"Zeph, leave her, she’s not real"

Even after pleading so much, none of her words made their way towards Zeph, making Thalia frustrated as she glared towards Deventhia, who had a smirk on her face.

"Professor, that’s enough. Valeriana will feel disheartened if you harm Zeph mentally."

Hearing Thalia’s words, the smile on Deventhia’s face faded as she narrowed her eyes,"And who will tell her?"

’!?’

Suddenly, Thalia’s intuition started to scream, making her break into a sweat in a moment. She took two steps back, only to hear a sigh from Deventhia,"My dear daughter, how about I teach you about covering that loophole in your ability? In exchange, you won’t tell anything to your cousin sis."

"S-sorry?"

Thalia looked towards Deventhia with inexplicable emotions. Noticing her blank gaze, she continued, "No, I mean, are you for real?"

It wasn’t hard for Thalia to realize her abilities were giving her misinformation about Zeph’s feelings after the black dragon incident. Believing in her ability too much had led her into this self-made illusion.

However, she didn’t want to fix her ability’s drawback just to confirm Zeph’s words.

She wanted to become useful to him; her ability seemed the only thing that could be of some use to him.

She neither had status nor background like Valeriana, whom she had decided was her rival in her mind.

Biting her lips while looking down, her teary eyes were testament to the pain she felt, knowing it was the last time she would be with Zeph.

As Even after witnessing his state, seeing her death infront of him, she felt it as guilt or maybe just a sudden pain just like how, one feel, when someone sacrifice their life for them.

"Should we start again?"

Deventhia’s sudden words attracted Thalia’s attention as she swiftly turned towards Zeph. Her widened eyes saw everything frozen, as if time had stopped.

Zeph was stuck in his position while kneeling due to force Banzihum used, and a lifeless body was elevating in the air, making it seems like time had stopped.

"What, you thought I’d let you miss anything fun?"

Deventhia looked down on Thalia, who was looking at her, clenching her fists, understanding the pain and suffering Zeph was going to experience once again.

"H-how can you be this cruel Professor!" Thalia shouted with her emerald eyes having a hue of crimson, due to anger she felt towards Deventhia’s unjustified actions.

To some, it might seem cruel, how heartless Deventhia was, putting someone through hellish illusions that was nothing sort of death for them, but for her, it was just a state where their mind played games with them.

The small struggles individuals faced were painful only to them, while to enlightened individuals, they were just part of life’s struggles.

Deventhia saw people from a different perspective.

It was impossible for her to reach this level of mind control where she could even put Archmage Adriannel into some illusion for more than an hour, solely with her inborn ability but her brain was just that much stronger.

As a Dormiantrise, also known as a non-Awakeners, this name referred to the individuals who never awakened any abilities.

Deventhia was too among those people who never had an awakening, though unknown to others, with sheer experience and struggle, Deventhia mastered her illusion ability to what she was now.

Neither Archmage Riannel was an inborn Archmage nor she was one of the strongest illusionists. They struggled to reach where they were today, and this was what made Deventhia aware of one of seven life lessons — Endurance.

And she was just going to apply this lesson to this upcoming future generation.

Just as a stone needs to be chiseled to become a sculpture, she would make them go through hell and endure the upcoming obstacles life would throw their way.

WHOOSH

With a snap of her finger the world started to move again — after Zeph got lifeless body thrown to a distance by Banzihum.

"Thalia—"

BANG

THUD

"Zeph!"

Thalia saw Banzihum kicking Zeph, throwing him at a distance, causing her to break into tears once again, as she sprinted towards him.

"Kughh!"

Seeing Zeph’s state, Thalia’s teary eyes turned towards Deventhia as she switched glances between her and zeph,"Professor, please"

Her plea went unheard, yet she kept trying to plead with Deventhia to show some mercy for her sufferings.

Seeing Zeph’s state was far more painful than she imagined, confirming once again how much she was in love with him.

"Leave her alone!"

BOOM!

At the moment Zeph and Banzihum collided, Deventhia’s eyes widened due to the feeling she just had.

Even though it was minuscule at that time, she felt a very familiar energy fluctuation from zeph.

’N-Nexus!?’

After reading Banzihum’s mind, she recalled him referring to Zeph as some anomaly.

Now, it all came back, hitting her with the significance of that anomaly.

"Professor, Zeph is dying, please!"

A painful scream from a girl suffering while witnessing her loved one to the point where his bones started becoming visible through his skin wounds reached Deventhia, who, without giving a glance, snapped her fingers.

HUSH

Suddenly, a transparent cubic pillar appeared, trapping Thalia inside,"Professor, open i...." Her voice faded amidst the sounds of outside battle, the pillar buried her voice, she can only observe outside event with helpless eyes.

Deventhia kept looking towards Zeph with a cold gaze. The only thing preventing him from dying was the fact that he was the son of Adriannel.

His possession of that strange energy was more than enough reason for Deventhia to claim his life.

At that moment, she didn’t care about her niece nor hold any favorable opinion towards Zeph,’Calm down, Deventhia.’

She calmed herself, and it was only because she was Deventhia that made her stop from taking any further steps that could put an end to the story of Zephyr Liander — Any other being would have killed him the moment they knew Zeph possessed Nexus.

’It’s minuscule. Is it related to his stolen identity?’

At that moment, it was clear that Deventhia knew Zeph’s real identity and even about him possessing Zephyr Liander’s body.

As the time inside the illusion and outside world aligned to the moment when Deventhia extracted Sanctum’s Third-floor artifact from Banzihum that had stopped Zeph’s artifacts from reacting, his wounds started to heal.

Deventhia’s illusions acted like a different dimension where she was a god but with limits.

She couldn’t decrease someone’s strength forcibly but could make them think they were becoming weak.

She controlled the time flow inside to her desire, a perfect illusion akin to a parallel world.

Her gaze shifted towards Banzihum’s illusion standing in front of Zeph, leading her to a decision.

Her usual style would have erased Banzihum’s memories, leaving him alive to avoid trouble with Chrintain Valley.

But now, things were slightly different.

Her future nephew-in-law had just shown her something that shook her to the core. Why would Elves or Dragons be any exception? — she possessed more patience and self-control than anyone else.

So, in conclusion, Banzihum had to die.

She couldn’t take any risk of this revelation reaching anyone, not even Adriannel.

For all she knew, in love for his son, he might try something reckless again as he previously did.

’My head,’ Deventhia couldn’t help but rub her forehead, bearing all the responsibility to protect a family from breaking apart once again.

// Flashback ends //

"Professor, such cruelty doesn’t suit you,"

Deventhia looked towards Zeph with Banzihum’s head in her hand.

A smile formed on her face as she tilted her head, looking towards Zeph with deep eyes, "But it feels good doing this, though."

Thalia, upon hearing Deventhia’s words, swiftly turned towards her, attempting to say something but stopped midway, burying her head in Zeph’s chest once again, causing both Deventhia and Zeph to sigh.

"So, what do I deserve to get such treatment from you, Professor?"

Zeph looked towards Deventhia while tightly hugging Thalia. It was as if he still had an inner fear about her disappearing, and Thalia felt the same too.

Deventhia, observing these two individuals, moved towards them as the head in her hand started to dissipate into thin air, vanishing from existence.

"Nothing special, I just felt sad knowing my precious niece knows about your interest in the same gender"

" Cough..." Zeph’s mouth twitched upon seeing Deventhia’s smirk, but despite that, he couldn’t help but look at her with a sincere smile.

"Thank you for saving my life"

Zeph gazed towards Deventhia, who seemed to be looking at him blankly, as he pressed his face inside Thalia’s hair while holding her tightly.

His emotions were vivid now; he would survive, but this time, he wanted this girl beside him, maybe he had become greedy but whatever, she was his.

The reason he thanked Deventhia held two meanings.

Firstly, Zeph was aware of the consequences of revealing that strange energy he showed to others, realizing how much Deventhia favored him for not taking his life.

Secondly, even after enduring the physical pain of his fight with Banzihum and seeing Thalia suffer, the pain of losing her was greater — The most regretful moment for any human is realizing the importance of something they can’t regain.

Deventhia saving Thalia was akin to that. Thalia was alive, making his words meaningful in thanking her for saving his life, that was what Thalia had become to him.

"Your welcome, but do you know about that strange ener—"

"Can we talk tomorrow, Professor?" Zeph interrupted Deventhia mid-sentence, causing her to sigh as she understood his current state of mind.

"It’s okay, I will eventually know," A knowing smile appeared on Deventhia’s face.

SWISH

Seeing her figure disappear, Zeph looked towards the woman in his embrace.

"Thalia," he called her softly, not finding any response.

He repeated, "Thalia"

Once again, he tried, "Are you still upse—"

"I love you"

Hearing her words, Zeph’s eyes widened before relaxing once again.

"I too, love you, Thalia"