The soft clinking of metal echoed in Yuu's quiet chamber. He carefully wiped his blade, his movements precise, almost ritualistic. His blue eyes, sharp like honed steel, occasionally flickered to the framed portrait resting on his desk.
It was her—Elenor.
His goddess.
His light.
Even though their rooms were separated by no more than a single hallway, that distance still felt unbearable. He wanted to be by her side, always. The thought of her absence suffocated him. She was not just his lady, not just his savior—she was the reason his heart still beat.
He traced the edge of the frame, memories clawing back to him like ghosts from the past.
His hometown.
It had been a place of agony. His people were cursed—a cruel affliction that kept them breathing but devoured their humanity piece by piece. Walking corpses, suffering endlessly until death finally, mercifully, claimed them.
But Yuu was different. Even as a child, he could suppress the curse's grip. Not fully, but enough. Enough to hold back the decay. Enough to give his village hope.
He taught others how to endure it. He taught them to fight the pain, to delay the inevitable.
It worked.
For a time.
Until they came.
The Church of the Broken God.
Their knights descended on his village like reapers, led by a towering bearded man whose ancient face bore countless lines—each perhaps a testament to the horrors he had witnessed or caused.
"I am the Grand Wiser," the man had said, his tone disturbingly calm. "The Fifth Bishop of the Church. I have come to deliver salvation."
The villagers, terrified yet defiant, rejected his offer.
"We've saved ourselves! We don't need lunatics like you!" they shouted.
The old bishop only smiled, his grey eyes glinting with cruel amusement.
"Oh, you have no choice."
The moment the words left his mouth, the ground beneath them pulsed with an ominous glow. A grand magic circle, already carved beneath the soil, ignited—its power amplifying the curse to its peak.
In seconds, Yuu's entire village withered and crumbled. Bodies collapsed, consumed by the very curse they had fought so hard to resist.
All except him.
The bishop knelt before Yuu, his expression distant, like he was merely observing the success of a long-running experiment.
"It is just as I foresaw. My prophecies never fail."
Yuu had been taken that day, dragged into one of the church's hidden strongholds. Tortured. Experimented on. For years, they tried to force the curse's power to explode. They wanted to turn him into a living weapon.
But all they achieved was making his control stronger. Their efforts backfired.
Eventually, they deemed him worthless and discarded him like trash, throwing him into the streets of an unfamiliar city.
A beggar. A forgotten child. A tool deemed defective.
Until the day he made the mistake of stealing a silver pocket watch.
From her.
Elenor.
Her knights had him surrounded in an instant. His escape routes vanished, his tiny body cornered by polished steel. He had braced for punishment, for chains.
But she—Elenor—had approached him with a gentle gaze, her white hair shimmering like moonlight, her golden eyes warm and curious.
"Take him with us," she had ordered.
And just like that, his life changed.
In her family's estate, he was trained among noble knights. He sharpened his body, honed his blade, and discovered the strange evolution of his curse—a power that allowed him to shatter his body into sharp crystalline fragments deadlier than steel.
He gained the title of Twilight Sword after defeating ten knights at once.
But more importantly, Elenor had given him something no one else had.
Hope.
A reason to live.
She had reached into his darkness and painted his world in color.
Yuu stood, placing a hand over his heart, his vow echoing within his soul.
For her, I will live. For her, I will kill. For her, I will die.
He left his room, his blade resting at his waist, and quietly entered hers.
---
Meanwhile, Across the Academy Grounds
Asrial was fuming.
His scowl deepened as he leaned back against the stone bench in the academy's waiting hall.
"I still can't believe nobles can bypass the entrance exam. What's the point of all this if titles outweigh strength?"
Therisia, sitting calmly beside him in her polished armor, offered him a teasing smile.
"You know my father. He doesn't care about noble privilege. He believes in power, not birthright. That's why he insisted we take the exam."
Asrial sighed, though her words did soften his frustration.
"I just hate this. I hate seeing people being handed things I've bled for."
Before he could rant further, the exam proctors entered the hall. They explained the structure of the entrance trial.
The exam would consist of two phases:
1. Attribute Test – Each student must demonstrate mastery over their elemental attribute.
2. Ranking Test – A one-on-one battle tournament to display their real combat capabilities.
The kicker?
The winner of the tournament would be granted the right to challenge anyone in the academy—student, noble, or even instructor—for a formal duel.
Asrial's eyes lit up.
A fire sparked in his chest.
Therisia, catching his excitement, nudged him with a grin.
"You better win this tournament, Asrial. I want you to challenge that Yuu guy."
"Why are you so fixated on him?" Asrial muttered, trying to play it off. But deep down, the thought had already taken root.
Something inside him urged him to fight Yuu.
Not out of hatred, not even out of rivalry—but something deeper. Something like… recognition.
Two blades, drawn by fate, set on a collision course.
Their story was only beginning.