The crowd’s excitent, which only monts ago brimd with anticipation of a violent clash, shifted into confusion as Anya’s faint, steady smile lingered.
She let her gaze sweep across the mob, then raised her hand lightly.
"Now, now...I think it’s about ti I stop being a doting older sister and return to my duties. After all, so of you seem to be doubting whether I’ll actually take action, and that won’t do."
Imdiately, the few girls in the crowd who had been whispering their suspicions stiffened, their faces paling as though she had plucked the thoughts straight out of their heads. Anya chuckled softly, as if amused by their reaction, then turned her attention back to Charlotte.
"You see, honestly, I was just planning to get lunch today. I was standing in the cafeteria line, thinking about whether to get noodles or bread, when suddenly I received a report that my dear little sister was causing trouble in the research block. Sabotaging projects, breaking rules..." She tilted her head, feigning innocence. "And naturally, I couldn’t ignore that. Especially since it involved my baby sister."
She spread her arms slightly, still smiling.
"But imagine my surprise when I opened the door and found not one or two, but an entire mob sprawled on the floor, knees shattered, blood pooling, bones sticking out. I thought perhaps I’d walk into a heated argunt, maybe so shouting. But this? This..." Her smile thinned into sothing sharper. "This is far worse."
The words carried weight, and the entire hall seed to draw a breath at once. Charlotte’s hands clenched at her sides, the students on the ground shivered, and the crowd leaned forward as if watching a courtroom drama unfold.
"And worse cris..." Anya continued smoothly. "...demand harsher punishnts."
A ripple of unease spread through the crowd. But then, in the sa breath, she softened again and faced her sister directly.
"Which is why, Charlotte, I want to hear from you. What exactly happened here? None of these fine students are speaking, so it falls to you. Tell the truth, and don’t leave anything out. And I trust you will, since I know very well that Aunty Yelena didn’t raise a liar."
Hearing this, Charlotte froze. For a mont her eyes darted into the crowd, scanning for a particular face. When she failed to find Mika, her shoulders sagged with visible relief, at least he had escaped.
Finally, she looked back at her sister, resolve hardening.
"...Just as you said."
Charlotte began, her voice unsteady but growing firm.
"There were problems with my Dream Drifter prototype. Malfunctions severe enough that they might have interfered with the other experints in the block. Because of that, these students grew enraged and ca here demanding justice."
Anya listened quietly, her expression unreadable and Charlotte went on, her tone sharpening as anger replaced her nerves.
"I was willing to apologize. My friends too, we were even ready to submit a formal letter. But these people...they weren’t satisfied with that."
Anya’s eyes narrowed, a spark of curiosity dancing in them. "Oh? And what more could they possibly want?"
Charlotte’s lip curled as she glared at the mob. "They wanted us to kneel. Kneel on the ground like criminals. Bow our heads and beg their forgiveness."
Gasps rippled through the crowd. For the first ti, Anya’s mask slipped, her eyes widened ever so slightly. Then she let out a low chuckle.
"I see. They wanted you to kneel." Her gaze swept over the guilty faces, making them shrink back. "Now this is interesting."
"Of course we refused." Charlotte pressed on, her voice rising. "And when they kept demanding it...I snapped. I froze those who dared step forward. And then, in my anger, I took the hamr and..." She stopped, her throat tightening, but forced the words out. "...I shattered their knees."
The crowd held its breath. All eyes turned to Anya, waiting.
For a long, tense silence, she said nothing. Then, she laughed. Not mockingly, not cruelly, but like soone who had just confird a suspicion.
Turning to the mob, her voice rang out, cheerful yet edged with authority.
"So it’s as I thought. This is not a case of innocence on your part. After all, you did not wait for the disciplinary board. You took justice into your own hands, demanding sothing that was never yours to demand."
"That, my dear students, falls under Section 334.63—third parties are forbidden from issuing punishnts outside the council’s authority."
The mob collectively paled, while Anya’s smile widened, her tone sweet but rciless.
"Which ans you are guilty. And guilty parties must be punished." She clasped her hands lightly behind her back, as if announcing test scores. "So, for those of you blessed with gifts, you’ll spend the next two weekends in the Vanderwalt Minor Realm...As for those without blessings, you’ll endure the Gravitational Chamber."
Shock broke through the crowd like a wave. Students gaped, voices rising in protest.
The Vanderwalt Minor Realm was no joke. A dead world, its atmosphere poisoned and hostile, two weekends there ant nausea, bleeding, headaches, sheer agony. And yet, when one returned, their body would be stronger, hardened.
Punishnt and training rolled into one.
And the Gravitational Chamber, while not as lethal, was brutal for the unblessed: crushing gravity, tedious labor, endless strain.
The punished students looked like they had been struck by lightning. They had expected Charlotte’s downfall, yet here they were, sentenced themselves.
Whispers spread like wildfire.
"Did they just fall into a trap?"
"Was this staged between the sisters?"
"No way...she’s protecting her."
Even Adam, who had been watching with shining eyes, suddenly felt his heart sink. His idol, Anya Chernovskaya, the one he believed would never give up on justice, the one who would treat friend and family alike under the law—looked as if she was saving her sister and punishing only the others. His chest tightened, his throat dry.
’So even she protects her family in the end...’
But before that thought could settle, Anya’s voice cut across the murmurs like a silken whip.
"...but of course, my little sister is guilty as well."
Every head snapped back toward her. Charlotte stiffened, bowing her head imdiately, shoulders trembling as if she already knew what was coming.
Anya’s smile never faltered, but her eyes narrowed with steel.
"Charlotte.. " She said. "...shattering the knees of nine students in such a brutal manner is not a small issue. Yes, they provoked you, but that is no excuse. You should have reported the matter to the disciplinary board, we would have dealt with them."
"...Instead, you used your blessing, which is strictly forbidden, and you decided to take justice into your own hands."
Her tone sharpened, and she recited with perfect precision:
"By section 304.2 of the Academy Code—the unsanctioned use of blessings against fellow students is a punishable offense. And by section—32.7-A, excessive bodily harm inflicted without due process is strictly prohibited."
Charlotte bowed her head, her lips pressed tight.
"For this..." Anya continued, her eyes narrowing though her smile remained fixed. "...you will be sent to the Titan Lower Realm for one month. One month, indefinitely."
Gasps erupted like an explosion.
"The Titan Realm?!"
"That’s crazy!"
"She’s sending her own sister there?!"
Everyone knew what that ant. The Titan Realm was hell itself: a sun-scorched wasteland with four blazing suns, endless deserts of cracked stone and sand, and no water except for the foul, bitter cactus fruit that left most vomiting.
Food was nonexistent. Companions were nonexistent. It was isolation, suffering, madness all together. A month there broke even hardened students, many returned shattered, requiring months of recovery.
The thought of Charlotte, a daughter of a Battle Angel, being condemned there left the crowd shaken to its core. Even Charlotte’s friends paled, clutching their skirts.
Anya, however, did not falter. She even chuckled softly, turning back to the crowd.
"In truth..." She said. "...the proper punishnt should have been suspension. Or even expulsion. But let’s be honest, your dear mother and the rest of our Aunts would never permit that."
And even now, I will face backlash for this judgnt, no doubt. Calls will co, demands for leniency will be made from them. But rules are rules. And they must be followed, no matter who breaks them...even if it is my own dear sister."
Her blue eyes swept across the assembly, sharp and unwavering, even as her lips kept their trademark smile.
"This punishnt..." She continued. "...will remind Charlotte, and remind all of you, that no one stands above the law. Not even family. And perhaps, in the future, it will make her think twice before she lets anger rule her hands."
A suffocating silence followed. Students looked at each other, unease rippling through them.
So nodded reluctantly, afraid to oppose her.
Others wore solemn faces, guilt gnawing at them.
But deep in the back, the ringleaders, the very ones who wanted to impress the families who hated the Battle Angels, hid their grins. They had won what they wanted. Charlotte was condemned, and they would surely be rewarded when they heard the news.
And Anya also saw those conniving grins. She always saw everything and she didn’t like it one bit...And she decided to make her true thoughts known.
"Honestly, Charlotte..." She suddenly said, looking down at her sister with a hint of frustration. "I am not disappointed that you broke their knees."
"...I am disappointed you did it so poorly."
Charlotte’s head snapped up, eyes wide and the crowd gasped again at this shocking statent that ca out of nowhere.
anwhile, Anya didn’t mind and leaned in closer, her tone dropping into sothing quieter, more intimate, but every word carried across the lab.
"The work you did. So sloppy. So public. You left bodies, blood, and broken bones in the open. Do you think I raised my sister to be such a brute?..No. I raised you to be clever. To be smart."
Charlotte’s face burned, caught between fear and humiliation.
Anya chuckled softly. "If you had truly wanted vengeance, you could have used your blessing more creatively. You could have made them walk out of here without rembering what you did."
"Or better yet, you could have led them sowhere private, where no one could watch, no one could record....Then you could have shattered every bone you pleased: knees, elbows, shoulders, fingers."
"No evidence. No witnesses. No case whatsoever...and wouldn’t be able to take action against you."
"But instead..." She sighed, shaking her head. "...you lost your temper and made a spectacle. That is what disappoints , little sister. Not the act itself...but the fact that you did it so poorly."
Gasps rippled through the students. So turned pale as paper. The cheerful Anya, their idol, the fair disciplinarian—was casually explaining how to commit atrocities without being caught.
Anya also noticed the surprised gazes and turned slowly, her narrowed eyes glinting behind her black-rimd glasses, her smile sharp and cold as a icicle. The crowd froze under her gaze, the air in the research block thick with tension.
"What?" She suddenly said, her tone laced with a chilling mockery. "Why are you all looking so surprised? Why are you standing there, gaping like I’ve said sothing shocking?"
"That I’m telling Charlotte how to cover her tracks better?"
"That I’m scolding her for being sloppy instead of cruel?"
"...Honestly, it’s not that surprising, is it?"
"After all, before I was the Head of the Disciplinary Committee—before I was the one enforcing every rule in this academy, I was Charlotte’s older sister. And like any older sister, do you think I’d just stand by while so pack of scheming brats plots against my little sister?"
"Do you think I won’t be the least bit pissed that you sche to make her kneel, to humiliate her, just so you can run back to your noble families, to those Federation lackeys, and brag about how you brought down a daughter of the Battle Angels?"
"So you can grovel for their rewards, their pats on the head, their scraps of approval?"
Her words landed like a whip, and the crowd flinched, their faces paling as her gaze swept over them. The ringleaders, shrank back, their smug grins faltering.
anwhile, Anya’s smile widened, but it was devoid of warmth, a predator’s baring of teeth. She chuckled, the sound soft but cutting, and stepped closer to the mob, her heels clicking against the blood-streaked tiles.
"You make laugh, you know...Did you really think I wouldn’t know? This isn’t the first ti sothing like this has happened after all. I know full well how often these petty little sches circle around and my sisters."
"It’s always the sa, an endless cycle of provocation. And my sisters, eccentric as they are, usually mind their own business. But you..." Her gaze flicked across the mob. "You can’t seem to keep yourselves to yourselves. You provoke, prod, and push, again and again."
She paused, the faint curve of her lips sharpening into sothing colder.
"But the difference is, most of my sisters are clever. They know how to handle such traps quietly. They retaliate, if they must, in ways no one can trace, and I let them go because they never step over the line where I must intervene. But Charlotte..."
Her voice softened, almost pitiful, as her eyes fell on her younger sister.
"Charlotte is the most naïve of them all. And this ti, she let her anger get the better of her. She fell right into your little ga. That’s why she’s being punished.
"And that, honestly, surprises . I never expected this from her. She’s a hothead, sure, but she knows the rules. She knows I’d have to respond if she broke them...And yet, here we are."
Anya’s smile faded slightly, her eyes locking onto Charlotte with a blend of disappointnt and pity.
"You fell for it, Charlotte. You let them bait you, just like they wanted. You snapped, you retaliated, and now you’re the one facing punishnt. You walked right into their trap, and they’re standing there, smug, thinking they’ve won."
She turned back to the crowd, her voice dropping lower, colder, as she addressed them directly.
"And you did, didn’t you?...Congratulations. You played your little ga, and you got what you wanted. You made punish my own sister. You must be so proud, all of you, thinking you’ve outsmarted us, thinking you’ve brought down a Battle Angel’s daughter."
For a mont, her smile seed to brighten, but her eyes, her eyes froze the air.
"But don’t misunderstand ." Her tone dropped into sothing far darker. "I love my sister very, very much. I despise anyone who so much as looks at her the wrong way."
"And let just say, if I weren’t bound by my position, if I didn’t wear this badge, the things I would do to each and every one of you..."
She trailed off, letting the silence press against their throats.
"Trust , you don’t want to imagine them."
The crowd shuddered. Even Adam felt his throat twist, as though her gaze alone might unmake him.
Then, just as suddenly, she sighed, the warmth sliding back into her smile.
"But...rules are rules. I am bound by them, just as all of you are. And so, today, it is you who win this little ga, and , and my dear sister, who lose."
Her sigh carried sothing reluctant, almost mournful, and the crowd realized with a jolt that this wasn’t a woman who punished without care.
Even knowing it was a plot, even knowing it was her sister—she still enforced the law.
Not because she was heartless, but because her love did not blind her to duty.
The guilt weighed heavy across the room. Students shifted, unable to et her gaze. And Adam, who had doubted her for a mont, now stared with renewed awe, his chest tight.
She wasn’t just his idol because she was strong, or beautiful, or feared. She was his idol because she bore the burden of both love and duty, and carried it without faltering.
Anya had shown them all that strength wasn’t cruelty, it was the ability to punish even those she cherished most. And in that paradox lay her terrifying nobility...
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