they forget who the real enemy of this match is?!”
Niya-chan’s commentary voice brushed past along with the scorching arrows.
The voice was cheerful, the reality was burning hot.
Mixed together, they created a bizarre illusion: it felt like I was being roasted while being laughed at.
I no longer had the luxury to pay attention to the audience outside the arena.
My focus was now split in only two directions—dodging FLAME STORM’s attacks and searching for Xieyi Mayne’s location.
“Alright, Niya-chan won’t keep you in suspense any longer— I’m sure both contestants have run out of patience too, right? Our Blue Sea Academy KING, the Student Council President who possesses both strength and beauty, actually entered the arena long ago! So where exactly is she right now? Niya-chan is about to reveal it for everyone!”
Aha! The timing of the reveal was definitely requested by Xieyi Mayne. What terrible taste…
FLAME STORM seemed to have stopped attacking as well, his gaze shifting back and forth between Niya-chan’s broadcasting equipment and me.
He had probably finally remembered this wasn’t a personal grudge, but an “exam question.”
At that moment, a red sports car roared around the bend, engine growling like a wild beast.
The screech of tires against the ground was sharp enough to slice eardrums.
Its speed was absurd, like an environmental kill specially deployed by the system.
And above that roaring engine, Xieyi Mayne’s voice—sharp as metal cutting through air—pressed down:
“Before dealing with the common enemy, you chose to attack each other instead of forming an alliance—if this were a boss fight, you would almost certainly lose!”
The moment her words fell, a silver-white figure flipped out from the high-speed sports car.
The movement was so physics-defying it felt like it was mocking the laws of nature.
As she landed, her cloak billowed dramatically, and her silver-white lance drew a cold glint through the air. In that instant, I suddenly understood: she wasn’t here to participate.
She was here to pass judgment.
“Come on, show me what you’re truly capable of—the Reward Match has begun!”