Author's Note:
Apologies for the delay in releasing new chapters. I had a week full of exams — and this week isn't much different, though it's a little easier. So now we can slowly return to our regular schedule: one or two chapters per day.
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War — the engine of progress.
Many know this truth, and it remains valid no matter the country, the world, or even the universe itself. The same holds true for the world of the otome game.
After the war between the Old Humans and the New Humans — the fighting didn't stop. On the contrary, it simply changed form. Now, the New Humans were waging war among themselves.
Battles became more and more technological — though nowhere near the level once achieved by the Old Humans, it was still an attempt to imitate them.
A new era had begun: an age of war machines, each one striving to surpass the next.
The main stage belonged to the great airships, yet the powered armors were not forgotten either.
Armor had come a long way — from the first clunky prototypes to hundreds of models, each differing in form, functionality, and even the number of limbs.
Engineers were particularly fascinated by the idea of increasing the number of arms.
In theory, a four-armed suit had an obvious advantage over a standard two-armed one — it could attack and defend simultaneously, dominating in one-on-one duels.
But in practice, things turned out far more complicated.
A human pilot simply couldn't control four arms at once — the human brain and body were designed for two.
To solve this, engineers decided to introduce a second pilot, who would operate the additional arms.
However, this new system brought an unexpected problem: without perfect synchronization between the two pilots, the armor became clumsy, lost balance, and could literally tear itself apart from the inside.
Uncoordinated movements caused dangerous malfunctions.
In the end, the project was declared a failure and abandoned — left only in historical records as a reminder of humanity's futile attempt to surpass its own limits.
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When Leon was reading the Kingdom's war chronicles, he happened to stumble upon this forgotten episode.
And after thinking it through, he realized — he had an advantage.
Because he could create the perfect second pilot: a clone of himself, one who thought and reacted exactly the same way.
Inspired by this idea, Leon instructed Luxion to carry out a full-scale modification of the Arroganz armor — adding two extra arms.
The first trials were rough; coordinating the movements of two identical minds was harder than it sounded.
But with time, Leon and his clone achieved perfect synchronization.
After several successful battles against pirates, the results were astounding — and Leon decided to keep this as his secret trump card.
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And now, it was precisely this weapon that Vandel, the Dark Knight of the Principality, was seeing before his very eyes.
His sword was caught in Leon's two hands, another pair of hands had seized Vandel's arm, and the fourth arm aimed a massive handgun straight at his cockpit.
"Whoa…" was all Vandel could manage, staring at the mechanical anomaly before him.
But before he could even blink, the weapon suddenly shifted aim — and fired.
The shot struck directly at the arm of his armor — the very one holding his legendary greatsword.
A thunderous bang echoed.
Metal shattered like foil.
Vandel's arm wasn't merely damaged — it was blown clean off.
Leon smoothly caught the falling sword, raised it, and with a faint smirk said:
"Checkmate, old man."
Vandel simply closed his eyes and, as if surrendering, quietly muttered:
"End it, boy. Shoot me. Better to die than live in disgrace."
"Yeah, not happening," Leon shot back instantly, without a moment's hesitation.
"You deserve to live in disgrace. You just got beaten by a guy who only recently enrolled in the academy."
Those words burned deeper than any wound.
Something inside Vandel cracked.
A faint fracture appeared on the helmet over his head — the final twitch of his failing armor systems.
Leon, unwilling to wait for what came next, tore apart what little remained intact of Vandel's armor and, with one swift motion, seized him.
Now Vandel dangled like a puppet in the steel grip of Arroganz.
Leon pulled him closer to the armor's head and said:
"You know… I'm aware of your twisted thoughts. You don't just want revenge on the Kingdom of Holfort — you want to destroy everyone, don't you?"
Vandel looked at Leon with growing shock and anger.
"I know plenty about you," Leon continued, his voice cold and steady. "You're willing to kill innocent people for your ideals. You'd have slaughtered my family without a second thought."
Something inside Vandel snapped. At first, he was silent. Then, calmly, he said:
"…Yes."
That single confirmation was enough.
Leon could have done anything he wanted — but at that moment, he stopped.
One of Arroganz's mechanical arms deftly grabbed Leon himself, preventing him from falling, and slowly brought him closer to Vandel, holding the Dark Knight firmly in its grasp.
Leon lunged forward suddenly and struck Vandel hard across the head — the impact instantly left a dark bruise, and Vandel's body shuddered.
After a brief pause to calm himself, Leon returned to the cockpit, took his seat at the controls, and looked down at the limp yet still breathing figure of Vandel. His voice was steady as he spoke:
"I'm not going to kill you. Even if I wanted to.
Murdering you would completely ruin my relations with the Fahnoss princesses — Hertrude and her sister. You still hold too much influence over them, and I need to open their eyes to what's really happening with Fahnoss."
With those words, Arroganz began to descend slowly.
Leon held Vandel in his steel hand — a clear display of both dominance and restraint.
As the armor descended, distant shouts, commands, and the rustle of panic echoed below — yet on the deck of Partner, a tense silence reigned, as Hertrude stood frozen, watching everything unfold before her eyes.