The second floor of the mansion was just as silent as the ground floor. Aoi moved first through the hallway, Eclipse in hand, her eyes scanning every door while Nyx followed one step behind her.

There were six doors in the corridor. The first four were open, revealing empty rooms with no signs of recent use. The fifth was closed, and the sixth, at the very end, had light spilling out from underneath it.

Aoi pointed toward the sixth with her gaze, and Nyx nodded.

They approached without making a sound. Aoi placed her hand on the door and pushed it open slowly.

It was a private sitting room with two armchairs, a table covered in papers, a window with the curtains half drawn, and sitting in one of the chairs, holding a cup with a completely calm expression, was a woman around forty years old.

Her dark hair was tied back, her formal clothes perfectly neat, and her posture straight. She did not flinch when they entered. Instead, she looked at them as if she had been expecting them.

Nyx stepped into the room and stopped two meters away from her.

"I know what you did..."

Her voice was direct and steady.

"I already know you’ve been using physical contact whenever you bring me money to apply something that keeps me from defending myself, and I know you’re behind everything that’s happening to my family."

She paused.

"Stop it and leave my family alone."

The woman calmly set the cup down on the table.

"No."

She answered.

There was no immediate elaboration. Just that single word, spoken with the same casualness someone might use to decline a minor offer.

"I’m not going to stop."

She continued.

"Did you really think that would stop me?"

She looked directly into Nyx’s eyes.

"I’ve spent years planning their downfall, and I was extremely meticulous to make sure no one could ever point at me as the culprit."

Nyx did not respond immediately.

"And yet you still figured me out..."

The woman said.

"That did surprise me. The fact that you managed to break free from the effect enough to identify the source."

Her tone carried genuine surprise.

"Most people I’ve used this ability on never make it that far."

"How many people have you used that ability on?"

Aoi asked from the doorway.

The woman glanced at her briefly.

"I lost count a long time ago."

She looked back at Nyx.

"My ability doesn’t require there to be a major conflict between people. It works with any kind of conflict, no matter how small. A minor argument, a difference of opinion, an uncomfortable feeling someone never managed to express. If any kind of friction exists, even the slightest amount, I can act on it and amplify it or redirect it however I need."

"So that’s how Sylion ended up like this."

Nyx said.

"Sylion already resented you, and I merely made sure that resentment was pointed in the right direction..."

The woman picked up the cup again.

"Just like with your father. I worked on the small frictions that already existed until they became what they are now."

Nyx said nothing and processed the information in silence.

"What I couldn’t do with you."

The woman continued.

"Was the same thing I did with them. Your magic level is far too high for me to manipulate you actively. The most I could maintain was the behavioral block, and even then it took me months to achieve it."

She paused.

"That’s a problem for me, and problems I can’t control require a different solution."

Nyx felt it before fully processing it. It was not a sound or a visible movement. It was something more direct, an internal signal that something in the space behind her had changed.

She threw herself to the side.

The sword passed centimeters from her left shoulder and struck the floor where she had been standing. The stone was gouged by Eclipse’s blade.

Nyx turned around.

Aoi stood in the center of the room, Eclipse raised, her eyes locked onto her. Her stance was that of active combat, with no signs of hesitation or confusion. It was exactly the same posture she had used when fighting the attackers at the house.

But now she was looking at Nyx.

"Aoi..."

Nyx said.

"What are you doing!?"

"Getting you out of the way."

"Why!?"

"Because you want to keep Takeshi for yourself."

Aoi’s voice was cold and emotionless.

"I saw it in the courtyard, in the library, and every time you’re together, you pull him away from everyone else!"

Nyx looked at the woman in the armchair.

She had not moved. She still held the cup in her hand, wearing the closest thing to satisfaction she had shown since they entered the room.

"I told you that problems I can’t control require a different solution."

Nyx looked back at Aoi.

Aoi’s conflict with Nyx had existed before they entered this room. The woman had simply pushed it until Aoi could no longer think about anything else.

"Aoi..."

Nyx spoke calmly.

"Takeshi told you to protect me."

"I’m not going to let you trick me so you can keep him for yourself."

"I’m not taking Takeshi away from you."

"That’s a lie!"

Nyx clicked her tongue, and Aoi attacked immediately.

The first strike was horizontal, fast, and clean. Nyx dodged backward and created distance. The second came diagonally, covering the space Nyx had used to retreat. Nyx moved to the side, using the armchair as a temporary obstacle.

Aoi circled around it without slowing down.

Nyx did not counterattack. She moved, searched for angles, used the furniture to break the attack lines, but Aoi was precise and relentless in such a limited space.

The third strike came from above. Nyx raised her left arm and let the blade graze the fabric of her clothes instead of taking the hit directly. She felt the shallow cut across her forearm but maintained her position.

’I can’t keep dodging forever in a space like this.’

The woman remained seated in the armchair, outside the combat range, watching.

Nyx processed the situation within a second. Aoi in this state was not going to stop because of words. The conditioning forced onto her was filtering any rational argument through the conflict she felt, which meant everything Nyx said would be interpreted as either a threat or manipulation.

The only way to end this was to neutralize Aoi or neutralize the one maintaining the effect.

Aoi attacked again.

Nyx raised her right hand.

Energy gathered in her palm in less than a second, immediate, dense, and precise.

She aimed it at Aoi.

’Sorry, Takeshi, but I’ll have to do this...’