There was a memory, now hazy and distant.

The young lady furrowed her brows.

*"Instead of shining alone, I hoped you would be a star that lights others."*

A pure wish she once held tightly in her heart as a child.

But perhaps life’s harshness was to blame. The world didn’t allow her to remain a child, and so she struggled, fiercely battling to survive.

She had no choice but to forget.

The pure heart she once had now bore a dull, tainted hue—a part of growing up.

*“To protect the family from the elders… I must always appear unyielding.”*

She hid her vulnerable sincerity, wrapping herself in a hard, poisonous shell so others couldn’t look down on her. The young lady painted her heart with a mask of pretense.

And because of that…

There were moments when she felt like a stranger to herself.

The person she had once loved seemed to erode with age, leaving behind only a distorted shadow. Sometimes, she regretted the dawns she sacrificed.

*"…Honestly, I hated it."*

She hated forgetting her childhood.

Even if it was part of becoming an adult, it felt too soon to say goodbye. There were nights when such thoughts haunted her.

*"But it was for the best."*

She forced herself to erase who she was to survive.

In the mirror, the doll she saw felt more and more foreign. As the parts of herself she loved were stripped away, she filled the emptiness with the approval of others.

*"Someone special."*

She wanted to be someone special.

A star that shone brightly.

This obsession became a fixation. She accepted her adulthood, no longer feeling pain when looking back on her childhood. She thought she had grown numb.

*"Run for the door now."*

Until she found herself saying words she hadn’t even imagined herself saying.

*"I’ll hold it off here… You get out alive."*

“W-what?”

“I won’t hold out long.”

It was a sudden change of heart.

*"Emilia.
Forget the other things I said, but remember this one thing.”*

At that moment, a familiar voice echoed in her mind.

*"Light only has value when there is someone to illuminate."*

In the face of death, a forgotten phrase resurfaced in her thoughts as if flashing through her life.

*"It’s alright."*

Her own trembling, pathetic fear… it disgusted her.

*“Because I am someone special.”*

Perhaps it was nothing more than pride. A way to boast to the commoner if she survived this death trap.

Emilia pressed her feet against the ground, hurling the spear with all her strength.

*Swish—*

The spear sliced through the air, tracing a blue line, but was intercepted by a writhing tentacle.

The monster’s eyes fixated on her.

<Ah… Aaah?>

It moaned, its hundreds of eyes scattered across its body all focusing on her, a grotesque sight.

She was consumed by fear, but she pushed forward. She exploded her mana with fierce determination, drawing the creature’s full attention.

Frost burst through the air, sharp shards colliding with the monster, causing it to thrash its tentacles wildly in anger.

<GRRRRAAAAH!>

A deafening roar tore through the room.

Enraged, the monster extended its tentacles toward her. Emilia hastily summoned her magic.

*CRACK, CRACK—*

The small snowflakes merged into a large shield.

*BOOM!*

The hasty shield barely withstood the onslaught, thanks to all her remaining mana. She gritted her teeth, holding her ground.

*"Just a bit more…"*

The girl, with unwavering determination in her blue eyes, focused solely on enduring this struggle, surrounded by a storm of ice.

The sound of tentacles smashing into her shield echoed through the lab. She did her best, but it was still just a temporary measure.

*<SKREEEE!>*

The monster screeched, breaking her focus.

*This should be enough… right?*

The girl had managed to hold out for 21 seconds—long enough for Rezia to escape the lab.

*"I suppose… I tried."*

The young lady had always been annoyed by the protagonist.

A mere commoner who had enrolled with excellent grades and possessed talents that shone brighter than her own.

She could never accept it. Maybe it was jealousy.

But in the end, she had won.

Rezia had escaped, while she, Emilia, stayed behind, holding her ground to the end, like a solitary star in the sky.

*"Because I am special."*

She poured her strength into her shield once more.

*"My lady!"*

*BOOM!*

A fireball struck the monster’s face, causing it to recoil. Tentacles flinched from the unexpected assault.

“You…?”

“My lady!!”

Green eyes trembled as Emilia stared at the protagonist in shock.

“A commoner?! Why are you still here?!”

“How could I leave you behind, my lady!”

“I told you to run, you foolish—!”

She began to scold but quickly realized this wasn’t the time.

A tentacle swung toward them.

*BOOM!*

Emilia managed to steady her mana and glanced to her side, where Rezia was kneeling, drawing magic on the floor.

“I’m summoning Efri! It’ll buy us time to escape!”

“Weren’t you unable to summon when scared…?!”

“That’s why I’m going to keep trying until it works!”

“Are you insane?!”

“There’s no other way!!”

It was a risky plan.

Summoning consumed large amounts of mana, and there was a real chance Rezia could collapse from mana exhaustion.

But it was the best hope they had.

If she successfully summoned a wyvern, its overwhelming strength could clear a path.

It was all or nothing.

*"This is madness!"*

Emilia grimaced, realizing there was no other option.

*"The shield will hold for a minute at most! You must succeed in that time…!"*

In a room filled with swirling snow, the two girls faced the monster together.

Meanwhile, lurking in the shadows, the narrow-eyed boy watched everything unfold, clearly entertained.

*"Hmm."*

The boy, his voice filled with surprise, murmured to himself.

*"Surprising."*

His eyes fixated on Emilia Beniti, the villainess who had once tormented Rezia.

*"I didn’t expect her to choose sacrifice."*

The entire scene had been set for Rezia—to allow her to gain experience facing a terrifying enemy and to awaken her potential.

It was a growth event.

*"But things didn’t go as planned."*

In the original story, Rezia was meant to be pushed to the brink. The Snake-eyed boy had expected only that Emilia wouldn’t turn against Rezia, but she had shown an even greater potential.

Even if just for a moment, her eyes had shone like stars—defiant and unyielding before death.

This time, it wasn’t vanity.

*"You’ve proven yourself."*

The boy acknowledged her.

*"I praise you, for now, it’s deserved."*

He turned his gaze back to the scene.

*“Although… it seems the boss fight isn’t going well.”*

Ten minutes had passed since the fight started.

The two girls, once fighting valiantly, had now lost hope. Rezia had passed out from mana exhaustion, and Emilia sat slumped in defeat, cradling the unconscious protagonist.

*"Perhaps they’ve given up."*

The two were destined to lose. This boss was unbeatable without a cheat code.

In the original story, Rezia was defeated, captured, and dragged off by the monster’s tentacles, leading to the next episode.

But this time, things would be different.

*"Seems it’s time I intervened."*

The Snake-eyed boy smiled slyly.

*"After all, it’s not always bad to flip the script."*

With a sly grin, he stepped forward from the shadows.

---

Kneeling on the ground, Emilia muttered quietly.

She waited for death to come as cracks spread across her shield.

*"How empty."*

Her voice, calm, carried a quiet resignation as she brushed a strand of Rezia’s pink hair, feeling the warmth of life still in her fingertips.

Her heart raced so fast it felt it might burst.

*“…I am scared after all.”*

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

*<SKREEEE!>*

*CRACK!*

The shield shattered. The monster’s hideous face emerged, its twisted mouth grinning, tentacles writhing with hunger.

Emilia laughed faintly through her tears.

*"I didn’t think I’d die like this."*

She thought of the days she’d fought to survive, her life flashing by, feeling all too fleeting.

*"I’m sorry, Ruska."*

Her family, her sister—she would leave them behind.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

*<SKREEEEE!>*

The tentacles lunged toward her. Emilia held her spear, summoning the last of her strength.

*"Maybe I should have lived a kinder life."*

With a resigned sigh, she closed her eyes as the tentacles closed in—

*SWISH!*

A crisp slicing sound.

Opening her eyes, she saw the severed pieces of tentacles hovering mid-air, cleanly sliced apart.

*“…”*

She was speechless, staring at the surreal scene. She heard a familiar voice as black shadows dispersed before her.

*"Oh dear… it seems I arrived just in time."*

Standing behind her was a familiar figure, resting his chin on her shoulder almost affectionately, his golden hair gleaming in the dim light.

*"My lady."*

When she turned, she saw the Snake-eyed boy, leaning close,

 a wicked grin on his face.

His hushed whisper sent a shiver down her spine.

*"Do you need… power?"*

With a flick of his tongue, the boy’s half-lidded eyes locked onto hers, glistening with a white gleam she had never seen before—a glimmer more dangerous than any nightmare.