After launching Oliver—or whatever his name was—clear across the lake, all the second-year students in the dormitory backyard swarmed toward Shannon.
There were a little over twenty of them.
They encircled Shannon in a semicircle, making threatening gestures and muttering curses to create a hostile atmosphere.
They wanted her to be scared.
Idiots. They’re the ones who are scared, not me.
Jacqueline and Rita stood protectively at Shannon’s side, though Shannon didn’t need their help.
To her, the posturing seniors looked like frightened little dogs baring their teeth and growling.
One of those dogs barked.
“Hey, do you even know what you’ve done?”
“What have I done? Tell me.”
“Ha, are you seriously asking that?”
“Actually, I’d like to ask you. What are you doing here? Didn’t you come to the Academy to learn magic? Don’t you think reading even a single line of a book would be more helpful to your life than wasting time on this nonsense?”
Several of them spat out curses, unable to contain themselves.
Shannon pointed one out.
“You, the one who just called me a rude bitch. Step forward. Yeah, you, with the earrings. Don’t hide—come on out.”
“What? I didn’t say anything…”
“Don’t play dumb. I heard you clearly.”
The female senior Shannon pointed out clamped her mouth shut, too stunned to respond.
And not a single one among the twenty tried to help her.
Instead, they stepped aside as if to say they had nothing to do with it.
Pushed forward by that silent rejection, the senior eventually raised her voice at Shannon.
“Who the hell are you to order me around?”
“Well, let’s see. I’m a mage who can do quite a lot of things. For example, I could send you straight to the bottom of that lake right now.”
“A-are you threatening me?”
“If it sounded like that, my apologies. But you asked me who I am.”
“…”
“Then let me ask you. Who the hell are you to come here on a weekend and bully first-years? Who do you think you are?”
“I’m… I’m your senior!”
“Then maybe you should act like one. I don’t recognize people with no skill and no integrity as seniors. So, let’s try again. What are you, really?”
“I’m… f-fuck, I’m your senior…”
Shannon smirked.
What a predictable answer.
When she singled out one person, the illusion of safety in numbers vanished.
And once you stripped away the borrowed authority, the social rank, and the group bravado, nothing remained.
This was that person’s true nature.
A pitiful human being with not an ounce of worth.
And yet such a person thought they had the right to torment others.
“Please, know your place.”
“You little…!”
The female senior raised her hand as if to slap her.
But she couldn’t swing it.
She was afraid.
Afraid she’d end up like Oliver, flattened by magic.
In the end, she touched her own forehead instead, faking bravado.
“Ha. You crazy bitch, you’re driving me insane.”
“Why do you think I’m crazy?”
“Are you seriously asking? You first-years could just keep your heads down and endure it for a day, but you just had to escalate things this far? Unbelievable.”
“Why should we endure anything? No one has the right to bully others.”
“Shut up! The initiation is an Academy tradition. What, you think we didn’t go through it? Compared to what we suffered, you got off easy. We had to shave all our hair off or hang from a streetlamp all day. You have it good.”
“So because you suffered, it’s fine to become the bully? Are you stupid?”
Not just the woman, but all the seniors behind her flushed red.
One stepped forward to back her up.
“Hey, you think you can get away with talking to us like this and finish your Academy life unscathed? We’ve got three years left before we graduate. You sure about this?”
“And what exactly will you do? Please, explain one by one so I can mention it in my report to the Academy headquarters.”
“Damn you… You think Academy life is the only thing that matters? Even after graduation, we’ll all end up working in the same places. You’ll see our faces again. You gonna act like this there too? Right now we’re just one year above you, but out in the real world, there are people decades ahead of you in rank. You think they’ll like your attitude?”
“I’m an exchange student.”
“What?”
“Why would I get a job in this country? I’ll finish my studies and head back to Karaf.”
“You— you think you’re the only one who matters?”
“What else is there?”
“Your classmates! Thanks to what you did today, your entire year will be marked, and they’ll suffer for it!”
“And why should I care?”
This time, everyone—including the first-years—went completely silent.
“Y-you’re talking back to your seniors…”
The conversation circled back to the same point.
It proved one thing—they had no way to deal with Shannon.
Now, ironically, the so-called seniors began glancing nervously at the other first-years instead of Shannon.
If they backed down here, they’d lose all authority over their juniors forever.
Their fake authority was a trap they had dug for themselves.
“This is your last warning. Bow your head while we’re being nice.”
“No.”
“You might’ve learned a bit of magic, but do you think you can take all of us on?”
“Try me.”
“What?”
“Go ahead. Try me. I’ll smash you all to pieces.”
The seniors exchanged glances.
It didn’t take long for them to decide.
“Screw it. Do it.”
At that signal, they began chanting spells.
From the incantations, it was obvious they were using basic destructive magic.
Magic taught at the Academy.
Not, of course, to be used in situations like this.
Shannon gave a bitter smile.
If they had just rushed me directly, they might’ve had a slim chance.
But for so-called mages, they were pathetic.
Compared to that man, Winter Winslet… Pathetic.
Her thoughts finished, Shannon opened her mana field.
She spread her hands to the sides.
Magic gathered between her palms.
The shape of her mana looked like the roots of an ancient tree, spreading far forward.
Once the structure completed, the spell was ready.
Shannon finished in an instant.
Her hair floated as if defying gravity, strands rising like lightning rods.
All it would take was pulling the magical trigger, and lightning rain would fall around them.
The seniors were still only halfway through their incantations when it happened.
Shannon was carefully adjusting the power and range so no one would be seriously hurt, when—
“Stop.”
Suddenly, everyone staggered.
A surge of powerful mana swept between Shannon and the seniors.
Bang. Boom!
Small explosions erupted among the seniors.
Their spells backfired.
Only Shannon retained perfect control of her magic.
Frowning, she dispersed her spell.
The sudden interference… who was it?
Clop, clop.
“A horse?”
A horse? On campus?
But the rider was what mattered.
The seniors gasped.
“No way, why is he here…?”
“We’re screwed.”
“Professor Winslet…”
Shannon’s eyes narrowed as she saw him.
But Winter Winslet didn’t even glance her way as he turned his horse.
The man simply waved his hand before the frozen second-years.
Whoosh.
A casual telekinetic spell.
The bundle strapped behind his saddle landed on the ground with a dull thud.
It was a wet, unconscious figure.
Oliver, the senior Shannon had blasted across the lake.
“…”
He dropped him in plain sight, but none of the second-years moved.
Approaching Oliver would be the same as confessing guilt before Professor Winslet.
The awkward silence stretched until the blond man finally spoke.
“Vulgar trash.”
And just like that, it was over.
***
Two days later, Monday morning.
Rumors spread through the dormitories.
Every senior involved in the initiation had packed up and left the Academy.
Before noon, an official notice appeared on the Magic Department’s central board confirming it.
Expulsion of all second-years involved in hazing, with full scholarship revocation.
Some questioned such a swift and extreme punishment, but once they remembered Winter Winslet’s name, they understood.
The professor had invited external guests that day; humiliating him in front of them had earned them a surprisingly lenient outcome.
Some even speculated Professor Winslet acted to protect the first-years, but that idea was quickly dismissed.
The Academy’s infamous villain wouldn’t care about students.
Regardless, the first-years were satisfied to see the tyrants who ruled over them gone.
Another change came regarding Shannon’s reputation.
The once “foreign exchange student with flashy looks” was now famous among her peers.
Some admired her.
Others resented her.
“Didn’t you hear what she said? She doesn’t care what happens to us later. She literally said it wasn’t her problem.”
“She just wanted to look cool without thinking about the trouble she’d cause us. What hero is that?”
“If Professor Winslet hadn’t shown up, we’d all be screwed by now. The second-years weren’t the only ones. Thanks to him, no one else will mess with us.”
But Shannon couldn’t care less about anyone’s opinion.
She just found the attention annoying.
Her only concern was her duel with Winter Winslet.
So that Monday afternoon, as soon as classes ended, she went straight to the Dean’s office.
She needed a duel witness.
A faculty dean was second only to the Academy president in authority.
And the Magic Department had a new dean this year.
Every professor Shannon had approached so far refused out of fear of Winslet, but maybe this one would be different.
Maybe he’d help her.
With that hope, Shannon knocked on the door.
Knock, knock.
In short, she didn’t even get to see the Dean’s face.
To enter his office, she had to pass through the secretary’s room, and the stern-faced secretary stopped her.
“What’s your business?”
“I’m here to see the Dean.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No.”
“Then I’m afraid you can’t.”
“Is the Dean not here?”
“He’s here, but… he’s in a meeting.”
“I’ll wait, then.”
“What?”
The secretary shook his head.
“Listen, you can’t just wait and expect to meet the Dean.”
“Then how?”
“You need to schedule an appointment. The Dean follows a strict schedule. If you want a meeting, you have to book one first.”
“Then schedule one for me. As soon as possible. When can I meet him?”
The secretary sighed.
“Only the Dean can approve appointments. You’ll have to schedule it through him.”
“What? Are you kidding me?”
You needed to meet the Dean to schedule an appointment, but you couldn’t meet him without one.
If that wasn’t a brush-off, what was?
But the secretary replied in a purely businesslike tone.
“Those are the rules. I can’t help you.”
Shannon had never been treated like this in Karaf.
Already disgusted with how this Academy operated, she finally lost her temper.
Should I just set the place on fire?
Dark urges welled up inside her when—
“Shannon Quinlivan.”
A voice, cold and smooth as ice.
She whipped around.
There stood a tall man, golden hair cascading like a curtain.
Professor Winter Winslet.