Cheers rose from the girls at Li’s smile.

In response, Li gave them a small wave.

“You…”

Perhaps irritated by her composed attitude, the Crown Prince once again closed the distance without learning his lesson.

From Li’s perspective, she wished he would show some ingenuity instead of simply rushing in.

Even a basic spell used as a feint would have helped.

But perhaps his blood had rushed to his head.

The Crown Prince charged in straightforwardly and honestly.

Li possessed numerous talents granted by the goddess.

However, the most overpowered of them all was the observational ability she originally had.

Having lived through unfortunate circumstances, Li had become highly skilled at observing others.

There were times when she would have died if she hadn’t been able to do that.

That life-or-death honed observational ability had been further elevated by the goddess’s enhancements.

It was a synergistic effect, amplifying everything many times over.

And it was in battle where Li’s observational ability shone the most.

Having observed the flow of events up until now, Li had already completely read the Crown Prince’s movements.

As the saint had said, it wasn’t that she was luring his attacks.

From the movement of his body, posture and the flow of his strength, she predicted exactly when and what kind of attack would come.

Everything.

The Crown Prince’s attacks, made monotonous by anger, lacked any ingenuity.

Matching that, Li released a palm strike.

At the perfect timing against the descending wooden sword.

A dull cracking sound echoed through the training grounds.

The Crown Prince’s sword had shattered, leaving only the hilt.

“What!?”

The Crown Prince froze in shock.

Seizing that opening, Li slipped into his guard.

At the same time, she stepped in strongly with a stomping motion.

The energy generated from that stomp traveled from her lower leg through her waist, fully transmitted into her upper body.

And then she placed her palm against the Crown Prince’s defenseless abdomen.

“Prepare yourself!”

A short-range strike.

The image was that of the fictional Tongbei Fist.

Immediately after Li’s words, the Crown Prince’s body jolted violently.

“Guh…”

Air escaped from his lungs.

He rolled across the stage and ended up sprawled out flat on his back.

“Gyaaah!”

A scream-like cheer rose from the girls’ group.

Even though his abdomen had been struck, his back hurt.

Breathing heavily, the Crown Prince thought—

‘I can’t lose.’

“Not yet… it’s not over yet!”

He forced his remaining strength to stand up again.

“Now then, Your Highness. Shall we move on to a magic battle?”

Li spoke as if it were only natural that he would stand again.

And then she delivered those merciless words.

“I’ll take you up on that!”

A fireball shot out from the Crown Prince’s outstretched hand.

It wasn’t bad.

Its speed, size and accuracy—all were of a competent level.

However, his opponent was Li.

The Crown Prince’s fireball was neutralized by the exact same spell.

Fire, water, earth, wind—no matter the attribute, Li canceled it out with the same magic.

Increasing the number of spells or trying anything else made no difference.

What did that mean?

Through Li’s observational ability, every spell formula had already been seen through in advance.

On top of that, she activated her own spells more efficiently and faster to cancel them out.

Even with his head clouded by anger, the Crown Prince could understand that.

Everything he did was being copied and then surpassed.

Because he was facing her directly, he understood it painfully well.

Even so—his spirit had not yet broken.

“Then…”

The Crown Prince raised his own mana.

And just as he was about to use an advanced spell—“Your Highness, that will not do.”

In an instant, Li dispersed the magic.

It was the same as when she controlled the giant golem.

She had interfered with his mana remotely.

And then dissipated the spell.

“What… was that?”

Although Li made it look easy, it was an extremely advanced technique.

If one could not repel mana interference, it was the same as having one’s magic sealed.

“Will you continue?”

“I will!”

At that moment, the Crown Prince threw off his armor.

“Li, I acknowledge that you are strong. But even so, I cannot lose!”

The Crown Prince glanced at his entourage.

“They believe in me. I cannot betray that expectation!”

He closed the distance again.

This time, he intended to fight barehanded.

“As you wish.”

Li remained in a natural stance.

She had already completely read his movements.

She could end the mock battle at any time.

However, she felt that would have no meaning.

So from the start, she had decided to let him go until he was satisfied.

“Oooooo!”

With a shout, the Crown Prince closed the distance—and launched a dropkick.

Why? Li thought, but she simply evaded.

This wasn’t professional wrestling with scripted moves.

A sudden big technique like that would never land.

The Crown Prince crashed onto the stage and failed to break his fall properly.

As a result, he writhed in pain, groaning “ugh…”

It was a stone stage.

Of course it would hurt.

“…What are you doing?”

“S-shut up!”

For some reason, the Crown Prince shouted back with a flushed face.