-Frey starlight POV-
Sophia's class ended. After seeing her again, I figured I wouldn't run into any other familiar faces for a while.
As always, I was wrong.
An odd old man with white hair and a sharp black suit appeared, barking out as he entered:
"Don't touch anything with your filthy hands! Get to the damn training hall and wait for me!"
He barked at everyone.
I just sighed.
Luca Bonatiro.
The old bastard had found his way back, too.
His lab was still the same, filled with all those precious relics of his…
I really began to wonder if I hadn't somehow jumped a year backward.
In any case, he kicked all of us out.
I was just about to leave ... until his voice stopped me.
"Not you, Frey Starlight."
I halted and turned slightly to look at him.
"Excuse me?"
"You'll stay."
And so I did.
In the end, I found myself alone with Bonatiro.
He didn't speak, so I broke the silence myself.
"Forgive me, but why did you stop me?"
Bonatiro looked at me for a moment, then went back to fiddling with whatever he had in his hands.
"You want to know why I kept you from joining the others?"
"Yeah. Isn't training supposed to start now?"
"Training? Hmph... you're excused from that, Starlight."
"What?"
"I have nothing left to teach you. You're already stronger than me."
My dark eyes narrowed slightly at those last words.
But he didn't care and simply continued.
"The Temple is still the same idiotic place no matter who runs it ... blind to the monsters they're sheltering."
"You're overestimating me, clearly."
"Bullshit."
Bonatiro clicked his tongue and rose from his seat.
"You, that crowned hero… a few upper-year students like you... none of you should remain here any longer."
He stepped up to me.
"There's nothing left for you to gain."
His words gave me pause.
Would staying at the Temple really make me stronger?
Would it help me at all?
But before I could ask those questions, there was a more important one:
Why did I even need to grow stronger in the first place?
I had no direction to point my blade anymore…
I wasn't the same person.
Bonatiro clearly saw the emptiness in my gaze.
"A lot's happened, hasn't it?"
I nodded.
"Yeah… a lot."
"Figures. Nothing surprising."
I let out a quiet laugh at that.
"Nothing surprising? Did you really expect the student standing before you to win the Victoriad and do all the things I've done?"
Bonatiro paused for a moment, staring at me with those dull, lifeless eyes.
"I didn't expect it… but the possibility was always there."
"And what exactly made you think that?"
A year ago, I was nothing. So what did he see in me?
"From the very start, you were different, kid. Your body didn't house one soul ... but two."
He said it so casually, but the words struck me like lightning.
"What did you just say?"
The air between us shifted instantly.
Silence fell. We stared at each other.
I hadn't meant to react, but my body had already been conditioned to release killing intent the moment such a situation arose.
I couldn't stop it.
Bonatiro didn't flinch. In fact, he seemed to take it as proof of what he'd said earlier—when he claimed I was stronger than him.
"Did you know, Starlight, that I'm blind?"
"What?"
He kept looking straight at me, pointing at his pupil.
It looked perfectly normal.
"These eyes… they've never seen what others see. All I can perceive is the aura things contain."
Aura. Life force itself.
That's how Bonatiro could sense the true value of all the strange items he kept in his lab.
"The first time my eyes landed on you, I saw two auras ... one deep, suffocating black… and the other, a shattered white light. Only a faint trace of it remained."
I listened silently, hearing something I had never known until now.
"I assume some lingering will had always been with you… a powerful will… but you've lost it now, since all I can see now is darkness."
"That's why you weren't surprised by anything I've done?"
I cut in, and he nodded.
"Exactly. It's not definitive proof, but… you could say it was instinct."
I let out a dry laugh as I reassessed the man in front of me.
I never imagined anyone could know about my Dual Soul.
"That really is surprising…"
I laughed faintly, and Bonatiro spoke again.
"Life hasn't been kind to you, has it, kid?"
"No…"
"That other aura ... who did it belong to?"
He asked softly.
"My father."
"Abraham Starlight, huh… Yeah, I suppose someone like him ...someone who defies reason could pull that off."
Another silence fell between us, but I wasn't thinking about Bonatiro anymore…
Instead, my mind drifted back to my father's final words ... about the thing that now lives inside me…
The Dual Soul had vanished yes ...but I'd been thinking lately… maybe there was more to it. All that talk about the vessel… the Engineer… the Nameless…
It all pushed me to ask:
"You said my body now holds a single soul?"
"That's right."
"Are you sure?"
"There's only one soul inside your body, kid. My eyes don't lie… That body now has a single color."
Bonatiro's words only added to my confusion ... and that didn't help in the slightest.
Not wanting to drag things out, he walked past me and gave my shoulder a firm pat.
"In any case, you're exempt from my classes, kid. But in exchange—!"
He shouted that last part, and I asked:
"In exchange?"
The moment I asked, his eyes lit up, and he leaned in uncomfortably close.
"Let me examine your weapon ...Balerion the Black dread from time to time!"
"…What?"
I stared at him, unable to hide the confusion on my face.
"That's my only request, kid! I treasure relics, and that sword is undoubtedly one of them!"
When Bonatiro entered his usual obsessive mode, I knew debating him further would go nowhere. I reluctantly agreed, especially after he reminded me that my ownership of Balerion was no longer a secret to the world.
Frey Starlight… bearer of one of the seven legendary swords.
Actually… two of them.
Once I gave in, Bonatiro nodded enthusiastically and rushed off to train the others.
"Excellent!"
He vanished down the hallway, leaving me behind to wonder what I was supposed to do for the next three hours.
One day back at the temple… and a handful of old faces was enough to make it eventful already.
I just laughed to myself.
"Even if he wants to live a normal life… nothing about Frey Starlight is normal, huh?"
Maybe I'll just go watch the others train.
Maybe mess with them a little.
With those thoughts, I made my way to the training yard.
"If my life were a comedy show… I'd definitely watch it."