“Ha… ha…”

Noa braced both hands on her knees. Her vision darkened at the edges, and she couldn’t regulate her breathing in time—she could only gulp air in huge, ragged breaths.

Sweat soaked her bangs, strands sticking to her forehead and cheeks.

After a brief pause to catch her breath, she lifted her eyes toward the front.

The Phantom-Shadow Demon Lion’s entire body had been vaporized by her last arc-blade strike.

Only scattered bone fragments and shredded ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) bits of muscle remained—its blood had been boiled away by the searing heat of the lightning arcs.

Only after confirming the monster could no longer regenerate did Noa finally collapse into a half-kneel, drained.

Even then, her breathing stayed frantic. She couldn’t bring it under control in the slightest.

“Noa!”

Helena shouted her best friend’s name and sprinted over.

Vivian helped Yuna up, and the two of them moved over as well.

As soon as they reached her, Helena bent down, grabbed Noa by the shoulders, and immediately started checking her condition.

“Are you hurt too?!”

“I’m not hurt. Don’t worry, Helena.”

Yuna explained from the side:

“She’s just severely overdrawn. First she used too much Godspeed to save people, then she forced herself to cast World-Annihilating Thunder Cataclysm. At her age, that was completely beyond safe limits.”

Noa closed her eyes. She was too exhausted to even speak. Having Yuna explain was the only reason Helena managed to steady herself.

But overexertion wasn’t new to Noa.

Back when she fought that ancient dangerous species—the mountain ape—she had used primordial power to strengthen herself, forcing an adult body into shape. After the fight, she’d blacked out for a short time.

So even though this was still awful, at least she was conscious.

“Still,” Yuna teased, “you learned my father’s World-Annihilating Thunder Cataclysm in just a few days. I’m honestly a little jealous.”

Noa’s stamina recovered a little. She shook her head.

“No, Senior. I haven’t truly mastered Grandpa Odin’s technique… I wasted too much mana in places I didn’t need to. A spell’s proficiency doesn’t only affect its power,” she continued. “It also affects the caster.”

The higher the proficiency, the less mana it consumed—because the caster could control exactly how much mana to inject, conserving stamina.

What Noa had just done was essentially forcing World-Annihilating Thunder Cataclysm while already running on fumes. It had eaten an absurd amount of mana and physical strength.

Yuna smiled.

“Either way, my father didn’t misjudge you. You and Uncle Leon are the rare kind of geniuses our dragonkind only sees once in a long while.”

“Am I… really a genius…”

Noa’s mind drifted.

What did humans say?

What did Grandma Hera say?

Copyright complaints from the “manufacturer,” huh?

“…We should check on the others,” Noa said.

“Right.”

Helena carefully helped Noa to her feet, and the group started toward the clearing behind them.

And then—right as Noa turned around—something went wrong.

A leftover shred of flesh from the Phantom-Shadow Demon Lion twitched.

Noa caught the wet, nauseating sound instantly and snapped her head back.

The moment she turned, a tiny black shadow shot straight at her.

Noa’s stamina hadn’t recovered—she couldn’t react in time. She could only shove Helena hard to the side so her friend wouldn’t be caught in it too.

Helena stumbled, spun back, and cried out:

“Noa—?! You—”

She saw it.

A strange black thing slipped into Noa’s sleeve… and never came back out.

It was as if it vanished the instant it touched her.

Or rather…

As if it fused into her body.

“W-what… what just happened?” Helena’s voice shook. Every instinct in her screamed that whatever had touched Noa was no ordinary thing.

Noa stood there blankly, offering no response at all.

Helena tried to step closer to examine her, but Yuna grabbed her and stopped her.

“Don’t go near her, Helena. This is… bad.”

“What is it, Senior? What’s happening to Noa?” Helena’s voice broke into a sob.

Yuna’s expression hardened. She bit down and forced the words out.

“She… got latched onto by something.”

“Latched onto?”

Helena’s thoughts raced. A terrifying possibility surfaced.

Before she could finish, Noa let out a hoarse sound that cut their conversation in half.

Noa slowly bent over, raised both hands, and clutched her head. Her shoulders trembled uncontrollably, like she was in agony.

At the same time, wisps of eerie violet flame seeped out of her body.

Cold.

Wicked.

The kind of power that made people instinctively retreat.

Helena’s pupils shook violently.

“The Magic Eye… Mom said the Magic Eye appeared before, and it even possessed my grandfather for a short time…”

Yuna realized it too.

“No wonder that Phantom-Shadow Demon Lion was stronger than the rest. The Magic Eye was controlling it. But why is it here—at the border between human and dragon territory…?”

“That’s not the point, Senior.”

Helena swallowed hard, staring at Noa with terror and desperation.

“The point is, we can’t let Noa stay possessed. If we do… Noa will die.”

Thud!

Noa dropped straight to her knees.

She curled into herself, shaking violently.

The violet aura wrapped tighter and tighter around her until it completely engulfed her.

“Helena—run…! Run!!”

Just like when Poseidon had been possessed, Noa forced out words before her consciousness was fully swallowed—trying to get her friend away.

If Helena stayed, disaster would follow.

“Noa, listen to me! You won’t be controlled. You won’t lose to it, okay? Hold on, Noa—hold on!”

Helena tried to will her through it.

But this was a force even Poseidon couldn’t resist. How could Noa overpower it with will alone?

Noa’s trembling stopped.

Slowly, she straightened her back and turned her head toward them.

When Helena saw Noa’s eyes, ice crawled up her spine.

Those irises—once a clear, vivid blue—had turned completely dark violet.

And they were filled with cold, murderous intent.

“…We’re finished,” Helena whispered.

...

Noa knelt weakly inside a pitch-black cage.

She could vaguely feel her consciousness turning colder, duller—numb.

But she couldn’t resist.

That thing that shoved her into this water-cage… seemed especially skilled at using its power in a place like this.

Noa slowly opened her eyes, lids half-lowered, staring at the sphere outside the cage.

It was that thing.

In an instant, it had imprisoned her.

“Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to find a pet like a Phantom-Shadow Demon Lion?”

The eyeball hovered in front of the cage, ranting like a lunatic.

Short, stubby tentacles sprouted from its underside, letting it stand and crawl.

“Didn’t you see how magnificently I controlled it—knocking your companions down one by one? But then you killed it so easily, little girl. Didn’t your parents teach you that if you kill someone else’s pet, you have to pay for it?”

Its raspy voice grated on Noa’s nerves.

But it kept going anyway.

“Lightning magic… Your moves look familiar. Like that guy named Leon… He’s your father, right? And that dragon queen who used rainbow magic to hurt me—your mother, right? Well, isn’t this perfect, little girl? You killed the pet I finally found, and your parents did unpleasant things to me too. So now… taking away their most precious daughter—doesn’t that sound perfectly fair?”

Noa still didn’t answer.

She stayed kneeling, head lowered, silver-and-black hair spilling down to hide her face.

“Why aren’t you talking? Is it because your consciousness is already dissolving, and you don’t even have the strength to speak?”

The Magic Eye continued in a victor’s tone.

“Don’t be afraid, little girl. Death comes for everyone. Especially for souls burdened with sin and pain—only true death is painless. So you should thank me for giving you such a gentle way to die, shouldn’t you?”

Snap! Crackle!

A few thin arcs of lightning flashed in Noa’s palm… and vanished immediately.

The Magic Eye noticed and snorted.

“Hmph. Still thinking about resisting? Let me tell you, little girl—inside the mindspace, I am invincible. Because every victim’s soul—every single ‘self’—gets locked in this cage. So tell me. How are you supposed to resist me? All you can do is fade away… and watch me use your power to kill your friends. Understand?”

This time, Noa finally spoke.

She raised her head and looked at the Magic Eye.

“I used to hate the other voice in my head.”

The Magic Eye froze, not understanding what she was talking about.

“Of course, she didn’t like me either. She only wanted to take my body and do some ‘save the world’ nonsense.”

Noa spoke calmly, unhurried.

“But then… we went through a lot together. She taught me how to use stronger power. And I taught her what family and friendship mean.”

The Magic Eye’s tentacles twitched.

“You… what the hell are you even saying?”

Noa merely lifted her brows slightly.

“Nothing. Oh, right—earlier you said my mom used Soul Verdict to injure you. Correct?”

“…What are you trying to do?”

A faint sound came from behind the Magic Eye.

Every tentacle on it went rigid.

It spun around—slowly, stiffly...

And then recoiled in pure shock.

“H-how is this possible—?!”

A figure stood there.

White hair. White eyes. Expressionless.

A long, slender dragon tail arched behind her.

A skirt hem swayed lightly near the floor, and beneath it were long, pale legs.

But what truly made the Magic Eye’s fear spike was the aura—the pressure.

It had assumed she was just another dragon king.

But as that pressure closed in, the Magic Eye realized she wasn’t an ordinary dragon queen at all.

That sacred majesty felt like…

The origin point of all dragon kings.

“How many Soul Verdicts do you think you can block?” she asked coolly.

Noa slowly turned her wrist. A seven-colored glow gathered in her palm.

“One?”

She lifted her other hand and snapped her fingers casually.

In an instant, more spheres of the same seven-colored light appeared behind her.

“Or… One hundred?”