SWNOVELXO Chapter 17: 17: Yuna Greyfax
The Lord of Greed, Zerathis
The Gilded Tyrant.
The Lord of Shackled Thrones.
An ancient entity whispered of in a thousand broken tongues.
A god with many names, none meant for mortal lips.
And one of the Seven Extra-Dimensional Gods that prey upon the human world.
For centuries, He and His followers have worked in secret to corrode humanity's will and prepare it for collapse.
The Slayers have tried again and again to eliminate His followers and influence, but as the god of Greed and Dominion, Zerathis is not a being humanity can ever truly escape.
And to the man known as Licht D. Valtier, Zerathis was something more than just a malicious outer god.
It was something far more personal.
It was because of a pact passed in blood and silence—something even most of the Valtier bloodline didn't know.
Most Valtier's understood they drew their strength from something beyond the veil… but they had no idea which entity answered their call.
Licht knew.
The true nature of the Valtier family was a secret that could be figured out if you completed a hidden pathway in the game.
Zerathis.
Licht should have seen it sooner. Even his most powerful trait reeked of the Tyrant's influence.
「Infinite Copy Eyes (SSS)」 – Level 1
◆ The personification of greed and desire, your eyes see through the very essence of everything—while craving to possess it all. All techniques and spells observed with your eyes can be copied and permanently acquired.
Whether this skill was from Zerathis's direct influence or a freak mutation born from his corrupted bloodline, Licht didn't know.
Nor did he want to.
Because of everything he'd learned in the game, there was one rule when it came to the gods:
You never truly win once you start dealing with them.
Prevention was always better than a cure.
Licht knew his skills offered no protection from the corruption of gods.
No humans did.
The only way to resist them was to stay untouched.
The only person who could completely resist the corruption of the vile gods was the protagonist—and he was no longer here.
Licht sighed in annoyance.
But what Licht didn't know was that, as this was happening, a strange figure emerged from the shadows, silently looming over him.
Suddenly, a pair of hands shot out from the darkness, firmly clasping his head in place with a vice-like grip.
"Such colourful eyes…"
The voice was filled with strange admiration and wonder—but that didn't last long.
"I want them."
The voice now lacked the awe it once held and was instead filled with greed.
Licht felt all the hairs on his body stand up. An intense, predator-like gaze bore into him.
Ignoring the eerie feeling, Licht regained his composure and replied calmly:
"You can't have my eyes."
"Why?" the voice asked, clearly displeased.
"Because once you take them, they won't be colourful anymore."
"Hmmm… I guess what you're saying does make sense."
As the voice said this, Licht felt the figure suddenly freeze. A moment later, it loosened its vice-like grip on his head.
Freed, Licht sprang up from the couch and quickly put his guard up against the strange entity that had attacked him. But when he took a proper look, he was utterly shocked.
The thing that had grabbed him wasn't some monster or shadowy creature…
It was a girl.
Looking at the girl, Licht was stunned.
Where the hell did she even come from?
The Nexus Slayer Academy was a place filled with model students who tried their best to excel in every department, which is why the girl in front of him practically seemed like an anomaly.
Her hair was a wild cascade of deep purple, tumbling down in messy waves that caught the light with every movement.
The strands framed her face in a way that made her look wild, untamed, drawing the eye down to the dull violet gaze beneath.
Those eyes gleamed with an ominous intensity, their tired glow sharpened by the black eyeliner smeared into a smoky haze — not carefully applied, but worn like war paint.
The smudge gave her an almost spectral quality, like she had clawed her way out of a dream she hadn't quite finished having.
Black hoops and studded piercings clung to her ears, barely visible beneath the shifting curtain of her hair, glinting whenever she moved her head.
That same chaotic energy extended to her hands, where chunky silver rings — etched with strange patterns — glinted, while a studded leather choker hugged her neck, worn and scuffed from use — but the girl didn't seem to mind.
She just stared at Licht with a childlike curiosity, like a kid watching a strange dancing monkey.
Now that he could see her clearly, and he realized that she was human — not some eldritch entity — Licht's confidence quickly returned to him, and he shot her a cold glare.
"I'll excuse your earlier actions," Licht said sharply,
"as long as you leave quietly. I won't bring up this incident with anyone else and let it go. You may not know it, but this is the office of the first-rank cadet."
Hearing that, the girl just tilted her head, confused.
"But that doesn't make sense. Grandpa told me I'm the first-rank cadet, though."
"P-pardon?" Licht stuttered.
"I said, I'm the first-rank cadet."
Licht swallowed hard, forcing a cough to clear his throat.
"Then that means you're…"
"Yuna Greyfax."
Ding.
Your trait 「A Valtier's Pride (S)」has been activated.
The moment her name hit his ears, Licht's body instinctively tensed.
To anyone else, she looked like a regular girl. But Licht knew better.
As a person who had played the game, he knew that this wasn't just a simple character — she was no different from a living force of nature. A walking tactical nuke.
Players had tried to understand her but she didn't behave like anyone else in the game.
Despite being one of the top cadets in the academy, she couldn't be recruited to the player's party. And she most definitely couldn't be romanced.