As Vil and the group were "forced" to sing "Minna De Yahhou!", Lotus watched as Niege gets him to socialize with the people on the stadium, "Thank you all so much! Vi-Vi, you need to thank everyone, too!"
Vil gave a dry chuckle as he tries to wear a facade of happiness though it was a pretty awkward one, "I hope to see you all again!"
She could hear Kalim and the others from the side, "I'm glad they're getting along! Good, good!"
"What a beautiful sight to behold…" Rook cheered with a glistening smile, "Beaute, 100 points!"
"V-Vil is relentless…" Epel admired in awe.
Jamil nodded in surprise, "He was saying earlier that he'd like to kick his rivals off the stage, but here he is…smiling and laughing right next to that same rival. So this is a pro."
As they sang along reluctantly, Vil noticed Lotus smirking face and was shocked as the attention landed on Niege once me, he whispered a cry of embarrassment, "UGHHHHH! SOMEONE REALLY NEEDS TO KNOCK ME OUT RIGHT THIS SECOND!!"
Lotus snickered and noted, "Looks like Vil-senpai is having a great time right now."
Idia looked between the two with a look of disbelief and sighed, "You're really enjoying their loss..."
"Why not?" Lotus snickered, "The only loss they have is the first place of the VDC to Royal Sword Academy, not like we lost our resources."
"Well, let's go back, then." Idia got up and sighed, "I've just about used up my stamina for the day at this rate."
"All right." Lotus nodded and got up from her seat before adding, "Let's get Ortho something, though."
"I guess." Idia nodded reluctantly.
As they got up and walked away, Yuu noticed her leaving with a wide and seemingly-satisfied smile. Recalling Vil's expression from earlier, he gave a dry chuckle before watching the others continue to give an encore.
.....
After buying Ortho a souvenier from one of the stalls, he handed Idia the souvenier and brought him back to his dorm where he most likely made a beeline to the dorm room as soon as she led him back up the stairs. As she walked down the steps, she noticed a shadow quickly dart away from the corner of her eyes. Seeing this, Lotus knew that it wouldn't be appropriate to just leave and left an array half way down the steps. Thinking for a bit, she made her way down the steps and down the long passage when she noticed the same pawprints from nearby. However, just before she made her way to the mirror, a sudden surge of energy rushed at her. Surprised, Lotus quickly pulled out a stone before being shot into the nearby cave wall!
Fast!
A cold feeling ran down her spine and she kicked herself away from her spot tumbling to the side. She quickly lept to her feet and jumped back fast enough to avoid two strikes that was aimed at her torso.
There was a clap from across the cave as a man in gray appeared, "Well done. It's no wonder you were able to take down so many of our people."
Lotus looked up at him and saw that this man had a strange looking mark on the back of his palm as he raised it again!
She quickly erected a barrier around her. The strike was quickly blocked as a gust of wind was created from the burst of the strike disintegrating. Suddenly, the man appeared before her and shattered her barrier!
With swift strike, she was forced back into the darkness of the caves! She tumbled across the dark cave floor from afar as the man stood from afar, slowly walking to her direction. He huffed in disdain, "I had expected Hui family's missing heir to be with a noble family in this world, but who knew that it was just some orphan. It would seem that the information given to us is not accurrate."
Lotus quickly got up and lept away just as a spiritual pressure landed on the spot she had been at before. However, just before she could keep her distance, he already appeared before her and grabbed her by the neck with one hand. He lifted her from the ground as Lotus struggled against the strength of his hand. He ordered bluntly, "Where are the others?"
Painfully, Lotus struggled to pry herself out of his hand as she managed a desperate cry, "In your dreams!"
"Gah!"
Suddenly, the man collapsed onto his knees with a hand over his crotch and the other glistening dark red with blood. Lotus quickly lept far away as she could gasping for a breath of air.
"You dirty little wretch!" He roared and charged at her!
Suddenly, there was a loud howl from afar as he suddenly screeched to a halt and Lotus erected a barrier around her glaring at him with a sneer across her face. His eyes widen in shock once he saw this, "You-!"
She knew!
It was then that four large black wolves appeared from the shadows and lunged at him.
"Shade Wolves?!"
The man took a step back in shock and quickly pulled back. If it was just one or two, he would have no problems taking care of them. However, there were four of them surrounding him including one gold core cultivator. He could also sense that there were more hiding in the shadows as he crouched before them. He was clearly outnumbered!
With a scowl, he took another step back before grumbling hatefully, "Just you wait... I'll be back!"
With that, the man quickly left the area. Lotus thought carefully for a bit in confusion. She muttered thoughtfully, "That symbol on his palm... Could it be that?"
"Are you not going to thank your saviours?"
She looked to the wolves and saw them glaring at her. However, she nodded back fearlessly with a wide smile, "That's true. Thank you for saving me back there."
Seeing her fearless expression before them, the wolves can't help but wonder if they saved a strong guy or an idiot.
"Enough..."
A voice appeared from nowhere and the ground began to shake. Lotus turned around with a look of surprise on her face as a large shadow wolf appeared before her.
"You knew that we would intervene from the beginning..." The wolf stepped forward and gave her a sniff before grumbling in disdain, "Did the old mirror made another mistake? Accepting a woman as a student... Woman, how did you get here?"
It was as she had thought. The wolf can naturally sniff out her gender so easily. The nose of a spiritual wolf is truly much superior than that of a dire wolf's.
"I was brought here by the mirror." Lotus responded, "As for why the mirror would accept me, I have no clue. He gave me no choice."
"You were forced by a broken mirror?" The large wolf scoffed.
"A promise is a promise." Lotus sighed and smirked, "It would be wrong of me to break a promise."
"But, you brought trouble onto our lands." The wolf growled at her baring his large white teeth.
"It's was just unlucky that those guys ended finding the Hall of Mirrors where the dorm resides." Lotus responded bluntly.
"You are a cultivator. You're not as stupid as those magicians who only pretend to be sly." The alpha wolf scowled, "What brought you to this world?"
"I was raised in this world." Lotus responded bluntly.
"Is that the absolute truth? If I find that it is not, then I'll eat you right now." The wolf growled.
Lotus sneered at him, "Very well. Go ahead. If you want to be struck down by Heaven's lightning, then be my guest."
Hearing this, the alpha Shadow wolf paused in his tracks and scowled, "You knew of the vows."
"Seven guardians have existed in this world for barely over a century." Lotus huffed, "Who can truly say that there had been no problems over the course of a hundred years? If there was no arrays or artifacts in this world containing the balance of the influence between the seven guardians, I would be willing to be struck by lightning if there would truly be no infighting from all of this when there's nothing to keep you all in check. Naturally, it was vows of the heaven and earth that kept you all back for over a century. Without it, there's no telling if any one of the guardians will really not interfere with the business of the former guardian of Heartslabyul."
"Then, why was he trying to kill you?"
"Because he couldn't poison me or do anything to the dorm building." Lotus responded bluntly.
The Alpha shadow wolf growled, "What's your name?"
"Lotus Xue." Lotus responded, "According to official records in the school, I'm a student with no magic and resides in Ramshackle dorm."
"No magic?! Preposterous!" The Alpha shadow wolf roared, "As long as you can cultivate mana, you are no different from a magician! That broken mirror has finally gone senile after thousands of years! Also, why did the headmaster not to anything after they found out about this?! Is he so incapable as to let a normal mortal join a school for magicians? Where is that guy?! He founded himself a stupid school and fails to tell apart a mortal from a magician!"
Lotus raised a brow, "Could it be that the guardian of Ignihyde had not heard? The founder of the school has long since passed and handed down the position to another teacher. It's been over a hundred years since the founding of the school now. The current headmaster is Headmaster Dire Crowley."
As he heard this, the Alpha shadow wolf grumbled, "To think that the headmaster of this generation has become so weak compared to the past..."
"Nah, he knew from the beginning." Lotus responded bluntly and explained her situation with the mirror and Yuu's current dilemma.