Chapter 236: Jealousy Makes Good Fuel (2)

Chapter 236: Jealousy Makes Good Fuel (2)

Veris had made the first move.

He brought his sword down from above with his full weight behind the attack, forcing Felix several steps back during their very first clash. The warm smile vanished from Felix’s face, replaced by genuine surprise.

Veris gave him no chance to recover. He lunged forward and launched three slashes in quick succession. Felix blocked the first two with his sword, then barely avoided the third by pulling his head back at the last moment.

Layla left herself completely defenseless while watching them.

I closed the distance between us in an instant and lightly tapped her forehead with two fingers.

"Your second death."

Layla flinched and jumped backward.

"Stop doing that!"

"I’ll stop when you stop taking your eyes off your opponent."

"I was making sure nothing happened to Felix."

"If you watch someone else during a fight, something will happen to you instead."

Layla tried to respond but couldn’t think of anything reasonable to say. She pointed her staff at me again and began circling carefully, this time making an effort to keep her eyes fixed on me.

I slipped both hands into my pockets.

That only made her angrier.

"Are you not going to fight me seriously?"

"There’s no need yet."

"You’ll regret that."

Layla lowered the tip of her staff toward the ground. Emerald mana rose from a magic circle beneath her feet and began circling her in thin ribbons.

She then pointed her staff at me and fired five mana bolts in quick succession.

I passed between the first two and jumped over the third. While I was still in the air, I noticed the fourth and fifth bolts suddenly changing direction.

Homing magic...

When I landed, both bolts corrected their paths and continued chasing me. At the same time, an emerald rune I hadn’t noticed began glowing in the ground beneath my feet.

While forcing me into the air, Layla had calculated where I would land and placed a delayed spell there.

Before the rune could fully activate, I channelled mana into my legs and accelerated. By the time the explosion erupted, I was already outside its range and standing several metres away.

The two homing bolts flew past me and vanished inside the explosion.

When Layla turned and found me, I didn’t attack her.

"A little better."

She clearly hadn’t expected praise. Her surprise lasted only a moment before anger returned to her face.

"I don’t need your approval."

"Do you need Felix’s?"

Layla’s fingers tightened around her staff.

"Stop dragging him into this."

"Rose is watching him right now."

Layla instinctively started turning her head as soon as I said it, but managed to stop herself at the last moment. The corner of her eye twitched as she made a visible effort to keep all her attention on me.

Rose really did seem to have forgotten about training with her own partner. She and the brown-haired girl were watching Felix and Veris fight, and every time Veris attacked, Rose leaned forward anxiously.

Felix remained on the defensive.

Veris, meanwhile, seemed to be taking his promise to beat Felix quite seriously. He wielded his sword with perfect discipline, driving Felix toward the edge of the training grounds without giving him a chance to counterattack.

"Rose looks rather worried about Felix," I said. "She’ll probably tend to his injuries once the fight is over."

The mana surrounding Layla suddenly intensified.

"Shut up!"

Three large magic circles opened side by side in front of her staff. When the runes covering them lit up at the same time, the emerald mana merged into a curved wave of energy several metres wide.

Layla aimed the tip of her staff at me and released the spell.

The energy wave tore through the ground as it approached. Because of its width, escaping by moving to the side would have been difficult.

I removed my right hand from my pocket. Just before the spell reached me, I curled my fingers slightly and caught its centre with my palm.

The instant the emerald energy struck my hand, a powerful gust of wind burst across the area. My hair whipped around, and the ground beneath my feet cracked, but I didn’t take a single step back.

When I closed my fingers, the spell shattered into thin fragments of light and dispersed.

Layla stared at me in shock.

"So you can attack more powerfully when you’re jealous," I said.

"I’m not jealous!"

"Jealousy makes good fuel. If you control it, it’ll push you forward. If you can’t, it’ll burn you from the inside."

"Stop giving me life lessons!"

"This is a combat lesson."

The anger on Layla’s face deepened. Before she could begin preparing another spell, a heavy impact came from Felix’s side of the training grounds.

The hilt of Veris’s sword had struck Felix in the stomach.

The air was forced from Felix’s lungs, and as his body folded forward, Veris slammed his shoulder into Felix’s chest and sent him flying backward. Felix skidded several metres before driving his sword into the ground and barely stopping himself from falling.

Layla’s feet instinctively turned in that direction.

"Felix!"

When she tried to pass me, I grabbed her wrist.

"Let go of me!"

"That’s their fight."

"He’s actually hurting him!"

"This is a combat practice field. People hitting each other is normal."

"You think this is normal training? You provoked that boy into beating Felix!"

"Yes."

Layla froze for several seconds. She clearly hadn’t expected me to admit it so easily.

"Why?"

"I don’t like his face."

"His face?" Layla looked at me as though I had completely lost my mind. "What’s wrong with Felix’s face?! Half the girls at the academy forget how to speak when they see him!"

"So that’s how you see him..."

Layla’s face instantly turned red.

"I-I didn’t say that! I was only talking about the other girls!"

"I see."

"You don’t understand anything, you freak!"

She yanked her wrist back sharply. This time, I loosened my grip and let her pull away, but before she could run toward Felix, I stepped into her path again.

Alongside the anger in Layla’s eyes, there was also helplessness.

She wanted to protect Felix.

However, she wasn’t strong enough to do it.

If she challenged Veris now, she wouldn’t last more than a few attacks. In the future, when far stronger enemies gathered around Felix, she would become nothing more than a burden hiding behind him.

Layla’s fate in the original story had been no different.

"Look at me," I said.

"Move."

"If you want to remain by Felix’s side, you need to become stronger."

Layla stopped moving.

"I’m not trying to stay by his side."

"Then why did you cry?"

The anger on her face wavered. For a moment, the fragile expression she had worn while sitting alone on that bench returned.

I continued.

"Felix will keep getting stronger even if you do nothing. He’ll meet more dangerous people, enter greater battles, and attract girls far stronger than Rose. If you remain where you are, you won’t be able to walk beside him. You won’t even get close enough to watch him from behind."

Layla’s eyes trembled slightly.

"That’s none of your business."

"You’re right. It wouldn’t bother me if Felix left you behind."

I took several steps back and opened the distance between us.

"You can go cry in a corner again if you want, or you can prepare your magic and attack me."

Layla remained silent for a long time.

As Felix’s and Veris’s swords clashed again in the background, the hesitation on her face gradually disappeared. Instead of looking toward Felix, she gave me her full attention and held her staff upright before her chest.

Her stance was still far from perfect.

This time, however, there was no scattered jealousy or helplessness in her eyes. All her anger was focused on a single target.

Me.

"One day," she said through clenched teeth, "I’m going to break every tooth in that disgusting mouth of yours, one by one."

"Try hitting me first."

Rather than approaching, Layla took several steps back to maintain the distance between us. Two interlocked magic circles formed around the stone at the top of her staff, while a third appeared beneath her feet.

When I saw the first sphere of mana flying directly toward my face, I shifted slightly to the left.

Before the attack reached me, however, it split in two. One sphere moved toward my right side, while the other suddenly rose and exploded at eye level in a flash of brilliant light.

A blinding spell...

The instant my vision turned white, I felt mana moving beneath my feet. Layla had used the light spell only to distract me.

The runes she had placed earlier lit up across the ground, and thin beams of mana rose around me. They all began converging on a single point, attempting to seal every escape route.

I retreated quickly before the mana beams could reach me.

Just as I thought I had escaped their range, an extremely thin line of energy hidden within the blinding light passed beside my face.

I pulled my head back at the last moment.

The spell failed to reach my cheek, but it managed to cut several strands of my white hair.

When my vision fully returned, Layla was still standing at a safe distance. She was breathing heavily but continued pointing her staff at me. The severed strands of white hair drifted through the air between us before falling to the ground.

She hadn’t managed to hit me.

However, she had touched my hair.

"Not bad," I said.

A faint smile appeared on Layla’s lips.

"The next one will hit your face."

As new magic circles formed around her staff, a large explosion came from Felix’s side of the training grounds. Veris’s attack lifted Felix off the ground and sent him flying several metres before he crashed heavily into the dirt.