Inside the Soaring Theater, the orchestra members played their instruments with passion, filling the vast, dimly lit space with a melancholic yet enchanting melody that echoed in the ears of every audience member. On the stage, under the spotlight, Adèle, dressed in a striking red gown, continued to dance with abandon.
Adèle’s movements were graceful and natural, flowing like water. Paired with her crimson dress, the fluidity of her dance sometimes resembled blood, driven by the heart and surging through veins.
Adèle’s elegant dance captivated the attention of every audience member. Everyone was immersed in the performance, including Adèle herself. Unbeknownst to them, however, a hidden danger lurked within this grand dance.
Unnoticed by anyone, one of the backup dancers quietly broke away from her position and began to approach Adèle from behind, her steps light and rhythmic. The audience assumed this was part of the choreography, and while some of the other backup dancers noticed the anomaly, they dared not stop to point it out. The performance was still ongoing, and Adèle was still dancing. Stopping would ruin the entire show, so they could only watch as the rogue dancer moved closer to Adèle’s back.
They did not see the sharp stone-carved knife hidden beneath the dancer’s skirt.
Twirling and dancing, the rogue dancer finally reached Adèle’s back. In a carefully choreographed spin, she drew the stone knife from beneath her skirt and thrust it toward Adèle’s back, aiming to pierce her body and stain her red dress with real blood.
But just as the dancer tightened her grip on the knife and lunged at Adèle, her body suddenly trembled unnaturally. Her hand, which had been aiming for Adèle, veered off course, and the knife narrowly missed Adèle, grazing past her. In the shadows, a pair of eyes watching this scene frowned in frustration.
The dancer’s sudden anomaly finally caught the attention of the audience. Many gasped in shock, and some of the backup dancers, realizing something was wrong, momentarily stopped dancing. Only the orchestra, positioned below the stage, continued to play. The performance seemed on the verge of collapsing due to this unexpected incident.
At that moment, Adèle, still dancing, turned sideways and grabbed the wrist of the rogue dancer. With a slight shake, she disarmed the knife, letting it clatter to the ground. Then, with a gentle pull, she drew the dancer toward her and wrapped her other arm around the dancer’s waist.
In an instant, Adèle and the rogue dancer assumed a duet pose. Adèle, with remarkable strength, continued to lead the dancer across the stage. The would-be assassin and her target danced together, and the gasps of the audience quickly turned into cheers and applause. As Adèle spun in the center of the stage, her sharp gaze swept over the backup dancers who had stopped. Under her commanding stare, they immediately resumed their dance, following the music.And so, the music continued, and the dance went on. Amid the audience’s applause, Adèle and the rogue dancer began an impromptu duet, a dance that had not been part of the original choreography. Under Adèle’s guidance, the once-lifeless assassin began to dance anew, while the other backup dancers followed as usual.
As they danced, Adèle gazed into the dancer’s blank face and whispered softly.
"Are you... Maria?"
As if hearing Adèle’s question, the dancer named Maria relaxed her expression, her demeanor becoming more natural, as if she had come back to life.
"You almost died. It’s best to stop your performance now."
Facing Adèle, "Maria" spoke softly. Adèle smiled and replied in a whisper.
"I know. Thank you. But as long as the music hasn’t ended, the dance must continue.”
"Do you know how to dance, stranger?"
Adèle, seemingly aware of the situation, continued to smile as she held "Maria." "Maria" replied directly.
"No."
"That’s alright. I’ll lead. Just follow me."
With that, Adèle increased the intensity of her movements, and "Maria" did her best to keep up. Thanks to Adèle’s quick thinking and improvisation, the dance transformed into a duet, and the performance continued.
Adèle’s dancing skills were masterful. She could clearly sense that her partner, "Maria," was a novice at dancing, but she skillfully guided her with subtle cues and techniques, ensuring that "Maria’s" movements stayed within the bounds of the dance without any mishaps.
As the music played on, the dance, which had originally carried a theatrical undertone, began to deviate from the script. It became an impromptu performance starring Adèle and "Maria." The backup dancers, though deeply confused, relied on their years of experience to keep up. Their choreography remained largely unchanged, but Adèle and "Maria’s" dance was entirely different from the original.
Adèle guided "Maria" through the steps. At first, she could feel that her partner was struggling to keep up, her movements awkward and unnatural. But as time passed, Adèle noticed that "Maria’s" awkwardness gradually faded. Her movements became smoother, and at times, she even began to anticipate Adèle’s cues, stepping into the dance on her own. The coordination between the two grew increasingly seamless.
Learning.
Adèle was astonished to realize that "Maria" was learning her improvised dance at an astonishing speed. She was learning as she danced, applying what she learned instantly. Under Adèle’s guidance, "Maria’s" dancing skills improved rapidly. In less than a minute, she went from being passively led to actively participating.
"How interesting..."
Seeing "Maria’s" incredible growth, Adèle’s smile deepened. She deliberately increased the difficulty of the dance, gradually raising the complexity of the movements as she gauged "Maria’s" learning speed. Their dance became faster and more daring, with "Maria" following Adèle’s lead and performing increasingly intricate steps, even surpassing the original Maria’s skill level.
The escalating dance between the teacher and the student drew gasps of amazement from the audience. Meanwhile, the theater staff who had seen the rehearsals were completely dumbfounded. The dance on stage was nothing like what they had practiced. They watched nervously, fearing that this entirely improvised, unplanned performance would suddenly go awry. But to their relief, no major mistakes occurred.
Adèle and "Maria’s" dance grew more intense, the movements more complex, and the steps faster. The dance seemed to spiral toward a frenzied climax, gradually transcending the boundaries of ordinary dance and venturing into uncharted territory. The music began to carry a hint of unease.
Adèle wanted to push the dance to its limits, to the edge of madness. But when she realized that the music was nearing its end and there was no more time to test her mysterious partner’s limits, she began to slow the pace, bringing the dance back to a gentle conclusion. Finally, as the music reached its final notes, Adèle and "Maria" came to a stop, standing in line with the other dancers to take their bows. The audience erupted into thunderous applause.
The audience was electrified. After such a performance, the entire theater was filled with enthusiastic applause and cheers. Many audience members stood up, clapping fervently, including some of Adèle’s long-time fans who were visibly moved.
"Adèle! Adèle! Adèle!"
Amid the roaring crowd, people began chanting Adèle’s name in unison. At the same time, the grand curtain began to close, gradually hiding the performers from view.
Once the curtain had fully closed, the backup dancers rushed toward Adèle, cheering. The theater staff, who had been on edge, finally couldn’t hold back and rushed onto the stage, surrounding Adèle. To the audience, it had been an incredibly successful performance, but to those who knew the truth, the entire ordeal had left their hearts in their throats.
Behind the curtain, Adèle was bombarded with questions from the people around her. She smiled and reassured everyone that she was fine. As she did so, her eyes scanned the area, searching for one person—her dance partner, "Maria."
However, she soon realized that "Maria" had disappeared. Behind the curtain, there was no trace of her.
"She’s gone..."
Amid the noise, Adèle murmured softly as she looked around the chaotic stage.
…
Although the curtain had fallen, the audience’s excitement showed no signs of waning. The cheers had turned into lively discussions as the audience members eagerly debated the incredible performance they had just witnessed.
"That was amazing... truly amazing. Is this Adèle’s dancing? It’s so beautiful. And her partner was incredible too. At first, I thought she was going to kill Adèle—it scared me. I didn’t expect it to be part of the show. What a brilliant idea!"
Sitting in her seat, Nephthys, who had been clapping enthusiastically, couldn’t stop gushing. She then turned to Dorothy beside her.
"Miss Dorothy, did you see that?! I feel like coming here today was totally worth it... Huh?"
Nephthys excitedly spoke to Dorothy but suddenly noticed something was off. Dorothy was sprawled in her seat, wiping sweat from her forehead with a piece of paper, breathing slightly heavily, as if she were exhausted.
"Miss Dorothy, are you okay? Is it too hot in here?"
"Ah... something like that. Maybe I’m wearing too much, and there are too many people here," Dorothy replied, catching her breath. But the truth was far from that.
In a sense, Dorothy had just danced an entire performance with Adèle on stage—mentally, that is.
Yes, Adèle’s dance partner wasn’t the deceased Maria but rather Dorothy. Dorothy had used her spiritual threads to control Maria and dance with Adèle.
When Dorothy realized that Maria was a marionette controlled by someone else and intended to assassinate Adèle during the dance, she intervened. Using the Marionettist ability she had simulated as a Scholar, Dorothy extended her spiritual threads to Maria and wrested control of the marionette from its original controller.
Maria had been controlled by a mystical item similar to Dorothy’s Corpse Marionette Ring, which made the marionette stiff, awkward, and unable to speak. The control was weak, and Dorothy, as a more skilled "marionettist," easily took over. When Maria attempted to stab Adèle, Dorothy made her miss on purpose.
Dorothy had initially planned to warn Adèle, but to her surprise, Adèle, determined to keep the performance going, pulled Dorothy-controlled Maria into a dance, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had nearly been assassinated and might still be in danger. Dorothy found this intriguing and decided to play along, controlling Maria to dance with Adèle.
To better execute the dance, Dorothy used the Scholar’s powerful learning ability to study Adèle’s movements in real-time. But Adèle quickly noticed Dorothy’s rapid learning and deliberately increased the difficulty of the dance, as if testing the limits of Dorothy’s abilities.
Although Dorothy kept up, the intense focus made her sweat. In her eyes, Adèle’s increasingly complex and frenzied dance became harder and harder to follow.
Dorothy had a feeling that if the music hadn’t stopped, Adèle would have led her into some forbidden realm.
“This woman... she’s definitely not normal,” Dorothy thought to herself. She then turned her attention to another issue—Maria.
While controlling Maria, Dorothy could sense that the original controller was constantly trying to regain control of the marionette using their mystical item, but Dorothy kept them at bay.
Dorothy became curious about who was controlling Maria. After the performance ended, she deliberately loosened her control, as she had deciphered the commands sent to Maria, which instructed her to leave immediately. The original controller seemed to have expended extra spirituality in an attempt to wrest control from Dorothy.
Dorothy guessed that the controller might want to retrieve Maria. So, while keeping one spiritual thread attached to Maria, she pretended to lose control and returned Maria to the original controller. As expected, the controller immediately had Maria flee the stage amidst the chaos. Thanks to the remaining spiritual thread, Dorothy could still track Maria’s location. If the controller intended to retrieve Maria, Dorothy could find them.
“So... where is Miss Maria now?”
With this thought, Dorothy began to sense Maria’s whereabouts.
…
Soaring Theater, inside a restroom.
A dancer in a dark red dress pushed open the door to the restroom and entered. After closing the door, she walked to the mirror, where the reflection showed Maria’s blank, lifeless expression.
After staring at the mirror for a moment, Maria raised her right hand, which now held an ordinary iron knife.
With stiff movements, Maria gripped the knife and pointed it at her abdomen. Then, without hesitation, she stabbed herself.
Once, twice, three times... With a cold, emotionless expression, Maria repeatedly stabbed her abdomen, blood splattering everywhere. The restroom was soon covered in blood, and her abdomen was a mangled mess.
Then, Maria raised the knife to her face and slashed several deep gashes across her beautiful features, even gouging out her own eyes.
Finally, Maria threw the knife out of the restroom window and collapsed onto the floor. With her eyes wide open, she dipped her fingers in her blood and began to write shaky, crooked letters on the floor.
One by one, the letters formed a simple name.
"Adèle."