After Mordiana's Arcana blotted out the sky, the people in the castle reacted immediately—
With cheers.
At the climax of a dance, a night even blacker than night suddenly swallowed the stars and moon. Heaven and earth plunged into darkness, leaving only the castle's lights glittering beneath the veil.
It was so romantic that quite a few people assumed some court Arcana Mage had been instructed ahead of time to stage a grand spectacle. The hall burst into delighted applause—until the first shriek of a Mana Spirit tore through the night.
Only then did they realize how wrong they were.
Countless Mana Spirit monsters poured out of the Shadow Realm, stampeding and trampling, shaking the ground as if it might split. Their twisted howls were so vicious they sounded like damned spirits—evil wraiths bearing a thousand years of agony—now roaring for the living.
Quinn couldn't laugh anymore. She'd always imagined this clash as a gorgeous dance in the shadows: graceful men and women waltzing in the ballroom, while Shadow Knights and assassins bled each other dry in the castle's dark corners.
But looking at it now?
This wasn't an assassination.
This was a fucking war.
And worse—this social banquet had gathered more than half of Zijinghua's elite. Out of respect for and trust in the Empress, most nobles had traveled light, bringing only one or two attendants. Their truly formidable private guards had been left behind in the capital.
The nobles held it together at first. Then they realized their guards were out of contact—and panic finally spread in earnest. Fast, unstoppable, rising like a tide.
Quinn immediately sent an emergency distress signal to the Red Dragon Legion, but as expected, it vanished without a trace. The curtain of night sealing off the castle seemed to block all magical signals.
"Don't bother, sis."
Linen's voice came through a private magical channel in Quinn's mind.
"That thin layer of night is basically the Shadow Realm made manifest. It's another space entirely. Getting communication magic across a dimensional wall isn't that easy. And I'd bet to outsiders… this place still looks like a bright, festive scene."
Quinn frowned, looking toward her brother—the only one who seemed genuinely calm in the chaos.
"Linen, you know more than I thought."
"I only just put it together," Linen said—and he wasn't lying.
The Eight Great Houses rebellion was a plotline that, in the original story, shouldn't have happened until much later. But the pressure he and the Empress had put on the Eight Great Houses must have triggered a butterfly effect and dragged it forward.
Fortunately, Linen had stayed cautious. He'd guessed that if the plot advanced early, the attackers might not match the original. That was why he'd asked Novie to stay with the garrison patrols—so he could get the enemy's information the moment the attack began.
And as he'd expected, the powerhouse who, in the original, would have aided the Eight Great Houses—an expert in plague and death Arcana—didn't appear.
Instead, the one who came was the Phantasmal Shadow Calamity, Mordiana—master of warped spatial magic. In other words: shadow magic.
Which fit the Tower of Chronomancy's petty, vindictive temperament perfectly.
Back in the later stages of the Spring Cup, Linen had asked Sorgana to flood an entire lava dimension's magma into the mage tower of the mental-type Arcana Mage who'd tried to control Novie—burning that bastard into ash.
And in return, the Tower of Chronomancy sent out the one most skilled in summoning and warped spatial Arcana—shadow magic.
Mana Spirits were twisted monsters born when magic fused with living beings in the real world. And the shadow plane itself was a warped, entangled dimension—crossing between planes wasn't something just any creature could do.
All Mordiana had to do was toss things into the shadow plane, then summon them back out. What returned would always be Mana Spirits—driven mad by the Shadow Realm's insanity and the warped mana that clawed all the way down into the marrow.
But in a way, this was perfect.
A divine-magic system—and the weapon called Maxim, which was really a Gatling—worked just as well against a Shadow Queen.
The Mana Spirits' roars drew closer. Outside, soldiers were already shouting, steel ringing with the sound of slaughter. Quinn took a deep breath, her chest heaving.
She had a hundred questions for Linen, but she crushed her curiosity and asked the only thing that mattered.
"So, Linen… you have a way to deal with those monsters, right?"
"Of course."
Linen nodded.
"We just have to hold."
Quinn froze for a beat—then it clicked.
They were near the capital of Zijinghua. Even if Mordiana could sever space itself and cut the castle off from the outside world, if the isolation lasted too long, the capital—or the Red Dragon Legion—would investigate immediately.
The moment either side learned what was happening inside, the ruler of the Shadow Realm would face the full fury of the Zijinghua Empire. And Quinn knew at least five powerhouses in the capital's vicinity alone who were on par with Headmaster Sorgana.
In the original story, that necromancy Grand Arcana Mage had also cut the castle off first—then launched the attack.
If this Shadow Queen didn't want to get dogpiled by five or more Eighth-Ring powerhouses, her best option was a surprise strike and immediate withdrawal.
Or something like it.
But then came the problem: "hold" was easy to say, impossibly hard to do.
The castle's garrison was tiny. Even with the Shadow Knights Quinn had brought, it wasn't nearly enough. And the Mana Spirit horde was practically endless.
Were they supposed to send these pampered nobles—lords and ladies—to fight Mana Spirits with their own hands?
"There's still a way."
As if reading Quinn's thoughts, Linen smiled—sharp and sly, like everything had already been measured.
"This is our esteemed Mother's summer palace. How could it not have defenses against an attack?"
Linen's hint hit Quinn like a flash of light.
Right—this was the royal residence where the Empress stayed and rested in summer. By Zijinghua's regulations, any palace the sovereign frequently used had to be equipped with—
A city-class Arcana barrier.
It couldn't compare to the nation-guarding barrier around the capital, but it was still a barrier crafted by several Grand Arcana Mages and countless artificers. For defense against an assault, it was more than enough.
And the castle would normally store a supply of Mana Stones to support the barrier's activation.
Quinn immediately dispatched Shadow Knights to activate it. She was just about to breathe—
When Linen spoke again.
"Still not enough, sis."
Again, Linen preempted her thoughts, his expression turning grave.
"The enemy is a Grand Arcana Mage. Their experience and spell repertoire are beyond what ordinary people can imagine. If we just raise the city-class barrier, she'll change tactics—or simply hammer it until the barrier's reserves burn out. The moment it fails, even for an instant, we're finished."
"You little brat…"
After being jerked around by Linen one too many times, even Quinn felt a spark of irritation. Smiling sweetly, she leaned in and grabbed his cheeks with both hands, yanking them outward.
"This won't do, that won't do—are you seriously messing with your big sister at a time like this?"
"Calm down—calm down!"
Linen hissed through the pain. When he finally wriggled free, his lips curled into a wicked grin.
"We can't hold if we only defend, because the Mana Spirit tide won't stop. But if someone can restrain their offensive… doesn't that solve it?"
"…"
Quinn felt like she'd heard that before.
To keep the nobles off the battlefield, they needed the city-class barrier. To raise the barrier, they needed someone to restrain the Mana Spirits' assault. To restrain the Mana Spirits' assault, the soldiers and Shadow Knights weren't enough—
Meaning they'd still need people to fight.
"No, sis. I guarantee it." Linen's tone was firm. "Give me fifty percent of the Mana Stone stockpile, and I can restrain the Mana Spirits' offensive."
Quinn frowned at his confidence—and shook her head.
"No. Raising the city-class barrier alone already takes half the stored Mana Stones. If I hand the rest to you, who maintains the barrier?"
"Heh. That depends on whether our great Empress can take it," Linen said, the smile at his lips turning unreadable.
"As the strongest one here, paying the mana cost to maintain the barrier shouldn't be a problem for her, right?"
"Please relay my request to Your Majesty, sis. We're short on time—now."
Only then did Quinn get the feeling of the blade finally showing itself.
So everything Linen had said was just setup—pushing toward one goal: making the Empress pay the barrier's cost.
Or rather—he'd been aiming for this from the start.
A city-class barrier's drain was terrifying. If a low-tier Arcana Mage tried to supply it, it wouldn't matter how many you piled on—everyone would be emptied in an instant. Only truly powerful knights or Arcana Mages could shoulder that burden.
And the Empress was, undeniably, the best choice.
But if she output that much mana, the Empress would become defenseless—vulnerable to a degree that could only be described as an emperor squatting on a golden toilet.
And Quinn hesitated.
As someone who lived for the spectacle, helping Linen mess with their mother was practically her sacred duty—but in a life-or-death moment, as commander of the Shadow Knights, she knew the Empress mattered more to the empire than everyone in this castle combined.
She was just about to refuse—
When a cool, indifferent voice cut into their shared channel.
"That's fine, Quinn. Tell him: I can pay the barrier's cost. But I have one condition."
Mother?!
Quinn stared, startled, at the Empress on the throne—who was looking this way. Somehow, she'd been listening in on Quinn's exchange with Linen.
And she wanted to change the terms?
As Quinn's mind raced, the Empress's message continued.
"The condition is this: you don't need to keep the other half of the Mana Stones either. Give them all to him. The cost to deploy the barrier and maintain it— I will bear it alone."
"No!"
Quinn hadn't even finished processing when Linen's voice snapped back.
"You—sis, tell her that condition is unacceptable. She's not even a pure Arcana class. If she pays everything, does that lunatic want to be drained dry?!"
Why does Linen sound like he can hear Mother, too?
Quinn knitted her brow, about to speak—
"Tell him," the Empress cut in, "I can."
"Tell her," Linen fired back, "she can't!"
[Congratulations on successfully being rejected by the hidden heroine.]
[Reward obtained...]
What the hell, even that counts—but this was not the time to farm rewards!
"Enough!"
Quinn broke in, half laughing, half wanting to scream, forcing the absurd, urgent, faintly childish quarrel to stop.
"Look at the situation we're in. Can't you two just talk directly?"
The voices in her head both fell silent.
Then—
"Tell her she can't."
Quinn: "…"
I'm tired. End me.
"I am the emperor," the Empress said coolly. "If I say I can, then I can."
Linen opened his mouth, then clenched his teeth hard—not because the argument was too stupid to endure, but because it was already too late.
A pillar of scarlet light blasted into the sky. It rose above the castle spires, then scattered into countless streaks that rained down—covering the entire castle. Because of the nature of its mana source, the defensive barrier carried a faint scorching attribute. Mana Spirits that slammed into it met a sharp—
Szzzt—
And were instantly vaporized.
A city-class anti-enemy Arcana defensive barrier, with the Empress as its energy core…
Had deployed.
The soldiers facing a seemingly endless beast tide finally gained a moment to breathe. Some shouted long live the Empress in wild relief; others collapsed silently to the floor, staring through the barrier as the beasts outside pressed against it, the two sides locked in a wordless standoff.
Everyone in the hall who possessed mana looked toward the Empress on the throne with a mixture of awe and something harder to name. Her eyes were closed now, and a vast pressure of mana spread outward from her like a tide.
On her exposed arms, faint fish-scale plates pushed through her skin—armor guarding her body.
But they weren't red.
They were blue.
Linen frowned.
He recognized those scales: the mark of Zijinghua's second emperor—the Blue King's blessing. He hadn't expected his most headstrong, most brute-force mother to have earned the recognition of that wise, tranquil ancestor.
And among dragons, the Blue Dragon was famed for one thing above all—
Overwhelming mana reserves.
Even so…
It still wasn't enough.
If she were a true Blue Dragon King, holding up a city-class barrier alone would be nothing. But this wasn't her own power—only a blessing.
They had to move fast. Before the Empress ran out of steam, they had to stop the Mana Spirit legion's assault.
"Sis, I'm heading to the outer perimeter," Linen said. "The castle's internal order is in your hands."
Quinn nodded. At this point, there was no room left to hesitate.
"I'll move everyone to another hall and clear this one out. The Shadow Knights carrying the stored Mana Stones will meet you at the outer wall."
"And as for guarding the hall…"
Quinn frowned.
That should've been her responsibility—but while the city-class barrier had been raised, a handful of Mana Spirits had still slipped through into the castle. Coordinating the Shadow Knights' defensive contraction, reinforcing the soldiers, and clearing those Mana Spirits—those were all Quinn's work.
Now light shone in her silver eyes, and fine veins stood out at her temples. The girl blessed by a Silver Dragon—whose energy had always felt inexhaustible—felt, for the first time, the suffocating weight of responsibility.
"For that," Linen said with a cold little laugh, "isn't there someone perfectly suited?"
His gaze pierced the crowd to the far end of the hall, where a man stood in silence, watching.
"Lord Reinhardt, I leave Her Majesty's protection to you."
"So it's me after all," Reinhardt said, eyes narrowing slightly as he broke eye contact with Linen.
"Then thank you for Your Highness's trust. I will not disgrace the duty."
From any angle, Reinhardt was the best possible guard.
The second-strongest person in the castle after the Empress. A peak seventh-tier Grand Knight. An old commander tempered by countless battlefields.
And yet—
How did Linen dare choose him?
Wasn't he supposed to be a suspect?
Quinn stared at Linen, unable to understand. Linen only shook his head, signaling her not to ask.
And there was no time to ask anyway. He could already hear the heavy machine guns he'd given Novie opening fire—meaning Novie had followed his instructions and begun pushing outward, expanding the defensive perimeter to resist the tide.
"Trust me, sis."
They held each other's gaze for a few seconds. Seeing the resolve in the boy's eyes, Quinn took a deep breath, blinked, and even with her temples throbbing, forced her trademark teasing smile back onto her lips.
She ruffled Linen's hair hard, then leaned close to whisper in his ear.
"Of course I trust you. You're my only little brother, you little bastard~"
"If that old man stabs us in the back, then at least our whole family dies together—nice and tidy. Let Lloyd Norton, that stupid piece of shit, come sprinting back to the capital and live with regrets forever. If I become a ghost, I'm gonna be a shrieking maid for sure!"
Linen smiled, turned, and left the hall.
And in that moment, the Empress—eyes still closed, right hand loosely clenched atop the throne's armrest—lifted her arm slightly.
Instantly, an invisible ripple swept through the hall and settled onto Linen as he was about to depart.
[Because the Host is being influenced by external interference (The Yellow King's Blessing), you may pay the reward obtained earlier to temporarily unlock follow-up abilities in the Dragonification skill tree.
[Accept?]
[Congratulations, Host. Acceptance successful. Temporary Blessing has been issued.]
[Unlocked]:
The Azure King's Blessing (Mana)
The Emerald King's Blessing (Vitality)
The Black King's Blessing (Scales and armor)
The Red Dragon Queen's Blessing (Full Red Dragon-line Blessings).
[Note]: My final order is that you are not allowed to die.
Linen froze.
Then he laughed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
He'd been sulking at that woman, trying to provoke her by refusing—only to get refused right back.
But that order…
That was one hell of an order to refuse.
---
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