CHAPTER 35: SHINRA INCIDENT [5]

"The moon is beautiful tonight," Leon greeted with a smile. "Don’t you think, princess?"

Eula goggled in disbelief as Leon slowly walked toward her.

"You guys don’t look fine?" he added, extending his hand toward Eula. "Here."

Twack!

Eula smacked his hand away and stood up with the support of her sword.

"Were you hiding all this time?"

Eula grimaced, her lips tightening as she saw Leon unharmed.

"I was not hiding, princess," he replied, rubbing the back of his hand. "I was simply observing."

"Heh." Eula cringed. "Big talk. For a second, I thought you actually had a plan."

She paused, then added, staring into Leon’s golden eyes,

"Is that boy’s light affinity the real key here?"

Eula looked back at the scene where Lucian and Ethan were still locked in a deadlock.

Leon rubbed the back of his head and replied,

"Yes, and do forgive me for Ethan’s stupidity."

"Oh, so you do realize he’s stupid?"

Anyone who didn’t cut off a demon’s head the moment they had the chance was stupid.

"Anyways," Eula said, calming her racing heart, "do tell me if your plan is still valid."

Leon’s eyes twitched at her comment.

His plan?

It had already failed the moment that demon pulled out the [Soul Eater].

’What do I do?’

He forced his mind into full gear but didn’t let the discomfort show on his face.

The [Soul Eater] wasn’t something Lucian was supposed to possess. It was meant to be revealed much later in the game.

Its sudden appearance now made Leon wonder if someone knew Lucian would be fighting Ethan.

’Who was it?’ No matter how hard Leon tried, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

Ethan was supposed to be his key figure to defeat Lucian.

He had never disclosed Ethan’s involvement to any members of the Twilight Order to prevent leaks.

’But it happened anyway,’ he thought.

"Hey," Eula snapped. "We don’t have all day."

"Ah, yes." He nodded.

’At this rate, I’ll lose her trust.’

Leon didn’t want that. He wanted to prove he was capable enough to be a part of the Twilight Order.

He glanced to his right, where Ethan was struggling against the [Soul Eater].

’That weapon is not something he can handle at his current strength.’

If Leon remembered correctly, Ethan had been a Yellow-core when he confronted the [Soul Eater] in the game.

And even then, it wasn’t easy.

’He’s an Orange-core right now...’ Leon thought. ’Shit... no matter how I look at it, we’re bound to fail.’

Then it hit him.

’Wait... now that I think about it, I didn’t get any Quest pop-up in my system like I did back at Princess Rinna’s birthday banquet.’

The quest menu was supposed to appear whenever an event happened, or whenever Leon made a potential change to the game’s original storyline to reward him [Fate points].

’Does that mean after doing all that, after exposing Lucian and finally cornering him... I didn’t make any potential changes?’

This was troublesome, because if Lucian survived, it would lead to Leon’s death in the future.

’It’s all the Soul Eater’s fault.’ He looked at the black sword in Lucian’s hand. ’How the hell did it end up with him?’

"Haaahh..." Letting out a long sigh, he rubbed his temples before asking,

"Princess, what color is your mana-core?"

The question was unexpected.

"What?" Eula raised her eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"

It was a genuine question.

"Please tell me just this once," Leon requested, his eyes calm despite the situation.

Staring at him, she answered,

"Haah, it’s a four-star Orange core. I am a Spellweaver."

"Impressive. That makes things easier."

He nodded, taking out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket.

"Huh?" Eula, confused, narrowed her eyes.

Leon already knew about her rank, but he still asked to avoid any future interrogation about how he knew. Only the Eclipse’s professors had that information.

He drew several circles with a complex geometrical pattern inscribed along the borders with strange letters surrounding it.

"What are you... doing?" Eula was stunned at the sight.

The pattern Leon was designing was a Magic Formula.

’The Soul Eater was not supposed to exist at this point, so to tackle it, I’ll give it a taste of the future.’

Turning the paper, he began writing.

’Professor Esther would do anything to get her hands on what I’m about to do.’

Eula wasn’t able to get a clear view of what he was writing.

"The first line. Connect with them. Praise the Affinities," Leon muttered.

"What?" Eula asked.

"The second line. Praise them more, one-by-one, use the correct syllable."

"Hey, you alright?"

Leon ignored Eula.

"The third line and last. Command them." He grinned, extending the paper toward her.

Eula took it, still not grasping his plan.

The moment she looked at the Magic Formula, her eyes widened.

"What is this? I’ve never seen it before," she asked.

"A magic formula," he replied.

’A technique that wasn’t supposed to be discovered yet...’ he thought, watching her reaction.

She turned the page, and her gaze fell on the three lines written on it.

"What..." She glanced back at Leon, then at the paper in her hand. "What... is this?"

"A three-line incantation," Leon said casually.

’Eula, you will be the first to use it.’

A three-line incantation could only be cast by someone of Spellweaver rank or above.

Eula met the conditions.

"Look," Eula said, gripping the paper, "this is not the time to—"

"Eula," Leon called her by name, "remember the formula while you speak the incantation. And remember, you will only get one shot, as this spell will drain half of your mana."

The way Leon spoke, so confident, made it sound as if he had already seen the spell form before.

"I admit, my actual plan didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to, but..."

He grinned before adding,

"That was just plan A. The alphabets are long... and I own every one of them."

Her eyes twitched.

"If this doesn’t work, Leon... the demon will have to wait its turn."

"As you wish." Leon’s gaze didn’t waver.

With that, Eula, holding onto the paper, dashed toward Lucian.

"..."

Watching her leave, Leon heaved a sigh of relief.

"Of course it will work... this is the spell that was supposed to be your specialty."

He looked at the battlefield.

Ethan and Lucian were going back and forth.

He kept his eyes on them for a moment.

Reaching inside his coat, he took out a transparent bottle filled with red liquid.

It was the remaining [Drop of Limitless] which Leon had extracted and stored in a glass bottle.

In the story, Ethan had already been Ignite-rank when he consumed it, which boosted his overall stats and also removed the limited progression feature.

With the limited progression feature, any living being could rank up only to a set threshold.

But after consuming [Drop of Limitless]...

The limited progression feature would be lifted.

And Ethan could grow his stats endlessly, without any limit.

When Haru transmigrated into Leon’s body, he had also taken it, which allowed him to awaken easily, but it didn’t boost his stats or remove the limited progression feature.

If he were to take it again...

"It was never mentioned in the game."

No one knew, not even Haru, who had created it. After all, Ethan was only meant to take it once.

And no player had ever tried to take the [Drop of Limitless] more than once.

’This thing was never programmed.’

His grip on the bottle tightened as he lifted his gaze to where Eula stood.