Priestess of The Red Lotus (5)

"Look over there!"

Several faculty members and Imperial Knights hurried towards the direction where the mana of the Nameless Hero had been felt.

One of the faculty spotted a magic beast crossing the night sky.

The rest of the group caught sight of the creature and their eyes widened.

"The White Dragon…!"

"It has appeared, indeed."

The beast flew into the night sky, exuding nobility.

Its white wings were permeated with opalescent frost.

Undoubtedly, it was the mythical White Dragon.

The very same familiar that the Nameless Hero rode when the Abyssal Sea Monster emerged.

It was smaller than that time, possibly because its master hadn't summoned it in its full form.

Dorothy, who was flying away from the faculty members using starlight mana, suddenly stopped and looked at the White Dragon.

The mystical creature made its way to a figure standing on the clock tower and landed beside him.

The White Dragon's cold mana briefly illuminated its master, standing against the moonlight.

Everyone's jaw dropped as they gazed at him.

He was over two meters tall. The man was clad in a robe that barely contained his muscular physique.

Though details were hard to discern from a distance, the presence of the White Dragon familiar was proof enough of his identity.

"The Nameless Hero…"

The mysterious archwizard who protected Märchen Academy.

He seemed to be scanning the academy, then quickly vanished beyond the clock tower, along with the White Dragon.

"Damn it! Let's split up here. We're going after that man!"

"Right now?! The appearance of the Nameless Hero means that a demon might be on the loose!"

"It's probably over by now! I can't feel any mana!"

The Nameless Hero's mana had long since faded. That meant, that even if the demons had appeared, they would have been quickly eliminated.

"Remember, one of our orders was to uncover the identity of the Nameless Hero. Your academy should focus on understanding the situation.

"Ack! Wait a moment!"

A few Imperial Knights turned toward the clock tower, pursuing the Nameless Hero.

The Nameless Hero was a powerful archwizard capable of destroying the world. Even the Imperial Knights, experts in combat, were powerless against him.

They needed to approach him with caution.

There was an air of impatience since they hadn't been able to identify him since they were dispatched to Märchen Academy.

By now, the hero was already far away. It would be difficult to catch up to him.

The faculty continued in the direction that the Nameless Hero's mana was initially felt. They had to find out what had happened and make sure no student was harmed.

Meanwhile.

"…"

Dorothy gazed at the top of the clock tower where the Nameless Hero had been, then pressed her witch hat firmly to her head and flew back in the direction she had come from.

Thanks to the power of [All in the World], it was very simple to guess Isaac's intentions.

It was Kaya Astrea, not Isaac, who had been standing on top of the clock tower a moment ago.

It seemed that Isaac had given her a magic cloak of disguise to create an alibi for himself.

And by sending his familiar, the White Dragon, he made people believe that the disguised Kaya was the Nameless Hero.

He must have already planned an escape route. If it was Isaac, it was guaranteed.

Dorothy's mana was too high to be fooled by such an illusion. Therefore, Isaac likely decided that it would be better to leave the robe to Kaya by process of elimination.

"Uhh."

She was worried that Isaac might have been injured.

Dorothy picked up her pace.

***

In the dueling ground, far from the academy.

Dorothy had flown quickly to where she first felt Isaac's formidable power, and her eyes widened when she arrived.

In the center, Miya lay sprawled like a corpse, barely breathing. She was covered in bruises. She looked like she was violently attacked by someone.

A faint wisp of fire mana floated around her. It looked like Miya's fire elemental familiar was in a state of unconsciousness.

At the far end of the ground, against the wall, Isaac laid collapsed amidst the debris.

It was unlikely that Isaac was responsible for what happened to Miya, as he could only exert tremendous power when fighting against demons.

Therefore, it was certain that the Shadow Demon within Miya, which Isaac had mentioned beforehand, was the one who had brought her to such a state.

"Isaac!"

Dorothy knelt in front of Isaac. Worried, she called out to him, not as 'President', but by his name.

For some reason, Isaac was pretending to be unconscious despite being fully awake.

However, Isaac was not in good condition. His uniform was scorched, with visible burn marks. His right arm was completely charred, indicating severe injuries to his body.

"Isaac, you…"

Dorothy looked down at Isaac in shock and helped him to his feet.

Slowly, he opened his eyes.

"Senior, I'm supposed to be unconscious…"

Though he was joking, Isaac was likely in considerable pain from the burns. Despite trying to hide it, his cold sweat was undeniable.

Dorothy's face was filled with sorrow. It was a stark contrast from her usual playful demeanor.

She felt remorseful for not being at the scene until Isaac was in this condition.

"Why did you push yourself so hard?"

"I didn't really push myself—"

"Would you want to see me bloodied and burned?"

Swallowing back tears, Dorothy casted a healing spell on Isaac.

The fact that Isaac had been injured from overexerting himself caused Dorothy gut-wrenching pain.

"Ah, uhm… I'm sorry."

Isaac was taken aback by Dorothy's seriousness.

Feeling guilty, he quickly apologized and briefly explained the situation

He had already seen that the faculty was approaching using [Clairvoyance]. As the sound of a group moving through the forest drew near, he decided to postpone the details until later.

Soon, a dozen faculty members crossed the forest and reached the dueling ground. They were momentarily surprised but quickly began to manage the situation.

"We found the Priestess Miya and Isaac in the closed dueling ground with signs of battle. I will shoot up a pillar, so please call the healing team immediately.

The faculty who reported the situation shot a pillar of mana into the sky using a magic tool.

While the mana density and power of the pillar were negligible, the device effectively fulfilled its role by sending a visible signal through the night sky.

"Dorothy, what happened here?"

"I don't know. I just got here too."

The faculty used healing magic on Isaac and Miya for emergency treatment. Advanced healing magic would likely require a visit to the academy's hospital or a church.

Soon, the healing team arrived at the dueling ground, accompanied by some members of the Imperial Knights. In between them were the Student Council and its president, Alice Carroll.

The healing team prepared to transport Isaac and Miya on stretchers. Meanwhile, Alice went straight to Isaac.

"Are you okay, Baby?"

"Senior Alice… Yeah, more or less."

"Looks like you had a big fight?"

"More importantly, why did she end up like that…? She was fine before I passed out."

Isaac looked at Miya with a questioning expression, feigning innocence.

Alice shook her head.

"I don't know. You should focus on getting treated for now."

"…Okay."

The healing team escorted Isaac to the carriage.

Alice and Dorothy quietly watched Isaac being taken away.

"You were quick to notice, Dorothy. You realized the Priestess at the closing ceremony was a fake."

"No."

Her voice was subdued.

"I was late. I naturally assumed she was real, so it took me longer than I would have liked to figure it out."

When Dorothy saw Miya dancing at the closing ceremony, she hadn't initially planned to use [All in the World].

She just felt strange, so she looked at the Priestess, just in case.

It was only then that she realized that she was a hollow fake.

Isaac had previously mentioned that the Priestess might go berserk during the closing ceremony. Considering that his prediction didn't align with what actually happened, it was clear that Isaac's expectations had been wrong.

Alice looked at Dorothy calmly. It was so different from her usual cheerful and bright demeanor that it felt awkward.

Somehow, Alice found it amusing.

"You get pretty serious when it comes to my baby, don't you? It doesn't suit you."

"…I've been bothered by him for a while now."

Dorothy glared at Alice.

"Why do you call Isaac, 'Baby'?"

"Why does that bother you?"

"Because you don't have the slightest affection for Isaac."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do."

Oddly enough, the only one Dorothy couldn't read in the academy was Alice. Even the power of the [All in the World] was meaningless in front of her.

However, she could sense a dark veil shrouding Alice's heart.

This was one of the reasons Dorothy hated Alice.

"Haha, you just know it… You really do hate me, don't you?"

Alice turned towards Dorothy.

"I'm curious, what would you do if Baby became mine?"

Dorothy was momentarily taken aback, wondering if she had heard wrong.

Twirling her earring with her finger, Alice spoke playfully.

"You like Isaac, don't you? It's so obvious that I can't help but notice."

"What…?"

"So, I'm wondering. If you, who openly dislikes me, were to find that my baby truly likes me… I wonder how you'd react."

Faced with such an obvious taunt, Dorothy chuckled with her usual sneer.

"…I'd kill you, Alice."

Whenever it involved Isaac, Dorothy couldn't help but react sensitively to the provocation.

Alice Carroll. According to Isaac, she was someone he would have to fight one day.

He hadn't acted yet only because no concrete accusations had come to light. Isaac had stressed the need to prepare for a fight with Alice.

Dorothy considered it fortunate that Alice was an enemy.

"That makes things interesting."

Alice smirked.

The two most powerful female students of Märchen Academy glared at each other with smiles on their faces.

Even without unleashing their mana, a dense aura of murderous intent radiated from them, making the air heavy and startling the people passing by.

It was then.

"Ah, ah…!"

In the middle of the dueling ground, Miya groaned in pain as she was carried on a stretcher.

As soon as she regained consciousness, she felt like her whole body was being ripped apart.

"Aaack!"

The healing team that was carrying her stopped in their tracks as she started convulsing.

"Miya! Calm down…! Ack! Are you okay?!"

Clang.

Miya fell off the stretcher while making a ruckus.

Her bloodied body was clad in beautiful attire.

Miya scraped at the hard ground with her broken arm.

The healing team tried to calm Miya, who was flailing her broken limbs in a frenzy.

Overwhelmed with emotion, she screamed at them to go away, lamenting her fate in a desperate voice.

"What… what the…! I, I, why did I, become like this…! Why!!"

Her scream was close to a wail.

Her face was mixed with despair and rage. Bloody tears of frustration rolled down her cheeks.

She seemed confused, not knowing where to direct her arrows of resentment.

Dorothy and Alice, the Student Council, and the Imperial Knights simply watched the seemingly insane Miya. The healing team, sweating profusely, tried to calm her down.

"Wait."

Isaac, lying in the carriage, propped himself up to look at Miya.

The sight of Miya, weeping with a voice choked with blood, was a stark contrast to the pale moonlight above.

"Something's wrong…! It's strange! Why does this keep happening…? I didn't come to the academy for this!"

Isaac searched through his memories.

After clearing 「Act 8, Scene 2, The Shadow Priestess」 of ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱, when the Truth Investigation Committee was questioning Miya.

She claimed she didn't know why she went on a rampage during the closing ceremony. It was as if she was a drunk who committed a crime, unable to control her emotions.

Miya calling him out for a fight was a completely different scenario from the original storyline.

Isaac couldn't deny the overwhelming sense of urgency in the event.

Within the ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱ community, there was a prevalent theory that Miya's uncontrolled behavior was caused by one of Elmetona the Ethereal's abilities.

However, witnessing Miya's breakdown firsthand casted doubts on the accuracy of that theory.

"I hate everything…! It's all so annoying! Me, me!! Why do I have to end up like this?! Something's wrong…! Something fucking wrong!!"

Crackle!

After fainting, her mana seemed to have slightly recovered, as red flames burst out from Miya.

"Kugh!"

"Huph!"

The healing team, who were trying to calm Miya down, were injured by the flames and stumbled back.

Reflexively, the faculty drew their weapons, and the Imperial Knights unsheathed their swords. Even if the opponent was wounded, they could not refrain from using forceful measures.

Dorothy looked on with a wary gaze, Alice with a subtle smile, and Isaac with a serious expression.

"What's with you all…? Pathetic bastards, why are you looking at me like that…? Stop staring at me…!"

Asserting her dominance. She showed contempt to them.

The desire to dominate the world. The need to keep outstanding talents under her control.

All of it stemmed from Miya's desire for recognition and her low self-esteem.

She wanted to look like someone important.

She wanted to be seen as someone special.

The fear and embarrassment of being revealed as insignificant were too overwhelming for her.

Because of that, she trusted no one and resorted to threats. For her, as the tyrant of the East, terror, force, and immorality were her safety net.

So the fact that she had been humiliated so many times at Märchen Academy was unbelievable to her.

It was also very infuriating and painful.

"I am the Priestess of the Land of the Fire Blossoms, Horan! I am not someone to be treated like this at this academy! But why…!! Why…!!"

Miya's outcry dissipated into the night breeze.

The fox's paw brushed over Miya's hand, which had been scratching the hard ground, almost breaking her nails.

When she lifted her head, she saw the Nine-tailed Fox as white as snow. The fox resembled Miya's red eye makeup, emitting a gentle flame.

The magic beast had regained its senses. The Nine-tailed Fox Mae; the familiar that had accompanied Miya on her journey.

That fox looked at her master with a lonely gaze.