Sunken into an eternal coma, Holenia was nothing more than a lifeless vessel—a pale canvas of cold flesh cradled in the Crown Prince's arms. He carried her like a shattered legacy, striding through the duchy's corridors which had ignited into a storm of ducal fury. Duke Eckard did not merely roar; his voice was a thunderous bombardment that echoed through the halls, carrying a death omen for anyone who dared stand in his path.
"Where were they?!" The words tore from his throat like shards of broken glass, his bloodshot eyes scanning the trembling faces of the staff. "Where were those apes who call themselves 'teachers' while my daughter fought alone?! Did they hide like cornered rats in their classrooms while she bled?!"
In the medical wing, Holenia lay upon her deathbed, her fragile frame buried beneath thick layers of medical bandages soaked in a deep, crimson hue. Healing mages raced against time, their mana dancing desperately over her jagged wounds, but their faces reflected a dark, inescapable truth.
The Head Mage stepped forward, his hands stained with her blood and shaking uncontrollably. "My Lord Duke..." he murmured, his voice choked with dread. "The injuries... they transcend the limits of conventional magic. Her skull is severely damaged, and her energy... it is leaking like water pouring from a shattered glass. The vessel for her power is broken, and we cannot restore it."
In a predatory blur, the Duke pounced. His iron fist crushed the mage's collar, hoisting him into the air like a porcelain doll. The veins in the Duke's forehead bulged like barbed wire, and his rage-contorted face loomed inches from the terrified sorcerer.
"I do not want an explanation of her condition, nor do I want excuses!" His voice was a hiss more terrifying than any scream. "I did not bring you here to diagnose her death, but to snatch her back from it! Bring her back to life... or I will rip your cursed head off and hang it upon the Academy's gates before you can even blink!"
At the Imperial Academy, the silence of the grave prevailed.
The Crown Prince sat upon his temporary throne, shrouded in an aura of lethal cold that froze the blood in the veins of the gathered professors. They found no justification, no excuse for their collective disappearance; they had all fallen victim to a treacherous magical barrier woven by the hidden hands of the attackers.
The Crown Prince looked at them, his eyes burning with a demonic glint, red sparks dancing in his pupils. The smile that split his face from ear to ear was not one of satisfaction, but the mask of an executioner savoring the agony of his victims before the slaughter.
"I believe you have grown lazy..." he began softly, a calm that preceded a bloody hurricane, a voice carrying the hunger of a beast eager to kill. "Have you forgotten how to act in 'serious' situations? Has the luxury of the Academy made you forget the taste of blood and danger? Perhaps..." He paused, his smile widening to reveal his teeth, "Perhaps you need retraining... a training I shall personally oversee, so you may learn the true meaning of the word 'responsibility'."
In his dark mind, he wasn't thinking of punishment, but of "art." Should he start by severing their fingers, one by one, or flay the skin from their bones while they still breathed to serve as a warning to all? His excessive sadism, usually whispered of in palace halls, was about to manifest into a gore-stained reality.
Far, far beyond the realm of the living, Holenia walked through a valley of absolute darkness, a thick mist coiling around her spiritual form like a shroud.
"What...?" she whispered, her voice sounding strange and hollow. "Have I died again? Did that miserable life end this quickly?" She let out a dry, emotionless laugh. "Fine. I was desperate to leave that place anyway. But..." She looked around as the darkness swallowed everything. "Where is the exit?"
She raised her hand toward the black void and cried out bitterly, "Hey! You up there! If you're listening, get me out of this hell! Isn't this supposed to be the end?!"
When no answer came, she sat down, scratching the back of her head in frustration. "Damn my wretched luck. Everything is terrible. I wonder if punching would work in a place like this? Probably not... from what I can see, this place is resistant to physical force."
Suddenly, the silence of death was pierced by a faint sob—a weeping so heart-wrenching it shook the very mist. Holenia turned sharply to see a scene that froze her soul.
There was a young girl with short brown hair and brown eyes drowned in tears. This wasn't Holenia; it was Hanna... Hanna from her previous life. Suddenly, a giant, dark incarnation of a man appeared—a massive, cruel figure. With total indifference, his huge hand clamped onto the small girl's hair.
He dragged her behind him like a tattered bag, his voice echoing like thunder: "You are the cause of all my problems! I wish you were never born! I wish your mother had killed you before I ever had to look at your cursed face!"
The scene shifted like burning film. The girl, Hanna, sat in a dark corner, knees pressed to her chest, her body trembling violently. She was whispering in despair: "I'm sorry... I'm sorry I was born... I'm sorry I exist..."
Suddenly, familiar voices, slick with malice and cunning, whispered directly behind Holenia's ear: "Not such a poor girl after all, is she, Holenia?"
Holenia turned to see a figure manifesting from the fog. It was Jane, her old friend... or so she had thought. Jane stepped forward with a jaundiced smile, bowing her head toward the ground, her voice an artificial drone saturated with falsehood: "Hanna... I have truly missed you, my only friend. Don't you want revenge on those who tortured you? Don't you want to destroy everyone who hurt you?"
Jane reached out to touch a lock of Holenia's hair, and in her subconscious, cries of victory echoed: [Hahaha, Hanna will be under my control now! Yes, yessss! I will use her hatred to rule!]
But that internal monologue was shattered by hysterical laughter that shook the foundations of the black limbo.
"Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"
Hanna (Holenia) lifted her face, a terrifying smile etched onto her lips, her eyes gleaming with a light Jane had never seen before—a destined, demonic brilliance.
Jane froze, the blood draining from her face. "H-Hanna...?"
Hanna spoke, her voice as cold as the grave: "Did you enjoy the show? The show of my miserable past? Heh... you really are an idiot, Jane."
In a movement faster than thought, Hanna's hands lunged like talons onto Jane's throat, hoisting her off the ground with supernatural strength. Jane's face turned a dark, bruised blue in seconds, her legs kicking desperately in the air as she tried to break Hanna's inhuman, iron grip.
"How... How?!" Jane asked in a broken voice, struggling to escape her crushed throat. "How did you... escape my control?! The System... The System said you were mine!"
Hanna leaned in, her face inches from Jane's dying eyes, her pupils bleeding into a deep, vivid crimson. "I was never under your control to begin with. I was just playing with you, you little rat."
Jane gasped in total despair, "What... i-impossible...!"
Hanna's laugh grew more savage. "You entered my mind, Jane. Hahaha... Now, I'll show you who I really am. For there is no system, no mana, and no law to protect you here..."
The world dissolved into absolute black—a darkness deeper than death itself. But what truly terrified Jane, what caused her breath to seize and her mind to shatter, was the entity manifesting behind Hanna.
It was a colossal black shadow, an ancient being that stretched into infinity. It had no fixed shape, only two glowing red eyes burning with eternal hatred and a wide, demonic maw that peeled back to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth, ready to devour existence itself.
Jane struggled frantically, her screams tearing through the silence: "Get it away from me! Don't come closer! Get this demon away! Nooooo!"
Hanna gave a cold, parting smile, her face looking truly monstrous.
"You haven't seen anything yet... Welcome to Hell."
The shadow's maw unhinged and swallowed Jane's final screams.
"No... no no... NOOOOOOOOOOO—!"