Dawn Obsession and the Black Oath Beta
4 AM. The hour when everyone was asleep. In the pitch-black room, only the frantic clicking of mouse and keyboard echoed loudly. My face, reflecting the monitor's glow, flashed blue, red, and a riot of vibrant colors before abruptly cutting to black.
Only after seeing those words in the center of the screen could I finally sink deep into my chair's backrest and let out a sigh of relief.
"Huu, finally done."
The screen rolled with ending credits, listing the hero party's members who had slain the Demon King.
Hero - Adrian Elzion
Saintess - Lilliana
"Skip. Skip."
I confirmed the saintess part and roughly skimmed through the rest. Then came the line 『Ending 999: The Saintess of the White Light Church, and the Hero's Wife』, followed by the saintess and hero kissing...
"Ah, fuck."
I hit Alt+F4 to force-quit the game before it could play.
"No matter if it's the game's ending, I can't forgive anyone dirtying my Lili."
This game I'd been glued to since launch—ten years now—was Theodora Chronicle. It boasted insane freedom on top of its brutal difficulty. You could become the Khan of the Nomad Empire and ravage the continent, rebuild a fallen house as its last heir, or just pick a commoner at the academy and graduate normally. Every character was basically playable...
...except for one.
Glancing at the monitor, I saw my challenge completion rate—99% just yesterday—had hit 100% again. I quickly screenshotted the achievements tab and posted to the Theodora Chronicle user forum.
[Devs, last 'Tribes Beyond the Mountains' update was hellish, and now 'Heirs of Light' too? You swore it was a month's worth of content. But I cleared it in under 24 hours. If this is your idea of 'epic difficulty,' time to reflect. Drop the next update at extreme difficulty ASAP.]
Even at 4 AM—or maybe because it was 4 AM—comments poured in the moment I posted.
Before I knew it, the sun had risen outside.
"Haa..."
I couldn't hold back against the provoking comments and pulled out all my backup accounts. They all got banned in the end, but it was all for Lili, so I felt zero shame.
"Time to sleep..."
For a shut-in like me whose whole world was the internet, banned accounts left me with nothing to do. Challenges were all cleared anyway. No urge to replay until the next update.
Drifting off to the morning sunlight seeping through my eyelids and the soft chirping of birds...
From your PC—with only the monitor off—a mystery message popped up.
I checked the message.
"Dev team?"
Rubbing my eyes, I checked. Seemed like spam, but the official verified badge was legit. Their forum posts were only uneditable announcements. This was real.
"Black Flower's Oath? 10th anniversary update?"
Sleep vanished. No prior hints about this. Scrolling down, two bold lines:
New Playable Character: Elise de Bellaph
New Class: Black Magician
"Ha, insane."
A involuntary chuckle escaped at the new class. Black magic in the story was a capital crime—execution. (Later I'd learn the difference from curse magic, but anyway.) Black magicians were always enemies. Their spells had that perfect edgelord vibe; I'd wondered when we'd get a black magic patch.
"Community's been begging for a Black Magician class too."
My hands moved to the keyboard on autopilot.
"Hm..."
I pondered. Elise de Bellaph. Known among players as LiliHater, the academy's worst villainess. Picks fights early, turns hostile mid-game, sides with Demon King late-game. Even hates commoners, clashing constantly with my Lili.
'Send LiliHater to jail from the start for an easy clear' was common advice.
This playthrough, I cozied up to her fiancé the crown prince to bait her into black magic. She ended up executed in the underground prison, I guess.
But play her?
"Hm......."
Interest waning.
"Wait."
Reconsidered. What if I played Elise? We clashed endlessly in canon, meaning we'd be together constantly. No early fights—instead, build friendship at academy? Dance at balls, hit famous bakeries, beach field trips swimming, dorm pajama parties...
"Heh heh..."
Drool formed at the thought. This was my chance. Pave Lili's flower road. Beat Demon King fast before she suffers. Skip that forced hero romance ending.
The link arrived instantly. Heart pounding, I clicked.
*Click*
The monitor flickered wildly. Blinding white light filled the cramped room.
"Wha...? What's happening!"
Eyes squeezed shut against the glare. Weightless freefall into an abyss. As consciousness faded, one thought remained.
Lili... I'll make you happy...
And now.
Coming to, I looked around. The woman passed out like dead in front of me had pink hair, nicely plump chest, dainty features—unquestionably adorable, my ultimate fave Lilliana. Tending her was the saintess route key character, Empire's crown prince Adrian Elzion.
This scene: Spring ball, provoke Elise, she snaps and blasts Lilliana with magic.
What?
Dream? Too real.
Hello, LilliaKkeoyo. First, congrats on possessing the Theodora Chronicle 'Elise' character!
🎺 Pababam pababam~ (Majestic fanfare)
"........"
Really isekai'd. Into the villainess no less.
[Elise only learns black magic after a hostility-triggering event.]
[Thus, we had to use your play data save file 02.sav as the start point ^^]
"Ah, fuck."
The words floated into view; I cursed aloud. So right now, I was Elise—immediately after blasting black magic in front of the whole school.
Criminal from game start.