I created a foundation

The elegant mask on Nightmare's face, the carefully crafted smile, seemed to be plucked by invisible fingers, and a very tiny but clearly visible crack appeared.

"Oh?"

A single syllable escaped from his throat, which contained a hint of genuine surprise even more than the previous question.

He looked at Yukino.

Not only was she not sleepy at all, she didn't even show any signs of being dazed.

Those ice-blue cat eyes were clear, calm, and even had a hint of... scrutiny.

It's like a hunter sizing up his trapped prey.

This kind of look should not appear on a weak girl who just experienced her companion "falling asleep" in front of her.

"What a strong-willed young lady."

Nightmare's voice regained some of its deliberate calmness, but for the first time, the elegance that was deeply ingrained in his bones seemed a little powerless.

He tried to use words to cover up the strange uneasiness rising from the bottom of his heart.

"You can actually resist my hypnotic whispers."

His blood vampire magic, the whisper of forced sleep and hypnosis, has never failed.

Those warriors who prided themselves on their strong wills, those ghost hunters with strong spirits, all quickly sank before his whispers, fell into the beautiful dream he wove, and then died in happiness.

The girl in front of me is an exception.

An exception he couldn't understand, couldn't control.

The flesh and blood in the classroom, and the strange eyeballs all over the walls and ceiling, seemed to sense the subtle fluctuations of their owner's emotions.

The frequency of their rotation increased slightly, and countless pupils focused on Yukino, emitting invisible pressure.

Yukino turned a blind eye to all this.

She calmly and slowly stood up from the chair that was stained with other people's despair.

The movements were smooth, without any delay or stiffness caused by fear.

Her eyes never left the nightmare.

Beneath the calm, there is a raging wave about to burst out.

She gently closed the paperback novel in her hand, which had a simple cover.

"Snapped."

A slight closing sound was particularly clear in this deadly silence where one could hear a pin drop.

Like a rest, it announces the end of a movement.

It is also like a prelude, foreshadowing the beginning of another melody.

She carefully and solemnly put the paperback book back into her uniform pocket.

That action carried a strange sense of ritual.

It was as if she was putting away the daily life of "Yukinoshita Yukino" and preparing to face a completely different fate.

Nightmare's brows furrowed slightly.

He doesn't like this feeling.

This feeling of being out of control and unpredictable.

Every movement of the girl revealed a calmness and determination that was inconsistent with her appearance.

The one percent of the [mental barrier] that Lin Qing shared with her through [Soul and Body Integration] was now quietly operating outside her consciousness.

It is invisible and intangible, yet indestructible.

The Nightmare's blood vampire power, like mercury pouring on the ground and penetrating every pore, was like hitting an invisible wall of sighs the moment it touched this barrier.

It didn't cause any ripples or shock.

It was just silently absorbed, dissolved, and completely isolated.

Yukino didn't even feel any noticeable impact.

There was only an extremely brief, almost negligible trance, like a breeze blowing across the water, and then absolute clarity was restored.

Her mind, her will, and her soul were all in a state of unprecedented clarity and determination.

This kind of protection allowed her to watch the one-sided spiritual massacre with indifference.

Hayato Hayama's silly smile.

Yumiko Miura's halo of happiness.

Yuigahama Yui's innocent dream talk.

Those images, like the sharpest chisel, were deeply engraved in her memory.

It also ignited a fire in her chest that she had never felt before.

Now, it's her turn.

"Your tricks."

Yukino finally spoke.

The voice was not loud, but it had a cold quality that penetrated the soul.

Every word seems to be carved out of ten thousand year old black ice.

Clear, sharp, with a hint of emotion.

"It doesn't work for me."

She looked directly at Nightmare, and her beautiful cat-like pupils no longer had the usual alienation and indifference, instead there was a pure, undisguised sense of judgment.

It was as if the gods high above were declaring the sins of the blasphemers.

She delivered the final judgment to the "ghost" in front of her.

These words, like the sharpest ice spike, pierced fiercely into Nightmare's hypocritical calmness.

The smile on his face, that elegant but empty mask, showed for the first time an obvious and unconcealable stiffness.

Like the surface of delicate porcelain, spider-web-like cracks spread out.

The inquiry and wonder in his eyes were quickly replaced by a deeper emotion.

It was the astonishment of having one's authority challenged, and a hint of... anger and coldness.

At this moment, the pupils of all the eyes in the classroom contracted.

The sweet smell in the air seemed to stagnate.

Yukino didn't give him any time to digest this "declaration of invalidity".

She is no longer depressed.

No longer restraining the surging power that comes from the depths of the blood and the fusion of souls.

That is the power of the devil fruit.

That was the wildness of the ancient saber-toothed tiger.

That was a brand new form of life given by Lin Qing.

An invisible, yet majestic and vast aura suddenly erupted with Yukino as the center.

This breath is not a real shock wave, but it is more frightening than any physical attack.

It was cold, primal, and filled with the purest predator's aura.

The air in the classroom seemed to freeze at this moment.

The squirming flesh and blood, the moving eyeballs, all froze in their tracks.

Even the corners of Nightmare's mouth, which always maintained an elegant curve, tightened slightly.

Yukino's body was enveloped in a soft white light that had a strange vitality.

The light is not dazzling, but rather has a cool and holy quality like moonlight.

However, within this splendor, a thrilling transformation is taking place.

Her long, shiny black hair seemed even smoother, yet slightly curled up at the ends, giving it a hint of unruly wildness.

Between the hair, a pair of furry, snow-white animal ears pushed open the cover of the hair and stood up proudly and vigilantly.

They trembled slightly, capturing every tiny flow in the air.

The inside of the ear is a light pink, contrasting sharply with the snow-white fur.

It is no longer the kind of appearance that needs to be deliberately hidden, with a bit of shyness and unnaturalness.

At this moment, they are stretched and full of power. They are the most primitive and instinctive part of this body.

At the same time, behind her, a long and powerful tail extended from under the hem of her uniform, drawing an elegant and dangerous arc in the air.

The tail is also covered with short, snow-white fur, ending in a tuft of slightly longer, soft, dandelion-like hair.

It sways gently, each stroke carrying an indescribable rhythm, yet containing a powerful force that can erupt at any time.

This is not a simple transformation into an animal.

Her body did not become as rugged and tall as that of ordinary beast transformations.

She still has that slender and delicate girlish figure.

But her temperament has changed dramatically.

If the previous Yukinoshita Yukino was an uncarved piece of ice jade, cold and fragile.

At this moment, she is like a peerless and ferocious weapon unsheathed.

The elegance and reserve carefully cultivated in civilized society are like a peeled shell, revealing the most primitive and wild core underneath.

It was the breath of a top predator.

Cold, focused, deadly.

She stood there, as if she was at the top of the food chain, overlooking all the struggling creatures.