Chapter 80: Act Two: Curtain Call

After the light pillar dissipated, the sky didn't darken immediately.

A fracture spanning the heavens split the cloud layer in half. One side blazing white. One side night.

The bisected mountain in the distance still smoked. Occasional brittle cracks echoed as stone cooled, like the mountain itself was settling.

When Seraphina came back to herself, she realized she was still holding her hand up, as if mimicking some technique.

She slowly lowered it. Looked down at her palm. Fine dust and dried bloodstains lined the creases, but her skin was intact. Even the scrape from the stone wall earlier had healed.

Cool wind hit her face. Not the damp smell of the underground, but night air carrying grass and earth.

She raised her head.

Overhead: night sky. Underfoot: rubble and debris. All around: empty ground.

But where she stood now—what should have been the tool shed—was now a bare pillar rising several meters above the surrounding surface. Tool shed: gone. Several old pagoda trees: gone.

The ground looked like something had scraped it flat. Stone slabs, earth, foundation rubble, tree roots—all sheared to the same level. The entire surface had been削 away by several meters.

The First Academy no longer existed.

After the previous academy attack, most buildings had burned down, but places like the auditorium had remained intact.

Now nothing remained. The entire academy grounds had been erased from ground level, leaving only a neat foundation cross-section. Foundation stones, broken drainage pipes, and the walls of underground storage rooms were all exposed beneath the moonlight, like the academy had been sliced open.

She stood at the edge of the ruins, looking down at the smooth cut surface beneath her feet. Silent for a long time. Replaying the scene in her mind. The Witch's sword technique. That rhythm, impossibly slow yet utterly inescapable.

Why had that sword moved so slowly? And why, no matter what, had it been impossible to evade?

Their understanding of swordsmanship existed on completely different planes.

That scale of aether... could a human really do that? Could mana gather to that degree?

She tried gathering mana again. Closed her eyes. Deep breath. Sank her consciousness inward, found that faint cluster of mana.

Guided it from her core along her meridians toward her right arm. Requested the mana in the air to condense before her palm—a fist-sized light ring materialized.

Semi-transparent. Edges wavering unstably. Brightness roughly equivalent to one candle.

She stared at the ring for a few seconds, then lowered her hand.

---

Footsteps suddenly came from behind. Boots striking rubble with sharp cracks. Fast pace. Clearly someone running at full stride.

Seraphina didn't turn around.

She knew those footsteps too well. Every childhood chase and game, she'd heard them—sometimes ahead, sometimes behind. She didn't even need to look. Sound alone told her position and distance.

Later those footsteps grew more distant. Distant until they dissolved into wind. Distant until they merged with the capital's clamor.

From once a week to once a month. From once a month to once every six months.

Not necessarily a bad thing. But somehow, only these moments felt anticipated. Less like something to escape.

"Sera!"

Estella's voice. None of its usual composed detachment, that everything-under-control steadiness. Tight. Urgent. Faintly trembling.

Closer now. Estella stopped on the rubble a few meters away, looking up at that bare pillar and Seraphina atop it. Instead of leaping up directly, she made a light jump and somehow squeezed into that extremely cramped space.

Seraphina's dead fish eyes suddenly sprang to life.

Heavy breathing came from behind, desperately suppressed but unable to flatten the violent rhythm.

Then the air tightened. Estella's arms spread wide and lunged forward in an embrace.

Seraphina retreated two steps. Half her foot extended past the pillar's edge.

She didn't escape. Just retreated two steps.

She raised both hands, grabbed her cousin's encircling arms, fingers prying at her wrists. Attitude very firm.

Held them like that, not letting those hands fully close, not letting them wander to strange places, but also not letting them leave her body. Estella froze in place, arms suspended mid-air in an indescribable position—half-embrace, caught in the middle by Seraphina's fingers.

"Sera." She called again, voice softer than before, like confirming something.

"Mm." Seraphina responded, monotone voice utterly flat. "I'm fine."

She raised her head. Met her cousin's eyes for one second.

Then moved her hands from Estella's wrists, patted the dust off her skirt, turned and jumped down from the pillar, walking toward the city district. Walked two steps, then stopped. Turned her head slightly.

"We'll talk about the kidnapping when we get back. Let's go."

Estella stood where she was, watching her back, then looking at the academy ruins leveled behind her, then at the still-smoking bisected mountain in the distance.

In the end, she asked nothing. Followed.

---

Morning.

Uriel woke to birds chirping outside the window. He rolled over, buried his face in the pillow. The chirping continued. Rolled over again, pulled the blanket over his head. The chirping penetrated the blanket and drilled into his ears.

He opened his eyes. Saw a beam of bright sunlight leaking through the curtain gap. Dawn.

Last night seemed to have brightened once too—he vaguely remembered the curtains suddenly becoming extremely bright outside, thought it was dawn, glanced once and rolled over to keep sleeping. Thinking about it now, probably a dream. Or maybe the sun had just been rising.

He yawned and sat up, running a hand through his tangled hair, put on slippers, walked to the window and pulled back the curtain. Sunlight made him squint. Outside, everything as usual. Street, streetlamps, rooftops across the way, distant mountain silhouettes.

Except that mountain's shape seemed a bit different from yesterday. A big canyon added.

He looked a while longer, figured he probably wasn't fully awake yet, so dropped the curtain and headed toward the balcony.

Just finished using the toilet and walked out—he felt something was wrong.

Four people already stood in what barely qualified as a living room.

Galatina was carrying a plate of cut fruit to the tea table.

Lumina stood by the window, hands folded before her, posture straight as a spear.

Fenria sat on the sofa armrest, tail swishing with tremendous enthusiasm.

Kira stood on the other side of the tea table, notebook clutched to her chest, gaze drifting uncertainly, occasionally stealing glances toward Galatina.

The moment he emerged, all four looked at him.

"Scribe." "Scribe." "Little Uri's awake." "He's up!"

Uriel's hand, mid-eye-rub, stopped in mid-air.

"...When did you all get here?" He lowered his hand, looking at Lumina.

"Before dawn." Lumina answered.

Uriel opened his mouth, momentarily speechless. But seeing Lumina's matter-of-fact expression, then Fenria crouched on the sofa in a posture that clearly didn't register any problem with being in someone else's room, he finally sighed and walked to the tea table, picking up the warm water Galatina handed him. Took a sip.

Fine. They're all my girls.

"Report."

Lumina spoke first. "Last night's operation: the First Academy underground stronghold has been completely destroyed. Mid-level cult operative and Knight Order infiltrator Kargas Birhoff confirmed eliminated. The demonized researcher was jointly killed on the surface by the three of us. Other cult personnel at the stronghold scattered during the chaos. Brigade members assigned to continuous tracking."

Fenria slammed her fist into her other palm, voice loud enough to make the teacups jump. "That one blast turned the monster into paste! The three of us were amazing, working together. BOOM!" When she said "BOOM," her tail shot bolt upright like a startled cat, ears standing straight, her whole body bouncing on the armrest. Nearly slid off.

Kira swept back her bangs, speaking at least twice her normal speed, voice suppressing barely-contained excitement. "The Witch's battle last night is more worthy of documentation. That strike must have been her work right guwaaa why wasn't I on-site using that western sword after the charge-up releasing that light pillar that's Radiance-rank power right no no definitely more than Radiance-rank I bet even Heroes and Demon Kings are only that level it might have already transcended cognition entirely. The light pillar's afterglow lingered in the sky for nearly an hour that precise angle perfectly avoided all densely populated areas of the capital split a mountain in half yet caused zero civilian casualties it was literally day and night appearing together completely a divine miracle. This level of control can't even be described as 'strong' this is completely—"

She suddenly realized her tone had started climbing, fingers unconsciously clenched into two excited little fists. She quickly shut her mouth, took a deep breath, lowered her hands, re-assumed her usual ice-queen strategist posture.

But her ear tips were bright red.

---

Uriel held his cup and listened through Kira's speed-runaway report. Silent for a moment.

Too fast, but he'd caught some keywords. Hands trembling like a sieve, but surface still unruffled. No water spilled.

Good, good. Didn't hit the capital.

Wait wait wait—what do you mean light pillar, what do you mean day and night together, what do you mean split a mountain

He thought for a moment. Last night's flash—was that it? He didn't dare think further.

Silently wiped cold sweat in his mind. Expression stable as bedrock.

Then looked at Galatina. Galatina had finished arranging the cut fruit, now standing by the tea table, hands folded over her apron, face wearing a gentle, well-behaved smile.

For a moment, he wasn't sure whether to think of her as his roommate or his very devoted housewife.

"Mom—uh, no—how about the Witch's side?"

Galatina tilted her head. "Found Seraphina. Defeated the bad people. Used the line little Uri taught me."

She earnestly added, "Except I said the last line wrong. Little Uri wrote 'I am Holy Sword Witch,' but I accidentally said 'I am the storm that is approaching.'"

Uriel happened to glance at Galatina's white hair.

He did a massive spit-take.