Fine, Amelia bolted. Irritation pooled like stormwater; with Alicia stuck here with me, what do I even do?

“Hey—dear big sis—pretty please put Ling down, okay?”

Tsk. That syrupy tone slid like bad honey; why does this brat talk like that?

“You reflect first. Think about what you did.”

“Ling didn’t do anything, okay—mwah—good sister—just let Ling down.”

“Keep that tone and you can forget touching the floor today.”

“Yes! Sorry! Ma’am!”

My mood eased like a knot loosening. A well-behaved loli is easier to forgive. Fine—put her down. Her knees thumped the cold floor; kneeling counts as “down.”

“Until Amelia comes back, you kneel and repent.”

“Sorry…”

“Louder!”

“Sorry!”

“Louder!”

“SORRY!!”

“Keep going! I stop when I feel it.”

“…(my throat’s dying…)”

Under Alicia’s stern gaze, Ling scrubbed the table till it shone and ran a hundred laps around the training field. Only then did one of Amelia’s trusted ministers finally rush in to find Alicia.

Sweat poured off him like rain. He must’ve sprinted here. Typical Amelia—wringing staff like wet towels. How is there not a revolt? This isn’t Future Tech, Inc.

“S-sorry… the Queen’s hospitality fell short. We… we forgot you were here. Please allow me to escort you back.”

“Well… we did get to see another side of Amelia. Not a total loss.”

“Your understanding humbles us, my lords…”

“It’s nothing. Anyway—why is Amelia so nervous, especially when Ling mentioned… ‘West…’”

“‘West Rite: First Void Aegis,’ yes?”

“Emmm… sounds right. Why did Amelia get weird the second Ling said that name?”

“Well…”

The minister’s face twisted like a tangled string. Should he tell the Queen’s secret? Ling’s curiosity hung from the ceiling like a lantern.

“Say it, say it~ Don’t worry, we won’t blab.”

Pestered by the two, he wavered, then gave in with a long sigh.

“Well… ‘West Rite: First Void Aegis’—you can call it magic, yet strictly speaking, it isn’t quite magic…”

“What do you mean? Is this one of those ‘Magic Attack (Physical)’ gimmicks?”

“I don’t know what your ‘Magic Attack (Physical)’ even is, but I’m sure it’s not what you’re thinking. To explain ‘West Rite: First Void Aegis,’ we have to start with Her Majesty’s childhood… back when the Queen was as small and cute as Elfe.

Even then, the Queen’s talent in magic was a roaring river. Any high-tier spell—if the mana supply held—she’d cast it. Her control of mana? Harp-string precise, leagues above anyone else.

Then… the Queen’s ego ballooned like a paper lantern. She shouted, ‘I’ll develop my own exclusive magic!’ ‘I’ll seek that unseen boundary!’ ‘I won’t be an elf anymore!!’ She didn’t achieve the last two, but the first? She really did it.

Not just did it—she overshot. Besides ‘West Rite: First Void Aegis,’ she created several other spells. I can’t remember them all, but a few stuck—‘Original Sin: Seven—Absolute Evil,’ ‘Sacrificial Summoning: the Pure Dark Overlord, Blackflame Dragon,’ ‘Ba-ba-ba Energy: Hula-Hoo Cyclone’… and more I can’t quite recall. Let’s just say—Her Majesty’s output was… plentiful.”

At first, it sounded like Amelia was a bona fide prodigy. By the end, the flavor changed. Hearing those other spell names, Ling had one thought:

Isn’t this the legendary chuunibyou phase?!

He looked so earnest I almost bought it. “Absolute Evil,” “Blackflame Dragon”—please. That’s a little loli deep in her chuuni era making stuff up. With names like that, how good could the spells actually be?

Wait—hold up.

That explains Amelia’s flushed cheeks and sudden retreat. Someone just read her buried black history out loud. The embarrassment hits like being forced into a skimpy outfit for a photo shoot.

Ling could sniff out a chuuni because she’s been there. Alicia, though, thought differently. At those spell names, her eyes flared like twin lanterns. Hooked.

“Hey hey, pick any one of them and show me! With names that strong, they’ve gotta be epic!”

“Uh…”

He hadn’t expected Alicia’s curiosity to bite this hard. He froze, opened his mouth to refuse—then saw the eerie light blooming in Alicia’s pupils. “No” died on his lips.

“F-fine. Just once. One cast only. If you miss it, that’s it.”

“Mm-mm-mm! Hurry!”

Why so impatient…

He grumbled inside, but his hands didn’t slow.

Palms pressed to the ground. Mana streamed from his fingertips like little snakes, crawling across the stone to sketch a ring-shaped magic circle. Red light pulsed on it, chill as winter embers.

“Disclaimer—don’t expect too much from this one.”

He said it, but no one listened. Even Ling’s focus locked onto the circle; words were dry leaves on the wind.

Knowing he’d be ignored, the minister sighed, then fixed his attention on the array.

“—Daemon hidden in the dark current! By sacrificial blood, remold thy flesh. By this mana, rebuild thy mind and rise!”

The red circle shuddered like a drumskin. A muffled roar swelled beneath, as if a caged Daemon were about to thrust a blood-soaked hand through.

“Come forth! Emblem of the Void, sign of Sin! With my body as the shackle, obey only my call—‘West Rite: First Void Aegis’!!!”

“ROAR!!!”

Right on cue, the chant ended. A sky-splitting roar surged from below, followed by a voice cold enough to drop you into an ice pit.

“Who… summons me?”