On how PhDs become human evil

This time it's a true single-female-lead story, unlike this book which uses the title of "Chen Sir's Single Female Lead" but ends up being a harem story. Please believe me!

Section 585, Chapter 6: Senior, This is Our War

Bai Jie agreed to Diluc's request after considering the pros and cons. Anyway, he had nothing better to do, and he could investigate the other Cecilia's matter in the meantime. Besides, participating in the Phoenix Star Martial Festival would also help pass the time.

However, the Phoenix Star Martial Arts Festival is a competition for two people, which means Bai Jie has to find someone to team up with.

In this regard, Diluc originally wanted to arrange someone for Bai Jie to be a teammate, but Bai Jie refused. Although the students of Rewolf Black Academy were indeed quite strong in combat, they were not qualified in Bai Jie's eyes. If they wanted to fight with him, they would at least have the combat strength of a Herrscher, otherwise they would just be a burden.

In the dormitory that Diluc had arranged for him, Bai Jie lay on his bed, thinking about who he should team up with.

His first choice would definitely be his friends, but his wives would be the first to be ruled out. Even if Bai Jie asked them, they probably wouldn't have the nerve to participate in such a student-level competition and bully others. They are different from Bai Jie; they still have some integrity.

Besides his wives, Bai Jie was thinking about whether he could bring over a few of the younger Kamen Riders, such as Haruto who travels all over the world, or Kisaragi who is particularly fond of youthful passion. That guy would definitely be very interested in this kind of passionate battle between students.

"No, no, that guy Ruyue is a teacher, he has to teach classes."

Bai Jie shook his head.

"But who else can I turn to? Hajime Nagumo? Accelerator? Misaka Mikoto? They're probably all busy... How about I go to Rhodes Island and recruit someone?"

If it were Huang, Amiya, or Warfarin, they would definitely agree to Bai Jie's request immediately. However, if he asked them, Bai Jie felt that he would need to set up several layers of barriers to prevent them from attacking him at night.

Amiya is obedient and well-behaved, but Warfarin and Blaze are different. The former has been craving Whitey's blood for a long time, and the latter... do you know how clingy a cat with budding love can be?

So Bai Jie crossed out the option of recruiting people from Rhodes Island. Even if he were to accept Amiya and the others' feelings, he would have to wait until things settled down. After all, there was another Cecilia in this world, and if things weren't handled properly, it could turn into a chaotic mess.

Bai Jie was already afraid of chaotic situations.

"Then who else can I turn to... Ah, speaking of which, she should be free."

A person popped into Bai Jie's mind. If it were her, she would neither refuse Bai Jie's request nor cause a chaotic scene. She would also have sufficient combat power, making her a very suitable partner for the Phoenix Star Martial Festival.

Bai Jie took out his phone and dialed a number. After the call connected, he said, "Ah, Zilan, it's the HR department. You're on duty? Didn't you go on your honeymoon with Yuejianye? It's over? That went by pretty fast. Didn't I give you a ten-year vacation? Have a good time before you come back. Never mind, I won't interfere in your love life. Ji Dong is with you, right? Call her for me."

Himeragi Yukina, this is the person Hakuge found to be his partner.

Previously in the virtual world of Strike the Blood, Yukina Himeragi was Haku's monitor and bodyguard. They fought side by side for a period of time and had a good understanding of each other. Moreover, Yukina also possessed the Snow Wolf, a gun that could break through all magic. After being modified by Rhodes Island, that gun had become capable of breaking through most energy attacks.

In addition, Yukina Himeragi has been training in Rhodes Island and Gensokyo for several years, and she is in a period of rapid growth, so her combat power is definitely not low.

Not long after, Yukina Himeragi's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Senpai!? Is that you, Senpai!"

"Hey, Himeko, it's been years! How have you been?"

"That's pretty good... Wait! Senior, why did you suddenly contact me? Could it be that something happened in that world?"

The world that Yukina Himeragi was referring to was naturally the world of Strike the Blood, but it was just a virtual world. Even if there were a real Strike the Blood world, it would have nothing to do with Bai Jie.

"No, it's just that I made a deal with someone to participate in a two-person team competition, and after thinking about it, the only person who can be my partner is you, Himeto. Can I ask you for a favor?"

“Of course!” Himeragi Yukina answered without hesitation. “But how do I get there? Senpai is in another world, isn’t she?”

"Wait a minute, I'll open a portal for you."

After calculating the dimensional coordinates between Rhodes Island's personnel department and his own side, Bai Jie pulled in the void, and a white light gate as tall as a person immediately appeared in front of him. The next moment, Himeragi Yukina walked out of the light gate, carrying the large guitar case on her back, which presumably contained Yukisame.

The moment Bai Jie saw Yukina Himeragi, he smiled. Compared to several years ago, Yukina Himeragi's spiritual power had clearly increased dramatically, almost a hundredfold. Furthermore, the aura emanating from Yukina Himeragi was extraordinary, completely surpassing that of Kamen Rider Misaka Mikoto and Accelerator, and even rivaling that of the Archangel Gabriel that Bai Jie encountered in A Certain Magical Index.

And this is only the aura emanating from Himeragi Yukina's surface. If Himeragi Yukina were to fully unleash her power, it would likely be no weaker than Gabriel's.

"You've grown a lot, Ji Dong," Bai Jie exclaimed. "It's been a few years, and that little girl who used to just follow me around has become so capable."

"No, I'm still far from good enough. To this day, I can only force Teacher Chen to use half of his strength."

Bai Jie was speechless.

Force Chen to use half his power? You're already very strong for your age, okay? And to make Chen use half his power, he would at least have to be at the level of a god of disobedience, a god-slayer, or one of the top ten in the world of High School DxD. Yukina Himeragi is only in her twenties this year, and she's already incredibly strong for her age.

"Ji Tong, I think you've chosen the wrong person to compare yourself to. If you compare yourself to Chen, you're just asking for trouble."

Chen possesses the power of the Crimson Dragon Emperor. No matter how strong the opponent is, she can multiply her strength to the point of surpassing them. Furthermore, her status as the Dragon Emperor ensures that she can withstand infinitely multiplied power. Therefore, comparing strength with Chen is completely meaningless.

In response to Bai Jie's advice, Himeragi Yukina smiled and said, "I know, but I still want to give it a try. If I'm going to walk alongside my senior, then I must have the strength to be worthy of him."

"You..." Bai Jie smiled wryly, "Forget it, I've come to terms with it over the years. Accepting you and Lan Yu is no problem, but let's wait until I finish things here. That's why I called you here this time."

"Yes, senior!"

P.S.: After listening to all the different versions, the one about farming elders still sounds the best.

Section 586.7. Movements of Both Sides

Although they were supposed to be participating in the Phoenix Star Martial Arts Festival, Bai Jie didn't really care. With his and Himeragi Yukina's level, participating in this kind of student-level competition was hardly a challenge. They were even too lazy to do the necessary teamwork training before the competition.

Bai Jie doesn't deny that cooperation can bring great power, but the current situation is that the two of them can break through the Phoenix Star Martial Festival even if they fight one-on-one, so it doesn't matter whether they cooperate or not.

Therefore, in the two weeks leading up to the Phoenix Star Martial Arts Festival, Bai Jie planned to wander around the training city with Himeragi Yukina.

"Senior, I have a question."

In a shopping mall in the city of Academia, Yukina Himeragi, who was browsing dolls on the shelf in a toy store, suddenly asked a question.

"The special energies of this world, the stellar energy and the universal element, are actually equivalent to the magic and spiritual energy in our world, right?"

"You could say that they're essentially the same, just with different forms of expression. What's wrong?"

“If the forms of expression are different, wouldn’t it be easy to be exposed if we use magic in the competition?” Himeragi Yukina said. “Neither my spiritual power nor your senior’s magic power can be expressed in the same way as the power of the stars.”

Himeragi Yukina's concerns are not without merit.

Although magic, spiritual power, and stellar power are all special types of energy, they manifest in completely different ways. Magic and spiritual power simply emit a special light when used, while stellar power causes a phenomenon similar to starlight when used. Even witches and magicians will always have the light of stellar power around them before they trigger their respective phenomena, and without exception, it is starlight.

However, Bai Jie and Himeragi Yukina could not cause such a phenomenon. In the terms of this world, they were not from the Star Pulse Generation; in other words, they were ordinary people.

"What if we get exposed?"

In response to Himeragi Yukina's question, Bai Jie smiled and patted her head: "Don't worry about that. I've already thought of that. I'll release the illusion at the same time, making us look like we have star power. Don't worry."

“Illusion... but my Snow Wolf can break illusions.”

“My illusion is not used against you, but against others. I will replace the scenes in their eyes of us using magic and spiritual power with scenes of us using stellar power. In terms of the level of illusion, this is just a beginner-level illusion.”

Bai Jie, lost in thought, was completely unaware of how shocking his words were.

Indeed, altering the scenery as seen by people is a basic illusion, but the Star Martial Festival is a globally televised competition. Bai Jie needs to cast illusions not only on the field but also on people all over the world watching the Star Martial Festival.

What Bai Jie needs to use illusions to deceive is this world.

However, Bai Jie did have the confidence to do so; the boundless magic power that surpassed the planet was the capital that enabled him to complete this world-level illusion.

Hearing Bai Jie say that, Himeragi Yukina laughed: "Senior is still so reliable. I thought I could be of some help to you."

"If you need help, you can make me dinner when we get back, just like we used to on Itogami Island," Bai Jie said with a smile. "By the way, have you decided what you want to buy?"

"Hmm... I'll buy this one!"

Himeragi Yukina is holding a kitten doll.

--------------------------

In the afternoon, at Seidakan Academy.

Because of the upcoming Phoenix Star Martial Arts Festival, the participants in the festival basically have no classes in the afternoon. The school has made a special exception for the participants to use the afternoon time to hone their teamwork, and students are also allowed to ask their teachers for targeted training.

In recent years, Seidoukan Academy has suffered repeated defeats in the Star Martial Arts Festival and has not won the championship for a long time, so Seidoukan is also very anxious.

"Teamwork...how do we cultivate teamwork?"

In the training hall, Kiana looked at Artoria and asked.

"Saber, you take the lead and I'll deal damage from behind?

"Kiana, if you say you'll only use the Herrscher of the Void's abilities at Star Festival, then your damage output will likely decrease, and you'll be supporting me more."

"Saber, do you think my Spear of the Void is just for show?"

Artoria glanced at the several Void Spears that had appeared behind Kiana and sighed. If we're talking about weapons, Void Spears are indeed weapons, and their destructive power is quite sufficient, but the problem is... there's too much of them.

Even if Kiana suppresses the power to the limit, the Spear of the Void still has the power to knock down a group of ordinary students with just a swing. If she exerts too much power at the Star Martial Festival and causes someone to die, that would be a real problem.

Artoria herself is a little better off. Apart from True Name Release, she doesn't have any powerful destructive skills. At most, she has a one-time use Wind King Hammer.

Just as Kiana and Artoria were pondering how to coordinate their teamwork, Cecilia walked into the training hall: "What's wrong? Have you hit a roadblock in your efforts to improve your teamwork?"

"The main problem is that I don't know how to improve our teamwork."

"Haven't you ever fought together?"

"Normally, we can take care of the entire enemy team by ourselves, so we don't need to team up at all."

Both Kiana and Artoria are capable of standing on their own, and they are used to fighting alone. They have almost never fought together, and even if they did in the past, they have almost forgotten about it.

After thinking for a moment, Cecilia said, "How about this, you can each fight your own battles."

"Huh?"

Kiana was taken aback.

Artoria immediately understood: "You mean Kiana and I should just focus on what we're supposed to do, as long as we don't get in each other's way?"

"Yes, that's right. Your individual abilities are all outstanding, and you're all used to working independently. Asking you to cooperate all at once probably won't work well, so let's just not cooperate."

One plus one doesn't always equal two or be greater than two; sometimes it's less than two. Forcing them to cooperate will only weaken their fighting power.

"But even so, how can we define 'not interfering with each other'...?"

This is another problem, since the concept of not interfering with each other is too broad, and sometimes you don't even know if you're actually interfering with your teammates.

“Why not just have a real-world practice session?” Cecilia laughed, a black and white light flickering in her hand, and a white lance immediately appeared in her grasp. “I’ll be your practice partner. You can learn how not to interfere with each other through sparring with me.”

Section 587, Chapter 8: News of the Phoenix Star Martial Festival

Bai Jie and Himeragi Yukina were summoned by Diluc Abel.