Every minute Lucien remained in the Sovereign Berserk State made the situation worse, because it wasn’t merely a transformation, it was corruption.

The longer he stayed in that state, the more his mind deteriorated, and the urge to destroy, to dominate, to kill, were no longer whispers, they were becoming commands.

Dahlia had seen enough battles to understand what would happen next. If they failed to stop him quickly, he would stop focusing on Nyx altogether, then begin hunting the remaining participants, after that the instructors, and eventually, the entire academy would learn what Lucien truly was. That was exactly what they had been trying to avoid from the beginning.

Standing outside the battlefield, Dahlia used telepathy to contact Nyx. "Nyx," she called, just as another explosion shook the examination grounds.

Nyx crossed her arms while effortlessly avoiding a barrage of black spikes erupting from beneath the earth. "What is it?"

"We found a solution," Dahlia said, and Nyx glanced at Lucien. The young man stood amidst the destruction with an almost bored expression.

"What solution?" Nyx asked.

"The priest side," Dahlia replied. "The two halves must reunite, we find the priest Lucien and fuse both sides together, that should restore his memories and stop the Sovereign Berserk State."

Nyx finally smiled. "I know all that already."

"Okay. Can you not actually kill him." Dahlia said.

Until now she had barely been trying, every attack she had made was carefully controlled, not because she couldn’t win, but because she couldn’t risk killing him. "I’ll try," she said, and the telepathic connection ended.

For the first time since the battle began, Nyx allowed a little more of her aura to leak out.

The atmosphere instantly changed, the air grew heavy, the ground beneath her feet cracked, and even Lucien noticed. His dark eyes narrowed. "Oh? Finally, you were holding back."

Nyx stretched her neck. "You figured that out?"

Lucien laughed. "I was beginning to feel insulted," and black energy exploded around him as the battlefield shook violently.

This time Nyx didn’t evade, she stepped forward, BOOM! Their auras collided and the resulting shockwave flattened hundreds of meters of terrain.

Far above, several instructors suddenly looked toward the battlefield in confusion, because something felt wrong, very wrong.

---

Meanwhile, at the Holy Academy, Lucien sat quietly inside his classroom for his first official lesson. Rows of students filled the large lecture hall while sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, and as expected, many students couldn’t stop glancing at him, at his silver hair, his calm expression, his unusual eyes.

Several girls whispered among themselves whenever they thought he wasn’t paying attention, but unfortunately for them, Lucien wasn’t paying attention to them, his gaze remained fixed on the instructor standing at the front of the room.

She wore a pristine black nun uniform adorned with silver holy markings, and she was undeniably beautiful, confident, elegant, powerful, her name was Lumielle.

Lucien blinked as a strange thought crossed his mind, a completely inappropriate thought, because for some reason part of him wanted to challenge her authority, to see her lose that calm composure, to see what she would look like if she wasn’t standing on that podium acting superior.

The thought appeared suddenly, and just as quickly something pushed it away, a strange emptiness, a gap in his memories.

Lucien frowned, because it felt as though there were pieces of himself missing, and the harder he tried to remember, the further those memories slipped away.

"Why does it feel like I’ve forgotten something important?" he muttered, his fingers tightening slightly, but before he could think further, the instructor began speaking and the room instantly became silent.

"As future priests, guardians, and servants of the Church, your strength alone is not enough," her voice echoed throughout the hall. "You must learn harmony with holy essence," and several students nodded.

The instructor continued, "Many people mistakenly believe holy power is merely energy, it is not. Holy essence possesses will, it judges, it observes, and sometimes... it rejects."

The students immediately became interested as she raised her hand and dozens of silver artifacts floated into existence, each resembling a crystal sphere no larger than a person’s palm, slowly descending before every student.

"This is called a Resonance Core," the instructor said as she walked between the rows. "It contains condensed holy essence, your task is simple, place your hand upon it and allow your soul to establish contact. If the essence accepts you, the core will respond making your soul energy flow with holy mana, if your faith is unstable, your doubts will surface, and if darkness exists within you..." Her gaze sharpened. "The core will reveal it."

The atmosphere became tense as one by one, students reached forward. Some produced brilliant golden light, others only managed faint reactions, and several cores remained completely dormant.

Lucien stared at the sphere resting on his desk, because for some reason looking at it made him uncomfortable, but still he placed his hand upon it. The moment he did, the crystal exploded with blinding holy light.

At the exact same moment, miles away, inside the Dominion Examination, Nyx was preparing to block one of Lucien’s attacks when suddenly Lucien staggered.

His body froze, the dark aura surrounding him flickered violently, and blood escaped the corner of his mouth.

Nyx stopped, confused. "What?"

Lucien grabbed his head as for a brief moment pain flashed across his face, then it vanished and the dark aura returned, but weaker than before.

Nyx’s eyes widened as realization struck her. "The priest side," she said, just as another burst of holy energy echoed through their shared connection.

Lucien flinched again, this time even harder, and a small crack appeared within the black aura surrounding him.

Nyx finally remembered, every holy object the priest side touched, every holy blessing, every holy ritual, it affected this side too, because the two halves remained connected no matter how far apart they were.

A smile slowly appeared on Nyx’s face. "Now I remember," she said, and Lucien glared at her because his instincts immediately sensed something had changed, something dangerous.

Nyx casually wiped dust from her shoulder, and for the first time since the battle began she looked completely relaxed. "You know..." she said, "I think I just figured out how to not kill you."

And for the first time since entering the Sovereign Berserk State, Lucien felt something unfamiliar. unease.