"…I swear, there's nothing about this I like."

"What now?"

"I mean, it feels like we’re crushing someone powerless. This isn't what I became a soldier for."

Some of the prince’s men kicked the dirt, expressing their dissatisfaction. When they were told it was an important mission, they didn’t expect it would be about stomping on a princess who had already been pushed to the very bottom of the imperial succession. Was the throne really worth killing one’s own kin for?

Even after serving the imperial family for so long, this level of ruthlessness was hard to swallow.

"Well, what choice do we have? Orders are orders."

"…Tch. I guess you're right."

No matter how distasteful the task, there were things that had to be done. Even if they didn’t like it, they had resolved to end it as quickly and painlessly as possible. One of the soldiers turned to his comrades to confirm their plan.

"Are we sure it’s just a little further ahead?"

"Yes. We’ve picked up the signal near here."

"Alright, let’s finish this quickly."

Normally, no one was supposed to know the opponent’s location. The duel was taking place in one of the academy’s largest areas, and the element of strategy was preserved by keeping both sides unaware of each other's positions. But thanks to the prince’s underhanded tactics, the princess’s location had already been revealed.

Apparently, they had placed a small tracker on her during one of their earlier conversations. No one expected the prince to resort to such cheap tricks in what was supposed to be a fair duel on academy grounds.

Even though it didn’t sit well with them, they had no choice but to follow orders.

"…We can’t help the princess, but we’ll let the others live. I can’t stomach the thought of wiping out an entire family just for being involved."

"How thoughtful of you."

"What—! Intruder—Ugh!"

In a moment of complacency, disaster struck. They had the advantage of knowing their enemy's location and superior numbers, but they let their guard down. They hadn’t expected the academy students to be stronger than them.

One of their comrades was taken down without even being able to put up a fight, as a dark hand struck with precision.

"Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him. My friend doesn’t like that."

"Ew... Hitting people feels gross… It’s bad because it feels bad…"

"See? Even though he’s a demon, he hates doing bad things now. So, no need to worry too much."

"That hand… She’s a demon-possessed! Watch out!"

Though the soldiers tried to maintain their composure, they knew something was off. Wasn’t the princess supposed to be here? Why was there a demon-possessed person instead?

"Hey, what’s going on? Isn’t the princess supposed to be here?"

"Oh, if you came here following the signal, then you’ve been tricked."

"What?!"

"Seriously, though. You guys really went all out just to win. Your boss is hilarious, don’t you think?"

With a playful toss, the small device was flung between her fingers—a signal tracker. The soldiers quickly realized that it was the very same tracker they had placed on the princess. Somehow, their plan had been discovered and used against them.

Realizing they’d been had, the soldiers quickly recalibrated their priorities.

"…Change of plan. Let’s take out the enemy in front of us and then eliminate the princess."

"Ah, sorry, but that’s not gonna happen."

Snap.

The demon-possessed girl crushed the tracker between her fingers, and at the same moment, one of the soldiers’ communication devices went dead.

As she tossed the now-useless piece of equipment to the ground, she turned to the soldiers with a smirk.

"My role here… what was it again? Oh, yeah, the knight. That’s what they said."

"A knight? You think a demon-possessed can be a knight?"

"Not that kind of knight… Ugh, forget it. Anyway, my job is to cause chaos in your ranks."

"You really think we’ll just let you do that?"

"It doesn’t matter whether you let me or not."

Before they could react, she climbed a nearby tree and disappeared from their sight in an instant.

"You can’t catch me anyway. Enjoy your time with the church lady."

"…!"

One of the soldiers who had been ambushed thought it had been a fluke. But as the girl vanished from sight, moving faster than they could follow, they realized they were dealing with something far more dangerous.

There was no way to chase after her in the dense forest. Visibility was low, and any attempt to pursue her would only expose them to more ambushes.

"Damn it, we’ve lost her."

"These kids are terrifying. What the hell are they feeding them? At this rate, our only option is to regroup and overwhelm them with numbers."

As much as they hated to admit it, this demon-possessed girl was impressive enough that they almost wanted to recruit her for the imperial family. The soldiers, abandoning their earlier prejudice, decided to give up the pursuit.

Chasing her now would only waste time, and they had to regroup before they were picked off one by one.

"This is the detachment team. Do you copy? The plan has failed. The tracker was discovered, and we were ambushed. Pursuing is impossible. Returning now."

"Stat... rejoin... interfer…"

"What the hell? Why is it so staticky? Is the device broken?"

"It was working fine an hour ago. Something must be jamming the signal."

"What?"

Jamming the signal? In the middle of the forest?

The most experienced soldier in the group felt a chill run down his spine. This situation… it was all too familiar.

What had the girl said before she disappeared? Something about the church lady?

Suddenly, memories he didn’t want to recall came flooding back—the days when the church and the imperial family clashed. Back then, such situations had been a daily occurrence.

"Shit. Get up!"

"Wh-what?!"

"Don’t ask questions! Just listen to me! We need to get out of here, right now!"

"What’s going on—"

"An attack is coming! A big one!"

Though he didn’t know the exact cause, one thing that anyone who had fought against the church learned was that holy power could disrupt signals.

If there was only a small amount, it wouldn’t affect much. But if a concentrated amount of holy power was nearby, it would make all nearby electronics go dead.

When that happened, it meant one thing: a holy attack was incoming.

And on the other side stood an Inquisitor. Someone with enough holy power to make such an attack possible, even from afar.

"Just trust me! It’s an Inquisitor’s attack!"

"…!"

"Move! Take only what’s essential and—"

At that moment, the soldier, frantically shouting orders, caught sight of a distant spear of light hurtling toward them.

Too late.

In the blink of an eye, the spear of light had already closed the distance, and the soldier squeezed his eyes shut.

Could anyone survive this?

He cursed his superior. If they had to face this kind of opponent, they should have been warned.

"What a sight."

"Wow, that pillar of light… If you get hit by that, wouldn’t you die?"

"Who knows?"

"What do you mean, ‘who knows’?!"

"That’s an Inquisitor. They avoid unnecessary killing… probably."

Stella smiled as she looked at the pillar of light that marked the success of their first move.

She had been caught off guard by her brother’s sneaky tricks too many times to count. Whether it was chess or political schemes, he always used dirty, underhanded tactics to strike at her where she least expected it.

But even the most cunning snake eventually gets stepped on.

If Stella couldn’t outwit him, someone else could.

"Teacher Ophelia was right. I’m glad I asked for her help."

"You're too kind."

"I thought he was just trying to taunt me when we were talking, but he must have planted that tracker on me at some point."

The thought of almost falling for her brother’s trick again made Stella grit her teeth. But this time, it didn’t matter. Where she lacked, her allies made up for it.

Ahnya handled the long-range attacks that Stella couldn’t, and Orca handled the ambushes and disruption.

This time, Stella was ready.

"Well then… I suppose it’s time for me to step in."

"Yawn… Already?"

"…Were you sleeping?"

"I’ve been so tired lately… I can barely stay awake…"

"You’re as carefree as ever."

The old Stella would have lost her temper and cursed at him for such behavior in a critical moment. But perhaps because of the recent praise exercises from Teacher Ophelia, she now found Leo’s calmness in a tense situation admirable.

"Leo, Aileen. Take good care of Teacher Ophelia."

"Don’t worry, we’ve got this."

"Don’t worry. Even if I mess up, you’ll fix it, right?"

"…You’re too laid-back."

They had successfully taken out the ambush force that had been sent to scout ahead, but Stella knew her brother would have realized this by now. He would be preparing his next move.

Thinking ahead, Stella swiftly moved to reposition herself.

Her brother was bound to pull something tricky again.

But this time, she would end the game before he had a chance to act.

As Stella strategized, she braced herself for the risks she would have to take.