After Brandy left, Lucas remained alone in the cabin, his insides twisting in rage.

He had resisted the overpowering urge to snap the man’s neck with sheer strength, pouring all his will into suppressing the magic that threatened to explode out of him.

That worthless wretch… he dared to put his filthy hands on me?

The robed man examined Lucas up and down, then pulled him along with a satisfied grin. His pace was brisk, forcing Lucas to half-run on his short legs just to keep up.

This inconsiderate bastard!

By the time Lucas was gasping for breath, they stopped in the middle of the forest.

“Heh heh… boy… now you’ll be going to a very special place…”

Lucas glared, straining the last of his patience to endure.

I’d love to send you to that “special place” myself.

The man raised his hand, shooting a beam of light into the sky.

Before long, others gathered. One by one, robed figures in the same crimson garb emerged from the shadows.

“A fine sacrifice we have here.”

“Indeed.”

“I hope this one succeeds… after so many failed attempts.”

Hearing the word sacrifice, Lucas’s brow furrowed.

How dare you call me—a dragon—your offering?!

The desire to slaughter them all boiled in his chest, but he forced it down. He couldn’t hand Aman—who was surely watching invisibly—a spectacle for free.

When the man finally released his hand, the robed figures encircled Lucas.

One, two, three… eight in total.

Not a daunting number. In fact, Lucas thought it was too few for something as vile as soul-sacrifice.

There must be more elsewhere…

Masking his fury with a wide-eyed, “pure” expression, he studied them. He couldn’t sense mana levels directly, but with five thousand years of experience, he knew how to spot hierarchy.

No leader here. Not even a lieutenant. Just pawns.

As he expected, none bore the air of authority. These were bottom-rung cultists.

“Shall we begin?”

“If we succeed this time, each of us will be granted rank.”

“That would be splendid… heh heh heh…”

They arranged themselves in a circle, chanting in unison as a magic circle formed beneath Lucas’s feet.

Lucas knew the spell.

Black magic. Draining the soul and binding it. Disgusting… humans never change.

The circle’s glow grew as their incantation deepened. By now, Aman should have revealed himself, crushing them all. But there was no sign of him.

He can see their lips. He knows this spell. So where the hell is he?!

The circle was nearly seventy percent complete. Lucas’s unease sharpened.

Why hasn’t that damned lizard shown up yet?!

Eighty percent.

Lucas’s pupils trembled.

If this completes, my soul will be ripped away. I’ll be nothing but a husk!

Ninety percent.

Shit! That means no rebirth, no second chance—nothing!

Ninety-five percent.

That was his limit. Lucas thrust his hand upward, mana surging to a peak.

I refuse to die like this!

—BOOM!

Mana exploded from his fingertips with a thunderous roar. The cultists screamed as they were hurled back, gasping for air.

—Clap, clap, clap.

The sound of applause rang from behind. Standing in the half-finished circle, Lucas’s face twisted with fury.

“As expected of our brilliant Lucas! I knew you could handle this all on your own!”

“You insane bastard!!!”

—BOOM!

Lucas finally snapped, hurling a blast of raw magic at Aman. But with a casual flick of his hand, Aman scattered it like dust. A pleased smile spread across his face, as if to say I knew it.

“So much power! I nearly got swept away myself.”

He even placed a hand over his chest and feigned relief.

Lucas spat curses like wildfire.

“You fucking lizard bastard! I nearly had my soul sucked out of me, left as nothing but a corpse, and you’re standing there cracking jokes?!”

Aman only laughed, unshaken.

“Oh dear! Such foul words are unbecoming!”

He even covered his mouth with his hand in exaggerated shock, making Lucas’s skin crawl.

Then, with a glance around at the wreckage, Aman shook his head.

“So much for the boy who barely managed to summon a spark of light during the entrance exam. Who would’ve thought you had this kind of ability?”

It was deliberate. A setup, designed to drag Lucas’s power into the open.

“…You want to die? You miserable piece of shit, I should boil you alive and scatter your ashes.”

Lucas’s small face twisted with rage, venom dripping from every word.

Aman, pretending to be horrified, hugged himself dramatically and shuddered.

“How could you say such cruel things?!”

Lucas’s eyes glowed fiercely, and for the first time Aman felt a strange pressure from the small human.

Lucas let out a sharp, deflating laugh at Aman’s slight flinch, then released a long sigh.

“Ha… let’s stop. It’s not fun anymore.”

No matter that he was trapped in a small human body, he had lived for countless years. He couldn’t undo what had already happened, nor take back the curses he had spat. So once again, he decided there was no point in dancing to the tune of that insufferable lizard.

“More importantly, would you care to explain what exactly happened here?”

Aman only shrugged. Lucas waved a hand dismissively and turned away.

There was nothing to gain from engaging further with this lunatic.

“Let’s save the story for later.”

With those words, Lucas jerked his chin toward the groaning men scattered across the ground.

“Clean up after yourself.”

That damned lizard bastard… he knew everything.

Lucas’s suspicions had been correct. The slippery Aman had already known.

Perhaps not who he truly was, but he had definitely realized Lucas was no ordinary human. What Aman needed was a pretext to turn suspicion into certainty. And this situation had given him that chance—except it had been a gamble with Lucas’s very life.

Lucas’s fury boiled. He wanted nothing more than to rip Aman apart. But in this frail human body, he had no chance of winning against a dragon.

The rage burned so hot he even considered ending his life right then, ascending to godhood immediately. His hands had already begun gathering mana.

But then, in the stillness, he heard it—his mother Blaine’s heart-wrenching sobs, as clear as if she were right beside him.

That memory bound him in place.

“Damn it!”

Snarling, he blasted the mana he’d gathered into the ground.

“Fine. Then I’ll show you properly.”

Lucas clenched his small fist tight.

If I must live this wretched life, then I’ll live it on my own terms.

Back at the scene, Aman’s lips twitched.

The cultists who had surrounded Lucas lay sprawled far away, coughing blood.

“Urgh… gah…”

Some had fainted from the shock. Aman ignored the unconscious ones and approached the least-injured man.

“Well then, care to explain? What exactly were you planning to do to one of our academy students…?”

He was in a foul mood.

Not only had a brat barely the size of a fist cursed him to his face, but Aman had let it pass. Even worse, that same brat had pointed his chin at him as though giving orders—and Aman had obeyed.

The indignity gnawed at him.

The aura and dissonance radiating from Lucas’s tiny body had been enough for even a dragon like Aman to feel.

It’s not because he told me to. No… this is just necessary for my game. That’s all.

But no matter how he tried to rationalize, his pride was already in pieces.

And so the cultists bore the brunt of it.

“Arrogant scum… not only daring to lay hands on an academy student, but trying to mark what’s mine?”

He raised his hand high.

“How dare you!”

—Smack!!!

The man flinched, expecting a storm of magic, only to see stars as Aman’s fist crashed into his face.

“How dare you lay claim—”

—Smack! Smack!

“Aaaagh! Ugh!”

“—to my precious—”

—Smack! Smack! Smack!

“Argh! Gaaah! Ghhk!”

“—plaything!”

The beating was simple and brutal. Fist after fist, with no finesse, no magic—just raw violence.

Just kill me with magic already…

The thought circled the man’s mind, but he couldn’t even voice it through the agony.

“Is this true?”

“Yes. Those who tried to harm Lucas have all been captured and locked in the underground cells.”

“…Good heavens. A disaster nearly occurred.”

When Aman reported the incident in the headmaster’s office, Alberto’s face darkened.

“Thank you, Professor Aman. You’ve done us a great service.”

“Not at all. Protecting the students is my duty.”

Aman smiled slyly. Alberto rose to his feet.

“Then I should see for myself.”

“Of course.”

When Aman moved to follow, Alberto raised a hand to stop him.

“I’ll go alone. You may attend to other duties, Professor.”

“Ah, if that’s your wish… very well.”

Aman bowed briefly and stepped back. Alberto quickly made his way toward the underground prison.

Watching the headmaster’s retreating figure, Aman’s eyes sharpened.

I erased their memories. They won’t recall Lucas using magic…

Alberto turned a corner, his pace oddly brisk.

“…Why’s that human scurrying along like a dog needing to piss?”

Aman forced down the small spark of suspicion in his chest and walked away.

(End of Chapter)