Just because she used to control darkness doesn’t mean she's a villainess!

We sprinted back to the huge hall, our feet slapping against the marble. As we ran, Lumiere cracked a small smile.

“Thanks for altering my shoes. They feel a lot more comfortable now. My feet no longer hurt.”

“That’s the most important thing,” I said, glancing at her shoes. I regretted adding the flower, realizing it made them look a little silly. I had a long way to go before I could be a designer.

“Ah, I vaguely recall something that might be related.” Lumiere’s brow furrowed, but her pace didn’t falter. “Now that I think about it, in my previous life, I overheard my maids gossiping about a major tragedy that took place around this period.” She mumbled something, and I pretended I didn’t hear her swear. “I should have paid more attention, but at that time, I was depressed from being confined at home by Father after having the engagement annulled, so I didn’t really ask for details. But this particular bit of news stood out because it involved his highness and Lady Silvia. That’s why I remember it.”

“Makes sense. They’re both in the hall right now.” I nodded, recalling how they shone during the debutante ball. Unlike us, they had stayed in the ballroom for the midnight segment. Unfortunately, being from another world and possessing no memories of a previous life here, I remained ignorant. “What happened?”

“Apparently, there was a terrorist attack on Arcana Academy by the heavenly demon cult, which resulted in the deaths of many students. However, this was when Lady Silvia first truly awakened her powers as the Saintess.”

“…I thought she was already a Saintess…”

“Have you forgotten? She’s still only considered a candidate. True, her ability to use holy magic may be rare, but at present, she can only cast basic healing spells and barriers.”

Ah. I had assumed that she had become the actual Saintess prior to our admission to Arcana Academy, simply because she was the only viable candidate, but alas, my tendency to jump to conclusions without verifying the facts had returned to bite me in the ass. My advisor had always reprimanded me to check my sources and support my claims with evidence when I was doing my PhD, and clearly, I had yet to learn from that mistake.

I also cursed myself for not putting two and two together and not noticing the signs of black magic. I should have known, should have questioned, but I was so wrapped up in my little bubble that I remained oblivious to what were obvious clues.

The hints were there. Silvia herself already told me the cause wasn’t natural, and Lumiere had explained to me why black magic was forbidden.

“Anyway, this tragedy was what marked Lady Silvia’s start as an official Saintess. If my maids weren’t exaggerating, then apparently, the deaths of so many of her classmates in front of her triggered her dormant powers to awaken. If I remember correctly, it took the form of a blessing that neutralized the witches and warlocks’ spells, which allowed his highness and the surviving students to mount a counterattack.”

She smiled wryly.

“In hindsight, that’s exactly why the heavenly demon cult targeted her. My maids mentioned that the primary purpose of their terror attack was to ‘assassinate the Saintess.’ I assume that’s why they set up this boundary field to trap her. Killing promising mage students who will one day lead Antares is just a bonus, but Lady Silvia is their true target. Holy magic is anathema to the demons they so revere. Whatever curse they sought to cast will have completely no effect on a wielder of holy magic. That’s why the cult would consider her to be the biggest threat.”

Really… /s. I was so sure they targeted her because she was a special snowflake and the main heroine of some otome fantasy story.

“Right, you mentioned…the heavenly demon cult? And something about them revering demons? What’s that about?”

“Oh!” Lumiere’s eyes widened. “Of course, there aren’t many people who know about them during this time. This terrorist attack was the first time Antares Kingdom learned of their existence.”

She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes.

“The heavenly demon cult consists of black magic practitioners. As you know, most witches and warlocks summon demons to achieve their own ends, whether it’s binding them to a pact to use them as familiars, place a curse over a domain or unleash devastation across provinces. However, the witches and warlocks of the heavenly demon cult are different – they are zealots who worship demons. They regard demons as divine and seek a method to permanently materialize them in this plane of existence. They’ve no qualms using all sorts of insidious means, be it sacrificial rituals, human experimentation, or mass murder.”

She slightly raised her trembling hands and studied them, and I could see regret taint her ruby eyes.

“I don’t know why I ever resorted to such foul magic. Even though I was desperate, there was no justification for me to drain the life from others…”

“It’s fine.” I reached out to squeeze her hand. “I’m actually glad that you possess knowledge about black magic. The information you gave me is extremely helpful. Honestly, if you hadn’t explained, I would never have realized what is happening.”

As ashamed as I was to admit it, if Lumiere hadn’t been by my side and confirmed that the decaying plants were caused by black magic, I would have dismissed the ominous light that erupted around the hall as a spectacular display, or simply the other students going wild during the midnight segment, and left them alone. At that moment, I hated my obliviousness. I tended to enclose myself in a bubble so often that I chose to believe whatever was convenient for me, and ignore everything else. Even if it concerned the lives of others.

That went against dad’s teachings. I took a deep breath and forced my self-deprecating thoughts aside.

“You can also view this as a chance to make amends.”

“Thank you for saying that.” Lumiere smiled, though the expression was still stained by sadness. Even so, it allowed her to steel her resolve. “It means a lot. And you’re right. I now know what I have to do.”

She pulled her hand out, and though I was reluctant to let go, I wondered if I was being a creep. However, this was the most inappropriate moment to think about such nonsense, so I swiftly returned my focus to our destination. The source of the ominous mana pulsed, and I swallowed, increasing my pace to keep up with the faster Lumiere.

“We’re here!”

We reached the main hall quicker than I thought we would, considering we went through a long route to get to the lake at the back of the academy. I skidded to a stop when I spotted the ominous purplish black barrier that encased the entire building. Shadowy wisps of miasma wafted, reminiscent of writhing tentacles. I instinctively recoiled at the horrifying sight.

Just seeing the creepy mana made me feel ill.

“So that’s how they killed the students in the previous timeline,” Lumiere murmured, examining the barrier. She poked it with her fingers, only to flinch as insidious sparks ignited and repelled her. “They trapped them inside a boundary field. I’m not sure what the effects are, but it’ll be difficult for anyone to break it from inside or outside.”

“Allow me.” I stepped forward, using my reading ability to analyze it. Runes flickered into view in the form of lyrical verses, rotating in multiple scrolls that encircled the shadowy barrier. They almost played like a song, their rhymes and metaphor beginning to form meaning in my mind. I closed my eyes briefly to process the information, and the more I inferred, the more my anxiety grew. “Damn it.”

“That does not sound good. What is it?”

“This particular boundary field is designed to drain the vitality from the victims trapped within and use their mana to empower the black magic spells cast by the ones who set it up. If we don’t neutralize it soon, it’ll suck everyone inside the ballroom dry. And that’s assuming the witches and warlocks inside the ballroom don’t kill them first.”

“We’ve no choice then.” Lumiere stepped forward, flames igniting around her arms. The incredible amount of superheated mana swirled in a violent vortex, charring the marble around her. “We’ll have to break the barrier and rescue everyone inside.”

“Huh? I thought you said it’ll be difficult to break the barrier from inside or outside?”

“Yes, I did say that. I said it’ll be difficult to break it, but not impossible.”

The inferno wreathing her arms intensified with such force I reflexively stepped back. Each lungful of air was scalding, and my skin stung from the sheer heat. The titanic volume of mana emanating from her coalesced into a fiery dragon that hung suspended, and I was reminded of the similarly majestic lion that manifested behind Damien. Lumiere was truly her father’s daughter. If it was her, I was certain she wouldn’t just blow the barrier open, she would demolish the entire building in a single strike.

She cocked her arm back, and the single motion sent ferocious gusts of scorching wind rippling through the air. I panicked.

“Whoa! Wait! Don’t attack just yet!”

“Why?” Lumiere cocked her head and scowled.

“Remember when I told you earlier that the boundary field is designed to drain the vitality from its victims to empower black magic? If you hit the barrier, it’ll drain more mana from the students inside to reinforce its defenses and restore itself. You’ll only end up killing them faster!”

I paused, suddenly remembering who was in the ballroom.

“Actually, that might not be a bad idea.” Stepping backward, I beckoned for Lumiere to continue. “Please go ahead.”

“Oi.”

When Lumiere glared at me, I hastily held both hands up in surrender. “All right, bad joke. I’m afraid we’ll have to do this the hard way then.”

She nodded, extinguished her flames and gestured for me to step up. I complied, kneeling at the foot of the barrier and placing my hand against the warping surface. Despite sparks bursting to life and attempting to repel me, I stealthily inserted runes to disrupt the flow and deceive the boundary field into accepting me as a nonintrusive element.

Unlike the geas or the curse, the boundary field was a lot more complex and on a far vaster scale. As I delved into its workings, I found myself surrounded by an astronomical quantity of runes swimming around me like schools of fish. The sheer volume was intimidating. I didn’t even know where to start.

This wasn’t a simple curse. It was a spell that had been set up over months, with the cultists somehow infiltrating Arcana Academy – heads were going to roll – and meticulously placing formations that tapped into the leylines beneath Antares’s premier magic institution. Clearly, this had been planned over a long period, supported by thorough preparation.

How many people were involved? Just how large was this cult, to be able to pull something like this off?

Focus. The priority is to dismantle the boundary field.

The victims within must be suffering, having their life and mana drained from their bodies. In such a condition, they would be hard-pressed to fight back against the witches and warlocks who had set up the boundary field. Even from the outside, I could sense wild surges and violent pulses that portended the conflict taking place. I didn’t know how many students had already been killed, but I was certain that if I didn’t hurry, more would die.

Despite my joke earlier, I didn’t want any bloodshed. I wasn’t a saint and I would be lying if I said I didn’t resent them for ostracizing us. However, it wasn’t to the extent where I wanted them dead.

“Semantics,” I murmured and shook my head. Each rune was a symbol, but it was the arrangement of a set of runes that gifted them meaning, and it was through that meaning that an alteration to the material world was made manifest.

By inserting new runes, I was able to change that meaning, and consequently, the effects of the spell. Right now, minor changes wouldn’t cut it, for the essence of the boundary field would remain largely intact.

Even so, I kept at it. Disrupting the rhythmic movement in a lyrical verse. A subtle addition of punctuation to transform the meaning. Inserting nonsensical alliteration inside an iambic meter to interrupt its flow. Taking apart the text paragraph by paragraph, rewriting rhymes and imbuing erroneous metaphors.

Slowly, but surely, I was dismantling the boundary field. To put it simply, it was like poking holes in a massive dam. One hole or two, and cracks began to show in its foundation. Under constant pressure, those cracks widened, and eventually, the whole dam would crumble. I simply accelerated the process by piercing as many holes in the damned dam as possible, aware that I didn’t have much time. That my schoolmates trapped inside the ballroom didn’t have much time.

Though Silvia had awakened her true powers as a Saintess in the previous timeline, it had come at a grievous cost. Like Lumiere, I had no wish to repeat that tragedy. I wanted to avoid having anyone die if I could help it.

“Just break already!”

I punched through the disintegrating runes with another potent metaphor, twisting the original meaning much like I did with the fairy tale of Cinderella and turning a romantic gesture into something I found uncomfortable. Unable to maintain its intended meaning, the boundary field shifted, pulsated, and finally collapsed.

“You did it!”

At Lumiere’s excited voice, I pulled myself out of the mystical illusion and back to reality. She was correct. The purplish-black shimmering barrier that once encased the main hall in inviolable energies was dissipating, the shadowy wisps imploding, as if swallowed by an invisible black hole.

In seconds, the huge building returned to its previous state, its white marble walls exposed to gentle starlight once more.

Exhausted, I stumbled. Dismantling such an immense boundary field had taken a lot out of me, and I felt as if I had just run a marathon. Before I could fall, Lumiere caught and supported me.

“Well done.”

She gently helped me toward a nearby pillar and propped me up against it. I looked up at her weakly, and felt at ease the moment I saw the strength and composure in her expression. After making sure I was all right, she straightened and cracked her knuckles audibly, crimson flames igniting and wreathing her figure like a majestic cape. Twirling, she strode to the massive double doors and raised her leg.

“Leave the rest to me.”

With a graceful whirl, she pivoted on her other foot and obliterated the entrance in a single explosive kick.