High above the crater, concealed behind a veil of Rank-A Optical Illusion Magic, Professor Isabella Thorne stood on the edge of a limestone cliff. The cold wind whipped her silver hair around her face, but she didn't blink. She didn't move.
Her blue eyes were wide behind her rimless glasses, fixed on the scene unfolding below.
She had come here looking for Seraphina. When she found the girl's torn uniform and blood trails earlier, she had feared the worst. She had tracked the mana signature of the Boss, intending to save her student from being eaten.
But she hadn't needed to save anyone.
She had arrived just in time to see the end. She saw the Abyssal Guillotine. She saw the Soul Absorption. She saw the Miraculous Recovery.
"Impossible..." Isabella whispered, her voice barely audible over the wind.
She gripped her riding crop so tightly that the leather handle cracked.
"He fought a Titan-Scale Behemoth... a monster that usually requires a full party of Rank-B Knights to suppress... and he butchered it alone"
Her gaze shifted to the black sword in Lysander's hand.
Even from this distance, she could feel the malevolence radiating from the blade. She watched as the massive corpse turned to dust. She watched the red eyes of the sword glow. She watched Lysander's broken body stitch itself back together in seconds.
A chill ran down Isabella's spine—a sensation she hadn't felt since she stood before her father, the Iron-Blood King.
'That is not a normal artifact,' Isabella analyzed, her mind racing. 'Swords do not eat souls. Swords do not heal their wielders. That thing... it is a Living Weapon. A Cursed Armament'
She shuddered.
"If that weapon keeps feeding... if it keeps evolving... it won't just kill monsters. It could swallow armies. It could bring down cities. It is a weapon capable of destroying the world"
She looked at Lysander, who was sheathing the blade as if it were a common tool.
"Zero," she murmured, testing the name on her tongue. "You are not a common mercenary. You are not a rogue hunter. You are a catastrophe waiting to happen"
Isabella's eyes drifted to Seraphina.
She saw the girl running after Lysander. She saw the new clothes. She saw the way Seraphina looked at him—not with the fear she showed the Academy students, but with absolute trust.
A dark, cynical smile curled Isabella's lips.
"So that's it," she mused. "The 'Trash' of the Valerius family has found a master who actually values her"
She thought about Julian Valerius, the boy who had peed his pants earlier. She thought about Duke Valerius, the arrogant man who had sold his own daughter into concubinage because she lacked talent.
" fools," Isabella scoffed. "Total, blind fools."
She looked at the retreating figures of Lysander and Seraphina.
"The Valerius Dukedom thinks they are powerful because they have gold and political influence. They think they can treat people like garbage and get away with it."
She shook her head slowly.
"They have just made an enemy of a man who defies the laws of nature. They threw Seraphina away, and now she is with him"
'If the Duke tries to hunt him down... if Julian tries to take revenge...'
Isabella visualized the outcome. She didn't see the Duke winning. She saw the Valerius estate burning. She saw Zero walking through their gates with that black sword, drinking the souls of their knights.
"The Valerius family is digging its own grave," she whispered. "And they don't even know it"
Isabella raised her hand. A small magical bird, made of blue light, materialized on her finger. This was a communication spell. She could send a message to the Academy right now. She could send a message to the Royal Guards.
[Report: A dangerous anomaly detected. Location: Stratified Domain. Threat Level: Catastrophic. Requesting immediate elimination]
She held the bird for a long moment.
If she sent this, an army would come. They would hunt Zero down before he got any stronger. It was the logical, safe thing to do as a Princess of the Kingdom.
But then, she remembered Lysander's words.
Today you are the predator. But tomorrow you won't be.
And she remembered Seraphina's smile.
Crush.
Isabella closed her hand, crushing the magical bird into sparks. She canceled the spell.
"No," she decided, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "I want to see where this goes"
She turned around, her cape swirling in the wind. She wouldn't report him. Not yet. The Academy was boring. The Kingdom was stagnant.
"Go, Zero," Isabella whispered to the darkness. "Feed that sword. Break your limits. Raise that girl into a queen"
She began to walk back toward her camp.
"Let's see if you can truly surpass me by sunrise. But be warned... the next time we meet, I won't just watch"
The atmosphere in the Star-Haven campsite was already tense following the attack by "Zero," but it grew suffocatingly heavy as a new group emerged from the darkness.
It was the Iron-Spire Academy.
Unlike the elegant white-and-gold uniforms of Star-Haven, these students wore militaristic black leather armor with crimson accents. They marched with a heavy, aggressive rhythm. At the front of the pack was Professor Drax, a burly man with a scar running down his face, wearing the heavy fur-lined coat of a northern barbarian. He was a Rank-B Berserker, known for his brutal teaching methods.
And limping beside him, looking pathetic and beaten, was Cedric Vance.
Cedric had smeared mud on his face to hide the bruise Lysander gave him, but he couldn't hide the terror that still lingered in his eyes. When he saw Isabella standing near the central campfire, he immediately put on a mask of false concern.
"Professor Thorne!" Cedric cried out, stumbling forward. "Thank the gods you are here!"
Isabella crossed her arms, her blue eyes cold behind her rimless glasses. She didn't move to help him.
"Cedric Vance," she acknowledged, her voice flat. "You look like you rolled in a pigsty. Where is your team? And where is Seraphina Valerius? I tracked her mana signature near your location"
Cedric fell to his knees, acting out a scene worthy of a theater play.
"It was horrible!" Cedric sobbed, covering his face. "We found Seraphina wandering in the woods. We were trying to escort her back to safety... but then he appeared!"
"He?" Isabella raised an eyebrow.
"A maniac in black armor!" Cedric lied through his teeth. "He wore a hoodie made of shadows and a metal mask. He attacked us out of nowhere! He knocked out my teammates and... and he kidnapped Seraphina!"
Isabella's lips twitched. She had just watched Lysander save Seraphina from Cedric, but she let him spin his web.
"Is that so?" Isabella smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "You say you were 'escorting' her? And yet, you are here, alive, while the girl is gone. Did you fight him, Cedric? Or did you run?"
"I tried!" Cedric shouted, looking at Professor Drax for support. "I tried to save her! But he used dark magic! He dragged her screaming into the darkness! I barely escaped with my life!"
Professor Drax stepped forward, his heavy boots crunching the gravel. He loomed over Isabella, trying to use his size to intimidate her.
"This is a grave situation, Princess," Drax rumbled, his voice rough like gravel. "A student of Star-Haven has been abducted. And my student, the heir to the Vance Marquisate, was assaulted"
He narrowed his eyes.
"We need to mobilize a joint search party immediately. We need to tear this forest apart and find that armored bastard. If Seraphina is dead, the Duke will demand answers"
Drax crossed his arms, looking down at Isabella with a sneer.
"You are responsible for her safety, are you not? If word gets out that you let a Duke's daughter get taken by a bandit while you were sitting by a fire... your reputation will suffer"
The clearing went silent. The Star-Haven students watched with bated breath. Professor Drax was pushing his luck.
Isabella slowly took off her glasses. She folded them and placed them in her pocket.
"Reputation?" she repeated softly.
She looked at Cedric, who was still kneeling on the ground, fake-crying.
"Cedric, stop the act," she said, her voice dripping with boredom. "It's embarrassing."
Cedric froze. "W-What?"
"I know exactly why you were looking for Seraphina," Isabella said, her gaze piercing through him. "And it wasn't to 'save' her"
She took a step closer to him.
"Seraphina is considered a 'burden' to the Valerius family. Her father sold her out. Her brother hates her. And you?"
She chuckled darkly.
"You are a lust dog, Cedric. Everyone in the capital knows your appetite. You didn't want to rescue her. You wanted to break her"
Cedric's face turned pale. "That's... that's a lie! I have honor!"
"You have nothing," Isabella spat. "You saw a helpless girl in the woods, and you thought you found a free toy. And when this 'Armored Man' showed up, you didn't fight. You ran like the coward you are"