Illustrious glows, like fireflies, drifted along the swirling air current. Snowflakes glittered beside them. They fell on and around Iris, cloaking her suit with a thin layer of whiteness. The snow dampened her clothes, turning her silhouette light and fleeting.

The world slowed its pace, and the chaotic booms and quakes muffled for this moment, the moment in which Tundra forgot everything else.

She stared at the mysterious Monster Girl, whose power dwarfed her so completely that despair should overcome her. Yet she felt not a hint of dread, even when her fellow students paled.

While they quietly retreated, some even dropped their staffs and wands, Tundra stood frozen. That Monster Girl, her presence and grace, heightened by the wintry radiance, resembled . . . a certain person.

A splitting headache interrupted Tundra. The fatigue paralyzed her; she took a step backwards. Tears blurred her vision.

She was about to shout when Iris held Olivia close and kissed her tenderly. It stunned Tundra, whose face pinkened, whose heart paused.

Was that really . . . her mentor? She couldn’t believe it, or could she?

Bright golden glares pierced through the ground, forming pillars which imprisoned the fleeing students. They failed to break through and could only group together, with the senior in front. He looked at the absentminded Tundra and moved to stand between his group and his captor.

Iris drew her face away from Olivia, though she still held Olivia by her waist. She glanced at Tundra, who closed her eyes and shifted her head away, before turning to the senior.

“Your tenacity surprises me,” Iris said. “You almost escape, almost hurt my Olivia.”

Olivia lowered her head as she grasped Iris’s hand on her waist. “Mistress, I made you worried.”

“You exceeded my expectation, too. Ample rewards are due.”

“Right . . . now?”

Iris chuckled. “Not now. Soon.”

The senior coughed. “What are you going to do to us?”

“My prior offer still stands, though some terms have changed.”

“We won’t accept your terms, Corrupted One.”

“You aren’t the one to make the decision. Those ladies are.” Iris tilted her head toward Olivia. “This kind of beauty, who wouldn’t wish for it?”

The students looked at each other. They’ve experienced how powerful Olivia was, and Iris’s might eclipsed even their professor. If they could become that powerful . . .

Tundra panted. She opened her mouth, exhaled, inhaled, and closed it. She wanted to speak, to call out Iris’s name, but she also feared the truth.

What if . . . her mentor refused to acknowledge her?

“Don’t fall for her tricks!” The senior perked up. “The Corrupted Races are monsters of lust. They can only live in the darkness.”

“One day, our darkness will replace your light,” Olivia said.

The senior hmphed. “If not for the Evil Cults distracting the Churches, you people would never show yourself. No matter how powerful you are, you can never go against the Churches!”

“Unfortunately, they aren’t here,” Iris said. “In this little warehouse, only I exist. In this quiet place, only my voice rings.”

“Boast all you want, but the fact remains that you dare not harm us. Your people only invade us because our principal and vice principals aren’t here. You aren’t prepared for the consequence if you kill—”

A purple-tinted dagger slit his throat. His eyes widened, he touched his neck, from where blood gushed out, and gasped inaudibly. Purple dots infested his wound, crawled to his face and chest, and devoured his body, dissolving him.

Secain manifested beside the puddle and flung her dagger, ridding the blood on its blade. She glanced at the students, who cowered, before she turned to her mistress and bent down her head.

“I’ve gone against your order, Mistress. Please punish me.” Her sharp yet cute tone lingered in the air, suffocating her enemies while amusing her mistress.

“What’s done is done.” Iris shook her head. “His crime is angering you.”

“His crime is doubting your prestige.” Secain dissipated into darkness and appeared behind Iris. “Any disrespect toward you won’t be tolerated.”

“You’re too much, Purple Shadow. If you keep doing this, our reputation will drop.”

Secain averted her eyes but said nothing. She might have gone overboard, but her mistress didn’t stop her. If her mistress revealed even a hint of disapproval, she would have silently suppressed her fury.

“Let’s not dwell on this trivial matter.” Iris raised her head and looked at the thinning crimson mist. “Have we gotten everything?”

“We’re ready to leave when you are, Mistress.”

A few Monster Girls caught up to Secain and greeted Iris. They watched the despairing students, who dropped to their knees, and comforted them in a flirtatious tone. With a Transformation Phase Monster Girl overlooking them, the captives could only do as told.

Iris instructed her subordinates to return while she and Olivia trotted onward, this time with Olivia in her embrace.

Olivia rigidly walked with her saviour, though she gradually eased her mind and started enjoying the soft, ticklish touches. While enjoying the reward, she guided Iris to the inner part of the warehouse, where the academy stored the demonic material.

“What should I get for you, Miss?” Olivia said. “The materials from Abyssal Plane are rarely used. Most of them will never see the light of day.”

“Take what you thought worthy of me, and leave the rest for scholars of the future.”

Iris let go of Olivia, who went on to search for precious treasures, and took out an ancient blood-red scroll. Infernal Star Path blazed in her palm, but her Corruption Power, mimicking the aura of that Demon King, commanded it to quieten.

Her black-and-white suit turned red, and her long black hair burned. The air surrounding her heated as she suppressed the demonic influence emanating from her power. She exhaled a puff of flaming breath and returned everything to normalcy.

“Duality, tell me what this scroll can do,” she said.

Duality emerged from Iris’s realm of consciousness. She delightfully flapped her wings, smiling. Her eyes traced Iris’s silhouette before landing on Infernal Star Path.

“You’ve grown once more, Iris,” she said. “Your Innate Talent is indeed transcendental.”

“I’ve read extensively and broadly, yet I failed to find even a single myth pertaining to your origin.” Iris tilted her head. “You must be from the Mythwalker Era.”

The atmosphere chilled, though only Iris could feel this coldness. Silence stuffed the air with invisible weight until Duality chuckled, dispelling all tension.

“We were wrong to pry for your secrets.” Duality leaned to Iris and tapped the scroll. Her ever-revolving pupils brightened and dimmed periodically. “It’s a supplement-type Artefact.”

“Does it contain any hint of Divinity?”

“What it contains is useless to us but useful to you, Dear Iris.”

“Is it . . . a path toward Ascension?”

“The secret of Constellations.”

Duality lifted her hands. Space above Iris and her darkened, turning into an ethereal night sky of radiant stars.

“When the Transcendent completes their Genesis, they draw upon the power of the stars to anchor their Heavenly Kingdom, forming the Constellation unique to their name.”

Iris stared at the Constellations in the false sky. Multiple invisible Heavenly Kingdoms overlooked her, towering over her existence.

“What about yours?” she said. “Where is your Heavenly Kingdom?”

Duality sighed. “Our Heavenly Kingdom, and all the Spirits within, has fallen. Our Constellation has faded, retreated to the depth of infinite space, hiding like us.”

The night sky dispersed. Only Duality’s lonely figure remained. She drew back her hands, folded her wings, and looked up. Her thoughts clouded her eyes, though she let nothing escape her dull expression.

“Infernal Star Path contains the astronomical insight, an observation made by a Transcendent whose power exceeds mine,” she said. “It can foretell the movement of the stars and also open a path to Abyssal Plane.”

“An inheritance of a Transcendent?”

“Would you have gotten your hand on it if that were the case?” Duality smiled. “Of course, it would be different if you employed us.”

“What part of me is worthy of such service?”

Duality tapped her own chest. “Your secret eludes us, Iris. If you let us glimpse at your soul, we’re willing to pay a grand price.”

“I can’t handle the consequence. I don’t know if you can, either.”

Duality covered the left half of her face, revealing only her demonic half. “Interesting. What power could be lurking inside you?”

“One that I have yet to learn its true extent.”

Duality shifted her hand to reveal her angelic half. “I can help you, Iris. Our path intertwines; it’s easier to have someone to lean on.”

“I already have too many.”

Iris clasped her hand. Infernal Star Path vanished. Duality shook her head and strolled away. She dissolved into invisible, chaotic, orderly particles that lingered only for Iris to admire.

Within this transient phenomenon contained profound yet incomprehensible power. Iris relished the mysterious sensation inside her soul, though she couldn’t understand it. She could only feel a hint of vastitude, the vastitude beyond mortality itself.

While Iris contemplated on Duality’s trace, Olivia returned with a transparent crystal chest in her hands. She confidently skipped to her saviour, presented the chest, and lifted her head to meet her saviour’s eyes.

Iris smiled back and patted Olivia.

“Do you have anything you desire?” Iris said.

“Whatever you decide to reward me is enough.”

“I mean the materials within this place, not my affection.” Iris drew her left hand to Olivia’s right cheek. “My reward isn’t something you lack.”

Olivia blushed. “I . . . if it doesn’t inconvenience your plan, I’d like to find a few Earth-Type materials.”

“Your well-being can never inconvenience me, Olivia.”

With Iris following her, Olivia sped to her destination, unwilling to waste her saviour’s time. Though she wished to prolong this moment of solitary, this date, she didn’t want to burden Iris.

After she joined The Court, she would have much time to enjoy herself, to . . . receive the promised reward.

She swiftly procured what she needed and even took some for her friends before she apologised once more to Iris, who reassured her that she did nothing wrong.

“Thank you for your patience, Miss.”

“It’s a wonderful date, my dear. I enjoy every moment of it.”

Iris and Olivia exited Alchemy Warehouse and rejoined her subordinates, who were teasing the captives. Once they noticed their leader, they dropped everything to greet her, praising her allure while pleading for her rewards.

“The crimson mist is thinning. The Grand Formation will soon reactivate itself,” Iris said. “Our field trip is coming to an end, dear ladies.”

“Are we going home, Madam?” a rescued Monster Girl said.

Olivia and many others looked at Iris, their eyes flickering with flashes of yearning. Their once pitch-black future cleared, replaced by a vision of a bright sky overseeing a flower garden.

And garden’s owner was Iris.

“Yes, home. We’re returning home.” Iris looked at the captives. “The Court still welcomes those who wish to join us. This will be your last chance.”

A few ladies, whose hearts had been enraptured by their Corrupted friends, hesitantly stepped forth. They endured the appalled gazes of their friends while looking at their partners, who came to embrace them, to dispel all anxiety and fill them with permeative joy.

Secain and Lorient stood behind Iris. They looked at Olivia, who, cowering before their envy, excused herself to meet up with her friends. They never flirted nor enchanted other ladies, for their hearts stayed with their mistress.

Iris, too, merely overlooked the process. Her aloof disposition created a barrier between her and all else. None of the students or professors dared to wish for her attention. They could only admire her from afar.

All except Tundra. She stared at Iris, her undecided heart palpitating.