The advisor sighed while listening to Averon’s outburst.
He could already feel the headache coming.
He glanced at the others in the room, most of whom were now very deliberately looking anywhere but at their Lord.
Catherine tilted her head slightly.
"Why did I become his subject? Because he is the best person I could serve."
"Best? So he is better than me?"
The people in the hall shifted. Some looked uncomfortable. Others sighed, knowing what was about to come.
The respected Lord of the Solkara race, the one who had dragged their species to the top of the region in a handful of years, now looked like someone who had just been told he lost his first love to another man.
"Yes, of course," Catherine said easily.
...
Sword Empress POV
Eleanor crossed the threshold, and entered the Purple Bridge Dimension.
Since she was alone, there was no need to keep her disguise.
Her hand moved to the relic on her wrist, and she deactivated it.
The shimmer around her body faded, and her form changed, reverting to her true appearance.
Her posture straightened naturally, and the faint strain she always felt while hiding herself disappeared.
She looked around.
The ground beneath her feet was made of fine and dry gray sand, shifting slightly with each step. Gravity felt lighter here.
In the distance, artificial trees stood in uneven lines. Their trunks were smooth and pale. Their leaves were a muted shade of purple.
Eleanor could feel monsters moving somewhere beyond them.
"As expected, they were calling this place Purple Bridge Dimension..."
She raised her head.
The sky was pitch black, scattered with countless stars.
Far away, something massive hung in the sky.
A celestial body.
Eleanor narrowed her eyes, trying to focus on its shape, its size, anything that would give her a sense of what she was looking at. But her vision slid off it, as if the dimension itself didn’t want her to understand it too clearly.
In the distance, rising from the gray sand, stood the remains of the purple bridge.
It wasn’t really a bridge.
It was a space elevator.
A gigantic structure that once connected this place to the celestial body above. Now it was broken, most of it reduced to jagged fragments and twisted supports. Only a section remained standing, a tall, hollow column of purple material that disappeared into the dark sky before breaking off into nothing.
"This place is a moon," Eleanor said softly. "No, to be exact, it’s a dimension created to mirror the appearance of a moon."
She turned slowly, scanning the artificial forest, the empty sand, the broken structure.
"Then there has to be a trial here."
She took a breath and started moving toward the trees.
Moon Dragons.
The name carried weight, even to someone like her.
They weren’t just powerful. They were legends. In the distant past, before most of the current races had even established their dominion, the Moon Dragons had ruled from above. From the moon. From what people back then had called heaven.
They had looked down at the world and decided which civilizations rose and which ones disappeared.
If there was a trial tied to them here, it wouldn’t be simple.
Eleanor’s hand rested near the hilt of her sword as she entered the forest.
"Let’s see what you left behind," she said.
...
Fortified City 89
Celia’s breathing was shallow, and uneven.
She lay sprawled across the bed in her room. A thin film of sweat clung to her skin. Her cheeks were flushed, and her hair stuck to the side of her face.
In her hand was a small device.
On its screen, a video showed Isaac and Emily in the mirror dimension, caught in a moment that Isaac clearly hadn’t realized was being recorded.
Celia stared at it, then let out a quiet laugh that turned into a breathy sigh.
"What is up with him?" she spoke in between heavy breaths. "He was acting so uptight with me, but look at him now."
How long did Celia spend pleasuring herself?
She didn’t know.
However, she couldn’t get Isaac’s cold image out of her mind that he showed when he treated Emily like a pet.
"That... face is unfair..."
It was only after several minutes that Celia’s release came.
The rush in her chest slowly faded, and she lay on the bed, basking in the afterglow.
After a while, she sat up and grabbed the device again, her lips curling into a grin.
"Good things should be shared. Right?"
Her fingers moved quickly.
She created a group on the device, adding Isaac, Emily, Alice, herself, and Professor Catherine. She didn’t hesitate before attaching the video and sending it.
The message went through.
It didn’t take long for a reply to come.
[Alice: What is this?]
[Alice: Is Isaac crazy?]
[Alice: Did he really take Emily naked outside?]
Celia’s grin widened.
[Celia: Yes! It was so hot!]
[Alice: ...???]
[Alice: Is your head okay?]
Celia laughed out loud.
Before she could type a response, another message came in.
[Alice: Actually, forget the video. I have something else to talk to you about.]
[Alice: Why did you attack three races without informing us?]
Celia blinked, her smile fading just a little.
Her fingers froze above the screen.
The rush of excitement drained away, replaced by a slow, sinking feeling in her stomach.
She leaned back, staring at the message.
"Oh," she whispered. "Right. That."
She had completely forgotten.
Isaac had been the first one to scold her, but he clearly hadn’t been the only one who was going to.
More messages started to appear, one after another, but Celia didn’t open them.
Instead, she tapped the side of the device a few times and powered it down.
She placed it face down on the bed, acting like she couldn’t see it.
"I’m not ignoring it. It just shut down due to low battery," she said to the empty room.
She lay back again, staring at the ceiling.
Until the end, she had not clarified that Isaac had taken Emily out in the mirror dimension, not the real world.