Chapter 85: Emotional Damage

"Listen to me, you righteous bastard!"

Lucius froze.

Not because of the insult. Not because of the command. But because of the voice.

It wasn’t Anna’s. It wasn’t Celeste’s. It was mine, and it was the last voice he expected to hear trying to reach him.

"You think you’re saving her? You think Anna needs saving from me?"

I took another step forward. My legs screamed. I ignored them.

"Look at what’s happening around you. The headmistress is using you. The Citadel is using you. They filled your head with dreams and visions and called it divine truth because they knew you’d believe it. You’re the chosen one, right? The golden boy. The one who’s supposed to save everyone."

Lucius’s blade wavered. Just slightly.

"But you’re not saving anyone. You’re doing exactly what they want. They couldn’t beat me, so they decided to use you to do it instead. And you’re letting them."

"You’re lying."

He said it, but his voice cracked. The illusion magic was still clinging to him, whispering that I was the enemy, that Anna had been corrupted, that everything he’d seen in his dreams was real, and he was only protecting both the Citadel and Leonis from my evil.

But he was listening. That was enough.

"Am I? Then tell me, what did I do to Anna? What did I do to make her leave you?"

"She... you changed her. You made her into something she’s not."

"Did I? Or did I just see her when you stopped looking?"

Lucius flinched like I’d struck him.

"You were her childhood friend. You were supposed to be the one who noticed when she was hurting. But you were too busy with Celeste. Too busy being the hero. And when Anna found someone who actually paid attention to her, you decided he must have corrupted her. Because the alternative is that you failed her. And you can’t accept that."

The light around Lucius flickered. The divine glow dimmed, just for a moment.

"Then how do you explain the fact that she’s no longer as kind as she was!?"

"Why does that matter? Do you have any proof I intentionally made her into that, or are your schizophrenic dreams the ones that told you so? I didn’t take you for this naive."

"Shut up! Don’t listen to him!"

The headmistress shot a thin ray of fire at me when she noticed what I was doing, but Seraph arrived just in time, intercepting the attack with a clone of herself, likely already finished evacuating Anna.

"Think about it, idiot. Did she really become evil, or did she only grow a backbone?" I continued.

Obviously, I did actually turn Anna evil. But Lucius didn’t know that, and the Citadel didn’t either. That meant whatever I was saying still stood.

Lucius stared at me, his jaw clenched so tight I could hear his teeth grind. The divine light around him flickered again, weaker now, like a candle caught in a draft.

"You don’t know anything."

"I know enough."

I took another step.

"I know you’ve spent the last month convincing yourself that Anna’s change had nothing to do with you. That it was my fault. That if I hadn’t shown up, everything would have stayed the same. But you know what the real difference is between you and me?"

He didn’t answer.

"I pay attention."

Lucius surged forward.

Not at me. At Lillith.

It was the right call. Lillith was the strongest person in this theatre. If he couldn’t get past her, he’d never get to me.

But Lillith didn’t move.

She didn’t need to.

The moment Lucius’s sword ignited with divine light, the golden energy sputtered, flickered, and died. He stumbled, confusion flashing across his face as his mana refused to answer.

"W-What—?"

Lillith smiled, slow and predatory.

"You’ve been running on fumes since I poked a hole in your chest."

Lucius’s eyes widened. He looked down. The wound was healed, but there was a mark.

She had torn through him with a well-placed beam of blood. Not enough to kill him, but enough to disrupt his mana flow. A temporary block.

"Took you long enough to notice."

Lucius collapsed to one knee, planting his sword into the ground to keep from falling completely. His breathing was ragged. The divine light was gone.

But at least, along with it, the illusion magic was gone as well.

"Lucius!" Celeste rushed forward, but Lillith raised a hand, stopping her.

"Let him listen first."

I stepped forward until I was standing over him. He looked up, hate and confusion and exhaustion all fighting for control of his face.

"You think Anna left you because of me. That’s fair. I gave her a reason to leave. But she would’ve left anyway. Maybe not as fast. Maybe not as hard. But she would’ve left. Because you stopped seeing her. You stopped needing her. And for someone like Anna, being unnecessary is worse than being hated."

Lucius’s hands trembled around his sword’s hilt.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know her now."

He laughed. It was hollow.

Broken.

"I don’t believe you." 𝖋𝘳ℯ

"Then talk to her yourself after we’re done with this."

The theatre had gone quiet. The surviving black-robes had retreated, and the white-robes were unconscious or dead. Aqua was standing over the last of them, chest heaving, her dual-element sword still crackling with frost and flame.

The headmistress was gone.

The moment Seraph intercepted her attack, she’d slipped away into the shadows. I’d expected as much. She was a political appointee, not a fighter. The moment her puppet failed, she cut her losses.

I’d deal with her later.

Right now, I had something more important to do.

I extended a hand toward Lucius.

He stared at it like it was a snake.

"I’m only accepting because you didn’t harm anyone else who looked innocent."

"You just gave yourself another proof that I’m not the monster the Citadel made you think I am."

"...I suppose you’re right."

"Reyn, I think I got the person controlling the other students."

Aqua’s voice came from backstage. She cleaved through the backdrop and stepped into view, holding the director-illusionist by the neck.

"Good. Now we’ve got proof we didn’t just start fighting out of nowhere."