“Is anyone out there?!”

The Imperial Knight shouted urgently, but no response came from the hallway. It was because Dorothy had knocked out all the Imperial Knights who had tried to stop her.

Dorothy was like a ticking time bomb. Märchen Academy treated her like a student in name only, but once she lost her reason and went berserk, she was a formidable force difficult to control.

Only Alice Carroll had naturally served as her restrainer. But now, she was gone.

Pierre looked at Dorothy with a startled face. Suddenly, a burst of force lifted him off the ground and slammed him against the wall.

Baaam!!

“Ugh!!”

Dorothy grabbed her head with her left hand and stretched out her right arm. Immediately, Pierre’s body was pulled into her hand, and she grabbed him by the throat.

Pierre’s head was bleeding. He was in agony from being choked. Dorothy glared at him with bloodshot eyes.

“You tried to kill Isaac during the Grand Festival, didn’t you? What gave you the nerve to come crawling back? Did I go too easy on you…?”

“Kuuugh…!”

“Fortunately… even a bastard like you is useful now… Let’s postpone death a bit, shall we…?”

Pierre could only gasp for air, unable to breathe.

Dorothy’s fever and headache ragged her breathing, her voice kept cracking and her sentences were broken.

“Dorothy Heartnova! What the hell are you doing?!”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Kugh!”

Kuuuuu!

A strong gravitational pull settled over the head of the Imperial Knight. The ground distorted. The knight gritted his teeth and endured the excruciating pain that threatened to crush his body.

He couldn’t move. Dorothy had strengthened the gravitational pull just enough to keep him immobilized.

“The only business I have… is with this bastard… He was nowhere to be found, so I came looking for him myself…”

“Are you out of your mind?!”

The Knight shouted, eyes wide open.

Dorothy hadn’t slept for days and had been unleashing starlight magic at the Abyss. As a result, she was in a state where she could die at any moment. It was probably because her starlight mana had been congested.

Regardless, has she finally lost her mind?

No, that isn’t it.

That alone isn’t what had driven Dorothy to this point.

Despite his anger, the Imperial Knight was also worried about Dorothy. Even if she was one of the strongest in the Empire, she was still just a student.

However, Dorothy was now out of control and crossing the line, which was why the knight had decided to threaten her forcefully.

Dorothy narrowed her eyes.

Even if all the remaining Imperial Knights at Märchen Academy were to attack at once, they wouldn’t be able to defeat her.

But the Slayers were converging this way. Soon, they would reach the land bridge.

Even Dorothy could not defeat them. In other words, if she made enemies of the Empire, Dorothy's safety couldn’t be guaranteed.

But Dorothy didn’t care.

“I have no grudge against you… To me… Isaac is the most important…”

“You really…!”

“To save Isaac!!”

Dorothy shouted.

“I need these bastards…!”

Even though her head felt like it was splitting apart, Isaac’s face and voice were still clear in her mind.

For Dorothy, Isaac was more important than the law.

Isaac had become Dorothy’s world. He had given her a future when she was facing death.

To Dorothy, Isaac was far more precious than her own insignificant life that should have already ended before.

Even using [Last Light of a Dying Star], a starlight spell that used her very own life as fuel for its overwhelming power, might not have been enough to make it up to him.

Of course, Isaac also harbored a strong power within him… But there was still a limit to the power he could use. Being on Isaac’s side, Dorothy was aware of this.

Moreover, when Isaac was captured, his mana was also consumed. This was obvious to anyone on the island at the time, as his mana had dramatically dwindled.

That was why Dorothy became impatient and changed her mind.

She would take the four Paladins and go to their world. She would use them as guides to find the one who summoned the demon in the sky. That was the idea.

The starlight mana flowing in her circuit boiled furiously. Her body felt like it was melting. However, this sensation elevated Dorothy to a higher realm.

Now, she was confident that she could take a few people with her to intervene in another world bathed in starlight.

It was a growth that came from four days of emotional turmoil and excessive use of starlight mana.

Dorothy decided to find the main body of the demon that had possessed Alice’s body and learn how to counter the Abyss from it. She knew that the demon inside Alice was not the real body, thanks to the power of [All in the World].

It didn’t matter if she was weaker than that demon. She could always exchange her lifespan for a powerful starlight spell.

“Kuuuugh…!”

Dorothy suffered from a headache as if numerous daggers were continuously stabbing her brain.

At the same time, she felt a strange sensation akin to levitating in the air and a sense of omnipotence. It was as if she could do anything.

She had been seeing hallucinations that something was reaching out to her.

And if she took that hand… she had a foreboding feeling that she would be dragged to a distant place from which she could never return.

That was why Dorothy ignored the hallucination.

Booooom!!

Dorothy smashed through prison walls, floating Pierre in the air.

She flew at a terrifying speed and reached the central square of the Academy.

She knocked down the walls of other buildings that served as makeshift prisons with starlight magic, sending only the Paladins flying toward her. She had already pinpointed their locations, making such a feat easy to perform.

“Ugh!”

“Kugh…!”

“Kugugh!”

The Spade Paladin, Zenon.

The Heart Paladin, Shera Hectorica.

The Diamond Paladin, Alexa.

Like Pierre, they floated around Dorothy, dressed in straitjackets.

A commotion arose with a clanging noise. All four Paladins seemed to be grasped by an invisible force, choking and struggling in pain.

“Dorothy Heartnova! What are you doing?!”

“Will you stop this immediately?!”

The Imperial Knights reacted quickly and surrounded Dorothy with weapons drawn. Headmistress Elena Woodline and the Professors from Orphin Hall were taken aback by Dorothy’s sudden actions and immediately headed to the square.

A Slayer composed of the Royal Guards was currently crossing the land bridge. The Imperial Knights wanted to avoid unnecessary chaos during such a time.

Dorothy’s lifeless eyes scanned the knights who were pointing weapons at her.

Hwaaaa!!

Soon, a distinct radiance flowed from Dorothy’s body.

The power of [All in the World] and the transcendent ability to traverse worlds filled with starlight attempted to erase her and the Paladins from the Academy Square. The Imperial Knights were astonished by the mysterious sight.

Over the past four days, Dorothy had been using her powers of observation to track which world the foot soldiers had been sent back to. In addition to pouring her power into the Abyss, this was the undue task she had undertaken.

The Imperial Knights rushed in and unleashed their attacks to stop her.

“Don’t… interfere…!”

However, Dorothy’s colorful starlight magic blocked all their attacks and pushed them back.

At that moment.

Purple lightning struck Dorothy.

Kwagagagang!!

Claaaang!!

Dorothy deployed a starlight shield to block the lightning. However, the intensity of the lightning disrupted her concentration.

The glow emanating from Dorothy faded. Her gaze wavered and then turned toward the female student who had struck her with lightning.

The Vice-Commander of the Imperial Knight, Magrio, gently raised his arm to stop the knights. He wanted to observe the situation.

“I hated you from the start.”

A female student with rose-gold hair nonchalantly walked past the Imperial Knights and stopped in front of Dorothy.

A student from the Magic Department who, like Dorothy, had spent four sleepless nights pouring magic onto the Abyss.

It was Luce Eltania.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Luce asked Dorothy. She was like an emotionless doll, yet a cold cynicism could be felt from her expression and voice.

Dorothy, clutching her splitting head, gasped for air as she glared at Luce.

Both girls had dark shadows under their eyes.