The Academy dungeon wasn't meant for students.
It was meant for monsters.
Deep below the marble lecture halls and gold-inlaid towers, the true heart of this place pulsed with wards,
iron, and fear.
That's where I went after the trial. Not
because I was summoned.
Because I heard something.
A whisper through the Codex: "Help her."
Sublevel E-9 - Restricted Cell Block
The guards ignored me. Or maybe they were told not to look.
At the end of the hall - behind a soulsteel gate laced with anti-Vein sigils - I saw her.
Curled on the floor. Hair like moonlight. Skin like porcelain. Wearing an oversized robe that slipped off her
shoulder.
And despite everything
- the cold, the dark, the chains - she was humming.
She looked up.
Eyes wide. Soft lilac glow. Not scared. Not hostile.
Just... confused.
"Oh," she said softly. "Are you real?"
I froze.
"Do you know who I am?" I asked.
She tilted her head.
"No, Mister. But you smell like sadness."
Her profile snapped into place.
Lunamiria. Forgotten Daughter. Held captive after being mistaken for a corrupted succubus.
In the novel, she was used. Broken. Discarded.
Saved too late.
Not this time.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
A big man with sharp teeth said I was dangerous. But I'm not. I just made his nightmares stop too hard."
She paused.
"He bit his tongue and screamed until he forgot who he was."
"That wasn't my fault, right?"
I stepped forward. Slowly.
"No. That wasn't your fault."
She smiled. Like a sunrise on snow.
"Then why do you look sad again, Mister?"
I dropped to one knee outside the bars.
"Because I know what they're going to do to you."
"Will it hurt?"
"Yes."
"Will you stop them?
Yes."
She nodded.
"Okay. Then I'll wait."
She sat back down. Humming again. As if I'd already saved her.
Footsteps.
A new voice - sharp, armored, female.
"You defy Holy Law," said Seraphina of the Ashen Choir.
Her armor gleamed in the torchlight. Her blade was already half-drawn.
"Release the girl. Return to your dorm. I will forget this trespass."
"You won't," I said.
"Don't force me."
"She's not a monster."
"That is not your judgment to make."
She stepped forward.
I stepped in front of Lunamiria.
And the Codex hummed.
"Warning: Threat Detected - Soul Projection Engaged."
I raised my fists. No sword. No shield.
Just fury.
"So you'd kill her... and call it justice?"
"If the Veins demand it."
"Then maybe the Veins are wrong."
She moved. Fast. Her blade arced toward Lunamiria.
I blocked it with my bare arm. Steel bit into flesh- but the Codex bit back.
"New Soul Fragment Detected."
"Trait: Oath Reversal - Acquired."
"Memory: 'I never believed in the law. Only in what I was told to protect.'"
I twisted under the second strike. Kicked her shield off-balance
Seraphina's eyes narrowed.
"You fight like someone with nothing to lose."
"No," I said. "I fight like someone who refuses to lose her."
She hesitated.
Only for a moment.
But it was enough.
Lunamiria's hand touched her chest. A soft glow. A sigh of light.
Petals bloomed on the ground beneath Seraphina's feet.
She blinked - dazed - stumbled back.
"What... is this?"
"Sleep," Lunamiria said softly. "It's okay. I'll remember your fear for you."
Seraphina dropped to her knees.
Not defeated.
Just... at peace.
I carried Lunamiria in my arms as we ran. She hummed the entire time.
"Thank you for not leaving me," she whispered, resting her head on my shoulder.
"I won't. Ever."
"Even if I'm broken?"
"Then we'll break together."
We disappeared into the old spire tower at the edge of the Academy. Abandoned. Cracked. Useless.
But it was shelter.
And for that night... it was home.
She curled beside me on the floor. Eyes closing slowly.
"You're warm again, Mister."
"You're safe."
"Then I'll dream of you.