Chapter 493

Chapter 493

Leo stood in silence, completely speechless as he watched Luna break into a joyful laugh while clutching his hand.

Her clothes remained identical to what she wore five millennia ago—the distinct garments of a sorceress, heavily stained with the crimson tide of her life’s blood from the lethal strike dealt by Erebus.

Mercifully, the mortal injury from five thousand years past was completely gone.

Her state differed from that of Arion. Furthermore, she was not quite the same as the Luna who had briefly crossed over into the modern era during their previous encounter.

The champions residing within the Hero’s World, no matter how tangibly real they appeared, were fundamentally phantoms.

Yet, Heroic Spirits operated on a different plane.

They existed as enduring sentiments woven directly into the fabric of mana. They represented a genuine piece of an individual who had once walked the earth, retaining their true core identity.

The person standing before him was indeed Luna herself—the young woman whose mortal journey had been forcibly cut short five millennia ago.

‘And then there is this physical form.’

This was the defining boundary separating Heroic Spirit Arts from the dark practices of Necromancy.

In standard Heroic Spirit Arts, a practitioner invites a legendary soul to merge with their own vessel to channel their extraordinary capabilities. Consequently, it cannot manifest a tangible, living body from their past lifetime the way necromancy does.

Yet here she was, endowed with a solid, breathing frame.

Luna appeared every bit as bewildered by her current state as Leo was. Scanning her own form, she executed a light, graceful spin right there on the grass.

“Oho, what’s this?”

Uttering a soft cry of curiosity, she brushed the tip of her pointed ear with her finger before beaming radiantly. She then extended the thumb and forefinger of her left hand into an ‘L’ shape, resting it beneath her chin as she proudly expanded her chest.

“The great Lady Luna has made her grand return!”

“Delivering such shameless remarks with a straight face… you are undeniably Luna.”

“What? What is with that incredibly lukewarm reception? Aren’t you overjoyed that I am breathing again?!”

Luna directed a sharp glare toward Leo, her eyebrows arching high in annoyance.

Leo met her gaze, his expression turning deeply earnest.

“The fact that you have returned as a Heroic Spirit, allowing us to cross paths once more… it brings me true happiness.”

Caught off guard by his sincere declaration, Luna found herself completely flustered.

‘I was certain Kyle would offer nothing but his usual biting sarcasm.’

Secretly, her heart swelled with joy at his straightforward, heartfelt response.

“Hmph, humph! In that case, you should be displaying your delight a bit more enthusiastically, shouldn’t you?”

Attempting to veil her intense bashfulness, Luna folded her arms and swiftly averted her gaze.

Observing her flustered demeanor, Leo spoke up once more.

“The underlying reason you materialized as a Heroic Spirit.”

Leo tightened his hand into a fist.

“Luna, in the end, I failed to protect even Risinas.”

“…”

Hearing those words, Luna’s ears lowered despondently.

“Even so, I managed by the narrowest of margins to seal Erebus away and preserve this world. What kind of emotions do you imagine filled my heart as my own life slipped away?”

“…I cannot begin to comprehend it.”

“It was a profound sense of ease.”

Leo shut his eyes tightly as he recalled the past.

“I wasn’t capable of completely eradicating Erebus either. There was a strict threshold to what I could accomplish entirely on my own. I had to reluctantly console myself with the reality that the task would have to be passed down to those who came after us.”

During that ultimate clash against Erebus, Leo’s deepest dread had not been the devastating dark flames that consumed the landscape. Nor was it the crippling anxiety of potential failure, or the immense weight of the world’s survival resting squarely on his shoulders.

It was simply the terrifying isolation of being utterly alone.

It was the haunting fear that he would fall short of fulfilling the final wishes of the companions who had perished before him.

Thus, the moment he successfully locked Erebus away, his vitality completely vanished. He plummeted from the great heights of the sky, drawing his last breath before striking the earth.

Watching the morning sun break through the dispersing shroud of gray, a wave of serenity had washed over him. He felt at peace knowing his departed allies could finally rest without burden.

“I genuinely hoped that you wouldn’t be left carrying any lingering regrets.”

“…Kyle.”

At his words, Luna squeezed her fists together tightly.

“You endured as a Heroic Spirit because you held onto an unresolved attachment, didn’t you?”

“I believe that is the case.”

“What sort of regret was it?”

Leo locked eyes with her, his countenance grave.

Faced with his unwavering, serious gaze, Luna inhaled deeply.

“As for my great regret, you see…”

“Yes.”

“I haven’t the slightest clue.”

“…”

Leo fell entirely silent at her admission.

“I can feel the distinct weight of an unresolved longing, yet I have absolutely no grasp of what it actually is. Does that make any sense to you?”

Luna flashed a bright, carefree grin, brushing the matter aside as she reached out to tap Leo on the shoulder.

“So, drop that uncharacteristic, overly concerned act of yours. It is genuinely giving me goosebumps. Just behave the way you always do.”

“Fine, if that’s how you want it.”

Without warning, Leo pinched both of Luna’s cheeks and pulled them apart forcefully.

“Ugh-ge mwu-seu-ji-shi-ya!” (What do you think you are doing!)

“I simply feel foolish for wasting my sympathy on you.”

Leo gave her cheeks a rough, merciless shake, his face remaining entirely blank.

Unable to tolerate the treatment any longer, Luna lunged forward and locked her hands around Leo’s neck.

It was, by all accounts, a chaotic yet uniquely beautiful reunion for two souls who had traversed the divide of mortality.

Once their playful skirmish finally subsided, Leo sat down opposite Luna amidst the blooming flora.

“Let us piece this together. Following the cataclysmic conflict with Erebus five millennia ago, you shifted into a Heroic Spirit due to some nameless attachment, and subsequently established a Heroic Spirit bond with me, correct?”

“That is correct.”

“But how did you instantly identify me as Kyle?”

This was a bizarre paradox he had overlooked initially, swept up in the shock of her tangible manifestation. It defied logic that the Luna from five thousand years ago would immediately recognize his current incarnation as Leo Flobe.

“Furthermore, how is it possible for a Heroic Spirit like yourself to manifest an actual, material body?”

“Hold on, I need a moment to make sense of all this information myself.”

Prompted by Leo’s inquiries, Luna crossed her arms and sank deep into her own thoughts. After a brief pause, she nodded slowly.

“To begin with, I should probably clarify why a Heroic Spirit like me is walking around with a flesh-and-blood form.”

“Go ahead.”

“The primary catalyst allowing me to possess a physical vessel right now is none other than the Kometes in your possession.”

“Kometes?”

“Yes. That specific artifact classified as a Hero Weapon, unlocked when someone triumphed over my Hero’s World. I am fairly certain I drew the necessary substance to form this body directly from that weapon’s reservoir.”

Utilizing the Hero Records alongside his divine essence, Leo possessed the capability to call forth entities from within the Hero’s World into the waking realm. It was through this exact mechanism that Luna and Arion had briefly crossed the threshold into the present era once before.

“So, in essence, Kometes served as the vital anchor required to anchor your physical self here?”

“Yes, that seems to be the reality of it. Consequently, once the residual magical essence stored within Kometes runs completely dry, I will likely lose my ability to remain in this world as a tangible Heroic Spirit.”

Luna’s hypothesis sent Leo into a state of deep reflection. Her deduction carried an immense amount of weight.

A sorcerer’s greatest asset was always a sharp, adaptable intellect, and Luna had flawlessly deciphered their current reality using nothing but a few scattered clues.

“Additionally, the reason I recognize you as Kyle is intricately linked to Kometes as well.”

“In what manner?”

“A fragment of the experiences I accumulated inside the Hero’s World was funneled into my consciousness through Kometes.”

“Only a fragment?”

“Yes. Specifically, the recollections of crossing paths with you during our academy days, and the incident where Zeldian broke through to the outside world.”

“Do you possess memories of actually departing from the Hero’s World?”

“No.”

Luna gave a firm shake of her head.

‘Only the events occurring within the boundaries of the Hero’s World carried over? What could possibly cause such a limitation?’

Leo’s brow furrowed with concern. Even as the master of the Hero Records, this mechanism remained entirely foreign to him.

‘After all, I have only ever witnessed the Hero Records operating at full capacity a single time, back in Rodia’s domain.’

Given his limited exposure, truly unlocking the absolute bounds of the Hero Records was an incredibly daunting task for Leo to achieve on his own.

“It really is a pity that those particular memories didn’t transfer to you.”

“What? Why is it a pity? What exactly transpired when I ventured outside?”

Luna’s eyes expanded with intense curiosity, and she leaned her face precariously close to Leo’s.

“What did the version of me inside the Hero’s World actually pull off?”

Looking at Luna as she blinked her wide eyes with a look of pure innocence, Leo adopted an incredibly wistful expression.

“You certainly did something memorable.”

“W-what did I do?”

Leo watched as a faint crimson tint crept up Luna’s cheeks.

“Together, we completely obliterated that wretched monster queen.”

“Eh?”

“She was your ultimate nemesis. It would have been wonderful if you retained the memory of crushing her once and for all.”

“Is that so?”

Luna’s eyes went wide.

“Was there anything else that happened?”

“Aside from that? Nothing of note.”

Leo offered a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders and stood up from the grass.

Luna’s face twisted into an expression of sheer disbelief as she glared up at him.

‘You absolute blockhead! There was a profoundly emotional parting! A beautifully tragic farewell!’

In truth, Luna did possess the recollections of her time in the outer world. Her ignorance was entirely manufactured for a very basic reason.

‘It is utterly mortifying! I ended up confessing my feelings all by myself! I even kissed him on the cheek!’

Her immense pride simply refused to let her admit it.

Right before her historical demise, she had bottled up her deepest emotions out of fear that she would place an unnecessary psychological burden on Kyle and Risinas ahead of their final conflict. Yet within the safe confines of the Hero’s World, haunted by the dread that they might never cross paths again, she had laid her heart bare.

And now…

‘I wonder if it’s feasible to pioneer a spell that reverses time?’

Luna harbored a genuine desire to travel back and violently smack her past self upside the head. More precisely, she wanted to knock that version of herself unconscious before she could utter a word.

The sole reason she had kept her affections hidden throughout her actual life was driven by that same stubborn pride—she had desperately wanted him to be the one to realize it first.

‘Though, if I recall correctly, Risinas also harbored romantic feelings for Kyle.’

Luna’s thoughts drifted back to her old companion. Risinas.

‘In all honesty, even from a woman’s perspective, her elegance is undeniable.’

Luna, who held absolute certainty that her own allure was unrivaled, couldn’t help but feel a tiny pang of insecurity whenever she measured herself against Risinas.

‘On top of that, she possesses such a poised, mature intellect.’

Her title as the Queen of Wisdom was certainly well-deserved. Naturally, Luna was an absolute prodigy in her own right as history’s greatest archmage, but when it came to scholarly pursuits outside the realm of sorcery, she fell short of Risinas’s vast worldview.

‘And then there is the stark contrast in demeanor.’

While she herself was something of a wild tomboy, Risinas carried herself with the flawless grace of a highborn lady.

‘…’

As Luna pondered these details with utmost seriousness, a sudden, glaring question struck her mind.

‘Why on earth does a woman of her stature even care for an idiot like him?’

What could possibly drive the flawless savior of their era, a woman who wanted for absolutely nothing, to fall for someone like Kyle?

The moment the question arose, her unwavering self-assurance began to crumble away. Luna, who typically overflowed with arrogance and boasted at every opportunity, was equally prone to plunging into immediate self-doubt.

Had she been measuring herself against anyone else, she would have remained entirely unbothered. But against Risinas, Luna found it impossible to maintain her usual smug superiority.

Noticing how her pointed ears drooped as a dark cloud settled over her face, Leo let out a quiet sigh and spoke softly.

“There is no need to look so utterly dejected. Regardless of the details, you were the one who brought her down. And… no matter the circumstances that brought us here, we have managed to find each other again, haven’t we?”

A gentle smile graced Leo’s features.

“Cast aside all those heavy thoughts for now and simply enjoy the present. There are an infinite number of vistas in this era that you always yearned to gaze upon. I truly wish for you to experience them all, Luna.”

Hearing his words, Luna’s eyes shimmered with renewed light, and a radiant smile broke across her face.

“Understood!”

Her ears snapped upright instantly, her vivacious energy completely restored.

‘That’s right! There is undeniably one area where I hold a massive advantage over Risinas!’

Reinvigorated, Luna planted her fists firmly on her hips and thrust her chest forward proudly.

‘I am blessed with an incredibly ample figure, whereas she is completely flat in that department! Men universally prefer a generous asset!’

Luna began humming a cheerful tune, nodding to herself as she entertained scandalous thoughts that would have undoubtedly caused Risinas to draw her weapon in a blind rage had she been present to hear them.

Leo offered a quiet chuckle as he watched Luna completely bounce back to her usual eccentric self. Then, with a sudden sharpness returning to his eyes, he strode purposefully toward the burial mound.

“Whose resting place is this?”

“It belongs to me.”

Luna’s eyes went wide at Leo’s calm revelation.

“Berkia retrieved my remains and laid me to rest right beside you. It appears they were completely unable to recover the bodies of our other companions, however.”

“Ah…”

A heavy sigh of sorrow escaped Luna’s lips.

“…Do you believe the others were also bound to this world by unresolved regrets?”

“I cannot say for certain. However, my intuition tells me they left nothing unfinished.”

“…That is highly likely.”

Luna herself remained entirely ignorant of what specific attachment bound her soul to the earth. Yet, she found it hard to believe that her fellow warriors would linger on as Heroic Spirits due to the same lingering ties that held her back. She sincerely hoped they had moved on in absolute peace.

Meanwhile, Leo advanced toward the resting place and stretched his hand toward Bihard’s dagger embedded in the earth.

Then, his movements froze.

‘…This blade was placed here only recently.’

It was not a relic that had weathered the elements for an extended duration. At most, it had been left a mere handful of days prior.

‘…’

‘While the autumn chill has set in, the abnormal blooming of these flowers across the grounds is almost certainly a byproduct of Luna’s resurrection as a Heroic Spirit.’

Given that these specific blossoms were her absolute favorite, the magical resonance made perfect sense.

‘However, that cryptic vision from before—the one where I couldn’t discern if it originated from Berkia or Bihard—remains entirely unexplained.’

Leo clenched his hand tightly into a fist.

‘The presence of this exact dagger directly before my final resting place… does that imply Bihard personally journeyed to this spot?’

Whish—!

A sudden gust of wind swept through the clearing.

Staring intently down at the weapon, Leo’s grip tightened further.

‘Bihard… is it possible that you have been brought back to life through the dark arts of the Necromancer King?’