As Yuna stepped into the cafeteria, he was taken aback to find the dining areas for the different classes segregated by partitions. He chose a table nearby and settled down. It wasn't long before Lalancia caught sight of him, abruptly abandoning her meal to approach. Trailing behind her was a striking girl with lustrous silver hair. As the figure drew closer, recognition dawned on Yuna—it was Seria, a friend from his younger years.
They congregated around the table where Yuna was seated.
"Hello, Lalancia," greeted Yuna.
Lalancia, foregoing a response, proceeded to introduce the silver-haired girl to Yuna. Concurrently, Yuna and Seria had already plunged into conversation, inadvertently disregarding Lalancia.
Amidst their exchange, the students who had tormented Yuna at his previous school swaggered over to his table, boasting and hurling insults at him.
Yuna remained stoically indifferent to their taunts, but Lalancia and Seria were not as unperturbed.
"Utter one more syllable and you shall meet your demise," they threatened, their gazes piercing through the students. The bullies, contorting their faces in discomfort, hastily retreated, marking the end of the break.
"I must return to my class now. You both should depart as well; we're already tardy," Yuna advised.
With haste, Yuna made his way to the classroom. The girls mirrored his actions, heading towards their respective classes. However, Lalancia paused at the threshold of their classroom and remarked, "Seria, I apologize, but an urgent matter demands my attention."
Lalancia veered towards the washroom but detoured at a disused room, slipping inside.
"What is it you wish to discuss, Xevathor? And of greater consequence, who governs the kingdom in your absence?" she inquired.
Xevathor responded not with words but with a cacophony of laughter. In an instant, he ensnared Lalancia with a spell, rendering her immobile.
"What is your intent, Xevathor?" Lalancia queried, her voice tinged with bewilderment.
"Silence," commanded Xevathor.
A realization struck Lalancia. "You are not Xevathor. Who are you, truly?"
"I am the harbinger of your demise," the figure, masquerading as Xevathor, declared ominously.
As Lalancia was preoccupied with the imposter, an assailant materialized from the shadows and plunged a sword through her heart.
Her scream pierced the air as blood gushed forth, and she collapsed to the ground.
"Had it been an ordinary blade, she would have prevailed. But this 'Soul Eater' was forged with the sole purpose of vanquishing Demon Lords," the enigmatic figure proclaimed.
"How came you by that sword? Was it not safeguarded within the realm of immortals?" Lalancia gasped.
"As you stand on death's precipice, I suppose a revelation is due. I am 'Marfiel,' a devout acolyte of the deities. As for Xevathor, his fate was sealed the day you departed the kingdom, though his end was of little consequence," the figure divulged.
Unbeknownst to them, a silent observer had witnessed the entire ordeal since the sword's fatal thrust—none other than Yuna.
"L-L-Lee, Yuna!" Lalancia's final cry echoed.
Indeed, Yuna had been the unseen spectator all along. Paralyzed with shock, he stood motionless. In the ensuing moment, the imposter charged at Yuna with lethal intent. As the sword bore down upon him, Yuna found himself rooted to the spot. It was Lalancia who intervened, taking the fatal blow meant for him.
With a second stab, Lalancia's life ebbed away.
Xevathor's malevolent laughter filled the air as he taunted, "She has perished. Now, you are next."
The sight of his friend's sacrifice ignited a fury within Yuna. With a roar, he unleashed a formidable aura, and in that surge of emotion, fragments of his lost memory resurfaced. Driven by rage, he began to chant an incantation.
"Under the shrouded sun and the hollowed moon, I invoke the Eclipsing Doom. Bind the shadow, sever the life, expunge from existence, now and in perpetuity."
As the incantation concluded, the school edifice crumbled, the heavens darkened, and a spectral eclipse emerged, casting its ghastly luminescence upon the target. A sigil of shadows materialized, entwining the victims, tightening its grasp until a silent detonation of dark energy consumed them. Yuna, however, was not spared; the sheer magnitude of aura he had released overwhelmed his mortal vessel, causing him to dissipate as if merging with the ether.
To Yuna, it seemed as though he had merely lost consciousness. In truth, he had perished.
When his eyes fluttered open once more, he attempted to rise, only to find himself inexplicably incapacitated.
"Why can I not stand?" Yuna murmured.
He hoisted his hand before his eyes and beheld an anomaly—his hand was now diminutive, a stark contrast to its former size before he succumbed to unconsciousness.
MARK THE WORDS-
"Under the shrouded sun and the hollowed moon,
I invoke the Eclipsing Doom.
Bind the shadow, sever the life,
Expunge from existence, now and in perpetuity."
Brace yourself for the next chapter, where the past collides with the present, and the future hangs in the balance.