Chapter 328: The Winner, Vivi

Her combat suit was repeatedly grazed by the blue sword qi she had conjured, and her virtual health bar visibly plunged. The rapier itself also kept slamming into her, each blow bringing a dull ache that jarred her internal organs.

The students who had been unable to hide their shock when she managed to fire calmed down again. After all, this was more in keeping with the image of this class dead last as they had always seen her.

“Holy crap, you scared me.”

“Who was that in the group chat betting ten credit points that she’d eat the energy-absorbing mat? Didn’t she already manage to fire?”

“They should just turn off the anonymous system. It’s not like running your mouth costs anything.”

“Her luck really is something. She actually managed to fire a shot.”

By now, though, the situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse for Vivi.

The rapier cracked against her with a whistle, but it wasn’t imbued with much magic power, so her health bar was taking forever to run out. The one-sided beating continued.

“Is that all you’ve got? Trash is trash! You belong in your own class, staying right where trash belongs!”

The two Renees sneered in unison, once again convinced that her first shot had been nothing but luck. Light blazed in their hands as they prepared to deliver the heaviest blow yet.

I’ll break a few of your ribs with this one!

A poor nobody without health insurance... She’d be in agony over the medical bills afterward, wouldn’t she? Just imagining that look on her face is getting me excited~

And yet.

Just as Renee thought victory was assured,

the Vivi who had seemed to be struggling on the back foot lit up once more, her amber eyes blazing.

It was as if something had built up to its limit and was finally about to be born.

A seed beginning to sprout, potential hidden in the deepest reaches of her soul and body, an innate power sealed within her very existence.

The core of her magic power was breathing with all its might, as if cheering in delight.

The next moment,

the white-haired girl pulled her right foot back again, as though she meant to flee. But it wasn’t the beginning of a retreat. Instead, she seemed to have stepped onto something.

Amber magic power gathered thickly beneath her foot, like a furious volcano on the verge of erupting.

“Got you,”

Vivi murmured.

The next instant,

BOOM!!!

A tremendous explosion erupted beneath her foot.

Amid the visible amber flames and scattering shock waves, Vivi’s right leg lashed out like a whip, the wind howling around it as she kicked upward with brutal force.

CRACK!!

That explosive kick landed with pinpoint accuracy on the right hand of the real Renee, producing a clear snapping sound.

The immense force not only knocked the green-glowing rapier from her grasp, it also smashed through the magic power enhancement around her wrist, bending it into a grotesque angle. The jagged end of a bone could even be seen protruding through her flesh.

Renee hadn’t even had time to feel the pain. The sneer on her face had only just turned to shock and bewilderment when a gun radiating a deep blue glow was already thrust toward her, its cold, hard barrel pressed straight against her forehead.

The snake-eyed girl’s expression finally changed. As she realized what had happened, the intense pain in her hand began to register, and a chill shot straight to her skull, freezing her blood in an instant.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of restraint between students in the white-haired girl’s amber eyes. What surged within them was a savage emotion, like that of a beast.

Vivi said flatly, “Die.”

“Eek!!”

Renee closed her eyes on instinct.

Magic power poured into Vivi’s handgun, rapidly taking shape under her incredibly precise control and forming a bullet.

Then,

BANG.

Her index finger pulled the trigger.

At point-blank range, a blue beam struck Renee’s head with perfect accuracy.

But it wasn’t over yet.

The second shot!

BANG!

The third shot!

BANG!!

The combat suit absorbed the magic power impact from every shot.

But really, the match had already been decided by the first shot. The rest was just kicking a corpse.

Beep!

The AI referee’s announcement rang out.

【Critical area hit (weapon difficulty multiplier X10), Renee’s health bar depleted.】

【Winner, Vivi.】

“...”

In an instant, the enormous training ground fell into deathly silence.

Renee stared blankly with her eyes open. Suddenly, she felt warm liquid trickling down the insides of her thighs, pooling inside her combat suit.

She had actually forgotten for a moment that this was a live-fire exercise using harmless weapons, and wet herself in fright.

Vivi suddenly bent down and leaned in very close, her nostrils flaring. “I was just messing with you. How’d you end up peeing yourself? You reek.”

She reached out and patted the other girl’s face, each slap ringing out.

“Useless.”

Renee flinched. She didn’t dare say a word. Enduring the pain, she held back tears as they welled in her eyes, looking ready to cry.

As if she had lost interest, Vivi turned to face all the stunned students watching and spoke one word at a time, as though reciting an oath.

“Listen up.”

“I will definitely become a magical girl!!”

At that moment,

even the top-ranked students, who usually looked down on everyone else, turned their attention to the class dead last, someone they would never have spared a second glance before.

That included the green-haired, pointed-eared girl.

Katsumi stared at her in disbelief, as though she couldn’t believe Vivi had transformed overnight.

Vivi seemed to be meeting their gazes, but in truth her eyes were fixed on the pink-haired figure only she could see.

The girl named Teresa stood before her. There wasn’t a trace of surprise in her beautiful eyes, the same color as Vivi’s. As if she had known all along that Vivi could do it, she nodded. “Mm.”

It was as if she were responding to Vivi’s declaration and acknowledging it.

The next moment, the white-haired girl gave her a huge grin.

At last, someone came to their senses. They began whispering to each other or frantically typing private messages, breaking the silence.

“What just happened? The class dead last actually won?!”

“How is that possible? Renee-chan must’ve let her guard down!”

“It has nothing to do with letting her guard down. She fired that many shots without the gun blowing up. That proves it wasn’t luck.”

“Using a level-ten-difficulty weapon with level-four magic power, the odds of firing that many shots without a blowout by sheer luck are even lower than my odds of winning the top prize in the Blue Color Lottery this month!”

“Ahem, not quite that low, because your odds of winning the lottery this month are zero. Someone in my family works for the Blue Color Company. You’d be better off comparing it to winning the Dead Man’s Jackpot in some random suburb...”

“Last time, she struggled even with a level-four-difficulty weapon. What’s she been doing these past few days...?”

“Could it be...”

Countless shocked and disbelieving gazes, like spotlights, fell on Vivi all at once.

In a corner of the crowd, Xiyuji, who had been practicing on her own, narrowed her eyes and watched the white-haired girl on the field, astonishment plain on her face.

Who?

Vivi?

Was there really someone like that in our class?