*BOOOOOOM*

”KHYAAAAAAAAAAAGHH…!”

Zoemi asked and the Kirissu’s limbs exploded making her scream out in pain.

Not every limb of hers was blown off, mind you.

She lost legs and the giant darkness arm was no longer there but she still had one functioning arm.

”Oh, and thank you for putting Arisu somewhere secure from where he cannot escape on his own, it really made things easy for me.”

”Eh…?!”

Kirissu groaned at Zoemi’s unexpected words.

She made sure to put her son in the safest place she could think of.

The room was made with a spell that all of the Ghosts conjured together, the sanctuary of darkness, it was impossible to track or attack it because it was on a different plane of existence. There was no way that someone without the understanding of true darkness could even dream of opening it up.

Arisu was safe there, he would stay there until he would master the darkness and be ready to face this bastard Zoemi…

Yes. For sure.

That MUST have been the case…!

”No. He is just a rat in a cage. And why do you think I can’t get there? You’ve clearly already let me in there. You know, together with Arisu.”

Zoemi laughed as he emerged from the tar a few feet away from Kirissu, showing off his real body.

He was never truly caught by Kirissu nor was he inside her arm.

It was funny, actually, how Kirissu couldn’t recognize her own shape-shifting magic when somebody else was using it in a slightly altered way than she was.

”Haa…”

Zoemi breathed out as he slowly walked towards the one-armed torso.

He crouched, and grabbed Kirissu’s chin, lifting up her head and looking her straight in the face with his lifeless eyes.

”Do you know why I torment you so much instead of just killing you as I did with the rest?”

He asked.

”…”

Kirissu couldn’t hear his voice but Zoemi was using the message spell at the same time just so she would understand him.

”It’s because you, and only you, knew what your son did to my master and you stayed silent. Because you protected that scum, my master was treated like a liar when she was a victim!”

He roared and let go of Kirissu.

”I really want you to suffer for that. Just a little bit less than what I will do to your son.”

Zoemi stated coldly.

”Spare him, please…! He was young back then… He didn’t mean to do anything bad…!”

Kirissu pleaded and raised her body on her only hand.

”…”

Zoemi turned to her and looked into her eyes.

For a moment she thought that she saw a light reflecting in his dead eyes.

*STAB*

And then Zoemi raised his hand, engulfed in darkness and clawed like a wild beast, and gouged out her eyes.

”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

”No.”

He flatly refused and threw away the crushed eyeballs as the woman wailed and wiggled in horrible pain assaulting her senses.

Zoemi walked a few steps, he was now exactly at the place where he last saw Arisu, and he turned back towards the helpless Kirissu.

*click*

He snapped his fingers and something shaped like a body of Carcassuss emerged from the black tar that was still covering the whole ground.

”…ughy… ught… e… eh…?”

Kirissu stumbled upon it while crawling towards Zoemi.

At first, she didn’t know what the new obstacle was but after examining it she gasped.

”Cu-cupcake…? Cupcake, is that you…?!”

She cried and dragged herself towards what she thought was the corpse of her husband.

”Cupcake… I-I’m…!”

Kirissu said in a tormented voice.

”Shut up.”

*click*

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Zoemi snapped his fingers again and the Carcassus’s body look-alike exploded.

The force was so strong that it shattered all of the remaining windows in the academy building.

When the dust cleared out there was nothing left in place of the husband and wife, the commander and the vice-commander of the Ghosts of Bellcephora.

”Hmph…”

As Kirissu’s mana got absorbed by Zoemi he frowned.

”I should have made her suffer more… No matter. I’ll make up for it with Arisu.”

His face twisted demonically as his body turned into black mist and disappeared.

————-

”What’s going on?! Anyone?! Please respond! Mother! Father! Fareliuve! Aunt Raseriat? Gramps Kiorterell?! Rethaq? Oktria? Somebody respond, please! Weirdo Elsby!”

Arisu was scared.

He was alone in an unknown endless void that even his night vision could see through.

Or maybe there was just nothing to see?

But in that case, why did his mother even send him to such a place?

They were attacked by someone who looked like Zoemi, but it couldn’t be him…! That bastard who had the same name as the teddy bear of the second princess was supposed o be just a weakling! He recently gained some power but it was preposterous to think that he could stand on the same battleground as the Ghosts, or he, Arisu, formerly Cherro, the current hero!”

”What spell was used to cause such an explosion?”

Arisu wondered recalling the events he witnessed just before his mother sent him away.

Truth be told, he didn’t see much, he wasn’t even aware of how many of his comrades died from that initial strike.

The opening attack almost knocked him out, and as soon as he came to, his mother pushed him into this strange room without an exit…

”No matter, since it’s a darkness spell I’ll unlock it right away and return to the rest.”

The young man decided, nodding to himself with contentment.

Suddenly he clapped his hands together and his face lit up with realization.

”Ah! Of course, it’s just a test! Mother and father are using that toy’s pitiful attack as a test for me! I bet that’s what the deal is. I have to get out of this room! Is that right?”

He asked loudly as if expecting a confirmation.

”Ha, of course, I’m right.”

Arisu nodded to himself despite the lack of answer of any sort.

His white hair turned black, the same as his eyes.

”Shadow connect!”

Arisu called and his spell connected him with the surrounding darkness.

”Weird… I feel nothing… Should I cast it again?”

He muttered to himself surprised by the sensation that was completely different than usual.

”Darkness connect!”

In the end, he decided to use a stronger version of the spell.

”…”

Still, no matter what, the results were the same as before. The connection wasn’t established.

”…Strange…”

Arisu grumbled.

He got no information – nor where he was, what was this spell, nor how long the area it encompasses stretches for.

”Well, there’s one way to find out…”

Arisu said and his eyes and hair became green.

His body started glowing green and he dashed madly straight ahead.

He ran and ran and ran…

In this strange room, or rather, a strange world, there was no indication of the flow of time so he didn’t know whether he had run for five minutes or five days.

When he depleted one-third of his vast mana pool he decided to stop.

”So… The place is very spacious… Or maybe I was running in circles the whole time?”

He pondered, trying to look around but his sense of direction was completely thrown off by everything looking exactly the same, with nothing to use as a point of reference.