The old man, Davey Kito, looked at the transforming body before him. As the face changed letting traces of corruption that got cured at once revealing a new facebof beautiful girl. Am Wish, the witch who was supposed to be the enemy and the source of the troubles, standing before him, having taken on his exact appearance, and asked,
"What trick are you playing this time?"
His condition was miserable, unable to move even a finger.
Am Wish replied,
"That new boy who has become famous recently… I think he's somewhat interesting."
Davey had long been cut off from the outside world, so he had no idea who she was talking about.
She continued,
"Shion Lan. The most famous person among the nobles and the academy right now. Perhaps if I take both him and his inheritance, I may reach the eighth level… and finally free myself from the curse of those bastards from the Night family!"
Davey showed no reaction. He simply closed his eyes, returning to his silence while the doll continued speaking to herself.
"He noticed flaws in the reports, and instead of searching for Mel Tri, he decided to investigate personally. But I didn't expect him to discover this much on his own."
She recalled what had once been said about him.
"The kingdom's trash… and now an outstanding student and refined noble. Unfortunately for him… he stood in my way."
Davey exhaled slowly and said,
"A doll like you having goals like a human… I truly am seeing strange things."
She replied mockingly,
"It's not my fault you never listened properly when we were together. And your son was an idiot as well… though especially him. He remained under my control until his death."
Even though Davey remembered everything now, he no longer reacted. He had suffered enough long ago.
She continued,
"Do you know what my goal is?"
Her beautiful face twisted with fury.
"Revenge."
A shadow moved in the darkness.
"I have a new mission for you."
Her appearance shifted into Kedna Kito's.
"Target Shion Lan."
...
"Target Shion Lan."
Those were the words Shion Lan and the girls heard through the spirits, and their expressions stiffened—especially Shion, who realized she had been the one present at the previous meeting.
Solan Neumann asked,
"What do we do now?"
Shion thought,
'If I hand over Mel Tri, I can solve this easily and leave safely… but I won't truly solve the case, and I won't get revenge on that doll this way!'
He asked,
"Sol, can non-living things sense spirits?"
Solan shook her head.
"They can't."
Shion nodded.
"Then we're already one step ahead of her. All we need now is to figure out the forbidden spell she's using—"
But suddenly he stopped speaking.
"Wait a second! How did she create those puppets while pretending to be Davey?! And wasn't she only at the sixth level?!"
Second Princess Jina Joul handed him a report.
"This document says she was capable of using a Domain. Since she's a doll, someone carved the spell directly onto her body. She can deactivate it whenever she wants, making herself appear to only be sixth level. At first, I didn't understand how spells could be engraved onto human bodies… but since she's a doll, it makes sense."
Shion immediately understood.
"So someone is supporting her… someone capable of drawing such a magic circle. And what about the other puppets? Who created them?"
What once seemed like a simple case had now become something completely out of control. They needed to end it quickly.
Solan said,
"I can place spirits inside the puppets and inspect them secretly without anyone noticing."
Shion agreed.
"Good. You can start. But what am I supposed to do now? Someone is targeting me."
Jina replied,
"There's something else we haven't told you. There's an accomplice among the students working with that doll."
Shion thought quickly.
"We have the Shine family. But if there's anything that clears them, it's their arrogance. The children of the Six Great Families are constantly monitored and protected, so the doll wouldn't dare manipulate them.
And my brother is an idiot as usual. But he is still full of pride and haven't changed at all, so it's obviously not him."
Shion's eyes widened,
"That only leaves Furo Lebent. He was with me at the start of the exam, and instead of heading toward the checkpoints like he should've, he went to the village… almost as if he already knew something."
"That's correct."
Violet's team froze as they turned around—
Furo Lebent had stabbed a dagger into Shion's back, who was next to the window.
"Nooooo!!"
"Shion!!!"
"Stop!!"
The girls screamed, but a magical barrier had already isolated the room in complete silence. No one outside could hear anything happening within.
Furo spoke calmly,
"My lady wants him dead… and your memories as well. So why resist?"
Solan immediately noticed something wrong.
"His mind has been corrupted! That #### has brainwashed him!"
Her gaze shifted toward Shion lying on the ground as blood continuously poured from his wound.
Shion lifted his head weakly.
"I… can't use magic or aura…"
Furo smiled proudly.
"My great Lady Am Wish used her magnificent Domain to suppress insects like you!"
Violet ignored his words and lashed her whip toward him, but Furo dodged effortlessly.
But his body was weird as the muscles and joints weren't right. The corruption reached his body changing its features.
At the same moment, Princess Jina drew her thin sword and thrust toward his neck.
Furo instantly used a darkness technique.
"(Shadow Escape)"
His body shrank into his shadow and shot rapidly toward Solan—the only mage among them and the least capable in close combat.
But a black rope wrapped around Solan's waist, pulling her back toward Violet.
Furo rushed forward again, but Jina intercepted him at the same time.
She attempted to kill him, but he used the same technique once more, slipping beneath her through the shadows before emerging and striking her stomach with a powerful punch that threw her backward.
Jina was already in terrible condition.
Celesia Joul spoke within her mind,
"Let her do whatever she wants. I'll remember everything for you."
Jina was shocked by the ancestor's lack of cooperation.
"What are you saying?!! Shion is about to die!!"
"So what?" Celesia wasn't caring about Shion. She even wanted him out of her sight.
"You...!!" Both of them argued.
Solan wasn't focused on any of that.
Her eyes remained fixed on Shion as blood continued pouring from him endlessly.
She and the others tried desperately to gather even the slightest energy—
But nothing worked.
Furo laughed arrogantly.
"My great lady used the corruption element. Any spell or technique is useless now. So stop resisting—!"
He grabbed his head and screamed, "AAAAHHHGHHH!!!!"
The corruption had penetrated deep into his brain.
Then a wide smile appeared on his face.
Gradually, his gaze became lustful.
"Since you're all going to forget anyway… why don't I enjoy myself first?"
Violet glared at him furiously while struggling to gather her dark aura, but it was useless.
As for Jina, she prepared herself alongside Celesia, after the argument, to kill that bastard.
But Solan's mind and eyes were somewhere else entirely.
She didn't care about Furo Lebent dark aura.
If she unleashed her true power as the Pure Spirit, she could move freely—and even summon Polter and Bloom.
But what she was witnessing inside Shion's soul left her frozen.
The emptiness and darkness within him had begun devouring the faint light inside his soul as more blood flowed from his body.
And by the time she realized it—
It was already too late.
His light was fading into the darkness of death.
His eyes had become empty of life.
Solan asked in a trembling voice,
"Shion… are you okay?"
But no answer came.
Jina unconsciously activated her golden eyes to look at him—
His heart had already stopped beating.
"..."
For several seconds, no sound existed.
Then Solan collapsed onto the floor, unable to believe what she was seeing.
Furo watched their broken expressions with satisfaction.
Even the Second Princess's chest rose and fell rapidly as she trembled, unable to speak.
So he crossed the line even further.
"How about I return this corpse… in exchange for entertaining myself?"
The girls were horrified.
Violet stepped forward after noticing that Solan and Jina could no longer speak.
"You're bold enough to say something like that in front of us? The heir of the Pure Spirit, the heir of the First Queen, and a daughter of the Night family?"
Fro ignored her confidence completely.
He approached Shion's body and placed his dagger against Shion's face.
"I think I'll teach you what the human body looks like from the inside."
"Stop!!"
A sharp scream escaped Solan.
Furo turned toward her.
"Will you be the firs—"
He suddenly froze.
Something cold touched his back.
It felt as though death itself was staring at him.
Slowly, he turned around—
And saw abyss-like eyes staring directly into him.
Even though his instincts had been corrupted, the natural fear buried deep inside every human made him sweat in terror.
Shion had stood back up despite the dagger piercing his heart.
His hair had turned black as ink, with only a few strands of white remaining.
The stars inside his eyes seemed as though they were being swallowed by endless darkness.
Furo trembled violently.
"W-What… what the hell is this?!"
But Shion's indifferent gaze swept across everyone present, filling them all with terror.
From Solan's perspective, she saw a tiny light desperately trying to survive within that endless deadly void.
Yet Shion did not move even a finger after standing.
Inside his mind, Shi Yun Lan thought as he temporarily took over Shion's body,
'This boy has entered the Sixth Vision. He must not be interrupted…but still…'
He looked at Furo.
'I am angry.'
Furo mistook Shion's silence for weakness and cautiously approached him again.
Shion's eyes never moved.
Fro forced out a laugh.
"For a second, I thought he'd kill me… turns out I was hallucinating!"
But Am Wish herself was shocked.
'How is the corruption magic being destroyed?!'
Furo raised the dagger toward Shion's face again to begin carving into him—
But Shi Yun Lan suddenly moved.
His hand shot forward, grabbing Furo by the neck and lifting him into the air.
Furo laughed again, believing Shion's effort meaningless.
He attempted to escape once more—
But for some reason, he couldn't escape the grip of the tyrant staring at him with eyes darker than the abyss itself.
Secretly, Shi Yun Lan manipulated the blood flowing inside Furo's body.
Fro realized in horror that he couldn't escape.
Then suddenly—
He screamed.
A maddened scream of unbearable pain echoed through the room.
The contrast between Shion's calm silence and Furo's horrifying screams created a terrifying scene with Shion at its center.
Even Celesia, who had wanted to retreat earlier, couldn't help but feel fear toward that ominous power.
A purple shadow began emerging from Furo's body.
Celesia immediately recognized it.
"That's the technique Am Wish used to brainwash this boy! But now it's being ripped out so easily… however…"
She activated her golden eyes and saw catastrophic damage tearing through Furo's body.
Gradually, the screams weakened.
Yet Shion's expression remained perfectly calm.
Then Shion's consciousness slowly returned.
More white spread through his hair.
The starlight in his eyes intensified.
His soul became more stable with his return.
The girls were overjoyed—
But Shion's expression at that moment carried overwhelming majesty.
He recalled what he had witnessed in the Sixth Vision.
'That old man from last time…he was at the Supreme Level..... the true Supreme Level!!
The one and only existence in the world during his era.
Even though it was only a vision… and even though it was Shi Yun Lan's body…
And I shouldn't have felt anything…'
Shion swallowed nervously.
"I felt…
…an overwhelming terror."