"No. This is my sin. I need to do it myself."

The moment Finster managed to swallow the chunk of meat, he began to convulse violently that I had no choice but to throw my entire weight onto his chest to keep him from shattering his own bones with his monstrous strength.

His hair, once a vibrant green, began to lose its color, turning white as the Aberrant’s essence fused with his core.

"How peculiar, in my long life, I have never seen such a unique as you, or a human as strange as this boy." Verde mused.

I pinned his shoulders down with my loom’s chains as he thrashed.

"Stop... please,... make it stop... I’m already full... I can’t eat anymore..."

He was caught in a nightmare of what his sister did to him in the past.

I gritted my teeth and held him firmer.

"Just a little longer, Finster. Hang on."

"His body is starting to accept the foreign substance. More impressive than that is that he is rewriting his entire body composition to adapt to it." Verde observed inside my head.

Scquench....

pop!

With a gruesome noise, white bone horn erupted from his forehead.

His eyes snapped open, but they were hollow like crimson orbs that held no soul. He was a puppet of meat and instinct now, a fledgling Aberrant/Human chimera.

"He is unconscious, yet he continues to adapt through pure instinct."

"Now that we have a mock aberrant, all that remains is its mock power."

"Inject your conceptual power into him. With the severed wing acting as a mold in his stomach, he will shape his energy signature to match that of the aberrant who tried to kidnap you," Verde said.

He stopped convulsing after he opened his hollowed eyes, so I stepped back, focusing myself.

The air around me began to fizzle and spark under the pressure of the gathering energy. My hair highlights flared, the teal color bleeding out until every strand of my hair was glowing.

UGGG...

AKKKKKK!!!!

The toll was immediate.

Blood poured from my eyes, nose, and ears.

My skin felt like it was being peeled back by a thousand invisible searing micro needles.

My pores began to weep blood, and my body itself was screaming at me to stop this madness.

Nonetheless, I continued.

I opened my eyes, but I saw nothing but fuzzy red.

"Huh...?"

My hearing faded into a dull ring. I was a hollow shell, burning from the inside out.

"This is the price for using power beyond your capabilities." Verde’s voice echoed in the void of my mind.

"I will be your eyes. He is directly below you."

Guided by her voice, I crouched down.

"Place your hand, north east." Verde solemnly said.

I placed my palm against the center of Finster’s forehead, right at the base of that newly grown horn.

I funneled every drop of my concept energy into his core, stitching my power into his new Aberrant-human body."

"Cwal..." I wheezed, "You’re... there, right?"

Ptwachk!!

cough ...cough...

I coughed, spraying a mouthful of blood across Finster’s face.

The warmth of it seemed to wake him up a bit.

A faint light returned from his hollow red eyes. His fingers twitched, reaching up to touch the blood on my cheek.

"Sis....." he mumbled.

"Call back... Tasora and Maku," I rasped to Cwal. "Let’s go home."

Finster repeated the same word back to me like a broken recorder.

"Let’s... go back... home."

The moment he spoke, the spatial link was put into place. By mimicking Abalam’s energy, he had tricked the very fabric of the world into thinking he was her.

"Did you secure the candidate? How is he?"

A young yet regal voice thundered from the sky, vibrating through my shattered senses.

BOM!

BOOOOM!

KABOOOM!

Even with my dulled senses, I could feel the tremors of Tasora’s final stand in the distance. Abalam probably felt the presence of Paimon and was desperate to answer his call.

"Cwal stepped forward and answered immediately, just as I instructed in the guide."

"Yes, Lord Paimon," Cwal said, pitch-perfect imitation of Abalam.

"Then bring him here," the voice commanded.

A giant, swirling rift tore open in the sky above us.

... and everything went silent.

The tremors from the battle in the distance were not rumbling anymore, and I felt a deep unease.

Shortly after that, I felt my body being lifted.

My fading vision caught one last silhouette, a girl with glowing white hair highlights rushing toward me.

"Tasora..."

A final wave of relief washed over me.

I let go, finally allowing myself to be drowned in the dark comfort of sleep.

_________________________________

Excelia Campus

The air above the central ball ripped open, and the unconscious students were spat out of the spatial ring like ragdolls.

Paimon, watching the students and his promised candidate settle into the tiles, watched in utter disbelief.

He looked at the broken wing fragment that had fallen with them, then back at the closing rift.

"Kuku..."

"Kuhahahahahahahahah!"

Eclair’s laughter rang out across the sky.

"You gave me quite a jump-scare there, youngling," she wheezed, clutching her side as she watched Paimon’s face turn a shade of livid purple.

"Who would have ever thought a mere student could deceive a direct blood noble himself?" She continued laughing for a good while, the sound echoing off the school grounds.

hah...

Finally, she let out a long, satisfied sigh.

She pulled a formal coat from her storage and draped it over her shoulders, fixing her Excelia professor’s uniform for the first time in ages.

"In your terms, Paimon, I believe it’s time for the curtains to fall. You’ve already lost."

Paimon didn’t answer immediately.

His gaze was fixed on one particular unconscious boy in the pile—the one with the fading white horn and blood-stained face.

"Perhaps," Paimon said, his voice oddly confident again.

"But I have gained more than enough chips for the future."

He stood up, and his old Aberrant servant immediately began clearing away the floating tableware set up in the sky, packing the tea set as if they were merely leaving a picnic.

Paimon raised a hand, tearing a jagged hole in reality.

Beyond the portal lay a world of eternal night, where red lightning danced across a pitch-black sky.

He and his servant stepped toward the hole before Paimon paused, looking back over his shoulder.

"You do know it is inevitable," he said.

"War is coming."

"Of course," Eclair replied, her playful demeanor vanishing, replaced by a cold, predatory sharpness.

"But this time, there won’t be any sacrifices. I will personally lead the carnage toward your extinction."

Paimon faced the dark portal once more, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"I’m glad. I look forward to it."

With a final crackle of red energy, the rift vanished, leaving the quiet campus to the groans of the waking students.

_________________________________

Excellia Hospital

Beeep

Beeep

Beeep

Beeeep

Slowly waking to consciousness. Without opening my eyes, the rhythmic pulse of the heart monitor was the first thing I heard.

Then came the smell of a vibrant air freshener struggling to mask the sharp, sterile scent of antiseptics and disinfectants.

There was no doubt in my mind that it had landed in one of the most classic clichés in novels.

I opened my eyes, fully expecting the "unfamiliar ceiling" moment. But something was wrong.

The ceiling was indeed unfamiliar, but it was a smeared mess of colors. Everything was groggy and distorted, like I was watching a movie through fogged-up eyeglasses or staring at coral reefs through worn-out, scratched goggles.

"Am I just groggy from waking up?"

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, blinking hard to clear the haze.

I looked back at the ceiling to compare the two views, but it remained the same in an extremely blurry scene, just like earlier.

"Maybe I’m still recovering," I thought.

But enough about that, looks like I might be able to say it freely this time.

I looked left and right, scanning the room to make sure I was truly alone. Once I confirmed no one was watching, I took a deep breath to deliver the line.

"An unfamiliar ceiling. Where am—"

"Unfortunately for you, I am still here."

"UWAAAAAK!"

I nearly died from a heart attack.

"Who?! What?! Where?!"

"Inside of your head, you bigot," Verde’s voice echoed, sounding more annoyed than usual.

"Have you finally lost your mind?"

"Oh..." I slumped back, my heart racing.

"Hah... I forgot. You’re literally living in my head rent-free now."

"Trust me, I would pay to leave your head in an instant if I could," Verde grumbled.

The door to my right creaked open. I turned my head toward the sound, squinting through the persistent, milky haze.

"Yeah, he might miss a week of classes, but I’m sure he’ll recover just fine. He is not that dumb after all....."

Drop.

Nagi stood in the doorway, frozen.

A basket filled with exotic fruits, half of which I couldn’t even name because of my eyesight and their unfamiliar shapes, slipped from her hands and spilled across the floor.

Behind her stood Finster, Azalea, Emma, and Fanna, all looking like they had seen a ghost.

Nagi didn’t wait and sprinted toward my bedside

"You’re finally awake!" she yelled.

I scratched my chin and blinked a couple of times awkwardly, still trying to adjust to the blurry silhouettes of my classmates.

"Yeah," I said with a tired grin.

"Sorry for making you guys worry."