From that day onward, life seemed to return to calm.
At least, on the surface.
Fang Li and Index continued their days in the small student dormitory as though nothing extraordinary had occurred, their lives carrying a fragile illusion of normalcy.
But in truth, shadows lingered just outside.
Kanzaki Kaori and Stiyl Magnus never left. They remained hidden, ever vigilant, watching every move from a distance. In other words, they had compromised. Not because they trusted Fang Li, not even close, but because they had chosen, for now, to observe.
Distrust, that was all they could feel toward him.
And such suspicion was inevitable.
For they knew Index better than anyone, once, they had been her closest companions.
It mattered little that their time together spanned only a handful of years. That bond had been genuine, so much so that even others looked upon it with envy.
When Index's "condition" was revealed, they had fought with everything they had. They gave all their strength, all their spirit, desperate to preserve her memories, desperate to stop the chains that bound her.
But in the end, their efforts failed.
They fell into despair.
And so, they made their choice to be her enemies. To become the blades that hunted her. Because if they had never forged that bond in the first place, if they had remained only pursuers from the start, at least Index's pain at the moment of erasure might have been numbed.
That was the twisted justification.
The reality, however, was cruelty. Year by year, they carried her to this land after each reset. Year by year, they stood by as her memories were stolen over and over. Year by year, they hovered helpless, powerless.
It was no wonder they could not believe Fang Li.
How could they?
For them, salvation was impossible. They had proven it with their own hands. How could a boy who suddenly appeared, who sheltered Index for mere days, promise what they could not achieve even at the cost of years, blood, and tears?
If not for that moment…
If not for the instant when Fang Li revealed those eyes.
The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
Once they witnessed him wield that unnatural, absolute authority, their vision of him changed entirely.
It was no longer a boy they were watching.
It was someone layered in mystery, someone who could claim truths none dared speak, someone with power beyond comprehension.
Surely, that was when Kanzaki and Stiyl began to suspect. To wonder.
To ask themselves, just who, or what, was Fang Li? And perhaps that was precisely why they had decided to wait. Because if he lied, then they needed only to stay silent.
The deadline would come soon enough.
And based on bitter experience, in the final days before it, Index would collapse, her life whittled away under the curse she bore.
That reality was inescapable, unless Fang Li truly spoke the truth.
Of course, what Kanzaki and Stiyl had been told was simple and tragic:
"Her brain cannot withstand the burden of all those memories. Once the year is up, she will fall unconscious… and die."
But the truth was far crueler.
It had never been Index's mind failing her. It was only the Collar.
Whether one called it the curse of a magical trap or the supposed "limit" of her memory capacity, either way, the result was the same. Once a year passed, Index would collapse.
That much, at least, was undeniable.
With such visible symptoms, choosing to observe for a while was not unreasonable.
And so Kanzaki and Stiyl cast their lot on compromise.
In the end, that compromise bore meaning. Index had said it herself. Her memories were last erased exactly one year ago.
The deadline was fast approaching.
Within a week.
And in those seven fleeting days, Index lived quietly by Fang Li's side.
Sometimes they bickered over meals. Sometimes Index crept into Fang Li's bed at night, only to spark another quarrel. Sometimes they fought over chores, with Index inevitably failing her share. And sometimes, when Fang Li returned home too late, Index would explode, biting into him with a fury that only resulted in his head knocking against hers in a counterattack.
It was noisy, messy, utterly ordinary.
But that ordinary life carried a warmth.
In the eyes of outsiders, the two appeared like a quarreling pair bound by a strange domestic bond. Noisy, chaotic, and yet, happy.
Fang Li was perpetually exasperated at his "freeloader," who seemed skilled at only one thing: eating. And eating in comically large mouthfuls at that.
Index was hopeless when it came to the Science Side, even the most basic chores were beyond her reach. She caused far more trouble than she solved, and yet… she was smiling.
For that week, the girl who had lived her entire life bound by chains laughed and played inside a fragile world of ordinary peace.
And during that week, not once did she show the slightest abnormality.
The deadline passed in silence.
And with its passing, Fang Li's words carried new weight.
Trust… bloomed in the shadows of doubt.
…
"Huu…"
Smoke trailed toward the night sky atop a rooftop where the echoes of battle still lingered in memory. For what must have been the hundredth time, Stiyl exhaled and flicked his half-burned cigarette down into the streets below.
Yet his eyes… never left the telescope in his hands.
His gaze fixed on a familiar window of the student dormitory.
Through it, he saw a trivial scene, Index's small figure biting into Fang Li's hand ferociously. Fang Li's exasperated knock to her head followed instantly, leaving her clutching her silver hair with tears welling in her eyes.
It was a noisy, ridiculous scene.
And both magicians knew, it was irreplaceable.
"Let's go…" Stiyl's voice was low, heavy, as he finally lowered the telescope. The words weren't truly meant for himself, but for the woman beside him.
Kanzaki Kaori.
"Our quest is over." He said it flatly, like one smothering flames inside his chest.
Kanzaki did not answer right away. Her gaze remained fixed on that room, on the girl she had once vowed to protect. Her lips trembled faintly, but no words came.
At last, she simply closed her eyes. And nodded. That night, the Saint and the Magician departed Academy City.
Just as Stiyl had said, their quest had ended.
The mission to erase Index's memories, gone. The mission to stay beside her and bear her pain, ended.
In the end, the one who saved her was not them. The one who kept her smile alive… was not them.
And that was all there was to it.
…
"Gulu…"
A bubbling, liquid sound echoed within a chamber that seemed drenched in futuristic technology.
It was a place with no windows. No doors. No stairways. No hallways. No sign of a single person.
The chamber was vast, large enough to be called a grand hall.
And yet, inside this enormous space, there was nothing, only countless glowing monitors and control panels.
From the tens of thousands of devices stretched tens of thousands of cables and conduits, like blood vessels spreading across the floor, all converging upon the chamber's very center.
There stood a massive test tube.
Four meters in diameter. Over ten meters in length. A cylindrical container, filled completely with liquid.
Suspended upside-down within it, was a human figure.
In front of the tube, a monitor unfolded.
On its screen appeared a pair of eyes.
A pair of ice-blue Mystic Eyes.
After a moment, a voice spoke.
"Mystic Eyes… that can look straight at death…?"
The owner of that voice laughed.
A laugh both pure… and filthy.
"An existence beyond expectation…"
"Show me then, whether the change you bring is a blessing or a curse…"
(End Of This Chapter)
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