Abnormal Moon

"Where is an apology needed?"

Roy's face darkened, and he looked at Claudia with a blank expression, devoid of joy or anger.

Claudia felt ashamed and awkwardly avoided Roy's gaze.

"We didn't discuss the raid on Wuchenzhai with you beforehand."

"..."

Roy fell silent.

He reached out, pinched Claudia's chin, and made her turn her head so she couldn't avoid his gaze. Then he looked intently at her.

"Of course I'm angry about that, but there's something else, isn't there?"

"...I actually went there to commit suicide."

Claudia, under Roy's gaze so close to her, blushed slightly, her eyes darting around as if she were struggling to withstand his onslaught.

"No."

Roy immediately interrupted her.

"What angers me most is that you refuse to reveal your inner thoughts to me!"

Roy's eyes were fixed on Claudia.

“I asked you several times what your wish was, and you deliberately avoided the topic or simply didn’t say anything. If it were something trivial, that would be fine, but it turns out this is your wish—if you want to commit suicide, I’m perfectly willing to go with you!”

Claudia's eyes widened suddenly, her face showing complete surprise.

I'm thinking of committing suicide, you know?

It wasn't about killing enemies, was it?

You said you could come with me?

What does it mean?

Claudia's mind went blank after Roy's words, and she didn't know how to respond.

But how should I put it?

She thought that when she got back to the dorm, Roy would definitely give her a good scolding, scolding her for not cherishing herself, scolding her for having a selfish and stupid wish, and for not taking the thoughts of the living seriously.

To everyone's surprise, Roy didn't do that at all.

He fully affirmed her wish.

He was even willing to accompany her to fulfill such a selfish and foolish wish.

“Listen up, Claudia, I won’t tell you that this wish is too foolish, nor will I say that you don’t take my and Euryth’s thoughts about you seriously. You’ve always been a very opinionated person, and you must have your own reasons for making this decision.”

Roy looked calmly at Claudia, his blood-red pupils filled with focus.

"But next time, I hope you can explain everything to me so I can go with you!"

If there is a next time.

Claudia looked at Roy, who was earnestly telling her that he would accompany her to commit suicide. Her heart, which was in torment and guilt, melted away as if a cold river had been warmed by a gentle breeze.

My heart is filled with the warmth of early spring.

Claudia's feelings suddenly became complicated.

She is special.

From the moment they were born, they were destined to be extraordinary.

As the daughter of the highest-ranking executive of a conglomerate, she attracted a lot of attention from birth.

She grew up in accordance with her parents' expectations. Her mother hoped that she would become a well-mannered young lady, so she suppressed her inner desires. Even if she could easily get what she wanted, she never used force to get it.

Born into the Star Pulse Generation, she was destined to be out of reach of the highest ranks. Bearing the expectations of her father, who was only a candidate for executive, she began to strive towards the Star Pulse Generation. She worked hard in an ordinary way and won the championship of the Wheel Martial Festival in an ordinary way.

She doesn't actually like fighting.

But I don't dislike fighting either.

She simply responded to her parents' expectations, living like a puppet. She did whatever her parents expected without complaint, argument, or refusal, because her parents didn't want her to have any complaints, arguments, or refusal.

She thought this was the normal way to live, but it wasn't.

As she was about to graduate from elementary school, her father hoped that she would enter the Academy City to further her training as a member of the Star Pulse Generation. So she came to the Academy City with her working mother, intending to experience the Academy City and the way of life of its students in advance.

During a duel, she saw Pandora.

The student wielding Pandora was listless, with bulging eyes and a sallow complexion, as if he hadn't slept well for several days. Despite wielding a pure Star Radiance weapon, he suffered a crushing defeat against a student who was only ranked outside the top tier. After losing, he even broke down in tears in front of countless people, looking utterly pathetic.

In that instant, she saw Pandora smiling at her.

Chapter 216 is a bit too unrestrained! (43, now complete)

"That's because the Pure Star Radiance Armor chose you. Since your birthday is coming soon, I'll give you that Pure Star Armor as a birthday present."

Mother Isabella Enfield nodded, mechanically deciding on her birthday gift as she had every year.

Claudia did not refuse.

She had long been accustomed to following her parents' arrangements and living a life without any sense of self. She didn't feel she needed to make any changes, and she thought her indifferent life was fine.

But this idea changed after he got Pandora.

Pandora is a pure Starry Sky-type weapon with an extremely vicious personality. It especially enjoys torturing its master, creating countless dreams that make the master experience various kinds of death repeatedly. The dreams it creates are never repeated, and it loves to torture its master in different ways.

The previous holders only held the shares for three days before turning into those ruthless, marketing-driven individuals.

Isabella gave this to her daughter as a birthday present, which is hard to imagine as a normal mother.

Claudia acquired Pandora, and held onto it for three years.

Over three years, she experienced more than a thousand different deaths.

Not a single day, not a single night, was not spent in torment.

At first, she was just enduring it.

This is a birthday gift from her mother, which means her mother has high expectations for her. So she must bear the consequences of Pandora's box and live up to her mother's expectations.

But few people in this world can remain unmoved in the face of death, and Claudia is no exception.

As she endured the constant fear of death, she finally began to doubt herself, questioning whether her forbearance was right, whether her way of living was correct, and what the point of living was in responding to the expectations of others.

She seems to be missing something.

She thought she had always been without desires, and that it was enough for her to just meet her parents' expectations; she didn't need to have any other thoughts.

But she was wrong.

She always harbored a deep resentment. Whenever she responded to expectations, she felt resentful because of her patience and wanted something else.

She just didn't understand what she really wanted, which is why she lived like a doll.

But after encountering death, she began to understand.

What she lacked was persistence, or rather, conviction—the spirit of never giving up for a certain goal, something many students in this academic and war-torn city possessed, but she lacked.

Rather than calmly accepting all inequalities, she longs for a passion as intense as a raging fire.

She had always lacked this.

But how can one obtain such feelings?

Claudia couldn't think of an answer, so she continued to tolerate Pandora's pranks as always.

Until one night, an unexpected change occurred in her dream.

That was my first meeting with Roy in a dream.

That dream shattered her preconceived notions about Pandora. She had always believed that dreams were solely controlled by Pandora, and that she could only helplessly sink into the deep sea like a sailboat struggling in a whirlpool. But she never expected that someone would break into the dream created by Pandora and even save her within it.

She was overjoyed and frantically searched for that person.

They couldn't find it at all.

Even with the help of the galaxy's intelligence network, she couldn't find the person who had entered her dream. Her mother was surprised that for the first time, she had something she wanted to do, and she was as stubborn as if she wouldn't turn back until she hit a wall.

But she never found him.

Moreover, Claudia hadn't seen him in her dreams for a long time since that dream.

Her heart was filled with mixed emotions, a mixture of despair, confusion, and numbness.

After several months of living in a daze, she encountered Roy again in her dream.

She was overjoyed and wanted to ask his name, but before she could utter a sound, the dream collapsed.

Pandora herself was probably bewildered, unable to understand how someone could intrude into the dream she had created.

Claudia waited with a heart full of trepidation.

Several months later, she saw Roy again.

It turns out that they can't see each other anymore, but rather their dreams can only connect once every long period of time.