"Haa... Haa..."

Exhausted, Ophelia wobbled in the direction of the academy.

After confirming Gustav’s status, she decided to join her sister.

Her body was, however, in shambles. She was hurting everywhere and she had struggles staying conscious. If the situation would have allowed it, then she would have fallen asleep without hesitation.

However, it was the thought of the three others, who went to Loogam with her, that kept her awake. After all, she could not let herself rest while the others were probably fighting out there, especially her older sister who headed to Lucio.

Drops of blood spilled out of her mouth when she cleared her throat.

"Not yet...!" she muttered weakly and yet, firmly.

Using 100 percent of her blood powers for the first time in a while took a toll on her body.

But she kept moving forward.

"..."

She opened the doors of the academy.

"!"

But instead of the nostalgic and spacious hallway, Ophelia witnessed the sight of destruction.

The pillars that supported the building from inside were partly about to crumble. The floor had rubble and a few craters in it. Obviously, the walls and the paintings were victims of the destruction just like the chandeliers and windows that were shattered.

Some sparks of lightning as well as some burn marks were visible around the area of the two who were fighting each other.

"Don’t you see that it’s pointless to fight me, Olivia Rostanta?" Lucio asked sternly, looking down from the stairs right in front of the large and colorful leaded glass window.

"Shut it...! I’m just starting...!" Olivia replied with her typical smirk.

However, she was already showing signs of exhaustion as she kept gasping for air.

Meanwhile, Lucio seemed perfectly fine without even a speck of dust on him.

"Ophelia...?"

Olivia turned her head to Ophelia who made her presence known after cautiously taking a few steps to them.

"Even if your number increases, nothing will change." Lucio remarked unfazedly.

But they ignored his statement.

"What happened to you...?" Olivia wondered although it seemed more like she was mocking her.

"Well, I had to fight an actual A-rank demon compared to you." Ophelia retorted with a snort.

"Heh, is that so...?"

Olivia stretched out her hand and put it gently on her little sister’s head.

"Good job, Ophelia. I knew you could do it...!" Olivia stated with a wide smug and proud grin.

"I-I’m not a child!"

Embarrassed, Ophelia slapped Olivia’s hand away.

Still, she was happy to hear those words. It sounded like she knew exactly what occurred a while ago.

"Are you done talking? I want to wrap things up quickly." Lucio stated coldly as he walked toward them.

"You fools did some serious damage in my territory. If possible, I want to avoid any further destruction." he added.

The two sisters immediately took up their fighting stance, albeit Ophelia started to react slower.

Then, they charged at Lucio while boosting themselves with the power of their blood.

"..."

Lucio sighed.

They stopped stretching their arms out despite intending to throw a punch at him.

"Tch!"

Olivia followed up by charging up lightning in her other hand.

"?!"

However, that attack dispersed the moment she tried to fire it off.

Ophelia tried to launch different kinds of attacks. Be it physical or with magic.

And yet, none of them managed to land a hit on Lucio.

"It’s futile. When will you finally understand that? I can get rid of both of you without even lifting a single finger." Lucio asked tiredly.

But the two did not give up yet.

"Fine..."

Lucio took notice of their determination.

"Olivia Rostanta. Kill her." he stated apathetically.

"Huh?!"

She was looking at him offendedly.

It was obvious that she would not do as he said.

"!"

However, both Olivia and Ophelia were surprised when Oliva suddenly launched a punch aimed at Ophelia.

"W-what’s going on here?! M-my body won’t listen to me!" Olivia said frantically.

She was charging at her own sister whereas said sister did her best to avoid her attacks.

"Mr. Gr- Lucio! Is that your doing?!" Ophelia yelled angrily.

"You know the answer yourself, don’t you?" Lucio responded calmly while being amused by the scene unfolding in front of him.

Lucio possessed two relics currently.

One of them was a relic that allowed the opening of a gate that connected the demon and the human realm.

The second one was a relic that manipulated the mind of an opponent.

Every time someone had a thought involving Lucio, that specific thought would be reversed. When the Rostanta siblings internally decided to hit Lucio, his ability reversed those thoughts, making them stop in their motion before he could get hit.

And now, Olivia was trying to kill Ophelia against her will.

When Lucio told her to kill her, she rejected that idea in her head, however, that idea was combined with the image and voice of Lucio which activated his ability, too.

Therefore, her thought turned into ’Kill Ophelia’.

"S-stop, Lucio!"

In other words, ’Continue’.

"I don’t want to kill her!"

In other words, ’I want to kill her’.

"Don’t move, damn body!"

In other words, ’Move, body’.

Olivia could scream all she wanted but nothing would change.

Her words and actions did not match anymore.

"Hngh...!"

And finally, Olivia landed a heavy punch in the abdomen of Ophelia.

"..."

Stunned, Olivia watched how Ophelia fell to her knees.

Her eyes were wide open and she could not close her mouth.

Her body was trembling but she still clenched her fists one more time.

"D-don’t...! Don’t hurt her again!" Olivia screamed.

However, her punch connected, slamming Ophelia to the ground face-first.

"Lucio...!" she grumbled, glaring at him with bloodshot eyes.

Because she bit her lips strongly, she began to bleed there just like in her palms after digging her nails deep into them.

"What are you doing? Finish her." Lucio said, watching from a safe place.

Olivia tried to resist her body but in the end, her hand reached out to Ophelia and raised her up by grabbing her neck.

"Ophelia...! Get away from me!" she shouted.

For the first time, Olivia showed a desperate and emotional self around others as she usually appeared as a dominant and strong woman who had no space for other feelings.

She was ruthless but respected. Never did she show her weak side nor did she even know that she had one in the first place. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

But at this moment, she expressed a version of herself that was on the brink of despair.

"I don’t want to kill you...! Please... No matter how... Get away, Ophelia...!"

Her lips and voice trembled and small tears rolled down her cheeks as her hand applied more force.

"..."

Half-awake, Ophelia stared at Olivia.

She raised her hand and gathered lightning.

"Foolish..." Lucio muttered.

Ophelia’s hand was pointing at the ceiling above Lucio and at the same time, the lighting in her hand disappeared.

"So even an indirect attack won’t work, huh...?" she murmured with a strained voice and a self-deprecating chuckle.

She attempted to destroy the ceiling but that thought was reserved as she intended to bury Lucio under the rubble of that ceiling.

"Lucioooo!!!"

Olivia sounded more energetic whereas Ophelia seemed like she was losing more energy.

"I’m sorry... This will hurt most likely..." Ophelia whispered weakly.

Her eyes were about to close.

"It’s okay." Olivia reassured her with a gentle smile.

Without thinking about anything, Ophelia poured all her magic into her last attack. That attack would free herself from Olivia’s grip but the whole area would take massive damage from it.

"!"

A gigantic lightning beam was fired off and pierced the academy from above, engulfing herself, Olivia and Lucio in that attack.

Or rather, that was the plan.

"Ugh..."

A flood of blood came out of Ophelia’s mouth.

"N-no...!"

Before she could launch her final attack, Olivia pierced her chest with her bare hand.

Dumbfoundedly, she looked down at her arm, which she just retracted, and then up to Ophelia’s blank and bloody face.

"No...No... No. No. No! No!" she repeated desperately, fighting against the tears that were about to burst from her eyes.

"O-Ophelia!"

Olivia put Ophelia carefully down.

"Ophelia!"

But aside from the sound of blood being coughed out, there was no other reaction.

Olivia began to cry loudly like she ever had before in her whole life. she buried her face in the bloody chest of Ophelia.

The heartbeat of Ophelia was faint but there was no hope of her surviving any longer than a few seconds.

"Olivia..."

"!"

Olivia instantly looked up and stared at Ophelia attentively.

"I’m sorry for running away back then..."

"Don’t...! You don’t have to apologize...!" Olivia said, suppressing her crying voice.

"Big sister..."

This time, Ophelia tried to reach out to her face.

"I’m here...! Your big sister is here...!"

She grabbed her little sister’s hand tightly.

"I love you..."

Her arm lost its strength as her eyes turned completely blank.

"I love you, too...!"

Olivia cried silently, holding on to the hand of her dead sister.