Inside the Haunted House, clusters of students huddled together, their voices thick with nervous tension as they whispered among themselves.
Though called a “Haunted House,” the structure was actually a towering hotel spanning over a dozen floors, designed in a style reminiscent of Hotel Transylvania or Luigi’s Mansion.
Lulu’anna’s Mystic Art, ranked No. 002 and known as Paradise Lost, allowed her to manifest specialized dimensions within a medium. With enough DIY effort, she could craft anything from a gloomy ancient castle to a sun-drenched Hawaiian beach.
On the eve of the festival, a “biocurrent transmission” had been sent out through the Nutrition Sticks distributed across the school. The message was simple: Enter the Haunted House and prepare to escape.
The students had understood the assignment perfectly. They had spent the day parading floats and visiting various attractions with feigned interest, but eventually, they had all converged on the Haunted House as if by sheer coincidence.
When Lilith burst inside, the students jumped, letting out a chorus of startled screams. For a terrifying moment, they thought the plot had been discovered!
To their shock, the Red-Horned Witch reached up, grabbed the detonator cord of her explosive collar, and ripped it clean off. She hurled it to the floor and shouted, “Quick! Get those collars off!”
The students hesitated at first, fearing this was some new scheme by the witch. However, after a quick signal from Wang Yue’s team, they realized the truth: Lilith was an undercover agent who had been embedded at Granahl’s side. One by one, they began tearing off their own collars.
“Wang Yue is incredible… I can’t believe she actually tamed Lilith.”
“It feels amazing, doesn’t it?”
“I know! Lilith was as obedient as a little rabbit in Wang Yue’s arms. Heavens, I can’t even imagine it!”
“Lilith must really, really like Wang Yue, right? Why else would she lower her proud head?”
“Yeah, that Lilith…”
Hearing their gossip, Lilith’s face turned as red as a ripe persimmon. Her entire body trembled as she clenched her fists and screamed, “Shut up! I do not like Wang Yue!”
Outside the Haunted House, Wang Yue paced back and forth, her expression fraught with anxiety.
Why aren’t they here yet? Did they forget the plan? Come on, hurry up!
Finally, at one of the plaza entrances, Gymnopedie appeared! The perverted senior was leading the charge, sprinting at the head of a massive crowd of teachers.
Professor Vida’s short legs were moving at a frantic pace, keeping up with the long-legged instructors with ease—she truly lived up to her title as a teacher of Felidology. Along with the teachers were the other detained staff members: housemothers, maids, chefs, and groundskeepers.
Once the faculty and staff had vanished into the Haunted House, Wang Yue swept her gaze across the now-empty plaza. she drew her wand and made a graceful, sweeping motion through the air.
The cardboard structure of the Haunted House folded inward, transforming into a massive paper airplane.
Wang Yue leaped onto it. As a sudden gale caught the craft, the paper plane skidded across the ground for a short distance before abruptly banking upward, soaring into the sky!
Takeoff!
The three witches patrolling the Academy finally realized the student population had dwindled to an impossible degree. They rushed toward the Great Plaza, only to catch a final glimpse of a young black-haired girl ascending toward the heavens atop a paper airplane.
From Wang Yue’s perspective, the Gothic architecture of Balor Academy began to shrink. In its place, the vast groves of red mangroves, the ancient and desolate rocky landscapes, and the deep, sprawling wilderness grew larger and more vivid.
Just as she was about to clear the Academy’s boundaries, a brilliant pillar of purple light erupted nearby!
A Complex Taboo Name had revealed its true form!
Wang Yue’s pupils contracted. In her field of vision, a mass of molten, flowing material—something between magma and glass—surged upward, reaching over a hundred meters in height in an instant.
Strange spirals, varying from thick to thin, extended from its body like grotesque limbs, curving downward to brace against the earth. At its center, bone-white teeth clamped around a deep purple crystal the size of a basketball court.
Surges of purple phantom light rolled out like a tide, washing over Wang Yue’s body in waves. High in the air, nested halos spanning over a thousand meters manifested, filling the sky and churning the very clouds!
A Taboo Name Corona!
This mysterious, magnificent phenomenon, as vast as a rainbow, felt like the descent of a miracle.
The Amorphous Sheath had already activated, coating the young black-haired girl in a shimmering silver sheen that allowed her to stand firm against the waves of pollution.
Wang Yue’s nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Only a hundred meters more, and she would be outside the Academy’s range, where the Lantern-Bearers could assist her!
Suddenly!
The sound of tearing silk exploded right in front of her.
The space before Wang Yue split open like a vertical black eye, and a mass of boiling, crimson-lit bubbles surged forth. This eerie substance encased four or five unstable Rule Constructs, each riddled with obvious flaws.
Due to their structural instability, they emitted constant structural pollution as they churned, producing a shrill, grating sound that made it seem as though they would shatter at any moment.
This was Granahl. Having finally broken free from her paralysis, she had torn through the void to launch a long-range strike against Wang Yue.
In that moment of crisis, a flock of crows tore through the sky, dropping a bladeless hilt toward the girl on the paper plane.
The hilt appeared to be made of stone—a pale ash-grey speckled with silver sparks and covered in layers of intricate, redundant symbols.
The Sword of Authority!
Wang Yue gripped the hilt in one hand and slotted it into her Card Box. In the blink of an eye, she pulled twelve Rule Constructs from the Imaginary Space!
The glowing constructs linked together, piercing into Granahl’s manifest form in a rapid-fire assault before tearing back out!
With every construct that exited, the molten, glass-like substance of the enemy’s form shattered and dissipated. By the time the Twelve-Chain Strike was complete, Granahl’s offensive had been utterly decimated.
Wang Yue didn’t get greedy. she didn’t try to seize the unstable constructs Granahl had used; those things were essentially nuclear waste, constantly leaking pollution. If not for the Amorphous Sheath protecting her, she would have already mutated into some Cronenberg-style monster.
The Sword of Authority had been obtained from Wright’s estate attorney as payment for providing the Gaze Worms. There was also a separate reward for supporting the Explorers’ Guild’s Dreamland rescue plan, though they hadn’t settled on the specifics yet due to the urgency of the situation.
With Granahl’s assault neutralized, Wang Yue successfully navigated the paper plane out of the Academy’s airspace.
Looking down, she saw the Church’s Expeditionary Force and the Order of Sisters mobilized in full force, marching in tight formation. They were chasing the shadow the paper plane cast in the moonlight. The sight of the Order of Sisters, all wielding matching chainswords, was enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.
If there were only a few of them, Wang Yue might have used the Sword of Authority to give them a taste of her Twelve-Chain Strike. But against an entire company of transcendent warriors? No thank you.
Wang Yue pulled a pocket lantern from her waist and clicked the mechanism. A pillar of golden light shot straight into the sky!
Shring!
Eleven massive figures clad in black hooded robes appeared out of thin air around the young black-haired girl.
It was the Lantern-Bearer squad, including Ed-Bear!
In an instant, a profound sense of security washed over Wang Yue. Her muscle had arrived.
Below, seeing this development, Natya immediately signaled for her troops to halt.
“Mother Superior! Why aren’t we pursuing?!” Richel shouted from behind her.
“It’s useless. We can’t match the speed of Blinking. If we go any further, we’ll be playing on their home turf.”
The white-haired nun turned around, shouldering the intimidating Les Misérables. She began walking back, whispering softly:
“This is actually a good thing for us. Granahl no longer has any chance of cooperating with the Explorers’ Guild. Our alliance with her will now be unbreakable.”
Back at the Academy, it looked as though a mass disappearance had occurred.
Orange lamps illuminated the long streets. Paper demons stood atop the floats, and the food at the stalls was still steaming, smelling of the festival. Yet, the grounds were entirely empty.
“Why isn’t anyone coming to eat?”
A pink-haired girl bit into a candy-coated apple. The rich juice immediately filled her mouth—sweet, delicious, and so wonderful it made her want to burst into song.
After finishing it in a few bites, her hand darted toward a skewer of dango.
Munch, munch…
Dango is so good!
Yum!
After eating for who knows how long, Dorothy’s hand froze while holding a custard bun. She suddenly realized something…
Something was wrong.
Hmm…
Maybe there’s some really fun event that drew everyone away?
She felt conflicted. If she kept eating, she might miss out on something.
But then again…
The food was definitely more important!
Dorothy swallowed hard, using her small finger to stuff the last crescent-shaped bit of bun into her mouth, gulping it down with satisfaction.
At that moment, a wave of purple light washed over her.
Her movements stiffened. Her body felt as though it no longer belonged to her. Confusion rose in her heart, but her thoughts felt sticky and sluggish, as if her mind were being glued together.
The light seemed… a bit too bright.
Food… why is it leaking out of my throat?
My hand… my hand is melting…
Help…
Wang Yue…
Save me…
Poor Dorothy