“What was that just now...” Li Yue felt dazed for a moment. The magic fluctuations around her shattered the nearby crystals, sending blood-red and white shards flying. Her black skirt billowed in the wind. “A hallucination? Or some stray memory?”
No... that feeling of an illusion, it's right next to me...
She looked around and saw traces of illusion magic encircling her. This magic seemed to still be in effect.
“Did you recall some heavy memory?” Black walked over slowly, stepping into the illusion and crushing several red crystals underfoot.
The moment the white flower in Li Yue's hand flashed red, he had used the rapid casting of Chants to create a deserted illusion. It concealed Li Yue's figure while suppressing that aura of death.
“Whoa, look at these shards! They’re so pretty!”
“The white ones too. But I get a weird feeling when I touch them, like...”
“A bit... scared?”
“Everyone, please return to your seats.” Black cleared his throat. He snapped his fingers, and the rose-red, pale-white, and pitch-black crystals all flew toward him, gradually dissipating into the air.
“Thank you... I seem to have had another nightmare.” Li Yue lightly held her head. A faint light flickered in her blood-red eyes as she gradually withdrew the aura of “death” that had almost materialized around her.
“Get some rest and try to reduce your stress. The nightmares should happen less often then.” Black walked away slowly, his white cloak fluttering gently. He cleared his throat and continued examining the trainees' magic attributes.
I have seen countless magic attributes. From the moment magic users are chosen by magic, except for those of the Art Department whose gods have no fixed attributes, every magic user shares the same attribute as the god their magic represents.
Death... Aside from the magic of the Royal Court’s imperial family and the forbidden magic book sealed by the Church, the Academy only possesses a few special incantations. But her magic... it's too pure. Is she from the Church or the Royal Court? Or is she someone who belongs to both, a ‘King’?
What are those magic users in the Royal Court thinking... Has the landscape of magic there really changed? If not ‘Death’, which deity would they choose to sustain their rule?
Regardless, there are more pressing matters to consider: the descent of the sea tomb of the gods, a magic user of ‘Death’ within the Academy, the tense situation in the Northern Continent's empires, the impending beast tide on the Western Continent, and the Royal Court on the verge of a dynastic change... This world is truly becoming more and more chaotic.
Li Yue let out a long sigh, calming her racing heart. She looked out the window. The weather was terrible, looking as though it might rain at any moment.
I'll go home for lunch. It might start raining right after I eat.
Was that really just a dream?
It must have been... After all, those were memories I never lived through, or perhaps things I fear. The fact that I could see them was probably just due to the unpredictable nature of dreams.
She touched her forehead, feeling a bit lightheaded. She tried to sense the God's remains within her. As had been the case recently, she could no longer feel the sensation of a foreign object that the God's remains used to give her.
Did my power leak out just now... If not for Professor Black, the other students might have been affected. Is the seal still working, or is its effect now limited to a certain range?
...
She lowered her head in thought, her brow furrowed slightly. She pursed her lips, feeling they were a bit dry. A heavy mood weighed on her, making it hard to breathe.
The sound of the bell signaling the end of class rang out. It wasn't until a trainee carrying books passed by her that she snapped out of her daze. She gathered her belongings and, in a rare lapse, left the classroom in a hurry without doing a final check.
Why do I feel so... unsettled? How strange.
She chose a few long routes home, paths she rarely took. One reason was the distance, and the other was that knights often patrolled the streets she usually used. This area wasn't near the main residential districts; it was mostly filled with places selling materials or exchange shops, giving it the feel of a black market.
Most people here were merchants sourcing goods or people looking for cheap bargains.
A light drizzle began to fall, landing on Li Yue's hair. Her hair became slightly messy and frizzy, mirroring her uncomfortable state of mind.
Will Clo... be at home? Will she scold me if I go home soaked... I should find a place to wait out the rain.
She held her bag over her head and stepped into a shop by the roadside. It seemed to be a place selling tobacco, spices, smoked meats, and wood-grilled meats. There were a few customers inside drinking.
It's a bit like a tavern. Maybe I'll just have lunch here.
She pushed the door open slowly, and an old bell let out a dull clink-clank.
“Yo, good afternoon, Miss.” A burly man without any uniform walked over. He carried a large tray of meat and wore a reasonably friendly smile.
“We rarely get finely dressed ladies like you in here, haha.”
“?” Li Yue made a small, puzzled expression.
“Our menu only has meat and strong liquor, so...”
Strong liquor? If I don't use magic to resist it, alcohol will affect my body... Getting a little drunk to forget that nightmare might be a good choice.
She took out a few magic copper coins and paid for her lunch. Her teeth were as sharp as ever; she usually only needed to chew once or twice to finish a large piece of meat. As for the strong liquor, she didn't know why, but the alcohol's effect on her seemed unusually weak. Even after drinking a lot, she only felt a slight warmth.
“Am I drunk? No... just a bit dizzy... that's all... I'm perfectly sober...”
The pitch-black and blood-red dream lingered in her mind, refusing to fade. Feeling a bit weary, she picked up her unfinished drink and slowly stood up. Her body staggered uncontrollably, nearly making her fall. She walked out of the shop swaying, stubbornly trying to walk in a straight line.
I'm not drunk... I can walk straight...
The cold rain hit her face, making her disheveled appearance look even more dejected. She felt as if she had walked into a pitch-black dream. Here, the sky was black and the moon was blood-red. She walked forward alone, with the sound of sobbing echoing behind her for some unknown reason.
She dragged a great sword of death, walking across a withered land and fields of blood-red flowers. She staggered across the surface of a lake soaking with countless corpses. What lay ahead? Was it the end of everything, or a new beginning?
She saw a slender blue figure standing not far away. The figure was so familiar, yet it carried a faint sense of strangeness.
“Kill her... Kill her... and everything will end...”
Her wrist tightened instinctively as she made a swinging motion. A blood-red blade traced a long blood line through the air.
Clap.
A small hand caught the wine bottle Li Yue had swung. With a curled index finger, the person gave Li Yue's forehead a sharp flick.
“Ow...”
Clo leaned in close to Li Yue, her nose twitching slightly as if she were carefully sniffing her.
“A Yue, are you drunk?”
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