Maya left the building in tears. After getting through the bureaucracy of the Student Association to report her phone missing, she ended up being chastised for her carelessness with the academy-provided property.

They pressured her for details, but Maya clammed up, leaving only tears flowing out. It was too much for her to handle after this turbulent night, where her whole world was turned upside down, to return to her ordinary life as if nothing had changed.

Even through all the stress, she did as Erik had instructed. She left the building, her composure shattered, clutching a new phone and six punishment chips.

Six merit points vanished from her record, just like that. She would have to earn them back. Between school, training, obligatory work, and studying, there was no time left for serving punishments. And on top of it all, she was expected to play the heroine in the world's salvation.

However, when Elena saw her in tears, she came to her side. Maya was unable to form a single word. It wasn't needed. Elena could infer a lot just by her distraught state.

With a determined stride, Elena snatched the envelope containing the punishment chips from Maya's grasp and stormed into the building. Maya was left behind, crying in bewilderment.

It took Elena considerably less time to get a word with the official who had reprimanded Maya. It took her only minutes, and she emerged from the office.

"You're off the hook," Elena said to Maya, already lighting a cigarette. Her face remained expressionless as she exhaled smoke and began walking away.

"What?! How??" Maya stammered in disbelief.

Noting that Elena still had those punishment chips in her hand, Maya tried to keep up with her strides.

"What did you do?"

"I said that you pissed me off and that I threw your phone out of the window without your knowledge," Elena said, her expression was one as if telling a boring tale. "That it just so happened it was the middle of the night and it flew across the wall."

'She took the blame?!' Maya was shocked.

Although Elena was rarely given credit for her good deeds, she was never this altruistic.

"You didn't have to do this…"

Maya felt bad for feeling relieved that she wouldn't have to work those punishment chips. And even worse for Elena taking the fall for her foolishness.

"I did," Elena retorted. "Knowing you, you would earnestly work your ass off to pay these off, wasting time. We just gained momentum, and my claim is the best cover story for that bastard."

Maya was touched. "Thank you, Elena. You're an incredible friend."

Elena looked at her with eyebrows raised. "I'm really not. I just don't like feeling indebted."

"But I guess that's just the type of person you are," Maya added, her voice barely a whisper.

Elena stopped in her tracks, her back still facing Maya. There was a long silence before Elena finally turned around and offered Maya a small, rare smile.

From then on, they parted ways. Maya returned to the school routine, but she was a shell of her former self—weary, broken, and emotionally battered.

It was the most gruelling day she had ever experienced in school. With heavy eyelids that barely stayed open, her mind was swirling with thoughts. She found herself wondering if her professors were part of this larger conspiracy, possibly even involved in her parents' murder.

During lunch, she isolated herself, not wanting to fabricate tales about her visible distress. Her gaze swept over her classmates, oblivious to the fact that they were like her—children of cruelly fabricated tragedies.

'It was better not to know,' she thought, finding a cold comfort in their ignorance.

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On the other hand, Elena was conspicuously absent from school. But that wasn't unusual for her. Her only involvement that day was accompanying Maya to report the lost phone downtown.

In retrospect, Elena's absence from school was probably for the best. Her body bore obvious signs of a recent fight—bruises and a deep cut on her forearm that would certainly raise unwanted questions. Elena's absence ensured that it was, in some twisted way, a normal day. However, Maya couldn't shake off the suspicion that Elena was concealing the true extent of her injuries.

Just as she was eagerly approaching the moment you could go home and sleep until all her worries faded away, Maya caught a glimpse of Charlise, and once again felt a terrible burden.

Charlise's 'second' core was somewhat reminiscent of Erik's 'ruined' core. After seeing it, Maya immediately worried about Erik's life, but didn't do the same for Charlise. Is it because she had another core?

'This 'second' core of hers behaves differently, though.'

Erik's core was dormant, sitting there empty. But Charlise's core seemed to be desperately drawing in magical energy to sustain itself while something inside of it greedily drank it.

Clearly, Maya's earlier talk with Charlise about having to do something about her state fell on deaf ears. Her state was becoming precarious.

With her new knowledge, Maya was sure Charlise was trudging on a path that would end in her demise. Mellgrah did not allow for a new life to be created. What she was growing wasn't a child but something sinister. Charlise could only be devoured from the inside.

Maya felt horror.

Instead of going home, Maya did something that would forever impair their relationship—she went to the academy infirmary.

Reporting the possible pregnancy, the physician's face suddenly seemed full of hope and desperate urgency, ordering Maya to bring them to the student in question with haste. They looked at her as if she had delivered a miracle, but Maya only felt her heart sink.

They arrived at Charlise's dorm room, and Maya knocked on the door.

"It's me…"

Charlise opened the door, relieved that her friend showed up in the moment of need. But seeing Charlise's hands covered in blood, it was too much for Maya after the long, blood-soaked night.

What followed was a blur as physicians urgently pushed past Maya. All she could remember was Charlise's expression of betrayal—her face contorted with anger as she hurled insults, denouncing Maya while the medical staff restrained her and rushed her to the hospital for intensive care.

Maya knew Charlise wasn't to blame.

It was apparent that Charlise's mental state was rapidly declining even before. What had begun as a simple denial had now evolved into an irrational refusal to accept help. The leaps in logic she would make were astonishing, and Maya began to suspect that it may not be the fault of her own, but she was rather influenced by… something.

Now she knew.

Corruption was slowly eating her from the inside; her mind had also corroded. The level of her denial was beyond anything imaginable, and her thought patterns were those of a madwoman.

'Mellgrahians can't have children…'

Her body had already rejected the threat from within. It was Charlise who ignored and concealed bleeding from her womb and symptoms of sepsis.

Although this ended their friendship, Maya didn't regret her decision. If she had arrived any later, Charlise could have been no more. Maya could only hope she would recover.

Feeling broken once again, Maya found herself climbing the academy tower, setting herself on the top where she tiredly watched the spectacle of a bleeding sunset. A figure appeared before her. Maya closed her eyes as she gave her a feeble but torn smile.

"You did the right thing," Anastasia's voice provided some comfort.

Maya looked at Anastasia with a curious thought. At this moment, Maya may have known more about her life than she did herself. And Maya finally understood that Anastasia must've reverted back to her former self, before all of the tragedies struck, in order to preserve some semblance of sanity.

Perhaps Maya should see her as an entirely different person. One navigating through the same tumultuous ordeal, albeit with only a slight head start in knowledge.

Anastasia broke the silence with an unexpected inquiry. "What do you think of the Hunter?"

The question caught Maya off guard. Although that wasn't what Anastasia was asking, Maya couldn't help but feel a slight blush. "Well…" she began, stumbling over her words. "At first, he seemed quite intimidating. But now, I see him as a valuable ally."

Anastasia chuckled at Maya's clumsy impression of him. "He may seem rough around the edges, but he is not a bad man," she assured.

The casual familiarity with which Anastasia spoke about him made Maya curious. It dawned on her that Anastasia had also known exactly how to persuade Erik during their crucial encounter.

"Anastasia, you knew of him?"

She nodded. "I followed him closely even before he acquired such woeful eyes…" she reminisced. "Do you know how many variables needed to align for someone like him to end up in Mellgrah?" she spoke fondly as if he were a great asset she had discovered. "I wanted you to find him eventually," she admitted. "Things just played out more quickly than I anticipated."

"Ah, so, you've been aware of him all this time?" Maya was surprised.

"Yes." Although her gaze fell, a soft smile continued playing on her lips. "He will be able to guide you well. You can rely on him…"

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