For a moment, silence covered the amphitheater like a blanket.The flickering child stood utterly still, spectral notebook opened in her trembling hands.
Saphine stepped forward slowly, careful not to break eye contact.
"It's all right," she said, voice quiet but steady. "You've been alone for a very long time… haven't you?"
The little figure didn't speak — but her pale light began to settle, edges softening.
Eris watched from below, Grand Gaze shimmering faintly in his eyes, his arms relaxed at his sides.He didn't interfere — not this time.
He was simply witnessing.
The Fragment Listens
Saphine crouched down at the edge of the stage. "I don't know if I can show you a beautiful life," she admitted. "I'm… honestly still trying to live one."
The spectral notebook flipped one page forward.
The words keep speaking formed in gentle light.
Meline slowly lowered her blades behind Saphine, eyes narrowing with careful interest.
Saphine exhaled slowly. "Right now I'm scared. About the Trial. About my Echo. About failing people. But I still want to try. I still want to… help someone if I can."
The child's form flickered — not in pain, but in recognition.
Again, the page turned.
Almost…
A faint bell-like sound drifted through the air — soft, melodic, fragile. The separation field weakened for the first time.
Aerin lowered his spear. "She's responding."
Eris nodded once. "Yes."
"So what do we do now?"
Eris tilted his head slightly, watching the light dance around the little girl.
"…We let her decide."
Contact – The Page Turns
Saphine stepped fully onto the stage and slowly reached out her hand.
The child watched.
Hesitated.
And then — very, very gently — placed her small glow of a hand into Saphine's palm.
Saphine inhaled sharply as a warmth poured up her arm — not painful, not heavy… but filled with memories.
She saw:
a little girl sitting under a cherry tree, scribbling in her handmade notebook.
her mother laughing as she spun around in the rain.
fire.screamingvillagers muttering "karma"the notebook burning…
…and the girl standing alone in the ash, unable to die, unable to cry — only recording.
Saphine's eyes shimmered with tears. She squeezed the spectral hand gently.
And said the only thing she could think of:
"…You deserved better."
The child blinked — and the notebook glowed brightly.
A final line wrote itself in a script of soft light:
Then I will wait. Until you show me.
A pulse of warmth bloomed outward — filling the amphitheater like sunlight after a storm.
The separation field vanished.
The child's silhouette slowly dissolved into drifting motes of pale light… but her notebook remained, floating in front of Saphine like a promise.
The Others
Meline exhaled, lowering her guard.
"Honestly," she muttered, "that was… kind of beautiful."
Aerin gave a short nod. "It was."
Saphine wiped her eyes and turned back toward Eris with a small, shaky smile—
Only to freeze.
Because Eris… was staring past her right shoulder.
Eyes sharp.Expression still calm — but no longer gentle.
Saphine blinked and followed his gaze.
Someone was standing at the broken archway of the amphitheater entrance.
A student.
Uniform perfect. Satchel in hand. Face familiar — one of the third-years who always studied in the common courtyard.
"J— Junas?" Saphine said in confusion. "What are you…?"
Junas didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Only raised his right hand — and in it, a small magical sigil coin hummed with faint mana.
Not Echo.
Pure mana.
Eris stepped forward immediately, one arm moving in front of Saphine. "Stay back."
Junas tilted his head slightly.
Smiled.
And in a perfectly calm voice, said:
"Ah. So the fragment has finally chosen a carrier. Excellent.I've been waiting for this moment."
The air behind him warped — not with Echo pressure… but with arcane force.Small containment glyphs spun across the doorframe, illuminating an entire trap formation laid beneath the amphitheater stones.
Aerin's eyes widened in disbelief. "You— you're a magician?"
Junas gave a slight bow.
"Just a humble researcher. I infiltrated this school for one reason: to acquire the wandering fragment. Echoes are fascinating things, after all… especially when converted properly into weaponized mana."
The temperature dropped again.
Meline stepped in between Junas and Saphine, blades flashing. "You were here the whole time. Watching."
"Of course. An Echo like that is priceless. Unfortunately"—he looked straight at Saphine—"now that it has reacted to you, I'll have to extract it myself."
He snapped his fingers.
The containment glyphs ignited at once — light pouring in from every crack in the stone. The entire amphitheater groaned.
Eris stepped forward without hesitation.
The Grand Gaze lit up in both eyes — bright, cold, merciless.
"Last warning," he said quietly."Leave."
Junas only smiled wider.
"You can't stop a contingency spell already in motion."
He placed the coin to his forehead — and the entire spell activated.
The amphitheater exploded in arcs of mana.
To be continued…