Supernatural Academy 3

Chapter 7

All combat methods have failed, so there is only one last method left – burning the boats!

That was truly a do-or-die situation. Once they got their hands on the item, they had to escape immediately; even a delay of 0.1 seconds could mean certain death. So they used the only surviving old fax machine in that pitiful little phone booth to contact the school. Soon, the school sent a sub-light-speed aircraft capable of hovering and flying in the air to their designated location.

The auction was the next day, and that night would be the last chance. Throughout the day, Pei Linhai was so nervous that he would even answer incorrectly when asked his name, while Lou Lifan was so nervous that he could barely walk, spending 80% of the day walking with his hands and feet in unison.

It wasn't dark yet; the sun was still casting an orange glow on the distant horizon. Pei Linhai had already hidden in the bushes beside the cliff as planned, while Lou Lifan hid in the bushes on the other side, keeping a close eye on the place where Beren appeared every night.

The waiting time always felt incredibly long; the sun seemed to be perpetually stuck on the horizon, refusing to set. When the moon finally rose, the hands on my watch moved agonizingly slowly, making me wish I could just set it to midnight.

The two men stared intently at that spot, which seemed to practically blaze with heat from their gaze. Their eyes were aching, but they dared not relax. Although they knew there was still a long time ahead, the crucial opportunity only came once, so they had to cherish it and strike with deadly precision!

The time felt like years, and the clock finally struck 11:58. After they confirmed that their aura had completely calmed down and merged with the plants around them, Beren, dressed in a long robe, appeared gracefully in their sight.

"They're here!" they both thought to themselves at the same time.

Pei Linhai placed his hand on the control panel of the aircraft, his fingertips trembling slightly. Lou Lifan gripped the hem of his skirt tightly with one hand, the area where he held it becoming completely damp. Beads of sweat slowly slid down his forehead into his collar, but he felt no itch or other sensations; his eyes were fixed solely on Beren, who was floating towards the cliff with her feet barely touching the ground.

Beren walked to the edge of the cliff, her slender figure standing there gracefully, and then slowly transformed into the shape of a wolf.

"Awooo------------------------"

A long wolf howl. The moment he raised his head and howled loudly was Lou Lifan's chance!

Lou Lifan instantly sprang into action, using Professor Hai Shenlan's demonic power to levitate and charge towards Beren. Beren sensed the sudden presence behind him and abruptly turned around. Pei Linhai, however, was piloting his aircraft, which had just taken off from his hiding place, activating its strongest lights. Beren was instantly blinded by the intense light, but Lou Lifan, who had already protected his eyes with a "protective spell," was completely unaffected. In the instant Beren closed his eyes, he passed by him. In that fleeting moment, he grabbed the pendant with his right hand and slashed the silver chain with his left hand with a dagger, snapping the chain in two.

Propelled by his momentum, Lou Lifan plummeted towards the edge of the cliff. If it had just been a sudden charge, it wouldn't have been a problem; he could easily use his demonic power to levitate and fly away. However, he had also stolen the pendant, and when using the dagger with the "Splitter Curse," he wasn't sure how much power he needed to cut the equally cursed silver chain. Therefore, he allocated most of his demonic power to the cursed symbol, leaving him with insufficient energy to fly. But he didn't need to worry, because someone was waiting there to catch him.

"Li Fan!"

The aircraft skillfully drew a semicircle in mid-air, catching him just a few dozen meters below the cliff. However, less than ideally, he fell headfirst, so he first crashed into the edge of the roofless aircraft, and then plunged headfirst under the seat.

"It hurts..." Lou Lifan struggled desperately to finally adjust his position and get out of the embarrassing upside-down position.

Are you alright?

"It's okay." As long as I'm not caught, nothing will happen.

Behind them came the immense rage of Beren, who was unleashing his full demonic power. The two didn't even dare to turn their heads. Their aircraft sped up and flew towards Byte Academy along the pre-set trajectory.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [20]: "So it was you two...!" Beren's furious voice came from afar, "Listen up, all students of Zero Degree Demon Academy! Chase after that flying machine with all your might! As long as you can catch it back, you can eat them however you want!"

Ah... Ahhhhh... This time we're really doomed! The two of them cried their eyes out, hating that the spacecraft wasn't traveling at the speed of light, while trying to figure out how to get rid of the horde of monsters chasing after them.

Although he didn't want to look, Pei Linhai still glanced back—and almost fainted. It seemed that Beren had gathered everyone in the school in an instant! Looking at the ant-like swarms of monsters that had revealed their true forms behind him, Pei Linhai was certain this would be the most terrifying nightmare of his life.

"Li Fan...they're about to catch up...what do we do..."

Lou Lifan glanced back, and that one glance made him want to faint immediately. However, Pei Linhai could faint, but if he did, they would really die here tonight.

He tried to calm himself down and carefully analyze the current situation. Leading the pack was Beren, closely followed by Principal Ireland. Few other demons could keep up with their speed; most were teachers. This was something Lou Lifan had anticipated. After all, they were novices in using demonic power. While levitation could be used momentarily, it was absolutely insufficient for escaping the pursuing demons—not to mention Beren and Ireland, they couldn't even outrun the lowest-ranking demons behind them. That's why he had requested this flying vehicle from the school for transportation.

It now seems that although there are quite a few monsters chasing them, most of them do not pose a threat. The main threat should come from Beren, Ireland, and the dozen or so monster teachers following closely behind them. Yes!

Those who can catch up are the most terrifying. Being caught by them is a hundred times more terrifying than being caught by the students who can't catch up!

"Pei Linhai," Lou Lifan tried to make his voice sound calm, "restore your spiritual power and set the aircraft to autopilot. I'm going to use the witch's curse now!"

"Ah!" Pei Linhai screamed in agony.

The witch's curse! After using it on the shikigami demon king once, Pei Linhai suffered from a headache for a whole week, and he didn't sleep well for a whole week. He truly wished he would never see this damned method again, but unexpectedly, this happened...

"Choose between being killed by them or being killed by me. You choose one." Lou Lifan glanced at him sideways, his eyes filled with terrifying killing intent.

Pei Linhai decided not to anger him, and reluctantly set the flight path. Then he pressed a button, and the two chairs automatically rotated backward, so that they were facing the person chasing them from behind... uh, demon.

"Qualitative transformation!" A flash of lightning, and the two's demonic power reverted to spiritual power. Pei Linhai opened his right palm and formed a hand seal with his left, pressing it against Lou Lifan's back. Lou Lifan's thumbs and forefingers formed a ring, facing the person chasing from behind.

"You two!" Whether from extreme anger or not, Beren's voice sounded as cold as absolute zero. "Give me back the ornament right now! Or you'll regret it!"

Lou Lifan shook his head and called out to those behind him, "Sorry, Chairman, we have to take this ornament back with us..."

Ireland, transformed into a lynx, sighed. Though she was far away, her clear voice rang in their ears: "I never imagined that Byte would actually have such a loyal student... Aren't you two afraid of what would happen if we caught you?"

Pei Linhai was utterly bewildered: "Loyalty? Who's loyal to whom?"

Lou Lifan smiled bitterly: "Afraid! How could we not be afraid? But we have no choice." If they don't do this, they will never be able to be registered as "people" in the household registration system for the rest of their lives.

"So...we will apologize to everyone from now on! We are sorry!"

Pei Linhai channeled all his power from his hands into Lou Lifan, who then focused his energy throughout his body, concentrating it into his ring-shaped hands. His hands emitted a strong bluish-green light, with the light within the ring between his hands being even more intense.

"Spirit Power Heavy Strike Cannon!"

A huge ball of spiritual energy shot towards Beren and the others. Beren and Ireland had not expected that they could create such a huge attack. In their haste, they were powerless to dodge. Moreover, if they dodged, the ball of spiritual energy would hit the academy teachers who were chasing after them. Therefore, they could only use their defensive barrier in an instant to fight against the ball of spiritual energy created by Lou Lifan and Pei Linhai.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [21]: If that was just a spiritual energy heavy cannon created by Lou Lifan, its power was not to be feared, because his ability was insufficient.

If Pei Linhai were to do it, he wouldn't be able to achieve the same perfect and accurate effect as Lou Lifan. That's why Lou Lifan used the witch's curse. With his experience combined with Pei Linhai's abilities, even Beren and Ireland probably wouldn't be able to withstand it unscathed.

The sphere of light collided with the defensive barrier, producing a deafening roar that seemed to shake the earth. The light ring crackled and flashed around Ireland and Beren, while the shockwave sent several teachers and students with lower abilities flying in all directions. Pei Linhai and Lou Lifan's aircraft also wobbled precariously, nearly crashing. Fortunately, unlike the others, they weren't facing the shockwave head-on; instead, they were flying with it, thus suffering minimal damage. They quickly stabilized their aircraft and escaped unscathed.

After the impact and explosion, Beren and Ireland's fur was blown into a mess. They shook themselves off and went to look for Lou Lifan and the others' aircraft, but they had already disappeared.

“Beren,” strangely enough, Ireland, despite being bombed so badly, wasn’t angry. She smiled at Beren and said, “You’ve lost.”

Beren stretched out his body and let out a long howl at the moon.

"There's really no other way..." He reverted to his human form, looking not much different from his wolf form. "The methods they used before were too stupid. I thought they would definitely fail. I never expected that they could come up with such a despicable and shameless method."

"Regardless of whether their methods were despicable or shameless, they won, and you can't deny that, can you?"

"Alright, alright, I admit defeat. Byte, you've escaped a close call. Thank your lovely students."

"Haha... Remember not to underestimate human students next time!"

"Ireland……"

"Um?"

"You're so long-winded..."

"Oh, hehehehe... Thank you for the compliment."

"..."

At four in the morning, Lou Lifan and Pei Linhai returned to Byte Academy, exhausted. Byte, Hai Shenlan, and Paulina knew they would be back that night, so they had been waiting for them at the school gate.

When he saw his "lovely students" return with their belongings, the perverted man covered in black cloth cried and lunged at them as they disembarked from the aircraft: "My dear students... I love you all so much!"

Lou Lifan kicked him over, grinding his heel into him, a smile playing on his lips as veins bulged on his forehead: "I feel like something's not right... Principal! Are you hiding something from us? Hmm?"

"Hahahaha... I, Byte, have been completely open and honest with you two. How could I possibly hide anything from you..."

“Let’s leave everything else aside,” Pei Linhai squatted down beside him, staring intently at the guy who was sweating profusely. “But when they were chasing us, the Irish principal said something very strange—'That Birt really has a student who is so loyal to him!' Can you explain to us what this 'really' means?”

"Hahahaha, that's what he said. What does it have to do with me? I'm innocent, hahahahaha..."

Paulina and Deep Blue Sea spoke at the same time: "Is Ireland really saying that?"

Lou Lifan nodded.

Hai Shenlan slowly walked over, squatted down next to Byte, and said to him in a very gentle voice, "Oh right... that sentence is so strange. Headmaster, shouldn't you explain it a little? Hmm?"

"I...hahahaha..."

Paulina walked over and, without saying a word, stomped her thick-soled shoes with steel needles onto the pervert's back.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! My dear Paulina! Please let me go! I'll talk! I'll talk!"

"Speak quickly." Paulina's eyes flashed coldly, her pupils turning a pale white. This indicated that she was angry, and extremely angry at that.

"Could you please move your foot away first..."

The foot placed on his back twisted slightly a few more times.

"Waaaaaahh ...

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [22]: "So that's how it is--" Lou Lifan loosened his foot.

But Paulina had spent a long time with him; how could she be so easily fooled? So she put her other foot in as well…

"Wow----------Oh my god--------I'll tell you everything! Actually, we made this bet before the contract was even signed! All the college leaders who attended the meeting placed bets! So the whole world knows I lost to Beren and Beren is going to sell me! Otherwise, you wouldn't have helped me do this----Wow～～～～～～～"

The four people around him remained silent.

...Ten minutes later...

"Beat him up!!"

"Help me------------"

Ping pong ping pong ping pong ping pong ping pong...

So, although Mr. Byte won his world-class bet at the World Paranormal Society's educational conference, back at his academy... he remained a mummy and spent another three months in the infirmary.

After a day of rest, Hai Shenlan found Pei Linhai and Lou Lifan, preparing to erase their memories of the qualitative transformation as agreed, and asked them about their desired reward for this mission.

Pei Linhai and Lou Lifan made only one request: that their memories of the qualitative transformation not be erased, and Hai Shenlan kept her promise.

"However, qualitative transformation isn't a good ability," she said to them with a smile. "It might cause you trouble in the future."

“We know,” they said, exchanging a glance. “But who knows? After all, an extra ability is an extra lifeline, and maybe one day it will save our lives.”

“That makes sense,” Hai Shenlan smiled.

Yes, they will one day realize that their choice was right, because later on, it was this ability that allowed them to save their own lives and the lives of others multiple times...

-------------Part Three Complete------------------