Moments before the first duel.

After being instructed by Sir Tyler to stand farther from the concrete stage, Alice, alongside Ethan and the rest of the class, scattered away from Stage Four, where Leon and Kian were about to duel.

Alice stood beside Ethan, arms crossed, her gaze fixed on Stage Four.

She was not the least bit worried. She knew well what Leon was capable of. She had seen him wield Moonblade without much struggle.

A legendary weapon, forged to be destruction itself. A blade infamous for its unstable mana channeling, a weapon said to kill its own wielder. And yet, a first-year was using it on a daily basis.

'Yeah… that's not normal.'

What was even less normal was how Leon wielded it. He swung Moonblade as if he knew the weapon inside out, as if it had always been meant for his hands.

Leon intrigued Alice greatly.

A boy who awakened out of nowhere. Someone who possessed a skill that, to her, looked capable of mimicking almost any ability in existence. A deep understanding of spellcrafting, mana, and history.

And now…

"The only wielder of Light…" she muttered, only loud enough for herself to hear.

Leon Valentine was a perfect subject for research. Any researcher in this world would agree. And Alice was no exception. She wanted to see him use Light at least once.

She had never witnessed it before.

As someone deeply interested in mana and spellcrafting, Leon's Light felt like a gateway to something entirely new.

Like witnessing the rebirth of an era everyone believed had already vanished from history.

But sadly…

Alice doubted he would use Light today. There was no reason for him to pull out something that flashy when Moonblade was already in his hand.

"Who do you think will win?" Ethan asked beside her.

Alice turned to him and countered instead. "Why don't you tell me?"

Ethan thought for a moment before answering.

"Alright. If we go by stats and raw power, then Leon and Kian are around the same level. They should struggle against each other."

'Stats and raw power?'

Alice raised an eyebrow. She had no idea how Ethan knew their exact stats. Then she noticed the slight smirk forming on his face.

"So you're saying both of them have a chance of beating the other?" she asked.

Ethan shook his head. "I never said that. I said if we go by stats and power."

"And if we don't?" Alice pressed.

Ethan's smirk widened, and he let out a quiet chuckle.

"Then forget I ever asked that question."

As they chatted, a hesitant voice came from their right.

"E-excuse me…"

Alice paused and turned her head.

A group of three girls from Class S stood there. She did not recognize any of them by name.

"What?" Alice asked plainly.

The one who had spoken stepped forward slightly. She had shoulder-length black hair and jet-black eyes. Her voice was unusually soft, almost careful, yet there was an odd boldness hidden beneath it.

The two girls beside her subtly nudged her forward, clearly pushing her to say something she did not want to ask out loud.

"Are… are you close with Leon…?"

She asked it directly.

Alice blinked.

"What?"

"I-I mean…" the girl tried again, her voice dropping lower, closer to a whisper. "Do you and Leon from our class… are you clo—close…?"

Her face flushed pink halfway through the sentence, and even her ears twitched slightly.

Alice stared at her.

Ethan, standing beside her, muttered, "Wow."

Alice ignored him.

She looked at the girl properly this time. She was smaller than Alice, reaching just up to her shoulder. Her features were soft, almost delicate. Cute, even. Under the sunlight, her black eyes reflected a faint gray sheen.

Alice immediately understood why she was stuttering.

And once she did, she could not stop herself from grinning.

"What's your name?" Alice asked.

"O-oh… I-I'm Beatrix," the girl replied quickly. "Ranked twenty-second of Class S."

Alice nodded slowly.

'Refined…' she thought.

'And innocent.'

She sighed internally.

'Yeah. Way too good to fall for that bastard.'

"So…" Beatrix hesitated again. "You and Leon…"

Alice answered without missing a beat.

"Not a chance in hell."

The reaction was immediate.

Beatrix's eyes lit up.

"Oh!"

She exchanged looks with the two girls beside her, who nodded enthusiastically. Beatrix's face flushed even more.

Alice noticed it all.

Her smile faded just a little.

'The last time I saw Leon genuinely smile,' she thought, 'was when he was with Miss Lumina.'

This girl had no chance.

"You like him?" Alice asked bluntly.

"Huh?! W-what?! No! I—I don't—!"

'Yeah… she's completely into him.'

Alice sighed inwardly and then said out loud.

"Just so you know," Alice added casually, "he's into older women."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Even Ethan went silent.

Beatrix froze completely.

Her eyes were wide open, lips parted, brain visibly struggling to process what she had just heard.

"O-older… women…?" she repeated faintly.

Alice nodded as if stating an obvious fact.

"Yeah. He gets all weird," she added casually. "Blushy. Quiet. Starts acting way more careful than usual whenever he's around one."

Beatrix's face turned bright red in an instant.

The two girls beside her stared at Alice with expressions somewhere between shock and despair.

"And if you really think you want a shot," Alice continued, completely unfazed, "then come back after ten years. Or…" she tilted her head slightly, "…just ask your older sister to try."

"Hey now."

Ethan nudged her arm.

Alice turned to him. "What?"

"That was unnecessary," he muttered.

"I'm just saying what I saw," Alice replied flatly.

"What you… saw…?" Beatrix asked, her voice barely audible, and eyes still locked onto Alice.

Alice glanced back toward Stage Four, where Leon stood calmly one hand resting on Moonblade at his side.

"…Exactly what it looked like," she said.

'Well, I didn't lie… most of it…'

Beatrix swallowed hard.

"Ready! 3… 2… 1.. Go!"

As the referee said, every eye turned to stage 4.

The referee's voice had barely settled when Alice felt it.

Kian was about to move first. Alice saw his stance shift, his sword lifting as his foot pressed into the stone beneath him. His motion was clean and sharp, exactly what one would expect from a top-ranking first-year.

On the other hand... Leon... There was no hesitation in him.

"Why isn't he moving—" Alice didn't finish her sentence when Leon just disappeared.

"..?!"

He was simply no longer there.

Alice's pupils shrank instinctively as her eyes tried to follow something that had already passed through her field of vision. A white streak cut across the stage, so fast it barely registered as motion, and more like a tear in space itself.

Then a sharp metallic sound echoed across the arena.

CLANG.

The noise rang clear and heavy, bouncing off the stone on the stage. silencing every murmur around them.

Alice's gaze snapped forward to the ground where a three feet black blade had fallen motionless and cracked cleanly and then to Kian's behind.

Leon was already standing behind Kian.

He stood upright, his posture relaxed, and Moonblade resting loosely in his hand as a pale unstable hum of mana rippled faintly along its surface. The air around the blade trembled subtly, as if it hadn't yet settled from the movement that brought it there.

Kian hadn't turned.

He was still facing forward, with sword raised to his side.

Except the blade was shorter now.

Alice stared.

Even though she had seen Leon perform movements like this before. Even though she knew what he was capable of. Seeing it happen in real combat in real life, against a peer of similar rank, carried a completely different weight.

"…Magnificent," she murmured without realizing she had spoken.

As a Stage Five weapon master, she could tell immediately. This wasn't an overwhelming strike meant to dominate. It was a precise read, a movement executed with absolute confidence in the outcome.

Leon had already seen where Kian would move, how he would step, and where his blade would leave an opening.

Around her, reactions spilled out in hushed disbelief.

"He vanished…" Beatrix whispered, her hands clenched tightly in front of her chest. Her eyes never left the stage.

"He really just vanished."

"...And reappeared behind him," one of the girls beside her added, voice trembling slightly.

Ethan narrowed his eyes, as his attention fixed entirely on Leon now.

"That wasn't just footwork," he muttered. "It looked like a short-range displacement skill… combined with a sword technique."

His gaze shifted downward, locking onto the weapon in Leon's hand.

"…What kind of sword even does that?"

No one there understood what they were truly seeing.

No one, except Alice.

The weapon Leon was holding was not just rare. It was legendary. A sword that once belonged to the greatest Swordmaiden in history. A blade that had never accepted another wielder until Leon. It had been given to him, acknowledged by its original owner as worthy.

That fact alone made Alice's chest tighten slightly.

"What… is that…?"

The voice did not come from the students.

Alice's eyes shifted instantly toward Stage One.

Sir Tyler stood near the edge of the platform, he was no longer relaxed, and no longer composed. His posture had stiffened without him realizing it. One hand had slipped from the hilt of his sword, and his fingers were hanging loosely at his side.

His eyes were locked onto Moonblade.

The way someone looked at something that should not exist.

His breathing had grown heavier, as if his instincts were screaming at him to look closer, to understand, to confirm what his mind was already refusing to believe.

"That blade…" Tyler muttered under his breath.

Alice noticed the slight tremor in his voice.

The way his gaze traced the sword's length, the pale white mana humming around it, the unnatural unsetting and unstable mana, which Leon Valentine, was calmly holding.

Sir Tyler Grimwar, a Stage Six weapon master, stood frozen, utterly awed by a mere Stage Four.

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