Lux caught her, got her arm across his shoulder, and helped her keep walking.
Eventually they came to a strange place deep inside the ruins. While they rested there, Lux asked her why she had been searching for the Black Hero in the first place.
Krulcifer explained that every Drag Ride had a strict limit that could not be surpassed, no matter who was piloting it. But after seeing the Black Hero fight, it had looked to her as though those rules simply did not apply to him at all.
Then she said quietly that perhaps Lux was similar to her, somehow.
They went on, and realized that nobody else had reached this part of the ruins yet.
Lux asked whether the place in front of them was the altar itself. Krulcifer walked straight toward the center of it. Lux drew out the mysterious flute and turned it over, wondering whether it might really be the key they needed, and whether he ought to play it here.
Before he could decide, the altar began to glow.
Lux asked her what was happening.
Krulcifer told him the truth. She was not actually human. She was a survivor, created by the ruins themselves.
At that exact moment, massive doors deep inside the ruins began to open, and an enormous light came pouring out of them. Lux watched it in complete shock.
The two of them began exploring the ancient ruins in search of answers about the hidden key and about Krulcifer's forgotten past. As soon as she approached a glowing structure, the chamber reacted to her presence. A voice none of them knew declared that the key had been found, and the whole ruin began to shake.
The passage started collapsing. Lux rushed to her, took her hand, and got her out before the two of them could be trapped inside.
The original entrance sealed itself behind them. Soon afterward they found another hidden passage, which suggested that the ruins still held a great many secrets nobody had touched.
While they recovered from it, Krulcifer told him the painful truth about her childhood.
Her foster father had been investigating ancient ruins, and had come to believe that she possessed a unique connection to them. Because of that belief, she had spent most of her life studying ruins instead of living as an ordinary child.
She had known from a very young age that she was adopted. She lived inside the prestigious Einfolk household, but her parents, her siblings and even the servants treated her as an outsider. Desperate to earn their acceptance, she had worked without stopping to make herself talented and useful.
None of it had ever brought her the warmth or the affection she wanted. Her accomplishments had only widened the distance between herself and the rest of the family.
The ruins, she went on, had reacted to her in a way that strongly suggested a connection to an ancient civilization. She believed she might be one of its surviving descendants. And yet she still knew almost nothing about her true origins.
Her fear was that she would go on exploring ruin after ruin without ever finding others like herself, and remain alone forever. The uncertainty about what she was had become a burden she could no longer carry by herself.
Then, embarrassed by her own confession, she apologized to Lux for forcing him to listen to such personal concerns.
Rather than brushing her worries aside, Lux answered her gently.
They were classmates, he reminded her, and fellow Drag Knights, and partners who trusted each other. She did not have to face any of her fears alone, because he intended to help her uncover the truth.
His sincerity surprised her. She found herself wondering how someone born into the cruel Arcadia Empire could still be this compassionate after everything he had lived through.
So Lux told her the story of his own childhood.
After being expelled from the imperial court, he and his mother and his younger sister had been abandoned by every person they had once trusted. The imperial family had oppressed countless innocent citizens for years, and so nobody wanted to help the three of them, even after they had lost everything. Lux remembered begging desperately for assistance and being turned away again and again because of sins the empire had committed.
Hated by the royal family and by ordinary people alike, he had gradually come to believe that the entire world had turned against him.
Then Philuffy had changed all of it. Unlike everyone else, she kept visiting him every single day and never expected anything in return. Her steady kindness had reminded him that hatred was not the answer, and he had realized that he never wanted to despise others, no matter how much pain he suffered.
What he wanted instead was a peaceful kingdom, where people could protect the ones they loved without letting bitterness or revenge take hold of their hearts.
Deeply moved by his honesty, Krulcifer said quietly that if he really had been the prince of a kingdom like that, she believed he would have reached out and saved her as well.
Their conversation broke off when the ruins began shaking again.
A massive drill came through the wall and startled them both. A moment later they discovered Lisha on the other side of it, arriving to rescue them with her Drag Ride.
The expedition ended safely enough, but the investigation produced no useful clues at all about the mysterious key hidden inside the ruins.
Back at the academy, Airi scolded Lux thoroughly for recklessly damaging his Wyvern and risking his life when he had known perfectly well how dangerous the ruins were.
Lux apologized and admitted that he had found no meaningful evidence.
Then Airi handed him a cup of herbal tea that Krulcifer had sent, explaining that it would help him recover before his upcoming duel. She delivered it as asked, but privately she thought that Krulcifer still did not fully understand her brother's selfless personality.
Meanwhile Krulcifer arrived at the site of the duel, where Balzeride was waiting for her with great confidence.
Believing that Lux had already gone home, he prepared to force her into submission.
The duel began immediately, and the two of them exchanged powerful attacks with their Drag Rides. Krulcifer blocked several strikes with her defensive abilities, but as it went on she realized that something was terribly wrong. Her opponent seemed able to predict every movement before she made it. No matter how carefully she planned her attacks, Balzeride countered them without effort and avoided taking any serious damage himself.
Eventually he overwhelmed her defenses entirely, forcing her Drag Ride to collapse and leaving her exposed on the battlefield.
Rather than surrendering, Krulcifer accused him of orchestrating all of it from the very beginning. He had accompanied the expedition to the ruins in order to study the abilities of the legendary Divine Drag Ride Fafnir. He had arranged the bandit attack on their date. He had secretly caused Alterize's sudden collapse.
Balzeride openly admitted that every accusation was true. His only goal from the start had been obtaining Krulcifer herself, because her mysterious connection to the ruins made her an invaluable tool. He told her cruelly that nobody was ever going to rescue her, and that she should simply accept her fate as his possession.
Before he could finish speaking, a sword flew across the battlefield and forced him to retreat.
Lux arrived wearing his black Divine Drag Ride, and with it he revealed the identity of the legendary Black Hero.
Balzeride was genuinely surprised that he would expose a secret that important merely to protect one girl.
Lux replied calmly that Balzeride completely failed to understand Krulcifer's true worth.
Their battle started at once, both warriors unleashing everything they had. As they fought, Lux studied his opponent and worked out the truth behind that overwhelming strength.
Balzeride's Divine Drag Ride could predict enemy movements, and it could steal the power and the energy of other Drag Rides once contact had been made. That was how he had exhausted Krulcifer, and how he had beaten every previous opponent so easily.
Knowing it was not enough. Even after exposing the secret, Lux remained at a disadvantage. Balzeride stole control of his Drag Ride and forced it into a dangerous state.
Watching helplessly from the ground, Krulcifer begged Lux to stop fighting. She had never intended for him to sacrifice himself on her behalf.
Lux refused to abandon her. He declared that she was precious to him, and that protecting the people he cared about had always been his greatest motivation. He would not let himself be consumed by hatred the way the old empire had been.
Then he unleashed his ultimate technique, concentrating every remaining ounce of power into a single decisive attack.
The strike overwhelmed Balzeride and ended the duel.
Afterward everyone returned safely to the academy. Krulcifer thanked Lux for risking everything to save her, and slowly began to accept that she no longer needed to face her painful past alone. What had begun as a pretend relationship had turned into something real, and she admitted teasingly that she would gladly become his fiancée for good if he ever seriously confessed his feelings.
Embarrassed by how bold she was, Lux could only go red and struggle for an answer.
Before the conversation could go any further, Lisha appeared and interrupted them, ending the romantic moment with perfect timing.