Wandrina held her breath as she glanced behind her. Obscured beneath the black and white suit, Iris’s silhouette tinted the air dim and desolate. The surrounding blood mist recoiled from her presence, its flow pulsating as if it were articulating its fear. The being behind Wandrina, the Monster Girl whose lips commanded all ears, whose movement commanded all lives, wasn’t a mere mortal.

She was The Devil. No, she was The Goddess, and she passed to Wandrina her right of judgement.

Should she attempt to save Ramantis?

“He deserves punishment,” Wandrina said. “Although your benevolence granted him a second chance, I cannot absolve his disrespect.”

Ramantis struggled to rise to his feet. His eyebrows furrowed. “Are you one of them now, Wandrina?”

“What you did was disrespectful. Madam Black Rose is generous, but I am not.”

Her chest tightened, Wandrina raised her trembling right hand and pointed her wand at Ramantis. Her Pure Power surged under him, froze his legs fixed, and chilled his skin.

He grunted, yet his hoarse voice lingered only within his throat. The stabbing sensation spiked throughout his body, clawing his thighs, his stomach, his chest, and his heart. Despite channelling his Pure Power to dispel the cold, he failed to melt the Ice Element infesting his flesh.

The other captives looked at each other, their eyes narrowed. They didn’t want to get hurt, but they also couldn’t bear looking at Ramantis. They couldn’t let someone who tried to save them suffer alone.

As they were about to revolt, Wandrina snapped her wand before rushing to Ramantis. Her reddened eyes, filled with shameful tears, stayed on Ramantis, who glared at her.

Why didn’t he dispel her magic? It wasn’t her plan to torture him!

She shouldn’t have punished him. She should’ve defied Madam Black Rose. At least he wouldn’t have to suffer for his virtues.

She pressed her hands on his frozen legs. Her blue Pure Power enveloped the ice but failed to dissolve it. Dark purple energy flashed within the Ice Element and crashed with her Pure Power. Her eyes contracted, and she pulled back her hands.

The purple shade tainted her veins, rapidly spreading throughout her body. Her chest heated, her skin pinkened, and her mind unravelled.

Iris snapped her fingers. The purple shade halted its progress. The ice shattered. The chill plaguing Ramantis vanished, and the Corruption Power contaminating Wandrina dissipated.

Wandrina’s legs gave out. She cried, her voice sensual as if someone had caressed her waist.

Iris caught her and pulled her up. She traced her fingertips across Wandrina’s soft, sensitive cheeks.

“Did you not want to join us,” Iris said.

“I . . . I was scared.” Wandrina averted her gaze. Tears welled in her eyes. “I thought you’d spare him if I pretended to punish him. I’m willing to be by your side, but you mustn’t harm him. Anything but that.”

“I helped you express your feeling.”

Wandrina blushed. Her vision grew blurry; she’d exhausted her supply of Pure Power. She carefully breathed in and out, in and out, failing to notice that Iris had already walked past her, heading for Ramantis.

Sitting on a puddle of cold water, Ramantis lifted his head. His flaming eyes met Iris’s indifferent, vast, and unfathomable pupils. He wanted to cast his spell, but his Pure Power was drained, his staff shattered. He could only defy Iris via his defensive posture.

“I don’t regret my action,” he said. “Kill me, but don’t harm others.”

“Why should I?”

Ramantis bit his tongue. “Because . . . because you’re benevolent and wise and beautiful. You wouldn’t torture others for your amusement.”

“You’re operating under a faulty assumption, Young Man.” Iris raised her right hand. “Pink Florist, bring me my little Wandrina.”

Lorient, grinning, moved to Wandrina, held her up, and walked her to Iris. While helping Wandrina, Lorient glanced at Ramantis and flashed a sneer. His body quivered, but he couldn’t move.

Iris produced a vial containing murky purplish fluid. She handed it to Wandrina, who weakly accepted it despite Ramantis’s pleading gaze.

“Will you spare him and others?” Wandrina said.

“The choice is yours.”

Wandrina opened the lid. “Thank you, Madam Black Rose.”

She drank the vial. Her eyes burned. Her throat went dry. She crutched her chest and knelt on the ground, panting, sweating, salivating. An invisible flame seared her muscles and nerves. She opened her mouth and screamed. Her flesh-rending voice chilled the atmosphere.

The other captives averted their gazes, praying to their faith to stop this tragedy, to reverse the situation, and to annihilate the wicked Monster Girls. No one could bear to see Wandrina’s gradually turning into a Corrupted One.

No one but Ramantis.

Despite his injuries, he fought his pain, attempting to rise. Through the bloodstains on his face and the crimson blur in his vision, he stared at Wandrina’s figure, the figure he imprinted onto his memory, the figure he failed to save.

“Why?” he whispered. “Why must you torture me?”

“I’m helping her.” Iris knocked her black cane to the ground. “Good deeds beget good deeds.”

“You’re a monster!”

“A Monster Girl I am.”

Ramantis screamed, his body twitching. His bleeding legs pushed against the street under the icy puddle, whose invisible chains restrained his movement. Crackling noises rang in his ears; the restrain came loose, and he forced himself to stand straight, even though his wounds split open.

“You promised me!” He rushed toward Iris.

Winds blew against his face, scattering dust upon his eyes. Tears stained his vision and wetted his cheeks. The crimson light, penetrating the blood mist, filling Donhalgen with inaudible whisperings, blended his soaked body with the blood-tainted surrounding.

Dyed by his congested blood, his right hand ignited. Bluish, agonising flame devoured his skin, transforming his vitality into Fire Element. He didn’t care about the pain. He simply reached for Iris’s neck.

Iris leaned on her cane and closed her eyes. A taunting smile remained on her face.

“Stop being reckless, Ramantis,” Wandrina said.

Frozen pillars sprung from the ground. Their momentum knocked on Ramantis, pushing him back. His burning fish struck an ice pillar. The heat and chill explosively reacted, creating shockwaves that extinguished the fire and fractured the ice.

The evaporated magical energy created a pale mist, which obscured Iris and Wandrina.

Ramantis landed on his feet. Blood soaked his student uniform, but everything had already gone numb. He stared at Wandrina’s pale silhouette as the misty curtain gradually parted.

Wandrina’s appearance was the same, though her injuries and exhaustion vanished. Aside from the weariness in her tired eyes, she exuded an impregnable of a noble, of an honoured undergraduate of Royal Magic Academy.

“Wandrina?” Ramantis said.

Wandrina glanced at Ramantis, sighed, and turned to Iris. “Madam Black Rose, may I ask why you deceived us?”

“Do you feel relieved? Disappointed?” Iris took out another vial. “It’s your choice.”

After thanking Iris and taking the vial, Wandrina ran to Ramantis. He refused to drink the fluid, but she grabbed his jaw and forced it upon him. He choked on it before he lay on the ground, squirming. Sweats filled his body, mixing with his blood. His body temperature fluctuated as if he were submerging in lava one moment and ice another.

When the pain and his unpleasant screams subsided, he found himself energised. Except for a few deep wounds, his body was healed.

He contemplated this miracle before his face turned red. He lifted his eyes, looking at Iris, who carelessly ambled toward him and Wandrina. The two didn’t know what to say and could only bend their heads, hiding their conflicted expressions.

“Before we end this play, I have a few questions. Has the Tower Guardian of the Lab Master issued any command?” Iris said.

“The Lab Master forbade anyone from entering or leaving the academy,” Wandrina said. “He assigned us to help the guards watch over this entrance.”

Iris asked other questions, mostly related to the general situation of the academy and the layout of the buildings. Wandrina displayed her eloquence by giving a concise answer to every question Iris asked. She eliminated all ambiguous wording, speaking no lies or misinformation.

Although Iris hurt her, she was grateful for Iris’s help. She couldn’t bring herself to hate Iris; something about Iris sparked her admiration.

To move with such grace amidst the battlefield, it was mesmerising. Wandrina longed to command such a presence.

When every question was answered, every doubt resolved, Iris allowed the two to return to the group of captives. Though Iris promised not to kill them, those who attempted to resist got punished. She left a few Monster Girls and attendants to guard the captives before she entered the academy.

As Iris sauntered, her legs dragged the crimson mist. It swirled behind her, creating a vortex, which merged the mist into a feminine silhouette. Its bloodied shade whitened until the Evil Power within it decayed away.

Vindette skipped out of the puff of clouds. Her heels clicked on the bricked street, generating ripples of greyish smoke, which returned colours to everything it passed through. She covered her mouth with her left hand, though her smile sneaked out.

“I’m curious, Black Rose. Why did you pair them?” she said. “A gentle push, and that little girl will be running into your embrace.”

“Please don’t tease me, Lady Pale Cloud.”

“Should I torture you like how you tortured them?”

Iris shivered. “About Wandrina, my intuition told me she was special.”

“Her soul is excessively pure, too pure for an ordinary mortal.” Vindette reached forward as if she were grasping for that purity. “She might be a reincarnation of an Angel.”

“Will the Churches notice her?”

“Only if they deliberately inspect her soul. I wouldn’t have known it if not for your fixation.”

The Faith inside Iris quivered. She suppressed it, but its excitement tainted her. If she could actualise Wandrina’s latent nature, could she transcend her mortal root and become an Angel? Could she become a Fallen Angel and join Pallorn under Iris’s fallen pantheon?

Iris shook her head. To corrupt an Angel was unheard of. Pallorn was a mortal when she fell, and her Fallen Angel form was that of a mortal mimicking the divine. If Iris recklessly corrupted Wandrina, she might end up getting purified herself.

“Should we . . . devise a countermeasure?” Iris said.

“You mustn’t speak such a dangerous thought.” Vindette pressed her right index finger to her lips. “The Angels rarely descend to the mortal world. Either they were of the fallen Deities, or they had a purpose.”

“Are they . . . protected by Fate?”

“Angels are loved by the world itself, Iris. Only someone who can go against the world can seize them.”

Iris pouted. “Then why did you provoke me to embrace her?”

“My intuition told me your soul is special.” Vindette giggled. “That little Faith inside you, they’re like a lighthouse within the abyss.”

Stopping her movement, Iris turned to Vindette. Her eyes widened and refused to blink even if the dust in the air irritated her. The other Monster Girls and attendants were too far behind and thus couldn’t hear Vindette’s words. They only slowed their paces, keeping a distance from the two senior members, whose figures stuck so close as to assure others they were a pair.

“Your means is beyond me, Lady Vindette.”

“Pale Cloud, not Vindette. Otherwise, there will be punishment.”

Iris apologised. Though Vindette’s tone was soothing, Iris’s heart raced. The way Vindette vanished and materialised led her imagination astray. She didn’t want to end up like Parmin. She didn’t want to have her entire body violated, squeezed, tickled, and caressed.

She gripped her cane and slammed it on the ground. The bricks beneath her feet cracked. Her stable breathing returned, but the fuzzy feeling lingered in her heart.

“Lady Pale Cloud, when this operation is over—”

Vindette raised her right hand and curled it into a fist. Her Corruption Power gushed out from her sleeves. A sea of pale clouds engulfed the surrounding, dispelled the crimson mist, and dampened the evil aura. Her smile beneath her silky veil receded.

“It’s time for us to part, Black Rose. The Lab Master’s already detected my presence.”

“Please be careful. I and others will be waiting for your triumph return.”

Her eyes glimmering, Vindette stepped into the air and walked skyward. Her dress fluttered along with her flowing clouds, which concealed yet highlighted her appearance.

“Do not hesitate to use my gift. I won’t forgive you if you got hurt,” she said.

After Vindette disappeared into the all-permeating crimson mist, Iris sighed. She glanced behind her, where the bloody air masked everything except ghostly visages. Though her eyes couldn’t see Wandrina and Ramantis through the bloody curtain, her heart could sense a series of pinkish strings connecting the two, though they were fleeting and thin.

Iris grasped forward. An ethereal seed manifested in her palm.

“So this is what a Seed of Love looks like,” she muttered.

After sending the seed back to the invisible world, she quickened her pace, leading her subordinates to Mystic Tower, to the secret experiments within, to the enslaved Monster Girls.

Today, she’d free all of them.