Episode 5
“Ugh!”
Overwhelming dark mist surged through the space.
The air turned sinister.
The temperature dropped, chilling everyone to the bone.
It felt like the room had turned into a part of the demon realm.
Even though the children were accustomed to dark energy through training, none of them could stand properly.
One by one, they collapsed to the floor, overwhelmed.
This can’t be real… how is that worthless trash using dark magic…?
Verpure froze in disbelief, unable to process what was happening.
His eyes caught sight of Kalmia’s face.
“Be grateful it’s not a bloodbath.”
He couldn’t hear her voice clearly from the distance, but her mouth moved in a way that clearly mocked him.
Still, he had no time to react.
Kalmia’s dark magic showed no mercy to someone slow to respond.
She released a massive wave of darkness in Verpure’s direction.
Boom!
A shockwave, like a tidal wave, swept across the room.
None of the children could withstand it. They were thrown into the corners of the hall, eyes rolled back, unconscious.
Verpure was no exception.
“Wait, that wasn’t even a high-tier spell, was it?”
“It looked like a basic dark mist spell, the kind you can cast with a first-tier core… but the pressure was insane.”
“If she’s already like this, she’ll probably reach tier two in no time.”
A few adults watching through the communication crystal murmured in awe.
Kalmia slowly walked toward the box.
The eerie aura swirling around her golden hair and innocent face made her look like a ghostly child of death.
As she reached the box, she raised her hand.
That small motion caused a violent ripple of energy.
Dark magic twisted around the box and began to consume it completely.
The box, which the other children had only managed to partially stain, turned pitch black in an instant.
Click.
The lock on the box popped open.
I smiled inwardly.
I had already figured out how the box worked from the moment I entered the stage.
I hadn’t used magic right away because I had desperately been trying to calm the dark energy surging inside me.
Who would’ve thought? A Saint like me, possessing such wild, destructive dark power.
I had expected it to be inefficient, but once converted into blood magic, my dark energy became dangerously responsive.
It had taken every ounce of my will to suppress it in time for the demonstration.
And I wasn’t even using a dark core to manipulate the magic like the others.
Instead, I was crushing it with sheer force of will and domination.
One wrong move and it could’ve spiraled out of control.
I had planned to step in after the kids exhausted themselves and steal the final blow—luckily, Verpure had called me out at just the right time.
I was planning to time it, but you set the table for me yourself. Thanks, Verpure, you idiot.
I offered a sarcastic thanks to Verpure, who now lay sprawled out pitifully on the floor.
The other kids had also collapsed under the weight of my dark mist.
That meant the key inside the box was mine to take.
There might be a trap. Better be careful.
I didn’t reach into the box directly.
Instead, I summoned a few bone fragments to do it.
My magic was still unstable, so I couldn’t summon a full skeleton like Verpure.
But the fragments moved with precise coordination, so it wasn’t a problem.
Clack. Clatter.
The bones assembled into a hook-like shape and slipped into the box, retrieving the key.
As expected, there was a trap.
The bone pieces emerged soaked in poison.
Using lethal poison in a demonstration for children? What a terrifying family.
They probably had countermeasures in case a child got poisoned, but still…
Waiting for children to walk into a trap just to observe them—was that something to admire or fear?
I muttered silently and turned to the imp.
“I retrieved the key. That means it’s over, right?”
“Yes! Magnificent job!”
With a ping, confetti burst into the air.
Maids and attendants who had been standing by rushed in and began to applaud.
Some were undead, so the clattering of bones added an eerie rhythm to the clapping.
“Here’s the key.”
I had the poisoned key passed to the imp using a bone fragment.
But the imp grinned and waved it off.
“This key now belongs to you, my lady. It is your prize for being the top performer in today’s demonstration.”
“This is a prize?”
“Of course! It’s a one-time key to the ‘Royal Demon’s Room.’ Lord Patriarch himself will bestow the honor.”
The kids who were slowly recovering began whispering among themselves.
In their eyes were envy—and jealousy.
The Royal Demon’s Room.
It was where the family patriarch resided when staying in the Tower.
Which meant I’d get to meet him directly.
I wasn’t just some failing student about to be kicked out anymore.
Now, I was the top performer on the first day of the demonstration.
But I can’t get complacent now.
This was only the prelude.
The real stage was tomorrow.
—
After the event ended, I rushed to the annex where my father had been taken.
He was still receiving treatment, but they said I’d be able to see him once it was over.
I knew from the original story that he didn’t die at this point.
But just remembering how he collapsed made my heart race.
This might not be the main house, but the Tower should still have excellent healers… He’ll be okay.
I forced myself to stay calm.
The “Tower of Necromancy” was a training facility far from the main estate.
It was where the House of Pallurore raised its young heirs under strict education and discipline.
For children like us, the only chance to see our family—our parents—was the semiannual demonstration.
It was harsh, being separated from our parents and raised communally.
But if you were an heir to the Pallurore family, there were no exceptions.
From each generation, the most outstanding child would be chosen as the next head of the family.
Well, this empire has always favored strength over warmth. Harsh selection is part of its tradition.
Depending on how we performed at the Tower, we would either be accepted into the main estate—the Merit Path—or sent to a branch family or an external facility.
My goal was the main estate.
If I survive, the original storyline will be severely disrupted. I have to be ready for the changes.
If I disappear, the original protagonist will lose his reason to awaken.
And without his awakening, he might end up as a mere puppet of the temple.
In fifteen years, the temple will start a war to unify the continent.
If the protagonist sides with the temple during that time…
And the temple ends up taking all the fateful opportunities and allies that were originally his…
The temple will conquer the continent, crush the dark factions like the Cadom Empire, and destroy everything in its path.
To pull him into the dark side before that happens and defeat the temple, I need money and power.
And the smartest first step was to establish myself here, in the powerful Pallurore family.
Without anyone discovering I’m a Saint…
The Cadom Empire and other dark factions were sworn enemies of the temple.
If they ever found out I was a Saint, I could face anything from exile… to execution.
Still, I have to do this.
Starting tomorrow, when the main demonstration begins.
As I was running through plans in my head, I heard the maids chatting just outside the room.
I shouldn’t have been able to hear them at this volume, but with my senses sharpened by my volatile dark energy, my ears picked it up.
“Is Sir Sylvan going to be alright?”
“They say his condition isn’t too serious.”
“But is it true? Did Sir Sylvan really confront the Patriarch because of his daughter?”
“Apparently. How reckless…”
I stood up, ready to go outside and silence them for speaking so carelessly about their superiors.
But then—
“Isn’t she not even his real daughter?”
My steps froze.
