“Come on, isn’t this a bit much?”

The moment that breathtaking figure in an ornate white dress stepped out of the Holy Scripture, Muen felt a chill crawl down his spine.

Because he had also seen the radiant, blinding crown above her head.

A Coronated One!

She was actually a Coronated One!

The Love God had actually sent a Coronated One to hunt him down?

No way, right? In your eyes I’m nothing more than an insect. Even if I pissed you off, would you really send a whole bulldozer to run me over?

...Wait.

No. That’s not right.

Muen quickly realized.

The Love God’s goal—or rather, the real goal—wasn’t him.

Because that Coronated One hadn’t so much as glanced at him since appearing.

She had been staring beneath the Academy this entire time, as if gazing through the thick layers of bedrock, fixated on something.

In those immaculate, divine, yet incomparably hollow eyes, there flickered a trace of greed that didn’t belong to her.

She was seeking something. Something extremely important.

But that didn’t stop her from crushing this eyesore of a bug on the side.

Her arms fell naturally at her sides—yet her pinky finger moved ever so slightly.

In the next instant, Muen felt like an invisible dump truck had smashed into his chest. A massive force slammed into him. With a stifled grunt, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Just a flick of her finger—and Muen was gravely wounded.

But as the Purity Saint's pinky twitched again, ready to finish him off with a casual death-blow—

A figure suddenly appeared beside him.

Professor Garan.

He grabbed Muen by the shoulder and casually tossed out a handkerchief.

The handkerchief instantly expanded, enveloping the two of them.

Then, as if performing a magic trick, the cloth that had shown two human outlines suddenly lost all support and fluttered gently to the ground.

They vanished. The great escape.

The Purity Saint withdrew her gaze.

She no longer paid any mind to the fleeing Garan and Muen.

There would be plenty of time to crush that wretched little bug later. For now, there was something far more important to do.

The Purity Saint suddenly raised her hand—those long, pale, flawless fingers.

She aimed them toward the entire Academy beneath the night sky.

Ten fingers closed inward, forming a loose grip.

As if she were seizing the wedge that pinned heaven and earth together.

Then—with a wrenching pull!

The earth shook.

The entire Academy trembled. A barely visible fracture appeared at the perimeter of the school, rapidly snaking outward until it encircled the whole compound—and sealed shut.

Within that crack, the very foundation of the Academy began to rise, as though some overwhelming force capable of uprooting the heavens was tearing the Academy itself out by the roots!

“...Sigh.”

A weary breath.

One hand supporting a cane, the other holding a pink star-shaped magic wand, Professor Prang now stood before the Purity Saint.

“...Been a long time, Belena.”

Professor Prang looked at the Purity Saint with a dark expression. In those ancient eyes of his, a sadness lingered that even time could not erase.

“My proudest student.”

Though the Purity Saint still appeared to be a youthful girl on the outside, ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ as one of the few top-tier powerhouses of the human realm, she had long since ceased to be young.

Even Pink Bear—or Dean Hatherway herself—were technically her juniors.

When she entered the Academy as a student, Professor Prang had just begun his teaching career. To be able to train such an outstanding Saintess had been a source of immense pride for him back then.

Even now, among all the students Prang had ever taught, very few had ever come close to matching the accomplishments of that famed Saintess.

But it wasn’t because she had achieved so much or attained such a lofty position that he cared so deeply.

It was because, during those years they had spent together when she was still just a girl, her innocence, her liveliness, her kindness—those jewel-like noble qualities—had truly touched him.

Though he had been the teacher, he had learned far more from her.

That’s why he had always loved this child—as a father would love a daughter—watching her grow from a fledgling into a swan that soared through the skies. All he’d felt was pride.

“...I just never imagined that, after all these decades, we’d meet again like this.”

Professor Prang gripped his cane tighter. The veins on the back of his hand bulged.

“‘Fate’ is far too cruel a word.”

“Uwaaaaah...”

The Purity Saint’s hollow eyes showed no emotion—only icy stillness.

But her expression only grew more sorrowful.

“So that’s it... To control you completely, the Evil God has nearly erased your consciousness.”

Seeing Belena like this, Professor Prang suddenly understood.

Then—on that weathered, grief-stricken face—appeared a smile.

“...Yes. This is you.”

“This is the Purity Saintess—worshiped and revered by countless people, with statues still standing in her honor across the lands!”

“If you still had your consciousness, you would definitely resist the Evil God to your dying breath.” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“So for that God to control you... it had no choice but to erase you entirely.”

Even controlled like this—this Saintess still cried.

She wept in sorrowful protest, resisting the sacred hymn that seemed able to corrode thought itself and seep into every corner of the mind.

“...Good, good! That’s my student!”

Professor Prang burst into laughter—but the corners of his eyes, dry for decades, suddenly shimmered.

“If my student was this brilliant... then I, as her teacher, can’t afford to disgrace her.”

With that, Professor Prang stomped his cane downward with force.

Even though he stood atop thin air, the cane made a sound like colliding steel—resounding with majesty.

“Your teacher is here to save you, Belena!”

Before the words even fully left his mouth—

In that moment—

Deep beneath the soil of Saint Maria Academy, enormous gears began to turn, meshing with one another. Colossal mechanisms collided and shifted. Endless magic was drawn from the earth’s ley lines and flowed through vein-like pipes, surging into the vast underground network beneath Saint Maria.

Then—

At the Academy’s perimeter, twelve towering black spires erupted from the ground, gleaming with a cold metallic luster and kicking up choking clouds of dust.

Towers.

Twelve jet-black towers rose.

And the moment they stood upright, the ground beneath Saint Maria quaked. The Academy’s already-floating foundation was slammed forcefully back down.

This time, solid and unmoving. Not even the slightest tremble remained.

And after that—on the surface of those black towers, arcane symbols lit up. The immense magic drawn from the ley lines, under the control of the Grand Rites system, layered upon itself, forming a magic architecture that grew and multiplied, ultimately shaping a hemispherical barrier that enveloped the entire Academy.

In the sky above, the massive blue moon—still growing in size—finally halted its advance.

But Professor Prang knew... this was only temporary.

Even fully activated, the second-tier Grand Rites couldn’t stop a maddened Evil God from descending directly.

But then again... that wasn’t the point.

All this was only meant to stall it.

After all, how could he let anyone else interrupt this fleeting reunion with the student he loved?