“......”

Silence. Again, silence.

Even the Pink Bear, who prided himself on having seen all kinds of ridiculous crap under the heavens, couldn’t help but be a bit at a loss for words right now.

He’d killed plenty of rabid zealots of twisted cults before, but it was his first time encountering one who defected and surrendered like this. What the hell was he supposed to do with that?

“...Don’t tell me, Boss, you don’t believe me?”

Seeing the Pink Bear stay quiet, the scar-faced man assumed it was due to distrust. So he picked up his large saber again, walked over to the withered figure he’d kicked flying earlier, and raised the blade—slash, slash, slash, another flurry of cuts.

That methodical chopping, swift and ruthless without hesitation, made one wonder if Scarface had his whole family murdered by this guy or something.

But in truth, these two had only met today for the first time. Just moments ago, they were even on the same team.

“Stop, stop, that’s enough.”

Watching the withered man about to be diced into meat paste, the Pink Bear finally couldn’t hold it in and shouted:

“I’ll believe you for now. That’s enough chopping. You mince him any finer, it’s gonna be a pain in the ass to clean up later.”

“Really?!”

Scarface’s eyes lit up immediately. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Then he eagerly ran over to the Pink Bear, grabbing his paw and shaking it furiously.

“Thank you, Boss! Thank you so much! Your grace is like being reborn! Like—!”

“Okay, okay, stop.”

The Pink Bear pulled back his paw in disgust and glanced sideways at the man:

“Let me be clear. I don’t completely trust you. I’m just sparing your life for now. If you make even the slightest suspicious move, I will absolutely, without hesitation—...

“...Hm?”

Like he suddenly sensed something, the Pink Bear gripped the man’s shoulder, feeling around carefully.

A moment later, he said in surprise:

“You’re not... tainted by the Evil God?”

“Huh? Evil God taint? What do you mean?”

“You’re not a follower of that disgusting Love God?”

“Love God?”

Scarface scratched his head in confusion. A moment later, he seemed to remember something and exclaimed:

“Ohhh, you mean that thing the High Priest was always going on about, making us worship day and night? Why the hell would I believe in that? It’s not like it paid me.”

“But if you’re not a follower, why were you mixed in with those people?”

“Oh, that? I ran into them handing out flyers while I was wandering around. Said they could help me find true love, so I went along.”

At that point, a flicker of anger appeared on Scarface’s face.

“But now I finally get it. They were just a bunch of frauds! After joining, they made me memorize some stupid scripture, attend ‘judgment’ meetings, and now they want me to do something as dangerous as invading an academy! I still haven’t even found my true love!”

The Pink Bear was even more shocked. “You infiltrated a cult base, and you still had the freedom to choose whether or not to believe?”

“Wait... don’t tell me...”

The Pink Bear narrowed his eyes, rubbing his chin as he carefully looked Scarface up and down.

“You... didn’t harbor even a shred of twisted love? So the Evil God’s influence didn’t work on you?”

“What twisted love?!”

Scarface looked offended. “Even if you’re the Boss, don’t slander my feelings like that. That was real love!”

“......”

The Pink Bear was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Wasn’t that so-called True Love Cult actually that notorious all-male congregation from Belrand?”

“Yeah, of course it was. Why else would I join?”

“Mind if I ask—who’s your ‘true love’?”

“That’d be him!”

Scarface suddenly pulled out a portrait from behind his ass, unfolded it in front of the Pink Bear, # Nоvеlight # and his face flushed with a girlish blush.

“He’s the man I’ll marry and make my precious husband one day!”

“...That’s...”

The Pink Bear leaned in, staring at the lifelike image of a handsome blond-haired man, frowning in suspicion:

“...That guy looks really familiar. Isn’t he one of the most famous students in the academy? And isn’t he somehow connected to little Celicia...”

As he trailed off, the Pink Bear glanced at Scarface’s bashful expression, and a smile slowly crept across his bear mouth.

“Well now... I think I’ve just discovered something very interesting.”

“Wait, Boss, you know him?” Scarface’s eyes sparkled. “His name’s Muen Campbell. Boss, do you know where he is?”

“Well...”

The Pink Bear’s smile grew more meaningful. He patted Scarface’s shoulder and said, “Stick with me and do a good job. Sooner or later, you’ll meet your true love.”

“Yes, sir!”

Scarface instantly straightened up, chest out, full of loyal lapdog energy.

“Oh, right. What’s your name?”

“Call me Coren.”

“All right, Coren. Go clean up the mess.”

“Understood!”

Coren accepted the cleaning tools pulled from the Pink Bear’s mouth—black and deep as a void—and scampered off to the shredded corpse of the withered man to start tidying up.

But just as he was about to begin, a chill ran down his spine.

It felt like he was being watched... by something vicious.

Coren turned his head instinctively—and saw the withered man’s severed head, still intact, still alive, glaring at him with icy eyes.

“What the hell?!”

Coren jumped in fright and instinctively reached for his saber, ready to hack again—

But then, he heard a sharp command.

“Duck!”

No time to think. Coren obeyed instantly, ducking down.

Whoosh—a gust of wind blasted overhead, sending shivers down his scalp.

The Pink Bear had somehow appeared beside the withered figure. He raised his spiked mace—smash!

With a sickening crunch, half the head exploded into pulp. Red and white goo flew everywhere. It was downright disgusting.

But even with half his head crushed, the withered man still lived. He glared at the Pink Bear with a mocking gaze.

“Kekeke... it’s already too late... my appearance here... just to confirm that thing exists... that alone was enough...”

He grinned, or what was left of his grin, as a metallic screech poured from his throat. He cried out, manic and wild:

“The moon... eternal life!”

In that instant—

From his mangled remains, the little blood that was left began to writhe on its own, pooling into a bizarre symbol.

And right beside it, unnoticed until now, sat that lantern—the one both Coren and the Pink Bear had somehow forgotten about.

Its light suddenly snuffed out.

A soft blue glow lit up from the symbol on the ground—like moonlight, but cold and silent.

The blue light pulsed rhythmically, as if syncing with something far, far away.

“Is this... a coordinate marker for the Evil God’s descent?”

The Pink Bear’s pupils contracted. No time to think—he swung his mace down hard, smashing the symbol and the surrounding ground into rubble!

But... just as the withered man had said, it was too late.

No time to worry about how Professor Prang would rage later over the precious metal tiles getting wrecked—staring upward, the Pink Bear’s expression twisted in horror.

Even separated by hundreds of meters of solid rock overhead, he felt it.

Above. In the infinite sky.

Something terrifying... was slowly turning its gaze toward them.

That gaze was overwhelming. An absolute pressure from a higher plane of existence. Even from across endless distance, the Pink Bear felt his soul tremble.

High in the heavens—a massive blue moon loomed silently.

“...Holy shit. Holy shit. They really had a Plan C?!”

Coren had clearly felt it too. His face turned deathly pale.

He began to wonder if defecting so quickly might’ve been a mistake.

Would it be too late to defect again?

Would that something-something-Moon boss be willing to forgive him?

“...Wait.”

The Pink Bear didn’t bother with Coren’s inner turmoil. He suddenly turned again, eyes locking on a new direction.

That direction was—the student dorms.

And his tone grew ever more grim.

“There’s... more than one?”