The Mirror's Revelation
Erielle froze at the sight of the figure before her eyes, offering greetings like an angel and a demon. White hair and violet eyes. Torn wings adorned its back, and a faint trace of radiance lingered above its head, yet the appearance was unmistakably her own. It was not merely someone similar. Those hollow eyes and expression matched exactly the reflection she saw every morning. Even after squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again, even after shaking her head several times, the figure of "herself" mirroring her every movement remained. As she stepped toward it, it stepped toward her in turn. The same footsteps, the same form. The only difference lay in that profoundly empty, desolate expression.
"Who... who are you?" Erielle asked the reflection across the mirror. The mirrored Erielle regarded her impassively before parting its lips. "Who am I, you ask? You know that better than anyone."
"....What?"
"I am you. And you are me."
"What does that even...!"
"We are the same Erielle. Yet slightly different."
Tap. When the mirrored Erielle snapped its fingers, Erielle's appearance began to shift. Instead of faint radiance, horns sprouted beside her head, and in place of torn pure-white wings came black wings radiating an ominous aura. Dripping with blood from head to toe, Erielle stared back at herself. Without realizing it, Erielle raised a hand to her cheek. The Erielle beyond the mirror mirrored the gesture perfectly. Blinking or lowering her hand produced the exact same response.
"....Me?"
"That's right. A demon. That is your true form."
"........!"
A sudden voice from the side made her turn. The angel with the same hollow expression was watching her, arms crossed and brow furrowed in displeasure. "That look on your face says you don't understand a thing."
"What is this situation supposed to be? You're... me? And this appearance is...?"
"......Ha. So this point in time hasn't arrived yet. No wonder you wouldn't know."
"....What?"
Erielle tried to question the angel's incomprehensible words, but the angel merely snorted and ignored her. "Yes. For now... this is the best way."
Tap. With a sigh, the angel snapped its fingers, and the frozen world began to move once more. At the same time, the scenery shattered and reassembled, transforming the Snowfield Village into Sunset Academy.
"This is... the Academy."
"Correct. And the starting point of everything."
"What do you mean..."
"If you don't understand, just watch quietly."
In that moment, Venice appeared before the two Erielles. After finishing his conversation with the distant Erielle, he moved toward the garden outside the Academy.
"Hmm~ hmm-hmm."
Amid the beautifully manicured garden, Venice touched the fresh leaves, breathed in their scent, and smiled. Whispers from female students reached them as they stole glances at him.
-Wow... look at that boy. He's really handsome..
-Does he have a girlfriend? I should ask..!
-No way! You ask...!
Noticing the attention, Venice offered a faint smile. The girls flushed crimson and scurried away. Grind.
"....I don't like this."
The angel watched the fleeing students with clear irritation, then let out a sigh, his expression shifting into one of bitter resignation or perhaps self-reproach.
Thud... thud..!
"Huh? What's that sound?"
Venice followed the noise to its source. Erielle could clearly see what lay ahead.
"Die... you bastard...!"
"How dare a worthless worm...!"
"Ugh... urgh..!"
Two students whose names and faces she had never known were beating another student senseless. Even Erielle, who rarely concerned herself with others' affairs, found the violence disturbingly severe.
"Doing something like this inside the Academy...?"
It was a sight she had never witnessed. Wasn't the Academy meant to be a fair and safe place for everyone? Yet Erielle's thoughts halted when she sensed an inexplicable dark energy emanating from the assailants.
Venice appeared before them. The thugs lunged at him, but naturally collapsed after only a few exchanges. Of course they would. Venice had survived battles where lives hung in the balance every day; mere thugs stood no chance. His close-combat skills were so extraordinarily refined that even Erielle had been surprised by them on multiple occasions.
After dealing with the thugs and helping the beaten student to his feet, Venice picked up a wallet one of them had dropped, his expression turning grave.
"...Why is there dark magic power here..."
Erielle shared his muttered confusion. Why would dark magic power be felt within the Academy? When she looked to the angel with that same questioning gaze, he shook his head once more and snapped his fingers. The background shifted from the Academy garden to the inside of a dormitory.
Inside his room, Venice wore a look of firm resolve and murmured something under his breath. His body turned translucent. Even as he stepped out into the hallway and walked past others, no one noticed him.
"That is.... from Snowfield Village.."
Venice headed undetected toward the men's dormitory. Stopping before room 118, he waited until the same thugs from earlier entered, cursing under their breath. Naturally, they failed to see him, and Venice quietly followed them inside.
Erielle stared in disbelief. The thugs continued muttering curses before retrieving hidden black mage robes and masks from deep within a closet. Behind his mask, Venice's eyes trembled at the discovery. Who would ever imagine black mages existed inside the Empire's most prestigious academy?
The thugs—no, the black mages—quietly left the room and moved somewhere. Though curfew had passed and only guards patrolled the grounds, even the guards seemed complicit; upon spotting the black mages, they merely lowered their heads briefly before resuming their watch.
"Just how... deeply has the Academy been rotting from within..?"
Student black mages. Even the guards sworn to protect the students were corrupt. Erielle could no longer grasp the full scope. Following the black mages, Venice descended into the Academy's underground. She had heard there was nothing but storage down there and had confirmed it herself, yet Erielle's face filled with doubt.
Rumble... When one of the storage shelves slid aside, a hidden passage was revealed. Without pausing to be surprised, they walked the long corridor. Still undetected, Venice followed silently behind.
At the corridor's end lay a vast cavern. Looming over it was an enormous door. The dark magic power seeping through the gap was so immense that even Erielle felt a chill. After exchanging a few words, the black mages produced an item radiating dark energy, and the door began to open. Venice observed from around a bend in the passage.
As the door opened, an overwhelming surge of dark magic power poured out. Any ordinary person caught in that energy would fall ill and die within moments. Beyond the door, in the dim space, stood a massive table and chairs, along with several figures. From an elderly man who appeared particularly aged, an amount of dark magic power far greater than the others leaked out.
".........!"
At that moment, the old man glanced toward the passage where Venice was hiding. Venice's translucent body flickered, and he quickly ducked behind the wall in shock. Breathing heavily, Venice glared at the black mages beyond the closing door before setting his jaw in determination and slipping away.
"...What is this situation supposed to be? Why are there black mages in the Academy?"
"I told you. This is the beginning of everything. And the starting point of 'our' suffering as well."
Once again offering incomprehensible words, the angel snapped his fingers, returning them to the dormitory. Venice, once more concealed, stormed into the black mages' room, subdued them in an instant, and headed underground alone. Though he encountered guards along the way, wearing the mask stolen from a black mage kept him from being questioned.
Thus Venice reached the underground, opened the secret door, and walked the long passage. After exchanging words with the guarding black mage, the mage laughed heartily and opened the door. Though laughter echoed, behind the mask Venice's expression remained endlessly cold, filled with hatred as he stared at the black mage. It was a look Erielle had never once seen from him before. The sheer intensity of that hatred made her own chest ache.
Venice sat at the table, pretending to be a black mage, and soon the "Black Mage Assembly" began. At the old man's prompting, the black mages began reporting their deeds in detail. Murder, kidnapping, cannibalism, torture, drug experiments. Every charge was vile, yet they spoke of them with pride. Beneath the table where no one could see, Venice's hands clenched until they trembled, his masked face unable to hide his rage and loathing.
"............"
Watching this, Erielle sensed something had gone terribly wrong, yet guilt and anxiety choked her words before they could form. Seeing the angel's eyes shaking as if in an earthquake, he sneered. "...Have you only just realized? We haven't even started yet. Watch properly."
The old man spread his arms and began outlining his plan: starting with small northern villages, damaging the Academy to draw attention, then using the ensuing chaos to topple the Sunrise Empire. He even revealed that the beginning would be Snowfield Village.
".........!"
That place, now completely ruined. The place that, though briefly, had held precious memories for Erielle. After the assembly ended, Venice returned quietly to his room. Blood trickled from his lips where he had bitten them too hard. Wearing an anguished expression, he began softly calling out names. The orphanage children. Snowfield Village. The Academy, Kayle and Fria, Frost Territory. "...Lady Erielle." And finally, his own name.
Venice's expression hardened with resolve as he murmured a single phrase. "...Even if I have to stake everything I have. I will protect them. Even if it means burning myself to ashes."
The moment those brief words struck her ears, the disbelief in Erielle's heart shattered completely. Venice's determined eyes and expression, the hatred and disgust he had not bothered to conceal while watching the black mages, were enough to break through her doubt.
"Ah.....no.... I..."
Confronted with the truth, Erielle clutched her head and tried to deny it, yet she began to crumble beneath Venice's resolute face and the angel's pitying gaze. Her heart felt as though it had burst, bringing unbearable pain, and tears streamed from her eyes. What... what have I done?
Watching Erielle begin to break down, the angel shed tears as well and placed a hand on her shoulder. "...You can't fall apart yet. There's still... so much left. So..."
Face it properly. Your mistakes. And your sins.
Tap.
Crash.. shatter-!
The world shattered and began reassembling once more. At the same time, an inescapable truth came flooding in, no matter how much she wished to turn away.