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To speak of Xenia’s true identity—it is, of course, me.

Why did I bother coming here in Xenia’s form?

It’s not time to reveal that reason yet.

For now, I intend to keep pretending to be Xenia.

But even I am caught off guard upon seeing an unexpected figure before me.

Golden hair tinged with red.

A face that radiates youthful innocence.

A red flame blazing from his sword.

The protagonist of The Flame Butterfly Arc—

Lucas Fernando.

The very person Isabel and I had desperately been searching for—I never imagined I’d encounter him here.

I see the lifeless eyes of Lucas.

I can feel it—he’s a resurrected corpse, controlled by someone else’s will.

I had always questioned the circumstances of Lucas’s revival through vampiric mysticism.

Lucas hadn’t even reached full maturity; he was weak enough to die while saving someone in the Demon Dungeon.

What good could come from reviving someone like him?

But now, today, I understand why someone brought Lucas back.

‘To burn Zerion’s grimoire.’

That someone knew of the grimoire’s existence.

However, Zerion’s grimoire is protected by special magical wards and cannot be destroyed.

Only Zerion himself can read it.

There is, however, one and only one force capable of burning it.

That is—the Flame of Resolve possessed by Lucas.

I don’t know how exactly the Flame of Resolve can burn the grimoire.

But the fact remains: it is a cheat-like power.

Lucas was the protagonist, someone with the qualities of a true hero.

So I never thought I’d see him like this again.

To be honest, part of me was even a little glad.

To me, Lucas was a companion of the heart—a friend.

“…It’s a good thing Isabel isn’t here.”

Because I didn’t want anyone to see our friend in such a pitiful state.

“If it were you, Lucas…”

A surge of blue lightning burst from the weapon I held—Lightning Caller.

It was a ring imbued with lightning magic, implanted by Nikita and Xenia before they left.

“You’d tell me to kill without hesitation.”

Even if it meant losing his life once more—Lucas would be the type to say that.

Lucas, resurrected through vampiric mysticism.

I will return him to peaceful sleep once more.

With that thought, Lucas moved.

His sword cleaved through the air, rushing toward me.

The Flame of Resolve bloomed at the tip of his blade.

Even for someone like me, it was an unnerving flame—truly a cheat-level ability.

In response, I grasped the electric current in my hand and swung with force.

KA-A-A-AANG!

Lightning and flame exploded, engulfing the surroundings.

Through that chaos, Lucas approached swiftly.

It seemed he had identified me as a mage.

Given that I was wielding the lightning magic of Xenia and Nikita, it wasn’t a wrong assessment.

My fighting style is well-known for being unique.

So even to convincingly play Xenia, I must fight like a mage.

Fortunately, my lightning magic reserves are full.

Even now, Lightning Caller twitched, eager to release its stored current.

‘This Lucas isn’t a complete hero yet.’

I can definitely win.

Lucas’s sword pierced through my feint.

I pushed off my back foot and tilted my head to dodge.

Even as a mage, I never neglected close combat.

A true Apostle doesn’t fight only at long range, regardless of their class.

Thus, all mages train in melee combat.

Especially evasive maneuvers combining wind and gravity magic—those are mage specialties.

At close range, Lucas’s sword descended like a flurry of falling stars.

But my dynamic vision and reflexes easily surpassed that.

I read his sword trajectory and dodged like an acrobat.

I had once evaded Ban’s swordplay, whose skill exceeded even Lucas’s.

There’s no way the Lucas of this era could catch up to me.

FWOOSH!

Except, the Flame of Resolve was a different matter.

Trailing from his blade, the flame followed like a meteor shower.

I barely countered it with lightning magic as the battle reached its peak.

Lucas and I darted across the ruined lecture hall that had become our battlefield, clashing over and over.

Lucas, too, kept up a relentless mental game, but I countered all of it.

He moved with the same habits he had in life.

And I knew those habits better than anyone.

Because I had played Lucas countless times.

WHOOOM!

The blade closing in became even fiercer.

As expected of the protagonist—even in this situation, he continued to grow stronger.

He must have begun reading my patterns and adapting.

The heat within the Flame of Resolve only intensified.

It looked like he was preparing for a final blow.

And I was, too.

To bring down Lucas—I needed a decisive move.

THUD!

At that moment, my back hit something.

I looked up to see part of the collapsed lecture hall building standing there.

My eyes quickly shifted to Lucas.

He had lured me here during the fight and now swung with the Flame of Resolve at its peak.

A wall behind me.

A wall of flame before me.

Every escape route cut off.

Lucas’s sword raced toward my neck.

But—

CRACK!

Just as Lucas intended, so too had I planned.

The bottom of the wall behind me had been burned through by electricity.

And so, the massive wall collapsed—straight toward both Lucas and me.

It all happened in an instant.

Lucas’s sword shifted hastily to intercept the falling debris.

There was no way to avoid being crushed otherwise.

As the sword touched the wall, the Flame of Resolve exploded.

It shot up like fireworks, illuminating everything around.

And beneath that dazzling display—

I leapt forward, clutching the Spear of Lightning tightly in my hand.

Thanks to the Veil Bandages that made me appear as Xenia, I was far shorter than Lucas.

Which meant I could move freely even in such a cramped space.

The lightning spear, wrapped in maximum power by the lightning magic that Xenia and Nikita had cast, devoured the surrounding light.

Crackk-kk!

The lightning spear roared.

In the spreading glow of lightning, my eyes met Lucas’s.

And with that, the lightning spear pierced through Lucas.

―――――――!

The lightning that swallowed even the sound of the explosion scorched the surroundings.

A collapsing wall crumbled entirely and sent my body flying.

It was the aftermath caused by the reduced weight from the bandage of the veil.

Thud!

I rolled across the ground and barely forced myself up.

Then, through the distant black smoke, I spotted Lucas, in tatters.

He wasn’t dead yet.

The moment that thought crossed my mind and I was about to dash forward—

“Lady Xenia!”

A voice called out, making me pause and turn my head in that direction.

At that very moment, Lucas stomped the ground and fled.

Damn it.

I stopped in my tracks, about to chase after him.

If I chased Lucas now, I wouldn’t be able to accomplish what I needed.

I had to finish this properly, even if it meant postponing the pursuit.

I raised my head toward the direction of the voice.

It was a familiar face.

The palace's archmage and first-year professor of magical studies.

Arcadium.

It wasn’t particularly strange for him to be here.

He was a professor who had stayed at the academy, after all.

I set aside thoughts of Lucas and slowly walked toward him.

“Professor Arcadium.”

“Are you alright? What happened here!”

Arcadium shouted, his voice filled with urgency.

His eyes held sincere concern.

Even I, whose emotions had dulled, could see that his worry was genuine.

“There was a terrorist attack targeting the academy.”

“Terrorism…”

His eyes widened.

At the same time, he looked at the magic book in my hand.

“That is…”

“Oh, it’s what the culprit was after.”

“No way… Is that the Magic Book of Zerion, the Sage of Transcendence?”

He reacted with utter shock.

Arcadium then quickly turned his head.

He glared in the direction the terrorist had disappeared, eyes burning with fury.

“Lady Xenia, let’s go to where the professors are. The culprit might come after the book again.”

He hurried to escort me away.

“You don’t care about catching the culprit?”

“What does the culprit matter? Your safety comes first, Lady Xenia. More importantly, I have a hunch about who might be behind this.”

A flicker of surprise crossed my face.

“Who is it?”

“…Never mind. I misspoke. Forget it.”

So he’s going to hold back now?

“Professor, before I am a student of Zerion Academy, I am the rightful heir of House Niflheim. Being called a descendant of Zerion comes with responsibility.”

Arcadium hesitated.

He looked at me for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.

“The one I suspect… is the Lord of the Blue Tower.”

He spoke with visible difficulty, yet faint anger simmered beneath his words.

“He dedicated his entire life to completing Zerion’s magic with his own hands. And he is a cruel man who will sacrifice anything for that goal.”

Not an exaggeration.

The man was so obsessed that he fathered children all over the world for that very purpose.

“If Zerion’s magic book was the target, he is the most likely suspect.”

Arcadium ground his teeth.

Hatred toward the Lord of the Blue Tower emanated from him.

Watching him quietly, I realized something.

“Professor.”

“Yes, Lady Xenia?”

“You’re one of the children the Blue Tower Master created, aren’t you?”

Arcadium’s deep, baseless grudge toward the Lord of the Blue Tower.

I had finally uncovered its origin.

Creak—

Arcadium froze.

His face slowly turned toward me.

The Blue Tower Master had sired children all across the world.

But he only supported the talented ones—he didn’t even consider the untalented as his children.

Arcadium had magical talent at birth.

But an accident in his childhood damaged his mana circuits, preventing him from using high-cost offensive magic.

Thus, he was never chosen by the Blue Tower Master.

Instead, he climbed to the position of palace archmage, hiding his identity, while harboring deep resentment and evil intent.

“That’s a baseless accusation, Lady Xenia,”

Arcadium said sternly, denying it.

But I, who had trained my expressions countless times due to facial paralysis, could see right through his.

There were too many pieces of evidence that pointed to him being the Blue Tower Master’s son.

His one-sided grudge.

Why Sharin’s mother revived herself as a vampire using forbidden mysteries.

The materials in his office related to Sharin.

And finally, what Sharin had said:

‘Hmm… his mana feels kinda like Father’s.’

All of it connected, like a chain of keys fitting into place.

The stacks of research in his office.

They seemed made for students—but they weren’t.

They focused on ancient dragon magic, divine constellation magic, and data about Sharin.

Everything tied back to the Blue Tower Master.

Most of all, his very presence here was proof.

“Zerion’s magic, the Lord of the Blue Tower’s lifelong obsession.”

I raised the magic book.

“You wanted to see how he’d react if this disappeared from the world, didn’t you?”

In that instant, the ground erupted with rocks shooting upward.

Dodging the rising rocks, a stone hand lunged out to grab my throat.

No chance.

Flame of Ash burst from my entire body and burned the stone hand away.

The scorched stone hand recoiled, clashing with the flames.

Beyond the rocks, a pair of bright yellow eyes gleamed.

Eyes that looked exactly like a dragon’s.

“I see. So you weren’t Lady Xenia to begin with.”

A voice like stone scraping echoed.

And with it came a hunger so fierce, it churned from deep inside me.

Beyond the rocks.

There stood a dragonkin made of stone.

Dragonification.

Arcadium had activated a dragonkin transformation.

“Student Hannon Irey, releasing such a delicious scent constantly is a crime.”

I gave a hollow laugh.

So he used his twisted mana circuits to hide even the power of an ancient dragon?

No wonder I hadn’t sensed he was a dragonkin.

Arcadium had reconstructed his body with dragon magic to forcibly restore his broken circuits.

It was obsession.

Madness.

Thanks to that, he probably hadn’t realized I was a dragonkin either.

I had hidden my dragon magic behind my broken circuits, masking even the hunger that would’ve given me away.

I tucked Zerion’s magic book into the back of my waist and transformed into Hannon.

Then I raised my hand, blade-like.

There was nothing left to hide now.

In my eyes, the shadow of an ancient dragon loomed.

“Eating random things will give you indigestion.”

Now let’s make sure you regret your choices, Professor.