A strange silence flowed between Arkenis and Rine.
They recognized one another instantly.
It was an instinctive, almost fated recognition—something beyond ordinary thought or reasoning.
“You are....”
Rine hesitated, unsure how she should address Arkenis.
Arkenis greeted her with a gentle smile.
“It is nice to meet you. So you are the one who inherited my Judgment Draft in this era.”
“Ah, I....”
“There is no need to be so nervous or overwhelmed. More importantly, are you the one who brought those people here?”
“Ah, yes. That is right.”
After Salesin appeared, Rine immediately used spatial magic to move the people in the spire to the outer edges of the citadel.
It was a precaution to keep them from being caught in the chaos—and in the end, it was the correct choice.
If they had stayed, students like Julia would not have even left bones behind under the destruction caused by the others’ battle.
But Rine had not stopped there.
The moment she witnessed Salesin’s power, she instinctively understood they could not defeat him like this.
It was not that she foresaw it through the Judgment Draft. Once Salesin interfered, the Judgment Draft became useless.
A future she could not see.
And no matter how optimistically she tried to view the situation, it was not good.
Thus, Rine chose to follow her heart.
To gain more help, she used spatial magic again.
One by one, she brought people in.
Hans, Mr. Phantos, Passius, Loina Pavlini, Phyron, and others.
Thanks to their arrival, a bit of breathing room opened, giving Sedina time to heal the others.
“You did wonderfully.”
Arkenis smiled with her eyes at Rine.
Rine seemed embarrassed and only gave a small nod.
“Rine, was it? What do you see with your eyes now?”
Rine quickly understood what Arkenis meant.
“It is not clear. It feels like a thick fog has fallen over everything—I cannot see anything distinct.”
“How is it compared to the beginning? You must have noticed some change.”
“Somewhat... it feels a little brighter beyond the fog.”
“That is it. What you did brought forth a brighter future.”
“Me?”
Catherine stepped forward to ask instead of the startled Rine.
“But is that even possible? For the future to change? Every future we saw through the Judgment Draft always came true exactly.”
“That is right. It was the same for me. No matter how far ahead I looked, the future never changed—it was fixed. Trying to alter it only led to worse outcomes.”
The future extended outward like the branches of a tree toward the optimal form.
The moment one tried to change it, they left the optimal branch and headed toward lesser—or even worst—outcomes.
And naturally, there was more evil in the world than good.
“But now it is different. At some point, the future stopped being fixed and began to shift. Just as I myself never foresaw a future in which I would awaken like this.”
“Meaning now is....”
“A very important turning point. A point of inflection where the fixed future has begun to flow.”
Arkenis spoke to Rine.
“The reason you see a fog instead of a pitch-black, fixed darkness is because of that. Depending on the choices we make, the scenery beyond that fog will change. So you must not lose hope now.”
Her voice carried power.
It was no wonder she was called a Saintess—listening to that conviction-filled voice made courage rise within one before they realized it.
They had to shape the future and move forward.
And the only way was to defeat Salesin, who sought to seal all futures.
* * *
‘Something is wrong.’
Salesin thought while blocking the spells flying at him with his immense divine power.
The relentless frenzy of these insects continued to push him back.
Among them, the fast-moving knights were the most annoying.
If he compared them, they were like mosquitoes.
Kagagagang!
Most aura blades could not pierce his skin.
But not all knights were the same.
Slice!
A gash opened on Salesin’s neck.
“Damn, it was shallow.”
Alex muttered with regret. The wound on Salesin’s neck healed quickly, but his red eyes grew colder.
Yes, that swordsman was dangerous.
“Where are you looking?”
Lutus thrust his blade toward the back of Salesin’s head.
Salesin raised a hand and caught the storm-filled blade. His white palm split open, blood dripping.
“You still rely so much on that divine power alone? Do you think we fight without thinking?”
Before Salesin could respond, a massive anchor dropped vertically.
Kwaang!
With an irritated expression, Salesin swung his sword of light.
The dark-colored anchor smashed into the blade of light and bent sharply downward.
In that instant, the anchor chain slid and wrapped tightly around Salesin’s body.
Above his brow, Mr. Phantos dropped his harpoon downward with both hands.
Crack!
The thick anchor chain could not endure Salesin’s strength and shattered into fragments.
Mr. Phantos was blown away with it.
When Salesin tried to eliminate the troublesome beastkin, Alex blocked him, and when he tried to attack Alex, other knights blocked him.
If he focused on the knights, the mages became a problem—countless spells disrupting his senses made his mind turbulent.
And in that time, the knights who had recovered aimed for his openings again.
‘Why are they not falling?’
Salesin’s gaze shifted to Sedina.
She was creating herbs and restorative powders with plants and scattering them around.
The people Salesin wounded recovered quickly and returned to the front line.
And Sedina was not the only one. He also saw Bellaruna mixing nearby herbs into optimal healing potions.
‘Even if they heal, it should not restore their mental stamina. How is this possible?’
Injury naturally reduced one’s mental strength, eventually leading to despair.
That was normal—and how it should have been.
Yet look at the ones fighting now.
Every time they fell, they rose again, and every time, they threw themselves at Salesin with greater ferocity.
They did not grow weaker from suffering.
Their will burned even stronger—strangely so.
Were they not afraid of pain?
They could die, yet why did they keep charging?
Why not bow their heads? Why not submit?
He could give them wealth and honor beyond comparison—so why?
‘Wounds alone will not do. I must snuff them out instantly.’
But even that was not easy.
Especially the problem was Selina, fused with the spirit of darkness.
“Help me, Esmeralda.”
When Selina extended her hand, the shadow behind her rippled like a mirror and stretched like taffy, devouring Salesin’s light.
Shockingly, that darkness nullified the destructive light Salesin emitted.
The darkness weakened, but the important point was that it nullified his attack without real damage.
‘That darkness devours my light regardless of its strength.’
A darkness that swallowed light unconditionally.
As though it were a destiny assigned to it—persistent and unyielding.
‘To think a spirit that violates the laws would irritate me this much.’
Impatience began eating away at Salesin.
If this continued, the war of attrition would eventually make him lose another vessel.
“Then I will end this first.”
Sensing his intention, the knights backed away.
A wise choice—going head-on would have gotten them swept away.
“But it is useless.”
Salesin bent forward.
Light burst through his skin. The numbers increased, and soon all his skin vanished, replaced entirely by light.
Selina winced at the overwhelming radiance.
“I—I cannot swallow all of this! Everyone, dodge!”
Salesin detonated the power within him at once.
He did not even care that the vessel containing him would shatter.
Crack!
With a sound like breaking glass, fragments of Salesin’s vessel scattered in all directions.
No one could take this lightly.
Each fragment contained enough divine power to erase an entire town.
The knights immediately realized they could not block or divert it—they could only evade.
The mages grouped together, raising layered defensive spells.
Selina created a mirror of darkness in front of her.
The flying shards disappeared into the shadow.
But not everyone avoided them completely.
Sedina and Bellaruna.
Salesin had intentionally discarded another vessel to trigger this self-destruction, and most of the blast had been directed toward where Sedina and Bellaruna were.
From the blast center, a rapidly regenerating Salesin looked toward where Sedina had stood.
Sturdy trees had sprung up there, an attempt at defense—but futile.
Such trees could never block this.
Naturally, they were burned and shredded.
‘Good.’
But beyond the shattered wood, the corpses he sought were nowhere to be found.
As though Sedina and Bellaruna had never been there at all.
“What?”
At that moment of confusion—
Slice!
His chest split diagonally and collapsed.
The fallen upper body turned into light and rapidly returned to its original shape.
But Salesin understood.
That attack had cost him another vessel.
Including the self-destruction earlier, two vessels had vanished in an instant.
“Who are you!”
His blazing eyes sought the culprit who had slashed his chest.
His red gaze captured Rine.
Rine stood in a cutting stance, fingers shaped like a blade.
Beside her was Ludger.
Seeing Rine still shocked at what she had done, Salesin’s expression twisted.
“...It was you. Was that spatial severance just now?”
Even freshly regenerated, his body should not have been cut so easily.
The cut surface had been unnaturally smooth.
Spatial severance made sense.
But to think she could wield spatial mana like that.
“It seems rougher attacks work better for you than precise ones. Judging from how cleanly it returned.”
Ludger muttered beside Rine, loud enough for Salesin to hear—practically baiting him.
Salesin tried to speak, but flinched at the pain crawling up his chest.
‘The aftermath is still there?’
It was not phantom pain. Even after regenerating, Rine’s magic continued to exert influence.
“This is... a dangerous ability.”
To have darkness that devoured light AND magic that tore space itself.
“But you made a mistake. That blow only sharpened my vigilance.”
Rine’s expression hardened.
Salesin was right. The surprise attack had simply been lucky. There was no guarantee she could land another.
Spatial severance was powerful, but its trajectory depended entirely on where her hand moved.
Salesin would easily predict and evade it by reading her motion.
‘What about other spatial magic?’
Rine knew she needed a new spell, but it was not simple.
Spatial movement was instinctive—something she learned when her mana awakened. Severance she had barely managed because Ludger had drilled her in quick form.
That was all.
Other techniques lingered only in her mind—she did not know if she could manifest them.
And attempting experimentation now, while Salesin’s pressure intensified, was impossible.
“If you had simply stayed still, I would have given you all wealth and glory as my Saintess. Yet you kicked away that blessing yourself. Humans truly cannot help their nature.”
Salesin stretched a hand toward Rine.
“Then I shall control you by force.”
Rine shuddered.
It was coming—the ability said to dominate another’s mind.
She had been warned enough to react instinctively.
‘But how?’
Could she, bearer of the Judgment Draft, be controlled by his domination?
Their powers were siblings—branches from the same root. She doubted such equal forces could overthrow one another.
‘Wait!’
Rine realized it.
Salesin’s aim had been to create this opening.
He had never intended to dominate her.
He knew better than anyone that he could not.
Instead, his domination was aimed at the others nearby.
Especially the knights, whose minds were not sufficiently protected.
An invisible wave shot toward them.
In the slowed moment of time, Salesin looked at Ludger.
—Ludger was laughing at him.
Laughing? Why?
Had he not reacted ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) until now because he wanted to?
Just as Salesin’s confusion peaked—
Two hidden figures revealed themselves at once.
“Student!”
“I know!”
Their final hidden joker card.
Aidan and Mandelina swung their staff-blades in a crossing arc.