Her fingers trembled once, then steadied. When she spoke, her voice carried weight, stripped of timidity and apology. "You're right. My image has been irreversibly damaged. I'm forever tainted in the eyes of the world. That's why you may speak about me however you like."

Her blue eyes hardened. "But I will not tolerate you speaking that way about Kaiden and my friends."

Vaelira leaned closer, teeth bared. "Or what? Will you cry again? Run to that inept, self-obsessed narcissist whose greatest achievement in life is getting his penis wet on camera?"

Alexandra didn't answer immediately.

She looked at Vaelira for a long moment, then glanced back over her shoulder into the private wing behind her. When her gaze returned, something had changed.

She was smiling.

Not wide. Not friendly. Measured, knowing, and deeply unpleasant.

"You asked 'or what,'" Alexandra said calmly. "How about you finally getting the reality check you so desperately deserve?"

She stepped aside.

The door opened fully.

And standing just inside the threshold was a thin girl.

She looked young, fragile at a glance, shoulders narrow beneath simple clothes, posture reserved rather than imposing. Her presence barely disturbed the air, and yet the moment Vaelira's eyes landed on her, something deep and instinctive screamed warning.

The corridor seemed smaller all at once.

The thin girl lifted her head.

The moment she did, whatever reserved posture she had been wearing peeled away as if it had never belonged to her. Her spine straightened, shoulders settling into an easy, predatory alignment that made her look taller without adding an inch of height. The lighting in the corridor caught her hair, revealing a perfect divide running straight down her scalp, one side black as pitch, the other white as snow, the separation so clean it looked deliberate rather than genetic.

Her eyes mirrored it.

One iris swallowed light, deep and absolute. The other reflected it, pale and sharp. Both were wide in a way that scraped against instinct, too open, too attentive, locked onto Vaelira. The corners of her mouth curled upward into a grin that carried no warmth, no humor, only cruelty. A slight tilt of her head completed the picture, turning her expression into that of a psychotic monster.

A celestial lunatic.

Vaelira felt her breath catch as the pressure in the corridor shifted.

Her lips parted despite herself. "W-what are you?" she gasped, the words tearing free before she could stop them.

The girl's grin widened just a fraction, teeth flashing white against the split of her face.

"Your executioner."

Vaelira's survival instincts immediately slammed into place. While the woman was in the rookie track of the competition, none of them were actual newbies. Vaelira knew how to protect herself from danger.

The instant the word executioner left the girl's mouth, the Arcane Puppeteer moved.

She kicked off the ground hard, throwing herself backward in a sharp arc as mana surged through her veins. Her hands were already moving midair, fingers snapping into familiar, vicious sigils as her voice tore free in a sharp intonation.

"[Summon Legion]-"

The spell barely made it past the first syllable.

Light detonated.

However, not in the form of an explosion… For there was no heat, no sound. Just a violent absence, like reality had blinked. One moment, the thin girl was several meters away, standing calmly in the doorway.

The next, she was there.

Right in front of Vaelira.

Before Vaelira's feet could even touch the floor again, a hand like iron clamped around her throat.

"GHH!!" Suddenly, absolute pressure gripped her throat.

Vaelira's breath vanished in a strangled choke as she was lifted cleanly, boots kicking uselessly as her spine slammed against the corridor wall. The mana she'd been gathering scattered instantly, the summoning sigils collapsing into nothing as her concentration shattered.

Her eyes bulged.

The girl held her up effortlessly with one hand, arm extended, posture relaxed, as if she were holding up a coat instead of an A-tier awakened combatant.

Vaelira snarled, panic bleeding straight into fury. She swung hard, slamming it into the wrist crushing her throat.

It didn't budge.

She hit it again.

Nothing.

Her knuckles screamed. The hand didn't even tremble.

"Ghh!" Vaelira tried to suck in air and failed, lungs burning as she clawed at the fingers digging into her neck.

No resistance.

No leverage.

Just absolute control.

Her mind screamed, 'Help!'

This was the guild hall. Nova Circuit's and Runewoven's headquarters. Dozens of awakened were nearby. If she screamed, if she just made loud enough noise…

Her mouth opened.

The grip tightened.

Pain detonated up her spine as the girl squeezed just enough to steal her voice entirely. Then, with her free hand, the girl drove a compact, brutal punch straight into Vaelira's gut.

The impact was obscene.

Vaelira folded around it as a wet, broken sound tore out of her just before bile and breath exploded from her lungs at once. Her vision went white, then black at the edges, her body convulsing helplessly in the air.

The girl leaned in close with her mismatched eyes boring into Vaelira's as she struggled.

"You said some things I really didn't like. Let's go over them one by one, shall we?"

Vaelira gagged, hands clawing desperately at the arm holding her up, nails scraping uselessly against fabric and skin that might as well have been metal. Her legs kicked, desperation turning feral as panic finally overwhelmed rage.

The girl turned.

Still holding Vaelira by the throat, she began to walk.

Each step dragged Vaelira with her, boots scraping along the floor as she was hauled toward the private wing like a piece of trash being taken out. Vaelira thrashed, clawed, tried to form words, spells, anything, but nothing came. No mana responded. No sound escaped.

The doorway loomed.

The girl glanced at her with that same cruel, knowing smile curling her lips.

"Just a little chat."

She stepped inside.

Vaelira's fingers dug desperately at the doorframe as the threshold passed, nails splintering, muscles screaming as she tried, tried everything, to stop it.

It didn't matter.

The door swung shut behind them with a soft, final click.

The corridor outside fell silent once more.

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