“How is it, Misha?”
“… I really can’t sense it anymore. The goddess’s aura.”
Inside Misha’s laboratory.
Misha was conducting experiments on Lorebell, trying to uncover the reason behind her loss of power.
But the power granted by a god’s blessing wasn’t something that could be explained through research.
She placed a translucent, prism-shaped crystal into Lorebell’s palm. After a short while, the crystal was stained black, until it became completely dull and pitch dark.
“If Lorebell truly lost the goddess’s blessing, then what is this black magic essence? Could this be the original color of Lorebell’s magic essence?”
“Human magic essence wouldn’t be this murky.”
Saying so, she took the crystal back and held it up to her eyes for inspection.
“This magic essence is truly terrifying…”
“Yeah, black is definitely rare,” Azalea replied.
“I’m not talking about the color.”
“Then what is it?”
Misha tapped the crystal lightly with her fingertip.
The black magic essence inside seemed to react, wildly battering against the crystal’s interior, blow after blow. Soon, a crack appeared.
Misha hurriedly threw the crystal onto the ground.
It rolled several times before suddenly shattering.
The black magic essence was freed. It seemed to sense something and suddenly charged toward Azalea.
“Watch out!”
Lorebell rushed in front of her and reached out, absorbing the magic essence back into her body.
“W-what is that?!”
Azalea trembled with fright, feeling her own inner power rejecting the black magic essence.
“The magic essence inside her is extremely volatile…”
Misha kicked a shard of the crystal and continued, “This is definitely not the kind of magic essence a normal person would have.”
“At least, I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“It seems to possess its own consciousness, and it’s highly aggressive.”
“What exactly is going on?” Azalea asked.
Misha had a bold suspicion in her heart but dared not voice it.
Because if this guess was true, Lorebell could very well become a criminal in the kingdom.
That wasn’t even the worst part—if they kept it a secret, Lorebell could still remain the Holy Knight she was, and Azalea and Misha would surely cover up the truth.
But if Lorebell found out, there would be big trouble. She had always hated such things with a passion.
After much thought, Misha said, “I need to research this further. You two should rest for now.”
“You want to get up early tomorrow to send your sister off to the academy, don’t you?” Misha said to Lorebell.
“I… understand.”
Having no answers for the moment, Lorebell got up and went upstairs to rest.
“I’m going too…”
“You stay.”
“Eh?”
Azalea was about to go upstairs when Misha suddenly called her back. She froze and turned around to look at Misha, asking curiously, “Could it be that tonight you want to, ah~ ha~”
“Smack!”
“Ow!!”
“What are you thinking, you idiot!”
“What was that for?” Azalea held her head, looking at her with a scolding glare.
“It’s still about the issue with Lorebell.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything earlier?”
“Because… it’s better not to let her know about this yet. Besides, I’m not even sure myself.”
Azalea found a chair and sat down, waiting for Misha to explain.
Misha sighed and said, “The magic essence inside Lorebell is most likely that of a demon.”
“Demon?!”
Azalea exclaimed, but Misha quickly covered her mouth.
“Quiet! Don’t let her hear!” she whispered.
After Azalea nodded, Misha released her mouth.
“How could she suddenly have demon magic essence?”
“I think… she was probably chosen by a demon god.”
“What… do you mean?” Azalea asked uncertainly.
“You know the Hero appeared just over ten days ago.”
Azalea nodded in response, “Lorebell told me.”
“Then do you know that besides the existence of the human Hero, demons also have a similar existence?”
“No way!”
“Although our history books don’t mention it, I once accidentally found a demon history book in the library. It talks about the demon ‘Hero’, which they call the ‘Divine Follower’.”
“Essentially, it’s similar to the human Hero—both are beings granted power by gods. The human gods create Heroes, and the demon gods create Divine Followers.”
“I paid attention to the timing of their appearances; it’s almost always within just a few days of each other, sometimes the demon Divine Follower appears even earlier.”
“But Lorebell was originally a Holy Knight blessed by the goddess! How could she be chosen as a Divine Follower? And she’s not even a demon—shouldn’t they pick one from among their own kind?” Azalea objected.
A Holy Knight who draws power from the goddess’s faith being selected as a demon warrior? She couldn’t believe such a thing could happen, especially to someone like the ever-righteous Lorebell.
“That’s unknown… Maybe she did something to anger the goddess before.”
“I don’t believe she would do such a thing!”
“The two villains she killed today—if anything, I think the goddess must have praised her for that!”
“Maybe… maybe she was just too angry today, and that caused this. Maybe she’ll return to normal after a good night’s sleep?”
“Let’s hope so…”
“In any case, what I just said is only a guess. I hope I’m just being paranoid.”
Misha herself found it hard to believe something like this could happen to Lorebell. After all, what could possibly make the goddess abandon her while simultaneously attracting the demon gods?
She thought for a moment—perhaps only if she personally destroyed a kingdom or killed a Hero could that happen.
*****
The next day arrived.
Lorebell’s hair was still the same color, and her eyes remained an eerie black.
Despite losing the power of faith, she felt no fear at all—instead, a sense of calm washed over her.
Whenever Aurora asked if she felt unwell, Lorebell always replied, “I feel happier than ever.”
That said, Aurora still sensed something was different about her—not her appearance, but her personality and some of her behaviors.
From the moment she saw her that morning, Lorebell’s face was graced with a gentle smile, her voice soft like spring water—somehow at odds with those pitch-black eyes.
Not only that, she was unreservedly close to Aurora, even hugging her from behind, letting those soft mounds press against her back.
Aurora spent the whole morning blushing from it. Though she knew Lorebell was her sister, such intimate behavior still stirred her heart.
Finally, they arrived at the academy, where Aurora could relax a little.
After greeting Saga and Little Mohan, the clock struck.
Back at her seat, Aurora waited for the teacher’s arrival.
To her surprise, Albert had returned.
She stepped onto the stage, glanced at Aurora, and began the lesson.
Albert’s teaching style was always simple and easy to understand. It was said she had been teaching at the academy for nearly a thousand years.
Aurora knew Albert was a dragon, but she hadn’t expected her lifespan to be so long. Judging by her human appearance, she seemed about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, but in dragon years? That must be two zeros longer.
When focused on studying, time flew by unusually fast.
After class, Aurora organized her books and prepared to visit the apothecary to ask the teacher some questions.
Just as she stood up, Albert called her back.
She had been waiting for Aurora to finish packing.
“Is there something wrong, Director Albert?”
She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Eurora Eve, I need your help to save someone.”
“Save someone? It’s better to ask the apothecary for that,” Aurora said innocently.
“I need you to help save someone who’s already dead…”
As she spoke, her dragon tail slithered out from behind and sliced through the air, opening a blue rift in front of Aurora’s eyes.
Aurora knew what it was—there was nothing inside, just an endless sea and sky.
She thought Albert just wanted to talk in private, so she followed her inside.
The two walked silently on clouds. Aurora trailed behind, unsure what to say.
After a long while, Albert suddenly spoke.
“Director Albert, you said someone already dead…”
Her footsteps stopped suddenly, and she looked down at the vast ocean beneath her.
“They should be here.”
“Where…?”
Aurora glanced around but saw no other figures.
“Wait for me here.”
With that, Albert spread her wings and flew into the sea.
She had only one real wing; to keep balance, she conjured another identical wing with magic, though it wasn’t as good.
Moments later, she burst from the surface, wings beating.
At that moment, Aurora saw a young girl lying in Albert’s arms.
Her appearance seemed somewhat familiar.