Editor : Amethyst00



'Did only my soul come here? Then what happened to the me from the original world?'

Leo retraced the events leading up to his arrival in the parallel world.

The gate to the parallel world created by Nyx.

When he touched that gate, Leo was drawn into the entrance of the parallel world.

And then…

'The world outside the mirror felt like time had stopped.'

As he recalled the moment just before crossing over, Leo sank into thought.

'Then… is time frozen in the original world?'

He scratched his head.

Leo didn't know much more than that.

The thought that the original world's situation might not be good only added to his worry.

'What time is it exactly now?'

To check how much time had passed since he came here, Leo pulled out a pocket watch from inside his coat and flipped it open.

Click—!

Leo stopped for a moment when he checked the time.

The sun had already set, and night was falling.

But the watch still pointed to midday.

'Is it broken?'

He stared at the watch in silence.

Then, after a long moment, the second hand ticked forward by one notch.

Leo's eyes narrowed.

'No way… is it moving according to the time of the original world?'

If that was true, then time was flowing completely differently between the two worlds.

Leo shut the lid of the watch.

"So? Did a fragment of Erebos revive in this world too?"

Aaron, who had been organizing his thoughts after listening to Leo's explanation about the parallel world, shook his head.

"No. A fragment of Erebos hasn't revived yet."

"Then Lysinas and Luna must be pretty anxious."

With the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle, not having returned, they would be facing a situation similar to that of the Heroes of the Dawn.

"Yeah. That's why Lysinas has been desperately searching for your Hero Record."

"She wanted to inherit my power through the Hero Record, huh?"

"Well, that's part of it, but…"

"But?"

"Lysinas missed you. She really wanted to see you."

"What about Luna?"

"Luna said she'd find a way to defeat Erebos with magic. She boldly claimed that even without Kyle, she could still win."

"I can already picture her shouting that she doesn't need me."

"Yup, that's exactly what happened. But whenever she heard any rumour about Kyle's Hero Record, she'd rush over like lightning. Even though she said all that, I think Luna missed you a lot too."

At Aaron's words, Leo smiled bitterly.

Lysinas and Luna from this world…

'I can't even imagine how they must feel…'

In the original world, both of them had accepted the fact that they had died.

They knew they could never be together again—and still, they expressed their feelings to him.

At the very least, those two had entrusted their hearts to him.

But…

'The Lysinas and Luna in this world haven't.'

The roles were reversed now.

For them, it was as if they would never be able to express their feelings—ever.

"This time, when Luna tried to come here, Lysinas stopped her. The Queen of Monsters in the northern continent had started making suspicious moves."

"Sillatna's still alive?"

"Yeah."

"What have you guys even done? I took down Sillatna and that damned Giant King. You all must've been slacking."

"Wha—! Seriously?! That's amazing! You really are Kyle!"

Aaron's eyes sparkled, and he grinned brightly.

Watching him, Leo wore a strange expression.

If it had been Lysinas, Luna, or Dweno standing in front of him, the moment he said they were slacking, they would've immediately snapped back at him.

But Aaron was too busy genuinely admiring him to get offended.

Leo now understood why Lysinas had always been particularly kind to Aaron.

"You guys still don't have any way to deal with Erebos, right?"

"No. But it's okay now. We have Kyle."

Aaron said it with a bright smile.

Leo fell silent.

'We have Kyle, huh…'

He stared up at the night sky that had fully settled in before letting out a long, deep sigh.

"……"

At the entrance of the café—

Azonia's third-year students, blocked from entering by the staff, quietly watched Kar talking with Leo.

"What do you think they're talking about?"

Ruwen twitched her fox ears.

But she couldn't hear a thing.

That was because Leo had blocked the sound with magic.

The other students shook their heads, and Ruwen turned to look behind her.

"Aru, can you hear any—"

"Unforgivable. Unforgivable. Unforgivable. To monopolize Kar-sunbae like that! Unforgivable! Even I never got a chance to talk to him alone…! Unforgivable!"

Aru glared at Leo with burning resentment in her eyes.

She already held a grudge against him for constantly messing with her tail.

Watching Aru glower at Leo, Ruwen turned to Dion and asked, "Has Aru really never had a one-on-one with Kar-sunbae?"

"Sunbae's scared of Aru. You think they've ever talked alone?"

"But still… she's supposed to be his favorite junior, right?"

"Even if he cherishes her, fear is fear."

Hearing that, Ruwen slowly shook her head.

bl

Whoooooooosh—

A cold wind swept across the northern lands.

On the path leading to Seiren's warp gate, a black-haired human girl trudged through the snowstorm with a travel bag in hand.

Following behind her was an elf of similar age.

At last, the human girl stood before the warp gate, casting a sideways glance at the elf who had come to meet her before letting out a sigh.

"Are you here to greet me? Or did you come to complain?"

"I came to greet you."

"You don't look like someone here to greet anyone."

At the words of Lumene's student council president, Leah Phily, the expression of Seiren's student council president, Rune Orweny, turned grim.

It was a fearsome look—one that made Seiren's students tremble.

But Leah didn't care.

To the students of Seiren, that face may have been terrifying, but to Leah, it was no more than petty whining.

"Twisting someone's sincere goodwill… You've always been like this, Lysinas."

"Rune. My name is Leah Phily now. Yours is Rune Orweny. How many times do I have to tell you not to call me by my old name?"

Leah let out a sigh as she spoke.

Having reunited with her old companions, Leah, reincarnation of Lysinas—had declared clearly.

'That they should embrace the present not as the once-great heroes of the past, but as people living in this era.'

The reason she had emphasized it was simple.

'The era we live in is different now. Let's leave the tragic past behind and live for the new age. And for the future… this time, let's defeat Erebos for good.'

Just as Lysinas had said.

The era in which the great heroes now lived was no longer the doomed world of five thousand years ago.

Names are symbols—an expression of identity.

Old names bring back old thoughts.

Old thoughts keep people from moving forward.

Lysinas had feared that very thing.

'Come to think of it, persuading them this time was harder than it was five thousand years ago.'

Lysinas sighed deeply.

This age was everything the heroes had once wished for.

To Luna, who had longed to reach the end of magic, this world brimmed with infinite possibilities.

And yet, when Lysinas told her they needed to prepare once more to face Erebos, her words hadn't reached Luna.

Aaron—timid and desperate for a peaceful world where children could live safely—felt only fear at the idea of fighting Erebos again.

Dweno, who fancied himself an artist, wanted nothing more than to dedicate his life to his art, shutting out everything else.

'…I couldn't blame them.'

Lysinas knew all too well just how cruel it was to ask them to fight again.

'Because I know everything.'

What they had all sacrificed in that battle against Erebos.

How devastating the cost of that sacrifice had been.

'I know better than anyone.'

Because she had endured it too.

That was why she couldn't say anything when her companions refused.

And yet…

'In the end, we're heading for the same place again.'

Endless possibility. Lasting peace. A beautiful world.

The very world they had all longed for more than anything.

But the three of them knew better than anyone—

No matter what legacy they left behind, a crisis would one day come to this brilliant era.

Five thousand years ago.

In the end, they had not been able to conclude that era with their own hands.

'And most of all…'

Lysinas's gaze darkened.

'It's because Kyle didn't give up… that we're able to live in this world again.'

They knew exactly what they had left for him to bear.

Who had suffered most in that final moment.

The great heroes remembered all too well.

That was why they gathered once more.

Not as they had in the past—always together—but in new roles, in different places.

To raise the next generation of heroes at the cradle of future heroes…

At the Hero Academy, they had to prepare new comrades who would fight beside them one day.

And with that solemn mission came another:

To prove that the Hero of Beginnings—Kyle—had truly existed.

Lysinas hadn't enrolled in Lumene just to gain power to fight Erebos.

'I came to find Kyle's traces.'

Lysinas clenched her fist tightly.

When she reincarnated and heard the tales of the heroes…

What pained her most was learning that Kyle—the Hero of Beginnings—was treated as nothing more than a fictional character.

The fact that not a single trace remained in this world to prove he had ever existed—hearing that made her heart crumble.

It wasn't just Lysinas.

The other heroes had also tried everything to prove that Kyle had truly lived.

But in the end, they couldn't find anything.

None of their Hero Records contained stories connected to Kyle.

Even Kyle's own Hero Record remained undiscovered.

Without any proof, there were few who believed Kyle had ever existed.

'A few students in Azonia seem to take Aaron's words to heart, but…'

Even then, they were a small minority.

'The world has to know.'

Lysinas bit her lip.

'Who it was that made the continued existence of this world possible…'

"Why do you keep saying we should forget the past?"

Luna's voice was cold.

"Because…"

"Because it hurts to think of Kyle? Are you saying we should forget him too?"

"What?"

"Even if I'm Rune, president of Seiren, I'm still Luna—the Poet of the Star. And you're still Lysinas, the Wise Queen, even if you're now Leah, the president of Lumene. Yet you keep telling us to forget our old names."

Luna bit her lip hard.

"Just be honest, Lysinas. Deep down… aren't you trying to forget Kyle too?"