Chapter 62

23rd floor of the Magic Tower, Professor Louina’s office.

The night was already deep, but she was still writing the verification plan for Deculein’s thesis.

Crack!

Her fountain pen broke.

Drip— drip—

Only then did she notice the blood dripping from her nose to the document.

“…”

Louina stared blankly at the stains each drop left. Nausea enveloped her, and her heart pounded as if it was hammering against her chest.

At the bottom of her consciousness, a bizarre feeling soared, causing her to look out the window involuntarily, where she found the moon swallowed up by gray clouds outside.

The world had been engulfed in darkness, much like the strange woman reflected in the glass pane.

“…?”

Her eyes were dyed red.

Did the drops of blood come in the form of tears? She thought for certain it was a nosebleed.

Whooosh…

As she pondered about it, unidentified particles rose from her shoulder, creating a smoky atmosphere where ashes seemed to be scattering.

“!”

Louina hurriedly looked over at her shoulder, but she found nothing out of the ordinary.

Her surroundings were completely normal.

“Am I going crazy…” Louina sighed.

Well, she had been through a lot lately.

Deculein kidnapped her and wasn’t fed anything for almost a week as his captive. She was on the verge of starving to death when she finally agreed to take a humiliating oath.

It was quite a miracle, her mind still being intact.

“I should go home and rest.”

Tap— Tap—

Louina organized the pile of documents she had created and put them in her bag. She then turned off the lights, closed the door to her office, and left the tower.

Wriggle—

Amid the darkness, an unknown pulse continued.

* * *

Wednesday, 2 PM.

Epherene and her group were working on the group project in the tower’s study room. However, since it was already in its final stages, they decided to slow down their pace a little.

“One Card!”

“Damn! You’re fucking mean!”

Eurozan, Dane, and Zeppel.

The three guys played a card game, Sylvia closed her eyes, still preoccupied with the project, and Epherene read a letter.

[To Epherene Luna.

I got your letter.

I believe in your talent, and I hope that you will as well. Always remember to walk not on the self-righteous path but the strong and unwavering one.

If you put all your heart into it and spare no effort, good results will surely await you.]