"Damn it!" The Minister of Human Resource also knew the Finance Department was in the wrong and couldn't support her. If she wanted to secure this budget, she would have to rely on herself.
It was fine. With her sharp tongue, how could she possibly lose to a girl who was barely out of her teens?
Even though she understood that Aura's magical talent far surpassed her own—and that despite Aura's young age, her magical skill already lay beyond her reach—debating publicly in a meeting, fighting with words for her department's interests, was not something one won with talent. It required seniority and accumulated experience.
How could a mere newly appointed minister, with no connections and no eloquence, possibly surpass her?
"The funding shortage in the Ministry of Education is indeed larger than ours, but it isn't urgent. Whether or not we divert this budget affects you very little. But for us—"
CLANG!!
Aura didn't respond. She simply stared at her, and her mana suddenly surged—an enormous pillar of mana locking the HR Minister in place.
The instant pressure disrupted her breathing and cut off her words. Only after struggling to steady her breath did she try to continue:
"Your deficit is too large. This bit of money is just a drop in the bucket. It would be better if—"
CLANG!!
Aura's mana vanished, then bloomed again in a violent burst. For any sensitive mage, the sudden fluctuations felt like someone hammering drums beside your ears—her voice was drowned completely under the roar.
"You—!!!"
The HR Minister felt sick. She finally understood Aura's tactic. This little brat knew she couldn't win in a verbal argument, so she was resorting to petty tricks to sabotage her speech!
'How childish!'
'Deep breath—'
'It was fine, it was fine.'
'In the end, I'll be the one to secure the budget. No amount of interference would change that. Let the girl throw a tantrum.'
'I am an adult; I should be magnanimous.'
With that thought, her expression eased somewhat.
"Do you have anything you wish to say?" the HR Minister asked gently.
"No."
"Then I'll speak first."
"Go ahead. No one's stopping you."
Aura looked back at her with an expression so harmless and innocent that it lowered the woman's guard.
"I—"
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—
Aura's mana boomed like explosive thunder, completely drowning out the other minister voice.
"You brat!!"
The HR Minister stared at Aura's still-immature, inexperienced face, and a part of her wanted to grab the girl like she would her own misbehaving daughter and smack her several times.
But then she looked up—
And saw the towering pillar of mana.
The woman reminded herself: Do not stoop to the level of a child.
"Why aren't you speaking?" Aura tilted her head innocently, then suddenly covered her mouth with her fingers and narrowed her eyes in a mocking smile.
"Wait—could it be you don't even have the mana of a First-Class Mage? How pitiful~ Any First-Class mage could suppress noise of this level. Don't tell me… don't tell me a department head can't even reach First-Class? Such a scrub~ a scrub~ a scruuuub~~~"
"You've gone too far!!!"
The HR Minister finally snapped. She raised her hand, and a wand flew from the corner of the meeting room directly into her grip.
A pillar of mana erupted around her.
Though minuscule compared to Aura's mountain-sized mana, it was still refined and dense—this was the mana of a mage trained in the Kribi Mage Academy. In the face of Aura's crushing pressure, her mana bent but did not break.
"If it's a fight you want, then a fight you'll get! Do you think just because your mana is overwhelming, your technique flawless, your combat ability unmatched, and that even if I attacked you with everything I have I wouldn't be able to scratch you—do you think that alone is enough to make me fear you?!"
Of course she was afraid!
Despite her fierce posture, the HR Minister—Loran—was trembling so hard her legs shook like leaves.
Even as a high-ranking official, she was still a mage. And when facing someone who crushed her in mana, knowledge, confidence, and raw combat ability, her rational mind told her she had no chance of winning. Any mage in her position would naturally feel fear.
"Today I will show you that in this Mage Association, overwhelming mana alone does NOT grant you the right to act with impunity!!"
Loran gritted her teeth. She had known Aura was powerful, but not that she was this powerful. Just standing before her, exchanging mana pressure, made her body feel as if it were about to be pulverized.
Even so, Loran could not retreat. Not only because of Aura's unbearably smug expression, but because she had to defend the rules of the Association.
Raw mana was NOT the sole basis for authority!
In the upper council of the Association, even someone with overwhelming mana could be opposed by those with lesser power.
Leadership required management ability, not brute force.
A department head's true strength was wisdom!
Wisdom!!
"Oh?" Aura raised a brow, stood up, lifted her chin slightly, and cast a contemptuous glance at the blazing-eyed Loran—then swept her gaze across the other ministers whose eyes were also filled with simmering anger.
"Then prove it to me," Aura said with a feral grin.
"I'll stand right here. Do your worst!!"
"I am the head of a department now—who dares harm me? Who can harm me? Fufufu!!"
BOOM!!
Aura pressed her hands down. The entire table instantly crumbled to dust—not because of physical force, but because Loran, enraged by Aura's mocking grin and attitude, finally snapped and cast a spell at her.
Loran had already prepared herself:
Aura would easily block her spell, then retaliate, maybe break one of her limbs.
Even if she got hurt, she would make sure this incident spread—to Vice-President Flamme, to President Zanze, even to Mistress Serie.
They would learn that the Aura who behaved like a meek, obedient girl in front of them acted arrogant, lawless, and dismissive of all Association rules when dealing with other ministers—no different from a senseless monster.
Loran shut her eyes and braced herself, pouring everything into a defensive spell to survive Aura's retaliation.
But after a long moment—nothing happened.
She opened her eyes.
The smoke from her mana blast dissipated.
And there—face pale, limbs splayed, unmoving—lay a purple-haired figure on the ground.
Aura.
Collapsed.
As if dead.
"Aura? Minister Aura?"