Chapter 83: The Theatre

The theatre was packed. Students from both academies filled the tiered seats, and the headmistress sat in the front row, her smile as thin as paper. On stage, the first act was already underway. I stood in the wings, dressed in my villain’s costume, waiting for my cue.

I had explained everything to them during the walk back to the Citadel. The plan was set. Everyone had been enthusiastic about it.

Even Aqua, after she heard how the Citadel was planning to backstab the Academy.

The plan was simple. Let the theatre proceed as normal. The only differences were that Aqua had replaced one of the background actresses’ roles to protect me when the time came, and Lillith was seated close to Lucius and Celeste to monitor their movements.

As for Seraph, we had her use her illusion magic to pose as one of the students from the Academy in the audience. Right now, she was effectively a traitor to her country.

While the Citadel wasn’t doing anything about it yet, they eventually would.

"It’s almost your turn, Lord Brimstone."

The new director told me, already directing the propsmen. She was the replacement illusionist the Citadel had found.

We could have tried reporting the entire thing to the Academy and having Professor Lycan end everything. But that was too big a departure from the original novel.

I wasn’t going to risk derailing the plot by having the Academy in on the entire conspiracy.

"Got it."

My part was coming. According to Seraph, the exact moment I appeared on stage along with Anna would be when the illusion magic and manipulation fully took effect.

"Really? That’s so impressive, Silius!"

Anna was playing her part, a saintly princess talking to her childhood friend, assigned as her personal guard.

Now that I thought about it, the clues had been screaming in my face.

"Isn’t this kind of weird?"

Celeste muttered beside Lucius in the audience. He was completely silent, his expression dead serious.

Whatever the Citadel had told him, it definitely worked. Very much so. I had to give them credit; I never imagined they could make the golden boy look at someone with that much hatred.

At least in the original plot, Lucius had only been disillusioned with the Academy. This time, they’d somehow managed to make him hate me completely.

"Three more minutes, Lord Brimstone, and you’re on stage. Be prepared."

The director reminded me once more, smoothing down my over-the-top costume.

The final act was set, and every piece was in place. But standing in the wings, watching the performance unfold, I felt the familiar pre-battle tension coil in my chest.

Anna was luminous on stage. Her princess character was everything Seraph had written. Kind, naive, and utterly devoted to her childhood friend, the loyal guard.

The young man playing opposite her was decent enough, but every time he spoke his lines, I caught Anna’s gaze drifting toward the wings where I stood.

She wasn’t acting when she looked at me.

"One minute."

The director’s voice was a whisper now. The replacement illusionist was good. I could feel the threads of her magic weaving through the theatre, subtle enough that even a trained mage might miss them. But I knew what to look for.

She was preparing the stage. Preparing Lucius.

The scene shifted. Anna’s character was alone now, kneeling at the edge of the stage, delivering a monologue about trust and betrayal.

Her voice carried through the theatre, sweet and trembling, the kind of performance that made the audience lean forward.

Then the lights dimmed.

My cue.

I stepped onto the stage, and the world changed.

The theatre dissolved. The seats, the students, the headmistress, all of it vanished behind a veil of illusion so thick it felt like stepping into another world. I was no longer in the Citadel.

I was standing in a burning village. Houses crumbled. Screams echoed in the distance. And in the center of it all, Anna knelt in the ash, her pink eyes wide with terror.

"Reyn...?"

I blinked. She’d used my real name instead of her character’s. That wasn’t in the script.

I tried to speak my lines anyway, but the words wouldn’t come. My mouth opened, and something else spoke through me.

"Lady Rose, it seems your love was betrayed. Should I comfort you?"

My voice. My mouth. But not my words. I tried to say Anna’s stage name, tried to force anything else out, but the illusion had already sunk its hooks in.

It wasn’t just shaping what I saw; it was shaping what I said and did. My body was no longer entirely my own.

I tried to scan the audience for anything, any sign that my allies were in position. But they looked equally mesmerized, staring at the stage like they were watching a performance through 3D glasses.

Whatever Seraph’s replacement had woven, it was thorough. Either that, or I was being tricked into believing they had fallen.

But I couldn’t fight back no matter what the truth was.

My mana was gone. My body was weak. And now my mind was being overridden.

Everything from here was up to them...

✧ ✦ ✧

W-What...?

I opened my eyes to an endless ocean of darkness. My body felt weightless, the ache of the mana drain completely absent as I drifted through nothingness.

Where was I?

More importantly, who was I?

The thought slipped away before I could grasp it. Everything was soft here. More relaxing, it was quiet, a beautiful quiet that made it easy to stop thinking.

Almost like nothing mattered...

"Reyn!"

CRACK!

The void shattered like glass when the noise pierced through the void, and I slammed back into my own body with a gasp. The sight that greeted me was chaos.

Aqua was on my left, her ice-fire sword carving through three black-robed assassins who had appeared from the wings. Lillith stood in front of me, catching Lucius’s blade between two fingers, her expression one of lazy amusement. Seraph was beside Anna, her hands pressed to Anna’s temples, trying to counteract the illusion magic that had taken hold.

"Lady Crimson, do not intervene!" Lucius yelled out.

"I can’t just let you kill someone, Lord Lucius."

Lillith replied, flicking her wrist. The motion was almost casual, but the force behind it sent Lucius flying into one of the prop castles.

BOOM!

The crash jolted Celeste out of her trance.

"W-What, Lucius? What’s going on?!"

"It’s too late."

The headmistress’s voice cut through the chaos. She sat in her front-row seat, legs crossed, the only person in the theatre completely unaffected by the illusion. Her smile was thin and sharp.

"It has already begun. The chosen of light has awakened. Even your pathetic little group can’t stop him now."