Room 204.
Lilith sat alone on the communal bunk, her small face buried behind her knees. Her golden hair, sprawling like tangled vines, shimmered with a dazzling light as if forged from pure gold. The skin exposed by her short-sleeved shirt was an uncanny, ghostly white.
Her thin lips were pressed into a tight line, her teeth grinding. Her heart was a mess, churning with a chaotic whirl of emotions.
“Dammit… how could I lose to her… I’m going to explode… I’m so angry… I’m clearly the stronger one…”
Her toes curled, twisting the bedsheets beneath her as she kicked out in a fit of pique.
A knock sounded at the door, followed by Mrs. Diaz’s voice from the hallway.
“Lilith, are you in there?”
When the door opened, the Housemother stood in the corridor. She looked deep into Lilith’s eyes, her expression more solemn than ever before.
“The Headmaster asked me to bring you a message. You don’t have much time left. If you still cannot complete ‘that matter,’ then… you are to be expelled.”
She was referring to the “Kiss of Friendship.”
Lilith had almost forgotten.
She was naturally scatterbrained. Ever since she had been praised by the school for protecting her roommates in the Quicksand Lowlands, her arrogance had only grown. The conversation in the Headmaster’s office had long since been tossed to the back of her mind.
She hadn’t expected that while she could hide for a while, she couldn’t hide forever.
Headmaster Elliot’s minor, twisted sense of humor felt like a crushing mountain when it landed on Lilith’s head.
In that moment, Lilith felt as though the entire world was conspiring against her.
After Mrs. Diaz left, Lilith thought it through carefully. The problem lay with Wang Yue. No matter what she did, she couldn’t bypass that person. Furthermore, every bit of bad luck she’d had was linked to her.
Now, she had to complete the Kiss of Friendship.
Lilith held her breath, straining until her face flushed. Finally, she stomped her foot and shouted in a fit of desperation:
“I will not show weakness! I’ll use force! I’ll corner her, pin her wrists, and violate her lips! I’ll bite her until she bleeds and listen to her cry!”
Lilith made up her mind. She would use her Mystic Art on Wang Yue again, settling all her old and new grudges at once.
To end this once and for all, she didn’t care if she broke school rules.
***
In the dormitory next door, Wang Yue was hunched over her notebook, lost in thought.
The alignment of the stars, Biheze’s physical form, witchcraft runes, Stigmata, long-range structures, the geometry of Bastet… she felt like she was on the verge of grasping something, yet she couldn’t quite put it into words.
The sensation left her agitated and restless, like an ant on a hot griddle.
Knock, knock, knock!
Dorothy went to open the door. Lilith was standing there with a murderous look on her face, giving Dorothy a jolt of shock that felt like an electric current.
“W-w-what… do you want?” Dorothy stammered.
Lilith ignored her. Her gaze swept past Dorothy and locked onto Wang Yue.
“Wang Yue, come here for a moment.”
“Tsk.”
Wang Yue was annoyed. She had finally found a thread to pull on, a path toward the truth, and then this girl showed up.
Annoying people always seemed to appear at the most annoying times.
Wang Yue glanced at Lilith by the door, and the phrase “mutual loathing” immediately came to mind.
However, regarding school conflicts, she still adhered to the principle of “reconciliation over confrontation.” She preferred to find a way to mediate if possible.
Exhaling softly, she put down her pen and followed Lilith to the next room.
The two of them were alone in the dormitory. Lilith stood with her back to her, silent. The atmosphere was eerily quiet.
“Is something wrong?” Wang Yue asked tentatively.
Lilith turned around, raising a slender finger. Her voice was low and melodic.
“Wang Yue, from now on, you are my property.”
“Oh, how scary. And then? Are you going to pull out a Poké Ball? You’d better have a Master Ball, otherwise, I’m kicking it right back at your forehead.”
The atmosphere froze for a second or two.
“Eh?”
Lilith’s expression suddenly shifted. Her fingers clawed at the air several times, but there was no reaction.
“Where is my Mystic Art?”
“If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving. Hmph.”
Wang Yue walked away with her hands behind her back, looking profoundly enigmatic.
Naturally, Lilith’s Mystic Art wouldn’t work.
Ever since the first time she had been controlled by “Soul Snatch,” Wang Yue had made a note of it—she was, after all, someone who held a grudge.
She had researched the library and discovered that the control effect of Lilith’s art was strikingly similar to Mystic Art No. 014, “Soul Snatch.”
The effect of Soul Snatch was to seize control of a living being’s central nervous system—specifically the nerves that regulated muscle movement. It didn’t actually control the brain.
Wang Yue’s Mystic Art, “Puppet,” however, allowed her to control everything about herself, from her limbs down to her individual cells.
She could constrict her heart to accelerate blood flow, achieving an effect similar to the “Advance” technique used by fighters in manga, though it wasn’t necessary. Directly manipulating her limbs provided better results, and they would die faster.
