The agonizing pain vanished.
In an instant, the world fell deathly silent.
Lilia’s consciousness struggled to the surface from the depths of a drowning sea.
She took a sharp, deep breath.
She was still slumped in the bath, but everything inside her body had changed.
That violent storm of energy, once capable of tearing her soul apart, was now as docile as a tamed hound.
It settled into every corner of her body, becoming a part of her very flesh and blood.
She pushed herself up.
There was no exhaustion, no soreness — only an unprecedented sense of fullness.
Power overflowed from every cell, making her want to moan in comfort.
She looked down at her reflection in the water.
Beneath her skin, the Mana Circuits that had been brutally widened and reshaped flickered with a faint glow.
Energy surged and roared through them at her slightest thought.
‘This is Stage 4… the power of a Grand Duke!’
With just a thought, this pool full of Moon Goddess’ Milk — a substance comparable to a holy relic — would solidify into millions of the sharpest ice needles in the next second, piercing through everything!
This sense of control intoxicated her.
But a moment later, she whipped her head around to look at the one responsible for all this.
Lucia sat casually on a piece of jade nearby.
Her chin rested on one hand as she watched Lilia with interest.
To Lilia’s new senses, Lucia was no longer just a mere human.
She was an incomprehensible Abyss of Lightning woven from countless Laws.
Even putting forth all her effort, Lilia could only barely see the faintest outline escaping from the edges of that Abyss of Lightning.
And even that tiny sliver of an outline was 100,000,000 times more vast and complex than everything she had just gained.
It was a despair-inducing gap.
But it was no longer completely incomprehensible.
Before, she didn’t even have the right to look up at that Abyss of Lightning.
Now, she could at least see a corner of that darkness.
‘That’s enough!’
The fire in Lilia’s heart ignited once more.
She stood up from the water.
Without any conscious control, the water in front of her parted of its own accord.
The moment she stepped forward, a patch of dry jade floor appeared beneath her feet.
She was momentarily stunned before realizing what it was.
After ascending to Stage 4, her body was unconsciously twisting reality itself.
One step.
Then another.
Her stride was steady as she walked straight toward the woman sitting on the jade, who looked like a God that had remained unchanged for eternity.
Mist rose, and starlight swirled.
One was petite, yet coiled like a drawn bow.
The other was tall, an embodiment of eternal Laws.
In the shadows in the distance, the Head Maid, Lilith, stood stiffly.
Her hands, encased in white gloves, were twisted tightly together in front of her; she had even forgotten to breathe.
Lilia came to a halt in front of Lucia.
Their naked bodies were less than half an arm’s length apart.
They could clearly feel the heat radiating from each other’s skin.
Humiliation, pain, resentment, and the irrepressible excitement of her sudden surge in power…
All these emotions churned violently in her chest.
Eventually, they all merged into a scorching flame, burning wildly within her gold and blue heterochromatic eyes.
“Lucia.”
When she spoke, her voice no longer carried its previous childish tone.
It held a coolness and raspiness that was unfamiliar even to her.
This was the first time she had been so calm, calling out the woman’s name with a tone that was almost scrutinizing.
She gathered all her momentum, preparing to deliver the line she had practiced countless times.
“I am now at Stage 4… Meow!”
A soft, cute syllable that carried a hint of fawning burst uncontrollably from her throat.
“…”
Once again, the world fell deathly silent.
All the momentum, fury, and declarations Lilia had prepared were shattered the moment that word left her mouth.
Her mind went blank, and the color drained from her face with a *whoosh*.
A second later, her face turned bright red with a *whoosh* as heat rushed to the top of her head.
She bit her lower lip hard, her sharp teeth piercing the skin until the heavy taste of blood spread through her mouth.
‘Dammit! Why! Why is it like this! I’m already at Stage 4! I can already twist reality with my will! Why can I still not get rid of this brand engraved into my soul!’
She glared deathly at Lucia, wishing she could use her gaze to burn this woman — the one who had branded her body and soul — into ashes.
*Pfft.*
A very faint sound of laughter.
It wasn’t mockery or sarcasm.
It was the kind of pure, unadulterated pleasure one felt when seeing a kitten step on its own tail.
This laughter stung Lilia more than any insulting words could.
Lucia looked at her — wanting to explode but forcing herself to hold back.
Lilia was trembling with rage, even her cat ears quivering slightly, which only piqued Lucia’s interest further.
“Yes, Stage 4,” she repeated lazily, drawing out the words.
Every syllable felt like a small brush lightly scraping across Lilia’s frayed nerves.
“So? My little pet, what did you want to say to me?”
Lilia took a deep breath, using nearly all her willpower to suppress the next “Meow” that was about to escape, forcing it back down into her gut.
She raised her hand.
Using that index finger — the one that not long ago had been held by the other woman as she was forced to draw shameful Runes on the woman’s smooth back — she pointed it directly at Lucia’s chest.
Lucia didn’t dodge; instead, she leaned forward slightly.
She proactively allowed her heart to meet that slender finger.
The cold fingertip touched warm skin.
Lilia’s body shuddered, but this time, she didn’t pull back.
“Haven’t you always said that you were teaching me things?”
Lilia’s voice wasn’t loud, but it echoed beneath the starlit sky with a desperate, do-or-die determination.
“Well, I’ve learned now.”
She took another half-step forward until her knees almost touched Lucia’s body.
She tilted her flushed little face up, squeezing the words out from between her teeth.
“So, this time, it’s my turn to teach you. I’m going to teach you… what it feels like to be pinned to the ground and ‘tutored’…”
“…by your own pet!”
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