Magic Academy Mayhem: A Class Full of Maniacs - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Letting a Ghost into her body was, without a doubt, an extreme method.

But after thinking it over again and again, Cynthia still decided to give it a try.

After all, being possessed and controlled by a low-level Ghost wouldn’t kill her. Why not take the gamble?

Once she made up her mind, she did not hesitate. Cynthia looked at Sangmo. “Sangmo, are there any Ghosts nearby?”

“Mm.” Sangmo lifted his fingertip ever so slightly. The next second, several threads of different colors appeared out of thin air.

Like probes, they spread out in every direction before finally stopping at different points.

A moment later, Sangmo said concisely, “No demons are approaching for now. The blue threads lead to Ghosts, and the red ones lead to vengeful spirits. The darker the color, the higher the rank.”

“Good.” Cynthia had not expected him to be able to pinpoint the exact locations of Ghosts like this. It only strengthened her original plan.

Following the direction of the faintest blue thread, she walked forward. At the end of the thread, there was a white shadow so transparent it was almost invisible, swaying and struggling in place.

Just as the other four assumed she was going to destroy the Ghost, they saw their captain take the initiative to dispel the magical defenses around her and guide the Ghost into her body.

“?” All four of them were collectively dumbfounded.

Eli said, “What is she trying to do?”

Richter kept his gaze fixed on the red-haired girl ahead, the corners of his lips curving slightly. “We’ll know in a bit.”

Under her teammates’ watchful eyes, Cynthia’s golden pupils gradually turned bloodred because of the Ghost.

The two colors kept flickering back and forth, as though she were having a full-on split personality episode. Three minutes later, Cynthia’s limbs also began twisting out of her control.

Her neck and arms bent in grotesque ways, like a demon that had just taken human form and did not yet know how to walk.

The four teammates exchanged glances. They had just been about to approach when they suddenly saw her collapse to the ground and fall unconscious…
At this moment, Cynthia’s mind and soul had been trapped deep within by the Ghost, and she was fighting it for control over her body.

The Sea of Consciousness.

Cynthia looked at the white Ghost floating within her consciousness. She had intended to try approaching it, but a barrier surfaced around her and blocked her way.

The ground beneath her feet became like the depths of a swamp, slowly dragging her down. She could not even struggle.

The imp-like Ghost bared its sharp teeth and let out a strange laugh. “Tsk, tsk, tsk…”

As if mocking her helplessness.

Cynthia sneered. Raising her hand, she summoned her Spirit Weapon and transformed it into the Seven-star Whip, binding the Ghost in one go and forcefully dragging it down with her into the dark swamp.

In the instant her vision was swallowed by darkness, Cynthia fully experienced the icy chill and skin-crawling horror of being possessed by a Ghost.

Her body temperature plummeted, and her will was gradually eaten away.

This was the Ghost’s skill: controlling the mind to make a person lose themselves, then causing their soul to fall into an abyss of nightmares.

If they could not wake up, the possessed person’s soul would sink into eternal sleep, and then… be completely replaced by the Ghost.

Before Cynthia’s consciousness vanished completely, these analyses about Ghosts flashed through her mind.

—
“Cynthia Valensidra, you are the disgrace of your family, a useless idiot! I don’t want to be engaged to you. Hurry up and tell my mother that you’re willing to break off the engagement.”

When Cynthia regained consciousness again, she found herself inside a luxurious palace. Standing in front of her was a little boy… Hmm, that brat Abel.

Judging by his appearance, he was about six or seven years old.

It seemed this was an Illusion Realm created from the original host’s memories.

In other words… a fear hidden deep in the original host’s heart?

This kid?

Even though it was an Illusion Realm, Cynthia still could not tolerate it. She was just about to snap back at him when she realized she could not control her body.

She did not speak, yet a voice came from her throat.

“Forgive me for refusing, Your Highness.”

The young voice was cool and clear, with a hint of childishness.

As soon as those words were spoken, Cynthia realized this was the original host herself… or more accurately, only a projection of a memory.
Cynthia tried to control her consciousness and leave the body, but she couldn’t.

In front of her, Abel had been angered by the original owner of this body. He strode forward and shoved her hard, knocking her to the floor.

He shouted furiously, “You’re the reason your mother fell gravely ill, and you’re the reason your brother went missing. His Grace the Duke was severely wounded and fell into a coma because of you, too. You’re a jinx who never should have been born! You’d be better off dead!”

Her forehead struck the cold jade tabletop. But compared to the bloody gash on her head, what Cynthia felt in that instant was the stabbing pain from her heart.

It was as if a knife were chewing it to pieces while it was still alive, the agony so intense her vision swam.

These weren’t her emotions.

Even though she clearly couldn’t control this body, Cynthia could still personally experience the original owner’s feelings and pain in that moment.

Her cheeks felt warm, and in an instant, breathing became difficult, almost suffocating.

Was she crying?

Right now, Cynthia very much wanted to raise her hand and slap Abel, that demonic little brat, a few times. But this body seemed to have lost all strength. It couldn’t summon even the slightest bit of power.

Abel looked at the girl in front of him, blood running down her forehead, and for a split second he panicked. But instead of doing anything, he stiffened his neck and sneered, “If you, disaster star, don’t want to keep bringing misfortune on your family, you’d better stay far away from them. Got it, idiot?”

After saying that, he fled in a panic like a dog with its tail between its legs.

“…”

Cynthia felt her temples throbbing. In that moment, her desire to kill Abel reached its peak.

After transmigrating here, she had indeed accepted the original owner’s memories, but the fragments from her childhood were somewhat blurry.

Now it seemed those had been painful memories weighing on the original owner’s heart…

Her mother had fallen gravely ill, her brother had gone missing, and her father had been seriously injured?

What did any of that have to do with the original owner?

Cynthia tried to think back.

Five minutes later, she finally figured out what had happened.

The Duchess had indeed become bedridden after giving birth to the original owner and her younger sister.

As for the disappearance of the original owner’s brother… it seemed that when the original owner was five, a knight’s negligence allowed hostile forces hiding in the mansion to seize the chance to abduct and kidnap her.

Her brother fought them while trying to save her, but in the end he fell off a cliff and went missing for an entire year.

He was found later. According to the timeline of the Illusion Realm, her brother’s return would have happened only in the last few months.

If one had to assign blame for that incident, it should have been the Ducal Mansion’s inadequate security… What did that have to do with a little child who had been obediently staying at home? The original owner had only been five when she was kidnapped.

As for the Duke’s injury and coma, those were caused by a curse and by fighting the Demon Race on the front lines. They had absolutely nothing to do with the original owner…

Yet that brat Abel had chosen this moment to use those things to stab at the original owner’s heart?

Could it be…

Had the original owner truly come to see herself as a disaster star, and that was why she gradually resisted letting others get close, becoming withdrawn, lonely, and temperamental…?

Cynthia’s emotions were complicated. By the time she pulled herself out of her thoughts, she realized the body had already moved on its own.

Only after the original owner took a Healing Potion and waited for the blood and wound to heal did she walk out.

Faced with the maid’s concern, she merely replied with the most perfectly worded response, not revealing even the slightest bit of the grievance she had suffered inside.

Cynthia’s feelings grew even more complicated.

This was supposed to raise her mental threshold? This was clearly training her stress tolerance and inhuman endurance.

But… she understood.

She understood what kind of state of mind a six-year-old child must have had to face all of this.

Cynthia lowered her eyes. Perhaps this was the best way of handling things that the original owner could think of at that moment.

Don’t alarm anyone. Swallow her grievances. Be a quiet, obedient child who caused no trouble and inconvenienced no one.

Forget the original owner-even Cynthia herself had once believed that by doing so, she could live peacefully and quietly without incident.

Unfortunately, lesson after lesson had taught her that this was not the most correct way…