[Chronicle of the Nameless Heroic Spirit!]
[Your name may be forgotten by history, but your deeds will echo through eternity!]
The video had only been released for an hour, yet it already dominated the rankings.
"Another nameless heroic spirit?" Roya found it strange.
Heroic spirits were legendary figures whose great deeds in life became heroic tales after death, earning the faith of countless people and descending into the world in the form of guardians of humanity.
How could there be a nameless heroic spirit?
Could someone who protected humanity and saved the world still be forgotten by everyone?
That was clearly impossible!
"Tch, another clickbait title!"
Roya wanted to roll her eyes, but since she was at school, she had to maintain her elegant young lady demeanor.
In this era, "heroic spirits" were the ultimate traffic goldmine.
If you could uncover exclusive news about a heroic spirit, you were guaranteed to go viral and earn substantial traffic.
And the app would actively push such content, because—
"Uncle here loves money the most!"
Looking at the rankings, there were always a bunch of clickbait titles that were endlessly annoying.
Roya was about to scroll past it casually when she noticed something unbelievable, "Over two million views in an hour, 600,000 likes, and 500,000 coins???"
These stats were outrageously strong!
Damn, newbies these days are monsters!
Roya was instantly stunned by the numbers.
Clickbait titles could drive up views.
but each person could only like once and donate two coins at most—there was no way to fake those numbers.
Pretending to be calm, she opened the video and placed it on her desk.
With such high likes and coins, the uploader, [Alaya], clearly had some serious skills, making her too impatient to wait until after school.
Roya tucked her phone between her books, lowering her head to feign a studious posture.
She clicked play.
A raging fire instantly filled the entire screen.
Countless comments flooded in so densely that the screen became unreadable—
Countless bullet comments exploded across the screen, densely packed until it was impossible to see the video itself—
-[Warning: Incoming high-intensity scene!]
-[Here it comes! My beloved Saint Jeanne — highly recommend!]
-[Is this uploader really the legendary Alaya? Otherwise, how could they get such exclusive footage?]
"A video about Saint Jeanne?"
Roya's eyes lit up.
This was one of her favorite Heroic Spirits.
She'd even skimped on meals just to save up for Jeanne's posters and figurines, despite risking scoldings from Souma.
After her descent, Jeanne had seized Versailles Palace by force and was crowned Emperor of France — an iron-willed sovereign.
The once gentle, saintly maiden of history had transformed into an authoritative Empress.
Some even wondered if she hadn't become the Dark Saint after being burned at the stake.
But beauty was justice.
Her approval rating had remained a sky-high 99%, unshaken by any rival.
Adjusting the barrage density on screen, Roya began watching intently.
The video showed a village in flames.
A girl with long golden hair was leading villagers in an escape toward Orléans.
But a unit of mounted soldiers discovered them and encircled them.
Despair descended.
A pang of anguish clutched Roya's heart.
These scenes perfectly mirrored the true history.
The Hundred Years' War between England and France — with France teetering on the brink of annihilation, while the nobles still tore each other apart for petty power.
If Orléans fell, France would be doomed.
Modern history books had said, "The fate of the entire kingdom hung upon Orléans."
On screen, refugees in ragged clothes wore faces etched with hunger and exhaustion — so vivid and authentic it felt like witnessing history itself firsthand.
An unthinkable suspicion surfaced in Roya's mind:
"Could it be…[Alaya] somehow recorded the actual scene back then and uploaded this video?"
Impossible.
More likely, this was a hyper-authentic recreation commissioned by the French government for a Jeanne d'Arc documentary.
Given modern CGI, such realism was achievable.
Then the battle began.
The villagers were powerless before the ruthless soldiers, slaughtered one after another.
The invaders sneered, "A bunch of peasants think they can liberate Orléans? You'll all die here!"
Blood, cruelty, terror — an oppressive atmosphere permeated the screen, so suffocating that every viewer could feel the despair Jeanne must have felt then.
The kind of despair one felt walking through endless darkness, seeing no light at all.
-[Damn, I feel like I need a censorship filter right now.]
-[Poor Jeanne — just a 17-year-old 'village girl,' yet she had to step up to save France. Were there no men in France back then?]
-[As the ancient wisdom says: 'When Heaven entrusts a great task upon a person, it must first test their spirit, tire their body, starve them, and strip them of comfort.' Ancient wisdom never lies.]
-[Bro, you're deliberately stabbing me in the heart here.]
The slaughter went on.
The golden-haired girl fought back bravely, sword in hand, but she was powerless to stop the massacre.
A villager nearby cried out in anguish, "Jeanne, look what you're protecting!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
Tears streamed from Jeanne's sapphire-blue eyes.
Her slender shoulders trembled; her flawless, delicate face twisted in agony.
She wanted to protect others — but she couldn't.
Why had it come to this?
A saint's tears.
It made countless viewers ache.
Anyone could see that this Jeanne wasn't the invincible Heroic Spirit of legend — just an ordinary girl.
And yet — so very extraordinary.
She had the courage to stand up against an invading army with her frail body.
She was willing to give everything to save France.
Roya's eyes widened in disbelief.
She never imagined the all-powerful Empress Jeanne once had such a helpless, vulnerable moment.
It was strange.
Extremely strange.
Other nations' Heroic Spirit videos were always glorified, heroic propaganda.Why was this one so desperate, so tragic?
Didn't [Alaya] fear being "visited" by the authorities for this kind of content?
The slaughter raged on.
The villagers, outmatched in arms and skill, were like helpless lambs to the slaughter.
Roya closed her eyes, unable to bear watching.
She'd been born in the 21st century — sheltered, never having seen such savage, bloody scenes.
The modern world had protected her too well.
Unlike the video's war-torn world, plagued by invasion and disaster.
It was stifling.
Hopeless.
Merciless.
There was no light at all.
"Who's going to save Jeanne?"
Roya's nose stung, tears welling in her eyes.
Jeanne was one of her favorite Heroic Spirits — yet here she was, in such helpless despair.
But somehow, this made Jeanne even more real, even more endearing.
Because she too had once lived as a mere human.
Just a simple village girl.
And yet she stood up, willing to sacrifice herself to save her homeland.
How could anyone not admire that?
Covering her eyes with one hand, peeking through her fingers to block the bloodiest parts—
And then the barrage exploded:
-[Here it comes, the BGM's kicking in!]
-[Nuclear-level hype incoming!]
-[Hold your phone steady — don't kneel just yet!]
Roya snapped to attention.
After all — wasn't this video titled "Chronicle of the Nameless Heroic Spirit?"
Could it be… that they were finally about to appear?
***
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