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Celestial Magic—what is it?

To put it simply, it’s magic that alters the divine laws existing beyond the sky.

Magic, at its core, is the act of deceiving the world.

Celestial Magic takes it a step further—it's the art of deceiving the gods who form the foundation of the world.

To mages, such an idea is nothing short of a dream.

The Blue Tower Master clung so desperately to Zerion’s magic precisely because it surpassed the boundaries of magic, reaching into the realm of the divine.

But for that same reason, Celestial Magic always carries great risk.

Why was Zerion the only one capable of using Celestial Magic?

Because she had perfectly understood the laws of the divine.

She had described the methods in full in her grimoire.

However, fearing misuse, she had placed several restrictions on it.

These seals ensured that only someone who completely understood and could responsibly wield the magic would be able to use it.

But those restrictions were never publicly known.

Zerion’s grimoire was far too cryptic for anyone to comprehend.

‘I thought Xenia would be able to break the restrictions without issue.’

With eyes full of confusion, I stared at the firmly closed door.

A shaft of starlight trickled through the gap.

It was proof that the door was tightly sealed by Celestial Magic.

The runaway of Celestial Mana.

This restriction activates only against those with potential to misuse Celestial Magic.

Xenia is the reincarnation of Zerion.

Why would someone like her ever misuse Celestial Magic?

‘Did something change in Xenia?’

Even in the original storyline, Xenia learns from Zerion’s grimoire.

The heroes begin their true awakening to stand against Celestial Grace and the Demon Sovereign.

Xenia, too, completes Celestial Magic for that cause.

But in that process, there was never such a runaway.

‘The timing.’

It’s a little early.

In the original story, she acquires the grimoire at the end of the second semester of third year.

So yes, by my standards, this is an early occurrence.

However, a mana runaway is a separate matter altogether.

Aside from the timing—what had happened to Xenia?

‘A lot, actually.’

I’ve changed the scenario multiple times.

And Xenia was always by my side through it all.

Two major incidents affected her deeply.

First: the infiltration incident involving Mysticism.

Second:

‘Vikamon’s death.’

After witnessing Vikamon’s death, Xenia seemed to come to terms with her emotions.

But that was only on the surface.

Deep down, her guilt and sense of responsibility remained.

If she had stepped in—Vikamon might still be alive.

That fact had continued to bind her tightly.

Xenia’s quiet suffering.

That pain gradually ate away at her, and when she stood before Zerion’s grimoire, it finally surfaced.

Because of that, the grimoire judged her unstable emotions as a risk for misuse.

I swung my fist at the door.

BOOM!

A loud thud echoed, and a slight pain traveled up my hand.

That’s how strong the door was.

Inside, Xenia’s Celestial Mana continued to rage out of control.

Eventually, if nothing is done, Xenia will be broken down by the very mana she wields—vanishing from existence.

And of course, I had no intention of letting that happen.

Xenia’s runaway is my responsibility.

I was willing to do whatever it took to save her.

“Mari.”

“Yes, Young Master Hannon.”

Mari, the head dormitory manager, responded to my call.

“Please order an evacuation of the girls’ dormitory. There may also be structural damage.”

How we would deal with that later was something to discuss.

But now wasn’t the time.

Mari looked into my eyes for a brief moment, then placed a hand over her chest and bowed deeply.

“As head dormitory manager, my first priority is the safety of the Young Miss and Young Master. I will take full responsibility.”

With her permission, Mari quickly turned and began issuing orders to the maids.

“Everyone but Sharin, help with the evacuation.”

Sharin’s power was indispensable—but the others were not.

They were better off helping with evacuation.

“Got it.”

Eve took the lead and moved out first.

The rest followed her, leaving one by one.

“Prince Sweet Potato, bring your sister back safely.”

“Senior, we’ll be waiting outside.”

“Take care of the Young Miss.”

Seron, Nikita, and Isabel each gave their parting words as they left.

Only Sharin and I remained.

Sharin tried her best to open the door, but it wasn’t easy.

Given enough time, it might not be impossible—but it was too much to do quickly.

I could feel the number of people inside the dorm decreasing.

Were we simply going to stand there and wait?

A moment later, a white dove tapped on the window.

Mari’s usual messenger dove.

If the dove was here, it meant all the girls had been evacuated.

“Sharin.”

“I’m gonna go all-out—is that okay~?”

“That’s exactly what I was waiting for.”

Sharin gripped her final staff and stepped back two paces from the door.

At the same time, her mana began to concentrate.

A massive surge of mana spread outward.

It was a turbulent energy I’d seen before—but now it far exceeded human limits.

Even the amount of mana felt greater than before.

Had she grown stronger again since last time?

Mana is a lot like muscle.

The more it’s used to its limit, the more it grows during recovery.

That’s why mages constantly exhaust their mana throughout their lives.

But in Sharin’s case, her innate mana was abnormally large.

Her inborn magical talent made it nearly impossible for her to deplete all her mana.

Because of that, there weren’t many times she had ever truly run out.

However, not long ago, she had.

To face an elder dragon, she had activated a large-scale spell.

That day, she spent the greatest amount of mana she ever had, ending up in total exhaustion.

Her first real experience with mana depletion.

Through it, her brilliance as a prodigy shone once again.

Her recovery rate far exceeded that of normal mages—and her mana had grown tremendously.

‘You genius…’

Where is her limit?

She just keeps growing endlessly.

"Husband."

Sharin, now ready, unleashed a power that warped the very space around her.

The amount of magic she concentrated was so immense that her figure was barely visible.

But precisely because of that, it was clear—

That Sharin’s magic would definitely be able to pierce through the wall of Celestial Magic.

My right hand rose toward the ceiling.

I had already received Mari's permission.

So I fired with all my might.

Boom—

Above the ceiling, in the sky, dark clouds gathered.

The storm clouds crackled with electricity and howled ferociously.

Come, Lightning Bringer—

I summoned the lightning of the goddess.

The lightning pierced through the ceiling of the girls’ dormitory and struck down.

At the same time, Sharin swung her staff.

Whoosh!

The magic that flowed out formed a massive magic circle above my head.

It absorbed all the surrounding mana, and as it completed, the lightning piercing through it turned crimson.

At last, when the crimson lightning passed through the magic circle and reached me—

I had already hurled my body forward.

The magical sigils etched into my skin absorbed all of the crimson lightning.

As it wrapped around my entire body, the remnants of the ancient dragon let out a roar.

True · Celestial Dragon-form.

The crimson lightning became horns and scales, covering my entire body.

At the same time, my outstretched fist condensed with red electricity.

‘Xenia.’

Calling her name in my heart, I threw my punch with everything I had.

CRACK!

The fist wrapped in crimson lightning collided with the barrier of Celestial Magic.

The massive torrent of red lightning raged wildly, howling.

The seemingly unbreakable wall of Celestial Magic—

Began to crack.

The firepower unleashed from the True Celestial Dragon Form swallowed the entire wall of Celestial Magic.

Only Celestial Magic can defeat Celestial Magic.

But even so, it wasn’t enough to break through the wall.

Xenia’s Celestial Mana rampage was beyond imagination.

The regenerative power of the Celestial Magic was trying to restore the wall back to its original form.

The speed of regeneration was faster than the speed of destruction.

If that’s the case, then it must be crushed with even greater firepower.

Fwoosh—

The flame of ash buried deep within me responded to the call and rose toward the surface.

At the same time, flames burst through my skin, mixing with the crimson lightning.

The fusion of the red lightning and the ash flame created an even greater blaze.

The dormitory’s outer walls, ceiling, and floor couldn’t withstand the firepower and collapsed, but there was no other choice.

As I unleashed the maximum firepower I could muster, I clenched my fist.

The golden seal of Zerion that had consumed Xenia—

This was my final punch to shatter it.

――――――――!

The explosive punch that even swallowed sound struck the door.

Crack—

Finally, as cracks spread across the door, the Celestial Mana faltered.

Shatter!

My body, which had broken through the door, rolled forward across the floor.

And then, what I saw—

Was an endless world of darkness.

A space where you couldn't even tell which way was up or down.

As I was about to fall helplessly in this zero-gravity void—

Grab!

Sharin, who had followed behind, caught my clothes.

Then, soaring through the dark void, she sped forward.

The infinitely stretched-out darkness was impossibly deep.

Here and there, I could see fragments of furniture from Xenia’s room floating around.

"Sharin, where’s Xenia?"

"With the Celestial Mana fluctuating this much… I should be able to pinpoint her exact location."

She had already set a direction and was moving toward it.

As expected of Sharin.

I quietly took a breath.

The red lightning and ash flames that had engulfed my body faded, and with them, my strength drained.

But that didn’t mean I could afford to fall behind here.

I must rescue Xenia and return.

Just as I was steadying my body with that resolve—

"Found her."

With Sharin’s voice, I saw it.

A single star pouring out a massive light appeared in the distance.

And inside that star—

Curled up tightly—was Xenia.

We stopped in front of the star.

Then, Xenia noticed us and looked up.

Thank goodness.

She still had her sanity.

"…Hannon oppa."

Just as we were about to save Xenia from her rampage—

I noticed the tears filling her eyes.

"I came to help you. Let’s go home."

"No."

As I reached my hand out to her, Xenia shook her head from within the starlight.

"…Even if I go back, I won’t be of any help."

I froze with my hand outstretched.

Xenia had a tendency to trap herself due to her perfectionist nature.

But even so, she had never shown her emotions so openly like this.

Xenia had been affected by the golden seal—her emotions had run out of control.

She couldn’t hide her inner feelings anymore.

"…I’m the one who devoured you."

Xenia cried out in a voice full of agony.

"I stole the place where you were supposed to be, and in the end… I even took your life. How can someone like me pretend to be great with a straight face?"

My eyes met hers.

In the past, Xenia had cried in front of me more than once.

Perhaps her heart had been gnawed away for a long time already.

Her older brother, Vikamon—whom she used to follow—was outshone by her talent and ended up being ostracized within the family.

As a result, their relationship soured and turned into hatred.

But Xenia was not inherently cruel.

She tried to hold her head high and act cold in front of others, but deep down she was gentle.

That’s why she probably always felt guilty toward Vikamon.

Her guilt pushed her deeper into her perfectionist mindset.

Since she had taken her brother’s place, she felt she had to be even more perfect.

She believed that was the proper way to treat Vikamon.

But Vikamon’s death only intensified her burden of responsibility.

The obsessive thought that she had not only taken his position, but also his life.

The guilt that had long gnawed at her finally reached its peak.

I now understood better where her tears on the day of Nikita’s ranking came from.

A young girl forced to carry the burden of perfection—

And she’s only 17 years old this year.

That weight is far too much.

The death of someone can have far-reaching effects.

Especially the death of a close family member—it can be unbearably painful.

"Xenia."

So—

"Why does a kid have to carry such a heavy burden?"

I will take that weight away from her.