Enid kept hammering the shadow-form monster with spell after spell.

  With Rosalie cutting off every escape route and constantly pressuring it, the creature’s stamina and mana burned out fast, and it was forced to crawl out of the shadows and back onto solid ground.

  Rosalie didn’t waste the opening.

  He slipped past the monster’s brutal swings again and again, parrying with his blade, then darted into its blind spot and carved into the softer flesh of its belly with clean, practiced two-handed strikes.

  The monster let out a low, grinding howl.

  It thrashed its front limbs and rolled its massive body, trying to shake Rosalie off and drive him out of its sightline.

  It didn’t work.

  Rosalie’s skill and combat sense were clearly beyond his age, and he kept reading the timing perfectly, dodging at the last second and countering without giving the monster room to breathe.

  And it wasn’t just Rosalie’s great holy sword doing the work.

  Enid never stopped either, she kept rotating elements in rapid succession and slammed the creature with spells from a whole spread of affinities, squeezing every ounce of power out of what she’d drawn in and keeping the pressure relentless.

  The monster managed to recover a little mana and tried to sink into its own shadow again, starting the twisted technique that let it slip into darkness.

  Enid had already seen it coming.

  She cast a mid-rank metal-element spell, Iron Chains.

  Several chains snapped into existence around the creature, cinching tight and pinning it to the ground, trapping it right where it stood.

  To make it worse, Enid layered enchantments onto the chains, fire and lightning.

  The bindings seared and shocked in pulses, ramping up the pain and bleeding the monster’s remaining strength even faster.

  Rosalie used the moment.

  He kicked off the monster’s body, vaulted into the air, and began a solemn prayer.

  Light gathered along the length of his two-handed blade, carrying a strange blend of holiness and anger, like a storm about to break.

  He spun in the air, adjusting his posture with crisp control, then brought the sword down in a heavy, decisive arc straight for the creature’s head.

  He shouted, breath flaring in his chest, “In the name of our merciful Lord, the Holy Spirit, take this!”

  The blow crushed the monster’s skull completely.

  Sacred power burned through corrupt flesh, and the warped, toxic aura around it peeled away under the pressure of pure divine light.

  Even from where she stood, Enid felt the glare sting through her, like it was scorching the ancient curse inside her.

  That was it.

  The monster died under their combined timing and teamwork.

  Rosalie dispersed the energy he’d been holding in the blade, landed lightly off the carcass, then bounced over to Enid like a kid begging for praise.

  “Innis, did you see that,” he said, grinning. “Wasn’t I amazing? That finishing drop was totally perfect, right?”

  Enid had trouble connecting the bubbly, adorable boy in front of her with the swordsman from a moment ago who’d been razor-sharp and lethal.

  “Perfectly executed,” Enid said. “Your swordwork was clean and efficient. You’ve had formal training, haven’t you?”

  Rosalie nodded without hesitation.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Yep. Before I came to the academy, I trained at a monastery in the Holy Spirit Church’s sacred lands,” he said. “Illyana wanted me to aim for the priesthood like she did, healer, cleric, any of that would’ve been fine.”

  He lifted a fist, eyes shining.

  “But I’m telling you, the holy warrior path suits me better. It’s strong, it’s cool, and it shows off my charm. I even took a bunch of combat courses in the officers’ division and other departments just to get sharper.”

  Enid couldn’t really argue with Illyana’s original plan.

  With the amount of holy power Rosalie carried, healer or priest made perfect sense.

  Still, she couldn’t deny the other option fit too.

  No matter how pretty Rosalie looked and how much his voice sounded like a girl’s, his body was still male, and that meant he had a physical edge that could serve him well in a frontline role.

  A holy warrior, or even a paladin, wasn’t a bad road at all.

  Enid pictured it for a second.

  A knight in gleaming white plate, riding a fully armored white warhorse, sword and shield moving through the crowd like a living icon.

  Then the knight removed the helmet, and that flawless face caught the sun, golden hair spilling down like a waterfall, and everyone nearby went pink with awe.

  It was dramatic.

  It was ridiculously dramatic.

  And honestly, it worked.

  Meanwhile, Rosalie was still wound up like a toy someone forgot to turn off.

  He talked a mile a minute, jewel-bright eyes sparkling with excitement, smile so wide it could barely stay on his face.

  “And Innis, your nature magic is insane,” he said. “Switching elements like that, controlling everything so smoothly, it’s so cool. And we synced up really well. I’ve never had a mage partner who fought alongside me like that.”

  Watching him, Enid started to wonder if she and Rosalie had the same definitions of “cute” and “cool.”

  Still, curiosity won out.

  Enid asked him directly, if he knew he was male and accepted it, why choose to present and live this way.

  Rosalie’s answer left her genuinely stunned.

  “Honestly, I think it’s something to be proud of,” he said, completely serious. “Being a guy and still having a face and voice that people call beautiful, that’s a gift.”

  He spoke with bright conviction.

  “I get to live as a handsome man, and I also get to enjoy everything people associate with being pretty. A beautiful outside with a cool inside. That has to be the Natural Messenger’s blessing, right? To me, that’s basically the most perfect human form.”

  Then his grin turned mischievous.

  “And yeah, I’ll admit it, watching the boys who try to flirt with me, and the girls who swoon over me, when they finally realize what I am, their faces are priceless.”

  He was quick to add one important thing.

  He still used the men’s restroom, and when it came to bathing, he picked late-night hours when the bathhouse was nearly empty.

  Using his looks to cross boundaries and deliberately confuse people would be cruel, he said, and it didn’t match his idea of a holy warrior, or the Holy Spirit Church’s teachings.

  Not long after, the academy patrol and combat staff arrived.

  When they saw the dead monster, their expressions tightened.

  They covered the body carefully with a heavy sheet, and caution tape went up in a blink.

  One guard ran the perimeter with a spool, tape trailing behind in a clean arc, while others grabbed anchor points and secured the line.

  Medical faculty staff confirmed neither Enid nor Rosalie had obvious injuries, then escorted them away for full-body screening at the medical tower.

  Monster blood could carry toxins, and even a corpse could leak curses or disease into the area, so anyone who’d been close needed thorough checks and cleansing.

  When they reached a building near the medical tower with a sign that read Curse Protection and Removal, Rosalie finally waved goodbye, still buzzing.

  “See you, Innis,” he called. “Dinner got ruined today, but I’m inviting you again next time, okay? I had so much fun. Bye!”

  The medical students practically hauled him into an exam room.

  Enid’s ears finally got a break from what felt like a full-on verbal barrage.

  She was guided into her own room, changed into the provided exam clothes, and went through a long set of tests.

  Of course, no technology here could truly remove her ancient twisted curse.

  Even the most advanced instruments couldn’t detect it at all.

  While the staff worked, Enid replayed the fight in her head.

  A monster that could dissolve into shadow and slip through darkness was extremely rare, the kind you’d expect near borderlands or high-risk ruins.

  It had no business showing up in Rolkiska, deep in the empire’s heartland.

  More than that, the creature had gotten past the academy’s monster-detection spells and security, and that alone was alarming.

  And the warped aura on it wasn’t subtle.

  It felt like something had been forcibly reshaped with twisted power, with demon blood used as the catalyst.

  Its original form might have been an animal.

  Or it might have been human.

  Enid knew that kind of magic.

  It was an ancient, vile sacrificial rite, trading a soul and a life to turn the victim into a destructive tool with brute strength and magic.

  So if a monster appeared inside the academy, and it wasn’t some freak accident or an escaped experimental specimen, then the remaining explanation was ugly.

  Someone inside the academy had performed the rite.

  Which meant a demon infiltrator, or a traitor to the Stahill Empire.

  Enid couldn’t help thinking about Antonio and all the things he refused to explain.

  Was he hiding the truth because he already knew there was a traitor on campus, and he was running a confidential purge?

  Maybe.

  Maybe not.

  Either way, Enid knew this was the kind of threat you didn’t shrug off.

  Later, security staff came to her with a firm warning.

  She was not to mention the monster to anyone.

  The headmaster would address the entire academy first thing tomorrow.

  Enid could only hold position, and watch how Antonio handled it before deciding what to do next.

  One thing was clear.

  Her quiet professor life was probably over for a while.

  What a day.