The Villain Is Destined to Die: But as the Creator, I know All Endings

*A/N: The middle portion of this chapter had a lore dump. It's important.But I have tried my best to make it at least a bit interactive. Do forgive me if I have failed to do so.*

…

"You do realize that saying something like that out loud is enough for others to consider you a person with mental disability?"

Eula leaned back, folding her arms.

Leon almost sneered. "Why? Does it bother you?"

"Indeed it does." She replied casually, tilting her head at him, as if she were stating general knowledge.

"I took a stance for you. So, if you are to be declared a mental person, then people at the castle, especially the opposition, would call me the same. So tell me what your real end goal is."

Even if Leon exposed his end goal here, she would not understand it.

Claiming a reality?

Yeah, that was something absurd in her eyes, something only a person with a brain the size of a pea would say without stuttering.

So, Eula thought that Leon was twisting his words and did not want to tell her the actual goal.

Leon understood this, which was why he let out a muffled laugh before answering her.

"You got me." Leon raised both his hands in the air.

Eula raised one of her brows.

She never liked how he explained things bit by bit. If it were not Leon, she would have punched him on the face already.

Leon saw her eyelid twitching.

'Oops, why do I feel like I am going to get punched in the face.'

Before his thoughts even come true, Leon cleared his throat and decided to clear a few of her doubts.

"You remembered my class allotment test right? In that, you did my interaction with Lumina, and how I managed to change the whole story for her. How I managed to make her teach me her techniques…"

Eula had indeed first hand witnessed all of this. And she knew what he was referring to.

But still she said.

"Explain."

"Alright, I will say this directly." Leon smirked at her with a confident glare. "What if I tell you there is a way we can interact with the souls of people who are already dead."

There was absurdity.

And then there was whatever Leon had just said.

The kind that made people reconsider why they were still listening and start calling one insane.

"You have gone insane." Eula said with pure intent.

To her words, Leon just replied with. "Just listen to my theory first."

Eula gave him one final chance, and if she wasn't satisfied then she would have to call a finest doctor to look out for Leon later.

Leon leaned back slightly.

"Let me explain it with something you already know," he said.

"The Astral Tale Library."

Eula did not interrupt.

"In that place," Leon continued, "we interact with people who are already dead, right? We talk to them, learn from them, and fight alongside them. And yet, they respond as if they're alive."

He paused briefly, watching her reaction.

"That's because those memories are tied to their souls. The Library doesn't create anything. It simply extracts fragments that already exist in the Astral Spectrum and lets us access them."

Eula narrowed her eyes.

"But only legends appear there," she said. "Not ordinary people. And even then, only specific memories. How can you say we could interact with just anyone's soul?"

Leon nodded once. "Because the Library is restricted. It's designed that way. It filters which souls it can access, and which fragments it can project."

She fell silent for a moment, then spoke again.

"You said dead souls," she said slowly. "But that's not entirely true, is it?"

Leon tilted his head. "Hm?"

"In the book you entered," Eula continued, "The Shattered Swordmaiden. You encountered that succubus. She's still alive in this era, and even had her very own clan."

Leon froze.

Eula caught his expression.

"If your theory is correct," she pressed, "then her soul shouldn't have been accessible right? Because she's not dead yet. So why was she there?"

For a moment, Eula thought she had cornered him.

Then Leon smiled.

"Good question."

He straightened himself.

"The Astral Tale Library doesn't project everyone equally," he said. "It projects memories from a single perspective. In that book, the perspective belonged to Lumina."

He gestured lightly with his hand.

"Only the people Lumina personally met during her journey were included. You weren't interacting with that succubus's soul. You were living Lumina's memory of her."

Eula's lips parted.

"So Silvermoon was included because Lumina met her."

"Yes."

Eula inhaled, then immediately followed up.

"Then what about Shin Kataino? Her lover…"

Leon did not answer immediately.

"In that book," she said, leaning forward slightly towards him, "Miss Lumina never met him. So why was he there?"

Leon's smile faded.

"Because," he said calmly, "he's dead."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"I know," Leon replied. "Because I don't fully understand that part either."

Eula stiffened.

Leon looked away for just a moment.

"It just happened," he added.

"What do you mean, it just happened?"

Leon met her gaze again, more serious now.

"That's not my point. My point is this," he said. "When someone dies, their soul returns to the Astral Spectrum. And if you have access to it without restrictions, you wouldn't be limited to fragments."

His voice lowered. "You could interact with them fully."

Eula felt her breath catch.

If this was true. If even a fraction of it was true.

Her fingers trembled.

"…Then," she whispered before she could stop herself, "I could meet my sister again."

Her eyes widened at the horror of her own words.

— — —

As Leon stepped out of the library he looked up at the sky.

"Three whole hours…" Leon muttered to himself.

It took three hours to short things out with Eula. After explaining his reasons, and what he wants to do in Evana, Eula too gave him a few tasks.

As such, she would take care of his, Ethan's and Cyan's absence in Eclipse and will make sure that the king doesn't get the gist of it.

Leon didn't know how to do this, but she looked confident enough.

On top of that, Eula would issue fake identities for them so they won't get blocked while crossing the border.

As a core member of Twilight Order, she wanted Leon to tell her everything when she returns. She even asked him if he needed any assistance in the exploration. Which Leon rejected with a fair logical counter.

Leon noticed some hesitation as well in her words. And it's completely natural. After all, he had just dumped the core working mechanism of Astral Spectrum out of the blue.

It was all necessary.

Let her think over it, and the more she would think, the more curious she would get.

He checked the time and found out that all of the evening classes have already finished.

Professor Esther had called him to meet her after lunch. But it was too late to do so.

"Meh, It's fine." Leon walks past the academic block.

He knew that Esther must have called him because he still hadn't compiled his research yet.

He didn't even tell her his topic.

Leon took out his pocket watch, and noted the time.

"Haaah…. I have to pull an all-nighter."

Leon wants to deal with his research and presentation before leaving for Evana with others.

Ethan had told him they would leave in 24-hours.

That gave him an entire day.

Alice, and maybe others scholars had already prepared their research, and were preparing for their presentation which was scheduled for tomorrow.

If Leon could finish his research by tomorrow at sunrise, then he could attend the presentation alongside Alice, and be done with it.

That left him with….

"Ten hours." Leon muttered.

It was indeed less.

And Leon would be lying if he said he wasn't bothered by it all.

He should be!

No way he could let Alice shine all alone.

And besides, it looks like Ayaka Rudward will be there tomorrow.

"I better get to work now."

After saying that, he took a sharp left and entered the road leading to 'Luntara' , the research club formed by professor Esther.

But his steps halted right at the corner, because he saw someone familiar standing there, looking for someone.

'Professor Tyler…?' He thought.

It looked like he was searching for someone, asking the students passing by about someone.

'Who is he looking for?'

Leon tried listening to him.

"Hey you." Professor Tyle stopped one of the girls.

"Y-Yes!" She stuttered.

"Have you seen Leon Valentine? He wasn't in the class."

"Leon Valentine? N-No I didn't…"

"..."

Leon's eyes twitched.

'Son of a—' Leon almost forgot about this.

He had shown his Moonblade in the broad day light. For him to get noticed by professor Tyler.

"Ah.. now is not a good time…" Leon muttered.

Leon wanted to have interaction with him, but today was a bad day.

His plates were already full.

Leon turned around immediately, hiding his face with the hood attached to his uniform.

He walked in the opposite direction.

Today he will take a long route.

.

.

[A/N: I've seen a lot of concern about my health (some even DMing me in discord). I'm doing better now, so please don't worry. Thank you for your patience and suppor.]