"Really, those old grandpas are so sly, using these kinds of tactics."
"Alright, alright, stop complaining."
Watching Little Hei who was sitting next to him with an unhappy face, Fang Zheng chuckled and patted her little head. Little Hei, in turn, clenched her fists in dissatisfaction.
"We should’ve been the champions anyway..."
Hearing Little Hei’s complaint, Nanoha, sitting opposite, lowered her head somewhat uneasily.
"I’m sorry, teacher, it’s all my fault..."
"It’s not really your fault."
Looking at Nanoha in front of him, Fang Zheng smiled.
The battle of the magical girls came to a complete end after Nanoha used that SLB.
Although Nanoha indeed won that last fight, the mages were so shocked they almost couldn’t recover, and after finally coming around, they started discussing frantically.
Not to protest that Nanoha was cheating or endangering people, but... she was fouling!
Of course, this was just one way of looking at it. After all, this ladder match only allowed participation from mages of Fifth Ring and below, and those advanced mages who have accessed Six-Ring Spells were not permitted to compete.
Which is pretty normal; you don’t see an Olympic champion at a college sports event, right? Are you here to compete or to cause a scene?
Little Hei and the others’ battles previously didn’t spark these discussions mostly because their ways of fighting hadn’t demonstrated particularly strong power. Most mages just thought these magical girls’ fighting methods were rather unusual and hard to deal with, but not to the point of being completely indefensible.
But once Nanoha fired her cannon, the entire White Tower blew up.
Kidding, it’s something they simply can’t handle, right? Probably nobody but the chief could beat it!
This is a college sports event, are you really just posturing with Olympic athletes?
Not only did students have this thought, but even mentors from different factions felt the same way and thus complained to the chiefs.
The chiefs felt rather helpless too, because they were the ones who initially invited the magical girls to compete. Although they knew the competition had power restrictions, they didn’t ask more when they learned that Nanoha, Fate and the others were just eleven or twelve-year-old girls. In the chiefs’ view, these little girls might have strength, but wouldn’t reach the level of high-tier mages.
Not to mention, according to Fang Zheng, a few of the little girls became magical girls less than a year ago. Before that, they were completely ordinary.
So those chiefs didn’t give it much thought, thinking, "A year ago an ordinary person, less than a year with magic, no matter how genius, how extraordinary, can’t directly become a high-tier mage, right?"
However...
Ha ha...
The chiefs understood that their subordinates’ complaints weren’t unreasonable. After all, with this situation, no need for further competitions, right? Anyone could see that in the coming contests, as long as Nanoha flew to the sky, and leisurely released a Starlight Burst up there, people below could only wait for death in despair.
Considering that the highest among them only accessed Fifth Ring spells, what else could they do but die?
As for the power of Starlight Burst, the chiefs calculated and concluded that not even the chief of the Protection Class dared to confidently say they could truly block it.
Of course, using Teleportation Spell could allow one to evade it, but this was a competition, and Nanoha’s Starlight Burst covers the entire battlefield, so only teleporting outside the arena would be safe. Yet, according to the rules, leaving the field results in a loss.
So isn’t it still a loss?
Thus, the chief of Shaping Type had to reluctantly find Fang Zheng, asking if those little ones could withdraw from the competition. After all, if it continued, it wouldn’t end well.
Fang Zheng naturally agreed readily since he wasn’t interested in a mere college sports championship. Their main purpose in participating was to let the mages of White Tower and the Magitech Nation witness the strength of magical girls with their own eyes. That goal being achieved, whether or not they won the championship didn’t really matter.
Coincidentally, Fang Zheng had things to attend to, so he simply found an excuse to take the little girls away from the White Tower.
This led to Little Hei’s complaints here.
"Alright, the chiefs did apologize to you and even offered compensation, right?"
Seeing Little Hei still unhappy, Fang Zheng shrugged his shoulders. According to the rules, the champion would receive advanced magic equipment granted by the chief, and to compensate for Nanoha and Little Hei’s loss from withdrawing, the chiefs made significant efforts, each giving the two one piece of advanced magical equipment.
For instance, Nanoha got a bracelet with constant True Knowledge Technique, rendering illusions and invisibility ineffective against her...
Well, that’s the reason prophecy counters illusion since one spell counters one faction...
It’s just the School of Illusions, if they knew necromancy, they might actually dig up the grave of the mage who invented True Knowledge Technique for a posthumous beating...
"But I prefer to win the championship under the cheers of everyone."
Little Hei was completely uninterested in compensation; she loved joining in the fun the most— the noisier, the better. The chief council not allowing her to stir up the excitement or show off made her quite disgruntled. Originally, Little Hei thought she’d absolutely be the champion; after all, even if Nanoha’s Starlight Burst was powerful, she also had light cannon Noble Phantasm, and if she unleashed Infinite Sword Creation to press Nanoha, it’s not like she had no chance.
As a result... why are we still fighting now?
"Then next time I’ll specifically organize a Magical Girl competition so you can really enjoy yourself."
Looking at Little Hei in front of him, Fang Zheng also tried to console him. In fact, through this competition, Fang Zheng realized that the strength of Magical Girls cannot be measured by the current mage theory levels of the White Tower at all. In reality, Magical Girls are essentially a type of growth-capable MAX existence. Take Nanoha for example, her usual performance might be on par with an A-rank Magitech Mentor, but once it’s time to fight a boss, who knows, her power could instantly rise to SSS level.
Asking such individuals to participate in those level-restricted competitions is basically bullying the others.
So, the only worthy opponents for Magical Girls are other Magical Girls themselves...
Fang Zheng also promised the Chief Council that once the Magical Girl faction is established, a dedicated Magical Girl battle tournament would be organized...
Even though this competition ended somewhat hastily, Fang Zheng had already achieved his original goal. In fact, before he left, the Chief of Shaping Type had already informed him that many aristocrats and factions from the Magitech Nation were asking about when the Magical Girl sessions would officially start and how apprentices could be selected...
After all, that shot from Nanoha left quite a few people in awe.
Not to mention, although that shot demolished the entire competition arena, the unlucky noble mage directly hit by it did not die as many expected, but merely fell into a deep coma.
This kind of spell is precisely what all factions desire the most! Especially some law enforcement agencies, since most of the time, mages’ spells are powerful but equally destructive. However, such non-lethal and powerful attack spells like Nanoha’s are simply a blessing, right?!
At least there’s no need to worry about accidentally injuring suspects and civilians in one go. At minimum... at minimum, even if it hits together, it would only knock them out, right?
They wouldn’t die.
For the nobility, they also prefer Magical Girls, considering that at present, these kinds of spells aren’t very dangerous, yet they are powerful and can assist their families. Unlike other spells; the Transmutation, Prophecy, and Protection classes might seem a bit more stable, whereas the Spellcraft and Shaping Type are complete disaster zones, with the Enchantment School making everyone wary—even knowing that Enchantment School mages won’t easily manipulate others’ minds, the general public is still somewhat uncomfortable.
The Necromancer Class goes without saying, and as for the School of Illusions... aside from oddballs like Delian who want to set off fireworks with everyone, most people’s thought processes are relatively normal.
However, Fang Zheng didn’t plan to start classes right away; he still needed to go back and have a good talk with Precia. Moreover, Fang Zheng planned to find time to personally go to Mid to investigate how the other side is teaching Magical Girls.
But for now... Fang Zheng had other matters.
In fact, Fang Zheng said goodbye to the little girls and left not just to find an excuse, because he actually had something to attend to.
Through the connection with his Origin, Fang Zheng discovered something, and that is...
Something is wrong again in the Type Moon World.
"So, what is it this time?"
Standing within the pitch-black Origin, looking at the rotating blue light orb in front of him, Fang Zheng curiously asked. If it weren’t for discovering Gaia’s SOS signal through the Origin, Fang Zheng wouldn’t have rushed back so quickly. After all, the Type Moon World is now one of his assets... if anything goes wrong, it would really be troublesome.
In response to Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Gaia didn’t speak; instead, a picture appeared in front of Fang Zheng.
First, Earth appeared before Fang Zheng; then, the entire Earth was quickly split apart into countless parts, forming extended lines along world lines.
"Parallel worlds, huh..."
Fang Zheng, being a seasoned Chef Moon who has watched the FATE anime, naturally understood the concept of parallel worlds, though...
"Hm?"
Just then, Fang Zheng suddenly noticed that a problem seemed to have arisen from one of the parallel points along the timeline.
By logic, two parallel lines on the same plane never intersect, but for Fang Zheng, one of the parallel points rapidly extending along the timeline seemed to be attracted by a magnet, starting to approach the trunk. Soon, with its lead, dozens of parallel worlds encountered problems, seeming like electrical wires tangled together, then twisting tightly with the trunk as the core, lengthening, and then........
"Boom!"
Completely shattered.
"What is going on here?"
Seeing this, Fang Zheng frowned, then he reached out his hand. As his actions unfolded, the previous scenes began to reverse, returning to the point where the anomaly had appeared. Then, Fang Zheng closed his eyes and pressed down on the light dot.
He certainly knew what happened. Due to some reasons, the parallel worlds fused, but due to irreconcilable discrepancies among them, a fissure formed in the world itself, eventually leading to a complete collapse.
For instance, a person might be dead in this Type Moon World, but alive in another. After the fusion of these two Type Moon Worlds, the first issue to address is "Is this person alive or dead?" And that’s just about the individual; when it involves a series of timelines altered by whether this person is alive or dead, it’s simply fraught with glitches and on the brink of collapse.
Speaking of which, shouldn’t this matter be directed to that Old Gem Dealer who wanders through parallel worlds? Why involve me?
Although Fang Zheng was initially a bit puzzled, upon observing the distorted node, he immediately understood why it was necessary to seek him out.
The Fourth Holy Grail War...
Seems like this requires my personal intervention.

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