Chapter Eight: Let Me Teach You Once More

“Aren’t you planning to use this?” Louis asked, a hint of confusion in his voice.

Helen stared at the mirror on the stage, shaking her head in despair. “It makes no difference who uses it now… Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass myself too much.”

Others might not recognize the figure in the mirror, but Osycris and Helen did. The person inside was none other than Stewart, the warden of the Black Prison of the Dark Domain.

He had once been the “Mirror Fiend” of the last generation Witch Queen.

He was the guardian of Osycris and Helen…

Helen knew all too well how terrifying Stewart was…

Now that this traitor had already switched sides, today would surely be the day he offered his allegiance to Her Majesty, the Witch Queen.

Louis took the slip of paper without another word.

Helen and Tyrese had already lost.

No matter how powerful, these monstrous evil spirits sealed within mirrors were like castrated beasts. When confronting them, as long as you shut off your mind, these spirits were as helpless as lambs to the slaughter, utterly at your mercy.

But the real issue was that they were afraid. Fighting such a spirit while harboring fear meant certain defeat, even for a master of spells, even for one who knew exorcism. Failure was inevitable.

The Department of Magic had indeed found a rather interesting spirit—likely a nightmare type.

Now the lambs awaiting slaughter were Tyrese and Helen. When faced with the evil spirit, the figure in the mirror would only grow stronger, becoming utterly invincible.

And once such an evil spirit had devoured enough negative emotion from its opponent, no spell would work against it. Any curse cast on the spirit would rebound directly onto the spellcaster.

In such a situation, if the spirit wasn’t dealt with swiftly, the seed of fear would take root and, with time, the spirit would seize control.

Thus, no matter how impressive the candidates’ performances, they would ultimately lose all composure.

As for Tyrese… his performance was worse than Helen’s. He still hadn’t recognized what he was facing, believing it to be an ordinary “mirror dweller.”

To make matters worse, the fool seemed overly concerned with the audience’s gaze. After failing to defeat his opponent after several attempts, sweat began to bead on his brow.

At this point, Tyrese tried switching to a few different impact spells, hoping to shatter the mirror. Cracks did appear, but they immediately healed. The instant the mirror fractured, Tyrese himself suffered as if struck by his own spell.

The examiners and onlookers were tense, for Tyrese appeared calm and confident. Many wiped cold sweat from their palms. If anything went wrong today, the Witch Queen herself would be furious.

Tyrese was already renowned. Until the assessment ended, no one could predict the outcome.

But no one realized that Tyrese’s little finger was trembling.

He was beginning to realize he was out of his depth.

His stubborn persistence was now purely an effort to salvage a few points.

Then he miscast a spell, which ricocheted off the mirror and nearly hit someone in the audience.

A wave of commotion swept through the hall, but Tyrese, keeping a poker face, said, “Just a minor experiment, nothing to worry about. I’ll have this handled in no time.”

The audience held its breath, watching anxiously. But before long, Tyrese slipped up.

He began to grin foolishly, and his spells took on an increasingly bizarre quality. At last, he unleashed a remarkable enchantment—Total Bewitchment.

This was a spell Tyrese had learned from a certain “Fox Maiden of the Fawkes.” It was the ace up his sleeve for this test.

But clearly, Tyrese had already fallen under the spirit’s influence, for otherwise, he would never have cast such a spell upon the mirror.

Both the mirror dweller and Tyrese were caught in the enchantment. The dweller flashed a twisted smile and vanished.

Tyrese snapped out of his stupor.

He wiped the sweat from his brow with a sigh of relief. Then, standing tall on the stage, he bowed elegantly in all directions, and, with great flair, descended to Osycris, hand on heart, saying, “Your Highness, I have not failed your trust. I have driven off the mirror dweller… heh heh… please marry me, ha ha ha, I’ve won! I’ve won! Ha ha ha ha ha!”

With that, Tyrese began running and leaping about the hall, shouting and laughing madly.

There was a stunned silence. Even Osycris’s mouth hung open in shock—Tyrese was hexed! This was a Fox spell! And there was no cure, save for Miss Sakura Bell herself.

A gentle round of applause suddenly broke the silence—it was Lufield.

The spell of astonishment was shattered, and laughter erupted throughout the hall. Many joined in the applause.

Basking in the applause, Tyrese only laughed harder, mistaking it for congratulations.

But now, no one cared about the poor fool ensnared by his own spell. All eyes had shifted to Lufield.

This particular evil spirit had been summoned for Lufield’s sake.

Rumor had it that Lufield had once learned a dreadful spell from a mysterious sorcerer. The outcome was anyone’s guess.

Seeing Lufield preparing to go up, the laughter died down and a deep seriousness overtook the hall.

“Well done, Sir Tyrese. An impressive performance indeed. Unfortunately, there’s little anyone can learn from your display.”

There was laughter from the audience. Osycris pursed her lips, shooting Lufield a warning glare, signaling him not to go too far.

Now, all eyes were on Lufield. He produced a golden handkerchief to wipe his hands, then addressed Louis: “Louis, perhaps you didn’t grasp what Tyrese just tried to teach you. But that’s all right.”

He handed the handkerchief to Louis. “Let me show you again—within one minute, the mirror dweller will dance a waltz!”

At these words, the previously noisy hall fell into an expectant hush, as if everyone believed he wasn’t bluffing. Osycris was startled. “Lufield, be careful, that’s—”

“Ahem.” The examiner beside her shot her a look. Osycris turned pale and dared not continue. Any hinting at the scene was tantamount to cheating and would ruin the teaching assessment. This examiner was notorious for nitpicking.

Lufield said nothing more, replying to Osycris with a reassuring glance, as if he knew exactly what he was dealing with. Then, in full view, he squared his shoulders and faced the mirror with confidence.

He did not draw a wand, but instead extended both hands as if manipulating a puppet, gesturing before the mirror.

With the intoning of his spell, the figure in the mirror really began to dance!

A collective gasp swept through the hall; some rose to their feet in astonishment. Even the nitpicking examiner’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected Lufield to act so decisively, unleashing his secret art at once.

Today, either the spirit would be utterly defeated, or Lufield would—perhaps in just a few moves.

But Louis, meanwhile, was growing more and more uneasy. He could sense something off about Lufield’s magical aura. The spell wasn’t quite as it was meant to be.

He checked the commentary, confirming his suspicion.

[Forbidden. Marionette lv0 (0/679): The caster has yet to master this spell. You cannot learn it completely, and must comprehend it on your own.]

“A fine spell indeed: one for bewitchment, one for puppetry—both extraordinary. I have learned much today.

“Pity, though. These spells are not meant to be used this way.”

Shaking his head, Louis drew out a small slip of paper—Osycris’s “cheat spell.”

Today he would cheat in front of everyone.

He tapped the slip of paper with his finger, and the incantations upon it transformed.

Laughter bubbled up from the crowd.

Louis glanced toward Lufield, who was still guiding the mirror dweller’s dance—but now the dance was becoming grotesque, and Lufield himself began to twitch unnaturally. Within seconds, he seemed to lose control, dancing along with the mirror dweller.

Then, to everyone’s shock, he broke into a striptease, prancing naked around the hall.

“Enough! Stewart!” Osycris screamed at the mirror, face deathly pale. “You are utterly shameless!”

But the mirror dweller paid her no heed—instead, it only grew wilder.