A dimensional crack? What’s that?

How come the devil acts like she saw the Central Node before?

Why’s she panicking?

None of this matters since it’s all fake anyway. Judge, I advise you to end this trial to not further embarrass the justice system.

Oh? But isn’t that exactly what the defendant keeps screaming at me to do, Knight Carter? How curious that both of your requests lineup so perfectly.

Tch!

The judge smiles. Carter grits his teeth. Amelia looks at her memory while biting her fingernail.

“A crack of this size shouldn’t be possible… unless it didn’t naturally form on its own… But who would…?”

“Amelia, what were you thinking?! I told you not to use the transporter by yourself!”

The duchess catches the devil and reprimands her, but Eleanor’s mind is occupied by the existence of what she called a dimensional crack. When she returns to the villa, she orders her followers to bring every book concerning the Central Node and the history of Umber Tower to her.

“According to this, the crack appeared five hundred years ago after a great earthquake that destroyed a port city… People observed strange phenomena occurring in Mellow Bay and later built a tower around the crack to observe it… Mages and scientists gathered from all over the globe and eventually the research institution Umber Tower was born…”

Eleanor reads late into the night while muttering, “This doesn’t make sense,” repeatedly. Eventually she throws the books away and rests her arm on her forehead.

“A single sneeze from an immortal can burst that crack into a rift… A rift of that size will attract the Gatekeepers… And the Gatekeepers may run into… me! Shit! What the fuck am I going to do now, dammit?! Why is there always something with this backwater realm?! It should have been an easy in and out gig!”

Eleanor hops on the bed and rolls around. After a long while she comes to a conclusion.

“Should I abandon this realm and retry somewhere else? No… No, I’m overthinking it. This crack has been stable for five hundred years. As long as nothing happens it should be fine to leave it be…”

Eleanor eventually closes her eyes and falls asleep.

Wow, that’s a lot of new terminologies all at once.

Dimensional crack. Immortal. Rift. Backwater realm. Gatekeepers. In and out gig… What does it all mean?

Don’t look at me, man. Ask the Devil.

Hey, Devil! Stop banging your head on the table and start talking, you absolute disgrace of a villain! If you don’t… we’ll start calling you Angel!

Fuck off! I don’t have to explain shit!

Angel! Angel! Angel! Angel!…

Half of the courtroom starts chanting, causing Amelia to block her ears and roll into a ball.

I’m not your Angel, dammit! I… I’m telling you I’m not! Tell them, Carter! Tell them!

She’s not… Eleanor…

For the next few days, the duchess takes the two girls around town to make preparations—fitting their uniforms, purchasing books, and touring the school itself.

“Umber Tower is divided between the school and research departments. Researchers hate it when students intrude on their turf, so try to avoid them. The town itself is considered an extension of Umber Tower since the population is mostly staffers and their families.”

“That’s fine and all, auntie. But do we really need to be surrounded by guards at all times?! The town is one thing, but bringing security to class is ridiculous!” Princess Grace complains.

“Oh, these aren’t your guards, dear… They’re Eleanor’s… A-hem! Entourage.”

“Eleanor!”

“Sigh… I’ll see what I can do.”

Eleanor beckons her conduits to come closer and tells them to leave her be.

“But, your holiness, what if something happens to you?! And how would you be able to cast spells without us?!”

“I’ll manage.”

After some back and forth, Eleanor’s followers agree to keep their distance and stand guard outside while she’s in school.

“We’ll tell our family members in the tower to serve under you, your holiness!”

“Don’t! And go back from whence you came, you buncha hippies!”

Before school starts, Professor Dan Declan visits the villa with a package in hand.

“I apologize for not being here to welcome you earlier, my lord. I was busy setting up the entrance ceremony.”

“Yeah, yeah, skip the formalities, four eyes. I have way too many ass kissers already.”

“As you command, Miss.” Declan smiles and hands the package in his hand at Eleanor.

“This was sent here by Tessa. She said it’s the prototype you requested.”

“Oh? She managed to finish it faster than I thought.”

Eleanor rips the package over and takes out a strangely shaped metallic item.

“My lady, is that a… booster?”

“No, this is something much better.”

Eleanor gives an evil grin and loads six bullets into the chamber.

“This, four eyes, is a weapon from a more civilized age. Something that will work very well with my mana bombs. Hehehe!”

Eleanor twirls her gun around and aims it at her reflection in the mirror. She laughs and utters,

“Bang, bang!”