When Kierra flew back to White Lotus, the sky had turned dark.

She stopped in the air briefly to take in the beautiful scenery of a brightly lit lotus before heading toward Crimson Tower V2.0. Upon entering floor one hundred via the window, she saw it was still crowded with people.

Her usual disciples were there. Yu Chen and Tian Yun were also there. Even the newly admitted Kang Shuren was there. All of them were training intently, not realizing the arrival of their master.

''...''

'As expected. Magic brings people together.'

No matter their social status or origin, people would always stand together in the pursuit of magic. This was what Kierra realized after being a tower master for hundreds of years.

Well, maybe, except for those pets chatting in the corner of the room. And Kierra wouldn't question why Kang Shuren had a black blindfold on either.

Um. This is normal.

The archwizard moved her gaze, this time staring at the starry sky.

After unintentionally lecturing the abbess of Emei earlier, a surge of memories resurfaced inside Kierra's mind. When she used to go to conquest with that woman or when she was leading an expedition team from her tower, she would always look at the sky like this.

The galaxy that she was in homed her, and its stars were her friends. They would guide her through numerous trials, protect her in dire situations, and lend her their strength in critical fights.

Now that she was in another universe, Kierra thought it was time to study the stars seriously. For that, she needed a relaxing environment, one that would allow her to concentrate fully.

A hot spring.

This was it. Kierra quickly decided to build a hot spring later that night.

When she was absorbed in stargazing, a loud gasp sounded behind her, prompting her to turn around. A disciple of hers seemed to have run out of stamina when circulating mana.

''Hah... hah... oh, g-good night, master Kierra.'' She greeted her timidly.

''Mhm. Good work.''

''...''

''...''

It was rather awkward.

Partly because of that and because Kierra's mood was good today, she decided to give her hardworking pupils some pointers. So she walked up to the disciple and grabbed her wrist.

''M-Master??''

''Stay still. I shall show you the optimal way to circulate mana.''

''Oh... woah...''

As Kierra established proper flows inside her, the disciple felt like her body was so light it would levitate at any moment, even if she could already do that!

With a renewed respect for the archwizard, the disciple began to take note of the way Kierra did it. Soon, more and more people were aware of Kierra's presence in the room. They were also quite exhausted, so they just stared at the scene.

After a while, Kierra released the disciple.

''Go on.''

''Thank you for your guidance, master Kierra!''

''Mhm.''

Seeing the disciple hop her way to another corner to practice, others began to flock in.

''Master, my flows are also broken!''

''Master, I can't cast my spells well!''

''Master, I'm hungry!''

Kierra was nearly stunned. She had never seen students this enthusiastic before. And wasn't the last one totally unrelated to magic...?

Either way, she couldn't take care of everyone here. So Kierra did what she was best at aside from magic—tossing problems onto other people.

''Go ask her.'' Kierra pointed to the disciple at the corner.

''Aw...''

''But...''

(Ծ‸Ծ) (Ծ‸Ծ) (Ծ‸Ծ)

They were rightfully quite upset at that. Silence fell, and everybody just stared at Kierra with puppy eyes, but Kierra didn't seem to mind them much.

Then, one girl suddenly spoke up.

''Master, could I ask you something?''

It was one of the more ambitious disciples.

Intrigued, Kierra replied. ''Speak.''

''Pardon me if I might come across as rude, but... I still don't know what the pinnacle of magic looks like. So...''

'She is right in front of you, sillyhead.'

Kierra sighed. But she also understood the disciple's worries. This girl must not have seen Kierra fight before, so she didn't know how amazing magic was.

''Hm... Yu Chen.'' Kierra called. ''Do you know a large area whose terrain I can destroy?''

''How large are you talking about...?'' Yu Chen, who was standing behind the group, asked.

''At least ten times as big as this sect.''

''Ten...?! That is quite...''

At this point, Tian Yun intervened. ''There is one place. The Land of Death should be a good place.''

If Tian Yun remembered correctly, that place was hundreds of times larger than this little sect.

Kierra, meanwhile, had limited knowledge of it. She read in one of the books that it was supposed to be where evil forces resided, but beyond that, nothing.

''Good. We go to that place.''

Just like that, Kierra swiftly summoned Kamikaze, her trusty ride, and put the whole class, including the two pets, on his back. Everybody was confused except for some. Yu Chen and Tian Yun were confident of what Kierra was up to. Knowing the archwizard, she would want to assert dominance over the disciples, and they were indeed curious about what Kierra might do.

With Kamikaze flying at full speed in the provided direction, it only took roughly ten minutes for them to reach their destination.

In front of Kierra now was a vast, plain-like terrain without any visible lifeform, and the ground had a gloomy, dark greyish color. She could feel something deep, deep underground, was corrupting the whole region, but she honestly couldn't be bothered to dig in deeper. 

So she bid goodbye to Kamikaze and took a deep breath.

''Watch closely.'' She spoke calmly to the group before turning to the dead land. ''This is the pinnacle of magic.''

Kierra grabbed the rim of her witch hat and pulled it down lightly, covering anything above her nose. 

The wind blew.

Everybody waited with bated breath. They had no idea what was going on, but just Kierra's attitude was able to make them nervous.

Soon, a gentle wave of mana escaped Kierra's body. The small ripple quickly turned into multiple billows, expanding rapidly until they covered a vast area around her.

It was as if the group were standing on shallow water. 

Then, the mana formation suddenly froze and remained static for a while. Kierra slowly raised her right hand.

snap—!

'''' !!! ''''

With a single snap, an unimaginable amount of mana burst out of Kierra's body. Space itself seemed to have succumbed to this display of raw power, evident in the fact that the atmosphere was actually contorting wildly around the archwizard. Among the strong mana wind generated by the spell, Kierra began to chant.

''Heed my call, ancient beast of ice.''

''Lend me the power to plunge this world into bitter coldness.''

Kierra's gentle yet dignified voice rang through the area. As she willed her incredible might, even time slowed down considerably as if preparing for what was to come next.

''Every life on this earth is vain, for what I desire is eternal beauty.''

''Cease all movements of the livings, and bring forth your deadly maw.''

The absurdly dense mana bubble then collapsed entirely into a tiny ball of icy blue energy, floating lazily in Kierra's palm.

The wind stopped. Silence.

In the eyes of onlookers, this scene was equally scary as it was mesmerizing. 

Not long after, Kierra opened her mouth one last time and crushed the orb.

''Burst forth.''

⌈Frost Abyss—9★⌋

————————————————————————————————————————!!!

Accompanying the deafening sound was a blinding flash. For anyone other than Kierra, their minds went blank entirely, and they were essentially stunned.

After God knows how long, senses and reasons finally returned to them. They nearly lost them again the second they opened their eyes.

''What...''

In front of them right now was a literal manifestation of an ice hell. Nothing but blue ice surrounded them, even extending out of the horizon.

The sole culprit, meanwhile, was standing there, watching the reflections of stars on the clear ice she just made.

It was beautiful.