Lance x Angeline

Their first meeting happened when they were both around ten years old, long before the magic world knew Angeline as the heir of Wisteria and long before Lance Crown entered Easton Magic Academy. On a small street in town where young magic users often gathered, Lance, who even at that age already had a stubborn sense against injustice, saw a smaller child being ganged up on by several other boys. Without thinking twice, he immediately stepped forward to defend that child, even though it was obvious he was heavily outnumbered. As expected, the fight quickly turned into an unfavorable situation for him. One of the boys punched his face, another kicked him until he fell to the ground. Dust clung to his uniform and his breathing became uneven, yet he still stood up again. Just as one of those boys was about to kick him once more, a calm voice came from behind them.“Five people against one child… and you still look pathetic.”Everyone turned around. A girl stood a few steps away, her long indigo hair moving softly in the wind, with two white butterfly ornaments visible behind her ears. Without raising her voice even slightly, she lifted her hand, and the mana around her moved like a shadow pressing against the air. In only a few seconds, the children who had been hitting Lance were thrown backward as if struck by something invisible. They got up with pale faces and immediately ran away without daring to fight back. The girl looked at them as they fled and let out a small sigh. “Truly inefficient,” she said coldly. Lance, still standing there covered in dirt, stared at her in amazement. He had never seen someone his age use magic in such a clean way. After a few seconds, he finally said, slightly out of breath, “Hey… wait. What’s your name?”The girl turned slightly toward him. Her eyes examined Lance from head to toe, from his bruised face to his dirt-stained clothes. Then a faint smile appeared on her face, a smile that somehow felt more like mockery than kindness. “You tried to protect someone,” she said, “even though you can’t even protect yourself. That isn’t bravery. That’s just stupidity.” Lance frowned. “Do you always talk that sharply to people you just met?” The girl answered casually, “Only to people who are obviously weak.” She then turned away and said briefly before leaving, “Angeline.” Lance stood there for a while after she left. He should have felt annoyed at being insulted so casually, but strangely, what he felt instead was admiration. On the way home, he looked up that name, and when he finally learned that Angeline was the daughter of the famous magical family, House Wisteria, he could only laugh softly to himself. “So that’s how it is…” he murmured. “No wonder.”Years passed, and when Lance finally entered Easton Magic Academy, he already knew Angeline’s name long before meeting her again. However, Lance’s purpose in life at that time was much clearer than simply admiring a girl. His younger sister, Anna, suffered from a mysterious magical illness that slowly consumed both her mana and her life, a disease later discovered to have originated from magical experiments conducted by Epidem. Because of that, Lance was determined to become a Divine Visionary so he could obtain enough authority to save Anna. In the middle of that goal, Angeline still remained in a corner of his thoughts, but only as someone far above him. At the academy, he often saw her walking through the corridors of Adler Dorm, surrounded by a calm aura that made other students automatically move aside to give her space. She always looked perfect, professional, cold, and as if she had no weakness at all. To Lance, Angeline became a kind of ideal image of strength. Without realizing it, the girl slowly became someone he quietly admired.Their next truly meaningful meeting happened during the Divine Visionary Candidate Selection Exam Arc, when the exam suddenly turned chaotic because of an attack by Innocent Zero. Enemy magicians appeared around the exam area and battles broke out across the academy. Lance, who was facing one of the enemy magicians, managed to hold him off for quite a while, but the fight was still difficult for him. Just as he was about to launch another attack, an overwhelming pressure of mana suddenly filled the air behind him. His opponent was thrown to the ground before Lance could even react. When he turned around, Angeline stood there with a bored expression. “It took you this long just to deal with someone like that?” she said coldly. Lance frowned. “What?” Angeline continued without changing expression, “I expected Adler students to have slightly higher standards. Apparently I was too optimistic.” She then raised her hand and, in one neat movement, eliminated the enemy magicians in that area. Lance could only stare at her in irritation. As Angeline walked past him, she said in a half-whisper, “Train harder. Otherwise, you’ll only become a burden on the battlefield.” Lance watched her back with annoyance. “What is wrong with that woman…” he muttered, but somehow he also felt even more driven.After that incident, Easton began preparing for a larger conflict against Innocent Zero. Many students underwent intensive training, including Lance and Dot Barrett under Orter Mádl. One day, Orter summoned someone to replace him in leading their training. That person was Angeline. The moment she appeared on the training field, Dot immediately groaned. “Damn it, why her?” Angeline looked at both of them with a flat expression. “So these are the students you called talented?” she said to Orter. “The academy’s standards really have declined.” The training quickly turned into a nightmare for Dot, because every tiny mistake was immediately met with sharp comments from Angeline. When Dot failed to control his magic explosion, Angeline said flatly, “Your explosion looks more like fireworks from a village festival.” When Lance was slightly too slow to dodge an attack, she said, “Your reflexes are slow. Even a statue in the garden could probably move faster.” Dot eventually grumbled while looking at Lance. “Hey, why do you look happy being treated like this?” Lance answered calmly, “At least she thinks we’re worth training.” Dot stared at him in disbelief. “What are you besides a siscon… turns out you’re also a masochist!” Angeline only let out a small scoff after hearing that conversation.The training, which was initially intended only as preparation for the next threat, gradually became a routine well known in Easton’s training area. Orter Mádl deliberately left Lance Crown and Dot Barrett under Angeline’s supervision several times because, according to him, Angeline’s methods were far more effective in forcing both of them to develop under mental and physical pressure. Dot, who at first still tried to protest, eventually became completely discouraged after, in one training session, Angeline blocked all of his fire attacks with only a thin single layer of Aegis Dominion, a transparent domain with a five meter diameter that reflected Dot’s explosion until Dot’s own body was thrown backward. When Dot got up coughing, Angeline only looked at him flatly and said, “If you keep using magic that large without any clear direction, your opponent will die of boredom before they burn.” Lance, who tried attacking from the other side using gravity to accelerate his movement, was instead stopped by Angeline’s wand transforming into a slender sword through Noctis Edge, then in one motion the sword split into several small parts moving like thin blade fragments in the air. One of them touched Lance’s shoulder, enough to briefly interrupt his mana flow until his body lost balance. “Even your mana direction is still easy to read,” Angeline said coldly. Dot, who saw Lance still getting back up and attacking again, widened his eyes. “Seriously, what is wrong with you? Why are you getting even more fired up?” Lance answered while wiping the blood from the corner of his lips, “If I give up now, when will I ever catch up to someone like her?” Dot immediately pointed at him irritably. “That makes no sense. You’re seriously a siscon plus a masochist!”When the Eclipse Arc began and Innocent Zero moved in full force, Easton turned into an open battlefield. As other students scattered to face their own opponents, Angeline moved directly to the front line because for the Wisteria family, a war like that was no longer a choice, but an obligation. In the first area, she encountered Famin, who at that time was suppressing several Easton students with his food energy manipulation magic. Famin had smiled dismissively when he saw Angeline arrive alone, but before he even finished speaking, Angeline had already opened Umbra Legion, summoning shadows of magical creatures she had previously defeated to disturb her opponent’s movement space. When Famin tried to consume the surrounding mana, Angeline sealed his movement with Noctis Edge: Venom Partition, poisonous sword blades that split into tiny fragments with purple butterfly effects. The poison was not ordinary poison, but her own experimental potion formula that forced the target’s mana pathways to slow drastically. Famin eventually fell before he could even understand how the rhythm of his magic had been broken.Not long after that, Angeline moved to another sector and found Delisaster engaged in a brutal fight against Easton magicians. Delisaster attacked directly with a rough style, but Angeline responded calmly, using Chrono Iris in her right eye to read five seconds ahead of every movement her opponent would make. Delisaster’s attacks, which were too fast for others, appeared slow in front of her. “Your movements are too straightforward,” she said before one short slash from her sword cut through the mana pathway in his arm. Delisaster, who tried to rise again, was finally thrown down by the impact of Aegis Dominion, his body bouncing as if crashing into an invisible glass wall.The next battle against Domina Blowelive was far heavier because Domina’s water magic continuously pressured a wide area. For the first time, several Easton students truly saw Angeline use a full combination of her magic. She blocked Domina’s massive wave with Aegis Dominion, then immediately launched Noctis Edge in the form of a long sword that transformed into poisonous blade fragments in the air. Domina managed to withstand most of the attacks, but Angeline used a small opening with Chrono Iris, predicting the shift of water currents before they occurred. The battle ended not because Domina was completely defeated, but because the battlefield focus shifted toward a greater threat.When Doom appeared, even Angeline only engaged in a temporary clash. Doom was too powerful to be dealt with quickly under those circumstances. Doom’s first attack shattered part of the ground beneath Angeline’s feet, forcing her to activate Sovereign Umbra partially for the first time during that war, enough to withstand one direct strike before she chose a strategic retreat because the battlefield priorities had changed.However, the battle that most changed the relationship between Lance and Angeline happened when they faced Epidem. At that time, Lance and Dot had already been fighting Epidem first and were beginning to be overwhelmed because his magic virus kept spreading into the air. This virus was the very cause of Anna Crown’s illness, the disease that had slowly eroded the victim’s mana pathways all this time. Lance, knowing that, fought far more emotionally than usual. Dot tried to create an opening with fire explosions, but Epidem kept multiplying the spread of the virus. When Lance was nearly struck directly, Angeline arrived without a sound and immediately opened Panacea Arcanum: Absolute Cure for the first time in the middle of battle. A pale violet white light covered the surrounding area, neutralizing the virus for several seconds, but the virus appeared again. Angeline immediately realized the source. “As long as he’s alive, the virus will keep regenerating,” she said coldly. Lance stared at Epidem with a much darker expression than usual. Angeline then opened Umbra Legion, dark shadows attacking from multiple directions to restrain Epidem, while Lance used gravity to narrow his movement and Dot struck from the front. When Epidem tried to escape through the virus mist, Angeline ended everything with Noctis Edge: Venom Partition, poisonous blade fragments piercing through the mist and completely stopping his mana pathways. After Epidem fell, only then did Panacea Arcanum work perfectly. Lance and Dot’s wounds slowly closed, and the virus in the air disappeared entirely. Lance, still breathing heavily, looked at Angeline standing without even the slightest injury, even her clothes remaining clean. In silence, he realized one thing that had kept troubling him since childhood: the more he watched Angeline fight, the harder it became for him to find any weakness in her. As if Angeline had truly been created never to collapse.

After Innocent Zero’s defeat on the front lines, the Eclipse did not fully bring the war to an end, because the battlefield kept shifting until it entered the Final Arc, when the entire power of the magic world was forced to face the remaining dark forces still moving across various points. After the battle against Epidem, Angeline was barely given any time to rest. She was immediately sent to another sector where several high-level dark sorcerers were attempting to break through the defensive lines of exhausted Easton magicians. There, Angeline opened the battle with Umbra Legion, summoning rows of shadows from magical creatures she had previously killed. Those shadows moved without sound, holding the enemy sorcerers long enough for Angeline to advance alone with Noctis Edge, her wand transforming into a thin dark-colored sword. When one of the sorcerers tried to launch a wide-area curse, Angeline’s right eye, Chrono Iris, had already read five seconds ahead. She moved half a step, avoiding the attack even before the spell was fully formed, then slashed her blade and cut off the opponent’s mana pathway. The others tried to attack from behind, but Aegis Dominion opened instantly like a transparent wall. Every attack shattered the moment it touched the domain. Within minutes, the area was clear, and Angeline remained standing as if she had only finished a minor task.From there, she moved again to the main ruin area where battlefield remnants of the enemy forces were still holding on. Remains of artificial magical creatures that had lost control attacked without pattern, destroying buildings around Easton. This time, Angeline used a more aggressive combination of magic. The blades of Noctis Edge: Venom Partition split into sharp fragments spinning through the air, cutting through each target’s mana core. Purple butterfly effects spread around her, while the artificial poison from her potion experiments slowed the regeneration of enemy magic. Even creatures that were not fully alive collapsed one by one. When one large creature attempted to crash into her from the right side, Angeline merely raised her hand, and Aegis Dominion shattered it like glass reflecting the opponent’s own force back at itself.After finishing those two sectors, Angeline finally arrived at the center of the battlefield where Mash Burnedead was preparing to face Innocent Zero directly. At that moment, Angeline had actually intended to end everything with Sovereign Umbra, because as a tool meant to preserve the stability of the magic world, destroying the main threat was her duty. However, before she fully opened her magic circle, Mash stood in front of her and said in his usual flat tone, “Sorry if this sounds selfish… but leave this one to me.” Angeline looked at Mash for several seconds, then lowered her hand slightly. “That is quite a bold request for someone who does not even look like he belongs in a major battlefield,” she said coldly, but she did not refuse. Mash remained standing without wavering. After a short silence, Angeline finally answered, “Very well. I will respect your decision. But that does not mean I will let you fight without support.” She then activated Euphorion Blessing, soft mana light flowing from her hand into Mash’s body. Mash’s mana pathways, abnormal for an ordinary magician, received a massive surge of energy, making the magical pressure around him rise drastically. “Use that as efficiently as possible,” Angeline said. “I dislike seeing energy of this scale wasted.” Mash only nodded before returning to face his main opponent.When the main battle ended and victory finally fell to the side of the magic world, the war zone became a sea of ruins and injured bodies. Angeline moved from one group to another using Panacea Arcanum: Absolute Cure, healing the victims one by one. Her magical light closed wounds, restored mana flow, and cleansed the remains of magical poison from their bodies. Many people only truly realized that day that besides being a weapon of war, Angeline was also the only absolute healer capable of restoring nearly all war victims within a short time. Strangely, in the middle of all that chaos, Angeline herself still had no significant injuries. Her uniform was barely damaged, as if the entire great war had never been enough to truly touch her.After all areas had stabilized, Lance Crown brought Angeline to Anna Crown’s room. The atmosphere there was far quieter than the battlefield. Anna lay weakly, her body still carrying traces of mana disruption caused by the magical virus left behind by Epidem. Lance stood beside the bed with an expression even more tense than when he was fighting. Angeline approached the bed without saying much, then raised her hand and activated Panacea Arcanum. Pale violet-white light slowly covered Anna’s body, flowing like thin threads through every mana pathway that had long been damaged. For the first few seconds, nothing happened, then gradually Anna’s mana flow began to stabilize. The little girl’s breathing became regular. Her eyes opened slowly. Lance froze instantly before finally kneeling beside the bed and hugging Anna tightly, his shoulders trembling because for the first time in so long, he truly believed Anna had survived. Anna, still weak, turned toward Angeline and softly said, “Onee-chan… arigatou…” Angeline, who had already begun to turn away, only answered without looking back, “There is no need to thank me. This is my duty and responsibility.” She began walking out, but before the door closed, Lance stopped her.“Thank you,” he said, this time with a voice far more sincere than usual.Angeline turned slightly, only enough to say, “Then do not waste the opportunity you have finally been given.”Then she left. Lance and Anna could only watch her back grow distant.From that day onward, everything changed. Anna, now healthy, constantly asked about Angeline. Every time Lance returned or had time to visit Anna’s room, the questions were always the same.“Is that onee-chan pretty?”“Brother, when can I see her again?”At first, Lance only gave short answers, but gradually he himself began searching for reasons to meet Angeline more often. Now his greatest goal had already been fulfilled. Anna was healed. And for the first time, the empty space in his life was filled by one name he could no longer ignore. He began daring to approach Angeline in Easton’s corridors, in the library, even during break hours. The responses he got were almost always the same.“Stupid siscon, why are you here again?”“If you are only standing near me without any clear purpose, you are ruining the view.”Yet strangely, every insult only made Lance stay longer.One day, Lance truly brought Anna to meet Angeline. What surprised him was that when Anna shyly held the edge of Angeline’s sleeve, Angeline actually lowered herself slightly and showed a small smile far softer than anything Lance had ever seen before.“Your body is stable now?” she asked quietly.Anna nodded quickly.Lance, standing beside them, immediately turned his face away because his ears had become red. In his mind, he could only curse quietly, damn it… how can she look that beautiful just from smiling a little.From then on, Lance truly no longer knew how to retreat. He looked for Angeline almost every day, even often submitting requests to be assigned to the same mission team. Even though Angeline kicked him repeatedly for standing too close, Lance never stopped.After openly continuing to appear in front of Angeline several times, Lance’s name gradually began sounding strange among Easton students because of one thing no other student ever did: he deliberately sought Angeline out whenever he had the chance. Even when most Adler students chose to keep their distance because Angeline’s aura was too overwhelming and her reputation automatically made people hesitate, Lance Crown instead became used to standing near the library during break time just to make sure he could see Angeline coming out carrying stacks of magic theory books. Sometimes he pretended to have business in the second-floor corridor, sometimes he intentionally took the same route toward the training area. Angeline was of course aware from the beginning, but her reaction was always equally cold. “If you keep standing there every day, what exactly is your goal? Becoming hallway decoration?” she said one afternoon without even lifting her head from the book she was reading. Lance answered calmly, “I just happen to be passing by.” Angeline looked at him flatly. “For seven consecutive days at the exact same hour?” Lance fell silent for a moment before saying, “What if I say I want to see you?” Angeline slowly closed her book, then kicked Lance’s shin until he lost balance. “Then you should see a doctor instead. Your eyesight is clearly damaged.”Even so, Lance still managed to place himself into several field missions alongside Angeline when Easton Magic Academy began cleaning up remaining rogue sorcerer groups after the war. One of their first missions was an operation against Rogue Magic Factions, a small dark sorcerer group attempting to seize magical artifacts from the northern ruins. On the way there, Lance, walking beside Angeline, tried several times to start a conversation. “If we finish quickly, do you want to have tea?” he asked as casually as possible. Angeline did not even turn her head. “If we finish quickly, I would rather return immediately so I do not have to hear your next stupid question.” Lance persisted. “So there is still a possibility for another question.” Angeline stopped walking briefly, looked at him, then said, “I am beginning to understand why Dot calls you stubborn in an unhealthy way.” The moment they arrived, the rogue sorcerers attacked from several directions. Lance opened Graviole to suppress the enemy’s movement area, while Angeline advanced with Noctis Edge, her wand transforming into a long blade moving with extreme speed. Within seconds one enemy fell, then the blade split into tiny fragments through Venom Partition, spreading like purple butterflies and severing mana pathways one by one. Lance deliberately stood too close several times as if protecting Angeline’s side, until Angeline finally looked at him coldly in the middle of battle. “If you keep moving into my attack angle, I will cut you down myself.” Lance answered while blocking an enemy strike, “Then at least I die near you.” Angeline immediately swung her sword handle against Lance’s head. “Do not say strange things during war.”In another mission, while they were chasing a fleeing sorcerer in the forest outside Easton, Lance saw something in Angeline for the first time, something very rarely visible. After the battle ended and all enemies had been subdued, Angeline stood still for several moments beneath the trees, as if forgetting there was someone else nearby. Her gaze was empty for a moment, far removed from the cold and arrogant face she usually showed. Only for a fraction of a second, but enough for Lance to realize something: behind all the strength and perfection everyone always saw, there was exhaustion she never truly revealed. When Angeline noticed Lance watching her, that expression disappeared immediately. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked. Lance answered quietly, far more serious than usual, “I just realized… you can actually look tired too.” Angeline turned her gaze elsewhere. “If you have time to observe irrelevant things, use it to improve your magic.” But from that moment onward, Lance became even more certain that he did not want to see Angeline only as a symbol of strength. In his heart, he began thinking something that even felt strange to himself: I really am nobody compared to her. I am not a noble, not someone with extraordinary power like her family. But at least… one day I want to become someone who can make her stop looking as alone as she did just now.That determination eventually turned into reckless action one afternoon in Easton’s training area. In front of Mash Burnedead, Dot Barrett, Finn Ames, and Crystal, Lance stood facing Angeline with a serious expression that even made Dot stop talking.“If I win,” Lance said directly without hesitation, “you have to be my girlfriend.”The atmosphere went completely silent for several seconds. Finn even dropped the book he was carrying. Dot slowly turned toward Mash. “What did he eat today?” Mash answered flatly, “Maybe too much determination.”Angeline looked at Lance without changing expression, then gave a faint smile. “There is no point. But fine. I accept one condition.”Lance raised an eyebrow. “What?”Angeline answered casually, “If you lose, you have to bark.”Dot immediately covered his face to stop himself from laughing. Lance stayed silent for a few seconds, then said, “Fine.”The duel began with Lance opening Graviole at full force, trying to suppress Angeline’s movement space from the start. The ground cracked, gravity pressure increased, but Angeline simply opened Aegis Dominion, causing the entire gravitational force to distort around her body. Lance advanced again, accelerating his attack, but Angeline’s Chrono Iris had already read all of his movement patterns several seconds ahead. In one light step, Angeline was already beside Lance, and Noctis Edge touched his shoulder, just enough to break his mana rhythm. Lance still tried to rise with a second gravity attack, but fragments of Venom Partition had already surrounded him first. Seconds later, the duel ended. Lance fell to his knees, uniform covered in dust and small injuries, while Angeline barely looked like she had even broken a sweat. She stood perfectly clean, then stepped slightly closer with an arrogant smile that was clearly intentional.“Go on,” she said softly. “Where is your promise? Bark.”Lance closed his eyes briefly, face red, then actually said, “Wan…”Dot burst into laughter so hard he nearly fell over. Finn covered his mouth trying not to laugh. Even Mash looked away so it would not seem obvious he was holding back a smile.From a distance, someone who had been quietly watching finally turned and walked away.That figure was Aziel.But that defeat did not stop Lance at all. The next day he challenged her again. Then again the following week. Until the number of their duels reached ninety times, and the result remained the same: ninety defeats for Lance. Strangely, the more often he lost, the worse Lance’s obsession became. A room that used to be filled with Anna’s photos slowly began containing photos of Angeline, fragments of her schedule notes, even a pillow printed with Angeline’s face that he had made himself, to the point that when Finn once entered his room, he immediately closed the door again while saying, “I saw nothing.”When one day Angeline accidentally saw it, she genuinely stepped back once.“Stupid siscon… you are far more terrifying now.”Lance only answered calmly, “I am serious.”Angeline instead shivered.“That is exactly the problem.”

Aziel’s appearance happened right after Lance’s 90th duel, which ended just as embarrassingly as all the previous ones. While Dot Barrett was still laughing mercilessly and Finn Ames tried to look busy so he would not further embarrass Lance Crown, a senior student stood at the end of the training corridor with an expression that clearly showed displeasure. His hair was neat, his uniform perfect, and his gaze was fixed directly on Lance as if he had already judged the entire scene as something absurd. He walked closer without unnecessary words, then stopped right in front of Lance, who was still covered in dust.“So you are the person who has been causing disturbances around Angeline lately?” he said flatly.Lance, still kneeling, lifted his face. “Who are you?”The student looked even more irritated, then answered, “Aziel Veylance. A second-year Adler student. And before you become too confident just because you can stand near her, understand one thing first. I have known her long before you even dared to say her name out loud.”Dot immediately whispered to Finn, “Wow, another strange one just appeared.”Aziel then stood straight, his tone growing sharper.“I have been her academic rival since the moment we entered Easton. At least from my perspective, even though she has never truly considered me a rival because I have never defeated her. I have carried out more missions with her, I understand her standards of thinking better, and most importantly...” He paused deliberately, watching Lance’s reaction. “I am her fiancé, directly approved by Lucius Wisteria.”The atmosphere went silent immediately. Finn froze. Dot turned toward Mash Burnedead. Mash remained expressionless while eating a cream puff.Lance slowly stood up. “What?”Aziel continued without hesitation.“I come from a high-class noble magic family. Equal in status. And a woman like Angeline needs a strong man, not a poor siscon whose life once revolved entirely around his little sister.”Lance stared at him for several seconds, then instead stepped half a pace closer.“Then why has she still not chosen you until now?”Dot immediately held his own head because he already knew this argument would be long.From that day onward, Easton seemed to gain new entertainment. Every time Lance managed to find Angeline first, Aziel would appear from nowhere. If Lance came carrying a mission proposal, Aziel would stand beside him and say, “This proposal is inefficient. I already prepared a better one.” If Aziel spoke first, Lance would immediately cut in, “She has not answered you yet.” Even in the library, the two of them could argue quietly over who stood closer to Angeline’s table.At one point, Angeline truly closed her book and said flatly, “Do both of you realize your voices are making me want to change tables?”Lance answered quickly, “I just want to make sure he does not bother you.”Aziel immediately turned. “The one bothering her is you.”Angeline pressed her fingers to her temple.“Impressive. Two people equally convinced they are useful, when both of you only add noise.”The peak of that small chaos happened when the three of them were assigned to handle Forbidden Magic Outbreaks, wild magic incidents in an outer district that normally could be finished in one short operation. The moment they arrived, Lance and Aziel were more occupied with blocking each other. When Lance tried to move first, Aziel pulled his shoulder back.“Do not stand too close.”Lance replied, “You are the one standing too close.”When one wild magical creature emerged from the ruins, both of them nearly attacked at the same time until Angeline raised her hand and said coldly,“If both of you are done playing as two idiots, move aside.”In one motion, Noctis Edge opened, then Umbra Legion rose from the shadows on the ground. In less than thirty seconds, every creature collapsed. Angeline did not even give them a chance to help. She turned around and walked away first. Lance and Aziel could only stand still for several seconds before blaming each other again.“If not for you, I could have helped.”“If not for you, so could I.”Days like that continued for nearly a year. When Lance advanced into his second year, Aziel and Angeline entered their third year, but Angeline’s life pattern remained unchanged: studying in the morning, missions in the afternoon, training in the evening, reading or potion experiments at night.What changed was the amount of disturbance in her life.Now almost every day there was Lance and Aziel, appearing alternately or together. Sometimes Lance brought food and claimed it was simply extra by coincidence. Aziel came carrying mission reports with reasons that sounded more logical. Sometimes both arrived at the same time and exchanged displeased looks.At one point, Angeline finally said,“If the magic world collapses one day, perhaps it will not be because of enemies. But because I spent too long resisting the urge to throw both of you off Easton Tower.”One day that had initially looked like an ordinary day at Easton Magic Academy, the magic world suddenly experienced a large-scale mana disturbance unlike anything that had ever happened before. The sky turned dark even in broad daylight, magical pressure in the air increased drastically, and several ancient artifacts that had remained sealed for hundreds of years suddenly cracked without any clear cause. High-level magicians immediately realized this was not an ordinary magical phenomenon. The disturbance came from something far older than the modern magic world. In the ancient records of the first magicians, there was one name rarely spoken because its very existence was considered an omen of the end of an era: Moros, an entity from Greek mythology who was the personification of inevitable doom. In ancient legend, Moros was not merely a god of death, but a force that pushed every being toward its own destruction, to the point that even the gods could not resist the fate he had determined. He was the child of Nyx, the primordial goddess of night who gave birth to many dark powers such as Death, Fate, and Doom itself.Moros’s awakening did not happen by coincidence. After the great war against Innocent Zero, the balance of the magic world had in truth already been shaken. The collision of light and darkness, especially the resonance of absolute magic such as Angeline’s Sovereign Umbra, unintentionally opened a gap in the ancient magical layer that had long restrained primordial entities. That gap was what finally awakened Moros from his long slumber. When he appeared, his form was not entirely like that of an ordinary living being. His body looked like a giant shadow fused with the darkness of the sky, as if the entire night itself had descended to earth. The mana pressure he emitted was so immense that most magicians could not even stand. Many Divine Visionaries tried attacking first, but their attacks vanished the moment they touched Moros’s body, as if destruction itself swallowed everything that approached it.A great battle began immediately. Mash Burnedead, Rayne, Orter Mádl, Ignatius, Aziel, Lance Crown, and many other magicians advanced together, trying to hold back the destruction spreading from Moros. Mash shattered the ground with his strike, Rayne unleashed sword magic, Orter opened his magical judgment, and Ignatius detonated mana atoms through radiation magic. But every attack only slowed Moros for a moment before all of them gradually began to exhaust themselves. Moros’s magical pressure was too overwhelming. Even Aziel, who normally could rival many powerful magicians, eventually collapsed with his body covered in wounds. Lance tried to rise again, using Graviole to restrain the gravity around Moros, but the force only rebounded like a wave that shattered the surrounding ground. One by one, the magicians fell until finally only one person remained standing at the front line.Angeline.Angeline stepped forward without saying much. Her wand transformed into a sword through Noctis Edge, then she immediately opened Chrono Iris to read five seconds into the future. Her movements became far faster than before. She slashed Moros’s mana pathways repeatedly, then summoned Umbra Legion, shadows of creatures she had killed in previous battles. Those shadows attacked from every direction, trying to restrain Moros long enough for Angeline to get close. When Moros retaliated with a wave of destruction that split the ground apart, Angeline opened Aegis Dominion, a transparent domain that shattered every attack trying to pierce it. Yet even with all that magic, Moros did not fall. The pressure of destruction he carried kept increasing, as if the fate of the world itself was being forced toward its end.At last, Angeline used the power she had long restrained. A black magic circle appeared beneath her feet when she summoned Sovereign Umbra. The sky grew darker, shadows around her gathering like a vortex of night. With that power, Angeline finally managed to suppress Moros. Slash after slash of magic destroyed parts of Moros’s shadow body until the entity finally collapsed to the ground like scattered mist. Everyone still conscious thought the battle had ended. But just as Angeline lowered her sword, the shadow gathered again. Moros rose once more with far greater power, taking a more tangible form than before. In mythology, Moros could never truly be destroyed because he was destruction itself.Moros’s counterattack came as fast as lightning. Angeline, having just used nearly all her mana, had no time to react. In the split second before the attack reached her body, a figure suddenly appeared in front of her.Lance.Through forced gravity teleportation, he appeared directly before Angeline and took the attack completely. His body was thrown far away before falling to the ground without movement. Angeline’s eyes widened. For the first time since childhood, her calm expression completely collapsed.“Lance…?”Her voice was almost inaudible.There was no answer.The feelings she had suppressed for so long finally exploded. Angeline screamed, and the darkness around her instantly transformed into a storm. She opened Sovereign Umbra: Nyx Cataclysm, summoning the power of Mother Night herself, until the shadow of Nyx appeared in the sky like a giant silhouette covering the stars. In ancient legend, even Zeus feared Nyx because her power came from an age before the gods of Olympus existed.Angeline was no longer fighting with her own consciousness.That darkness controlled her body entirely.At the same time, without realizing it, she also activated Panacea Arcanum, wrapping Lance’s body in a cocoon of light with purple butterflies circling around him, desperately trying to heal him.The battle between Nyx Cataclysm and Moros lasted for days. Magical storms tore apart the sky, rain fell endlessly, and the ground cracked in countless places. Aziel, barely able to stand, could only watch from afar in despair because he was unable to help the woman he loved. Moros grew more violent against the manifestation of Nyx’s power, while Angeline sank deeper and deeper into darkness.Until, in the middle of that mana storm, someone suddenly grasped her hand.Angeline turned.Lance stood there, still weak but alive.He looked at Angeline, whose eyes were filled with darkness, then said quietly,“That’s enough… you do not have to destroy the world just to save me. I have not even gone on a date with you yet. How am I supposed to date you if you destroy this world?”Angeline trembled.Lance tightened his grip on her hand.“I’m here. Look at me.”Those words felt like pulling Angeline back from the edge of darkness. The magical storm slowly changed. The darkness that had been raging began turning into light. At that moment, a new resonance appeared between their mana. A crown of light emerged above Lance’s head as the symbol of Emperor, while a crown of shadow appeared above Angeline’s head as the symbol of Empress.A new power was born.Imperium Umbra: Astra Coronis.That magic borrowed all of Angeline’s power for Lance, amplifying his magical energy without limit. Lance’s wounds healed completely, and for the first time he was able to stand equal to Angeline in strength. Together they attacked Moros with united light and darkness. Their final strike shattered Moros’s shadow core until the entity of destruction finally collapsed completely.The storm stopped.The sky became clear again.Angeline, with all her mana exhausted, finally lost strength and fell forward. Lance quickly caught her body before it touched the ground. For the first time since everyone had known her, Angeline Wisteria looked truly injured in battle. Lance held her in panic, calling her name over and over while Angeline’s body gave no response at all.“Hey… wake up… Angeline… don’t joke right now…”But Angeline did not move.And at that moment, Lance finally realized something far more terrifying than any war.For the first time in his life, he was truly afraid of losing someone again.

Several days after the battle against Moros ended, the magic world had indeed become quiet again, but one person still had not awakened. Angeline remained unconscious in the Wisteria family residence. The best healers summoned from various regions had already examined her body, yet the result was always the same. The mana pathways inside her body looked cracked from within, as if an enormous magical force had once been forced through a vessel never meant to contain it. A wound like that could not even be called an ordinary injury. It was closer to destruction of someone’s magical core. Lance Crown came to the Wisteria residence almost every day. He sat in the chair beside Angeline’s bed in silence, staring at the face of the girl who normally never appeared weak. That sight brought back old memories. He had once sat like this beside Anna Crown’s bed, waiting without knowing whether his little sister would recover or not. Now the same feeling returned, only this time far heavier because Lance knew one thing that made him even more afraid. Angeline had never seemed defeated by anything. Seeing her lying like this felt far more terrifying than any battle.Several times Mash Burnedead, Finn Ames, and Dot Barrett came to visit. Dot tried acting as usual by saying something like, “Relax, she’s a monster. No way she’d die just because of one war.” Finn carefully added, “She’s probably just exhausted… I mean, someone with power that huge must need more time to recover.” Mash only stood near the door and said flatly, “She’ll wake up.” But Lance did not truly hear their words. He only kept staring at Angeline with an expression growing emptier each day. Even Aziel, who was usually the most stubborn one, said nothing this time when he saw Lance’s condition.One night, when the room had become quiet again, Lance sat alone in the chair beside Angeline’s bed. Moonlight entered through the window, making Angeline’s hair, which usually shone, look pale. Lance lowered his head, gripping his own hands in frustration.“Hey… do you know,” he murmured quietly, “normally you’d already hit me if I sat this close.”There was no answer.Lance lowered his head further.“So wake up… I haven’t even won once against you yet.”At that moment, the room’s door opened slowly. Celestine entered with calm steps. She stood for several moments watching Lance before finally speaking.Celestine explained in a calm but heavy voice that Angeline’s body was not merely out of mana. The deepest magical pathways in her body had cracked after she forced Imperium Umbra to activate completely during the battle. Even absolute healing magic such as Panacea Arcanum could not repair damage like that because the wound existed within the mana core of the Wisteria heir herself. Then Celestine mentioned one possibility that for hundreds of years had only been treated as legend. She spoke of Ambrosia, the divine essence in Greek mythology known as the food of the gods, capable of granting eternal life and restoring a body even from destruction considered impossible to repair. Ambrosia was believed to exist only in the Garden of the Hesperides, the sacred garden at the western edge of the world guarded by the Hesperides nymphs and the dragon Ladon, where the golden fruit said to grant immortality grew.Celestine explained that the garden existed beyond the borders of the modern magic world, a territory that even ancient maps described only as “the edge of the world.” No magician had ever gone there and returned safely. But Celestine also said something that finally made Lance raise his head. Since the resonance of Imperium Umbra had appeared during the battle against Moros, Lance and Angeline’s mana had become directly linked. That meant Lance’s chance of entering a territory that rejected most magicians might be greater than anyone who had tried before. After hearing everything, Lance did not hesitate even for a moment. He stood from his chair and said with a voice far firmer than any he had used over the previous days.“If that’s the only way… I’ll go.”Lance left the Wisteria residence that very night intending to depart alone, but when he had just stepped beyond the gate, someone was already waiting.Aziel.He leaned against the stone fence with his usual irritated expression.“You really think you can go alone?” he said.Lance stopped.Aziel continued, “I heard everything Celestine said. Don’t misunderstand. I’m not coming because of you. I’m coming because the person being saved is Angeline.”Lance looked at him for a moment before replying shortly, “Then don’t get in my way.”Aziel immediately straightened.“Who said I’m getting in your way? I’m making sure you don’t die stupidly halfway there.”Not long after, other footsteps approached. Mash arrived with his usual calm face. Behind him were Finn, looking nervous, Dot carrying a bag full of supplies as if preparing for another war, and several other Easton magicians. Even Rayne Ames and several Divine Visionaries appeared shortly afterward. Ignatius stood slightly apart with his usual cold expression, but he still came. Rayne looked at Lance briefly and said,“Angeline saved the magic world. It makes no sense for us to let you go alone.”Dot crossed his arms and said loudly,“If you die halfway there, who’s going to bark again every time you duel her?”Even Mash added in his flat tone,“I’m curious what kind of apple can save someone.”Before they truly departed, Lance briefly returned home to meet one more person.Anna.The girl stood at the doorway with a worried face when Lance explained that he had to leave for a while. Anna held Lance’s arm tightly and said softly,“Brother… you’ll bring onee-chan back, right?”Lance lowered his head and gently patted Anna’s hair.“Of course. This time… I won’t be late again.”With that promise, the journey toward a place absent from every map of the magic world finally began.A journey toward the Garden of the Hesperides, the garden of the gods at the edge of the world, where the only hope of saving Angeline Wisteria existed.The journey toward the Garden of the Hesperides turned out to be far more dangerous than anyone had imagined. Since ancient times, the garden had been described as lying at the western edge of the world, in a region ancient magicians called “the boundary between the human world and the realm of the gods.” In Greek mythology, that garden was where the golden apples granting immortality grew, a gift from Gaia to Hera, guarded by the Hesperides nymphs and a dragon named Ladon, a giant creature that never slept and possessed many heads.Lance’s group eventually spent days traveling through magical territories almost never touched by humans. They crossed forests filled with primordial magical creatures, ruins of ancient temples whose magic still remained active, and even regions where wild mana moved like storms. On the third day of the journey, a gigantic creature rose from the ground and attacked them. Ignatius destroyed part of its body with radiation magic explosions, while Rayne Ames cut through the rest with his magic sword. Dot Barrett was nearly swallowed by the creature before Mash Burnedead destroyed it with a simple punch. Aziel, standing beside Lance Crown, only let out an irritated sigh.“If we die here, Angeline will probably wake up just to scold us.”Lance replied without turning his head,“If she really wakes up just to scold us… then that means everything worked.”After nearly a week of travel, they finally arrived at the place legends called the garden of the gods. The scenery there was completely different from the ordinary world. The ground emitted a soft glow like endless twilight. Luminous flowers grew along a black marble path leading toward a giant tree in the center of the garden. Hanging from its branches were golden fruits shining like small suns.Those were the Golden Apples of the Hesperides, fruits believed to grant eternal life and restore a body even from destruction considered impossible.But before they could approach, the ground around the tree suddenly shifted.Something enormous opened its eyes from behind the branches.A gigantic dragon whose body coiled around the tree trunk slowly emerged, its scales reflecting the golden light of the fruits above.That was Ladon, the guardian of the garden who according to legend possessed many heads and never slept.The battle broke out immediately. Rayne and the Divine Visionaries tried restraining Ladon’s massive body, while Ignatius exploded the dragon’s scales with atomic magic. Dot and Finn Ames tried distracting the dragon’s heads attacking from different directions. Mash leaped high and struck one of the dragon’s heads until the ground cracked.But Ladon still did not fall.Its body was too enormous, too powerful.Even Aziel, usually so confident, began to visibly struggle against the creature’s attacks.At last Lance saw a small opening.He used Graviole to pull one of Ladon’s heads low enough, and Mash struck exactly at that point.The dragon finally collapsed with a tremendous roar.But victory did not come without a price. Nearly everyone was badly injured. Rayne stood with blood covering his shoulder, Dot lay exhausted on the ground, Finn could barely stand, even Aziel, normally composed, was breathing heavily. Lance himself could barely move one arm.Yet he still walked toward the tree.With trembling hands, he took one golden fruit from its branch.The fruit emitted warm light like a small sun in his hand.“This is it…” he murmured quietly.The journey back felt even heavier. They barely had any strength left. But eventually they returned to the Wisteria residence with bodies covered in wounds. Lance immediately handed the golden fruit to Celestine. Without wasting time, Celestine processed the Ambrosia essence from the fruit and gave it to Angeline.Everyone waited in silence.Several minutes passed.Then an hour.Angeline still did not move.Lance, who had been standing beside the bed the entire time, finally lost patience. He struck the wall hard enough that his hand bled.“Why… after coming this far… why is she still not waking up…?”His voice broke.Aziel stood in the corner of the room with a dark expression, staring at the floor without saying anything. Even Dot and Finn did not know what to say.But the next morning, a servant ran frantically through the corridors of the Wisteria residence.“She’s awake! Lady Angeline is awake!”The moment Lance heard that, he ran like someone out of his mind through the long corridors of the Wisteria house. He almost crashed into the door when he entered Angeline’s room.And there, for the first time in so long, Angeline’s eyes were truly open.Their gazes met.“ANGELINE...!”Lance immediately jumped toward her, intending to hug her.But in a split second, Angeline’s face turned red.Her reflexes moved faster than her own thoughts.BOOM.One straight punch landed directly on Lance’s face and sent him flying backward into the wall.The room went silent for several seconds.Angeline, still sitting on the bed, stared at him with an irritated face mixed with embarrassment.“What are you doing suddenly coming that close, stupid siscon!” she said, her voice hoarse from just waking up.Lance, still pressed against the wall, only stared at her with a blank expression for several seconds before finally laughing softly.“Ah… yeah… this is it…”He murmured quietly.“The usual Angeline.”

Several days after Angeline woke from her long coma, her body finally recovered completely. The mana pathways that had previously cracked slowly became stable again thanks to Ambrosia, the divine essence known in Greek mythology as a substance capable of restoring the body even from damage that ordinary magic could not heal. In ancient legend, Ambrosia and the golden fruit from the Garden of the Hesperides were believed to grant eternal life to the gods and restore the body from destruction considered impossible to repair. Even though Angeline’s body recovered fully, one thing about her never changed. Her words remained sharp, her attitude remained cold, and her perfectionist standards still knew no compromise. However, there was one small change that everyone at Easton quietly noticed. She no longer rejected Lance’s presence. She still hit him if he stood too close, still called him “stupid siscon,” but she no longer pushed him away from her the way she used to. Sometimes she only let out a long sigh when Lance stood too near without actually telling him to leave.Lucius noticed that small change in silence. One night he stood on the balcony of the Wisteria residence with Celestine, looking at the garden lit by moonlight. For a long time he said nothing. Then finally he spoke in a much quieter voice than usual. “All this time I always believed perfection was the only way to prevent destruction,” he said. Celestine turned slightly toward him. Lucius continued, “I raised Angeline with that belief. I turned her into a weapon. I taught her that weakness was something to be destroyed.” He paused briefly before giving a small laugh, but the laugh sounded bitter. “Even though I myself once did something far more imperfect than that.” Celestine looked at him without speaking. Lucius closed his eyes for a moment. “I fell in love with you back then. And that was the most imperfect decision I ever made.” Celestine answered softly, “And yet it was also the only decision that truly made you human.” Lucius opened his eyes again and looked toward the garden. “Yes. And perhaps all this time I was wrong. Perhaps perfection is not what saves the world. Perhaps… sincere love is what creates perfection.”Several days later Lucius summoned Lance and Aziel into the Wisteria family meeting room. The two of them stood facing each other in front of the large table with very different expressions. Lance looked nervous but determined, while Aziel stood with his usual confident posture. Lucius spoke directly without circling around the point. “The Veylance family has maintained a good relationship with the Wisteria family for decades. Because of that, I cannot ignore the old agreement that was once made. However, after everything that has happened… I also cannot ignore the reality in front of me.” He paused briefly before saying, “I have decided to change Angeline’s fiancé status.” Lance held his breath. Aziel immediately narrowed his eyes. “The person who will replace that position is—”“—I disagree.”Aziel cut Lucius off before he could finish. The room instantly fell silent. Aziel stepped forward slightly with a serious expression rarely seen from him. “If you insist on making such a major decision, I will not accept it so easily. Give us an official match. Whoever wins will become Angeline’s fiancé.” Lucius looked at him for a long time before finally exhaling. He knew the Veylance family was not an ordinary family. They were long-time allies of Wisteria. Rejecting that request unilaterally would only create new problems. “Very well,” Lucius finally answered. “But this time I will also consider my daughter’s feelings.”The day of the match finally arrived at Easton’s magic arena. The place was full of students, magicians, and even several Divine Visionaries who came to watch. Mash, Finn, Dot, Crystal, and the others stood among the spectators with different expressions. Dot looked very excited, Finn nervous, while Crystal appeared overly serious as if this were a match she had long waited for. In the center of the arena, Lance and Aziel stood facing each other. Angeline stood at the side of the stands with folded arms and her usual cold expression, but her eyes never truly left the arena.Aziel spoke first. “I have known Angeline long before you even dared stand near her,” he said loudly. “My magic is more synchronized with hers. My family is noble. I loved her first.” He looked sharply at Lance. “So why? Why are you the one chosen? A disgusting siscon from a lower family like you?” Lance did not answer immediately. He only raised his wand. Aziel gave a faint smile. “Fine. If you truly deserve it… prove it.”The battle began with a huge explosion of mana. Aziel attacked first, shaping waves of energy that swept through the arena like a storm. Lance jumped aside and opened Graviole, pulling gravity around Aziel to limit his movement. The ground cracked under the pressure of their magic. Aziel retaliated with faster magic, creating several magic circles at once that fired mana projectiles from multiple directions. Lance nearly got hit twice before finally managing to get closer. The fight became fierce. Both of them were injured, their clothes covered in dust and small traces of blood, but neither stepped back. At last Lance used a tiny opening when Aziel focused too much on long-range attacks. He intensified gravity directly beneath Aziel’s feet, making his balance falter for a fraction of a second. Enough for Lance’s final strike to hit the target. Aziel fell sitting on the ground.The arena became silent. Aziel breathed heavily, yet unexpectedly smiled. Lance, equally exhausted, looked at him in confusion. “Why do you look satisfied?” he said. “You lost. Angeline is mine now.” Aziel laughed softly. “No. I only wanted to confirm something.” He lifted his face slightly. “I thought you were only strong because you became Emperor during that battle. I thought your strength only came from Angeline’s magic boost. I wanted to confirm whether you were truly worthy of standing beside her.” He closed his eyes briefly before speaking more quietly. “And it turns out you are worthy.” Lance remained silent. Aziel continued, “I also realized one thing… Angeline looks more comfortable near you than she ever did near me. I cannot force her to stay with someone who cannot make her happy. I will be happy seeing the woman I love happy even if it is not with me.” Lance exhaled and walked past Aziel, but stopped briefly. “We both love her,” he said. “I’m just luckier. But that does not mean you have to stay away from her.” He continued walking. “I acknowledge you.”The crowd finally erupted into cheers. Dot shouted the loudest, Finn looked almost ready to cry in relief, and Crystal looked deeply satisfied because the ship she supported had finally become reality. From that day onward Lance officially became Angeline’s fiancé.And as anyone could have predicted, their life afterward did not become calmer at all. Lance instead became far bolder. He often followed Angeline like an overly loyal puppy. If Angeline went to the library, Lance sat in the chair beside her. If Angeline walked into the garden, Lance followed several steps behind. Sometimes he even complained like a child when he had not seen Angeline for several hours. “My mana energy drops if I’m too far from you,” he said one day. Angeline immediately punched his head. “Then fix your own body instead of depending on someone else.” Aziel, who happened to see that, only laughed. “I still cannot believe someone like you managed to win.” Days like that kept repeating, and somehow Angeline always remained the center of their small chaos.Time continued to pass. Year after year went by. Slowly Angeline stopped denying her own feelings. She might still hit Lance when he stood too close, still call him stupid, but she no longer rejected him when he held her hand. When they finally became fully grown adults, the relationship was no longer merely a joke or an old habit. At twenty-six for Lance and twenty-seven for Angeline, they finally got married. The ceremony was attended by many magicians from various regions of the magic world.One year later they were blessed with a son. The child was given the name Aetherion. And for the first time in the long and war-filled history of the Wisteria family, a new heir was born not as a weapon of the magic world… but as a child born from love.