Chapter 103: Speculations [Bonus - 1/3]

A/N: Once again, we have Moonman2633 to thank for these Chapters. Enjoy.

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Lukas’ eyes widened slightly in surprise. Morgana? S-rank?

"How do you know?" He asked.

"I watched her the entire fight with Ajax." Akira leaned back in her chair. "And as someone who is also S-rank, I can tell when another S-rank is holding back."

She paused. "She was restraining everything. From her speed to her strength, and even the force behind every movement. You can tell she hasn’t been holding that kind of power for long "

"It’s like watching someone move through a room full of glass, terrified of breaking something. She’s definitely a new S-rank. Since you all awakened around a month ago, I’ll say she’s been S-rank for around a week, give or take three days."

Lukas’ mind went back to her fight with Ajax.

Morgana hadn’t made contact with the archer except once, when she’d kicked the bow from his hands.

The only thing she’d notably done was swing her sword, and he’d noticed a few... odd things. Like the way she’d moved, not looking fast nor slow to their perception.

That had been weird enough without having to factor in the fact that when she’d slashed at Ajax’s arrows, instead of it shattering into shards, it had simply dissolved into mist.

But at this point, everything was just speculation. So, he turned to Akira.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"No. I didn’t see anything else, but I can tell. Call it a gut feeling," Akira said. "I know she’s much more dangerous than she’s been showing."

"I agree," Melody said, nodding along. "I don’t have anything specific to point to, but something about the way she moves tells me this is no ordinary Awakener. Either she’s not a newly Awakened awakener or she’s already S-rank."

"Well," Lukas said slowly, "since you both agree with this, I’ll have to trust your judgement."

Akira grinned, while Melody chuckled at the sight.

"How about her class?" he asked. "Do we know what it is yet?"

"No," Melody confirmed. "And the fight didn’t help. She used the sword and nothing else."

"But the arrows," Lukas said. "They dissolved when she cut them."

Seeing the confused look on their face, he explained. "The arrows are supposed to shatter and multiply, becoming shards of ice, but when Morgana slashed, they simply dissolved into mist."

"It had to be an elemental skill, don’t you think? Maybe water or ice control. There has to be classes with skills like that, right?"

Melody shook her head. "Not necessarily. You don’t need a specialized skill to produce that kind of effect. What you need is enough raw power concentrated into the strike, combined with genuine swordsmanship at a high enough level."

She looked at him. "The mist was a byproduct of the force, not a separate skill activating."

"Which means all we actually learned from that fight," she said, "is that Morgana Le Fay has both. Power and technique. We just don’t know how much of each."

"That’s not even what I’m most curious about," Akira said, pouring herself a cup of wine from her spatial ring. "It’s what’s under the mask I want to know. Is it some kind of strategy,to pull attention, or does she actually have something worth hiding?"

"Maybe she has a scar," Melody suggested, a grin on her face. "Or maybe she’s so beautiful that she can’t walk through a public space without causing a scene."

Lukas snorted. "That seems unlikely."

"Does it?" Melody tilted her head. "Nobody has seen her face. Not a single person in that stadium today. She’s been in this city for at least two days and there’s still nothing. That’s not exactly easy, is it?"

"There should at least be rumors but there’s none. Do you know how dedicated you have to be to your privacy to achieve that?"

"Fair point," he conceded. "But I think there’s a simpler explanation than all this."

"Like what?" Akira asked, swirling her cup in her hand.

"Maybe she doesn’t want someone to know she’s competing."

"That doesn’t make sense." Melody interjected. "She already gave her name, so what’s the point in hiding her face? The person would eventually know."

"Well, it could be something else, but either way, I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with her face."

"Why are you so sure?" Akira asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Because I’ve seen her face." Lukas said casually. "And there wasn’t anything worth hiding."

The table went quiet as both Melody and Akira stared at him in shock. Then they were both talking at once.

"When?"

"Where?"

"How did you not tell us this?"

"What does she look like?"

"Lukas—"

He raised both hands. "One at a time. Please."

They stopped, glancing at each other to figure out who would speak first, but Lukas decided to just explain, instead of letting them interrogate him.

"Yes, I’ve met her once before. Just once. I didn’t even realize it was her until today," he said. "It was when she walked into the arena without me being able to detect her aura that something clicked in my head."

He told them about how he’d bumped into a woman after he’d registered for the tournament.

How his registration slip had fallen from his hands, and she’d caught it, reading it before handing it back.

"Good luck," he finished. "That was all she said before she left."

Melody’s eyes were wide. "And that was Morgana Le Fay?"

"That was Morgana Le Fay," he confirmed.

A short silence.

"So what does she look like?" Melody asked.

Her tone changed in a way Lukas couldn’t identify, but it showed she was genuinely curious and was trying not to show how much.

Lukas considered the question honestly, trying to bring up the image of her face in the crowd.

He’d only stared at that face for about thirty seconds before she disappeared into the crowd, and by that time, he’d already gotten used to sleeping and waking up next to Akira and Melody, so her beauty hadn’t really registered in his mind.

"I guess you could say she was good looking," he said. "I can’t really remember what she looked like clearly anymore, but I’m sure I’ll be able to recognize her if I saw her on the street."

"But all I can say is that there was nothing remarkable about her appearance that would require hiding it. Whatever the reason for the mask, it isn’t that."

Melody frowned. "Then what is it?"

Nobody at the table had an answer.