Editor : Amethyst00



"The Surviving Hero, Kyle. Five thousand years ago, you sealed me away."

Erebos turned his gaze to Leo and smiled.

"It should've been impossible, even if the power you possess is said to be the only force capable of defeating me."

He who had devoured every evil god born since the dawn of time. A being even the celestial gods could not contain—reborn as an embodiment of absolute evil.

No matter how much power the Great Hero had amassed, he should not have been able to withstand it.

"So I decided. If I were to be stopped, I would simply become you."

"How?"

Leo asked, arms crossed. A malicious smile crept across Erebos's lips.

"Even if you achieved something grand, you were just a human. Mimicking your appearance was hardly difficult."

A godlike existence.

For Erebos, perfectly recreating Kyle's form from the memories of that battle five millennia ago was a simple task.

"And if I destroy this world while wearing the face of its savior—wouldn't that be poetic?"

"You really are a pain in the ass."

Leo's voice dropped as he glared with open hostility.

The twisted malice Erebos bore toward the world was all too clear.

Leo adjusted his grip on his sword.

"…Can I really take him down here and now?"

If he took the front and Luna the rear, they might manage to match Erebos blow for blow.

But defeating him? That was another matter entirely.

"And more importantly…"

Leo glanced toward the direction of the Plov estate.

The sudden appearance of the monster army.

They were Erebos's creations—spawned by his authority of creation.

Reina and the others from Lodren had gone to defend the territory.

But—

"It's not enough."

Even as he kept up a composed front, Leo knew the danger was real.

"We have to end this fast."

With that thought, Leo spoke.

"Luna."

"Huh?"

She blinked—startled by the use of her former name.

"Give me the special—your strongest."

Rune stared at him, caught off guard by the smile on his face.

"What?! Then you'll have to take him on alone!"

"The Special."

She knew all too well what that meant.

He was asking her to unleash a spell that used up every last drop of mana she could muster—a spell of maximum destruction.

The more mana poured into a spell, and the more time it took to cast, the stronger it became.

But that also meant she'd be locked into the casting process, unable to provide any support.

And a spell focused solely on power—that kind of magic could even pose a threat to Erebos.

There was no chance he'd simply stand by and let her finish it.

Leo would have to fight Erebos head-on—and protect Rune—alone.

Neither Leo nor Rune had fully regained their peak strength.

Even if this was only a fragment of Erebos, facing him solo was reckless to the point of madness.

Rune panicked and tried to stop him.

"That's impossible! We should stall until the others get here—"

"Since when,"

Leo interrupted, looking straight into her eyes,

"have we ever done only what was possible?"

"…!"

Rune's eyes widened.

"How many impossible things have we overcome together?"

She bit her lip.

"Luna, even when you closed your eyes, you trusted me without question, didn't you?"

Leo turned his eyes back to Erebos.

"I would've done the same."

If their roles had been reversed…

Leo would never have doubted her.

"I believe in you."

"…"

"So this time, believe in me like you always have."

Her fingers clenched tightly around her staff.

"We've always… overcome the impossible. Over and over again."

With those final words, Leo stepped forward.

Rune watched his back in silence before clutching her head with both hands and shouting,

"Argh! Why the hell are you making my heart race at a time like this?!"

She yanked at her hair and glared at his back.

"This is all your fault, you jerk! What's with the damn dramatic lines! That's bad for my heart!"

She let her outburst fly with no one to hear, then took a deep breath.

Then—SMACK!

She slapped both cheeks hard.

Her face stinging, Rune gripped her staff.

"All right. Let's do this."

Her eyes locked on Leo's back.

The back she'd never been able to reach in their past life.

"If I let him go ahead alone again after being reborn… then I'm the worst."

Fwoooom—!

Mana surged around her, roaring like a tidal wave.

And then, Rune began the chant for the ultimate spell.

The Chant of the Extinction.

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"Oh?"

Erebos looked at Leo with a spark of intrigue.

"Do you truly believe you can face me alone, Surviving Hero? Surely you know protecting the Poet of the Star while fighting me is impossible?"

His smile was drenched in scorn.

But Erebos did not take Leo and Rune lightly.

He couldn't.

Five thousand years ago… Their relentless will had torn apart both his body and his eternal desire.

At Erebos's grin, Leo replied coldly.

"Wipe that annoying look off your face. I don't smile like that."

"Hmph. I only tried to replicate your smile perfectly."

Erebos gently touched the corners of his mouth.

Leo frowned in disgust.

"I told you—I don't smile like that."

"You do smile like that!"

"Whose side are you on?"

Leo shot a glare over his shoulder as Rune's voice rang out mid-incantation.

"Kukuku… Truly, your minds are beyond comprehension. To banter like this in such a moment…"

Even at the brink of a catastrophe that might plunge the world back into the Age of Disaster, those two held a conversation like it was nothing.

Faced with that composure, the embodiment of absolute evil could only let out a genuine laugh of admiration.

"So? Surviving hero—how do you plan to stop me alone?"

Erebos's voice was laced with curiosity… and wariness.

Leo answered flatly.

"I'll show you."

Fwooooom—!

Gray mana erupted from Leo's body, flickering like flames.

Erebos's brow furrowed at the sight.

"The Power of Purity."

Ashen gray.

For the Flame of Calamity, a being born of fire, it was a color all too familiar.

And once—his favorite.

After all, the world would eventually become ash.

But now, it had become the color he hated most. The one he feared the most.

Because it symbolized the enemy who had once brought him down.

"That the color of purity… is gray… What an irony."

Fwoooosh—!

Black flames surged from Erebos's body.

Flames meant to burn the world to nothing, leaving no trace behind.

Their heat intensified further.

"You cannot stop me as you are now, Surviving Hero."

"You said the same thing 5,000 years ago. And just like then, this fight will end the same way. You'll fall by our hands."

"With your current power? That's impossible."

Leo smirked at Erebos's sneer.

"Want to hear something interesting?"

"…?"

"When I first awakened my mana—"

Leo opened his palm.

There, gray mana began to gather and condense.

He stared into it as he continued.

"My mana wasn't gray at the start."

Erebos's eyes twitched.

Leo had only seen his mana color once, when he first awakened it in his past life.

The color of mana was the color of one's soul. And though rare, mana color could change.

It did so for many reasons.

"Your flames that once burned the world also scorched me."

The Age of Calamity had scorched everything around the young Kyle.

"So much was lost."

After losing his first comrades…

Leo's mana turned gray.

"And what's the point of digging up the past now?"

"Because after being reborn, I've agonized endlessly over one thing—how to truly erase you from existence."

Leo lifted his gaze from his palm, staring straight at Erebos.

"I'm not Lysinas. I'm not Luna. I'm not Aaron or Dweno, either. I don't have the strength to forge ahead and carve a path like they did."

In the final battle, Kyle had relied on the culmination of power that his comrades had built together.

Not his strength alone—but the strength of five.

But in this life, Leo stood alone.

So he had no choice but to seek the answer in his memories of the past.

In the words they shared.

In the moments they lived together.

He combed through them again and again, hoping to find the key to evolving his own power.

It was painful—but he never stopped.

The offhanded remarks of his friends— They had given him revelation after revelation.

"That's when I began to recall memories I'd long forgotten."

Memories he wanted to forget.

The moment he awakened the very ability he tried to bury.

"I went back to the beginning. And that's where I found the path."

Leo clenched his fist.

The gray mana that once burned around it slowly faded.

In that instant, Erebos felt his whole body crawl with unease.

Leo's mana color… was changing.

As if the gray were being bled from it—

It grew fainter, and fainter still.

"I refined my mana again and again."

So that even purity… could become purer still.

This wasn't compression.

It wasn't concentration.

It was purification.

The removal of all impurities from his mana.

To do that—

He had to confront the horrors engraved deep in his soul.

Over and over again, Leo relived the memories of pain and despair he had endured.

Even the ones he never grew numb to.

The ones that made him feel like his mind would shatter.

Fwooosh—!

And then, from Leo's hand… a radiant white mana burst into light.

"What… are you, Surviving Hero?"

Erebos's face contorted in fear.

That light—

That pure white glow—

It was no gift.

It was born of suffering beyond imagination.

Suffering even Erebos couldn't begin to comprehend.

"How… How is something like that possible…?"

Erebos asked in horror.

Leo grinned.

"Thanks to you."

"What?"

"Because your flames showed me."

Leo's eyes burned with killing intent.

"That the pain I wanted to forget… was something I could endure."