The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　Quintina clenched her teeth, her body crackling with lightning, and with a furious roar, hurled the "Lightning Spear" at the intersection of the three heads of the "Sky Ultimate Dragon".

　"puff!"

　The "Lightning Spear," crackling with lightning, easily pierced through the scales of the "Sky Ultimate Dragon," embedding itself deeply within them.

　Immediately afterwards, lightning gathered in the rolling thunderclouds and struck down on "Sky Ultimate Dragon"!

　"Roar!"

　The three dragon heads roared simultaneously, and the gathered lightning not only dispelled its magic but also paralyzed its body. The dragon heads trembled, unable to bite Quintina any further.

　But as Quintina faced "Ultimate White Dragon of the Sky," Pandora had already closed in from behind her again, and the "Dragon Slash," with its whistling sound at the tip, silently pierced through her shoulder blade.

　And so it begins.

　Quintina could no longer withstand Pandora's ferocious onslaught. Her body, weakened by divine power, was repeatedly pierced and cut open, leaving her covered in wounds in the blink of an eye.

　She used lightning to cover her wounds, barely managing to control the injuries. But as the wounds multiplied and the affected area grew larger, the method of controlling the injuries with lightning became completely useless.

　She couldn't possibly transform into a pure elemental being like that lightning elemental being. Even if she was controlled by "Fragments of Zeus's Consciousness," she was still just flesh and blood, and the continuous worsening of her injuries would cause her condition to decline significantly.

　She was already no match for Pandora when she was at her peak, let alone after her performance declined.

　But Pandora did not immediately deliver the fatal blow when the opportunity arose.

　Instead, he continued to use "Dragon Cutter" to relentlessly attack her.

　Gradually.

　Pandora even reversed the "Dragon Slash," using the butt of the spear as the head to deliver blunt blows, constantly eroding her divine power and inflicting pain!

　By the time the audience noticed, Quintina's "spirit" was already crumbling, her facial expressions were no longer stable, and even the thunderclouds in the sky seemed to be dissipating.

　"King of the Gods...I am the King of the Gods..."

　She was muttering incoherent words, her entire consciousness on the verge of collapse.

　"If this is the king of the gods, then even gods seem to be nothing special."

　Pandora suddenly moved closer, whispered something, and then swung her gun horizontally, slamming the battered Quintina hard into the ground!

　And she pressed on, continuing to strike, channeling the pain through her body to stimulate her consciousness.

　Finally, another sweeping blow.

　"boom!"

　Quintina's entire body was slammed into the ground.

　The ground suddenly cracked open.

　She lay sprawled in the pit, her limbs outstretched, her body convulsing. But the ferocity in her eyes grew ever stronger as she glared fiercely at Pandora.

　But Pandora had already stopped, hovering in mid-air, looking at her with a cold expression.

　At this moment, the divine aura emanating from Quintina was extremely weak.

　It is clear that the power of the "fragment of Zeus's consciousness" has been almost exhausted. If Quintina herself cannot regain consciousness and reclaim her nest from the usurper under these circumstances, then even if she is revived later, it will not be of much significance.

　Once she leaves the arena, she will eventually be eroded by fragments of Zeus's consciousness until she is possessed.

　They'll die sooner or later anyway, so it doesn't matter whether they die early or late.

　The dueling arena finally fell silent.

　All the viewers watched Quintina lying in the pit via the projection.

　But not everyone could understand what was happening. Kingsley and Tonya, the commentators, couldn't say much, only watching the arena with a hint of worry.

　Time passed by little by little.

　The thunderclouds that were gradually dissipating in the sky silently began to gather again at a single point.

　The lightning within leaped silently.

　All the thunderclouds gathered directly above the two contestants. An extremely oppressive aura suddenly erupted.

　But suddenly before.

　Pandora suddenly hurled the "Dragon Slayer" sword overhead. "Whoosh—"

　The thunderclouds that had gathered in one place were pierced through from bottom to top by the dragon spear. Instantly, the thunder and clouds dissipated, and the sun shone brightly.

　above the ground.

　Quintina's body suddenly hunched over. The lightning in her eyes flickered erratically. The muscles in her face twitched inexplicably.

　The ten fingers of both hands were also moving erratically and uncontrollably.

　"what--"

　A cry that had been suppressed for who knows how long was finally forced out from the bottom of that throat.

　The divine will emanating from Quintina suddenly dissipated, and the fragments of consciousness originating from Zeus were forcibly suppressed back.

　She suddenly sat up, as if she had finally woken up after hundreds of nightmares, and kept breathing heavily.

　"At least there's still some value in being saved."

　Pandora drew the "Dragon Cutter" magic card from the Duel Disk, and with a casual wave, the "Dragon Cutter" falling from the sky turned into light on its way back to the card.

　On the ground, Quintina's injuries were no longer under the control of divine power, and at the same time...

　Time exploded. Her life force almost instantly dropped to zero. [Battle Ended]

　Quintina's body gradually disappeared from everyone's sight.

　But in that "graveyard" area, a body that was no different from the one that appeared when the duel began soon reappeared.

　Quintina's physical injuries have fully recovered, but the depletion of her energy and spirit cannot be fully replenished.

　She collapsed to the ground almost the instant she was reborn.

　This was definitely when she was at her weakest!

　...

　Almost immediately, some of the contestants realized this.

　Despite some unexpected events.

　However, the overall competition did not appear to be affected.

　After watching the thrilling duel, the contestants quickly regained their competitive mindset.

　The competition is still ongoing. Their goal remains unchanged. After this duel ends...

　St. Mary's College earns another five points.

　As for the Royal Academy's points... to be precise, Quintina's personal points, they have dropped back to 22 points.

　But 22 points is still a lot for an individual. She is still a highly coveted points package.

　However, it was Pandora Dragon who initiated the duel. Therefore, Quintinanos has the duel protection time.

　The duel protection time was only ten minutes according to the rules for the second day of the competition.

　Given Quintina's current condition, is ten minutes... enough time for her to recover?

　—Absolutely impossible!

　Furthermore, with the "fragment of Zeus's consciousness" falling silent, her control over lightning and the electrical magic she unleashes may no longer possess the power she once had.

　The contestants from the Elf Magic Academy did not retreat far.

　They already had a grudge against Quintina, and several of the players quickly became restless, but Chloe stopped them.

　Chloe herself certainly wanted revenge, but at this moment, the situation in the area was unclear.

　Besides their own academy's students, there are also students from St. Marian Academy and Sky Magic Academy in this area. If they were to easily engage in a duel with Quintina, they might end up being surrounded by St. Marian Academy and Sky Magic Academy.

　The good news is that the relationship between St. Mary's Academy and Sky Magic Academy is also not harmonious.

　They'd even had several duels recently. Perhaps, in a little while, they'll start fighting each other first. Then, the Elven Magic Academy will be able to find an opportunity to exploit the situation. Despite their very poor points situation, the Elven Magic Academy has clearly not given up.

　……

Chapter 1332 Things Have Come to This, Let's Fight First (10k votes requested)

　"We've managed to suppress it for now... although the methods used were a bit too crude."

　Dark glanced at Pandora, who was slowly descending from the sky, and swallowed almost imperceptibly.

　He suddenly realized that he had been neglecting his senior classmate lately. Even though they were in the same college, they almost became just online friends who only kept in touch through their "access cards".

　"After the competition ends, we should probably find some time to get together, but my schedule is already packed with upcoming projects... Is this a classic case of not being able to have both career and love...?"

　Dark's gaze drifted elsewhere, somewhat unfocused. This made him stand out from his excited companions. However, Pandora's actions did offer him some insights. When Viter's soul merged with the Demon King's, it was through a soul-level surgery that the soul was forcibly separated, leaving significant side effects.

　Quintina North's situation was different from his.

　What resides within her is not a fragment of Zeus's soul, but a fragment of his consciousness.

　That consciousness is independent and has not merged with it. What it is doing is "assimilation" and "invasion".

　"Assimilation" is also known as "infection," and its purpose is to turn Quintina's body into a suitable vessel for its parasitism.

　"Invasion" is "possession," which means completely squeezing out Quintina's consciousness space, excluding her own consciousness from her body, and then taking away everything about her.

　Of course, considering that the fragment of Zeus's consciousness only awakened today, the previous "assimilation" should only have been an unconscious behavior.

　It's like how Ergani's "heart" was unconsciously influencing and changing the monsters in the dungeon when it was still there; it's a natural interference from a superior species to a subordinate species.

　This kind of intervention is not entirely a bad thing.

　The "assimilation" of Quintina by the fragments of Zeus's consciousness indirectly endowed her with greater talent and stronger abilities.

　This is the most direct reason why Quintina has become stronger than before. Although this enhancement comes with enormous risks and costs, if she can stop the subsequent actions before the final step, she will naturally reap only benefits. At most, her personality will become less like her own.

　However, personality changes can be recovered through other means.

　Professor Harvey's current "dream machine" is a magical artifact that can gradually restore his personality.

　and so.

　Quintina was subjectively and actively accepting the assimilation and infection of "fragments of Zeus's consciousness".

　This is completely different from Werther's desire to immediately sever all ties with the Demon King's soul.

　And if we build upon this foundation for further reflection...

　Quintina's first task is to "stay true to herself," which means not letting her personality be changed too drastically.

　Only after "preserving oneself" can one consider subsequent situations, namely, preventing the "fragments of Zeus's consciousness" from invading and possessing one's body.

　So how can we prevent the "fragment of Zeus's consciousness" from invading and possessing us? Since Quintina's consciousness and the fragment of Zeus's consciousness are both relatively independent entities.

　When these two compete, whoever is stronger will naturally prevail.

　The solution then becomes clear.

　① Strengthen Quintina's consciousness. ② Weaken Zeus's consciousness fragments.

　Just now, Senior Pandora weakened Zeus's consciousness fragments to allow Quintina's consciousness to gain the upper hand.

　As the saying goes, practice makes perfect, and because she actually did it, it proves that this solution is indeed feasible.

　However, this solution is clearly only treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

　Moreover, weakening Zeus's consciousness fragment goes against Quintina's subjective wishes; what she needs is a consciousness fragment that can grant her greater talents, stronger abilities, and even more divinity.

　Therefore, this solution is only one option and cannot be used frequently. If the fragments of Zeus's consciousness are accidentally destroyed, then all efforts will be in vain.

　Therefore, there is only one truly effective solution: to strengthen Quintina's own consciousness and make it surpass the fragments of Zeus's consciousness.

　But how exactly can we strengthen it at the level of consciousness?

　This is different from mental power, which can be quantified and increased by practicing related magic.

　The so-called "intensity of consciousness" can also be called the "intensity of will."

　A resolute character, solid understanding, unwavering beliefs, and a strong will.

　All of these combined constitute "the intensity of consciousness".

　Obviously, these are not things that can be obtained through peaceful daily learning.