Chapter 304: Second Year Entrance Ceremony [3]

Chapter 303

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Episode 81 – Second Year Entrance Ceremony [3]

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Seeing the cadets remain silent, Headmistress Bernice observed them for a few seconds before continuing.

“While I was away from the Academy for half a year, a few things happened that I wasn’t even asked for permission about.”

“In this Academy, there is no such status as noble, commoner, prince, or princess. Here, everyone is called a cadet, nothing more and nothing less.”

“The people with the authority to give you orders and decide what you will do are the professors.”

Her expression appeared calm at first glance, completely devoid of emotion. However, the cadets immediately noticed that she wasn’t in a particularly good mood.

“However, when I returned, the Student Council, along with the Council of Elders and the Vice Director, falsely accused Cadet Adel and wanted to not only expel him without even asking for my permission, but they even conducted a Trial.”

“And Inquisitors from the Holy Church were present at that Trial, despite the fact that this Academy has a Rule stating that no one is allowed to enter or leave without my permission.”

Headmistress Bernice swept her gaze across everyone present, including the professors, who remained silent with their hands behind their backs.

“So, you violated the Rules that the First Saint created for this Academy. Therefore, as the current Headmistress of the Holy Academy, I got rid of everyone who had no intention of obeying such simple Rules from the very beginning.”

“…!?”

Both the cadets and the professors were left in shock by Headmistress Bernice’s words.

They stared at her in absolute silence, completely stunned.

“Let me remind you that disobeying the Rules carries severe punishments, especially when it comes to those that require my permission to be ignored.”

Everyone present knew that Headmistress Bernice hadn’t actually punished the professors, the Council of Elders, the Vice Director, or the members of the Student Council.

She had simply killed them.

And why wouldn’t she?

Well, it should be made clear that she couldn’t tolerate Rules existing that no one bothered to follow.

However, the real reason she had killed them all was that they had made a false accusation and, in doing so, endangered the life of a cadet.

If there was one thing Headmistress Bernice had never tolerated, it was cadets dying or having their futures unjustly taken away from them.

With the world outside the Academy already corrupted by all those who called themselves nobles, the Holy Academy had been created with the intention of giving everyone who sought to free themselves from the nobility a chance.

But now, even within her own Academy, nobles and everyone else who simply did whatever benefited them acted however they pleased, despite knowing perfectly well who was in charge.

Why would she bother refraining from killing them when she could resolve everything without needing to waste words?

If they used their power to create injustice, then she would use hers to punish them.

Because, in the end, she was known as the strongest person in the world.

Was there even anyone who could complain?

Of course not.

It was simply an absolute no.

“Good. Now that I’ve explained the consequences of continuing with your little games like you did last year, I’ll get straight to the announcement I was going to make.”

She smiled as she placed her hands on Veronica and Adel’s shoulders.

“From now on, Veronica and Adel are my disciples.”

“…..?!”

At that moment, the entire Auditorium fell into absolute silence.

***

Lumina walked toward her room in the dormitory.

The Entrance Ceremony for the Second-Year cadets had already ended, so she had nothing else to do for the rest of the day.

On the other hand, classes would begin in three days, so all the Second-Year cadets would have three days off until then.

Of course, there was also the test Headmistress Bernice had mentioned. However, it was scheduled for three days from now, on the same day classes would begin.

The tests weren’t anything particularly special.

Well, for her, of course. For the other cadets, it would be different.

After all, each cadet’s strength would determine their Ranks.

The test would also be used to establish the Rank classifications, just like the entrance exams for the First-Year cadets.

Lumina walked for a few minutes until she finally reached the dormitory building. Shortly afterward, she entered her room and closed the door behind her.

She then walked over to the sofa and collapsed onto it as if she were tired.

A few seconds later, she created a clone of herself and ordered it to prepare her a glass of orange juice.

While she waited, she stared at the ceiling of the living room and murmured:

“Status Window.”

The next second, a silver holographic screen, resembling the color of ash, appeared out of nowhere.

〖Lumina Moonlight〗

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

↳ Age -〖19-(53,789)〗

↳ Tendency -〖Player〗

↳ Sword Art -〖Fallen Moon Lunar Art-(7/7)〗

↳ Traits -〖Celestial Senses-Mastery/Max〗-〖Dimensional Leap-Mastery/Max〗-〖Position Swap-Mastery/Max〗-〖Moon’s Heir-Mastery/Max〗-〖Mirror Dimension-Mastery/Max〗-〖Danger Sense-Mastery/Max〗-〖Premonition-Mastery/Max〗-〖Lunar Sanctuary-Mastery/Max〗-〖Absolute Concealment-Mastery/Max〗.See more…

↳ Unique Traits -〖Divine Eyes〗-〖Universal Adaptation〗-〖Soul Sense〗-〖Eidetic Memory〗-〖Dimension Creation〗-〖Nine Heavens〗-〖Infernal Flame〗-〖Space-Time Manipulation〗-〖Master of All Energies〗-〖Magic Cancellation〗See more…

↳ Heart’s Strength -〖Bloodline Harmony〗

↳ Equipped Items -〖None〗

↳ Runes -〖Inventory〗-〖Quests: -〗-〖Fable: 5〗

↳ Mana -〖★★★|★★★/21.79%〗-〖Stage/Initial〗

↳ Path -〖Path of Perseverance-(Locked)〗

↳ Authority -〖Regression Circle-(Fragment of Authority)〗

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Even after seeing it over and over again, Lumina still couldn’t believe it.

Every time she died at the end of one of her regressions, the same system message appeared.

The message read…

〖Authority: ■■■■ has been activated〗

〖In three seconds, you will return to a point in the past〗

〖3, 2, 1… Returning 8 years into the past. Due to Authority: ■■■■, your memories will remain intact〗

〖Good luck in your next life!〗

Now, after seeing the information provided by the Status Window, Lumina had finally discovered the name of the Authority that had always forced her to return to the past against her will.

‘Probably because it’s a Fragment of Authority, I can’t refuse to return to the past.’

For the first time in her entire life, she had discovered the objective she needed to accomplish.

‘I need to fully inherit this Authority.’

Since it was a Fragmented Authority, Lumina couldn’t use it at will.

For that reason, even if she wanted to, she couldn’t prevent herself from returning to the past no matter how hard she tried.

Until she obtained the Authority in its entirety, escaping the cycle of regression was impossible.

Unless, of course, she simply didn’t die.

But that was impossible without Adel’s help as well. No matter how hard Lumina tried, she had never managed to prevent her own death.

Without her knowing it, she possessed a Dark Fate, just like Adel—one she couldn’t escape from so easily.

‘The biggest problem is that I have no idea how to find the other Fragments of Authority. I don’t even know how I obtained this fragment in the first place.’

Lumina clearly remembered her first life, before the cycle of regressions began.

Back then, she was known as the greatest talent in the history of the Awakened.

However, she didn’t remember finding anything particularly important. Eventually, the day of her death arrived, and the system message simply appeared.

Therefore, Lumina had no direction to follow.

‘This is frustrating. It’s the first time something like this has happened to me, and I finally have a way to put an end to my regressions.’

However, she still had no idea where to turn because, honestly, she knew very little about the abilities known as Authorities.

The only thing she knew was that Gods were the only beings capable of possessing the power of one or more Authorities.

‘Unless I speak with a God, there’s no way I’ll be able to learn more about Authorities.’

The problem was that she didn’t even know how to speak with one.

For starters, Gods had no way of descending into the World. If Lumina wanted to speak with one of them, she would have to send her Soul into a God’s Domain.

But even if she managed to do so, Lumina had never trusted Gods.

Her Danger Sense always warned her to avoid any contact with them.

‘A God would probably notice my Authority. And if that happened, they might somehow steal it from me and cause me to die for good.’

It was better to avoid the worst-case scenario. That was why she trusted her Danger Sense completely.

‘Mhm, I can enter the World of Dreams and speak with the Queen of Specters again. The first time I spoke with her, my Danger Sense didn’t activate. Besides, she doesn’t seem like a greedy or evil entity.’

The Queen of Specters was a Goddess of the World of Dreams.

Since the World of Dreams was the realm where the dreams of any entity capable of dreaming existed, it was only natural that Gods existed there as well.

However, the Queen of Specters was a resident who had been born within the World of Dreams. These beings were similar to Guardians who maintained order in certain regions of the World of Dreams.

The World of Dreams was an infinite, boundless place. Nor could it inherently be considered a physical or spiritual place.

After all, all the logic that existed in any corner of the universe was meaningless within the World of Dreams.

But Lumina quickly shook her head.

The reason was simple.

‘She probably won’t tell me anything at all.’

Lumina sighed, completely helpless in the face of her current situation.

She continued staring at the ceiling of the living room for several minutes, until a thought crossed her mind.

‘Adel once said that his ability to see the future isn’t limited to the future alone.’

In other words, that meant Adel could also see the past.

‘Maybe he can discover why I obtained the Fragment of Authority and lead me to some kind of clue.’

A smile unconsciously formed at the corners of her lips.

Was it because, deep down, she wanted to see Adel again?

Or was it because she wanted to obtain a clue that would lead her to the other Fragments of Authority?

Even Lumina didn’t know.

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★—Author’s Note—★

Sorry, I had some personal matters to attend to so I couldn’t post anything these past two days.