Chapter 82
Suddenly, the advancing Kobold front line collided with the academy students near the outer forest boundary of Sector 6.
The battle began instantly.
Shouts erupted across the grasslands as first-year and second-year students scrambled into formation while instructors moved to stabilize the frontline. Spiritual attacks lit the battlefield as Kobolds charged wildly into the opening engagement exactly as they had in the previous timeline.
And Nille understood immediately why he could not interfere there.
He had already measured the risks.
In the original sequence of events, no students had died during the initial Kobold clash. Injuries would happen, panic would spread, but the situation alone would not force catastrophic intervention.
But if King Lykos suddenly halted the Kobold advance now, the timeline itself could distort further.
And if events changed too drastically, the two Deans might intervene again far earlier than expected.
That possibility alone was dangerous.
The future was already unstable enough.
So Nille held position.
Then—
the atmosphere changed.
A violent pulse of cursed energy exploded above the Lycan army.
Floating nearly twenty feet in the air, Imto Dimas suddenly appeared once more.
The female Encanto looked furious.
Her expression was twisted with rage as distorted curse symbols rotated around her body, dark spiritual energy pouring outward like smoke. The moment she saw the halted Lycan advance, her tantrum erupted instantly.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
Her voice thundered across the battlefield.
The Lycan King immediately stood from his seated position atop the elevated stone ridge, murderous pressure exploding from his body.
And within that exact moment, Nille moved.
Nyx activated every concealment layer simultaneously.
Before Imto could fully react, an unseen force violently grabbed her from midair.
Her eyes widened.
Then her body was suddenly dragged at terrifying speed across the battlefield toward the western forest nearly one hundred meters away.
The movement happened so fast that even nearby Lycans barely processed what occurred.
Trees shattered.
Earth exploded upward.
And within less than three seconds, the battle inside the forest had already begun.
By the time King Lykos launched himself forward in pursuit, Imto Dimas had already crashed through multiple trees while unleashing curse spells wildly toward an invisible opponent.
Dark magic exploded through the forest.
Entire trunks twisted apart.
Roots blackened instantly.
Yet Nille remained nearly impossible to track.
Then Nyx activated the second phase of the plan.
Across the island, the hidden Celestial Cloth threads embedded into academy banners, structural fabrics, and enchanted materials simultaneously resonated.
A faint wave of spiritual energy spread outward.
Not enough to reveal the true Cloth, but enough to create false directional echoes across the island.
To Imto, it suddenly felt as though traces of Celestial Cloth energy existed in multiple distant locations at once.
Her eyes widened in confusion.
"What?!"
The signature she had sensed earlier now felt fragmented.
Distant.
Incomplete.
The being attacking her carried traces of the Celestial Cloth, but faint.
Distorted.
Different.
Not enough for certainty.
That moment of hesitation was all Nille needed.
He struck instantly from her blind side.
A concentrated disintegration slash cut across her defenses, forcing Imto backward as curse symbols shattered around her body.
But unlike Urto Dimas, Imto was an experienced combatant.
The female trickster adapted immediately.
She twisted midair and launched a powerful curse wave directly toward Nille's distorted position, tearing apart the forest around him even without fully seeing her target.
The impact shattered trees and split the ground open.
Nille barely avoided the blast by shifting position through Nyx's perception distortions.
Then, King Lykos arrived.
The enormous Lycan King crashed through the forest like a living beast of war, his fury fully unleashed now that the curse clouding his mind had been broken.
The moment he saw Imto, he attacked without hesitation.
"TRICKSTER!"
Lykos' massive claw struck with monstrous force.
Imto barely managed to raise a curse barrier, but the enraged Lycan King tore through it completely.
Blood exploded across the forest.
With one brutal motion, Lykos seized her left arm and ripped it off entirely.
Imto screamed.
And at the same instant, Nille moved again.
Using the opening created by the Lycan King, he appeared from her opposite side like a distorted phantom.
One precise strike.
A focused disintegration edge reinforced through the Celestial Cloth.
Her right arm separated cleanly from her body before she could even complete her next curse.
Everything happened within seconds.
The combination was overwhelming.
Lykos' raw overwhelming force.
Nille's invisible precision.
And Nyx's layered misdirection disrupting Imto's ability to properly identify or target her enemy.
For the first time since appearing, fear entered Imto Dimas' eyes.
Because she realized too late that she was no longer fighting a single opponent.
She was fighting enemies she could neither predict nor fully perceive.
Imto Dimas collapsed heavily against the shattered forest ground, blood pouring from both severed shoulders while fragments of broken curse symbols flickered chaotically around her body. Even injured, the female trickster still tried forcing spiritual energy outward, attempting to regenerate control over the battlefield through sheer instinct.
But Nille moved faster.
Without hesitation, he pulled a small reinforced vial from his storage pouch—a natural paralytic herbal compound he had obtained through the Rune Forge merchants long before entering Sector 6. Unlike ordinary poisons, this mixture had been specifically refined from spiritually suppressive plants capable of affecting both awakened humans and supernatural beings by disrupting nervous-system energy flow.
Nille immediately forced the liquid into Imto Dimas' mouth before she could properly resist.
At first, she tried spitting it out.
Then the effect hit almost instantly.
Her pupils violently contracted.
The curse energy surrounding her body suddenly destabilized as her muscles began locking under the herbal suppression. Even her spiritual circulation became sluggish, causing the remaining curse formations around her to flicker uncontrollably.
Imto's breathing turned uneven as the paralysis spread rapidly through her body.
And within that exact moment, Nille finally deactivated Nyx's concealment.
The distortions around his existence faded.
The warped space surrounding him stabilized.
And for the first time since the battle began—
King Lykos Kael saw him clearly.
The massive Lycan King froze briefly.
Standing before him was not some ancient spirit, hidden monster, or unknown supernatural entity.
It was a young human.
A student.
Yet the moment Lykos properly looked at Nille, he immediately understood why his senses had struggled to perceive him earlier.
The Celestial Cloth wrapped around Nille's body no longer felt like ordinary equipment. Even incomplete, it carried an ancient pressure hidden beneath its calm appearance, while traces of the Wingless Dragon essence lingered faintly around his spiritual flow.
Most unsettling of all—
Nille's expression remained calm.
Not arrogant.
Not fearful.
Simply composed.
As though fighting beside a Lycan King against an Encanto manipulator was something he had already accepted mentally long before arriving there.
Lykos slowly lowered his massive claws while studying him carefully.
Meanwhile, Imto Dimas' eyes widened the moment she finally saw Nille without the distortions fully hiding him.
Recognition struck her instantly.
Not just the Cloth.
Not just the spiritual signature.
But his face.
His bloodline.
And the resemblance connected to memories she clearly hated.
Her paralyzed body trembled slightly as fury and disbelief mixed together inside her expression.
"You…"
Her voice came out weak and uneven under the effects of the paralytic compound.
Nille calmly looked down at her.
Then spoke quietly.
"This conversation is going to happen properly now."
Nille never looked away from Imto Dimas as he spoke.
His voice remained calm, steady, and completely different from the chaos surrounding the battlefield.
"This being wanted the King of the Lycans to forcefully enter another realm and openly wage war against the Vampire race."
He gestured slightly toward the distant plains beyond the forest.
"The moment your army leaves your domain and crosses fully into the human realm, the laws binding this place would begin to break."
A brief silence followed.
"I still do not fully understand why there are twelve realms connected to this island… but right now, I am more concerned about this tricksters relationship with my Own bloodline."
King Lykos Kael remained silent while listening.
Then the massive Lycan King gave a low growl before speaking.
"You already allowed me to tear off that foolish Encanto's arm."
His glowing eyes shifted briefly toward the paralyzed Imto.
"I am willing to wait."
" and likewhat i will give you now, you shal also do the same,"
Nille spoke " with this terms , i agree."
Without another word, King Lykos turned around and deliberately walked several feet away, giving Nille privacy despite remaining close enough to intervene if necessary.
That single action alone revealed a great deal.
The Lycan King no longer viewed Nille as an immediate threat.
Meanwhile, Imto Dimas' condition was becoming increasingly unstable.
The moment she saw Nille clearly without Nyx's distortions hiding him, something inside her visibly cracked.
Her breathing became uneven.
Her eyes trembled.
And slowly, she began losing hold of her composure.
"I knew her…"
Her voice shook weakly.
"I knew Amparo…"
Nille remained silent.
He had not even asked her anything yet.
But merely seeing his face had already triggered old memories inside her.
Because despite being male, Nille shared unmistakable traits with Granny Amparo.
Not exact resemblance, but enough.
Enough that if Amparo had been born a man, she would have looked frighteningly similar to him.
The eyes.
The calmness.
Even the way he watched people silently before speaking.
Imto stared at him almost obsessively.
Then her rambling slowly became clearer.
"I loved her like a sister…"
Bitterness twisted across her face.
"But the one I loved… chose her instead."
Nille stayed quiet, allowing her to continue.
"Namaru loved Amparo."
Her voice cracked slightly.
"Even though Amparo rejected him…"
"Even though she told him to understand my feelings…"
Imto suddenly laughed weakly, but there was pain beneath it.
"That only made it worse."
"It felt like pity."
Her eyes darkened with old resentment.
"As if I needed her kindness just because the person I loved did not choose me."
The hatred inside her voice was no longer directed entirely at Amparo.
It sounded more like hatred toward herself.
Toward the past.
Toward feelings she never escaped.
Then she continued.
"Out of anger… I stole the Celestial Cloth from Namaru."
Nille's eyes narrowed slightly.
"And I gave it to Amparo."
Even now, the memory clearly haunted her.
"I told her I accepted Namaru's wishes."
"I told her I understood that he only wanted friendship."
Her expression twisted.
"But it was a lie."
A long silence followed before she spoke again.
"Namaru felt betrayed when news spread that a mortal woman possessed the Celestial Cloth."
"The relic was never meant to belong to humans."
Dark emotion flickered inside her trembling eyes.
"And because of that betrayal… Amparo's bloodline was cursed."
Nille's expression slowly hardened.
Imto continued weakly.
"The curse was meant to destroy her descendants…"
"To erase the lineage by the second generation…"
Her gaze slowly lifted toward Nille again.
But this time, there was confusion mixed with fear.
"Yet somehow… you were born."
The forest became completely silent afterward.
Even the distant battlefield noises suddenly felt far away.
Because for the first time, Nille finally understood that the suffering surrounding his bloodline had never been random misfortune.
It had begun with love.
Jealousy.
Betrayal.
And a decision involving the Celestial Cloth long before he was ever born.
Imto Dimas' expression suddenly twisted again as old hatred resurfaced inside her unstable mind.
The moment she remembered the past completely, the bitterness she had buried for generations began overflowing uncontrollably.
Her trembling body tried forcing spiritual energy outward despite the paralytic effects spreading through her system.
Dark curse symbols immediately began forming around her.
"Amparo…"
Her voice cracked violently.
"That foolish woman…"
The forest air grew colder as spiritual pressure gathered around her broken body. Even without her arms, Imto still attempted to activate a curse through pure verbal invocation alone.
Her eyes locked onto Nille with resentment mixed with grief.
"That bloodline should have disappeared long ago—!"
The curse symbols intensified.
Then she tried speaking the true curse words.
Ancient language spilled from her mouth in broken fragments as twisted spiritual energy gathered around her throat.
But the spell immediately destabilized.
The paralytic herbal compound had already disrupted her nervous system and spiritual circulation too heavily. Her breathing was uneven, her tongue partially numb, and the precision required for curse invocation collapsed before completion.
The curse shattered mid-cast.
The unstable energy violently dispersed outward, cracking nearby trees and scorching the ground before fading into nothing.
Imto coughed painfully as blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.
Frustration and fury immediately filled her expression.
"Ngh!"
She tried forcing the words again.
But once more, the spell broke apart before fully forming.
Nyx quietly observed from within the Celestial Cloth.
"Her curse system relies heavily on verbal precision and emotional synchronization."
"The paralysis is disrupting both."
Nille remained silent while watching Imto struggle.
For the first time, he truly saw her clearly.
Not as some mysterious manipulator.
Not as an untouchable supernatural being.
But as someone completely consumed by emotions she had never managed to let go of.
Love.
Jealousy.
Regret.
Hatred.
All of it had twisted together over generations until even now, she was still trying to curse a bloodline that should have already disappeared long ago.
And yet—
despite all of it—
Nille was still standing there alive.
Which meant the curse had failed to fully erase Granny Amparo's descendants.
Imto slowly realized that herself.
Her trembling eyes stared directly at Nille.
Then, almost weakly, she whispered,
"Why are you still alive…?"
Nille finally answered calmly.
"Because Granny Amparo kept living anyway."
Those simple words made Imto freeze more than any attack had.
Imto Dimas suddenly began laughing again.
Not softly.
Not bitterly.
But in a broken, unstable way that echoed unnaturally through the forest.
Her shoulders trembled violently as blood continued dripping from her severed arms, yet her eyes remained locked onto Nille with almost obsessive intensity.
"Do you even understand what she threw away?!"
Her voice cracked midway through the sentence.
"AMPARO COULD HAVE BEEN A GODDESS AMONG BABAYLAN!"
The spiritual pressure around her fluctuated wildly as fragments of broken curse symbols flickered uncontrollably around her body.
"The spirits listened to her!"
"The land answered her!"
"Even the old things beneath the roots recognized her!"
Imto's breathing became uneven as if her own memories were beginning to tear apart her sanity.
Then suddenly—
her expression twisted into fury.
"BUT SHE FELL IN LOVE!"
The scream exploded through the forest.
"A HUMAN!"
"A FILTHY JAPANESE SOLDIER!"
She laughed again immediately afterward, almost choking on her own breath.
"Can you imagine it?!"
"A woman who could touch the supernatural itself…"
"throwing everything away for a mortal man covered in blood and war!"
Her face trembled violently between hatred and grief.
Then something inside her seemed to snap completely.
"And when she learned the truth…"
Her voice suddenly became quieter.
Dangerously quiet.
"When she discovered what happened to her family…"
The curse energy around her distorted unnaturally.
"She blamed US."
Imto's pupils shook erratically.
"She cast me out…"
"Me…"
"And my twin…"
Her laughter returned again, unstable and broken.
"Do you know what she said?!"
"She said she wanted the curse to END!"
"She said no more blood should suffer because of us!"
The forest pressure intensified violently for a moment before collapsing again due to the paralytic poison disrupting her control.
Then her face suddenly twisted into visible fear.
Real fear.
"BUT I COULDN'T GO BACK!"
Her voice cracked completely.
"THAT OLD MONSTER WOULD NOT LET ME!"
The moment those words escaped her mouth, dark markings suddenly spread across her neck and jaw like burning chains.
Imto screamed.
Not from physical pain—
but from something deeper.
Binding laws.
Nille immediately noticed the reaction.
Nyx spoke instantly inside his mind.
"A restriction has activated."
Imto's body convulsed violently while claw-like curse marks tightened across her skin.
Yet despite the pain, she continued rambling through broken breaths.
"Apo Lakay…"
Her voice trembled in terror now.
"That damned Dalaketnon…"
"He bound my body…"
"He bound my soul…"
Her eyes widened irrationally as though remembering something horrifying.
"We were never free after that…"
"Never…"
"Not me…"
"Not my twin…"
She began laughing and crying at the same time.
"You think this was all about jealousy?!"
"You think I cursed Amparo just because I hated her?!"
Her face suddenly contorted into madness.
"NO!"
"WE WERE ALL TRAPPED!"
"ALL OF US!"
The curse markings spread further as though reacting to forbidden information being spoken aloud.
Imto's voice became more unstable with every sentence.
"That old tree-dwelling MONSTER kept us alive like puppets!"
"Twelve realms…"
"Twelve cages…"
"And every fool inside them thinks they're living freely!"
Her eyes locked onto Nille again.
Completely unhinged now.
"Do you know why you survived?!"
"DO YOU?!"
Blood spilled from her mouth as she screamed.
"Because something BROKE the curse when you were born!"
"Something interfered with the law itself!"
Her breathing became ragged.
Then she began whispering almost incoherently.
"Apo Lakay noticed…"
"He always notices…"
"That's why you were brought here…"
"That's why the island wants you…"
For the first time since meeting her, Nille no longer saw Imto Dimas as merely dangerous.
He was staring at someone whose mind had long ago collapsed under centuries of hatred, manipulation, obsession, and fear.
Nille turned away from Imto without another word.
He did not continue the interrogation.
He did not press for more answers.
Instead, he simply stepped back, the sound of his footsteps steady and unhurried across the broken forest ground.
That simple movement became a signal.
King Lykos Kael immediately reacted.
The massive Lycan King turned his head slowly, his glowing eyes locking onto Imto Dimas with cold clarity. Without hesitation, he began walking forward.
At the same time, Nille reached into his storage and pulled out a healing potion refined from high-grade spiritual recovery compounds. He tossed it directly toward the Lycan King.
"Your Highness."
Lykos caught it without breaking stride.
Nille's voice remained calm.
"She is yours."
There was no hesitation in his tone.
No emotional conflict.
Just a clear decision based on understanding what kind of beings they were dealing with.
King Lykos stopped briefly.
Then, without speaking, he poured the healing potion over Imto's body.
The restorative energy immediately began stabilizing her system, counteracting the paralytic effects and restoring partial mobility to her damaged spiritual pathways.
But the moment she could move again, Lykos acted.
In a single brutal motion, the Lycan King severed her legs, removing any remaining ability for escape or repositioning.
Imto screamed.
Not in pain alone, but in rage, humiliation, and fractured disbelief.
Nille watched in silence.
He had begun to understand something important about beings like this.
Sentient Malignants, or entities shaped by long exposure to violence and spiritual evolution, did not survive by being gentle. They survived by adapting through dominance, survival instinct, and brutality.
King Lykos was no exception.
He was not simply strong.
He was forged.
Molded through endless battles where only dominance meant survival. For him, manipulation of the mind was not just an attack, it was the highest form of violation. Worse than injury. Worse than pain. It was an insult to his existence as a warrior.
And Nille understood that now.
Lykos did not see himself as a beast.
He saw himself as a warrior who refused to be controlled.
Imto, despite her madness and collapsing sanity, was still strong. Even now, even broken and unstable, Nille knew he could not deliver a fatal strike on her. Her combat ability, instincts, and cursed adaptability were still far above his current level.
Even without arms and legs, she remained dangerous.
And Nille accepted that truth without pride or frustration.
Because he also understood another truth, his current strength was still limited.
He was not yet at the level where he could alter reality itself or fight entities capable of tearing existence apart.
So instead, he chose awareness.
Observation.
Adaptation.
And survival.
As the forest settled into a tense silence once again, Nille simply stood at a distance, watching the situation unfold with calm clarity, fully aware that every being present here operated on a scale far beyond ordinary conflict, and that his role in this moment was not domination…
but understanding the rules of the world he had stepped into.
As Imto Dimas' wounds were partially stabilized under the Lycan King's control, she lay weakened on the forest ground, her breathing still uneven but no longer spiraling into immediate collapse.
King Lykos Kael stood over her briefly, ensuring she would not die, but also that she would not escape.
Then, without looking away from the battlefield, he spoke in a low, steady voice.
"Young one…"
His glowing eyes shifted toward Nille.
"Are you going to hunt my kind?"
The question carried weight, half warning, half curiosity.
Nille did not hesitate.
His answer was calm.
"I do not hunt those who has done nothing vile among my kind and those can carry a conversation with me."
A brief silence followed.
Then, King Lykos laughed.
A deep, resonant sound that echoed through the forest, shaking nearby leaves and broken branches.
"Good."
He turned slightly and raised his voice.
"Varkhul."
From the shadows of the trees, a massive Lycan warrior stepped forward. His armor was heavier than the others, layered with bone plating and engraved spiritual seals. Behind him, several Lycans remained positioned with bows already aimed toward Nille, their instincts still tense despite the King's presence.
But Lykos' command was absolute.
No one fired.
No one moved.
"Let the young man pass." the King ordered.
Varkhul hesitated only for a moment before nodding.
"And withdraw the forces back to our domain."
The command spread instantly through the Lycan ranks.
The tension in the battlefield shifted.
The Kobold frontline, already shaken by earlier disruptions and the collapse of their coordination, began retreating fully as their own command structure destabilized. Without leadership pressure and with the Lycans no longer pressing forward, their morale broke completely.
A final mental command rippled through their hierarchy, and the Kobold forces withdrew, retreating back into deeper territory.
The student battle behind the gate slowly stabilized as academy forces regained control of the situation.
Meanwhile, Varkhul stepped forward from the tree line, massive and imposing, his presence heavy with restrained hostility. Yet he did not attack.
Instead, he watched Nille carefully.
Nille walked forward casually.
Not rushing.
Not resisting.
Just moving through the battlefield as though the surrounding Lycans were no longer enemies, but simply part of the environment itself.
Arrows remained aimed at him from multiple directions.
Every instinctual hunter's response in the Lycan ranks was still alert.
But none of them fired.
The King's will overruled everything.
As Nille passed Varkhul at close range, the towering Lycan warrior studied him intensely, memorizing his scent, his spiritual signature, and the strange distortion that surrounded him.
Not to target him, but to remember him.
Because beings like this were not easily forgotten.
Behind them, King Lykos turned back toward Imto once more, ensuring the situation remained contained.
And above the battlefield, the flow of war shifted completely, from invasion and chaos…
to controlled withdrawal and uneasy recognition of an unknown force that had stepped into the middle of it all and changed the outcome in a matter of moments.