[Eula's PoV]

A few minutes before encountering the Dark Knight.

Eula's concentration shifted completely from the book in her hand to the Astral Resonator.

The story [The Shattered Swordmaiden] as of now has reached 84% Progress status.

It was the highest someone could achieve in such a short period of time. And that made Leon and Alice ahead of the other groups. Placing them in the first position.

And in the second, it was Ethan with a 79% Progress status.

It was indeed a feat, but Leon's progress outshone Ethan's.

At this point, the original story has shifted even farther from what it was supposed to become. Surely it would still end with the same conclusion, but the way Leon and Alice were progressing the story… it got major changes.

Eula was stunned to see the progress between Leon and Lumina. In history, Lumina was known as the type who rarely opened up to others; the only ones to whom she opened up were just her five sisters and, of course, her late lover.

Throughout the whole story, Leon acted as if she already knew her. As if he knew what she would do next, what she would ask next…

It was interesting for Eula to see it first-hand.

Not long after, the entire library's attention turned towards Eula's resonator.

Only Eula can peek inside that story, as part of her consciousness was tied to Leon and Alice, such that if they were in any trouble, she could simply pull them out.

And so far, both of them have been doing insanely well. And if they keep this up, they will rank at the very top, probably rank 1 or rank 2.

A blunt smile crossed Eula's face.

'Maybe… today wasn't a bad day after all…'

If extracurricular means witnessing these kinds of things every time, then she would gladly do it again.

"Oh? An 84% progress, brilliant."

An elderly voice came from Eula's left.

She turned her head and saw Headmaster Raizen staring at her resonator with a passionate look.

"Hmm…" He rubbed his chin in amusement, "Leon and Alice aye…? Quite the pair if I must say."

Eula stood up from her place and lightly bowed before greeting.

"Good evening, Headmaster."

"Hoho. You don't have to stand, princess, please sit and focus on your resonator."

Eula followed his instruction; she was indeed very much invested in the story herself.

But it was odd for her to see the headmaster himself taking an interest in this examination. Surely the class allotment exam was a big thing in Eclipse, but the headmaster never showed interest, well, except for that particular time, when Lady Veronica and the first princess were taking these exams years ago, when they were in Eclipse.

Well, that time was the golden era of Eclipse.

Anyways, leaving that aside, Eula asked the headmaster, curiously.

"Are you here to see your granddaughter?"

Eula knew how much she adored Alice, so she might have been the reason he came here today.

Or so she thought…

Until she saw Seena pop out, jumping from behind the headmaster.

Seena grinned and gave Eula a 'Yaho! I came here again.' pose.

'Of course, it's her.' Eula thought.

After seeing the progress of Leon's story, she must have poked it to the headmaster.

Eula gave a chilling glare to Seena.

But Seena took it as praise and grinned back at her.

'This girl…' Eula's eye twitched. 'Haah… let's just forget it.'

Ignoring both the party who were staring at her resonator and the progressor indicator bar hovering over it, Eula focused her consciousness back to Leon and Alice and studied what they were up to.

"...Huh?"

She saw something strange, which wasn't mentioned in the storybook.

A new character, a man… or what looks like a man covered in black armour from head to toe, was standing behind Alice, his hand raised, extending a sword which pierced Alice's heart from behind all over to the front.

'Wha– what happened?'

Her mind panicked.

Just a moment ago, they looked fine, but now…

Her heart almost stopped until the scene progressed further.

Leon had used a healing Elixir to heal her wound. Though the wound was not fatal, it still made her worried.

Or so she thought, until she saw both of them chatting without any worry.

Leon started discussing the plan with Alice, but Eula didn't quite grasp how he would manage to do it.

But Alice seemed convinced.

'She's way too easy…' Eula said, focusing on Alice.

Then, after the scene played out, something unexpected happened.

Eula saw Leon using the same skill as Alice. He used the short-distance teleportation skill to shorten the distance between him and the dark knight.

A short-distance teleportation was not a common skill, but it was not a rare skill either. That skill could only be found among the pure-blood nobles, who had ancient lineages to great warriors.

So, it might be possible for Leon to have it too.

That was what Eula thought, until Leon used another skill.

A whisper rang in her ear as Leon spoke the name slowly.

"Command of Grace."

SCREECH—!

Eula impulsively stood up from her chair, and the wooden chair behind her screeched on the floor; it fell on the ground with a loud thud.

"...?"

"...?"

Both Seenna and the headmaster were surprised to see her face.

"Princess?" Seena inquired, worried.

She was in complete disbelief.

As if she saw something impossible, something which shouldn't exist.

'Impossible… don't tell me, that's my skill.'

Then, before she reacted or even got the chance to react, the scene moved forward, with each passing second, and with each question that Leon was asking the dark knight, Eula's consciousness got entirely focused on the scene and the event unfolding at the moment.

It was different. So different that it was never mentioned in any of the books here.

Shin being the dark knight… the brainwashing demon… that sudden attack....

It was her first time seeing this.

"..."

But that was not the end.

Only a moment later, when Leon asked the final question in absolute rage, another unbelievable scene occurred.

The Dark Knight spells out a name.

And as he did, his body shredded into a million pieces and tossed in the air, fell on the three of them like rain.

Eula's brain stopped functioning for a second. She was having a hard time digesting it all.

The scene, the blood, Shin, and more importantly…

The name.

"Zenith…" Eula repeated in the real world.

'What is happening? Leon, what are you up to?' Eula thought.

The headmaster heard it. And his face went pale as he did.

His hand rattled, shaking as if his very bones remembered something they should have forgotten. He controlled it quickly, forcing calm over himself, but his voice cracked when he asked her.

"Y–You… what did you just say?"

He asked Eula directly.

Seena, beside her, didn't understand a thing; she only stared between them. Something had just happened in a matter of seconds, something she could not grasp.

Yet the look on the headmaster's face, and the silence in Eula's eyes, told her this was no small matter.

She had never once seen them in this state.

"..."

Eula opened her mouth, tried to say it out loud again, but her throat tightened.

The memory of the scene clawed inside her chest. That same feeling, that bloody rain, that thought that if she dared to speak it openly, her own body might split and shatter like the knight's.

No words came out of her.

"You just said… Ze—"

The headmaster stopped himself, shutting his own mouth in haste. As if he recalled something forbidden. But he uttered it anyway, knowing well that this rule no longer applied in this era.

"Zenith…?"

The word leaked from him like poison.

"Where…did you hear it? Who told you this?"

The headmaster pressed further.

Raizen recalled one of his missions when he was in the [Authority].

Eula wasn't supposed to know that name; no one should.

Eula blinked slowly.

She understood the gravity of it now. That name… some kind of forbidden past was tied to her, something that shouldn't be publicly discussed.

She glanced around, saw the others looking curiously in their direction, but their voices had been low, too low to be overheard.

That gave her some relief.

Her voice lowered, and she spoke faintly.

"Ask Leon… when he comes back."

Nothing more.

The headmaster's face froze. He understood.

"What's happening?"

Seena asked at last, she was curious too, and she wanted to know what was happening.

Neither of them answered. Both the headmaster and Eula kept their lips sealed.

Then—

The resonator gave a sound.

Trrrrrrrrrrr—!

A strange sound, rough and unnatural, like stone grinding against stone, like the shriek of iron scratching others.

It grabbed Eula's attention at once.

Eula and the headmaster turned and looked at the resonator. Seena clutched her chest, startled, as the glow of the resonator pulsed violently.

At that same moment, the progress bar above it, the bright golden strip that marked Leon and Alice's advancement, began to change.

Progress: [|||||||||||||||||||84%...]

Progress: [||||||||||||||||74%.......]

It fell 10%.

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