Chapter 10 - Courtyard of Shame: Laughter Echoes, Bats Tremble

The courtyard of the Arcane School of Luxflutuante, which on normal days would be a refuge of somber beauty and magical murmurs, had transformed, for Seraphine Noctaria, into an arena of public torment. The sun, pale and accusing like an interrogation spotlight, seemed to focus exclusively on her, exposing every misplaced pink hair, every imperceptible wrinkle in her black velvet dress.

Normally, Seraphine would dominate this courtyard with her mere presence. The other supernatural creatures would avert their gaze, whispering in admiration about her beauty and aristocratic aura. Today, the whispers were different. Louder. More… giggly.

She tried to maintain her haughty posture, chin raised, gaze cold and distant. She walked through the courtyard as if she were parading on a stage, each step calculated to exude vampiric elegance. But with each step, she felt the invisible stings of laughter and mocking looks piercing her armor of pride.

"Look, it's her! The bat-panty vampire!" A feral with a feline appearance, cat eyes and a long striped tail. He walked pointing towards Seraphine, accompanied by his feral friends, who walked like cunning cats.

Seraphine clenched her fists inside her black lace gloves, suppressing the urge to incinerate the group with a look. Insignificant inferiors! How dared they… observe her?

"— Sera, darling, don't worry!" — Greta's melodramatic voice echoed behind her, marching heavily beside her, growling silent threats to any creature that dared to look at them for too long. Lira, slithering and sometimes jumping with her mermaid tail, followed the group with an air of discreet superiority. With her water sprayer, to keep the scales hydrated.

"— They're just jealous of your… uniqueness, Sera!" — Bat panties are cute and fashionable. "— But Sera, look on the bright side!" Greta interrupted, with her deep voice and orcish growl. "— Nobody will dare to mess with you now! Everyone knows you're… crazy! Crazy and dangerous! That's intimidating!"

Lira — "Maybe you should capitalize on this, Sera. Exclusive clothing line, Noctaria Bat Panties! Limited edition!"

Seraphine groaned, anger and humiliation boiling inside her like a cauldron of boiling potion. Her own friends… were useless! Worse, they were idiots!

Vladvaldo, with his slender, pale vampire build, and Ulric, with his laid-back, cool werewolf posture, came closer, with those fake smiles they always wore, more to irritate than to be friendly. Vladvaldo, all dapper in his velvet coat and with the look of someone who just stepped out of a cheap perfume commercial, tried to play the funeral heartthrob and extended his hand full of gaudy rings to Seraphine.

"— Seraphine, darling," — Vladvaldo began, with that mellow voice he thought was sexy, but was just irritating. "— I'm so, so sorry for that… incident yesterday!"

"— He paused dramatically, as if he were suffering terribly. "— It's so… unpleasant when The Curse decides to strike like that, in public, isn't it? But please," — Vladvaldo forced a fake and pretentious smile, "— don't let it get you down! You are much, much more than a pair of bat ears and a pig's nose, do you understand me?"

"— And then, to make matters worse, he still had the nerve to ask, with that arched eyebrow of a failed heartthrob: "— Tell me, with this new… nasal appendage… can you better sense the… wonderful… aroma that certain… elements exude around here?" — He winked, thinking he was the best.

Ulric, of course, wasn't going to be left out of the competition for who is more of a jerk and annoying, so he came closer, with that mocking, malicious alpha wolf smile and that strange glint in his eye that he always had when he wanted to mess with someone. "— That's right, Seraphine!"

"— Ulric said, with a fake and cloying tone of voice. "— Don't listen to these… nobodies! We know that underneath that… vampire princess facade, there's a… wild, free, and super… fun vampire! And look," — Ulric got closer, almost invading Seraphine's personal space, "— to tell you the truth, I thought the… bat panties…

"— He gave that awkward little laugh of his, "— … quite… interesting! Very… you, you know?"

Seraphine's face, which was already white as wax, turned red instantly, looking like it was about to explode. The audacity of these two was unbelievable! These… worms really had no shame!

"— You two…" — Seraphine hissed, each word loaded with aristocratic venom. "— If you don't get away… immediately… I swear I'll turn you both into… doormats for the Courtyard of Shadows! And your… mortal remains… will be eaten by the… gnomes!" Her hands were visibly trembling, and a stubborn tear glistened in the corner of her eye, despite her effort to maintain a pose of fury.

Vladvaldo and Ulric retreated quickly, smiling nervously, but without losing their air of secret satisfaction. They had managed to provoke the desired reaction. They had managed to see Seraphine Noctaria, the untouchable, lose control. But their bullying "performance" wasn't over yet. With Seraphine on the brink of emotional abyss, Vladvaldo, smelling weakness in the air, turned his predatory attention to Greta, who was watching the scene with narrowed eyes, her jaw clenched tightly, and her hand clenched around the handle of the mace.

"— Ora, ora, ora," — Vladvaldo crooned, his affected smile now sharper than a dagger, directed at the orc. "— But look who's here! Our dear Greta! Always so devoted… so loyal… to her vampire mistress!"

Vladvaldo paused, savoring the venom of his own words.

"— Tell me, Greta…" — Vladvaldo's voice slid with false sweetness, a poisonous honey. "— This… obsession of yours with Seraphine… is it really just friendship? Or is there something more there?"

He smiled slyly, his canines showing, a cruel glint in his crimson eyes.

"— I'd bet on envy. Because, let's face it, Seraphine is everything you'll never be… feminine."

Vladvaldo's laugh was low, loaded with scorn, but Ulric laughed out loud, a hoarse and animalistic sound that echoed through the courtyard. The werewolf crossed his arms, analyzing Greta from top to bottom with undisguised contempt.

"— I think the word you're looking for is grotesque, Vladvaldo," — Ulric growled, his lupine teeth standing out in a cruel smile. "— Or maybe… pathetic?"

"— Indeed," — Vladvaldo continued, the malicious amusement growing in his voice. "— Or is the problem something else? Are you simply not… desirable enough for any real vampire?"

Greta stiffened.

"— Poor Greta," — Vladvaldo sighed, feigning false compassion. "— Nobody wants an orc. Not even those of your own kind. You settle for following Seraphine like a faithful dog, but deep down you know you'll never be more than that."

The final blow came from Ulric, accompanied by a sharp smile:

"— Maybe that's why you drool over the crumbs of attention from Noctaria. You know that no man would ever look at you that way."

The laughter of Vladvaldo and Ulric mingled with the hysterical voices of the other students. Lira, the mermaid, looked away, embarrassed. She knew that nothing she said would change the course of this. Lysandra, always impeccable, watched from a distance, her arms crossed, her lips curved in a smile that bordered on boredom.

Greta tried to take a deep breath, but the air seemed heavy, cutting.

Her hands were trembling. But not with rage. Not this time.

She bit her lower lip, hard enough to taste blood, trying to hold back the tears that burned in her eyes. But they were already there, visible, glistening under the cold light.

While Vladvaldo and Ulric reveled in Greta's visible suffering, Lysandra, always impeccable and arrogant, watched from a distance.

Tall and slender, her smooth black hair was adorned with delicate braids that framed an angular and refined face. Her icy blue eyes overflowed with disdain, analyzing the scene with a look that made any attempt to impress her useless. Dressed in sophisticated, yet understated, elven clothing, her presence intimidated not by ostentation, but by unattainable perfection and the subtle contempt that exuded from her every gesture.

When no one expected it, she took advantage of the moment of general distraction, moving silently behind Seraphine. With a quick and calculated gesture, she raised her elven staff, made of wood and adorned with bright blue crystals, and whispered a few words loaded with dark magic.

A wave of emerald green energy radiated from the staff, invisible and silent, but powerful enough to hit Seraphine squarely in the back, without giving her any chance to react. The vampire gasped in surprise, her body momentarily stiffening with the impact of the sneaky magic, and then…

Seraphine's legs faltered. Without control, she fell to her knees on the courtyard floor, in an awkward and humiliating movement. But Lysandra's magic wasn't limited to knocking her down. With a touch of refined cruelty, the emerald wave abruptly lifted the vampire's dress above her knees, revealing to the whole world the secret that Seraphine had so struggled to hide.

For an agonizing and endless moment, the entire courtyard fell silent, shocked by Lysandra's audacity and Seraphine's explicit humiliation. Then, chaos erupted.

First came the nervous giggles, muffled with hands, coming from the dwarves and other more restrained students. Then, the muffled, but already more audible, laughter of some vampires and werewolves. And, finally, a collective hysteria erupted in loud and uncontrolled laughter throughout the courtyard, a tsunami of public scorn directed exclusively at Seraphine Noctaria.

Because there it was, exposed to the whole world, under the dress lifted by cruel magic, the infamous… bat panties.

But it wasn't just the shame of having her underwear revealed once again. This time, it was worse. Much worse. For the print on Seraphine's panties didn't just feature bats, as it had the first time. Now, it displayed a legion of cute black kittens, with pink bows around their necks and wide, innocent eyes, on a bright orange background.

The grotesque contrast between Seraphine's aristocratic and somber posture and the childish innocence of her underwear was too much for the students. The collective hysteria reached its peak, with laughter and mocking pointing coming from all sides.

Seraphine, the aristocratic, pompous, and arrogant vampire, humiliated before the entire school.

Gabriel watched the scene from afar, hesitant and uncomfortable. He was leaning against a shadowy statue of an ancestral vampire, trying to blend in with the shadows and go unnoticed. But, even from a distance, he could feel the wave of humiliation and fury emanating from Seraphine.

Did he feel… sorry for her? Surprisingly, yes. Beneath the dramatic pose, the cutting sarcasm, and the intimidating aura, Gabriel could now glimpse a genuinely hurt and deeply embarrassed Seraphine.

"— Oh, heavens!" — Fay exclaimed from the palm of Gabriel's hand, his voice loaded with sadistic delight and pure amusement. "— This is what I call… humiliation! Congratulations, Lysandra! You've just won the… biggest Bitch of the Arcane School award! Hahaha! And just look at Seraphine's face! Priceless! Will she turn into a flying rat again? Or run away to the Courtyard of Shadows and never come back? Hahaha! This is better than an interdimensional reality show!"

Gabriel, shocked and deeply uncomfortable with the cruelty of the scene, couldn't ignore the sound around him. Laughter filled the courtyard. Loud and low laughter, hysterical and sarcastic, cruel and amused, nervous and contagious, if

"— Kyaa! How cute! Kittens!" — Someone shouted in the middle of the crowd, and more laughter erupted, even louder and more strident.

"— Look! The goth vampire with kitten panties! What a shocking combination!" Another voice shouted, and the hysteria increased even more.

"— Does she meow when she turns into a bat? Meow-ow-ow!" — A werewolf howled, imitating a tuneless and ridiculous meow, and the crowd laughed even louder, thickening the chorus of mockery.

Seraphine remained kneeling on the ground, her face hidden in her hands, her shoulders shaking convulsively. Gabriel could imagine the tears streaming down her face, her makeup smeared, her untouchable vampiric persona completely undone. The humiliation was total, cruel, relentless.

Greta and Lira remained paralyzed beside Seraphine, unable to react to the tsunami of bullying that engulfed them. Greta, with her face bathed in silent tears, clenched her fists in despair, powerless before the cruelty of the vampire, the werewolf and the bitchy elf, before the fragility of her friend. Lira, static, with the spritzer in her hand, unconsciously released a few sprays.

Gabriel felt his stomach churn with the scene. The gratuitous cruelty of Vladvaldo, Lysandra, and Ulric, the sadistic hysteria of the crowd, Seraphine's exposed vulnerability, the silent pain of Greta and Lira… everything created a palpable nausea in the air. Fay's amusement seemed distant, insensitive, cruel… as always.

This has to stop.

The conviction hit Gabriel like an electric shock. He didn't know how, he didn't know if he could, but something inside him refused to accept that unbridled cruelty. Watching was no longer an option. It didn't matter the risk. It didn't matter the humiliation.

His chest burned. Courage? Insanity? Perhaps both. But he couldn't stand still anymore.

He took a deep breath. He advanced.

Each step was a blow against fear, each muscle tense as strings about to snap. The courtyard seemed to stretch infinitely to Seraphine, Ulric, Vladvaldo, Lysandra, and the horde of students laughing like hungry hyenas. Gabriel's heart hammered in his chest.

And now?

He didn't have a plan. No brilliant idea. No saving magic.

But, for the first time in a long time, he didn't need any of that.

Sometimes, the only choice was to move forward. Without guarantees. Without certainties. Just with the raw will to change something.

For Seraphine. For Greta. For Lira.

And, maybe, just this once, for himself.