Ciara flew in her appointed direction, but her thoughts never left the dormitory—or, rather, a boy whom she had last seen there.
'Hiyaaa!!! I'm so embarrassed!' She squealed internally.
Her black bodysuit clung tightly to her body, and Ciara knew what she was wearing underneath—nothing. While she had imagined what it would be like to have her lover see her in this wear, she didn't expect it to be so soon.
That's right! Ciara Epilson was an obsessive pervert who couldn't stop thinking about her childhood friend. She called her overwhelming emotions love, but if any reasonable person heard of her complicated feelings, they would beg to differ.
For one, she never showed him any outward affection. She was as cold as a block of ice in her interactions with the center of her affection—Jerry Keller. Things weren't always like they were, but they suddenly found themselves at this juncture.
The second problematic thing about her disposition toward Jerry was the intense obsession she had with him. She practically loved everything he liked, and despised what he hated. That was one of the reasons she gave herself to so much training despite being a prodigy—it was because he also applied himself.
Still, though, if she felt he shouldn't love something, she would eliminate such a thing in order to prevent him from making a foolish choice. An example of that would be… perhaps a girl other than herself?
Jerry was a dense guy, so he had no idea how scary women could be. Humans in general were unreliable, which was why Ciara felt like there was no one else he could rely on but her.
Since he couldn't figure that out on his own, the best she could do was take action on his behalf before he got hurt. She hoped that one day he would recognize her efforts, and then… maybe…
"Kyaaa! I can't wait!" She squealed in delight.
To the love-stricken girl, nothing much mattered besides Jerry. The only reason she was still in Ainzlark was because of him too. That was why she was trying so hard to defend the Campus.
'I don't like how I'm not in his group, though…' The cutie pouted.
She wanted to fight Demons with him. No, rather, she wanted to defeat all his enemies while he helplessly watched her.
That way, he would realize he was nothing without her and would cling even closer to her side. It seemed this logic had been what pushed Ciara and Jerry apart, in the first place, but she didn't see it that way.
'He's trying to catch up to me! How cute. How cool!'
Just like she mulled over him every time, he was also thinking ceaselessly about her. That made Ciara happy.
'Just you wait, Jerry! Once I'm done with my cleanup… I'll rush to your side!'
With that single thought, she rushed ahead.
>WHOOOOOOSSSHHHH!!!!<
**********
It barely took a minute before Ciara arrived at her designated location—one of the Forbidden Zones, also known as a Restricted Area.
There were a bunch of them around, but it was mostly due to safety reasons. Students could actually access them with permission, so they were not under severe lockdown.
Still, of those Restricted Areas, three were especially off-limits.
No one had any real information on the place, so even Ciara didn't know what to expect from the location she was sent to. But that didn't really matter. As long as she defeated her enemies… she would win—and then rush to Jerry's aid.
According to Jared's instruction, if a group was done with their assignment, they had to help out other groups close by.
Unfortunately, Jerry wasn't the closest to her location, but that didn't matter to her. He was first priority.
Ciara's hair fluttered as she descended to the ground, facing the dome-like structure that was dubbed a Forbidden Zone. It seemed to be made of glass—but it was so dense that no one could see the interior.
The brunette wondered what could have inspired the architects to construct such a bizarre-looking building, yet they expected it to be off-limits. In a place crawling with students, of course, people would be tempted to check the area out.
Even Ciara felt curious at times. But, the security was too tight for her to breach, and she didn't want to risk exposing herself, so she gave up on the venture.
Nothing good would come out of getting expelled and being unable to see Jerry.
But now… things were different.
"I have access to this place! At long last! Take that, suckers!" She laughed.
Ciara had always been a rebel, and now she could fully exercise her personality. But first…
'I should take care of these flies…'
Nothing was going to stand in the way of her tour. Plus, she was also in quite a hurry so she could get to Jerry's side. Because of these two factors, the latter being more important, Ciara didn't hesitate to activate her Original Magic [Phantom Link].
Once the wave of energy she dispersed permeated the surrounding area, the enemies she spotted were rendered powerless. Disconnected from their source, they crumbled and died.
She didn't even need to exert much effort.
'Now, then…' She merrily trotted down the path before her—eyes fixed on the glass dome.
Her stride was casual, her brown hair fluttered as the wind blew against it, and she was even humming something under her breath. This certainly didn't seem like someone heading off into battle.
More Shadow Demons were bound to be waiting for her in the building, but what did she care? She just wanted to get the chore over with.
But… before she could take a single step further, Ciara felt a change in atmosphere.
It was something behind her—something incredibly powerful.
Ciara, despite her usually playful demeanor, had incredibly sharp instincts. As someone who was adept at battle and was also a natural prodigy, she swiftly responded to the bloodlust behind her and was met with the sight of an actual threat.
If the others were worthless pebbles not worth her notice, this being before her was a boulder.
"Ah, so you're the boss?" Ciara blurted out.
She noticed its incredible energy, so it had to be the mastermind behind this invasion, right? Or was she jumping the gun?
"Impressive. To think you defeated all tho—"
"Zip it and let's fight. I want to end things quickly!"
The Kahn that appeared before Ciara was taken aback by her sharp response. Not only was it incredibly rude, but it also had a ton of confidence. Plus, the fact that she was in a hurry only meant one thing…
'Has she realized that more versions of me have spread across the other places?'
But, the moment Ciara gave her next statement, Kahn realized he had been overthinking things.
"Let's finish this fast! Jerry's waiting for me!"
