The Blackmail to Sever Bonds
The classroom descended into chaos in an instant. Students who had been listening to the combat strategy lecture moments ago shoved their chairs back and stood up. Screams, the sound of desks toppling over, and someone being scolded by the professor while trying to chant a spell—all of it blended together. At the center of it all lay a male student from the Holy Church. Lucas Berin. The same student who had told Aria to stay away from me in the hallway earlier.
His lips had turned black, and a thin black pattern was spreading down from his nape. It looked as if ink were alive and moving beneath his skin. The pattern wasn’t a simple wound—it pulsed like a heartbeat. With every throb, Lucas’s breathing grew shallower.
I recognized it the moment I saw the marking. The Black Moon’s curse. A curse formula used in the original story by the Holy Church’s heretical faction to neutralize users of holy arts. If it reacted with holy power, it would only burrow deeper. The moment one tried to heal it, the healer’s own holy energy would flow backward.
“Lady Aria, stop!” My shout was almost reflexive. Aria had already risen from her seat, a pure white holy art forming at her fingertips. The moment she saw the fallen student, she tried to run to him. It was a natural reaction for a Saintess candidate. But she stopped at my voice—more precisely, because I had grabbed her wrist.
Aria turned to look at me. “Lord Kyle?”
“You can’t use holy arts right now.”
“But if we leave him like this—”
“It’s a curse that reacts to holy arts. If you try to heal him recklessly, you’ll be affected too.”
The classroom fell silent. My words had been far too specific. Leah’s eyes immediately turned toward me. Ciela also twisted around from her seat in front. Professor Graham didn’t miss what I said even as he moved toward the fallen student. I realized my mistake too late. Once again, I had spoken as someone who knew things he shouldn’t.
Leah asked quietly, “Kyle. How did you know?”
“The threat written on the black feather seemed connected to this curse reaction.”
“You can conclude it reacts to holy arts from just that?”
“It’s not a conclusion. It’s a possibility.”
Leah’s eyes were filled with disbelief. But there was no time to press the matter. Lucas’s breathing was growing shallower by the second. The black pattern had crept up from his nape to his jawline. In a few minutes, his airway would be blocked.
Professor Graham issued orders. “All students, remain in your seats. Imperial knights, seal the exits. Magic Department students, refrain from casting spells without permission.”
Leah immediately followed. “From this moment, this classroom is temporarily sealed under imperial investigative authority. No one leaves.”
The students stirred uneasily. Imperial investigative authority was an extremely powerful right that even direct members of the imperial family could exercise within the academy. Especially when connected to an incident threatening the princess herself, even the faculty couldn’t easily refuse.
Ciela stood up, sword still in its scabbard. “The culprit is likely still inside.”
At those words, the air in the classroom froze. Someone spoke in a trembling voice, “W-we didn’t do anything.”
Ciela’s golden eyes turned toward them. “I haven’t accused anyone yet.”
The student fell silent.
I looked at the fallen Lucas. In the original story, Lucas Berin had been a minor character with little importance. One of the conservative students within the Holy Church, he tried to control those around him under the pretext of protecting Aria, only to be logically outmaneuvered by the protagonist once. Now that same person was cursed. The intent was clear. It was a warning to me.
— Sever your connections.
— Otherwise, they will fall in the order you chose.
The people I had formed bonds with. Aria. Leah. Ciela. Noel. Marian. And now even someone I had merely argued with. The Black Moon wasn’t targeting only those close to me. It meant they could curse every connection line tied to me—enemy or ally alike. Anyone entangled with me became a weakness. That fact was the most terrifying of all.
“Lord Kyle.” Aria’s voice trembled. She was staring at the fallen Lucas. “I have to treat him.”
“You can’t.”
“He was rude to you because of me. And now he’s been cursed.”
“It’s not because of you, Lady Aria.”
“But he’s a Holy Church student. If I don’t help—”
“We need to find a way to help. Directly touching him is not an option.”
Aria bit her lip. I could guess what she was thinking. A Saintess candidate was supposed to save people. That was the role Aria had been taught her entire life. But if she tried to save him now, she would only put herself in danger as well.
Leah spoke. “Aria Elowen. Step back.”
Aria looked up. “Your Highness.”
“I understand your feelings. But if Kyle is right, the situation will only worsen the moment you move.”
“So you’re telling me to just watch?”
“No. I’m telling you to wait.”
“For how long?”
Leah couldn’t answer.
Just then, a violet magic circle appeared near the window. Noel Ignis revealed herself through it. She surveyed the classroom situation and let out a low whistle.
“Quite the atmosphere for a morning class.”
“This isn’t the time for jokes,” I said.
Noel shrugged. “I know. That’s why I came quickly.”
She crouched in front of the fallen Lucas. When her fingertips lightly brushed the air near the black pattern, violet sparks flew.
“As expected, a holy-art-reactive curse. If you inject holy power, it’ll flow back to the healer.”
Aria’s face turned pale. Noel looked at me.
“You got it right again, Kyle.”
“Is that really important right now?”
“It will be later.”
Noel formed a complex magic circle above her palm. “For now, instead of holy arts, I can slow the pattern’s spread with a mana insulation barrier. It won’t completely remove it, though.”
“How long can you hold it?”
“One hour. Two at best.”
Too short. I recalled the curse removal methods from the original story in my mind. If holy arts wouldn’t work, there were two options. First, find and destroy the curse’s medium. Second, subdue the caster. The problem was that the caster might already be inside this classroom, or perhaps had activated the curse remotely.
The medium was likely the black feather. But the feather was only the threat letter—the real curse medium was probably embedded somewhere in Lucas’s body.
I examined Lucas’s uniform. “The necklace.”
“What?” Ciela asked.
I pointed to Lucas’s neck area. A silver cross necklace was faintly visible inside his uniform—the holy relic commonly worn by Holy Church students. But the color of the gem at the center of the cross was strange. It should have been transparent. Now it was black.
“That’s likely the medium,” Noel confirmed. “The curse is flowing out from there.”
Aria immediately said, “That’s a basic Holy Church relic. Outsiders can’t easily tamper with it.”
Leah’s gaze turned cold. “Then it means there’s a collaborator inside the Holy Church.”
The classroom stirred again. Several Holy Church students’ faces hardened. Some looked angry, others terrified.
Ciela stepped forward, gripping her scabbard. “Who approached Lucas Berin?”
No one answered.
“Answer me.”
Her sword remained sheathed, but simply standing there with it in hand was intimidating enough. Her red hair looked like flames in the classroom’s cold light.
A female student raised a trembling hand. “Ah, this morning… he said he received a new blessing on his necklace at the Holy Church chapel.”
“From whom?”
“From Priest Rowen.”
Aria’s face stiffened. Priest Rowen. Assistant priest of the Saint Ignis Academy cathedral and the person in charge of managing Holy Church students. In the original story, he had been a passing character with little importance in the early parts. But in the later settings, it was revealed that the Black Moon was connected to the heretical faction within the Holy Church.
‘Already this far?’ The pace was accelerating. The more I tried to avoid the events of the original story, the more the world pushed them forward.
Leah gave the order. “Imperial knights. Request a lockdown of the cathedral grounds. Secure Priest Rowen.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Aria took a step back. Her face was paler than usual. “Inside the Holy Church… a collaborator with the Black Moon…”
I took her hand. This time, I was the one who reached out first. Aria looked at me in surprise.
“It’s not your fault, Lady Aria.”
“But—”
“They’re using your sense of responsibility against you.”
I looked at the blackened necklace. “So you mustn’t let them control you any further.”
Aria’s hand trembled. But she didn’t let go of mine.
Just then, Lucas drew in a rough breath. The black pattern began spreading again. Noel’s insulation barrier wavered.
“No time,” Noel said. “We have to destroy the medium. But if we touch it wrong, the curse will burrow into Lucas’s throat.”
Ciela gripped her sword hilt. “Can I cut it precisely?”
“If your hand shakes, he dies.”
“It won’t shake.”
“Impressive. But since the curse is on a holy relic, physical cutting alone won’t be enough.”
Aria spoke quietly. “We need to purify it with holy arts while separating it.”
“You said using holy arts would be dangerous,” I said.
Aria looked at me. “Not direct healing. If we guide the curse’s flow outward, it should be possible. But we’ll need someone to act as a medium to receive that flow.”
I felt an ominous premonition. “What kind of medium?”
Aria didn’t answer. Noel spoke instead.
“A person.”
Leah immediately said, “Denied.”
Aria shook her head. “I’ll do it.”
“You can’t.”
This time, I spoke right away. Aria looked at me.
“I’m a Saintess candidate.”
“That’s exactly why you can’t.”
“Lord Kyle.”
“I’ll do it.”
The classroom froze. Leah called my name in a very low voice. “Kyle.”
Ciela’s hand tightened around her sword. “Have you lost your mind?”
Aria looked as if she were about to cry. “No.”
I took a deep breath. I really didn’t want to do this. There was a high chance I would get hurt again. But right now, there weren’t many options. And more than anything—
If I gave in to the blackmail and severed my connections, the Black Moon would continue controlling us this way forever.
Still holding Aria’s hand, I spoke. “We need to answer their demand to sever our bonds.”
“How?”
“By refusing to sever them.”
Aria’s eyes trembled. Leah looked as if she were grinding her teeth, and Ciela’s face was filled with suppressed anger. Noel let out a short sigh as she looked at me.
“You really do have a talent for causing trouble.”
I gave a bitter smile. “I wish I had a talent for surviving along with it.”
Preparations to lift the curse began.
And at that moment, the sound of bells rang from the corridor outside the classroom. The emergency bell of the cathedral. A signal that another incident had occurred in the Holy Church’s territory.
The Black Moon wasn’t giving us choices. They were trying to bring down two places at once.