Save File 02: The Black Witch's Collapse

My habitual curse slipped out of my mouth, and the already frigid air in the banquet hall grew even colder. But now wasn't the time to read the room. My eyes were locked on the translucent system window floating in mid-air.

Save file 02. That was the one where I'd spent a whole month turning Elise into the perfect villainess to rush the Saintess of Light achievement. I'd driven away her fiancé, Crown Prince Adrian, scattered her followers, and finally pushed her to forbidden black magic—culminating in a flawless self-destruct right in front of everyone, just one month into the game.

"Elise... can't you shut that mouth of yours?"

A low growl rumbled from straight ahead. Adrian gripped his sword hilt like he was seconds from cleaving me in two. Looks like the status window was right—I'd possessed Elise, and right at the moment she'd used black magic.

Behind him lay Lilliana, unconscious. A pure white light seeped from around her crumpled form; she was on the verge of awakening.

"Kehok...!"

The moment I tried to move, something hot surged up my throat. A glob of dark red blood splattered onto the floor.

My vision flashed red. As if I needed the friendly reminder to know how fucked my body was.

I'd only used attack skills, but my body was a total ragdoll. What a shit cost-performance ratio for this magic.

"To dare use magic at the academy—no, during a social ball—and black magic at that. You've finally crossed the line."

Adrian's blue eyes churned with rage. If the knights weren't surrounding me, he'd have killed me on the spot.

"Wait, hold on. This is a misunderstanding..."

"Ha. A misunderstanding? You fired that filthy dark magic at Miss Lilliana in front of hundreds, and you call it a misunderstanding? You're still making excuses in this situation?"

I had nothing to say. It was my doing, after all. I felt insanely wronged, but the system window kindly reminded me of my predicament once more.

"Knights! Drag this criminal to the underground prison immediately! The trial will proceed after Lilliana awakens."

At Adrian's command, armored knights seized my arms roughly.

"Eugh!"

The impact on my already shredded body drew a scream. But what gnawed at me more was Lilliana at the edge of my vision. Her eyebrows twitched faintly as she lay there. I wanted to etch the sight of her opening her eyes into my memory before they dragged me away, but she didn't wake. Instead, my eyes met Adrian's as he scooped her up.

This trash prince. How dare he touch her.

"H-Hands... off...!"

I squeezed the words from my cracked throat.

"Even now, in this state, you're jealous of Lilliana? How utterly repulsive."

He glared at me with eyes like I was garbage.

"Never show your face before me or Lilliana again. Your filthy black magic stench makes me sick."

Ha, filthy? Your hands on Lily are the filthy ones. ...I wanted to scream it, but all that came out was a ragged cough. I was dragged like a sack of trash out of the grand banquet hall, leaving a trail of unintended blood like a snail's slime. The academy students' whispers and contemptuous stares formed a BGM along my path.

Ball... field trip... pajama party...

I swallowed tears watching Lilliana recede. Possessed into a game, and five minutes in—not even any affection points, straight to prison.

'Fucking insane dev team.' How the hell was I supposed to raise favorability from a dungeon?

///

"In you go."

Bam! They shoved me inside roughly, and the heavy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠iron bars slammed shut, rattling my eardrums. Damp, musty mold stench. Chilling stone floor. Dead silence not even a rat would pierce. The underground prison, once just text in the game, was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way worse up close.

"Ugh..."

The blood I'd been hacking up had stopped, but my body alternated between burning fever and icy chills.

"First... let's sort out the situation."

I swiped at the air with trembling fingers. Touching the system window smoothly opened the menu, and I tapped the status screen.

"Ha..."

I could only let out a hollow laugh in disbelief. In this game, mana was the foundation of all existence. No mana core? Not even a knight, but a magician without one? It was like ripping out a car's gas tank and burning the engine to run.

And my remaining life force was exactly 1. Not enough for even a basic skill.

"Wait, what's the difference between HP and life force anyway?"

My head spun at the system's explanation.

"So... you're saying I've burned myself down to 1 of this hard-to-recover resource?"

...No. Flip it around: Original Elise had basically thrown everything into killing Lily, life force included. Now I was paying the price.

"Then how the fuck do you clear this... Achoo!"

The chills worsened into a sneeze, followed by a ding.

"..."

A sneeze cost me three months of life. Looked like my top priority was something else.

"Equivalent Exchange."

A virtual scale appeared before my eyes.

"Fill my life force to the brim."

Top it off like a full gas tank, please.

"...Then burn everything except 3 years of lifespan."

Demon King's revival was exactly 2 years and 6 months away. Even a weak hero party could take him down in 6 months. Yeah. Demon King's head first. Once I hit the ending, I'd return to my original world, right? This world with Lily was nice, but I preferred my own—computers, dopamine hits, all that. A world without game elements was the worst.

'I can go back, right?'

"No, wait, leave 10 years..."

No time to retract—the scale whirred into motion.

"..."

The overflowing life force eased my mind. I gave up calculating the exchange rate—it was too messy. This amount should last through my remaining lifespan, even if I blew through it.

With the fire put out, I finally relaxed against the cold wall and closed my eyes. The quest window, nudged to the side of my vision, mocked me with [Make Lilliana's Favorability -160]. Current: -200. The game's absolute bottom. We'd duel on sight at that level. Raise it from prison without even seeing her face? In 15 days? This was a death sentence.

"What a trash game..."

Then, a voice echoed from the opposite cell.

"Wh...o...?"