In another room.
The gloomy Isadora rushed straight up to Olivia, flames of anger burning in the eye her hair did not cover. Her voice was almost squeezed out through clenched teeth:
"Olivia! Do you know what you're doing?!"
Olivia spun the revolver around her finger, then smoothly slid it back into the holster at her waist, without a trace of guilt on her face:
"I'm changing the rules. Do you even need to ask?"
"Changing the rules?"
Isadora frowned and glared at her:
"You destroyed the question-drawing box! This was the Final Defense procedure our Five Academies established together! And you single-handedly scrapped the entire thing!"
Behind them, Aurora, head of the Ember-Eyed Tower, sat with her legs crossed. She had no intention of helping smooth things over; instead, she looked as though she were enjoying a wonderful play, interest sparkling in her gilded dragon eyes.
Meanwhile, Moon Enchantress, head of the Beastfolk's Trench Altar, stood by the window with an exquisite folding fan in her hand. It covered half her face, leaving only her eyes, curved into crescents, visible.
She said nothing either, but her leisurely bearing made her stance perfectly clear. She also wanted to hear how Olivia would explain herself.
As for Luna, she was performing as usual, sitting in her seat with her mind somewhere far away.
"People made the procedure in the first place. And if people made it, people can change it, of course."
After hearing Isadora's reproach, Olivia shrugged.
A vein bulged on Isadora's forehead in anger:
"But what does that have to do with your reckless behavior?!"
Olivia grinned and calmly asked in return, "Isadora, let me ask you something. What did the Imperial Capital just go through?"
Isadora frowned. "An unprecedented disaster."
"Exactly. An unprecedented disaster."
Olivia spread her hands,