"Is this ho?" Vanitas asked.
The estate grounds stretched out just as he rembered. The sa paths, the sa garden layout, the sa old structures. But there was sothing inexplicable in the air.
The wind didn't move. The colors felt muted. It was ho. Yet the atmosphere was anything but.
"Yes," the boy replied. "This is ho."
They walked hand in hand along the polished stone path. Then, the younger Vanitas pointed toward a tree rooted near the garden wall.
"That's where Father left hanging upside down the whole afternoon… after I broke a plate."
"…."
Vanitas said nothing. They just kept walking.
Soon, the boy pointed toward the old storage house, a weather-worn shed tucked behind the hedges.
"That's where Father locked up all night… for wandering off during that Viscount's daughter's party."
"…."
Still, Vanitas didn't speak.
The boy suddenly slowed his steps and gestured toward the servants' quarters.
"And that window there.…" he whispered. "That's where I used to watch the other servant kids eat together. Laughing and talking while I pretended I was one of them."
This was ho, indeed, but only by na.
They continued on until the boy pointed at the stable house. There were no horses.
"That's—"
"Where he beat you," Vanitas finished for him. "Because Charlotte wouldn't stop crying. You took the punishnt for her."
"Yes." The boy nodded once, and simply walked ahead.
Vanitas closed his eyes for a mont, exhaling. Then he stepped forward, rejoining the boy and gently taking his hand again.
"He hurt you even before your mother died," Vanitas said. "Did she know?"
"No." The boy shook his head. "Even if father loved her very much, he would've killed her. He would've killed Charlotte. And he would've killed ."
A pause.
"Did you ever hate your mother… for marrying into the Astrea Viscount?"
The boy didn't respond right away. His small fingers tightened around Vanitas's hand.
"Yes," he finally said. "As I grew older, I began to resent her. I resented her for getting sick. I resented her for getting sick."
Vanitas didn't reply. There was no judgnt in his silence, and it didn't take long for them to reach the manor's entrance.
The corridor welcod them with a rush of haunting voices, rising and falling in the air with an unsettling reverberation.
——You'll beco my heir. So it's best you start getting familiar with your new na. You will beco the very embodint of , Vanitas.
The voice of Vanir Astrea. Then ca the sharp crack of a whip.
Crackle—
Neither of them flinched and just kept walking.
——What?! You want to give up now? After all the mistakes you've made?! I knew I should've chosen Charlotte over—
——I'll do it, Father.
A resolute voice.
Vanitas let the silence settle before speaking.
"I just don't understand," he said. "Your mother was a commoner. So why was your father so obsessed with her? How did she end up marrying into the cold-blooded Astrea family?"
The boy glanced up at him.
"Mother was a brilliant researcher," he said. "She saved Father's life once. He'd been poisoned during a trip south. She treated him, and… well, it didn't take long before a marriage proposal arrived at our small ho."
He looked away.
"The rest is history."
Vanitas absorbed the words in silence.
"She must've been extraordinary," he said at last.
"Even if I resented her," the boy replied, "I could never hate her."
Vanitas nodded quietly. Around them, the manor walls seed to hum with life as voices drifted through the corridors, like mories imprinted in ti.
——Brother! Look! I drew this for art class! There's Mother, Father, you, and !
Charlotte's voice tugged at Vanitas's heart. That was exactly what Eun-ah did on the day their parents died.
——You're a great artist, Charlotte.
——Hehe~ One day, I'll surpass your drawings too!
——I don't see why not.
Vanitas turned his gaze to the boy beside him. "You can draw?"
The boy nodded. "It helps forget."
They walked a little further, passing through the gallery where portraits lined the walls. Paintings of nobles long dead stared blankly down at them.
"I used to sketch the hallways," the boy said. "Rooms I liked. Places I could disappear into. I would draw myself in different lives… ones where I didn't exist here."
Vanitas remained silent. He didn't need to say anything, because he understood.
After a mont, he asked, "You said I helped you. In what way?"
The boy didn't answer with words. Instead, he pointed ahead.
"...."
There, lying on the ground in the middle of the corridor, was a single sheet of paper. Vanitas and the boy approached it. Bending down, he picked it up and stared at it.
"This is…?" he began.
"It's you."
The sketch was rough and was done in colored pencil. But there was no mistaking the subject. A figure with sharp, athyst eyes and glasses, standing tall in a long coat. He looked composed and confident, as if the world bent to his will.
"This is the version I used to imagine," the boy said. "The one who stood up to Father. The one who protected Charlotte. The one who wasn't afraid."
For a mont, Vanitas's hand froze over the paper. This… didn't make any sense at all.
"Weren't you Charlotte's protector?" Vanitas asked.
While the circumstances regarding Charlotte's words were different, Vanitas felt like he understood the story.
"I did my best to shield her from Father," he replied, voice even. "But over ti… I lost sight of who I was protecting her from."
He turned his gaze downward, eyes shadowed.
"Eventually… I had to shield her from… ."
* * *
Elsa couldn't quite piece together the intention behind the attack. The students were holding their own, as were the professors. While there had been injuries, none seed life-threatening—
———!
Out of the corner of her eye, just as she finished obliterating a wave of chiras, she saw Professor Ruby's head, bitten clean off.
The image seared into Elsa's vision. There hadn't even been a scream. Just blood.
Rage surged through her. She snapped her staff forward, mana surging violently at her fingertips as she muttered a chant.
———!
With a flash of light and a thunderous pulse, the entire swarm of chiras in her line of sight burst apart, ripped from the inside out as magic imploded within them.
Smoke and entrails filled the air. Her cloak billowed as the recoil blasted through the corridor.
"Everyone, fall back and regroup near the west atrium!" she shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos. "Now!"
As she moved to assist the students in their retreat, she landed beside what remained of Professor Ruby. Her jaw tightened, and her brows drew together in a hard line.
Injuries could be healed, but life could never be returned.
"...."
"Headmaster!" a scream rang out from nearby. "There's a wave headed toward Professor Eamon's office!"
"....!"
Professor Eamon. Another of the Imperial Professor candidates. Like the others, he was currently unconscious and was undergoing the screening test.
The unconscious professors were the ones at the greatest risk now.
This test… she had only been told to deliver the envelope. The nature of the test itself had been intentionally kept unpredictably vague. But now, it was proving to be a massive liability.
Still, who could have predicted that soone would launch an attack on the University Tower, specifically while the top professors were incapacitated?
She pivoted mid-air as propulsion magic flared beneath her boots. Elsa darted toward the east wing where Professor Eamon's office was located.
———!
A heavy tremor rolled through the hall as she neared the corridor. The walls cracked, a wave of warped, screeching chiras surged through like a flood.
She raised her staff and muttered a chant.
"—Cradle of Ash."
Flas spiraled outward in a roaring vortex, tearing through the monsters. Their screams were lost in the might of her magic.
Behind her, professors and upper-year students rallied. They raised barricades, cast shielding wards, and began coordinating the repositioning of first-years to safer areas.
"...."
The truth was, this would've been easier if she were alone.
While Soliette had mastered every spell in every textbook with the elegance of an Archmage, Elsa was different. Her strength lay in relentless mana output. Her magic was volatile, destructive, and terrifyingly effective, earning her the title of Calamity Witch.
And if it ant blowing up half the University Tower to neutralize the threat?
So be it.
But not today.
——Get the first-years to the library hall and seal it with a sanctum barrier!
An order rang out.
———!
Another rupture cracked through the far wall, and more chiras poured in.
Elsa gritted her teeth.
This was getting way too tedious.
* * *
"I'm going outside to help," Ezra said, stepping toward the door.
"Wait, I'm coming with you," Silas called out from behind.
"No, stay here," Ezra replied without missing a beat. "These girls are more of a problem than they look."
"Hey!" Astrid snapped, standing up abruptly.
"Excuse ?" Charlotte's tone sharpened.
"Problem?" Cassandra blinked, tilting her head as she gently pressed a finger to her lower lip in confusion.
Ezra let out a long sigh, his hand resting on the door handle. "Exactly my point."
His gaze paused on Astrid's glare, then flicked over to Charlotte before he leaned in slightly toward Silas and whispered under his breath, "Might be your chance to score a few brownie points with Charlotte."
"Wha—?"
Before Silas could process the comnt, Ezra had already slipped out, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
The room fell into a brief silence.
With the space completely reinforced by Astrid's magnetism, nothing within the room escaped her perception. Her eyes drifted between Charlotte and Silas, and a playful hum escaped her lips.
"Hmmm~"
Charlotte tilted her head in confusion. "What is it?"
"Nothing," Astrid replied with a mischievous smirk tugging at her lips. "I just didn't expect this developnt, that's all."
"Developnt?".
"So it's one-sided, huh?" Astrid mused aloud, turning a glance toward Silas.
"What are you talking about?" Charlotte pressed.
"Nothing~ Nothing~" Astrid sing-songed, spinning away to reclaim her seat on the couch with dramatic nonchalance.
The others followed suit and took their seats. Charlotte, without a word, settled beside her brother, glancing at him briefly before crossing her legs and fixing her posture with calm composure.
Once everyone was seated, Astrid exhaled and spoke more seriously, "I'm under orders by the Headmaster to protect the professor. Naturally, that includes protecting you too, Charlotte. So I'd advise you to stay put until the situation outside settles."
Charlotte nodded without protest.
Astrid's eyes then drifted toward Cassandra and Silas. "As for you two… do whatever you want."
Ti dragged on.
Every now and then, the University Tower shuddered. The muffled sounds of combat echoed through the walls—screams, monstrous growls, and the spark of magic clashing against flesh.
Rumble—
The door rattled once or twice, but held strong thanks to Astrid's magnetism.
Sweat beaded along her brow. Her breathing grew shallow. The prolonged application of her magnetic field was taking its toll, and her complexion had paled visibly.
Inside the room, an oppressive silence built. The longer they stayed there, the more their comfort began to feel like cowardice.
Thirty minutes passed before Silas abruptly stood.
"I'm going," he said. "The more help they have, the better."
As he made to walk past, Charlotte reached out from her seat and caught his wrist.
"Stay here."
"...."
He froze, eting her eyes. There was sothing in her eyes that seed to cause a lump to form in his throat. Was she concerned? If so, he never saw it coming.
"I think…" Charlotte began. "You'll be a burden for the professors."
"...."
Her words hit like ice.
* * *
Slash—!
Margaret's blade pierced and split through the twisted limbs of a charging chira.
A soft lavender aura flared around her, wrapping her body like a second skin, as if pulsing with every heartbeat.
"Get back!" she called, stepping between the beast and a group of students who had fallen behind.
She parried a strike, pivoted, and delivered a clean upward slash. The chira collapsed in a heap and their bodies disintegrated.
"Th-Thank you, Grand Knight Illenia!" one of the students stamred.
"No ti for thanks," she replied, eyes already on the next threat. "Regroup with your classmates and head to the 57th floor. I've been inford of a designated evacuation point there."
The students nodded before sprinting off.
———!
Another inhuman growl rumbled through the corridor, louder this ti.
Margaret turned.
A larger chira erged, twisting beyond recognition. Its limbs bristled with mismatched claws, and there were wings twitching erratically from its back.
It was grotesque to the point any normal person's stomach would churn.
"...."
She tightened her grip on the hilt of her blade.
Swoosh——!
Her body surged forward, amplified by the burst of lavender aura wrapping around her like cherry blossoms.
Her blade rotated with such velocity that the air itself split.
Clang—!
However, the chira's massive talon intercepted the strike mid-arc. Margaret's eyes sharpened. She spun on her heel just in ti to sense movent behind her.
A second chira, a serpentine, slithering low—lunged. It bore its fangs and tried coiling to ensnare her from the back.
Margaret dropped low, twisted out of the serpent's reach, then drove a kick upward into its midsection. As it recoiled, she followed with a backward leap, then slashed in a wide arc, forcing both beasts back.
"Haaa… H-haaa…."
Her chest rose and fell rapidly. Sweat beaded down her temple, her breath heavy.
It was then.
———!
Bolts of plasma shot across her periphery, searing through the air.
Reacting instinctively, Margaret kicked off the ground, shifting her weight and bringing her blade up just in ti to intercept a sudden strike from a third chira lunging from the side.
Clang—!
The impact reverberated through her bones, but she didn't give way. Her eyes darted toward the direction the plasma bolts had co from.
Up above, standing on the shattered edge of a stone railing, was a figure cloaked in the typical university tower uniform, purple glow humming at their palm.
"Grand Knight!" the voice rang out as the student vaulted from the ledge.
Margaret's eyes narrowed, tracking his descent. If her hunch was right, then…
"We've spoken once before. In the hallway. About a year ago," the student said as he landed beside her, "I'm Ezra Kaelus. Professor Vanitas's student."
Margaret studied him for a mont, then gave a curt nod. "I see. Where is he?"
"You were looking for the professor?" Ezra asked, already surprised that the Grand Knight herself was caught up in all this ss.
"I guess you could say that," Margaret replied.
"He's currently in his office taking the Imperial Professor screening test."
"...!"
Margaret's eyes widened in urgency. She quickly turned and ready to bolt. But Ezra stepped forward quickly.
"There are capable people with him. Trust ," he said. "Right now, it's more important that we maintain control of the tower until the Headmaster can resolve the situation."
"Is that so—"
Margaret's figure vanished mid-sentence. A soft thud followed as sothing hit the ground.
"...."
Ezra blinked, startled as Margaret smoothly cut a monster's head in one fell swoop.
A mont later, Margaret reappeared beside him.
"Then let's go," she said.
"Y-Yes."
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