The Light of Demacia

Lux's confession came as a great relief to Eno.

But it wasn't enough.

Lux still had more to say.

"Being a mage is nothing to be ashamed of, Eno." Lux spoke softly after letting go of her hand. "And being a noble is nothing to be proud of, either. No one can be summed up by one or two labels."

"If I had to say, I'd argue that nobles get far more than they give. They receive too much and contribute too little."

"..."

She was a mage who stood up for mages, and a noble who criticized nobles.

For Eno, those words were deeply shocking. Compared with Sylas's tantalizing remarks, which always left half unsaid and invited endless speculation, Lux's words were direct and open. That only left Eno at a loss.

On the other side, Sylas had been hoping to see Eno shaken and brought over to his side. Instead, Lux's response had left him completely stunned.

He could never have imagined that the young lady of the Crown Guard family would be so... well, so shameless.

That was right. Unlike Eno, who thought Lux was being completely sincere, Sylas hadn't heard Lux's inner thoughts. To him, she was simply lying!

How could a noble young lady truly believe what she was saying?

She couldn't possibly think that way!

Saying one thing and doing another was a trick nobles knew better than anyone. To Sylas, Lux was just stringing Eno along—and quite possibly only comforting her for now, so she could settle the score later!

He simply couldn't imagine a noble young lady sincerely believing that nobles were exploiting commoners. He would rather believe that Lux, as a beneficiary of the system, was the sort of person accustomed to hypocrisy and lies.

"Actually, I started thinking about this back when you told me you could make ice." Lux patted Eno on the shoulder and continued, "Everyone loves cold treats in summer. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could open an ice cream shop?"

"I—That's impossible." Eno instinctively shook her head. "I can't control my magic. If I really opened a shop like that, I'd only end up hurting the customers."

"That's another problem altogether." Lux seemed to have already thought of that, too. "For people born with magic, the best solution shouldn't be imprisonment or exile. It should be education: teaching them to use this extraordinary power, and to put it toward more positive ends..."

As she spoke, Lux blinked again and pointed to the hilt of her sword.

"...Could that really work?" Lux's words seemed to open a door to a whole new world for Eno. "Magic isn't wrong?"

"Magic has never been wrong. The people who use it are the ones who make mistakes!" At last, Lux made up her mind and voiced what she truly believed. "Magic can be controlled!"

"But I've heard about the Rune Wars..." Eno clearly couldn't accept that. "Terrible magic almost destroyed the world!"

"Have you ever heard of the Ascended?" Lux asked with a smile. "Ancient Shurima wielded even more incredible magic, yet they used that power to protect Runeterra!"

"But how can magic possibly be learned..."

"Magic can absolutely be mastered..."

"..."

"..."

As Lux laid out fact after fact and piece of evidence after piece of evidence, Eno was finally convinced.

Lux had been reasonable and unwavering from beginning to end. These weren't lies she'd made up on the spot; they were what she truly believed.

And Lux had firsthand experience with the idea that magic could be controlled!

Eno was willing to believe in her light.

As the two girls poured out their hearts to each other, all their misunderstandings and barriers seemed to vanish.

But Sylas, who had been listening from the next room, couldn't accept this outcome.

He'd spent ten long years languishing in prison!

It had taken ten years for him to finally have a cellmate worth hoping for. He'd counted on her losing faith in Lux and becoming his ally. But after just a few words, she'd gone over to Lux's side instead. What kind of absurd turn of events was this?

At that moment, he really wanted to grab Eno and make her see reason.

What fairness? What justice? What nonsense about magic being blameless and nobles being shameful...

It was all lies that girl was telling to placate you. She only saw you as a harmless pet, a tool she could use!

She was a noble lady, born to privilege!

She would never give up her advantages for the sake of fairness!

Unfortunately, Sylas couldn't speak just then. All he could do was watch Eno and Lux grow closer with every word, watch them become more and more alike in their thinking...

Sylas was filled with despair.

This wasn't how his plan was supposed to go!

After learning the truth, Eno should have completely lost faith in Lux!

Then he'd be able to persuade Eno to help him get as much information about Nullstone as possible. That way, he could escape. Sylas could naturally see magic, so he'd noticed from the start that the Nullstone held vast amounts of it. If he could harness that power, no one in all of Demacia would be able to stop him!

And yet... the very first step of his plan had already fallen apart.

Eno had indeed realized how unjustly Demacia's nobles treated commoners, and how mages were naturally subjected to discrimination.

But guided by Lux, she was on the verge of taking an entirely different path!

Why was this happening?

Why would a little girl with such boundless potential put her faith in a noble's words?

Why would this young girl trapped in a cell believe a noble lady's persuasion?

It made no sense at all!

She was a noble, and you were a commoner!

Sylas didn't know Eno's story.

So he didn't know that Lux had stood up for Eno when she was at her most desperate.

He also didn't know that before standing up for her, Lux had visited Eno's home, stayed in her room, talked with her father, and listened to stories about her brother.

He had no idea that Eno and Lux had so much in common—that they shared the same kind and resilient spirit.

Sylas thought nobles and commoners, mages and non-mages, were naturally divided into separate groups.

But what he didn't know was that when it came to each individual person, people never connected with one another because of labels. They connected because of shared experiences, shared beliefs, and shared hopes.

Lux's noble status was real.

But so was her desire to end Demacia's discrimination against mages and exploitation of commoners.

The openness she showed Eno came from the conviction in her heart, not a clever disguise.

Since returning from Silvermine City, Lux was no longer the naïve little girl who wanted nothing more than her family's approval.

She was the first person in Demacia to truly open her eyes and look down upon Runeterra from a vantage point high above the clouds!

Eno still couldn't free herself from the constraints of her status, and there was still much she couldn't understand. But Lux had no such reservations, and was happy to share what she knew.

As Lux spoke with such confidence, Karya, who had been on tenterhooks the whole time, finally let out a long breath.

All those years of guidance hadn't been in vain. Lux was still a little green, but at least she'd found her own path.

Keep going, Lux.

Keep moving forward!

You will become Demacia's... light!