Chapter 30: I Treat You Like a Brother, but You Want to Marry Me?!

“Eh?” Smiling Face tilted its head and said, “The scent on you… it’s so familiar…”

“Familiar, my foot! FROST FLOWER: SCATTER!”

Lin Lu swung her sword without a single word. 

A blue wave of sword intent erupted from the blade, surging straight toward Smiling Face.

Everywhere the sword intent passed, it left behind countless tiny ice crystals and a bone-chilling frost mist.

Smiling Face’s piercing laughter rang out as its figure instantly dispersed. 

The sword strike didn’t harm it in the slightest.

“It can disperse its body!” Minazuki realized at a glance that Smiling Face had no physical form. 

Instead, it was like a mist that could scatter to evade attacks.

 “Hoshino Hikari! Quickly, restrict its range of movement!”

“Huh? Oh, right!”

Hoshino Hikari finally snapped back to her senses and hurriedly raised her Magic Wand.

“STARLIGHT CAGE!”

Starlight transformed into a cage, binding Smiling Face within a set area.

Trapped inside the starlight cage, the black mist constantly surged, compressed, and expanded. 

Its laughter echoed from all directions.

“Heehee… You think this alone can trap me?”

The black mist exploded outward, forcing the starlight cage to warp and bulge.

The orange light flickered violently. 

Hoshino Hikari grit her teeth, her forehead drenched in sweat.

“I… I can’t hold it!” she shouted.

“You have to hold it even if you can’t!” Minazuki flipped through her Grimoire. 

Blue runes transformed into chains that wrapped around the cage, stabilizing the barrier. 

“Lin Qingqing!”

“Coming, coming!” Lin Qingqing raised her staff. 

Green light surged from the tip as vines sprouted from the cracks in the floor, densely entwining the cage.

With this triple confinement, even Smiling Face couldn’t break free quickly.

“What’s the use? You can’t hurt me…”

“Sister Chiyoyuki!” Lin Qingqing shouted.

“SNOWY SPLENDOR: THOUSAND BLADES!”

The moment the sword swung down, a snowflake appeared in the air, fluttering downward.

“Hmph! You like hiding? Then I’ll cut you down along with your black mist!”

Those snowflakes transformed into 1,000 sword lights the moment they fell, piercing the struggling black mist from every direction.

Every single snowflake was a slash, and every single sword carried a bone-chilling frost.

Smiling Face let out a sharp shriek as the mist was torn to shreds by the blades. 

The biting cold permeated every corner of the cage.

Hiding? 

Even water vapor would be frozen into ice within this cage. 

Even without a solid body, Smiling Face suffered a massive blow.

“Ah!!”

The shrieks of Smiling Face echoed within the cage.

“Sister Chiyoyuki, look!”

Chen Xingye pointed at the Smiling Face as it darted around frantically inside the cage.

No matter how special Smiling Face was, it couldn’t change the fact that it was a Shadow Beast. 

After suffering such massive area damage, the black mist had thinned considerably.

Chen Xingye and the others noticed a dark red core moving rapidly within the mist.

“I see… so that’s how you’ve been dodging?” Lin Lu raised the long sword in her hand, “As long as I hit your ‘heart,’ you’re dead!”

The moisture in the air condensed into ice crystals once more, hovering in mid-air and thinning into a multitude of ice spikes. 

Every single one was aimed at the shrinking mist in the center of the cage.

“Snowy Splendor—”

“Heehee…”

Smiling Face’s laughter echoed in the cage. 

The black mist suddenly began to shrink, condensing into a tiny point.

“Wait!” Minazuki’s voice rang out, but it was already too late.

That point froze for a moment, then instantly exploded.

Darkness.

An endless darkness broke free from the cage, and Smiling Face’s laughter rang out from all directions. 

Glowing smiling faces appeared all around them, staring at Lin Lu and the others.

“A death struggle!”

Lin Lu frowned and swung her sword at the surrounding faces…

***

“Ow!!!”

A crisp sound echoed in the classroom.

Zhang Liang clutched his face, looking at her with total confusion.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Why did you hit me?!”

Lin Lu stood frozen on the spot.

“I…”

Lin Lu looked at her hand; it was empty.

‘Where is my sword?’

“What are you mumbling about?” Zhang Liang rubbed his face, looking aggrieved. 

“I try to wake you up and you hit me? Were you having a nightmare?”

Lin Lu looked around.

It was a lecture hall. 

The blackboard was covered in dense mathematical formulas, the projector was on, and the teacher was lecturing on the podium.

Outside the window was sunlight, ginkgo trees, and chirping sparrows.

“Ah… sorry.” Lin Lu shook her head. 

‘Strange… What was I supposed to do? Where are Hoshino Hikari and the others?’

“Hoshino Hikari? Oh… did you stay up all night watching that magical girl anime again?” Zhang Liang leaned in. 

“You look terrible. You weren’t up all night ‘playing with yourself’ while watching it, were you? Are you suffering from a kidney deficiency?”

“Screw off!” Lin Lu kicked Zhang Liang.

She… felt like she had forgotten something…

“Heh heh, just kidding, just kidding~”

Zhang Liang leaned closer with a greasy smile, then cleared his throat with a mix of mischief and shyness.

“What’s with you? Why are you being so creepy?”

Lin Lu scoffed. 

There was no helping it; Zhang Liang’s expression was incredibly sleazy. 

She knew at a glance that this guy was up to no good!

“Ahem… well… the truth is, I’ve fallen for someone.”

Zhang Liang scratched his head sheepishly.

“Oh? Who is it? Tell me everything.”

Lin Lu’s eyes lit up instantly. 

What could be more interesting than hearing some gossip about her best friend? 

Maybe she could even act as his wingman and help him get the girl.

“She… her name is Chiyoyuki…”

Zhang Liang stammered out the name, his eyes constantly darting toward Lin Lu.

“Chiyoyuki? Who’s that?”

Lin Lu was stunned. 

The name sounded so familiar, but she truly couldn’t remember.

“Wait, girl, did you really sleep your brain away? You are Chiyoyuki!” Zhang Liang stared at her.

“What are you talking about? My name is Lin Lu!” Lin Lu was also confused. 

“Wait… what did you call me? Girl?”

“Huh? Well… yeah?” Zhang Liang turned his head away shyly. 

“Actually… I already proposed to your mother. She really supports the two of us…”

“What the…!” Lin Lu felt a sudden shiver run down her spine, “I treat you like a brother! You want to marry me as your wife?!”

A wave of immense fury surged into her heart.

She remembered now…

That piece of shit Smiling Face!

Lin Lu stood in the empty classroom and took a deep breath. 

She reached out her hand.

‘Ice Feather Flowing Light..’

Lin Lu gripped the hilt and swung the sword.

The sunlight, the blackboard, the desks, and even Zhang Liang’s unfinished sentence—everything in the illusion shattered like glass. 

It fell into the darkness and vanished.

Lin Lu opened her eyes.

Smiling Face was still there, but it had shrunk into a tiny ball, its black mist body so faint it was almost invisible. 

The dark red core was exposed, its color dull.

“You…” Smiling Face’s voice was filled with doubt, “How did you wake up? Was the illusion not beautiful enough?”

Hearing this, Lin Lu felt another surge of rage. 

What part of that was beautiful?

It wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to call it a nightmare. 

That was way too underhanded… 

What kind of sick joke was it to have her own brother want to marry her, and have her parents agree to it?

‘Smiling Face, you have truly earned your death!’

She glanced behind her. 

Chen Xingye and the others had also been pulled into illusions and had yet to wake up. 

As for Smiling Face… it had exhausted all its strength and was like a lamb led to the slaughter.

Lin Lu used her sword to pull herself up.

“Hmph. Fakes will always be fakes.”

Lin Lu thrust her sword forward.

Smiling Face was too weak to dodge. 

Even a simple strike would be enough to end its life.

“No… Please!”

“I told you, I won’t show mercy even if you beg!”

Lin Lu’s movements didn’t falter for a second. 

Just as she was about to pierce the core…

A figure entered through the window.

The speed was so fast that Lin Lu couldn’t react. 

Then, as if she had been hit by a truck, she was kicked and sent flying.

Her back slammed into the wall, causing cracks to spiderweb across the surface. 

Her bones let out a sharp “crack” as she collapsed to the floor.

A metallic sweetness filled Lin Lu’s mouth as she spat out a mouthful of blood…

‘Ice Feather Flowing Light’ flew from her hand and stabbed into the floor. 

The blue light on the blade flickered violently a few times before fading away, vanishing into a stream of light.

“Oops~ Are you okay? Sorry, sorry! I might have kicked a bit too hard. You won’t die, right?!”

Lin Lu lay on the ground, struggling to open her eyelids to see who it was…

“Ah~ I didn’t mean to kill you. After all… the scent on you… feels a bit familiar~”