The first thing Rexerd felt was confusion.
At least mentally.
Physically? It was the burn.
Yes. His chest burned. A lot.
Then he started struggling to breathe.
He clawed at his throat as he choked, but the air refused to slip into his lungs.
He tried to summon a Card, though even he didn’t know which one, but his legs gave out from under him before he could do that.
And suddenly, he collapsed into the cold stone floor.
His limbs convulsed as the numbing poison worked its way through his veins.
The burning agony stopped, but it was soon replaced by a dull ache spread across his chest, followed by a creeping sensation of paralysis.
He tried to move, to get back up, but his fingers twitched uselessly against the ground. And besides them, he couldn’t move a single part of his body.
Above him, Juliana continued to smile.
It wasn’t the polite smile she had practiced and perfected in front of the mirror every morning since she was a child.
It wasn’t even the fake blushing smile she playfully showed him.
Her expression wasn’t carefully measured and there was no calculated charm about her demeanor.
Suddenly, Rexerd realized how well he was deceived.
Because this was the real face of the girl he thought he was taking advantage of. She looked… unhinged.
And as if on cue, Juliana threw her head back and laughed a manic laughter — breathless, high-pitched, and manic.
Her head tilted back, her shoulders trembling with joy, her eyes glinting with something wild and euphoric.
It was the kind of laugh that stripped away all pretense, leaving only the naked truth of what she felt in that moment.
It was the kind of laugh that suggested she had lost her goddamn mind.
She was… enjoying this?
Rexerd’s vision blurred at the edges and he finally managed to take in a long, ragged breath.
Yet, his mind was preoccupied by a series of thoughts.
How? How had she done this?!
And why?
Did she realize what he was going to do to her?
Did she know about him?
About the alchemy of souls?
No!
No, that was impossible—
—Krieeech!
His thoughts stopped short as Juliana dragged a chair across the floor, the screeching sound grinding into his skull.
She spun it around and sat down, one leg crossed over the other.
Then, as casually as anything, she pressed the sole of her boot against his face and shoved his head into the ground.
The rough stone scraped against his skin as she applied pressure, not enough to crush, but enough to humiliate.
Enough to remind him that, for the first time in his life… he wasn’t in control anymore.
“Now, now, Professor,” she purred in that exaggerated sweet voice of hers and tilted her head mockingly. “Is this how you planned to spend your evening? Lying at the feet of a young girl? How lucky. You like this kind of thing, right?”
Rexerd gritted his teeth.
His body was sluggish, but his mind still fought to understand.
“W-what… did you do?” His voice came out hoarse.
Juliana’s grin widened. “Oh, don’t tell me you haven’t figured it out yet. And here I thought you were supposed to be a genius.”
Rexerd’s eyes suddenly flashed with understanding.
“Ah, there it is! You’ve put it together now, haven’t you?” She leaned in and pressed her weight onto her boot. “I stole not one but two Syrphid Slugs from the clinic basement. And you’ve taught me enough alchemy for me to easily concoct a numbing poison. All I had to do after that was make you drink it.”
Rexerd took in a shuddering breath.
Juliana watched his expression shift, then sighed dramatically. “But, honestly? The poison is just a formality. You lost the moment you let me into this room.”
She leaned back, stretching lazily. “You see, I did my homework before approaching you. At first, I was just curious. You were an acclaimed genius in the field of alchemy and Spirit Realm studies. And I wanted to be free of the BloodWorm. So, I started studying you. Your background, your habits, your accomplishments. And then I realized—”
Juliana bared her teeth.
“—You weren’t just a genius. You were a monster. At first it was a little whisper here, a strange rumor there. It was all so suspicious. But then I noticed a pattern. Every now and again, you take a first-year under you to ‘mentor.’ And all of them just happen to be pretty, little, young girls.”
She traced a slow circle in the air with her finger.
“I talked to some of your past students. Those who are still here in their third year. Because most of them already left the academy, either graduated or dropped out. And those who remained? They were too scared to say anything against you. But that was all I needed to dig further.”
Rexerd forced a scoff. “You’re grasping at shadows—”
Juliana cut him off with a sharp laugh.
“Oh, Professor.” She pulled something from her coat — a small storage drive — and let it dangle between her fingers. “It’s not about belief. It’s about proof. And I have plenty of it.”
Rexerd’s confidence shattered.
Juliana twirled the drive in her fingers.
“This little thing?” she said. “This holds everything. The things you said to me. The things you’ve said to others. All carefully collected and compiled. Want to hear yourself confess?”
She connected the storage drive to her phone and tapped on its screen.
Immediately, several audio recordings started playing.
[You’re a bright girl, Juliana. Too bright. That’s why I like you.]
[There’s no shame in wanting power, in needing someone to guide you. I could teach you things. Make you stronger. Make you untouchable.]
[You don’t have to be afraid. I take care of my girls.]
The recording cut off.
Rexerd’s blood ran cold. “Th-That won’t hold up–”
Juliana silenced him with a sharp kick to the face, then smiled sweetly. “Of course, not on its own. But I have so much more — videos, audios, photos. Even some of your old favorites were more than willing to hand over proof of how you took advantage of them under the guise of ‘guidance.’ How you used them… then tossed them aside when you got bored.”
She let out a mocking snicker. “And that’s just the beginning. I also broke into your communicator device. You know what I found? Well, of course you do. llegal dealings, shady payments, a whole mess of incriminating evidence. For someone who calls himself a genius, you sure left a sloppy trail. Did you really think no one would ever find out?”
Rexerd struggled to push himself up, his arms trembling from numbness, but Juliana pressed him back down with her foot with minimal effort.
She scoffed. “I suppose you just got overconfident. Men like you always do. None of your girls spoke up because you had dirt on them, didn’t you? You made them do something — something you could hold over their heads. Just like you tried to do with me.”
Rexerd’s eyes snapped to hers, but Juliana only cocked her head.
“You thought I wouldn’t notice?” She clicked her tongue, feigning disappointment. “You could’ve gotten Syrphid Slugs from the clinic anytime you wanted, but you made me steal them instead. You needed something to bind me to you. A favor. A debt. A blackmail material. Something you could use to pull me into your little web.”
She giggled softly — too softly. “But here’s the thing, Professor. If I take this storage drive to the authorities, the Academy board, the Alchemist Guild… I could just say you forced me to steal those Slugs. Who do you think the world would believe? A helpless young girl… or a pervert who was grooming her?”
For the first time in years, Rexerd felt panic settle in.
He couldn’t care less about the accusations she’d make, but if a proper investigation was conducted, the Academy would find out about his ‘projects.’
He couldn’t let that happen!
The white-haired girl continued. “I don’t know who your connections are, but would they really save you after you become a liability to them?”
“You…” Rexerd tried to speak up but his voice was weak, his lips dry. “You bitch.”
“Yes! I am a bitch!” Juliana flashed a wide grin. “You’re finally catching on!”
With those words, Juliana pulled out a kunai.
Rexerd flinched.
She coldly chuckled at his reaction. “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this. Since the moment I approached you. Since the moment I let you believe you had a chance to make me another one of your victims.”
Her grin faded and her expression hardened into something far more dangerous.
Disgust.
Pure, unadulterated disgust.
“It was revolting.” She spat out. Her voice was steady, but the sheer anger beneath it poured out like venom. “Being at the end of your lecherous gaze. Waiting for the right moment. Feeling your filthy touch. Do you have any idea how much I’ve longed for this?”
Her voice rose into a scream. “Do you?!”
Then, the kunai flashed.
Rexerd squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the pain, for the blade to sink into his flesh—
…But nothing came.
Slowly, cautiously, he opened his eyes, only to see the short blade plunged into her shoulder.
She stabbed… herself?
Before Rexerd could make anything of it, she pulled out the knife and pressed it against the curve of her neck.
Then—
Slash.
A thin line of red bloomed across her skin.
Her breath hitched, but she didn’t stop.
Slash.
She dragged the blade across her other shoulder, the exact spot where Rexerd had touched her earlier today.
Stab.
Then she buried the kunai into her waist.
Again.
And again.
Sickening, wet squelching sounds filled the entire room as she cut herself. Her fingers tightened around the hilt with every strike.
Her chest rose and fell in sharp pants. She was making a noise that was somewhere between growling and grunting.
Rexerd’s eyes widened as he realized what she was doing.
She was scraping her skin, quite literally scrubbing out his touch.
Then, suddenly, she burst out laughing.
Her body shook and there was a mad glee in her eyes.
She didn’t just laugh.
She screamed.
Her scream was full of deranged fury and boundless delight — and so many more emotions layered together.
Rexerd just watched in horror, unable to move, unable to do anything but witness the sheer insanity unraveling before him.
One second, she was cackling as if she was actually enjoying the cruelty she was inflicting on herself.
The next, she was snarling as if she was fighting against something deep inside her.
And then—
She froze.
Her expression… went blank.
The room fell into suffocating silence.
Juliana let out a deep breath and glanced down at the blood dripping from her wounds.
She clicked her tongue. “Tch. Now look at what you’ve made me do.”
Her voice was calm.
…Too calm.
As if she hadn’t just mutilated herself in front of him.
As if this was all normal.
Rexerd’s stomach twisted.
This girl — this thing — was not human.
She was something else.
Something wrong.
An actual fucking lunatic.
Juliana sighed dramatically, as if inconvenienced, then lazily wiped the blood from her kunai onto Rexerd’s coat.
She smirked. “Now it’s your turn.”
And without warning, she plunged the blade below his ribs.
“Araaah! Fuck! Fughhh!” Rexerd let out a guttural cry and started cursing. His body was numb, yet he still felt the pain. The organ-rending agony.
The numbing poison hadn’t been mixed properly.
…Or perhaps it was intentional.
He gasped, struggling to form words, to beg, to bargain — anything — but before he could, Juliana took out another kunai and plunged into his upper thigh.
His mind fractured. His mouth hung open in a constant grating scream, spit splattered from his lips, and his eyes bulged with horror.
Then she pulled out a third blade.
But this time, she didn’t stab him.
This time, she took her time and slashed him.
The first cut was a long slice across his cheek, deep enough to sting.
The second cut ran from his chest to his belly, creating a thin red line that started bleeding almost instantly.
And the third—
The third wasn’t a slash at all.
Juliana crouched, pressed the kunai’s tip beneath his thumbnail… and slowly, inexorably, peeled it away.