The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Little Ruru, who had been anxiously waiting for her return, quickly jumped on her shoulder to lick her cheek in worry, and Evelyn patted her little fox in consolation while leading Aurora towards her room, where she knew Bree must be sleeping. "Don't panic, we're both okay!"     

Although she could tell that Amber had already started to cry, and both Cecilia and Vivian were distraught, the most important thing was to get her teacher fixed up first. They could always be consoled later. As it was now, only Amara was keeping them in check, preventing them from disturbing Evelyn and Aurora.      

Evelyn knew that there was no way to tell when the after effects of the other pillar's demise would come, and it would be a disaster if her teacher wasn't ready at that time.     

Aurora had already known about Bree's existence, even the fact that she was used to be a high-level powerhouse, capable enough to become a senior professor at an age of less than fifty.     

An achievement that even Aurora could never boast of.     

Regardless, at her level, she hadn't been someone worth noticing if not for Evelyn. Even with her rare bloodline.     

Bree had been sleeping in her human form, and Evelyn only had to pick her up for the girl to slowly stir awake. Barely had her groggy eyes opened that she spotted her new braiding toy looking quite battered.     

"Mama! You can't play with her so rough!"     

Evelyn felt her lips twitch, both in amusement and exasperation. If she had the strength to beat Aurora up, she would instantly be able to solve most of her problems, wouldn't she?      

The pink haired girl could only pat the tiny blonde girl, wondering how exactly she would be able to purify the poison. "Why don't you try touching her, Bree?"     

The girl looked confused on why her mama would ask such a strange thing but still put her hands on Aurora's frowning face.     

Unfortunately, it had no effect at all.     

Evelyn couldn't help but furrow her brows. "Strange…"     

Hadn't her purification triggered automatically when she had put her on top of the tentacles of the 'Thousand Eyed God'?     

'Maybe it could be because the tentacles had been practically oozing poisonous miasma, and it had infiltrated—!'     

Evelyn's eyes lit up as she realized it, but soon enough she came across another problem.     

There was no way to send the poison in Aurora's body to Bree, was there? Plus, even if she did so, what if only the part send in Bree's body was purified?     

Aurora sighed. "Have you figured it out, or should I tell you?"     

Evelyn blinked as she pointed at her teacher in disbelief. "EH? You knew? Why didn't you say so earlier?!"     

The platinum blonde shrugged. "I wanted to see if you'd be able to figure it out. Anyway, with her bloodline and the strength of the poison in my body, I only need a single drop of fresh fluid from her to be purified."     

"A-Ah… so I just need to prick her a little, and you can— No wait, wouldn't her spit work?!"     

Bree looked delighted. "Spit! Spit! Where do I spit!"     

Aurora's face turned dark as she pulled the little girl into her lap, and squeezed her chubby cheeks till she cried out. "Uwawawa! My toy is bullying me! Mama! Help!"     

Evelyn just blinked in shock, wondering what her teacher was doing. "E-Ehm, Aurora, t-that's my aunt, you know…"     

Her teacher ignored her and continued squeezing Bree's cheeks, and sure enough, the little blonde burst into tears.     

As soon as they fell, Aurora immediately swept up a drop with her finger, and put it to her lips.     

Almost instantly, the purplish bruising on her body started to recede, and Aurora breathed a sigh of relief.     

Evelyn, meanwhile, was busy consoling her now extremely aggrieved aunt.      

"S-She bullied me, mama! You beat her some more!"     

The pink haired girl didn't know whether to cry or laugh, and could only pat her aunt's back while hugging her close. "You were just too cute, so she couldn't help but squeeze your cute little cheeks. But don't worry, you can braid her hair in whatever style you want later. Won't you forgive her?"     

Thinking about playing with her toy again, Bree's eyes lit up as she finally stopped crying. "O-Ohh… okay."     

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With the immediate concern dealt with, Evelyn finally allowed her friends to come in. Cecilia was the first to crash into her arms, while Amara held Vivian on her lap by the bedside, and Amber stood beside them awkwardly while wiping her tears.     

When it came to Cecilia, Evelyn knew that she had recently been neglecting her too much as she was busy with one thing or another. However, given how much Cecilia had tried to help her before, she couldn't help but feel guilty as she ran her fingers through the girl's ash blonde hair.     

"Why is everyone crying? Aren't we both fine?"     

Cecilia didn't calm down at all. "T-Tell me what happened first!"     

Evelyn hesitated for a while, but after Aurora nodded, she could only sigh and dictate everything in full.     

From Riley's trickery to the attack by Mantis, the girls couldn't believe that so much had happened in such a short period of time.     

Amber was the one in most shock. Riley really did scheme to get her friend killed! And not only that, he really would have succeeded if not for her friend's teacher protecting her! The auburn haired girl felt as if her entire worldview had been flipped.     

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It had taken her a while to get them all to calm down, but in the end, the Gilmore sisters ended up taking Amber back to their room to sleep, while Cecilia refused to leave, and Evelyn could only let her stay in her own room with Bree, who was already back to sleep.     

Evelyn thought that it was fine for them to sleep together, since the bed was quite big, but Aurora only waited till Cecilia fell asleep before getting up to leave for her own tower.     

"I-Is it because it's too crowded?"     

The platinum blonde shook her head. At this moment, how could she sleep?     

Aurora knew very well that this matter was far from over. Professor Donna was of little consequence, no matter if she escaped alive or not, but the disappearance of Mantis would surely rock the upper echelons of the academy to their core.     

A pillar had more duties than just acting to defend the academy in times of need, or carrying out a few missions when people of higher strength were needed.     

No, their core, most important job, was to take charge of the four towers surrounding the 'Tower of Solitude', and make sure that the formations remained fully functional.     

Such a position cannot be left vacant for long. In fact, ideally, the next pillar would already be ready before the previous one abdicated.     

In any case, Aurora had to make sure that the aftereffects didn't hurt her student. "There are many things I have to take care of soon. This event cannot be hidden from the headmaster and the other pillars. The formation at the tower Mantis lived in should have already deactivated along with his death."     

Evelyn couldn't help but gulp. "W-What happens when they find out?"     

Aurora sighed. "Usually, the first matter would be to decide who to promote to be a pillar and take up the position left vacant by Mantis. And next… to investigate his death. But since I already know, this matter is easily resolved."     

Although she wanted to believe in her teacher, Evelyn couldn't help but worry. "I-Is it… really going to be like that? There won't be any trouble?"     

After all, Mantis alone had already put Aurora in such a state. Given that she would be 'discussing' things with the two other pillars and the headmaster, how could Evelyn rest assured?     

Aurora nodded. "Don't worry."     

Evelyn sighed. She knew that even if she asked more, Aurora wouldn't tell her, and taking her along was even more impossible. But that wasn't the only thing bothering her. "Um, when you said there is only one person who can save 'him', who did you mean?"     

The platinum blonde frowned. "The skill I used on him only deals more than half its damage minutes or even hours after it has been used, depending on a number of factors. However, it cannot be 'deactivated', not even by the user. This type of skill is like… a knot that you have tightened using your maximum strength. Some of them can be easily undone with a simple pull, but this is one of the worst."     

Aurora demonstrated a few patterns in the air using her spirit power as threads, and Evelyn nodded.      

The platinum blonde sighed. "To undo this 'knot'… only someone who has superior mastery over water and is also stronger than me can do it. And as far as I know, there only exists one such person… The Conqueror of Oceans, the Blue Moon Throne."     

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