Warning Scarlett with a Nightmare

Late at night, in Broken Gold Town.

The slightly ajar window on the second floor of the Golden Rose Inn swayed faintly. A petite, dark silhouette slipped out like a ghost, landing softly on the snow-covered roof.

Kuma glanced back at the window behind her, which was casting a faint, warm glow.

Relying on the extraordinary hearing she possessed as the Thirteenth Pillar of the Scorched Earth Guard, she could clearly hear the two steady, prolonged breathing sounds coming from inside the room.

One was deep and steady, the other gentle and soothing.

"Hmph, they're sleeping quite soundly."

Kuma curled her lips, pressing her beast ears, which had been messed up by the cold wind, under her hood. "Not only are they sleeping in the same bed, but they're hugging so tightly... What a shameless human and witch."

Despite her verbal complaints, she actually breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

As long as her witch master, whose head was filled with nothing but romantic trash, had a good night, her life as a subordinate would be much easier.

"Alright, now it's time to deal with that reckless wildcat."

Kuma turned around. Her brown, vertical pupils contracted into pinpricks in the night, exuding a chilling aura that made one's heart palpitate.

Her target was clear: the back hall of the Three Glories Church, where the human female professor who dared to reach her claws toward the witch's private property, Lynch, resided.

"How dare she play this 'I'll mentor him personally' grooming game right under the witch's nose?"

Kuma sneered. Her figure blurred, instantly transforming into a wisp of dark smoke that blended into the swirling snowstorm.

"It's only because Her Grace is currently obsessed with love and doesn't want to kill, otherwise you would have been turned into fertilizer long ago. Since Her Grace handed this task to me... Heheh, I'll let you witness what true terror is."

...

Three Glories Church, Back Hall VIP Room.

As the highest-standard reception venue in town, its security measures were actually quite strict. Aside from the church's own defensive barrier, several squads of holy knights patrolled the perimeter.

Furthermore, since Scarlett herself was a Tier-Six Grand Magus, she had set up at least three layers of early-warning magic arrays around the room.

Logically speaking, not even a fly should be able to get in.

But before Kuma, this so-called absolute defense was as laughable as a child's toy block castle.

"Tsk tsk, full of loopholes."

Kuma hung upside down in the shadows of the roof beams, looking down at the faintly glowing magic nodes.

She didn't destroy them by force. Instead, she extended a finger, and a trace of extremely obscure shadow magic seeped from her fingertip, infiltrating the gaps of those nodes like spilling mercury.

Only three seconds passed.

The early-warning magic arrays acted as if they had been hypnotized. Without even triggering an alarm, they obediently opened a path for her.

"This is talent."

Kuma landed gracefully. Looking at the woman who had already fallen asleep leaning on the desk, a smug smile appeared on her face. "What Grand Magus? In front of a genius like me, she's just a slightly stronger grunt."

Scarlett was indeed asleep.

Perhaps because the journey had been too exhausting, or perhaps because she had expended too much mental energy thinking about her Lynch grooming plan earlier, she was currently resting on her unfinished recruitment report, breathing evenly and completely defenseless.

"Sleeping like a log."

Kuma leaned in for a closer look. She had to admit, this woman did have some assets. Even in her sleep, her wine-red long hair and delicate profile still exuded the charm of a mature woman.

"What a pity. She looks pretty enough, but her brain isn't very sharp. Why did she have to provoke the one person she shouldn't provoke?"

Kuma took a small black bottle from her pocket.

It was the Abyssal Nightmare Potion, exclusively used by Demon Realm agents. It was non-toxic; its only effect was to plunge the target into a deep sleep from which they could not be awakened by outside forces. Furthermore, it lowered the victim's mental defenses to the absolute minimum, making them extremely susceptible to suggestion.

"Consider yourself lucky."

Kuma unplugged the stopper and waved it under Scarlett's nose.

A colorless, odorless gas drifted into Scarlett's nasal cavity.

The next second, Scarlett's slightly twitching eyelashes completely stilled. Her body became even more relaxed, as if she had sunk into an endless abyss.

"Prep work complete."

Kuma clapped her hands, then sat cross-legged on the chair opposite Scarlett. Her hands formed a bizarre seal, and an eerie purple light flickered in her eyes.

"Now, it's time to witness a miracle."

"Mind Magic: Dream Weaving!"

This was an extremely obscure and profound school of magic. In the Demon Realm, only a very few races with mutated spiritual power could master it. It could dive into a target's subconscious, utilizing their deepest desires and fears to weave an incredibly realistic dream.

"You want to steal Lynch, huh? You want to have a student-teacher romance, right?"

A demonic smile curled on Kuma's lips.

"Then I'll grant your wish. I'll give you a... sweet dream you'll never forget for the rest of your life."

...

The dream began.

Scarlett felt herself standing on the most bustling Central Avenue of the Royal Capital.

The sun was shining brightly, and flowers were in full bloom.

She was wearing the most magnificent mage robes, her arm linked with a man's. That man had neat black hair, and his handsome profile looked exceptionally charming in the sunlight.

It was Lynch.

"Scarlett, where do you want to eat for the celebration banquet tonight?"

In the dream, Lynch looked at her tenderly, his eyes reflecting only her.

"Anywhere is fine, as long as I'm with you," Scarlett heard herself say, her heart filled with sweetness and the thrill of conquest.

Yes, she had succeeded.

She had successfully brought this countryside genius back to the Royal Capital and successfully developed all of his potential. The current Lynch was already the youngest Chief Court Mage in the Royal Capital, an existence looked up to by countless people.

And that silver-haired woman named Felsy?

She had long been driven back to the countryside to farm through her schemes. How could an ordinary woman with no magic power be worthy of such a dazzling genius?

"Hehehe... I knew my judgment was the most accurate."

Scarlett clung to Lynch, enjoying the jealous gazes of the surrounding noblewomen and socialites, feeling as if her life had reached its absolute peak.

However.

Just at the moment she was about to kiss Lynch.

The sky suddenly turned black.

It wasn't the darkness of heavy clouds, but a despairing pitch-blackness, as if thick ink had been splashed across the sky, devouring even the light itself.

All sounds vanished in an instant.

The noisy streets, the cheering crowds, the blooming flowers... everything seemed to have a pause button pressed on it, and then—

Crack.

A massive rift tore open in the sky.

A gigantic eye, seemingly coalesced from countless stars and the abyss, slowly opened from within that rift, coldly gazing down at the ants below.

"Wh... what is..."

Scarlett wanted to scream but found she couldn't make a sound.

To her horror, she realized that Lynch, who had been right beside her, was gone.

In his place stood a silver-haired figure in the void.

The figure stood with its back to her, long hair cascading down like a silver galaxy, exuding a terrifying aura that could collapse heaven and earth and shatter the laws of reality.

Was that... Felsy?

No! That was absolutely not that weak country woman!

That was a god! An ancient demon god who ruled over destruction and calamity!

The figure slowly turned around.

There was no distinct face, only a pair of purple eyes.

In those eyes, there was no anger, no hatred, only an indifference as if looking at mere dust.

"Mortal."

A massive voice, like the tolling of a great bell, exploded directly in the depths of Scarlett's soul:

"Who allowed you... to touch what is mine?"

Boom!!!

As those words fell, the entire world collapsed.

Scarlett's proud sixth-tier magic power vanished without a trace in an instant, like evaporated water vapor. The mage robe she wore, a symbol of glory, turned to ash, revealing her trembling mortal body.

Immediately after, endless blood-red colors surged from all directions.

It was a sea of blood. A mountain of corpses. The wailing of countless destroyed civilizations.

"No... No! I was wrong! I didn't know! Spare me!"

Scarlett knelt in the void, desperately kowtowing and begging for mercy, tears and snot streaming down her face.

In the face of that oppressive aura capable of crushing stars, her so-called dignity as a Grand Magus was not even considered a joke.

"Punishment."

The voice remained indifferent.

The next second.

Scarlett felt her body begin to melt.

Not a physical melting, but a stripping at the soul level. She clearly felt every inch of her magic circuits being forcibly ripped out, every one of her magical memories being erased bit by bit.

She was turned into a cripple.

Then, she was thrown into a pitch-black cage.

Outside the cage were Lynch and that silver-haired figure. They sat together, drinking tea and chatting, not even glancing at her.

And she could only curl up in the corner like a filthy rat, watching that unreachable happiness, enduring eternal loneliness and fear.

And the omnipresent agony, as if billions of ants were gnawing at her soul.

"This is... the price of coveting what belongs to a god."

...

"Ah!!!!"

An extremely shrill scream pierced the dawn silence of Broken Gold Town.

Inside the guest room in the back hall of the Three Glories Church.

Scarlett violently sprang up from the desk, her movement so drastic that it directly knocked over the heavy solid wood chair.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

She gasped heavily for air, her entire body already drenched in cold sweat. The expensive silk nightgown clung tightly to her body, outlining her currently wretched figure.

"What happened? This is... the church?"

Scarlett widened her eyes, looking around in terror.

The fire in the fireplace had already gone out, leaving only a few embers. The wind and snow were still howling outside the window.

Everything was so real, so peaceful.

There was no sea of blood, no collapsed world, and no terrifying pair of purple eyes.

"It was a dream... a dream..."

Scarlett tremblingly raised her hand and touched her face. It was covered in cold sweat.

She tried to mobilize the magic power within her body.

Buzz.

Blue magic power flowed smoothly around her fingertips. Her strength as a sixth-tier Grand Magus was still there, and all her knowledge of magic remained intact.

"It's not gone... none of it is gone..."

Scarlett slumped to the floor as if having survived a disaster, tears flowing uncontrollably.

That feeling was too real.

The agony of having her soul stripped away, the despair and insignificance when facing absolute power, even though she was awake now, it still felt like a cold knife plunged deep into her heart.

"Why... why would I have such a nightmare?"

Scarlett hugged her knees, shivering.

As a high-level mage proficient in spiritual magic, she knew very well that at her level, her spiritual power had long solidified. She was basically insulated from the mortal physiological phenomenon of dreaming. Unless she had suffered a mental attack, or...

Some sort of warning from fate.

"Could it be... a prophecy?"

In Scarlett's mind, the purple eyes of that silver-haired figure from her dream surfaced once again.

Those were Felsy's eyes.

Although the entity in the dream was indescribably terrifying, that look, that gaze of ultimate indifference, was exactly the same as the glance Felsy had given her in the square earlier that day!

Thump.

Scarlett's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

She remembered Lalavina's warning.

"Absolutely do not provoke him! That is an existence you cannot afford to offend!"

"Staying alive is more important than anything else!"

Originally, she thought it was her best friend's exaggeration, or a lie fabricated to keep Lynch all to herself.

But now...

"No... that wasn't a lie."

Scarlett swallowed hard, feeling her throat as dry as if she were swallowing sand.

"Lalavina... what exactly are you hiding?"

"That Felsy... and that Lynch... who exactly are they?"

Although there was no evidence to prove the dream was real, and although reason told her it might just be a hallucination caused by extreme exhaustion.

However, the fear deeply branded into the depths of her soul left Scarlett without even the courage to mention the name Lynch at this moment.

Let alone taking him under her wing personally, right now she even wanted to buy a standing ticket overnight and flee back to the royal capital, never wanting to step foot in Broken Gold Town ever again in her life!

Knock, knock, knock.

Just then, a knock came from outside the door.

"Lady Scarlett? Are you awake?" It was the voice of the nun responsible for delivering breakfast. "I thought I heard you cry out just now..."

"Get lost!!"

Scarlett roared hysterically, "Don't come in! Nobody come in!!"

The nun outside the door was so frightened she nearly dropped her tray, and she hurriedly ran away.

Inside the room.

Scarlett tremblingly crawled back onto the chair and picked up the unfinished recruitment report.

Looking at the line of text proposing to list Lynch as a personal project, she felt as if she were looking at a death sentence.

Riiiip!

Like a madwoman, she tore the parchment to shreds, then threw it into the embers of the fireplace, watching it turn to ash.

"There is no Lynch... there never was a Lynch..."

Scarlett muttered neurotically, pulling out a fresh sheet of paper, her hands shaking as if she were having a Parkinson's fit:

"This recruitment... no special talents... everything is normal... perfectly normal..."

After writing that, she collapsed into the chair as if completely drained.

Regardless of whether that dream was real or not.

She chickened out.

Completely chickened out.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the room, within an inconspicuous shadow.

Kuma, who had been watching this scene, withdrew her gaze with satisfaction.

"That's more like it."

Kuma whistled in her heart. "It seems this genius's mind magic is extraordinarily effective. Now, Lady Witch's family crisis is completely resolved."

"Mission accomplished, time to pack up and go home!"

"Hehe, I'll be back just in time for breakfast. I wonder if Brother Lynch will make those... what do you call them... soup dumplings this morning?"

The petite silhouette slipped silently through the window and vanished into the faint glimmer of dawn. It left behind only an Archmage, so tormented by nightmares that he was beginning to doubt his very existence, left to stand alone and disheveled in the chilling wind.