The lobby of Linea Hall was a battlefield.

The once-grand chandelier lay shattered, its pieces rolling across the marble floor.

Shards of glass glittered in the night air, catching on shoes and clothes.

A sour, acrid stench of ash and mana stung the nose.

“Ugh… sob…”

“What do we do?!”

Between broken tables and torn sofas, the sounds of weeping and groaning rose sporadically.

“E-Everyone, stay calm…! Don’t panic!”

The voice of Assistant Professor Elmsworth, on patrol tonight, echoed hollowly.

His terrified shout did nothing to quell the fear—instead, it only amplified it.

“Shouldn’t we run?”

“Of all times—the head maid and senior maids are all gone…”

The younger, less experienced maids stamped their feet in panic, while students with little real-world experience huddled in corners, crying.

Third- and fourth-years were off-campus for practical exams.

Department heads, professors, and skilled maids like Odette had gone with them for supervision and support.

With the academy’s elite all absent, the timing couldn’t have been worse—and the damage was catastrophic.

At the bottom of the stairs leading underground, in the center of the devastation, stood the culprit: a mass of blue mana.

An ancient magical golem.

A relic of a bygone era, recorded only in history books, now manifested in incomplete form.

The girl who had restored it—a magical engineering prodigy—lacked the skill to perfect it.

But even in this state, it was more than enough to unleash disaster.

The princess’s royal guards, collapsed helplessly at the foot of the stairs, were proof enough.

Not only were their swords and armor corroding, but their very flesh and bone were melting away.

“Guh… cough…!”

The knights could only groan in agony.

The fact that blades and spears were useless only deepened their helplessness.

If it had been a typical golem made of mineral, they might have chipped away at it.

But cutting flowing mana? Even the most seasoned knight couldn’t manage that.

As fear and dread weighed on everyone’s hearts, their gazes instinctively turned to one person.

The Third Princess of the Empire, Celestina Belhart.

In a crisis, it was only natural to look to a leader.

The princess’s fingertips trembled.

The forced smile she’d worn was long gone.

She had no extraordinary talent, nor the seasoned experience of long years at the academy.

Strip away her royal status, and she was little more than a fresh-faced freshman still adjusting to academy life.

Yet because she was royalty, she had to rise to everyone’s hopes.

Celestina steadied her voice and summoned her courage.

“What’s the situation? How is the golem moving?”

“It’s paused for now.”

Stepping forward cautiously to answer was Edwin Belka, the top first-year in the magic department.

His usually arrogant face was twisted in distress.

“The captain of the guard struck at the golem’s core, and that seems to have temporarily disrupted its mana flow.”

Edwin rubbed his eyes as he spoke.

Staring at pure condensed mana for too long made them sting.

“But it won’t last. Once the flow stabilizes, it’ll start moving again—and the damage will be uncontrollable.”

“How long until it resumes?”

“From what I’ve observed, less than ten minutes.”

Celestina’s eyes began to waver.

Ten minutes.

Far too little time to decide on a course of action.

“Can we expect outside support?”

“Mana-based communication seems to be cut off, Your Highness.”

This time, it was Kaizel, the second-year magic department top, who answered.

“It appears to be the golem’s influence. External support… will be difficult.”

Of course, people still inside the academy could arrive quickly—but it wouldn’t mean much.

At best, students or staff from other dorms. They wouldn’t add meaningful strength. Coming would only increase the number of victims.

The residents of Linea Hall—the honors dorm—were the academy’s strongest force.

Celestina bit her lip anxiously.

Waiting idly was pointless.

Soon, she drew a deep breath, resolve hardening.

“…Then we have no choice but to stop it with our own strength.”

The sobbing and groaning filling the lobby fell silent.

“We cannot let that golem destroy Linea Hall—or the academy. We must stop it here.”

“…Pfft.”

A scoff rang out, unnaturally loud.

“How exactly do you propose we do that, Your Highness?”

Miriel Adrian.

The only one here who could speak to the princess like this.

Perhaps the one with even greater influence than the princess.

She stepped forward with a cold smirk.

“Even Your Highness’s loyal guards couldn’t stop that monster. What exactly do you think a bunch of students can do?”

“Senior Miriel…!”

“Or do you have some other brilliant plan?”

Celestina clenched her teeth.

It was hard to argue. She hadn’t come up with any real alternative.

But still—

“Are we just going to run? Running won’t solve anything. If that thing gets outside, the damage will be even worse.”

The ancient magical golem was at its weakest now.

Due to its nature of absorbing ambient mana to grow, the longer it went, the more it would consume.

The princess’s argument—that they had to act now, before it was too late—wasn’t wrong.

But it wasn’t exactly right either.

“At the very least, we need to hold out until help arrives…”

“And who’s going to do the holding?”

Miriel’s voice grew louder.

The veneer of courtesy was gone.

“You’re asking students to throw their lives away.”

Her finger pointed to the fallen royal guards.

How many lives would be lost just to buy a few minutes—or hours? The number was unimaginable.

“Broken buildings can be rebuilt. But dead people can’t be brought back.”

Some students, faces pale with fear, began nodding.

Even royal authority was powerless before the terror of death.

“You think running guarantees survival? Have you considered how many more will suffer if that golem rampages outside?”

“If Your Highness commands sacrifice in the name of the empire, I’ll gladly obey. But you must be prepared to bear the weight of every life in this room.”

The air in Linea Hall froze solid.

As the two stood in tense opposition, the students caught in the middle could only watch, afraid to take a side.

In the suffocating, explosive atmosphere—

A massive fireball suddenly shot through the hole in the floor and slammed into the golem’s body.

—*KABOOM!!*

With a deafening explosion, a girl leaped across the lobby and down the stairs.

All eyes turned to her.

Ash-gray hair fluttered in the wind as another fireball formed above her head.

Another explosion rocked the space.

“L-Lunaris… huff, huff…! Wait for meee!!”

Before the ringing in their ears could fade, a brown-haired girl came sprinting from afar.

“Oh, everyone up there! Lunaris says to stay put and don’t come down. You’ll just get in the way if you try to help!”

After relaying the ash-gray witch’s message, the girl followed her down.

Panting heavily, she carefully descended the shattered stairs, looking precarious.

“Wait… what did she just say?”

“Lunaris, right?”

“Lunaris… the overall first-year top?”

“The upper-tier mage! The one who went toe-to-toe with the magic department head!”

As murmurs spread, Lunaris stood before the golem at the bottom of the stairs and yawned.

“You’re late, Claire.”

Her lazy voice sounded like she was on a picnic.

*

The underground of Linea Hall was utterly demolished.

Stone decorations were reduced to roadside pebbles, wooden walls splintered beyond use as firewood.

“*Sigh*…”

A sigh slipped out first.

Somehow, things had gone wrong.

The enemy before me was all too familiar.

A massive form built from layers of blue mana swirling around a transparent core.

Yes. Exactly like the ancient magical golem described in the original story.

The cause wasn’t hard to deduce. Estelle-senpai must’ve made it.

My first thought: How the hell did this happen?

This thing rampaging—and Estelle causing an accident—was supposed to happen at least a year from now.

There hadn’t even been time to prepare.

If I’d known, I would’ve confiscated the blueprint or whatever from Estelle ages ago.

And the timing was the worst possible.

Of all moments—the core forces were all off-campus for external exams.

…Wait.

Maybe… this could actually work out?

In the original story, this incident gets Estelle expelled from Elterion Academy. And buried in debt, to boot.

But if I can tie this up and clean it up now…

Maybe the punishment could be significantly reduced?

“Yeah, Dora-Estelle-senpai still has so many magical artifacts to make for me.”

Just finishing the Apple Phone alone desperately needs her help.

“I can’t let her get expelled like this.”

No way I’m letting her exit the story on her own, leaving me behind.

*

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