Chapter 397: The War of the Great Witch

"Alright, stop crying, I went too far, but who made you ask me to act like a dog first?"

"Sister, you can't be so shameless—no one just licks someone's face like that!"

"I was already treated like a dog, what's one lick?"

"You're such an idiot, sister."

Dorothy, just revived from the duel resting room, ran into Audrey, whose face was red from wiping away saliva, and immediately the two sisters erupted into another fierce verbal battle.

This time Dorothy won—after all, as the undisputed queen of verbal sparring, she bowed to no one; the little fox puffed out her cheeks in frustration, glaring resentfully at her heartless senior all the way, trying to curse her into tripping naturally by sheer eye power.

Meanwhile, Dorothy habitually began her post-battle reflection.

Though she got instantly obliterated this time, there wasn't much to reflect on—she'd already done everything she possibly could.

It was simply that Audrey, her junior, was absurdly overpowered—she opened with full-area control, how are you even supposed to play? Impossible. If not for her multiple thinking streams, where her main consciousness was controlled but others kept operating, she'd have become Audrey's literal pet dog.

"Tch, clearly my mana's too low, my base hardware's too weak—zero tolerance for error, no room whatsoever for flashy moves."

Dorothy resigned herself with a sigh; she now clearly understood the insurmountable gap between her true strength and that of these peer geniuses.

"Forget about being the solo carry—I'll just stick close to my teammates this Witch Night and play support. They say support is the iron pillar while carries flow like water—support is truly the elite position."

The homebound witch quickly adjusted her mindset, thinking thus.

With her knowledge, she could easily serve as an all-around assistant—whether alchemy for gear maintenance, potions for endurance, or necromantic healing—she could handle any logistics role without issue.

Most importantly, logistical personnel don't require high mana—after all, you can carry a mana furnace to replenish yourself anytime.

A fragile mana furnace is easily targeted and destroyed in intense combat, but if you stay safely in the rear as logistical support, your mana shortage can be fully compensated by the furnace.

And Dorothy possessed the finest fourth-king mana furnace in the world—endurance unmatched.

"Tch, damn it, senior, if you'd just lend me some mana, I could carry too—I could slaughter everyone!"

Thinking of this, the homebound witch pouted, complaining bitterly.

In response, the hat senior's Starry Eyes rolled.

"Don't even think about it. I'm the future Fourth King—why would I help you cheat? Lending you mana for logistical work is already the limit; anything more would be unfair to others."

Sister Fan said this with righteous conviction.

She'd already entered the Witch Night as a dimensional downgrade against other students, so she'd long decided: during this festival, she wouldn't use any power beyond the normal student range—she'd avoid fighting entirely if possible. Otherwise, if she babysat them nonstop, Xianbao and the others would never get any real training.

That wouldn't be helping her sisters—it would be destroying them.

Yes, that's exactly it—this was pure kindness, not laziness or sneaking off to watch Xianbao get chased around in humiliation for fun. Absolutely not.

"Fine."

Dorothy rolled her eyes too.

Though she knew the hat senior was probably just here to watch her suffer, relying on her for everything would indeed foster dependency—bad for her future growth.

After all, the homebound witch knew her own nature well—she was a lazy bum who'd sit if she could, lie down if she could sit, and use magic to solve everything rather than lift a finger. If Fan truly did everything for her, in two months she'd become a useless wreck who couldn't survive without her senior.

Hmm… maybe even less than two months.

"Alright, I've decided to be logistical support—this festival, you guys go wild, I'll sit behind you cheering like crazy."

Suddenly lucid, Dorothy declared this to her sisters.

"Actually, we never expected your combat power to begin with."

Hearing this, Sophie Sophie Liya delivered a cold, emotionless dagger.

Dorothy: "......"

Fine, fine, you're all so noble and powerful, and I'm the weakest—waaah.

She quietly found a seat, crouched down, and went into self-imposed isolation.

"Hahaha..."

Nearby, Audrey, seeing her suffer, laughed with glee—like a fox who'd just stolen a chicken.

"Then, President, let's play."

Sister Mia, amused, glanced at her brooding crush, then turned her gaze to Sophie Sophie Liya and issued a challenge.

Yes, though this president constantly claimed her relationship with the little fairy was merely normal master-servant, she wasn't blind—this "master-servant" relationship was pure nonsense. Rival, this president was clearly her greatest rival.

Thinking of this, the Golden Princess's battle spirit surged.

Come to think of it, she'd never truly fought this student president more than a few times—previous encounters were always light sparring. A real full-power duel had never happened.

Not just her—even Madeline felt the same. The campus forum constantly debated who among the three was strongest, and today seemed the perfect chance to settle it.

"Of course, please, senior, teach me."

Sophie Sophie Liya shifted her gaze from her mistress and looked at the rising battle aura of Sister Mia. After a moment's thought, she nodded.

Though she truly wanted another duel with her mistress, she'd let her mistress sulk for now.

But Dorothy, upon hearing the two academy elites were about to fight, instantly perked up. She forgot her self-imposed isolation and grief, pulled out peanuts, chips, and iced cola from her bag, and dragged Audrey to sit beside her, eagerly awaiting the duel.

Audrey, equally carefree, was easily bribed by the snacks—she completely forgot how her senior had just bullied her, and the two sisters instantly made up.

Sophie Sophie Liya: "....."

Sister Mia: "....."

The Pure White Witch and the Golden Princess were both speechless at these two lunatics. They exchanged glances, then stepped down onto the arena.

【5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, Duel Begins.】

Dorothy pressed the duel start button from the stands, and after a five-second countdown, the battle between two Great Witches began.

This time, the randomly generated map was a desert: endless dunes under a blazing sun, air shimmering with heat, occasional gales stirring the thermal currents and whipping up swirling dust storms.

But the terrain affected neither combatant—both the Dragon Witch and the Angel Witch were powerful enough to ignore environmental conditions.

Due to duel rules, they started ten kilometers apart: Sophie Sophie Liya hovered in the sky with her six wings spread, while Sister Mia stood firm atop the scorching sand.

At the exact moment the countdown hit zero, both burst into blinding golden light.

Beside Sophie Sophie Liya, a tiny angel appeared, opened its arms as if to embrace her, and the Pure White Witch returned the embrace—when the light faded, her school robe had transformed into a magnificent golden battle armor.

Dorothy recognized that angel—it was Sophie Sophie Liya 's armor beast, Angela.

On the other side, Sister Mia also donned golden armor—but this wasn't an armor beast's form; it was a genuine top-tier spirit-linked battle armor.

Though both wore golden armor, their styles were utterly different.

Sophie Sophie Liya 's armor, while not as revealing as the female characters in Dorothy's past-life games, was still light armor overall.

Sister Mia's, however, was absurdly exaggerated—a towering heavy mech of gold stood upon the earth, its thick, layered scales of armor completely encasing her. Even her head was covered by a dragon-shaped helmet with massive curled ram horns, its visor lowered, leaving only a narrow slit for her eyes.

"Whoa, isn't this overkill?"

Outside, Dorothy stared at fully armed Sister Mia, dumbfounded.

She recalled her last visit to the Armory Club, when she'd fought Sister Mia—if she'd worn this armor then, Dorothy might have spent three days and nights slashing at her and still failed to pierce the defense.

After both had silently donned their armor, they drew their wands.

Dorothy remembered Sophie Sophie Liya 's wand had been a greatsword before—but now she realized it was also a shape-shifting wand, though not as absurd as her own Bastet turning into a kitten.

It was a sword-wand: in staff form, the crossguard folded upward into a crown-like tip, but when extended, it became a two-handed greatsword.

"Pretty cool, but still not as good as my cat-wand."

The homebound witch patted the tiny kitten on her shoulder, proudly thinking this.

Can any other witch pet their wand?

On the other side, Sister Mia was terrifying—she pulled out a poleaxe taller than herself, its head a hammer on one side, an axe blade on the other, its grotesque design and exaggerated size making its power hard to believe.

"Damn, I almost got fooled by this rich girl's gentle image—I'd nearly forgotten her brutal she-dragon persona from the Magic Net duels."

At that moment, Dorothy remembered the years of being repeatedly hammered into "Fairy Jiang " by Sister Mia, and cold sweat broke out on her back.

"Heavenly Fire Judgment."

"Earth's Wrath."

While Dorothy was still shuddering in post-trauma, both duelists began casting simultaneously.

Well, actually, no casting—both cast instantly.

Sophie Sophie Liya raised her wand, and the sun in the sky blazed brighter—its previously merely scorching light became divine judgmental flame, instantly filling the sky, turning the blue heavens into blinding white.

Then the heavenly fire fell, like a celestial sword descending from the heavens.

So vast, so terrifying—it seemed ready to cleave the earth in two.

Nine-Ring Spell: Heavenly Fire Judgment.

But Sister Mia was no pushover—she slammed her axe-hammer into the ground, and the earth trembled. Deep rumbling echoed beneath, sand erupted, and something surged upward, casting massive shadows across the desert.

It was a colossal mountain-like earth spike—not just stone, but mixed with buried minerals from deep within the earth's veins, making it sharper and harder.

Boom...

A deafening roar erupted, powerful shockwaves kicked up sand into violent dust storms, obscuring vision.

"Whoa, no wonder Great Witches above are called natural disasters—this was just a test strike? Terrifying."

On the stands, Dorothy sipped her soda to calm her nerves, watching the cataclysm below.

Both spells were among the most powerful in the Nine-Ring tier—each could obliterate an entire human city, comparable to nuclear weapons from her past life.

And worse—this was far from their limit. This was merely the opening move of the duel.

Dorothy concentrated mana into her eyes, enhancing her vision to pierce the dust storm, seeing the fierce struggle within.

Continuous heavenly fire rained down like a dazzling barrage of bullets, and Sister Mia, encased in heavy armor, moved slower than Sophie Sophie Liya —she seemed like a stationary target.

But in truth, Sister Mia never intended to dodge. She stood firm, and the countless minerals carried up by the earth spike were now being refined by invisible force into swords, spears, clubs, and other weapons, all hovering and whirling around her, forming an impenetrable wall that blocked every drop of fire.

And this exchange wasn't over—both were already preparing their next attacks.

"Judgment: O enemy of the gods, your destined death has arrived."

Sophie Sophie Liya 's wand transformed into a sword; she gripped the hilt, its long blade ignited with pale holy flame. The Pure White Witch pointed the blade at her foe and delivered this fate-bound verdict.

A phantom balance appeared behind her, flickered once—then one side sank, losing equilibrium, and a new calamity descended toward the earth.

"Decree: O golden land slumbering beneath the earth, become the wrath of the Earth Mother Goddess."

Sister Senior Miya slammed her hammer into the ground; beneath her feet, radiant gold began to spread, and then a colossal phantom emerged behind her—a vast dragon clad in golden scales, as majestic as the Earth Mother Goddess herself.

The glorious body of the Dragon of Gold has descended here.

The dragon opened its mouth, unleashing a searing breath long nurtured within.

... witches slaughter each other...