[Lifespan Remaining: 30 days, 8 hours, 42 minutes.]
Noct had to have sat through at least a couple dozen receptions already.
If he wasn’t dying from his curse, he sure as hell was going to die from boredom.
Or stress of having to maintain pleasantries with everyone, whichever came first.
Most brought gold, which Vivienne happily took, while others who were more…sensitive to the party’s real purpose, brought white flowers.
Noct hadn’t deliberately tried to remember too many of them, only bothering to catch their names if they were mentioned in the original game.
‘House Astor…Hakos…Reine…Ceres…Zeta…Chrom…Eden…’
‘There are too many of them!
Can this be over already?!’
Though he quickly realized that if he wanted something to happen, he had to create the situation in which it could be true.
And when the next guest entered carrying an unusual gift, Noct saw the perfect opportunity.
“This, Young Lord Noct, is among the finest mana crystals excavated this season!” the nobleman announced proudly.
“And from Arcadia territory, no less.”
He placed an elaborate red case upon the nearby table and opened it.
Inside, a blue crystal the size of his palm shone brightly, almost like someone had hidden a light inside of it.
It was so vibrant that Noct had to shield his eyes until they adjusted.
“It was quite popular,” the nobleman continued.
“I was fortunate to be able to acquire some before supplies reached the wider market.”
Staring at the crystal, there was only one thought in his head.
There was only one person in the entire duchy stupid enough to sell evidence of her secret operation.
‘Ahh…Amelia’s fucked.’
‘Did she not foresee these loose-lipped nobles sweeping up the entire supply in one go?
Or was she so eager to move the supply that she didn’t care?’
Noct glanced toward Amon, who was looking at the crystal on the table intently.
He couldn’t read his expression from behind the curtain, but Noct could only imagine he’d be disappointed.
‘Tch…Amelia’s lucky Faust is the one trying to take her mine.
If I didn’t hate him so much, I wouldn’t bother saving that greedy fox.’
‘And she stood up for me too…’
But at the same time, thanks to her doing so, it provided him the opportunity to finally escape this forsaken reception.
He knew that there were various sources that contained mana, including monster cores.
Another one of those sources was mana crystals, but he hadn’t tested to see if his newly acquired skill worked on them yet.
Noct took the box and placed his hand on the crystal discreetly.
〔Mana-Lifeforce Synthesis [★★★★★★★] — Activated.〕
Instantly, the bright blue hue on the crystal slowly dimmed as mana from inside flowed right out of the crystal and into Noct’s hand.
He felt energized instantly, like he had just drunk a can of energy drink.
In fact, it was almost literal, as the very taste of energy drink lingered in his mouth when he hadn’t even consumed any or knew it even existed in this world.
‘Strange…’
[Lifespan Remaining: 30 days, 9 hours, 40 minutes.]
‘So a crystal of this size gives me roughly an hour.
Interesting, but not enough to sustain me long-term.’
Before the nobleman could notice what had happened, Noct removed his hand and pushed the case back across the table.
Then he summoned his best impression of an outraged young master.
“You dare present me with a near-exhausted mana crystal?!” Noct snapped.
“Did you come here to celebrate my birthday, or to mock me before I die?”
“E-Exhausted?” The nobleman stared at the faded crystal.
“That’s impossible. It was inspected before we departed!”
“I won’t hear your excuses.” Noct scoffed.
“Though I must applaud the symbolism. An exhausted crystal for a dying man. How thoughtful.”
“But Your Grace, I swear—” The nobleman turned desperately toward Amon’s silhouette.
Noct pressed a hand against his chest and allowed his breathing to grow heavier.
“I think I’ve endured enough insults for one evening.”
Before Vivienne could protest, Noct turned and marched out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
He waited a while, trying to see if Amon would call him back.
But when nothing of the sort happened, he released a long breath and hurried deeper into the main manor before anyone could be sent after him.
He turned toward a nearby grandfather clock to check the time.
The ‘ceremonial’ toast would begin at midnight, and there was no chance they would allow the birthday boy to miss it.
“Just past eleven,” he noted.
“They’ll expect me to spend my final hour wallowing in despair or making peace with death. No one should bother me for the time being.”
“Let’s make it count.”
In Ending Fantasy, midnight had marked the destruction of Noct de Arcadia.
Not just his death.
It was an unskippable event.
When the clock struck twelve, Noct transformed into a gigantic demonic creature and rampaged throughout the Arcadia estate.
By the time he disappeared, countless servants and knights had been slaughtered, and entire sections of the manor had been reduced to rubble.
His rampage continued after he was mysteriously transported inside Rexford Academy, where he was eventually killed by the protagonist.
It was only much later that the game revealed the truth.
Someone had manipulated Noct from the beginning, intending to transform his immense magical talent into the foundation for the strongest monster.
Yet the game had never explained precisely how they did it.
There had been a gap in the story.
Shortly after eleven, the original Noct had left the reception to spend his final hour alone.
The next time anyone saw him was when he returned to the grand hall as a monster.
Noct had once dismissed it as an ordinary time-skip.
Now, standing within that missing hour himself, he understood.
‘This must be when someone approached him.’
The original Noct had spent his entire life searching for a cure.
With less than an hour remaining, he would have accepted almost anything that promised to save him.
‘Even something offered by a complete stranger.’
He looked down at the empty corridor.
Somewhere among the guests was a person who expected to find a frightened, desperate boy spending his final moments alone.
They expected to give a deal the boy could never refuse.
And once he did…
Well, it was a tragic end for a tragic villain.
According to the game, Noct had last been seen standing alone beneath the moonlight.
At the end of the corridor, a pair of glass doors opened onto a balcony overlooking the gardens.
‘That’s probably where it happened.’
Now, all he had to do was recreate the scenario, and hope that same fish would come bite.
Noct made his way down the corridor and opened the doors leading to the outside balcony.
The moonlight illuminated everything underneath, covering them in a silver sheen.
He stood with his back to the door, feigning ignorance like he had in the original game.
Until eventually—
“I didn’t expect to find you here?”
A girl with long, flowing black hair stepped onto the balcony.
Moonlight washed over her figure, its silver glow reflected in her eyes.
He couldn’t believe who it was.
He had recognized this voice.
How can someone like her…How can someone he trusted so much be the one person who wanted him dead?
“Why are you here—?”
“Stella…!”