Ilya let loose a roar similar to Gina’s, but soon she was joined by the demon princess as well. Both became shrouded in a strange aura, but while Ilya’s took on a bestial form, with long ears, a long tail, and sharp claws, Gina’s horns, wings, and tail became sharper and seemed to have a scaly pattern. They had used Soul Form! This was the power of Gina’s that could be used in the late game when she knew her powers up to a certain point. But that wasn’t supposed to happen until the third year!

And now that Ilya could use her own, what was the meaning of this?!

“You look surprised, Nolan. This is what we talked about before, right? You thought Ilya could use something like Beast Magic? This was something we discovered. Good, huh?”

He nearly lost control due to the shock, but he at least managed a slight tilt of his head. Even Delania had pulled out her ax and began casting a stronger curse. The three girls covered each other, filling in when one had to step back to breathe. There were many close calls, but Gina could help with regeneration.

But, just as they were about to defeat Nolan, he weakly smiled. He activated his other sword, and the air began to change. Back during the ball, the two domains had collided against one another, creating something like two completely separate semicircles around him. But now…

The air was charged with power, as water particles began to form ice and snow. Now, the two domains had merged, becoming a chilling and shocking zone of danger. The girls looked in awe, but they continued to fight. Large ice crystals fell from the sky, sending shockwaves whenever they collided with something.

These large chunks of ice were electrically charged so when they hit the ground, a small discharge would happen. At one point, Ilya became paralyzed momentarily, causing Nolan’s face to warp in pain.

“Stop it! I’m fine! Here I come!”

Gina had covered her as the wolf girl downed a yellow liquid. The electrical charge was dispelled and she rushed at Nolan once more. She was faster, stronger, but altogether more dangerous than before. Gina had more energy, as she was capable of casting more support spells. Plus, she could now fly into the sky and oversee the fight. Unfortunately, the sky was a dangerous place to be in this storm.

The fight wore on and then Nolan found himself surrounded. He ceased his movement, so as to react as best as he could. The girls paused and each pulled out something small and colorful.

Three multicolored flowers, each with a different color. They silently tossed them all towards Nolan, to which he was confused. Just as the flowers were about to touch the ground, they all lit up. The lightning magic contained in Gina’s purple flower erupted, disturbing his own domain slightly. Ilya’s icy blue flower dispersed a wave of frost, also causing chaos. But Delania’s pitch black flower let loose a terrifying cursed magic, which caused the last defense of his domain to crumble.

The arrays shattered due to an outside force, causing massive damage to both of the blades, making them shatter into pieces. Nolan was without a means to protect himself. But, he had also been starving, depriving himself of sleep and torturing himself to try and control his body. So when the power he had disappeared, his body collapsed. The three girls picked up their respective gray flower and tucked it away. They picked up the unconscious Nolan and carried him back into the building.

“He…reminds me of you when we went back to school, Delania. He blames himself.”

Ilya broke the silence.

“Well, it is his fault that it started, but we don’t blame him for what happened next. No one was killed, which is good.”

Gina tried to defuse the situation, as she could see Delania’s hurt expression.

“You two don’t understand. He was awake. The entire time. He watched as he scared us, he cried out as he hurt us. He tore himself up over how he treated us. He could do nothing but blame himself.”

“And how did we help you? I remember we got you back up and running by wanting to prove yourself to him. Surely we can help Nolan out in some way.”

Gina continued to try and console Delania.

The three remained quiet as they sat around Nolan’s bed. Delania was keeping the fact that he was actually awake a secret, so he could focus on remapping the electrical signals in his brain and body. Apparently, he recognized that his stupid self had created another line of code in a program that counteracted a previous line, causing an error or a bug.

She didn’t completely understand what he was talking about, but she let him be. She wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold him. But it would be a couple of days or even weeks, maybe months, as he was having to check over his entire nervous system. His recovery was well received and the girls threw themselves at him in happiness.

Well, Gina and Ilya did.

“I’m…sorry. I couldn’t help at all at the ball. I even heard you calling out to me to get these two away. I’m sorry.”

“Delania.”

She looked at the boy’s face, carving every little mark into her memory. He wasn’t looking at her with pity or anger, but with love. It was a feeling she had never felt from her family. Before she knew it, the feelings she felt at the ball resurfaced and she started to cry.

Nolan held onto her, hugging her close.

“Oh? I thought Nolan was going to kiss her.”

“I know. He has been getting rather bold lately. Look, he is groping her butt.”

“Wait, hold on! Please, forgive me! That is something I am working on! My body seems to still be reacting on its own! It may be why I didn’t automatically hurt Ilya when she touched me.”

“But…my rear is sensitive…”

“…I’m terribly sorry.”

“Warn me next time.”

“Huh?”

“Hey, Nolan, are you wanting to grab my rear as well? Do I need to turn around?”

“Wait, hold on! Wait, no! Girls! Calm down!”

Nolan’s screams for helped carried across the entire area, but no one came to see what the problem was. They all conveniently stayed back.

But, Nolan was wondering what had gone on at the academy. How had the school come along now that things have changed so much?