Editor : Amethyst00



Crackle—!

Lightning-infused aura surged from Duran’s body.

Seeing him like that, Eiran cried out urgently.

“Wait! Sir Duran! If you attack now, you might harm the others!”

“Kh…!”

Duran quickly withdrew his sword.

Whoosh—!

Black flames erupted ahead.

Seeing it, Eiran blocked the black flames with a shield imbued with aura.

Just as mages have different traits, knights, too, can be categorized by their combat style.

In the case of Celia and Duran, they were offense-specialized types.

They suppressed enemies at the front lines with overwhelming aura and protected their allies.

And Eiran was a defense-specialized knight.

In the current situation, where the difference in strength between ally and enemy was immense, Eiran’s defense specialization was proving more valuable.

Whoosh—!

“Ugh!”

“Miss Eiran! Are you okay?”

Chen Xia quickly summoned water aura and pushed away the black flames around Eiran.

Pushed back by the sudden surge of flame power, Eiran hastily nodded.

“I’m okay! I’m fine!”

She answered bravely, but her body was covered in burns both large and small.

Right now, she was one of the major pillars blocking the black flames.

If she hadn’t been there, the party would have been annihilated already.

“Eiran! You’re pushing yourself too hard! Rest now!”

Drianna, holding a shield larger than herself and blocking the flames, shouted.

“No! I can still—”

“This isn’t a situation that will improve just because you keep forcing yourself! If you fall, it really will be over! You need to recover!”

Drianna, who was also handling the defense alongside Eiran, scolded sternly.

Eiran bit her lip.

“But if I fall back, Miss Drianna will have to handle everything alone!”

“Don’t worry. I’m the successor of Lord Dweno, the shield of the Great Heroes, am I not?”

Drianna grinned confidently.

“My body is sturdier than yours! So don’t worry and take a rest.”

“Eiran! Fall back now!”

“Waaaah! Eiran! You worked so hard! Rest for a moment at least!”

Students from Seiren, teary-eyed, supported the staggering Eiran as she retreated.

“…Are you really okay?”

Chen Xia asked Drianna.

Drianna gave a dry chuckle at the question.

“Not at all.”

Drianna, who had been playing the role of shield alongside Eiran, was just as battered.

She could remain standing only because dwarves were physically hardier than elves.

“I’ll help.”

As a balanced type in both offense and defense, Chen Xia also had strong defensive capabilities.

But Drianna firmly shook her head.

“You too, like Eiran! You’re one of my precious nude models! I can’t have you getting scars!”

“If you can joke like that, you must still have energy.”

Drianna chuckled and gripped her shield tighter.

“But this is bad.”

Flash! Boom-boom-boom! Whoosh! Rumble! Bang!

From not far away came a deafening explosion and a shockwave that shook the ground.

It was the sound of Lumene confronting Erebos at the frontmost line.

“If Lord Lumene hadn’t shown up midway… we would have all been dead already.”

Right now, the hero hero candidates were withstanding the flames Erebos was emitting.

“This battle is nothing like what we’ve faced before.”

They hadn’t even truly stepped onto the main stage.

And yet, it was already overwhelming.

“The biggest problem is that we’re not fully coordinated.”

Chen Xia spoke anxiously.

Currently, the students from the four hero academies were cooperating based on the combat experience they gained against Erebos during last summer break.

So their teamwork wasn’t completely uncoordinated.

But it wasn’t enough to overcome the situation.

Drianna narrowed her eyes.

“We need Carl.”

“Yes.”

Currently in command was Chloe, whose leadership among second-years was exceptional.

But Chloe’s strength lay in reading the overall flow of a large battlefield and formulating strategy.

That was something Carl couldn’t match.

On the other hand, in a battle against a single powerful enemy, Carl’s observational skills and quick wit were far superior.

“Where is he at a time like this…”

Just as Drianna expressed frustration at Carl’s absence—

“Aaaaaargh!”

A scream rang out.

Everyone looked around.

“Above.”

At Chen Xia’s muttering, everyone looked up.

Just before hitting the ground headfirst, Carl managed to land by activating Fly magic.

“J-just barely made it! Eliza, that maniac! She used my momentum to throw me—”

“Where the hell were you messing around until now!”

Chelsea ran over, grabbed him by the collar, and shook him violently.

“Hmph. Did you miss me that much?”

Carl said with his usual shameless grin, and Chelsea ground her teeth.

“Can I punch him?!”

“Move aside, Chelsea Lewellin.”

“Why?!”

“Because I’ll be the one to punch him.”

At Duran’s deadly tone, Chelsea let go of Carl’s collar.

“Wait! Big Sis Chelsea! Don’t abandon me! I won’t say anything cheeky again!”

Seeing Duran seriously about to strike, Carl paled and pleaded with Chelsea.

“Why were you late?”

Even Abad, always calm and composed, pressed him while calming Duran.

Carl held up the staff in his hand.

“I was late because I was searching for a key item to deal with that.”

Everyone’s eyes widened at Carl’s confident tone.

Whoooosh—!

Just then, black flames surged like a tidal wave.

Screams erupted from the front lines trying to hold it back.

Seeing it, Chen Xia hurriedly ran to Carl.

“Carl! I’m leaving command to you!”

“Eh? Me? Are you sure—”

“There’s no one else! Hurry!”

Chen Xia dragged Carl to where Chloe was.

“Celia! Watch the left—ah! Carl!”

Chloe, overseeing the battlefield through a magic formation, beamed when she saw Carl.

“Come here!”

She quickly stepped aside from the formation.

As Carl stepped onto it, several screens came into view before his eyes.

“If you speak from here, everyone will hear you!”

Hearing that, Carl dumbly nodded.

Chloe joined the front lines.

“I don’t know if I can really do this…”

Carl muttered nervously, but Chen Xia said,

“I think you’ll do it better than anyone.”

Carl glanced at one of the screens.

There, he saw the back of a man locked in battle with the main body of the Flame of Calamity.

‘Lord Lumene.’

bl

Whoooosh—!

Lumene raised his sword as he stared into the blazing Flame of Calamity before him.

Erebos didn’t appear as a giant.

He was the same size as Lumene.

The ancient evil, wrapped in black flames, spread his arms.

The twilight aura from Lumene’s sword sliced through Erebos’s neck.

Swoosh—!

Erebos’s head flew up into the sky.

Lumene opened his hand.

Flash—!

Boom-boom-boom-boom—!

Spears of light flew in from all directions, piercing and ripping Erebos’s body apart.

Swordsmanship and magic for total annihilation.

Despite being a magic swordsman, he was unbalanced in neither.

With overwhelming, gapless swordsmanship and magic, he cornered Erebos.

But—

Whoosh—!

The resurrected black flames engulfed Lumene.

Lumene leaped away, dodging Erebos’s attack.

"Still mimicking the Surviving Hero, are you? How dull, Knight of Twilight."

Whoosh—!

Erebos’s shattered body reformed.

"You’ve reached your limits. Why do you still not give up?"

Erebos sneered.

"Didn’t you already give up long ago on defeating me?"

“Yes, I gave up on defeating you. Because I knew I couldn’t.”

Lumene gripped his sword tightly.

“But I’ve never once thought there was no future.”

He looked squarely at the ever-burning Flame of Calamity.

“Those children are the future.”

After chasing Erebos out of Rian’s Library, Lumene witnessed the hero candidates.

And he saw.

The potential he thought he lacked.

‘Kyle wasn’t the only one in the future.’

He realized that his decision to bet everything on the future hadn’t been wrong.

"Your eyes are just as clouded, Twilight Knight."

Erebos shook his head.

"Those trash who flinch at mere sparks. Do you really believe they can do what even you failed?"

“Inexperience is resolved by experience.”

Lumene smiled.

“They’ll stand before you in the near future. And with the Hero of the Beginning, they’ll defeat you. You mocked him for being alone.”

Lumene pointed his sword.

“But he is no longer alone.”

"So you mean to hold me off here, even if it costs your life, for those trash?"

Erebos raised his hand.

"You’ve lasted long. Of all the heroes I’ve known, you were the most persistent."

Whoosh—

A hero who doesn’t give up is terrifying.

Through the Great Heroes and the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle, Erebos had felt that truth deeply.

And when Erebos first saw Lumene, he saw Kyle’s shadow.

Though he failed to defeat him, he never gave up and always sought another way.

That gave Erebos a strange fear.

He never knew when Lumene, at his limit, might surpass it.

But—

"Are you satisfied, Twilight Knight?"

At this moment.

Kyle’s shadow within Lumene vanished.

Erebos flew high into the sky.

Seeing Lumene ready to self-destruct with him, Erebos smiled coldly.

Satisfied with entrusting everything to the next generation, to those who would succeed him—Lumene was no longer someone to fear.

He had done everything he could. Now, even if he died, he had no regrets.

Such people were no longer threats.

"You’re nothing more than a dying flame."

And this was Lumene’s limit.

Whoooooosh—!

Just as Erebos prepared to unleash flames upon Lumene—

Whoosh—!

Someone pierced through the blazing battlefield and arrived.

“The successor of Lord Aaron?”

Seeing Aru step into this unreachable battlefield, Lumene’s eyes widened in shock.

“Yraaahhh!”

Aru roared and kicked Erebos.

Boom—!

White flames surged from Aru’s foot, clad in Aaron’s aura.

Crash—!

Erebos flew and slammed into the ground.

Aru had gathered all her strength into that kick, even channeling Lunia’s flames into it, and then fell.

Whoosh—!

Eliza caught Aru mid-fall.

“Lord Lumene! We’ve come to help!”

Celia ran up to Lumene.

“How…”

Lumene asked, dazed.

They were still inexperienced hero candidates.

While their future seemed bright, they were still far from strong enough to intervene in this fight.

He thought they were still a step too short to get here.

But that “one step” at the limit is unimaginably far.

Potential doesn’t bloom easily.

‘What changed? How were these kids able to come here?’

Erebos, hit by Aru, rose to his feet.

‘I thought they were just trash.’

Indeed, the potential of these hero candidates surprised Erebos.

But he knew— Potential was not the same as power.

Few ever awaken all of their potential.

‘There are plenty of worthless trash with more than they deserve.’

So he hadn’t paid attention to the hero candidates.

They wouldn’t even be able to withstand his flames.

But now, they had surpassed his expectations.

‘Their movements suddenly changed.’

Erebos narrowed his eyes.

‘Has someone with insight akin to that Fool shown up?’

He scanned the battlefield.

And found him.

Among the hero candidates, a particularly pathetic human boy.

An utterly insignificant human.

Even compared to the others Erebos called trash, he was inferior.

But—

‘He draws out the potential of others.’

Erebos saw Carl’s power clearly.

The old Erebos would have scoffed.

A mortal’s potential was limited, after all.

But now, he understood.

How terrifying that power could be.

‘He must be eliminated now.’

Erebos’s murderous intent turned toward Carl.

bl

Crack—!

Kyle gritted his teeth, staring at the melted remnants of Dweno’s artifact.

‘…You did well.’

Another relic lost.

Unable to withstand both Kyle’s strength and Erebos’s flames, the divine artifacts were reaching their end.

He reflexively reached into his cloak, then paused.

‘…Right. This cloak is a fake.’

The cloak made by Lysinas and Luna had powerful defense and a subspace function.

Kyle had long ago stored his relics inside that subspace.

But no matter how real it looked, it was still a fake.

All magic except for its defensive properties was dormant.

The subspace was no longer usable.

Only its creator could restore such a high-level artifact.

‘Should I use divine power?’

Kyle contemplated, feeling the divinity within him.

Until now, he had fought the Flame of Calamity using only the abilities of his reincarnated self.

But no matter how much he slashed, the flames never died out.

In fact, they grew fiercer.

The reason was simple.

‘That flame isn’t the main body.’

Unless someone entered the Hero’s World and closed the rift, the flames would keep burning.

‘And… it’s not the power of a single shard.’

Kyle had realized something during the fight.

The current Erebos flame wasn’t just one shard.

Flames grow stronger the longer they burn.

The same was true for the Flame of Calamity.

‘It’s been thousands of years since the heroes of the Dawn Era defeated Erebos’s shard.’

And for thousands of years, the Flame of Calamity had continued to burn inside the Hero’s World.

There was divine power—fuel—in that world, too.

So—

‘It’s no surprise if it has gained power beyond a single shard.’

Kyle clenched his fist inside the cloak.

‘I have no choice. It’s time to use divine power.’

Just as he reached that conclusion—

Clink—!

“…!”

Something caught in his hand.

Without realizing it, Kyle pulled it from the cloak.

A plain longsword.

But its blade was sharper than any famed sword.

And to Kyle, it was a deeply familiar weapon.

The only sword the divine blacksmith Dweno recognized as a true work and gave a name to.

The sword that had stayed with him until the very end.

“Postéritas.”