Chapter 100: The Moon’s Dark Whisperer

On the open ground in front of the teachers’ dormitory, Stacie sat enthroned upon a seat formed from the very essence of darkness. The air around her seemed to warp and bend under her presence, as if reality itself recoiled from her authority. Her face was strikingly beautiful, yet cold and unyielding, framed by long silver hair that spilled down like strands of moonlight. Her eyes, however, were like twin abysses, icy and unapproachable, radiating a suffocating, almost tangible majesty. A black cloak draped over her shoulders, woven as though from the endless void itself, emitting a strange, otherworldly shimmer that seemed to absorb the light around her.

At her feet, a group of elves lay prostrate, crawling on the ground. A closer look revealed familiar faces to Merlin—Kaelos, Yelu, and the others who had once tormented Stacie. Their expressions were twisted in pain, their bodies pinned by the oppressive force of her dark power, unable to move even an inch.

Stacie’s throne resembled a cold, frozen altar, encircled by writhing shadows that seemed to draw the very life and will from those trapped beneath them. The fear and despair reflected in the eyes of the subjugated elves fed her power like a sinister, invisible sustenance.

Kaelos twisted and writhed on the ground, reduced to a pitiful, wormlike figure—far removed from the noble demeanor he usually displayed. Raising his head, his face twisted in horror, he shouted at Stacie, “Stacie! Pull yourself together! Don’t let the Moon’s Dark Whisperer sway you—don’t succumb to the moon’s shadow! You can resist!”

A flicker of painful memory crossed Stacie’s gaze, the shadows of the past rushing over her like a tidal wave, threatening to drown her completely.

She had once been a girl full of dreams, yearning to be accepted, longing to live on equal footing with other elves. But reality had been merciless. Her half-elven heritage marked her as an outsider in a world that revered pure-blood lineage.

Her brother, Kaelos—the one she had once idolized—had been the source of her deepest pain. As a pure-blooded elf, he possessed noble lineage and a love that she could never hope to attain. Stacie, in contrast, had been branded as “lowly.”

As a child, whenever she tried to draw near him, Kaelos met her with cold indifference and biting mockery. He even humiliated her before their companions, leaving her with no refuge, no dignity.

“You will never be a true elf,” Kaelos had once said, his words sharp as blades, embedding themselves into her young heart. Her companions had joined in the ridicule, and with each act of bullying, Stacie’s fragile inner world eroded further. Loneliness and pain coiled around her like a dark whirlpool, slowly swallowing her.

Under such relentless pressure, her darker nature was magnified. Had it not been for her teacher’s sudden intervention—guiding her with care and love—Stacie might by now have completely succumbed to darkness.

For her mother, to honor her teacher’s trust, to help Boss Merlin and her friends, Stacie had pushed herself harder, striving to distinguish herself at the Arcane Academy.

Praised as a prodigious fairy mage, the strongest talent in the Academy’s Beast-Taming Division, the first-year student of the Silver Wind… these accolades, instead of comforting her, became chains that weighed her down. She worried excessively about others’ expectations, fearing she might fail to meet them. It was this vulnerability that drew the attention of the Dark Fairy, the Moon’s Dark Whisperer, and eventually allowed her influence to seep into Stacie’s soul.

The Moon’s Dark Whisperer—a legendary dark fairy, the shadowed aspect of the Moon Goddess—was as enigmatic and fearsome as her name suggested.

Her origin traced back to ancient elven legends: when the Moon Goddess blessed the elven race, she granted them a fragment of darkness to maintain balance. Yet over the centuries, that gift had been twisted, transforming into an uncontrollable and insidious force.

As the Moon Goddess’s shadow, the Dark Whisperer’s feelings toward the elves were complex. She was both protector and embodiment of their deepest fears. Aware of their devotion and faith, she manipulated those whose souls were fragile and hungry for power.

Stacie became her target. The Dark Whisperer saw in her the suffering and anger born of oppression, seeking to transform those emotions into strength.

Yet Stacie, determined to meet the expectations placed upon her and to gain the power to protect others, did not recoil in fear at the attention. On the contrary, she began to reach out, knowing that throughout elven history, many fairy mages had successfully formed pacts with the Moon’s Dark Whisperer, becoming legends across the continent of Aize.

In truth, Stacie had been under the Speaker’s influence for some time, though she had not realized it. With her talent, forming a pact would have posed no problem—but she had rushed, and that impatience had left her vulnerable.

Particularly during that morning’s exam: unable to control the Dark Whisperer’s power, she had inadvertently harmed Yuna. Overwhelmed by guilt and remorse, her resolve wavered, planting seeds of doubt about her ability to form a contract.

And in that moment of hesitation, the Dark Whisperer seized her opportunity. Though she admired Stacie, as a being of “evil,” if she could not subdue her, she would instead manipulate her. That was the state Stacie was in now.

Completely under the Dark Whisperer’s sway, she sought to harness her negative emotions to exact vengeance on those who had once hurt her. The Speaker’s temptation was as sweet as honey—but hidden beneath was a chasm of pain and despair. Stacie sank deeper, losing herself, becoming a living embodiment of revenge.

“I will no longer endure this humiliation!” she roared from the darkness, her voice trembling with both fury and despair. “They shall feel the pain I once suffered!”

“You will pay for your actions!” Her words cut through the air like a cold wind, merciless and resolute. Her gaze swept over the prostrate elves, and not a trace of pity remained.

Dark energy coalesced in her hands, ready to make her vengeance a reality. She would let those who had scorned her taste the full force of her wrath and despair.

Yet beneath the veil of darkness, a flicker of her former light remained, buried deep in her soul. It was the echo of her dreams, the cry of a heart that longed to be loved. But now, all of that had been consumed by shadow, leaving only the flames of revenge burning in the infinite abyss.

“Stacie, stop!” Merlin surged forward, his voice urgent. He took in the unnatural aura surrounding her, and the shadows coiling behind her, his eyes narrowing as danger flared.

“I don’t know what you’ve become, but you’d better crawl out of my secretary’s body before I lose my temper completely!”

Stacie’s form was like a phantom shrouded in darkness, the very air around her heavy with the weight of her anger. Her eyes gleamed with an unnatural light, reflecting the madness of a soul under the control of dark power. Merlin’s sudden appearance caused her to pause briefly, but a cold, cruel smile quickly spread across her lips.