"You want to change the past."
Su Mei picked up the conversation, a trace of sorrow flashing through her eyes.
"So do we."
"If we had any other choice, who would want to cross swords?"
Ma Yanqing sighed.
"Please show us what you can do."
Su Mei drew her sword.
Cold steel gleamed.
Kiana took a deep breath and adjusted her stance.
There was nowhere left to retreat.
Then they would fight.
Fingertips stirred, and cold light flashed.
There was no need for words. The attack was already upon them.
The two puppetlike phantoms instantly crumbled, scattering into a skyful of light that faded into the void.
The dust settled.
Kiana and Bronya stood side by side before Fuyun Temple.
"That tragedy five hundred years ago... the Taixu Seven Swords were the very ones who pushed Class Monitor into the abyss."
Kiana murmured, her brow tightly furrowed.
Though the images in those memories had already blurred, their oppressive atmosphere remained suffocatingly real.
Bronya tilted her head, a blue light flashing in her electronic eyes. "Strange. According to the emotional module's analysis, those granddisciples harbored no murderous intent or hatred toward Class Monitor whatsoever."
"No, you're wrong."
Kiana rejected her assessment.
She drew a deep breath, her gaze deepening. "There was hatred. But that venom wasn't directed at us, or at their master. It was more like... they loathed their own weak selves."
Before she had finished, Bronya seemed to notice something they had overlooked.
"Wait. If there were 'Seven Swords,' only six appeared just now."
The girl's voice was calm and incisive. "The remaining one might be hiding behind this door."
The two exchanged a glance, their understanding needing no words.
They pressed their hands against the weathered wooden door and pushed hard.
A piercing scrape rang out.
In an