"…..What?" Elisa said, clearly unable to process what she had just heard.
"It's just like I said~" Knox replied casually.
For a brief moment, silence filled the area.
Then—
"Heh, what a joke!" Elisa scoffed coldly before raising her hand. "My fleet, wipe them out!"
"Very well," Knox said with a smile.
"I respect your choice."
Under the gaze of everyone present, Knox slowly stepped forward.
One step.
Two steps.
The chaotic battlefield gradually fell silent as countless eyes gathered onto him.
Then, Knox calmly raised one hand.
His fingers moved in a precise motion, forming a sword gesture in front of him.
The movement itself was simple, almost effortless. Yet the moment the gesture was completed, the atmosphere subtly changed.
Knox remained perfectly still while the surrounding mana began to tremble violently, gathering around him as though answering a silent call.
Then, Knox quietly spoke.
"Conceal the mind."
The moment those words fell, the atmosphere changed.
The previously bright sky suddenly darkened as an enormous shadow spread across the clouds above the mansion.
"…?!"
The students instinctively raised their heads.
At first, it seemed as though the clouds themselves were being torn apart.
A second later, they realized it wasn't the clouds that were moving.
Something enormous was rising through them.
"Sharpen... the blade!"
Knox lowered his hand softly.
At that exact instant, the clouds above were torn apart.
A colossal sword revealed itself from beyond the heavens, its massive blade casting a shadow across the battlefield.
The sheer pressure descending from above caused countless students to freeze in place.
Even Elisa's floating ghost ships trembled violently under its presence.
Then Knox lowered his hand completely.
The giant sword answered.
And descended.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!
The gigantic celestial sword descended from the sky and pierced straight through the ghost fleet.
One ship exploded instantly.
The second followed.
Then the third.
The fourth and fifth barely lasted a moment longer.
All five floating ships were annihilated in a single strike.
An overwhelming shockwave erupted across the battlefield as shattered wood, torn sails, and fragments of spirit energy were thrown into the sky.
A massive crater formed where the gigantic sword had struck, while the surrounding ground collapsed inward under the force of the impact. Countless cracks spread across the battlefield like spiderwebs, stretching in every direction.
Smoke and dust surged into the air, briefly covering the entire area.
When they finally began to settle, the result became clear.
The five ghost ships were gone.
Nothing remained except a few fading traces of spirit energy drifting through the battlefield.
"..."
"( °ㅁ° )"
"…Huh?"
Everyone stared blankly at the destruction in front of them.
Some students still had their mouths hanging open.
Others looked completely frozen, as if their brains had stopped functioning for a moment.
Even Elisa herself stood there in complete disbelief while holding the magic megaphone with trembling hands.
Meanwhile, the person responsible for all of this simply looked at the enormous crater casually.
Then Knox scratched his cheek lightly and laughed.
"Hehe, don't worry~"
He pointed toward the crater with a relaxed expression.
"I held back."
Then he added casually, "I mean, I don't want Kizen suddenly charging me compensation for destroying their land."
Elisa stared at the empty sky where her ghost fleet had existed just moments ago.
Then she looked at the gigantic crater carved into the ground.
Finally, she looked at Knox.
The same Knox who was currently standing there with a relaxed smile while casually saying things like, "I held back~"
Elisa's expression immediately went through several stages of grief.
Confidence. (￣^￣)
Shock. Σ(°△°|||)
Disbelief. (⊙_⊙)
Anger. (＃`Д´)
More anger. (╬ Ò﹏Ó)
Even more anger. ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ
At this point, her face was changing expressions faster than someone scrolling through an emoji menu.
"T-This is what you call holding back?!" Elisa shouted while pointing at Knox.
Meanwhile, inside the mansion, the students who had been watching the scene from afar were equally stunned.
Especially Meilyn and Camibarez, who had been anxiously waiting for Knox and Simon to arrive safely.
On the other hand, Cindy, Claudia, and Merida had been far more relaxed compared to the two of them.
The three girls had even been leisurely drinking warm tea while spectating from inside.
But now—
The moment the gigantic sword descended from the sky, all three nearly dropped their cups.
Cindy almost spat out the tea still inside her mouth.
Still, perhaps because they had already become numb to Knox's absurdity, the three somehow managed to calm themselves down relatively quickly.
Meanwhile, Simon and Pier could not even say anything anymore.
No—
It wasn't simply being speechless.
Their brains genuinely could not process what had just happened.
Well, Simon's brain, at least.
Pier was a skeleton. He didn't actually have one. Maybe.
From their perspective, Knox merely walked forward a little, made a hand gesture, muttered a few mysterious lines…
And then suddenly—
BAAAAAAM!!!
A gigantic heavenly sword dropped from the sky and erased an entire fleet from existence.
Simon's brain practically stopped functioning.
"Gu… gu… ga…?"
He could only stammer incoherently like a malfunctioning penguin.
Meanwhile, Lorain remained completely calm.
In fact, she even started clapping enthusiastically with an incredibly warm and sincere smile.
"Haha! Good job, Knox! That serves them right!" Lorain cheered happily like an overly supportive cheerleader.
To absolutely nobody's surprise.
If Knox suddenly split the sea in half tomorrow, Lorain would probably be the first person to start applauding.
Beside her, however, Serene looked completely frozen.
The ivory-haired girl felt as if her brain had just short-circuited.
She had already believed she was overestimating Knox's strength enough.
But after witnessing a gigantic celestial sword descend from the heavens...
Serene finally realized something terrifying.
She had still underestimated Knox far, far too much!
Looking at the gigantic sword that had fallen from the sky, one could not help but be reminded of a giant nail descending upon Teyvat.
Heavenly Principles: Thumbs up!
"Hey, you crazy bastard! Do you have any idea how much it costs to make even one of those?!" Elisa shouted furiously at Knox while pointing toward the completely erased ghost fleet.
"Ehee~" Knox replied with an extremely punchable smile.
"'Ehee~,' your head!!" Elisa shouted furiously.
But before she could continue her protest, two streaks of light suddenly shot across the battlefield.
One crimson.
The other ivory.
A moment later, Lorain and Serene appeared directly in front of her.
Elisa's expression immediately worsened.
Which was quite impressive, considering she had already been furious a moment ago.
Then—
SHING!
SLASH!!
Lorain's dagger swept across the air in a crimson arc at the same moment Serene's sharpened feather sliced forward like a blade.
The attacks landed almost simultaneously.
And naturally, Elisa's already weakened barrier gauge was completely depleted on the spot.
In the next instant, her body vanished in a flash of teleportation light, leaving behind only her Tongue Pad.
"..."
Knox could not even comment anymore.
At this point, he could only feel pity for this poor gag-character-like girl who somehow reminded him of Eriri.
Well—
At the very least, Elisa should feel honored.
After all, not everyone could claim to have been simultaneously targeted by Lorain and Serene.
That was a surprisingly exclusive achievement.
Meanwhile, after eliminating Elisa together, Lorain and Serene immediately turned toward each other.
"What are you doing? She was mine," Lorain said, glaring sharply at Serene.
"Oh my~ I was clearly here first," Serene replied calmly.
The air between the two instantly became tense again.
For a brief moment, it looked as though another battle was about to break out.
Fortunately for everyone involved, both girls managed to restrain themselves.
After a few more seconds of glaring at each other, they quietly returned to Knox's side.
Standing there beside him like two loyal knights accompanying their king.
As for Knox, after silently paying his respects to the recently departed Elisa, he turned his attention back toward the battlefield.
Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
"
Knox slowly clapped his hands while looking around the now silent mansion area.
"First of all, let's give our utmost respect to the person who still had the determination to stop us even at the cost of sacrificing her own assets and getting herself eliminated."
He paused briefly before raising a hand toward the spot where Elisa had disappeared.
"Miss Elisa!"
"...."
Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
While the entire mansion remained silent, two additional rounds of applause could suddenly be heard.
They came from Lorain and Serene.
A second later, both girls noticed each other.
Then immediately glared at each other again.
Meanwhile, Knox ignored them completely and continued smiling leisurely.
"So? Is there anyone else here who would also like to receive my respect?"
He asked casually while continuing to clap his hands.
Yet no one answered.
Unfortunately, everyone present seemed to think that Knox's "respect" was simply too heavy for them to bear.
Of course, compared to the 'gravity' generated by certain bands from MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica, it was still relatively lightweight.
After all, even Knox wasn't confident enough to face those heavyweight monsters head-on.
"…Knox Aznable."
Despite everything that had happened, there was still one person willing to step forward.
A familiar male student emerged from the crowd while holding Elisa's abandoned magic megaphone.
"Oh?" Knox raised an eyebrow slightly. "Hector. Do you want my homage too?"
"Leave Simon Polentia behind."
Hector completely ignored the joke. His eyes remained fixed on Simon, a fierce competitive spirit burning within them.
"What?! Don't tell me this is... a confession?!" Knox gasped dramatically.
Then, the entire area instantly froze.
Several students immediately buried their faces in their hands, while others looked away and pretended they hadn't heard anything. A few even began wondering whether Knox's brain operated on an entirely different set of rules from everyone else's.
Lorain rubbed her forehead. Serene covered her mouth, trying veryhard not to laugh, while Merida and Claudia looked completely unsurprised.
At this point, they had become somewhat immune to Knox's nonsense.
Or perhaps they had simply given up trying to understand it.
Unfortunately—
Not everyone understood he was joking.
"W-What did he just say?!!!"
"Kyaahhh! What is this?!"
"Now that I think about it… Hector does seem weirdly obsessed with Simon…"
"D-Don't tell me…?!"
Some students felt as though they had just heard the gossip of the century.
Even several staff members watching everything from the control room suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to grab popcorn.
"Wha-wha-wha…" Camibarez muttered with a deeply flushed face.
"Aba-ab-baba…" Cindy stammered beside her, her face equally red.
Meanwhile, Hector's expression instantly twisted in rage after hearing Knox's outrageous statement.
"You bastard! What kind of bullshit are you even saying?!" Hector roared furiously into the megaphone.
"Are you insane?!"
Knox chuckled lightly before turning to look at Simon.
"Well, looks like he's not planning to let you go unless he fights you first."
"…Haa. I honestly don't even know what I did to make him this eager to tear me apart," Simon muttered helplessly.
After letting out a sigh, Simon stepped forward. "I'll deal with Hector myself. You guys go ahead first."
Knox simply shrugged.
"Well, do as you please."
Then he grinned casually.
"Keep up the good work, Simon. Try not to get eliminated."
Since Simon himself had spoken like that, Knox had no intention of interfering further.
Beside him, Serene waved her hand lazily as if saying good luck.
Meanwhile, Lorain gave Simon her own version of encouragement.
"Don't lose too pathetically."
"…Thanks. I think."
"Alright then," Knox said while walking forward again. "Since you accepted it, we'll pass through first."
Hector silently nodded without saying anything else.
And so, Knox, Serene, and Lorain quietly walked past the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Hector slowly raised his fist while staring directly at Simon.
"So, you've finally decided to face me, Simon Polentia!"
Simon exhaled softly.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have much time either."
The two students slowly took their stances while facing each other.
At this point, only around forty-five minutes remained before the Survival Island evaluation ended.
To enter the mansion, Simon needed to get past Hector first.
"I'll pass through quickly."
"Then come at me!!"
————————————
Character Voicelines·Students: About Hector's Confessions
Female Students A: gasp!
Female Students B: *heavy breathing*
Female Students C: (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)
Female Students D: ( ´ཀ` )