Chapter 507

Book 1 Chapter 507

507.

Mirror Queen Kaneshi.

Five millennia ago.

She was among the legion commanders they had brought to heel.

Energy flooded into Leo’s grip.

In an instant, Luna’s sorcery masked their presence, ensuring that no one nearby could perceive Leo, Luna, Lunia, or Kaneshi.

Pedestrians along the roadway merely grinned, admiring the blossoms that had abruptly burst into bloom, and continued on their way.

While Luna kept panic from erupting, Leo unsheathed his blade.

This was the very Leo who, during his previous incarnation, had traversed innumerable battlegrounds and endured limitless hardships.

Beginning with Jörmungandr, the beast that Kyle and Licinas had initially brought down, there was also Zerdiaq.

Even the Monster Queen and the Giant King, entities that had endured for 5000 years to menace existence.

These were such cataclysmic abominations that the mere survival of the world seemed like an impossibility.

He had clashed with and triumphed over every single one, ultimately defeating Erebus and delivering the world from ruin.

Even setting Erebus aside, the occasions where he had gambled his life were beyond counting.

‘If I had to select the most detestable legion commander I ever faced… it would be this wretched woman.’

Mirror Queen Kaneshi had once independently pushed the legendary champions to the very brink of total destruction.

“Shall we conclude the battle we left unfinished 5000 years ago?”

A smirk formed on Leo’s face.

“What unfinished battle? You were already defeated 5000 years ago.”

“That victory was not something you claimed solely through your own might.”

Kaneshi spoke, her countenance devoid of feeling.

“It was merely the strength of your allies. In the face of my power, you were utterly helpless.”

Hearing Kaneshi’s remarks, Leo narrowed his vision.

‘It’s true, this particular entity’s trait is highly problematic.’

Leo clicked his tongue silently.

“What? Leo is actually Kyle…? What does that signify?”

Lunia’s expression went completely blank.

Struggling to comprehend, Lunia turned her gaze back toward Luna.

Luna offered Lunia a subtle gesture of affirmation.

Shock washed over Lunia’s features.

‘Wait, so that’s why Leo’s behavior makes sense now!’

Even if one disregarded his status as an all-class, there had been countless enigmas surrounding Leo.

From his masterful command of star magic despite his human heritage, to his incomprehensible speed of development.

Moreover, his psychological fortitude was so immense that Lunia could scarcely conceive of it.

Lunia fell into a brief state of bewilderment upon realizing that the individual she aspired to emulate was the Hero of the Beginning.

‘Have I really been speaking so casually to a legendary hero all this time?’

Recollections of how she had treated Leo in the past rushed through her mind.

While Lunia stood there frozen in disbelief.

“Luna Rubenence?”

Recognizing Luna’s presence, Kaneshi caught her breath.

“It has been quite some time. To think we would cross paths once more, particularly after both of our passings.”

Stepping forward, Luna folded her arms, a subtle smirk playing on her lips.

Contrasting with her soft tone and serene demeanor, a murderous intent every bit as potent as Kyle’s radiated from Luna’s gaze.

Leo and Luna possessed a fundamentally different outlook on demons compared to the population of the current era.

Though referred to as the Age of Heroes, it was fundamentally an Era of Peace.

Even with Tartarus functioning, they had managed to exist alongside one another for thousands of years.

Consequently, modern people would make concessions with Tartarus depending on the environment.

Demons were certainly adversaries to be vanquished, but this was a time when practical factors had to be weighed.

Yet, for Leo and Luna, who had endured the Age of Calamity, no such compromises existed.

They viewed them strictly as targets for complete eradication.

The lethal intent and presence radiating from Luna intensified further.

Goooooooo-!

‘This… is the presence of the legendary champions.’

Lunia swallowed hard.

Their mere existence dominated the environment around them.

They weren’t invoking specific spells.

What was pouring from Luna at this moment was the sheer, terrifying weight of her own identity.

This was the aura of the Archmage who had stood against the God of Destruction, the being destined to annihilate the world.

It easily eclipsed the formidable pressure Leo was currently projecting with his own murderous intent.

It wasn’t that Leo’s aura was inherently inferior to Luna’s.

Glancing over at Luna, Leo narrowed his eyes.

‘Is she putting her to the test?’

Leo’s eyes shifted naturally toward Lunia, who stood right beside Luna.

Indirectly caught in the pressure, Lunia’s form was visibly shivering.

‘If this girl is to be my heir. If she is truly destined to join Kyle on the battlefield against Erebus.’

Luna also cast a sideways glance at the shivering Lunia.

‘She must be able to withstand at least this much.’

This approached instruction differently than Arion.

Arion, though demanding in his own right, drove Ar forward while actively monitoring her state.

But Luna operated under a different philosophy.

While Arion provided encouragement and support from behind during training.

Luna preferred to push a student directly to the edge of a precipice.

This methodology was also apparent in how she handled Berkhia.

She normally doted on him, but when teaching sorcery, she became unyielding.

She pushed boundaries constantly.

Lunia clenched her jaw.

‘Get a grip on yourself! Lunia El Lunda!’

Lunia didn’t consciously perceive that this scenario was a trial of sorts.

Yet she held her ground through sheer defiance.

‘You resolved to stand alongside Leo! You were overjoyed when Lady Luna designated you as her heir! If you cannot even withstand an aura that isn’t even aimed at you, how pathetic would that be!’

Widening her eyes, she drew a deep breath.

Lunia’s shivering came to a halt.

Observing this, a gentle smile graced Luna’s lips.

‘She possesses true grit.’

“A spirit, indeed.”

A trace of inquisitiveness surfaced on Kaneshi’s features.

“Quite unexpected. I imagined you, out of all the legendary champions, would be the least prone to retaining lingering attachments.”

Kaneshi delivered this observation without a shred of warmth.

Luna scowled, staring back at Kaneshi.

Five millennia ago.

It was Luna, above anyone else, who had been instrumental in bringing down Kaneshi.

Had it not been for Luna, they would have faced total eradication.

The explanation was straightforward.

Kaneshi’s unique gifts held no sway over Luna.

Yet despite that, Luna still viewed the legion commander before her as highly troublesome.

The entity standing across from them was the embodiment of ‘nullity’ itself.

The fiends of Tartarus harbored deep dread and intense malice toward the legendary champions.

It was entirely natural.

They couldn’t help but feel profound hatred toward the mortals who had chained their deity and obstructed their grand design of universal ruin.

However, Kaneshi deviated from that norm.

She was the most peculiar anomaly among the commanders of Tartarus.

She executed the directives of her maker, Erebus, yet she possessed no genuine passion for wiping out the world.

Naturally, she harbored no personal malice toward the legendary champions who had sealed Erebus and slain a divinity.

“It is quite surprising from my perspective as well. Seeing you resurrected as an undead thrall.”

Though spirits and the undead represent opposite ends of the spectrum, the underlying reason both linger in the mortal plane stems from unresolved attachments.

“A minor attachment manifested at the moment of my passing.”

The corners of Kaneshi’s mouth contorted.

“Because I grew fascinated by the ultimate fate of the hero who endured.”

“What?”

“The hero who endured was the singular adversary to the great divinity. Yet I anticipated that the hero who endured would be the first among you to perish.”

Kaneshi let out a laugh.

That laughter was thoroughly macabre.

It burned with fixation.

“What sort of demise he would face. What expression would mark his face as life left him. I was consumed by curiosity. Ah, indeed! This might be akin to what your kind refers to as ‘devotion’!”

“Deranged maniac.”

Leo spat the words out without a single heartbeat of hesitation.

Yet Kaneshi remained unfazed.

“How did you end up crossed with a lunatic like her?”

As Luna inquired, her brow furrowing deeply, Leo responded with composure.

“Yeah, why is it that the women who take an interest in me are never quite sane?”

Hearing this, Luna’s eyes widened as she glared toward Leo.

Oblivious to the exchange between the two, Kaneshi continued voicing her own thoughts.

“Nonetheless, after being pulled back by the might of the Lich King, an incredible chronicle reached my ears. It was the tale that you, Kyle, as the sole survivor, had brought down the divinity.”

Intrigue flooded Kaneshi’s expression.

“How could such a thing manifest?”

Leo drew his brows together, analyzing the shifting sentiments of the Mirror Queen.

“Ah! My fascination with you has only intensified. I wished to comprehend you on a deeper level. Because I am certain I can understand you far better than anyone else.”

Kaneshi’s form trembled slightly.

“Ridiculous.”

Luna offered a chilling smirk.

“How could a fiend ever truly comprehend us?”

“Luna Rubenence. You possess no capacity to understand.”

Kaneshi mocked.

“An entity that radiates endless, dazzling luminescence will never comprehend. You, who possess absolute certainty in the track you tread.”

Luna clicked her tongue.

This was a being with whom meaningful dialogue was impossible from the outset.

“Hero Kyle, the sole survivor, I desire to witness your ultimate end even more intensely now.”

Woong-

Kaneshi’s physical manifestation began to shift.

Witnessing the transformation, Leo dropped into a lower combat stance.

“Kyle.”

Anxiety flickered across Luna’s expression.

“Do not fret. The previous outcome will not repeat itself.”

At Leo’s reassurance, Luna tightened her fist.

Kaneshi, now transformed into a massive looking glass, cast back Leo’s reflection.

In that precise instant.

Leo’s physical form vanished entirely.

Thump-! Thump-!

Simultaneously, citizens in the immediate vicinity began dropping to the ground.

“What is happening…!”

Shock gripped Lunia’s features.

“It is the unique trait of the Mirror Queen.”

Luna ground her teeth together.

“She casts back the target’s own likeness. She perpetually subjects them to the illusion they most desperately long to witness… or the one they most profoundly dread.”

‘This time, it appears she has channeled the entirety of her prowess strictly toward Kyle.’

In the past, Kaneshi’s phantasms had failed to sway Luna.

Luna, possessing absolute certainty in herself, carved out her own destiny.

Neither alluring fantasies nor horrific tribulations.

Nothing could shake the core of Luna’s spirit.

“Mirror Queen Kaneshi’s direct martial capability is practically non-existent. However, her inherent trait is exceptionally potent.”

Much like Jörmungandr, who was renowned as a commander without a subordinate host, she too operated as a solitary legion commander.

Yet, unlike Jörmungandr, who required no army due to his peerless individual combat dominance, Kaneshi, capable of converting anything caught in her reflection into a phantasm, constituted a whole host unto herself.

“You mentioned Leo is Kyle, correct? What sort of phantasm did Leo encounter 5000 years ago?”

“…”

Luna lapsed into silence for a moment before parting her lips.

“He stated that he witnessed an illusion where he was locked in combat with us.”

Kaneshi’s phantasms conjured more formidable trials the more profound the obscurity residing within a target’s soul.

And during that era, Kaneshi’s trait acted as a perfect counter to Kyle.

“Within that unending nightmare, Kyle… related that he slaughtered every single one of us.”

Lunia gasped sharply.

It was a form of conviction.

The certainty that his companions would never turn their weapons against him.

He struck down his companions through sheer psychological fortitude.

Yet even so, within a ceaseless phantasm, psychological stamina eventually erodes.

Luna shut her eyes, summoning the memory of the encounter when they had brought down Kaneshi.

The rest of the party had broken free from the trance.

Yet Kyle was still gripping Licinas by the throat, his weapon leveled.

Dwayno and Arion moved to intercept Kyle’s strikes, their actions entirely robotic, faces showing no emotion.

Licinas, pinned by her throat, kept her eyes wide open.

‘I am fine, Kyle.’

Licinas had offered a soft smile.

She unreservedly embraced everything regarding her companion.

‘I am fine.’

‘It was only at that moment that Kyle discerned the deceit and returned his blade to its sheath.’

Luna turned her gaze toward the space where Leo had vanished.

Not a single tremor disturbed her eyes.

‘He will prevail.’

They had braved countless hardships side by side.

For that reason, Luna maintained absolute faith that Kaneshi’s power would prove ineffective against Leo.

‘The Kyle of that era and the Kyle of today are entirely different.’

“These citizens…”

“They have fallen under the sway of Kaneshi’s trait. Since it originates from a legion commander, ordinary mortals possess no resistance. For the moment, let us assist the townsfolk.”

“Understood, Lady Luna.”

Just as Luna and Lunia prepared to take action.

Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu-gung-!

A dark fracture tore open the atmosphere.

Lunia’s countenance turned rigid.

Breaching the void of pitch-black space emerged a woman sporting crimson hair and eyes filled with madness.

Luna narrowed her gaze.

“Who are you supposed to be?”

“Me?”

The newcomer flashed an unsettling grin.

“I am known as Elgenie, the Blood Queen. I stand as a supreme legion commander of Tartarus.”