A Deadly Extravagant 'Performance'

Instantly realizing the principal's intention, Selene understood that her participation in the test was merely a publicity stunt. The real purpose was to use her immense power to attract high-quality students.

"Uh... alright, I'll just do as I please then."

"Good, good, go ahead," the principal urged with a kindly, supportive gaze.

With the principal's benevolent smile in mind, Selene teleported back to the center of the platform. Once the staff were in position, she began the auxiliary ability test.

Instantly, a large, circular portal emitting a purplish glow appeared in the center of the platform. Its enormous size even blocked out some of the sunlight.

"Auxiliary Ability Record: Maximum diameter of a single portal is approximately 412 meters; maximum straight-line teleportation distance is 7,986 meters; maximum number of controllable portals is 518; there are volume limitations, but no weight or quantity restrictions. Comprehensive evaluation: Level 5."

Even without an official announcement, the sheer visual impact alone made everyone present understand why Selene was ranked first. The fact that her teleportation ability had no weight or quantity limitations was enough to give her a Level 5 ranking on auxiliary abilities alone.

This left other space ability users who still struggled with weight and quantity limitations feeling quite inadequate.

Next up was the part everyone was most eagerly anticipating—the offensive ability test.

During this segment, Tokiwadai Middle School invited several spatial ability users from other academies to help demonstrate Selene's superior spatial control ability—Space Lock.

According to the commentary, Space Lock is an extremely double-edged ability that can disable others' spatial abilities within a certain range without affecting the user.

As Space Lock was activated, all the other ability users found their spatial abilities sealed and unusable, leaving only Selene with the ability to use her powers.

In addition, Selene demonstrated Space Lock by unlocking it and allowing the other spatial ability users to teleport objects, while she attacked the objects mid-teleportation.

This sparked much discussion among the spectators.

"This ability is really overpowered."

"It's more than that; it's the ultimate spatial ability."

"Spatial ability users opposing her are essentially rendered useless; it's a perfect counter."

...

After concluding the demonstrations of Space Lock and spatial cutting, the auxiliary spatial ability users left the stage.

Now it was time for Selene to perform freely.

"Will all personnel please temporarily vacate the platform. Repeating, will all staff…"

As the broadcast announcement sounded, the staff began to vacate the platform.

"Huh, why are they leaving? Is it over?" asked a student in the audience, puzzled.

Clang, clang.

Before anyone could respond, the sound of metal scraping echoed as the protective barriers in front of the audience began to rise slowly.

"Please don't panic, students. Due to Selene's destructive capability, these precautions are necessary. Please remain calm."

The voice of the Tokiwadai principal came over the broadcast just in time to answer the students' questions.

There were no objections to this. Although the barriers might block their view slightly, they were essential for their safety. Everyone had heard tales about Selene's destructive power—urban legends about her were plentiful.

Snap!

With a dramatic snap of Selene's fingers, the purple glow beneath her feet expanded, and in no time, the entire platform, nearly a thousand square meters, began to move like a shifting puzzle.

With a slight upward motion of her fingers, the individual components of the platform lifted into the air, rapidly merging into a cohesive whole under the influence of Imaginary Force, forming a perfect cube hovering in midair.

Selene clenched her hand slightly, and the cube began to change shape, spinning rapidly as if manipulated by an invisible hand, continually morphing into random configurations.

Suddenly, two rectangular prisms made of Imaginary Force burst from the space, intersecting to strike the cube with a resounding "boom!"

At the same time, Selene drew her right hand back as if pulling a bow from thin air, creating three square frames made of four crystalline pillars of Honkai energy, each frame getting progressively smaller and wider closer to her body. The second-to-last geometric shape in front of her was a helix formed by twisting two rectangular prisms, and the last was a regular polyhedron.

She released a rectangular prism with a flick.

Like a stone dropped into a tranquil pond, the rectangular prism, traveling at supersonic speed, generated a massive sonic boom cloud.

Clang! The rectangular prism pierced the cube midair, its speed undiminished, shooting straight into the sky.

The entire cube glowed red-hot from the friction of the penetrating object, growing brighter and emitting violent ripples.

Then, before everyone's eyes, it began to expand.

Boom!

With an earth-shattering explosion, the cube's remnants erupted, unleashing a scorching wave that blinded everyone with its brilliance.

A massive shockwave struck the ground, and thick smoke rose like a sandstorm, with scarlet flames blooming like exotic flowers.

The deafening blast caused ears to ring, and the ground of the venue shook violently. Under the disbelieving gazes of the crowd, the erected barriers swayed, creaking ominously, as if they might collapse at any moment.

Next, debris from the shattered barriers, like meteors, rained down like shrapnel, mercilessly hurtling toward the audience.

A chorus of terrified screams erupted as the crowd began to flee.

Through the cracks in the barrier, blinding light surged with the force of an avalanche.

"There's no time!"

"Why is the range so large?"

"We're really going to die!"

...

As the rumbling and blinding light faded, opening their eyes revealed a blue hexagonal barrier.

"Am I still alive?"

"That scared me to death, I thought I was really going to die here."

"Whew…"

The crowd curled up and sprawled on the ground let out cries of relief and joy, having narrowly escaped disaster.

As the barrier dissipated, the venue once again came into view.

The entire site was barren, with some lingering flames flickering around.

Seeing Selene at the center, unscathed and retracting the barrier, everyone realized it was her ability that had protected the audience from harm.

Everyone present truly understood what it meant—when gods fight, mortals suffer.

Unexpectedly for Selene, despite this, the test was not terminated.

In fact, Tokiwadai's intention was to halt the test, as the goal of "showing off" her abilities had been achieved.

Yet, perhaps these students were inherently bold, or seeing Selene's protective measures reassured them. Despite nearly losing their lives, they still cheered, urging Selene to continue her performance (test).

Seeing the heightened enthusiasm, Tokiwadai's staff decided to go with the flow and announced that the test would proceed. However, they strictly instructed Selene not to unleash attacks of such a large scale again.

Selene complied with their suggestions, proceeding to demonstrate other techniques in her repertoire.

This included certain Ascalon Spear attacks, space-phase transitions, invisibility, void explosions, Void Hands, and converting Honkai energy into fire, electricity, light, and ice.

By the end of Tokiwadai's test, everyone was happy. Selene's vanity was satisfied, Tokiwadai achieved its publicity goals, the students got their fill of spectacle, and the Academy City's higher-ups collected the data they wanted.

An added bonus was that Selene became incredibly famous, far surpassing other Level 5s in reputation. Whether it was her unforgettable beauty or her immense power, she earned a huge fanbase.

Of course, Selene herself wasn't aware of this yet.