"What's the meaning of this?"

  Orion pushed Marie’s blade away from his neck with deep concern.

  "I..." Marie's voice shook. "My thoughts..."

  She clutched at her head, as if trying to contain something slipping through.

  "I can’t control them."

  The light in her eyes wavered, reflecting an internal struggle she could not win.

  "My... memories."

  Suddenly, confusion turned to aggression.

  "Stay away from me!"

  She swung her twin blades at him, growling with fury, as if their bond had never existed.

  Orion didn’t respond with force. Instead, he stepped back, his eyes never leaving Malamiris.

  What did you do?

  Frustrated, he tried to analyze the situation.

  I felt nothing invade my mind. Was Marie targeted specifically?

  Her protection spell wasn’t broken... and yet...

  Too little information. But one thing was clear: Malamiris had spoken what resembled a curse—and Marie’s reaction was no coincidence.

  Marie would never raise her blade against me.

  I’d bet my life on that.

  And yet, she had.

  He calmly dodged each of her attacks, barely glancing her way. Every time he warped, Marie followed without hesitation, using the same movement magic they had practiced together.

  In the background, Malamiris clapped gleefully.

  "Good! That’s good. Let the folly unravel."

  Just as another blade aimed for him, Marie’s arm froze.

  Orion stopped, startled by her expression.

  He had never seen that look on her before.

  Then, with unrelenting fury, she turned her gaze from him—toward their true enemy—and vanished.

  She reappeared beside Malamiris, both blades low, ready to strike with lethal momentum.

  "Oh?"

  Surprised, Malamiris tilted her head in genuine astonishment.

  "The first to resist my words. Interesting."

  She sidestepped the blow effortlessly, but didn’t account for her surroundings. Her right shoulder bumped into something solid.

  Orion.

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  "Huh?"

  She turned just in time to see his eyes—burning anthracite, sharp enough to pierce her fa?ade and glimpse the truth beneath.

  Her stolen form shivered. A flicker of her true self—hideous and formless—briefly surfaced behind Carmillya’s mask.

  And then came the fist.

  Orion drove his knuckles into her face, slamming her through the cathedral floorboards. Without pause, his entire body became an extension of the abyss. Dark tendrils ripped through the stage with a furious howl.

  Taygeta replaced Alcyone. In a flash of light, Orion shot Malamiris in the back of the head, silencing her voice.

  From that spreading darkness, a massive wolf emerged—Sirius, its mane like constellations, snarled and clamped its fangs around the Devourer’s neck, flinging her like a ragdoll into a distant pillar.

  Debris rained down. Candles snuffed out. And Sirius howled triumphantly.

  Orion gave a faint smile.

  "Knew it was a good idea to bring you."

  Sirius huffed and padded behind his master before vanishing once more into the dark.

  Marie…

  He turned, eyes softening as he watched her tremble. Her expression was pale with shock, hands shaking.

  But the hatred in her eyes anchored her to reality.

  "I...!"

  The rage she radiated became visible—a light flickering like a phantom, tracking her gaze toward Malamiris.

  "Will not accept those memories!"

  —

  A few minutes ago.

  Marie had been ensnared.

  Malamiris’s spell wasn’t direct combat magic—it was manipulation. A whisper meant to rot the mind.

  “Embrace the Madness.”

  The words slithered into her mind like a key into a lock.

  Her memories began to shift—corrupt, blur, unravel.

  She watched helplessly as her training with Orion was replaced with memories of him belittling her. Abusing her. Owning her.

  "No..."

  Her lips trembled. Her cries echoed uselessly through her mental prison.

  The day Olivia saved her was twisted. Now she stood alone, abandoned, forced to fight without hope.

  Her oath became a curse. Her contract became slavery.

  Everything that made her Marie began to break.

  She saw herself aiming a blade at Orion—and hated what she had become.

  "I’m... still weak."

  As her real memories vanished, her identity crumbled.

  "...For altering those memories..."

  A void flame ignited at her chest—dark, flickering, and full of wrath.

  "You will pay."

  —

  Marie dropped into a battle stance, blades low, rage like a current around her.

  Malamiris, embedded in the pillar, snapped the rubble binding her with a twist of her body.

  She touched her lips in silence. Something was wrong.

  Her voice—gone.

  She turned, eyes narrowing at Orion. His silence had inflicted this wound.

  She no longer underestimated him.

  As she stepped forward, Orion raised Taygeta again—another curse spell ready to detonate.

  But Marie appeared in front of him.

  Her blade sliced at his legs—Orion barely warped away.

  She’s feral... This complicates everything.

  Should I knock her out? But what if the spell doesn’t break?

  Marie teleported beside Malamiris and attacked again. The battlefield was chaos.

  Orion jumped down from the stage, avoiding warping. He didn’t want the Devourer to adapt.

  He fired Taygeta once more—this time aiming to silence her magic completely.

  Would it work?

  As the bolt flew, Malamiris twisted away, dodging the blast and catching Marie’s swords in a practiced motion. She flung the maid across the cathedral.

  Marie vanished mid-air, returning with renewed fury.

  Orion used the moment to close the distance. But again—Marie was in the way.

  She struck at his face. He bent low—her blade clipped a strand of his hair.

  Sliding and leaping forward, Orion closed the gap.

  He pivoted mid-run and kicked Malamiris’s arm skyward, then drove his foot into her chest, launching her into another pillar.

  The silent Devourer cracked the stone, recoiling.

  Warping again, Orion stomped her raised arm into the wall.

  Her pain, real and raw, twisted her stolen features.

  But behind him—Marie appeared.

  Orion readied himself, prepared for impact if needed.

  Instead, Marie impaled Malamiris’s hand into the pillar, pinning her there.

  The Devourer’s blood—thick and dark—ran down the sword, trickling to Marie’s fingers.

  "!"

  The spell lifted.

  "Marie!"

  Without time to celebrate, Orion pulled her away as Malamiris reached for her, still pinned.

  Then it happened.

  The candles flared.

  The organ writhed.

  Malamiris vanished in a blink—and reappeared at the instrument, arms spread.

  "Let me return the favor."

  She turned, hands poised over the keys.

  "Mindless Parade."

  From every shadow in the cathedral, specters rose—woken by her song.