The Villain Is Destined to Die: But as the Creator, I know All Endings-Chapter 209: Contradictions, or was it? [1]

"I will be presenting my research tomorrow," he said calmly.

There was a long pause between them.

"...You’re serious?" Alice asked.

Leon finally glanced at her. "Do I look like I am joking?"

She clicked her tongue softly and leaned back against the desk.

"No no. That’s the problem. Because you are saying some impossible shit. Did my abs knock out your brain circuits too?"

Leon sighed, "say whatever you like, and please don’t disturb me the whole night."

Alice rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "...heh, well good luck with that."

It took him just thirty minutes to finish writing the entire paper.

Where others struggled through drafts and corrections, Leon moved as if the theory had already existed in his head long before the ink ever touched paper.

When he finished the last line, he placed the pen down and exhaled slowly.

If someone asked him to rate the paper, he would give it an honest eight point five out of ten.

It was not perfect, because it lacked proof.

What he had written was a theory, a precise one, supported by seer logic, various models, and a carefully placed example that made the process understandable. But it was still not proven.

To do that, he would need a live demonstration. And that would take time he was not willing to spend yet.

[Two hours passed.]

"Haah..." Leon stretched both arms upward, his shoulders cracked softly.

"I am finally done."

"Huh? That quick?" Alice said.

She turned her chair, her eyes were annoyingly closed, as if opening them fully required effort.

Leon noticed it then. The way her eyelids trembled slightly, like they might shut at any second.

"I don’t believe you, let me see!"

She did not believe him. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Sliding her chair closer, she leaned in.

"Hey." Leon covered the paper instantly.

Alice frowned. "What’s with this behavior?"

"No." Leon shook his head. "What’s with your behavior? Go finish your own work first."

She scoffed. "I am already done."

Leon blinked once. "Already?"

"Yes."

He tilted his head slightly. "Then what was your topic?"

Alice looked away. "...Not telling."

She puffed her cheeks lightly. "And also, I only have to prepare what to say tomorrow from my already prepared papers. Not like someone who does everything the day before."

Well, Leon was not desperate in any sense.

He already knew her topic.

"Multivariate Mana Resonator," he said casually.

Alice froze.

"...Huh?"

"With your work," Leon continued, "you demonstrate a more efficient way of channeling mana through weapons, regardless of type... By stabilizing multiple resonance paths instead of forcing one."

She stared at him. "How the fuck? When did you read it? Are you staking me?"

She made her body jerked to her own words.

Not wanting to stretch the matter, Leon took out a piece of sheet from below his stack of paper and handed it to Alice.

"Anyways, here, take a look at this."

Alice’s eyes glanced down at his hand.

She took the sheet and unfolded it slowly.

It had been folded several times, and by the time she opened it fully, the paper was large enough to hide her entire upper body behind it.

That, however, was not the issue.

The moment her eyes landed on what was drawn inside, her body stiffened.

She stood up abruptly.

"No way..." she muttered. "Is that—"

"Yes, it is," Leon replied casually.

"But when did you even get the time..." She shook her head. "No. No. What even is this?"

She placed the sheet flat between the two of them to actually look at it properly.

What he had just handed him just now was no joke.

Leon studied her face as her eyes moved along the sheet.

Drawn on it was a mechanical structure, dense and intricate, layered with embedded components.

Beside it was the sketch of a one-sided blade, its sharp edges were clean with macro bristles attached to a strangely mechanical handle. Several gears were inscribed into the design, interlocked with magical formulas, all annotated with handwritten descriptions.

It was a blueprint.

A newly constructed weapon, custom-designed by Leon himself.

"Pretty good, right?" Leon said.

Alice crossed her arms instinctively, nodding.

"Don’t get too excited." Leon said, pointing at a specific section near the sword’s handle. "Look closer."

Alice was already doing that.

"I don’t understand," she said slowly. "Why are there gears here? And this part..."

Her eyes widened slightly. "Wait. Is this an empty compartment?"

She leaned in further. "And... are these circuits which I am seeing?"

The design Leon had handed her was not a single weapon.

It was two in one weapon.

A sword for close combat, and a convertible shot rifle built into the same structure.

Hundreds of hinges and gear systems connected both forms, engineered in such a way that the weapon could shift between configurations within a second.

And at the center of it all was that empty space. Designed to house an energy core, meant to supply external mana directly into the system.

Alice swallowed.

Overall, it was a work of pure ingenuity.

She lifted her head slowly and looked at Leon.

"...Can you actually make this?" she asked.

Leon met her gaze calmly.

"Nope, can you?" he asked back.

This was insane.

For decades, the House of Nightson had stood at the peak of weapon and artifact creation.

Their works were praised across the nation. Even Ayaka Rudward herself found it difficult to gain leverage over them when it came to magitech.

And yet.

A boy from another noble house. A bloodline with no history of magitech, no legacy of craftsmanship.

He had casually placed something like this on the table.

Something that did not just rival their designs, but challenged the very foundation of how weapons were meant to function.

Anyone would question it.

Alice slowly exhaled, her fingers tightening slightly against the edge of the blueprint, and her eyes literally glaring at him without an ounce of humor.

"...Leon Valentine," she asked calmly. "Who the hell are you really?"