Reincarnated as the Weakest Shadow Queen in the Academy-Chapter 31: Goodbye, My Sister

Time itself halted upon the firm, edged command.

The Queen’s flaming ray, aimed at the shoreline, stopped a few feet short, like a missile frozen in mid-air.

Ciel’s bloody vision cleared, her eyes shaking even as all strength was supposed to leave her.

She was forced to remember: a unique kind of relief, back when a firm grasp forced her out of the black sea, leaving the comforting stillness of its depth.

The one that made her think: she was glad to have held onto her memories for this long.

"...he...he..."

Her chuckle didn’t reach Miss Dragon, who flashed into the scene without a sound.

The firm back facing against her kneeling self was silent, shielding Ciel against the Queen’s flaming lance.

With <Dragon Language>, reality already bent before her will.

The river’s waves stilled with harmony, the tree’s leaves nodded with respect, and the earth’s sands smoothed with awe.

Ciel watched as Summer tilted her head, revealing the flame lance right above the broad shoulder.

The Dragon’s strong arm reached outward and pressed against it, causing a violent reaction.

Flames cackled around the lance, then lashed out with a hint of life, threatening to scorch Summer’s hand into ashes.

It only elicited an annoyed grumble from Summer. Despite her ears clogged with blood, Ciel could hear that the Principal was not in a good mood.

Summer commanded again.

"<Compress>."

The aura of flame trembled, then bloomed into an explosion.

The impact kicked up dust as time moved again. Waves crashed, leaves rustled, and sands stirred beneath Ciel’s knees.

Ciel narrowed her eyes.

Once again, she could only ashes and smoke clawing past, grazing against her soft skin.

And not a heartbeat later, they ground to a halt.

Then as if afraid, they retreated backward, dissolving into the palm of the Dragon.

Within that palm lay the same flame lance, now pressed together into a tiny, quivering orb made of pure, orange light.

Its determination to kill the first and last betrayer of the shadebeast now became so, so small before the Dragon’s might.

Summer’s arm drew back, her knee bending as she aimed the orb.

Her target?

"<Pillage>."

The green eyes glaring at the moon confirmed it all.

Upon her words, the orb flickered as it changed its master.

A pure green consumed its orange glow. An eerie black ring accompanied the change of ownership, wrapping around the orb’s body like vines.

Ciel observed, her breaths choking on one another.

She realised something.

And it strangely put her at ease.

"<Expand>."

The air screamed with a raging breeze as the orb sprang to life, taking form as a green, howling lance.

Summer’s golden hair flailed against the sheer power. And with a groan, she hurled it against the moon.

The newly launched lance carried a ferocious, controlled flame as it travelled.

Clouds parted away in its path, then it reached out of Ciel’s view.

She waited, eying the shaded edge of the moon, till the shadow squirmed and the lance burst into a green spark, vanishing to its origin.

If she squeezed her eyes, Ciel could barely make out a gap on the moon’s surface.

But before she could-

Splurt. Her heart coiled as she spat out more blood.

Her visions warped and changed for another again, shades creeping over every corner till her black eyes dissolved into the darkness.

"Betrayer... betrayer..."

And a murmur, its tenderness worn thin for a dripping malice, slipped into her ear.

She touched her right arm, waist and chest. They felt empty, as if they shouldn’t have been there to begin with.

Then she realised the Queen of Hunt before her must be the same, their shared senses allowing her to make an accurate guess.

Ciel chuckled, then laughed harder as pain bled into her senses.

She found irony in dying with her monstrous sister.

Then again, her entire life was built on irony.

Her lips mustered out a whisper.

"Goodbye, my sister."

Each tone trembled against her dry throat, yet it was only a cathartic release for Ciel.

Yet as her strength gave out to her ’missing’ half- 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

A warmth brushed against her cheek, where the firefly used to tickle lovingly.

Darkness scattered away in the vision, returning Ciel to the nightly forest, where a spell pulsed through her cheek.

A gasp escaped Ciel. Her blurry mind cleared, her lungs heaved with a new vitality, and her sense of reality returned as pain assaulted her inside, the numbness fading away into raw sensation.

Ciel cast a glance at her right half. Still intact, with the blouse’s sleeve wrapping tightly against her skin.

And unaccustomed to this new state, Ciel’s throat swelled, then she coughed until her throat burned with shock.

She could tell what happened in an instant. Like when the Black Sea ’healed’ her, something pulled her back from near-death.

"...who..."

Only disbelief came out of Ciel.

Yet as her neck nodded to squeeze out coughs, the warmth flared comfortingly on her cheek.

Her panic died down. And she finally registered the firm palm against her cheek.

Ciel paused.

Her lips then pursed as she glanced up, meeting a green, shivering gaze.

A silence only perpetuated between them. Summer, kneeling before Ciel, eventually let out a low, seething sigh.

The palm on her cheek moved. It started with the thumb caressing upward till it reached Ciel’s eye, before wiping away the tear that escaped.

Awkwardness lingered. Till eventually-

"You’re disqualified."

Summer concluded it all with a simple last command.

Ciel merely froze, her knees shifting against the sanded shoreline, shuffling closer to the Dragon.

Summer hesitated, but her hand pulled away.

Then her arms opened to receive Ciel’s small figure, embracing the Queen of Shadebeast into a safe embrace.

Wet trails of liquid flowed from Ciel’s eyes.

She ignored them and leaned into Miss Dragon more.

The Former Shadebeast failed to give a name to her feeling now.

Summer’s chin pressed onto her head. The hand that cupped the cheek now patted Ciel’s back, tending to her in soft, careful strokes.

[ Quest: Entrance Exam to the Shadowhunter Academy: Completed! ]

And it all ended with a screen flickering alive, from one who had accompanied Ciel’s journey when she resolved to betray her kind.

Of course, there was always another.

As the forest beside them rustled with a quiet hum, the shades loomed closer despite the moonlight’s reach in the river.

Dawn may not arise yet.

But companies always found Ciel.

[ WARNING: ??? was monitoring more closely. ]

[ ??? was trying to bestow its mercy. ]

[ Queen’s Hymn: 11% -> 23% ]