Magus Alice walked toward the cage holding the last abomination.

She lifted a vial in her hand and turned it upside down. The liquid poured out completely, but before it could reach the ground, she snapped her fingers. The substance froze in midair, forming a suspended bowl of liquid right before her chest.

She spread her hands, and the liquid began to glow faintly.

Letting the empty vial drop to the floor, she focused entirely on the hovering mixture.

"Let's hope this works," she murmured, then began muttering a spell.

The moment she did, a magical circle formed around her hand, glowing with a soft golden light. She pushed the bowl of liquid forward.

As it drew closer, the abomination let out a shrill scream.

Its body shook violently as it thrashed against the chains restraining it, roaring and struggling with all its strength. The chains rattled under the strain, but no matter how fiercely it screamed and fought, it couldn't break free.

"Oh, calm down already," Magus Alice said, looking at the abomination. "It's not like anything worse could happen to you in that state."

As the liquid drew closer, it finally touched the abomination's skin and immediately diffused into it.

For a few seconds, the abomination calmed.

Then it began thrashing again, far more violently than before.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The chains rattled violently as it slammed against them with all its strength. Its body trembled and shook so fiercely that Alice was forced to take a step back, momentarily stunned by how vicious the reaction was.

Still, she kept her arms raised.

The magical circles around her hands remained intact as she continued muttering under her breath, guiding the liquid as it worked its way through the abomination's body.

It became a battle.

The abomination fought with everything it had, roaring and straining against its restraints, while Alice stood her ground, focused and unwavering, pouring her will into the spell.

Five minutes passed.

Finally, the abomination's movements slowed.

It slammed into the chains one last time, then collapsed onto the ground, completely still.

For a moment, Alice thought it had died.

But just as she was about to step forward, she froze.

The abomination's skin began to change.

Bones popped. Flesh shifted. Everything rearranged itself right before her eyes.

Slowly, painfully, the abomination reverted.

What lay on the floor was no longer a monster.

It was a human.

A young girl, no older than eighteen, with black hair and pale skin, curled weakly into herself. Her breathing was faint, shallow, barely audible. Her heartbeat was there, but only just.

"It worked," Magus Alice whispered, disbelief and excitement washing over her exhaustion.

"It worked!"

She laughed softly, looking around, though she was alone.

"I can't believe it worked."

She leaned against the table, taking a deep breath, before walking toward the cage. Unlocking the door, she stepped inside and carefully removed the chains binding the girl's body.

Gently, she lifted the girl and carried her out, laying her down on one of the nearby tables.

The girl was alive, but barely.

Alice knew she had to act quickly.

She placed a hand on the girl's chest and activated her soul magic, carefully examining her condition.

The soul was there.

Damaged. Fragile. Far weaker than it should have been, but intact.

No longer shackled.

No longer drowned in demonic energy.

The soul was hers again.

Magus Alice couldn't stop herself from smiling.

Her experiment had worked.

She stepped back, lowering her hands.

"I can't believe that boy's hypothesis actually led to this," she murmured, thinking of Aren, the one who had proposed the possibility of returning abominations to human form.

"That boy's a genius," she muttered, glancing once more at the girl resting on the table.

[.... ]

Inside Lady Rose's office, she sat with a cup of steaming tea before her. She took a sip, set it down, then looked across the table at Queen Marine.

"Shouldn't you be at the capital handling the abomination issue?" Lady Rose asked.

"There's barely anything I can do there right now," Queen Marine replied. "Until there's a cure, everything is just containment. The capital is becoming suffocating, nobles and wealthy figures breathing down my neck, questioning my ability to rule with the abomination crisis still unresolved."

She clenched her fingers slightly. "The entire kingdom is practically on lockdown. Businesses are slowing, trade is stalling, and that's all they care about. Not the people turning into abominations. Not the deaths. Just their income."

Her eyes darkened. "I hate them. If Vermilion didn't rely on certain people to keep itself afloat, I would have had every last one of them executed."

"Don't be angry at them," Lady Rose said calmly, lifting her teacup again. "They only care about profit."

She took another sip before continuing. "If you truly want to change this, then build a government that functions properly, one that doesn't feed on the suffering of its people just to enrich itself. I'm certain that if this abomination crisis benefited them in any way, they wouldn't be pressuring you like this."

"Tsk." The queen clicked her tongue, clearly irritated.

Just then,

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Come in," Lady Rose said.

The door opened, and her secretary stepped inside. "Lady Rose, a letter just arrived for you."

She walked forward, placed the envelope on the table, then left.

Lady Rose glanced at the seal and froze.

"It's from Magus Alice," she said, already tearing it open.

She unfolded the letter and began reading.

A few seconds passed.

Her eyes widened.

She looked up at Queen Marine, excitement unmistakable on her face.

"She's found it," Lady Rose said. "She's created a cure for the abominations."

"What?" Queen Marine shot to her feet in shock.

"She's found a method that reverses the condition," Lady Rose explained. "It turns abominations back into humans, and it works. Using the method she discussed with Raze."

The queen stood there, stunned.

It was too fast. Far faster than she had expected.

She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. Tried again. Failed.

Finally, she asked, "Where is she now?"

"She's still in Ribest," Lady Rose replied. "She says she'll continue working there since Raze can provide the tools she needs to finalize everything. But the cure itself is complete. On your order, it can be mass-distributed."

Queen Marine sat back down, leaning into her chair.

"Let's not distribute it yet," she said calmly. "We'll do that in a week."

"Huh?" Lady Rose asked. "Why push it that far? You already have the cure."

"Yes, we do," Queen Marine replied. "But the abominations are only one side of the problem. The other side is the cult members who caused this. We need to identify who within the court enabled this to happen across multiple cities throughout Vermilion."

"And what's your plan?" Lady Rose asked.

"I'll summon every major noble, from the marquises upward, as well as all members of the council," Queen Marine said. "One by one, I'll secretly inform them that a cure has been found. I'll make sure each of them believes they're among the few who know."

Her eyes hardened. "Then I'll have them watched. I want to see whose behavior changes, who leaks the information, and how. That's how I'll identify the ones with their hands in this."

"You could have done that long ago," Lady Rose said.

"Yes," Queen Marine replied, "but back then, we didn't have the cure. It didn't matter to me if I rooted out the rats then. Now, before the cure is released, we must remove them. If they get their hands on it, they could recreate it, or worse, create a new and more dangerous version of the abominations."

"And what if someone unrelated gets hold of the cure?" Lady Rose asked.

"That won't happen," Queen Marine said firmly. "Every treatment will be strictly controlled and administered by the kingdom. No one will have unsupervised access. Anyone who attempts to steal or remove it from its designated location will be executed."

She leaned forward slightly. "I want this problem eliminated at the roots. Completely. I won't allow anything like this to happen again."

"I see," Lady Rose said slowly. "If you handle it properly, it should work, but be cautious. Remember the kind of people you're dealing with."

"Don't worry about that," Queen Marine replied. "Now, onto something else."

She exhaled softly. "I still can't believe the formula Raze proposed is what worked. His theory, his hypothesis, it was correct. That kid is actually a genius."

"It took you that long to realize?" Lady Rose asked dryly.

"We can't allow him to keep acting however he wants," Queen Marine said.

"You're back to this again," Lady Rose asked.

"We never left it," Marine replied, "But I'm not speaking of chaining him down this time, but rather i have a plan that will have him working for me in a way that he'll accept, and that will benefit him as well.

And so slowly, he'll become too ingrained here to want to leave at all.

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