<h4>Chapter 27: Equinox Festival - Part 2</h4>


    From her ce atop the tallest building in all the city, Amelia Lamme observed the rain falling beyond the horizon. Londorus seemed to be covered in a gray, cold, and indifferent mantle.<i> A super wet mantle.</i>


    Sitting at the edge of the rooftop, she then looked down at the street, having a view of her hair and the fabric of her dress forcibly stuck to her chest, but she did not mind. She needed all that coldness to feel something. <i>Anything...</i>


    She swallowed saliva, tasting it bitter. In less than a minute, she had ignored three social notifications from her ex-guild partners.<i> Three... More than I expected.</i>


    The first was a call from Karen Svensson, who was quickly ignored as soon as it popped up. <i>She surely wants to brag about the great job she did. Yes... Your new ''Master'' will surely be proud. Go to her side while wagging your tail,e on.</i>


    The other two messages were from William The Stoic and Marco Souza, making the same question: <i>''Where are you?''</i> The difference between the two was that William''s message started by calling her beautiful, and Marco''s text was more demanding.


    <i>I should do this sooner thanter.</i>


    She opened her User Interface, and selected William and Karen''s names from her Friend List and tapped ''block''. Only Marco Souza''s name remained. She could picture his squinting look, daring her to continue. She wanted to ask him if stealing from the Shooting Star''s vault was his idea, butst night''s remarks had already given her the answer.


    <i>"This is all strategic—These stopped being quarrels between rival groups, these are privatepanies now." </i>


    <i>Well, my former ''Lord'', my sister is still in that guild you fucked...</i>


    After ncing at Marissa''s name and her current ''Offline'' status, she tapped Marco''s and removed him from the list. She sighed as if a load had been freed from her shoulders and pointed her face upwards to receive the chilly rain directly.


    There was another task she had toplete. One even more excruciating than distancing herself from her old...panions.


    With slow, deliberate fingers, she navigated her User Interface until she found the ''Report'' button. A virtual window appeared, asking if she had witnessed a crime. She selected ''Yes''. Immediately, another form popped up, prompting her to provide details. A white, blinking cursor waited for her to start typing.


    <i>Better do this now before I change my fucking mind.</i>


    She began to write, "I confess to participating in acts of torture by exploiting a system exploit. By abusing the Quick Respawn feature in my former guild''s Training Room, we bypassed the ABB detector, allowing us to repeatedly kill and harass a young man a Level 5 User. I burned him to ash, crushed his heart, beheaded him, beat him into a pulp. All to--"


    She paused, staring at the blinking cursor. It seemed to dare her to continue. The words were cold, detached, just as she needed them to be. Any excuse would feel hollow.


    "...all to break him. To make him feel even more powerless. Every scream, every whimper, I ignored it all. I did it knowing full well what I was doing. No one ordered me to. I wanted him to suffer, and I made sure he did. Over and over again."


    Her chest tightened as she forced herself to press on.


    "I didn''t stop. I didn''t want to. Even when others were disgusted by my actions, I kept going. I enjoyed it."


    <i>Because it would be a lie to attribute it all to Marco''s cause...</i>


    She gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to scream. Was this necessary? Did she really need to write all that?


    She hovered over the ''Cancel'' button, ready to forget the whole thing, but something deep inside her refused to take the easy way out.


    <i>My father didn''t raise a coward...</i>


    "Just punish me already," she wrote at the end, hitting ''Send'' with a groan.


    <i>I just fucking don''t care anymore.</i>


    The response was immediate, catching her off guard. A notification blinked in her field of vision. A message from the system itself. It was so abrupt, so fast, that she felt detached from it for long moments.


    <i>Fuck it</i>, she thought, tapping on it to read her punishment. Her judgment.


    <i><strong>------------------------</strong></i>


    <i><strong>System Notification: Disciplinary Action</strong></i>


    <i>Upon review of your report, you have been found guilty of viting user conduct by exploiting system mechanics for malicious actions. As a result, the following penalties have been applied to your ount:</i>


    <i>A <strong>7-day restriction</strong> from using any <strong>Epic-grade or higher equipment</strong>.A <strong>7-day gold freeze</strong>, during which you are unable to gain or collect any gold.A <strong>fine of 200,000 gold</strong>, automatically deducted from your ount bnce.</i>


    <i>This decision is final and cannot be appealed. Please ensure your future actions remain inpliance with themunity guidelines.</i>


    <i>----------------------</i>


    "That''s it?" she sneered bitterly before standing up and shouting at the virtual window hovering in front of her. "You have to be kidding me, right?! This can''t be all! Because this sounds so..."


    As the rain continued pouring down indifferently, a soft humming noise rose behind her, but she paid it little mind. What she was sure of was that she was being stared at and judged again. That only made her snicker.


    "What do you want now, Belphy? I know this isn''t enough for you either. Of course not! But you''ll have to eat it up, because that''s who I am! Oh yes, I wanted all of this to happen. Sure, why not?! I wake up every morning, eager to screw up someone else''s life! That''s ME, every single day! This whole situation is so amusing that I can''t stopughing! Ha-Ha-HA!"


    "That sounds like an interesting story. Why don''t you tell me more about it, dear?"


    <i>What in hell?</i>


    Amelia turned around to find a girl dressed in old-fashioned Victorian style. Arge ck hat covered her gaze, revealing only a red-painted smirk. Her sleeved,ce dress looked so delicate that Amelia thought it had been modeled by hand, inch by inch, instead of automatically rendered by the system. Her elegant posture, holding her chin and crossing her legs, told Amelia everything she needed to know about this young girl.


    <i>It''s as if I''m watching a more refined and mature version of Kathleen Maher. What I''m certain of is that staring at her feels the same as looking at my Belphy.</i>


    If Amelia focused, she could see dozens of droplets of water passing through the stranger''s hat. It was as though she was there and not at the same time.


    The girl opened a system window at her side and snickered at it. "I can''t remember thest time someone filled out a manual report since the ABB was implemented. Ah, who am I kidding? All of those white turds, role-ying as Pdins and Clerics, do it all the time and get ignored as soon as they arrive in my inbox. Like, obviously! I don''t want to hear about how they disowned their self-imposed vows anymore. <i>''Oh, I took a liking to receiving rewards for my services, please forgive me, oh Sage of Conduct.'' ''Ah, I identally broke my solitude vow by ncing at the Nav once, so please punish me, Sage!''</i> And then there''s my favorite: <i>''I was just trying to help a friend, and we ended up in bed. Can you overlook my small transgression? It wasn''t my intention to—It''s the uniform! I sweaaar~''"</i> She rolled her eyes, scrolling through the messages. "Every single one reads like a script. Except yours. It was such a fun read that I had to see who wrote this gem in person."


    <i>This girl can''t be... The Moderator of Conduct, can she? But why would she...?</i> Amelia bit her lower lip. <i>No. This is fine. This is just what I wanted.</i>


    Amelia took a deep breath before speaking in a soft tone. "That''s right. I filed that report. Everything in there is true."


    The girl hummed while waving her User Interface out of sight. "You already received your punishment. Three penalties, to be precise. What more do you want? A public flogging downtown?"


    "Please, ma''am!" Amelia took two steps forward, forming fists. "I need this."


    In the blink of an eye, the mysterious girl had disappeared, but Amelia felt her incorporeal presence closer than ever, followed by a whisper in her ear. <i>"And what do you n to do about it? Are you going to gete yourself for a whole year until you stop feeling this juicy guilt, hmm? Instead of bashing your head against the wall, why don''t you start thinking about what you can do to make amends?"</i>


    "That goes without saying, but you agree that the automatic penalties are not enough, don''t you?" Amelia asked calmly. "That''s why you even bothereding here."


    "Ah, don''t overthink it, sweetie. I just happened to be bored." Amelia felt a hand pressing down on her shoulder. "But you''re right," the stranger continued. "It''s not enough. So now that I''m here, you''re in for a trip."


    An explosion was heard in the distance. Frowning, Amelia searched for the source until she saw another zing light, followed by a burst of mes, two miles away. <i>Lancesmith bridge is in that direction, but... No... It can''t be. It must be just a coincidence. Unless...</i>


    Amelia imagined a vivid scene involving the real Astrid confronting Karen after discovering what was going on. <i>But not even that monstrous woman could cause such destruction... at least not inside a Safe City.</i>


    That little distraction made her forget who she was dealing with, but searching for that girl in all directions was futile.


    A system message popped up soon after.


    <i><strong>-------------------</strong></i>


    <i><strong>- Warning -</strong></i>


    <i><strong>The following debuff have been applied: Double pain while taking damage.</strong></i>


    <i><strong>- Warning -</strong></i>


    <i><strong>Your Pain Endurance passive skill has been nullified. </strong></i>


    <i><strong>Timer remaining: 5 months, 23 hours, 59 minutes.</strong></i>


    <i><strong>Knock yourself out with this, dear. XOXO.</strong></i>


    <i><strong>--------------------</strong></i>


    Amelia read the message with an expression of disbelief on her face before bursting outughing. "So this is what ying with the devil is like, huh? So be it!"


    Another explosion in the distance caught her attention and this time, her mind forced her to recall what a certain annoying guy had said the day before:


    <i>''This is a serious issue! The integrity of this ship and its poption is at risk!''</i>


    An exasperating anxiety hit every inch of her body, especially now that she bore the marks of shame on her ount. One part of her urged her to leave Londorus behind and never look back, while the other echoed thest words that girl had told her.


    "Fine. You win. But if this ends up being bullshit, I''ll show you hell..."


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    The humongous dragon crawled towards the city. Its height rivaled the city''s skyscrapers when it stretched out its long necks. While making its way out of the river, it crushed a yacht with one foot and leveled a mansion with its fat, round body.


    The white head fired an incandescent beam that melted anything in a straight trajectory, and the ck one emitted a chilling cry that created seemingly controlled ck holes that consumed everything in a 100-feet radius, before imploding and blinking out of existence.


    If left unattended, Londorus would cease to exist in a matter of minutes. Realizing it prompted n to draw his bronze-tier sword. "Stop that thing, NOW!" he yelled, threatening the girl in ck.


    She turned to him, calmly. "Put that thing away before you poke someone''s eyes."


    "Only yours! Why would you bring that thing here?! This is not a dungeon nor a battlefield!"


    "Is it full of ''civilians''? Is that what you''re trying to say?" she asked in a monotone voice.


    "Y-YES! Most of the people living here aren''t members of a guild! You''re practically attacking innocent people!"


    Although it was impossible to see her expression, n was sure that the young woman was ring at him. "You''re not making any sense, n Warden," she said, turning her voice deeper. "So is it okay to kill people as long as they have a weapon in hand? Do you think chivalry has its ce in war?"


    She snickered, deviating her gaze toward her monster in the distance, giving n the opportunity to check his feet. <i>The shadow bounding me has disappeared.</i>


    He then tightened his grip on his sword''s hilt. <i>Even if I know it''ll be impossible, I''dter feel 100 times worse if I never tried!</i>


    He charged against the unsuspecting girl and swung his sword, going for her neck. "You asked for it!"


    The de passed through, but it felt null as if he had cut the air. The weight of his weapon after drawing a long curve almost threw him off bnce. <i>What happened just now?!</i>


    He nced back, finding the girl''s head still attached. <i>Did I miss? N-no, I don''t think so. Or maybe she moved so fast that I didn''t notice, like in those animes! Can people do that here?! ...C-Cool?</i>


    "What were you trying to do, Little Mouse?" she asked, smirking. "Doesn''t matter. I promised you a front-row seat, right? What are we waiting for, then?"


    She stretched out her hand again, ready to bring another abomination into the city, but when the summoned creature materialized, it was smaller. Her Mount had the head and the glossy wings of a crow and the body of a ck slim mare.


    "Seats ready! Hop up, Little--" She beamed, but when she turned around, looking for him, he had gone. "Of course he''ll escape," she said to herself, sighing until she saw him crossing Lancesmith Bridge at full speed. "Is he going after my adorable Draquinox?" She chuckled. "Seriously? Well, I don''t want to miss the show..."