Headmistress Olivia noticed that the light was not fading naturally, but rather as if something was devouring it.
At the same time, she felt the mana inside her body begin to drain ever so slightly. Though the loss was minuscule, it was undeniably happening.
After all, she was a Great Archmage. How could she fail to secure even her own mana?
Everything happening here was completely defying common sense.
“And...”
Olivia glanced at the surrounding phantoms.
“Why did these guys suddenly stop moving?”
The enemies who had been aggressively lunging at her just moments ago suddenly froze in place, shifting their gazes toward the sky.
Losing her excuse to cause a massive ruckus left Olivia feeling a bit disappointed, but she quickly found a new source of amusement.
She noticed that a ripple of what looked like fear had actually appeared in their previously hollow eyes.
They hadn't shown even a shred of fear when facing her, so what on earth could make them look like that?
Driven by curiosity, Olivia followed their gazes and looked up, only to see an incredible sight in the sky.
A burning black sun hung in the sky, its edges ringed with a dark red halo.
And in front of that black sun, a figure clad in pitch-black armor hovered quietly, appearing as though they had merged with the dark sun itself.
Olivia blinked in surprise. “No wonder that power felt a little familiar just now...”
Then she shook her head with a wry smile. “To think he'd go this far this time.”
Standing beside her, Luna also removed her crying mask, revealing her cool and beautiful face.
She looked up at the dark figure in the sky, her brow furrowing slightly.
“That person is very strong... and the direction he's in seems to be where Greg went. I must go and kill him, or my disciple might be in danger.”
As she spoke, she had already gathered her mana, preparing to charge in that direction.
“Wait, wait, wait!”
Fortunately, Olivia was quick-witted and grabbed her arm just in time.
Luna looked at her in confusion, not understanding why her close friend was stopping her. Olivia was supposed to highly value Greg as well.
Olivia said, “Uh... actually, I forgot to tell you earlier, but this disciple of yours... is a bit special.”
Luna tilted her head. “?”
She didn't understand why Olivia would bring this up now.
Was there some special connection between this and what she was about to do?
Olivia reached out and pointed at the figure clad in pitch-black armor in the sky, explaining:
“Though you might find it hard to believe, that guy up there who looks like a major villain... is Greg himself.”
Luna: “.......”
Olivia: “.......”
Luna: “.......”
Olivia: “I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since I woke up today.”
Luna: “!?”
...
In the slums.
“Where on earth did Greg go?”
Victoria searched for Greg while dodging to the side, slicing the approaching phantoms into pieces with her Wind Blades.
Yet as soon as the phantoms were torn apart, they quickly reassembled as if they were immortal, relentlessly lunging at her.
“Fall back.”
Standing in front of the wooden cabin's door, Vivian continuously released ice-blue frost from her hands, constructing Ice Walls and ice spikes around the cabin to block the phantoms' advance.
Her expression remained icy, but fine beads of sweat had already formed on her forehead. Maintaining a wide-area ice defense for so long was taking a heavy toll on her.
“Dear Sister, watch out!”
Lilith stood by Vivian's side, taking charge of clearing any stragglers that managed to breach the Ice Wall defense.
Her fire magic traced bright arcs across the night sky, each explosion temporarily scattering several phantoms.
Though the three of them coordinated flawlessly, the phantoms were simply too numerous and impossible to kill, gradually wearing them down.
Vivian asked, “Still no sign of Greg?”
Victoria, having retreated, replied, “No, he's nowhere to be seen around here. He might really have been stealthily abducted by that guy from earlier.”
Although neither of them had witnessed what happened, they knew Greg would never abandon them and run away on his own. He must have run into some other kind of trouble.
Lilith's shout cut them off.
“Commoners, a few of them are rushing toward you! Get ready to defend!”
Seeing several phantoms suddenly charge at them, Victoria and Vivian both took up defensive stances. But out of nowhere, the aggressively attacking enemies froze in their tracks.
They raised their heads in unison, their hollow eyes turning toward the exact same direction.
“What's going on?”
Victoria blinked in confusion.
“And why are they all looking in the same direction? Is there something over there?”
Only after confirming that the phantoms had truly stopped moving did she look up as well.
Vivian and Lilith also sensed something amiss, raising their eyes to the night sky one after another.
With the commotion outside completely dying down, the cabin door creaked open slightly, and a few children peeked their heads out warily.
Then, they all saw the spectacle.
A sun burning with black flames hung in the night sky, and in front of that black sun, a figure clad in pitch-black armor floated quietly, looking like the ruler of the dark night itself.
“Wow... What is that?”
“So amazing...”
“Could that be a god from the legends?”
The children gasped in awe.
Since both Victoria and Vivian had witnessed this power in the dungeon before, they quickly recognized that the figure in the black armor in the sky was, without a doubt, Greg.
Looking at the familiar figure in the sky, Victoria first breathed a sigh of relief, then couldn't help but grumble softly:
“And here I was worrying about him... It turns out he was just thinking of how to steal the spotlight again.”
She paused, then looked at the black sun and added:
“He really has been secretly getting stronger behind my back. No way. To keep him from leaving me in the dust, I have to make him take me with him next time!”
A faint smile unconsciously played on Vivian's lips.
She realized that Greg had become even stronger than before.
“Even though he has already won my approval, he's still working so desperately hard for my sake.”
A wave of warmth rushed through Vivian's heart. She thought that once this chaos was over, she should give him another reward.
“This is...”
Lilith was completely dumbfounded.
To her, this scene looked like nothing short of the apocalypse.
And for some reason, that eerie black mana made her feel an indescribable discomfort.
...
On the other side, Veronica slowly widened her eyes.
Her eyes, which were usually narrowed, reflected the light of the black sun in the sky.
Although she had never witnessed it with her own eyes before, as the messenger of the Goddess of Light, Serafina, she could be certain that this was undoubtedly the Authority of the Goddess of Night, Nightmare.
And someone who could wield such massive power so effortlessly had to be a messenger of the Goddess of Night as well.
An indescribable shock welled up in her heart.
“The faith of the Goddess of Night hasn't appeared for a thousand years, yet it hasn't been completely lost?”
At the same time, the last words Greg had spoken to her before leaving her room suddenly echoed in her mind: Be careful of the Returning Night.
Veronica speculated:
“Could it be... Lord Greg already knew these guys still existed?”
Rate on N.U.
