Thus, Miss Ranni—who claimed to despise the Golden Order Dynasty (though "claimed" might be the key word)—joined Lloyd's party.
Because she was a native entity of the dungeon rather than a summoned ally, Ranni suffered no summoning debuffs. The trade-off, however, was that she lacked the enhancements Lloyd's summons normally received after meeting him. Her current state was that of a standard "Lunar Princess."
But that was more than enough.
After all, Ranni was never weak to begin with. Even before she met Lloyd, she possessed genuine demigod-tier power. Her mastery of sorcery was so profound that she had crafted her own Law of the Stars.
Thus, despite the dungeon's boosted difficulty, save for the final boss, everything else—whether common mages or elite foes—fell easily before her.
Even the academy's prized puppets and traps, their most dependable defenses, proved utterly useless before her.
As the rightful successor to the title of queen—the Lunar Princess, whose fame, authority, and skill were beyond reproach—the academy had never concealed its inner workings from her. She knew its blueprints, wards, and magical systems inside out.
After all, who could have predicted that someone would abandon her throne to become a Witch beyond the Lands Between, even going so far as to betray her own kin?
You really couldn't blame the mages—or the Golden Order—for not wanting her back.
Though this was a stain on Ranni's history, something she bristled at whenever mentioned, it worked to Lloyd's advantage.
He had been pondering how to tackle the Sorcerers in the academy while minimizing his own costs under limited conditions.
Now, with Ranni's help, there was no "cost" to speak of—she was practically soloing the place while he tagged along.
All he had to do was keep quiet about her "fall from grace" and avoid setting her off.
Guided by Ranni, Lloyd breezed through the academy dungeon doing almost nothing himself.
Since he was essentially freeloading the entire way, there wasn't much worth recounting.
It went like this: Lloyd walked ahead, shield raised. Ranni followed behind, firing spell after spell. The enemies fell. That was the entire process.
...
At the end of the dungeon, beyond the golden fog gate, awaited the boss—none other than the Queen of the Full Moon.
But unlike the original, this Queen had regained her sanity and could use Nokstella's technology to summon permanent allies throughout the arena—ranging from the Three Wolves and Demi-Human groups to Dragon Spirits and even the knights of Leyndell itself.
Of course, these summons didn't appear all at once but emerged in waves as her health dropped.
But that wasn't the end.
After the Queen's allies were defeated and her health bar emptied, the golden Amber Egg she had protected slipped from her arms and rolled to the ground.
She gazed upon it, golden light reflecting in her eyes, as if she'd suddenly grasped some profound truth.
"So… you've been with me all along."
Lloyd: "...Excuse me, what?"
Wait—did I wander into the wrong storyline?
Then, as Lloyd watched with an incredulous expression, the Queen of the Full Moon rose once more, lifting the golden amber high above her head. Brilliant light burst forth, illuminating the entire arena.
Cracks spidered across the amber's surface. Fragments fell away one by one.
The golden light flared brighter still, and within it, a tall, red-haired figure began to take shape.
Finally, it solidified into a man.
[Red-Haired Hero · Radagon]
Unbroken and unscathed, he stood in his prime—Radagon, the master of both Sorcery and Incantation.
In his hand was not Marika's stone hammer, but the Golden Order Greatsword, a weapon forged from the union of prayer and magic.
...And then began a grueling battle.
Facing the husband-and-wife duo—especially when one of them was her own mother—Ranni struggled to hold her ground.
Fortunately, she wasn't alone. After Radagon entered the fray, Lloyd—who had been quietly hanging back—finally joined in as Ranni's "King."
What followed was king versus king, queen versus queen.
The fight was fierce and unrelenting, each side matching the other blow for blow, spell for spell.
Eventually, after a long and exhausting clash, the red-haired champion fell, the Queen of the Full Moon's form dissolved into starlight, and victory belonged to Lloyd's side.
Standing in the place where the Queen had faded, a certain dutiful daughter was about to engage in her usual brand of "mother-daughter interaction" (that is, some light verbal damage).
But before she could speak, Ranni suddenly froze. A realization struck her.
Wait—hold on.
If the Queen died and exited the dungeon, then who was supposed to manage the academy...?
"...Tricked again," Ranni muttered through gritted teeth.
And it wasn't just the Queen's ploy. Thinking back, Lloyd had been suspiciously lazy throughout the whole run—as if he'd deliberately stepped aside to let her take all the glory in front of the sorcerers.
"You two planned this, didn't you?" she asked, turning to glare at him.
Lloyd only smiled.
"Not planned. Just... mutually beneficial."
Ranni glared daggers at him, her jaw tight with frustration. But she had no other choice. So, though her gaze was sharp with resentment, she accepted the role of overseeing the academy—becoming, in truth, the new Dark Moon Queen.
After Ranni's position was formally established, Liurnia of the Lakes—like Limgrave before it—fell under Lloyd's control.
The real prize, however, wasn't the region itself or the academy's forces, but the reward unlocked upon gaining control of the territory: the ability to craft a new item.
The Magic Engine.
The academy's resources had been devastated by the war. Their prized heavy units—the Cannon-Walking Temples and Greatbow Colossi—were all but wiped out. Most of the remaining personnel, libraries, and classrooms lay in ruins.
But that hardly mattered.
If you told a group of sorcerers to sit quietly and do nothing, they'd probably fail spectacularly.
Tell them to rebuild the academy, however—and they'd get it done overnight.
Even before Ranni could issue formal orders, they had already begun reconstruction. Under her direction, repairs and manufacturing resumed with precision and discipline.
Of course, even the most skilled builders need time.
So, while the academy was being rebuilt, Lloyd returned to Caelid to push through a few horse-girl events and dungeons. When word came from Ranni that "reconstruction is nearly complete," he made his way back to the academy.
And there she was—Ranni, with dark circles under her eyes, bloodshot gaze, tangled hair, and an aura that radiated pure, barely contained fury.
"What are you doing...?"
"What else could it be?"
Ranni shot a glare toward the academy outside, her voice sharp with anger.
"What else besides being driven insane by them?"
The moment she said it, Lloyd understood.
He had personally witnessed the Sorcerers' unrivaled ability to cause chaos—it fit every stereotype he'd ever held about mages in a fantasy world.
Even the Queen of the Full Moon's descent into madness, after her defeat, could largely be traced back to how thoroughly those lunatic mages had driven her up the wall. The pressure had built up for so long that when it finally exploded, she simply broke.
And now, the new Darkmoon Queen was going through the same thing. Even with all her experience and mental preparation for how absurd those Sorcerers could be, Ranni still couldn't withstand it in the end. The once-graceful Darkmoon Princess had finally collapsed into the blackened madness of the Darkmoon Queen.
"Short on Runes? If you are, go outside and kill every last one of them for me."
Ranni's expression was pitch-black as she spoke.
Though clearly an outburst, the fact that the ever-composed witch had been pushed to this point spoke volumes about how utterly unbearable those Sorcerers had become.
Naturally, Lloyd didn't actually go out and slaughter them all.
Still, leaving Ranni in such a state didn't seem right either.
After a moment of thought, he asked if she had any other matters to attend to. When she said no, he picked her up and carried her straight into the bedroom.
Then...
There was no "then."
When Ranni finally reappeared before everyone, her usual poise had returned. In fact, she looked radiant—refreshed, serene, almost glowing.
Lloyd, on the other hand, looked... tired. Very tired.
Let's just call it "fatigue."
Whatever the case, Lloyd had succeeded in calming Ranni down, and they'd come to an understanding: whenever she felt stressed again, he'd "help her relax."
"Since you're being so obedient," Ranni said with a faint smile, planting a kiss on his cheek, "I'll let your earlier scheming slide."
Lloyd could only sigh helplessly.
Yeah, sure. You already vented enough in that room—don't act like you're letting me off easy...
And with that, the Liurnia dungeon was officially complete.
Since Ranni needed to remain behind to oversee the region—mainly to prevent those Sorcerers from doing something stupid enough to get themselves erased—Lloyd took command of the legions under her banner and set off for the Altus Plateau, bringing with him the newly developed mana-powered weapons.
Approaching the edge of the plateau, Lloyd detected, through magical mapping, several ambush units stationed along the cliffs near the lifts and entrances leading upward.
In the past, even if he'd noticed such ambushes, there wasn't much he could have done.
Even the Remnant Legion with its climbing augmentations couldn't scale cliffs that high or steep, and even if they somehow managed it, they'd be too exhausted to launch a proper surprise attack afterward.
But now...
Lloyd turned his gaze toward the Sorcerers behind him.
They exchanged a knowing nod and began assembling something on the spot.
Time passed.
Near midnight, the soldiers lying in ambush around the Altus Plateau's entrances were already asleep, leaving only a few sentries on watch.
To stay awake, the sentries played cards under the dim light—a game rumored to have come from the academy itself.
But after a few rounds, something felt wrong.
"Wait, how many hands have we played?"
"Fourteen? Fifteen? What's the issue?"
"Only that many?"
The sentry frowned, glancing up.
"Then why's it getting light already?"
"Light?"
The others looked up as well—and saw the "light."
It wasn't dawn. It was something else—bright, burning, descending fast.
"Wait, that's not sunlight, that's—"
They never finished the sentence.
Because before the words could leave their lips, the blazing light tore through the sky and crashed down, engulfing everything in its wake.
Far below, at the base of the cliffs, Lloyd watched the scene through a projection transmitted from the mana balloon floating high above. He nodded in satisfaction.
Magic-energy technology, kid!
For all their eccentricities, the Sorcerers' reckless creativity made their research progress unmatched.
Having been among the first influenced by Lloyd, they'd made astonishing breakthroughs. They'd not only mastered Magic Engines but had also developed long-range mana mortars. At Lloyd's suggestion, they'd even created new magic balloons for observation and targeting—makeshift satellites, essentially.
Thanks to their efforts, and after a full afternoon of preparation, Lloyd had launched a single devastating bombardment that annihilated nearly every ambushing soldier within range of the balloons' sight, clearing the road ahead.
But that wasn't the end.
No—it was only the beginning.
After wiping out the ambush with artillery fire, Lloyd led the Sorcerers up to the Altus Plateau. Advancing toward Volcano Manor, they soon came face-to-face with Rykard's legion.
Unlike other demigods, Rykard—being a scholar by nature—commanded not just soldiers and knights, but also mass-produced flame chariots, Iron Maidens, catapults, and ballistae.
In terms of troop quality, his forces couldn't compare to the Redmane brutes or the disciplined soldiers of Lord Rodel from the capital.
But thanks to his technological innovations, Rykard's army matched them in overall strength—and in some ways, even surpassed them. That was Rykard's greatest pride: warfare was not about fists and blades alone. Melee fighters were barbarians. Those who mastered tools and sorcery were the future.
That was Rykard's conviction.
So there he stood, proudly guarding Volcano Manor, even wondering if perhaps he'd gone too far—maybe he should ease up to give Lloyd a fighting chance.
Then the ground began to quake.
Lloyd and his army came into view.
Rykard froze.
"What... what is that?!"
Before he could even speak, his soldiers cried out in shock.
Not out of ignorance—but because the sight before them defied reason.
A colossal form towered above, its structure angular and metallic, its back thrusters spewing torrents of mana that flared into radiant wings. It gripped a massive blue mana spear, its body encased in a shimmering Glintstone barrier.
Behind it followed a legion of semi-mechanized soldiers clad in mana-forged exoskeletons. Their physical strength was vastly enhanced, and their former wands had been replaced with mana crossbows and long-range magic blasters.
"The Cheese Battlefield Sorcerer Corps," came Lloyd's voice from within the towering mana armor. "Specialists in large-scale warfare."
"And this thing I'm piloting? You can call it a 'Gundam.' A prototype model, of course."
With that, Lloyd raised his arm.
"All right, enough talk."
"All units, with me—"
"Advance!"
BOOM—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!