With a gasping voice, just before fully losing consciousness, Hero Tina said.
What…
What actually happened??!!
Hearing those words, Hero Rena paused for a moment, trying to understand what had truly happened at that moment.
The situation was too fast to explain.
Rena suddenly fell silent.
Her body froze in place.
Her face lowered slightly,
covered in dark shadow.
Her eyes were not clearly visible.
But her gaze remained straight ahead… toward Hero Tina, who had now completely collapsed—
at what Anna had done to Tina.
As if her mind had stopped for a moment, Rena muttered about what came next.
That event…
That was truly an extraordinary situation…
Then Rena shifted her gaze to the golden sword at Hero Anna's right waist, now neatly sheathed as if nothing had happened.
Then Rena furrowed her brows slightly.
Something I haven't truly mastered…
Because of my shortcomings…
Suddenly, Rena's eyes darted around (unfocused) as she looked at what was happening, then she said.
I have low mana…
Then, with a tensed jaw, Rena said.
Because of that, I could never do that with my contract sword..!!!
Something truly illogical—something impossible for me—a sword falling upward into the air instead of downward… and clearly, that was contract sword control done by the Headmaster.
With her lips slightly parted, Rena said.
Because doing that requires a huge amount of mana!!
That's why….
Then Rena closed her eyes, not watching what was happening for a moment, and imagined the previous events.
Hero Anna, seeing Hero Tina aiming for her hands, deliberately let her sword be flung into the air. With high mana control, Hero Anna was able to control it while in the air, gathering some energy, then quickly returning it to the ground—
Then Rena muttered in her heart.
That was an energy slash… something that can be done quickly…
Instantly, in a fraction of a second, everything was destroyed, and now the sword was planted in the ground right in front of Hero Anna. The destruction of the chains allowed Hero Anna to move slightly—though soon the chains would reappear. In that short window, Hero Anna, now free, used her legs to run toward Hero Tina, which caused the chains on her hands to stretch. Now Anna only needed her sword.
Instantly, the sword gathered energy again, but this time while still in the ground, making the earth around it tremble violently without actually collapsing. Now the situation was far more striking than anything happening around them.
Quickly, the sword aimed at the chains with a 180-degree spinning arc, veering slightly to hit the chains.
Instantly, both her hands and feet were free. But before the chains could bind her again, Hero Anna immediately knocked out Hero Tina to deactivate her magic.
And with that, Rena could only stand in silence, realizing that she would never truly become a knight like the Headmaster (Hero Anna).
Meanwhile, on the other side, the situation was now truly chaotic. Both Rena and Hero Claire knew that, but one of them was too busy with their personal matters.