Chapter 484

“Uwaaaahhhhh!”

A desperate shriek ripped from the throat of one of the wizard heroes as he frantically tried to manifest a spell.

Thwack-!

Yet, before the incantation could fully take form, Tamus’s blade clove him cleanly from the skull down, ending his life instantly.

Jerome’s expression turned grim.

‘Where exactly did things go off course?’

Light Seeker. Jerome.

He had always viewed himself as a man destined for greatness, an elite chosen by the heavens.

Jerome had not been granted the privilege of a noble lineage.

His origins were firmly rooted in a commonplace, ordinary farming family.

However, from his earliest days, his innate talent had been nothing short of miraculous.

He had managed to bind his soul to a spirit even before he had mastered the alphabet.

Furthermore, it was an alliance with a spirit of light—the single most elusive and demanding element to command.

The people of his youth routinely lauded him as a supreme being chosen by fate.

As the years passed, his path naturally guided him into the halls of Lumerne.

Lumerne Academy, the ultimate gathering ground for the realm’s most gifted youths.

Even surrounded by a sea of peers who dreamed of ascending to heroism, Jerome’s singular brilliance was undeniable.

He stood above countless heirs of aristocratic bloodlines.

Even within Lumerne, a sanctuary populated by the direct descendants of legendary figures, Jerome reigned supreme.

He earned the mantle of class representative and eventually climbed to the peak as the student council president.

‘Jerome is unique.’

Having his unparalleled nature validated even within an institution designed exclusively for the extraordinary, Jerome carried himself with an absolute, unshakeable certainty regarding his own destiny.

Upon completing his education, his transition into the ranks of the Justice Guild was a matter of course.

It took him no time at all to secure the official title of hero, and he assumed the mantle of a guild master at an incredibly tender age.

The world collectively appraised him as the true heir apparent to the Sword Saint.

In the years that followed, his deep research into the Hero Record unveiled the profound truth behind the mechanics of Karma.

He had successfully unlocked the methodology required to receive the personal favor of the divine entities.

Jerome had always perceived his own existence as a beacon of radiant light.

He grew to believe that his personal philosophy was the absolute manifestation of truth and righteousness.

He convinced himself that he was the ultimate mortal vessel destined to purge all shadows from the face of the earth.

‘I shall guide this realm, currently consumed by shadow, through the power of light.’

If the heroes were merely instruments acting on behalf of the gods.

He harbored no doubt that he would rise as the supreme sovereign of heroes, commanding those very instruments.

Yet, in this exact moment…

Kwa-ga-ga-gang-!

“Kkueuk?!”

Jerome, who had hastily called upon a high-tier spirit of light to construct a barrier against the absolute darkness blinding his vision, was violently blasted backward.

‘Can a mere mortal truly wield such terrifying force?’

Jerome’s gaze widened in absolute horror.

“Guild Master! Save…!”

A fellow high-ranking officer screamed out in sheer desperation, locking eyes with Jerome.

Crunch-!

Before the plea could finish, Tamus’s fingers clamped around the man’s skull, reducing it to absolute nothingness in a sudden burst.

It was an ignominious and pathetic demise for an individual who had achieved the prestigious rank of a hero.

With that final casualty, every single hero tied to the Justice Guild had been entirely wiped out, leaving Jerome as the sole survivor.

Tamus and Jerome stood frozen, locking eyes.

“So, you have managed to claim this staggering depth of power by forging a pact with the Necromancer King?”

“It doesn’t carry that flavor at all, does it?”

Jerome snapped his head around, reacting to a voice drifting from the space behind him.

Leo was positioned there, casually resting Knox—the massive greatsword forged by Dweno—over his shoulder.

“This is almost certainly the exact magnitude of power that individual commanded back when he drew breath, wouldn’t you say?”

“Absurdity. Do you truly believe it is within the realm of possibility for a mortal human to possess a reservoir of power that vast?”

Hearing that deduction, Leo cast a look of utter bewilderment toward Jerome.

“Are you not an alumnus of Lumerne?”

“I am, what of it?”

“Then didn’t you have a specific phrase drilled into your head day after day during your time on campus?”

“To what are you referring?”

“Surpass your boundaries—is that not the very core of our institution’s creed?”

“Utter garbage. Do you honestly expect to lecture me using such a naive, fairy-tale concept?”

Jerome cut the youth off with venomous sharp words.

“Even an individual of my caliber is incapable of ascending to such a tier.”

“That is simply because your personal ceiling is pitifully low.”

“What insolence did you just utter?”

“It truly baffles me how you ever managed to claim the title of hero. How exactly did you navigate your trials?”

“My trials? Ha. I shattered every single one of them without breaking a sweat.”

“…”

Upon hearing those words, Leo fixed his gaze on Jerome and let out a mocking chuckle.

“Just as I thought. You have never encountered a genuine ordeal in your entire life.”

“What could you possibly know of my journey? I have conquered an countless number of tribulations and performed legendary exploits.”

“Those events may have qualified as tribulations and legendary exploits for standard men, but they certainly weren’t that for you.”

Ordeals are entirely matters of perspective.

In the same way that the challenges faced by green, first-year pupils pose absolutely no difficulty for Leo at his current level.

Leo could easily see through Jerome, recognizing a man who had spent his existence coddled within a protective glass casing.

‘He must have systematically sidestepped any scenario involving genuine peril.’

“And despite that, you have the audacity to posture as a hero.”

“What did you just say to me?”

“You do not deserve to be called a hero.”

The exact moment Jerome’s fury was about to erupt at Leo’s assessment.

“You absolute filth!”

Tamus’s voice boomed with pure rage as he finally caught sight of Leo, unleashing a titanic crescent of midnight-black aura that rushed forward to swallow the youth whole.

“Huk!”

Jerome’s breath caught at the terrifying display, and he instinctively funneled his energy to call forth a spirit.

Utilizing Spirit Armored to coat himself, he turned and fled the immediate vicinity.

‘An ignorant fool blind to the true scale of the world. He invites his own demise through sheer arrogance.’

Right as Jerome was internally mocking Leo for failing to shift his position even an inch.

Flash-!

Leo unleashed the full weight of his aura.

A brilliant ash-gray energy coalesced along the length of the massive sword.

Securing the hilt with both of his hands, Leo swung upward, deflecting the descending midnight-black cataclysm toward the sky.

Boom-!

As the two monumental forces collided, the immediate atmosphere buckled and warped from the sheer pressure.

A sharp, vibrating numbness rippled through the tips of his fingers.

Wrestling against the crushing weight of the impact, Leo allowed a slight grin to pull at the edge of his mouth.

“Impressive, your fundamental combat prowess is undeniable.”

Whoosh-!

Leo smoothly redirected the momentum of the midnight-black energy.

He had neutralized an incomprehensible amount of raw kinetic force through sheer technical mastery.

Whoosh-!

In that fleeting second, the midnight-black energy, stripped of its original trajectory, plummeted forcefully back toward the terrain below.

“What? Kuhuk?”

Jerome, focused entirely on his desperate retreat, pivoted his head as an overwhelming pressure registered from behind.

His eyes widened in absolute shock as he witnessed the midnight-black shockwave tearing directly toward his position.

He desperately mobilized every drop of his internal spiritual reserves, manifesting a defensive wall woven from his spirit of light.

Splat-!

“Kkuhuk?”

Yet the midnight-black energy, completely disregarding Jerome’s defensive efforts, shattered the radiant wall like glass and tore his arm completely from his torso.

Thwack-!

“Kuaaaahhh!”

It had been nothing more than a glancing blow.

Regardless, Jerome’s right arm was ripped away with terrifying ease.

As Jerome collapsed into the dirt, gripping the bloody stump of his shoulder and wailing in agony, a notification manifested.

[Hero qualification has been revoked.]

The sheer shock of the text materializing directly in his field of vision caused Jerome to freeze, his screams dying in his throat as his eyes widened to their limits.

“What sort of trickery did you just perform upon me?”

Gooooooh-!

Tamus, entirely saturated by an oppressive, pitch-black aura that rolled off his form, questioned the youth with a tone dripping with homicidal intent.

Directing his gaze toward the armored figure, Leo answered.

“It amounts to nothing of consequence.”

Leo offered the explanation with complete indifference, casually resting Knox against his shoulder once more.

“I happened to engage in a brief dialogue with the divine pantheon not too long ago. They informed me that the architecture of the Hero Record was originally engineered as a personal offering meant for Kyle.”

“An offering meant for Kyle?”

“Precisely. However, by the time the Hero Record was finalized and brought into existence, my soul had already departed the mortal coil. Consequently, it was repurposed as a gift bestowed upon the terrestrial domain.”

Leo’s lips curved into a sharp smile.

“The true, original proprietor of that system is me. Even though the deities took it upon themselves to scribe legends within the Hero Record to satisfy their own preferences, the foundational right to record those entries belonged to me from the start, did it not? Therefore, it stands to reason that the right to erase those entries is also mine by default, correct?”

Tamus’s entire frame began to shake violently as the weight of Leo’s declaration settled in.

“You… are you truly the manifestation of Kyle, the Hero of the Beginning?”

“Have I ever once claimed otherwise?”

“If that is the undeniable truth, then why do you refuse to grant me your validation!”

Tamus roared toward the sky.

“I have slaughtered an unquantifiable legion of Tartarus fiends during my time on earth! I have broken the absolute strongest Legion Commanders! I held undisputed dominion over every other hero alive! I am the ultimate paragon of heroism! So why! Why! Why do you deny me the recognition I earned! Why have you stripped me of my sacred title! I am a human chosen by destiny!”

“If your own inherent greatness is so absolute, why are you so desperately consumed by the desire to occupy the seat of my successor? Why are you so utterly obsessed with holding the mere designation of a hero in the first place?”

“Because the rank of a hero signifies a mortal chosen above all others! And you stand as the undisputed pinnacle among those select mortals! You are an entirely unparalleled existence!”

“Good grief. This fellow is also thoroughly diseased by the philosophy of the chosen elite.”

Leo clicked his tongue in clear disapproval before continuing.

“If you find yourself coveting the position of my successor to such an unhealthy degree, I will gladly enlighten you on the requirements.”

“Speak! What must be done?”

Leo extended a finger, pointing directly toward the ground beneath them.

“Deliver them.”

“What nonsense are you uttering?”

“Deliver this world from its perils, exactly as I performed.”

“…”

“Ah, but Lumerne already stepped forward to preserve the realm once before in recent history, didn’t they? And during that exact global catastrophe, you chose to completely turn your back on the world’s plight, did you not?”

Leo’s smile grew sharper.

“Let us be entirely transparent for once. You fabricated the memory of Rodia to serve as a convenient shield, but in reality, you were simply paralyzed by terror, weren’t you?”

“What… what heresy do you dare speak?”

“Because deep down, you were acutely aware that you lacked the capability to actually salvage the situation. You concluded that stepping forward would merely result in a meaningless, wasteful demise.”

Tamus’s physical form shuddered uncontrollably.

“It appears my arrow struck the absolute center of the target.”

“…I no longer possess any need for it. Your successor mantle or any other trivial title matters nothing to me now.”

Gooooooh-!

An ocean of oppressive, midnight-black energy erupted from Tamus’s body.

“The designation of hero holds no further value for me. I shall simply end your life here and bind your soul to serve as my personal spirit thrall.”

Whoosh-!

Tamus hoisted his massive blade into the air.

Observing the escalation, Kirian’s voice echoed internally.

-If we are evaluating purely based on raw destructive capacity, his current state places him on equal footing with a Dragon Lord, does it not?

“That is an accurate assessment.”

-Does victory lie within your reach?

Leo allowed a confident grin to grace his features in response to Kirian’s inquiry, extending his arm outward.

In that instant, Cometes manifested in his grasp.

“The End.”

The moment the syllables left Leo’s lips, a cataclysmic tempest of astral sorcery began to violently churn.

Following that, Leo raised the arm gripping the massive greatsword.

Leo carefully synchronized the rhythm of his breathing.

He triggered his internal aura reserves, channeling them through Arion’s Breath.

Immediately, a brilliant, blindingly golden aura erupted along the surface of Knox.

Tamus’s stance wavered for a fraction of a second as he bore witness to the transformation.

‘Azonia and Seirun?’

For a terrifying instant, it felt as though he was gazing directly upon Azonia, the peerless vanguard, and Seirun, the master of comet sorcery—the legendary figures who had once fought as his brothers-in-arms in a past era.

‘No, looking closer at this combination, this is the manifest strength of Arion and Luna!’

Regardless of any arguments to the contrary, the entity standing across from him was undeniably the Hero of the Beginning.

Tamus, having successfully cleared the challenges of the Great Hero’s domain on multiple occasions, possessed intimate knowledge.

He knew the true, terrifying scope of Kyle’s primordial capabilities.

“Hmph! Regardless of how monumental your past achievements were, there is no possible way your current vessel has fully reconstituted the entirety of your former life’s reservoir! Under these conditions, the superior volume of raw power resides with me!”

Leo merely let slip a quiet, mocking laugh at Tamus’s defensive boasting.

“Larel.”

Answering Leo’s summons, Larel, the Great Spirit of Light, materialized in the open air.

Tamus’s facial features twisted in sudden, absolute terror.

Larel fixed a gaze of pure, unadulterated revulsion directly onto Tamus.

“Larel… by what sorcery do you still draw breath in this era…?”

[Do not dare address me with your foul tongue. You absolute garbage.]

Tamus’s eyes shook with violent instability as he stared at Larel, the eternal, sworn companion of Rodia.

In that exact breath.

Leo brought Knox and Cometes together in a cross formation.

The pair of legendary armaments, both forged by the hands of Dweno, entered a state of perfect, harmonic resonance.

“Enchant.”

Leo seamlessly layered the properties of The End directly into the framework of Knox.

Gooooooh-!

The underlying energy swelled exponentially as a result of the flawless synthesis between raw sorcery and concentrated martial aura.

Furthermore, this unified energy was forged from none other than the combined heritages of the Progenitor of the Nebula and the ancestral Hero.

Yet, the escalation did not halt there.

Leo proceeded to assimilate Larel directly into the metadata of Knox, utilizing the mechanics of Spirit Armored.

“What madness…!”

Tamus’s face contorted into an expression of pure, unbridled dread as he witnessed the impossible feat of weaving the absolute zenith of sorcery together with a supreme great spirit.

A force defying all mortal comprehension began to tear through the surroundings.

Leo raised Knox into an offensive posture.

“There is a slight misconception I should rectify. I do not consider myself to be uniquely omnipotent or anything of the sort.”

The corners of Leo’s mouth pulled back into a chill smile.

“I have simply accepted the loan of their capabilities for a brief moment.”

The perfect, unified convergence of warrior aura, raw magical energy, and profound spiritual power.

It was the living manifestation of three titanic figures from antiquity, concentrated into a single focal point.

Tamus’s physical body shook with violent tremors, completely overwhelmed by the crushing gravity of that absolute power.

‘Now that I reflect on it, the fundamental architecture of the Hero Record bears a striking resemblance to my own nature.’

Leo, who had navigated that primordial epoch as an All-Class master.

It was to that specific version of Leo that Risinas had once made a poignant appeal.

‘Kyle, you possess the unique gift to absorb and master every facet of combat with ease, so would you not consider instructing others in the specialized arts of our fallen brethren?’

Those who perish leave behind far more than cold remains and physical keepsakes.

The unique mastery and techniques they refined across a lifetime of combat also endure in the ether.

From among the irreplaceable arts that his comrades-in-arms were prevented from passing down to subsequent generations due to their untimely demises, Kyle took it upon himself to preserve everything his memory retained.

For the paths of physical combat, he achieved this by analyzing their movements through observation.

For the paths of sorcery, he achieved this by codifying their formulas within a sacred text.

For the paths of spirits and mystical creatures, he achieved this by establishing provisional pacts with the surviving entities, later transferring those contractual rights to mortals who demonstrated the necessary worthiness.

The core database framework that Phibea had detailed during their prior conversation was, in essence, a pure record.

‘Phibea herself remained entirely oblivious to the true nature of the conquest rewards.’

An alliance of various deities had unified their respective influences to manifest an entirely new paradigm.

That framework was none other than the conquest reward system.

Leo let out a quiet chuckle, a sudden crimson flash igniting within his eyes.

“With that established, shall we bring this chapter to a definitive close?

“Your legend will find no place in the chronicles of future generations, Tamus.”

-I refuse to meet my end in a place like this!

Tamus frantically abandoned his offensive stance, seeking only to flee from the boundaries of the conflict.

Observing the retreat, Leo adjusted his grip on Knox, reversing his hold on the hilt as he transitioned into a throwing stance.

“Where exactly do you imagine you can run?”

Leo’s voice dropped to a freezing register as he launched Knox forward with terrifying velocity.

Whoosh-!

Flash!

“Kuaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

Knox buried itself deeply into Tamus’s spine, detonating instantly and unleashing a blinding, apocalyptic torrent of pure radiance.