"It doesn't really matter."
"After all, I've almost gathered all the intelligence I needed."
Shiayar had found a large garbage bag, wrapped the corpse of the black-robed thug in it, and tossed it outside the house.
He turned sideways to Enola and patted the silver-white knight's helmet. "All right, put it away now. It's not good for a girl to look so fierce."
Enola glanced at Shiayar, and her armor began to glow with a pure white light. Then, in an instant, the heavy Mithril armor transformed into a silver-white stream of light that swirled around Enola. After a few breaths, the flowing silver light resolved into countless ethereal motes, which gradually merged into the knight's silver spear Enola clutched in her hand. The pure silver armor on her body vanished, revealing her original academy uniform once again.
Watching everything unfold before him, Shiayar couldn't help but whistle.
Indeed, no matter how many times I see it, it's still so cool...
"Ancient fantasy armament, sustaining the stars, anchoring the world's Sacred Spear—'Rhongomyniad'."
"So how exactly did you come up with so many overly dramatic names? As expected of the top-billed author of the Royal Book Society, I suppose?"
A hint of helplessness tinged Enola's words. She waved her hand, recalling the gleaming silver spear into her Soul Pact Space.
In this world of extraordinary powers, it wasn't just traditional beasts that existed. Whether plants, Element lifeforms, informational life entities, or even ancient swords and weapons, all had the potential to become Pet Beasts.
Unlike Shiayar, who was more traditional—using all his Soul Pact slots and nurturing multiple Pet Beasts simultaneously—Enola epitomized the type of Beastmaster who formed only a single pact, investing all her energy and resources into her 1st Soul Pact.
Of course, as her sole contracted item, the origin of this knight's silver spear was anything but ordinary.
While Shiayar hired archaeological teams to explore relics in the Azure Garden Dukedom, they had also discovered numerous ancient relics unrelated to it. This silver spear came from one such relic that held no Echo of History. Based on Shiayar's research at the time, the owner of this ancient relic must have been a legendary guardian knight who once served a former emperor of the Fresta Empire.
When Shiayar and Enola were exploring that ruin together, the ancient silver spear, sealed within, actively completed a contract with Enola, perhaps because her spirit resonated with it. Compared to typical weaponry imbued with Spirituality, this silver spear's spirit showed no signs of awakening, possibly due to being sealed for too long, making it impossible to determine its exact Species Rank.
Despite this, the silver spear was undeniably powerful. After Enola advanced to the 2-Ring level, it could manifest not only as a weapon but also as knight armor, a helmet, gauntlets, and other protective gear. In terms of sheer combat capability, even high-level Sovereign type Pet Beasts of the same rank were no match for Enola, which had allowed her to climb to the top of the rankings at St. Roland Academy.
Shiayar, who had grown up watching armor-clad heroes and masked riders, had long been envious of this. He had secretly visited various ruins many times behind Enola's back, but his attempts to elicit a similar response had always failed.
Now that I think about it, perhaps my soul is fundamentally too abstract and too much of a fun-lover...
The knight's honor, that golden spirit encompassing ideals like the seven great virtues, truly didn't seem to fit the name Shiayar.
And 'Rhongomyniad' was the name Shiayar had given to Enola's nameless silver spear. At the time, he had just casually mentioned it, a spur-of-the-moment idea, never expecting Enola to actually adopt such an overly dramatic name.
By now, the chaotic noise outside had gradually subsided, replaced by an eerie calm.
Shiayar shook the dust from his trench coat. "Let's go. It's time to move out."
Enola slightly furrowed her lovely brows. "If we're going to break out, the best opportunity would have been earlier, taking advantage of the crowd, the chaos, and the thugs' diverted attention."
"Judging by the sounds now, it's apparent that most of the students have either been subdued or have lost the will to resist."
"If we choose to break through now, we'll likely have to face multiple opponents all by ourselves."
She glanced at the black body bags outside. "Individually, these people pose no threat to us, but if they band together, there's still a certain risk."
"Moreover, according to his earlier words, the Ashes Cult has deployed at least one 4-Ring cult leader and brought a contaminant."
"Our best option would be to stay here and wait for rescue from the professors and the Military Department."
"Tsk—Rescue? We probably can't count on that arriving anytime soon," Shiayar said, pointing outside the door.
In the distance, around the perimeter of the student dormitory area, the paths that should have led to the outside world were now, at some unknown point, engulfed by roaring walls of fire. The fierce firewalls interconnected, vaguely forming a complex array that sealed off the entire student dormitory area, isolating it from the rest of St. Roland Academy.
It wasn't just the ground routes that were sealed. Even students with flying Pet Beasts who attempted to evacuate by air were forced to land by the rapidly ascending blaze. Clearly, this fiery array wasn't merely a physical blockade; it seemed to embody a conceptual principle of 'forbidden passage.'
Shiayar glanced at the burning columns of fire in the distance. "They've deliberately used an array to seal off this place. And they're just sealing, not slaughtering, which means they probably plan to use these students for something."
Enola also directed her gaze toward the distant pillars of fire, closing her eyes to sense for a moment. "According to my Intuition... if I unleash Rhongomyniad's maximum power, briefly creating an opening large enough for the two of us to pass through shouldn't be a problem."
"If we go, what about everyone else?" Shiayar shook his head, a righteous expression on his face.
"I realize now that President Dyres made a good point. The academy is our home; we should have a sense of collective honor and not just abandon our fellow students."
However, facing Shiayar's righteous words and just demeanor, Enola did not respond. She merely used her pair of ice-blue eyes to silently and calmly gaze into his.
Their gazes locked for a dozen seconds before Shiayar finally relented.
"Alright, I admit it. Rescuing people is secondary; I'm mainly interested in that contaminant from the Ashes Cult."
"But don't worry. If things really go south, I'll bolt immediately. Shiny just awakened the Space Leap skill, and when it comes to escaping, I doubt anyone in St. Roland Academy, including the professors, can beat me."
Enola gave Shiayar a deep look, then gently nodded. "Oh."
This was the interaction they were accustomed to. Enola occasionally would be a little capricious with Shiayar; for instance, if she felt he was hiding something, she would quietly observe him with those ice-blue eyes until he chose to explain. But once Shiayar truly made a decision, she would execute it unconditionally. This was the unique understanding between Shiayar and Enola, a dynamic they had shared since they first met.
"Don't worry."
Shiayar pushed open the door, his black trench coat flapping and rustling in the incoming heatwave.
"Poverty makes me invincible."