Chapter 545

545.

Leo focused his gaze on Ullein, who remained suspended in mid-air.

Directing a hand downward toward Leo, Ullein spoke.

“You appear remarkably unbothered.”

“That is because taking care of you requires very little effort now.”

“Do you truly believe that lesser creature possesses the strength to hold back Lord Berkia?”

“He is a dependable student whom I have trusted blindly for ages. Besides, those two have clashed so frequently they are utterly sick of one another, so my mind is completely at ease.”

“Once again, you speak in riddles that make no sense to me.”

Ullein’s expression turned frigid.

“Despite the mercy I extended to you, you chose rejection, Leo Flobe.”

An immense surge of etheric pressure rippled outward from his outstretched palm.

“Consider my leniency at an end.”

Countless brilliant specks of radiance materialized across the heavens.

Leo offered a soft laugh, watching the sorcery ignite above like a constellation against the darkness.

This reaction caused Ullein’s eyelids to twitch in irritation.

A resonant, horn-like blast reverberated from the far side of the settlement.

Frowning deeply, Ullein turned his attention toward the origin of the commotion.

The echoing horn had resounded directly from the passage leading to the subterranean settlement.

Observing his opponent’s shift in focus, Leo remarked.

“It seems trouble has arisen.”

“A minor inconvenience at best. The thralls have merely orchestrated another miserable attempt at insurrection.”

As the leader of the governing assembly, he had long been aware of the volatile undercurrents swirling within the depths.

“Regardless of their efforts, it amounts to nothing.”

Reaching into a spatial rift, he retrieved a bizarre boulder roughly the size of a human visage.

Its exterior was heavily etched with intricate arcane arrays.

“A fallen star?”

“Your perception remains remarkably sharp. Precisely as you guess. This cosmic fragment is a sacred relic that bestowed celestial fortunes upon these domains.”

The stellar rock began radiating an overwhelming torrent of mystic force.

The raw intensity of this energy warped the physical fabric of the surrounding air.

“You previously dismissed me as a clumsy, mediocre spellcaster. I wonder if you maintain that ridiculous notion now.”

“My opinion remains unchanged.”

“Arrogant fool.”

Ullein ground his teeth together, infuriated by Leo’s mockery.

Yet, a sneer soon tugged at the corners of his lips, and he glared down at Leo with supreme condescension.

“Unlike your stubborn self, I possess a benevolent spirit. Consider this the final token of respect to a brilliant master of Star magic. I shall grant you a magnificent demise through this ultimate power.”

Ullein’s mouth twisted into a sharp smirk.

Simultaneously, the ocean of shimmering embers hovering above descended toward Leo in a torrential downpour.

This was no concentrated, single-target strike.

It was a catastrophic, wide-range spell designed to level entire landscapes.

And this devastating deluge was converging entirely upon a lone individual.

To anyone else, this would have been an unavoidable doom.

Yet Leo, confronting the approaching wall of radiance, merely extended an arm with absolute composure.

“Generosity isn’t my strongest trait, but I suppose I can grant a final courtesy as well.”

For a split second, an ash-colored luster flickered within Leo’s crimson gaze.

“Allow me to demonstrate precisely how Luna would handle you if she stood here today.”

He produced a sharp snap with his fingers.

In that identical instant, the incoming cataclysm detonated prematurely in the sky, triggering a chain reaction of violent explosions.

“Arrgh!”

The fierce shockwave of the blast violently washed over Ullein.

Though he managed to ward off a fatal impact by deploying a defensive ward, the sheer momentum slammed him violently down to the earth.

The stellar rock he had been holding escaped his grasp and clattered across the ground.

Lifting his gaze, Ullein stared up at Leo with eyes wide with sheer terror.

He understood with absolute clarity what had just transpired with his invocation.

Because of that realization, his thoughts fell into utter disarray.

‘He managed to infiltrate my active mystic matrix and rewrite the core formula! How is such a feat even conceivable!’

“What manner of entity are you—”

Before Ullein could utter the rest of his query, Leo’s clenched fist collided brutally with his face.

As Ullein rolled wretchedly across the dirt, he cried out with a face twisted in rage.

“Such utter degradation!”

Had it been a duel of sorcery, it might be tolerated.

But for a practitioner of the mystic arts, being subjected to a physical beating was an unbearable dishonor.

“I gave you fair warning. I am executing what Luna would have done.”

Grasping the furious Ullein by his garments, Leo hoisted him upward.

“Had Luna been present, she would have battered your countenance with her bare hands until her fury subsided, you miserable excuse for a magus.”

Impact after impact rained down relentlessly.

“Gah!”

Leo methodically reduced Ullein’s face to a battered, bloody state.

Enduring the ceaseless pummeling, Ullein shrieked in agony and forced a massive eruption of his own inner energy.

Leo dissipated the retaliatory burst without so much as flinching.

Another heavy strike shattered Ullein’s nose completely.

Gasping heavily as if suffocating, Ullein desperately reached out his hand.

‘I require greater power! If I can just tap into a grander source!’

The stellar stone resting a short distance away levitated and rushed back toward Ullein’s position.

Leo’s hand shot out, intercepting and capturing the rock mid-air.

Witnessing this, a wicked grin spread across Ullein’s features.

“Idiot!”

A blinding torrent of volatile energy erupted violently from the artifact.

Enveloped in the raging storm of power, Leo simply tightened his grip around the relic.

A sharp fracturing sound echoed.

Ullein’s expression froze in absolute disbelief as visible fissures spread rapidly across the surface of the sacred item.

With a final crunch, the artifact disintegrated into worthless debris within Leo’s palm, spilling onto the ground.

Ullein’s jaw dropped in complete bewilderment.

“Our… our sacred relic…! The ancient legacy of grand Elden…!”

Staring down at the gasping, broken figure who was slurring his words through his ruined nose, Leo spoke.

“You consider this common pebble to be the legacy of this settlement?”

With a dismissive snort, Leo ground the remaining remnants of the stone into dust before advancing toward Ullein.

“How… how could this happen! How could an artifact reinforced by supreme sorcery be undone so easily…!”

“Because your spellcraft is fundamentally flawed.”

A cold smirk played on Leo’s lips.

“In terms of sheer refinement, even the first-year pupils attending Seyrun would outclass your abilities.”

Ullein’s methodology was undeniably intricate.

However, it completely lacked precision.

It was an approach that used brute mystical force to forcibly drive complex mechanisms, rather than constructing a flawless, smoothly interlocking sequence.

“Your sorcery isn’t sophisticated. It is merely cluttered.”

Unrefined magic that relies purely on superficial complexity fails utterly when confronted by an archetype of vastly superior mastery.

Deep down, Ullein recognized this fundamental truth.

Yet…

‘How can someone achieve such an impossible feat!’

His entire form shuddered violently.

‘Furthermore, this individual isn’t a conventional spellcaster, but an All-Class…’

A sudden realization caused Ullein’s eyes to snap wide.

An All-Class practitioner, walking the path of Kyle, the legendary Hero of Beginnings.

Coupled with a comprehension of Star magic that seemed to possess no fathomable end.

And above all…

‘He referred to Lord Berkia as his own pupil.’

A deep, trembling dread seized Ullein’s entire body.

“Could it be… are you truly… the Hero of Beginnings… Kyle?”

Leo offered no verbal denial to the accusation.

He simply stared down at the trembling figure with an icy, unreadable expression.

Taking this silent response as absolute confirmation, Ullein cried out in a desperate, frenzied outburst.

“Why! Why must this be! You, who possess knowledge of the cosmic origin! You, who received instruction from that progenitor! Why do you stand against us! Why do you refuse to legitimize our lineage!”

Leo merely tilted his head slightly, watching Ullein thrash and scream as if gripped by a sudden ailment.

“You adherents of the Pureblood Society are genuinely bizarre. None of you ever encountered Luna in person, yet you behave as though your understanding of her surpasses my own.”

The zealots who worshipped the deities that vanished five millennia ago exhibited this exact same delusion.

Hearing Leo’s quiet observation, Ullein muttered as if under a spell.

“If Lord Luna were present, she would view us differently. If Lord Luna were here, she would undoubtedly…”

“Indeed, her reaction would differ from mine. Had Luna been here, she would have insisted on personally cracking open every single one of your skulls to find any semblance of peace.”

The vivid recollection of Luna aggressively wielding her staff to bash heads flashed clearly in his mind.

With a sharp ring, Leo unsheathed his blade.

“In her absence, the responsibility falls upon me to act in her stead.”

A freezing, lethal aura crystallized within Leo’s gaze.

“Now that I comprehend the vile methods used to sustain your authority, I shall pass sentence upon you as Luna’s representative.”

Turning pale at Leo’s declaration, Ullein frantically scrambled backward in an attempt to escape.

“Templars! Templars!”

He screamed at the top of his lungs, calling for the elite Council Knights.

Yet, despite his frantic bellowing, his devoted guardians failed to manifest.

Within Leo’s field of vision, blinding pillars of pale fire raged in the distance.

‘She is pushing herself past her limits once more.’

He could see Lunia holding the line against the arriving Templars.

The power she was currently wielding was demonstrably far greater than what her constitution should safely allow.

‘She has advanced significantly.’

A gentle smile crossed Leo’s face.

Lunia was gradually, step by step, tracing the path originally carved by Luna.

And she was not alone in this endeavor.

Further away, Eiran stood firmly as a protective vanguard for Lunia.

The rate of their mutual progression was truly astonishing.

“No! This is unacceptable…! I still… there is so much more! Everything I fought to attain…”

With a swift thrust, Leo’s blade pierced straight through Ullein’s throat.

As the steel was cleanly extracted, a crimson spray followed.

Ullein’s seizing frame went entirely limp, his head dropping forward.

‘The influence of the Pureblood Society reaches its conclusion here.’

Following the re-emergence of Seyrun and their treasonous pact with Tartaros, the foundation of the Pureblood Society had already suffered severe degradation.

Nonetheless, because they held such deep-rooted dominance, they had managed to retain a considerable degree of authority despite their tarnished reputation.

But this marked the absolute end of their reign.

‘Whatever secrets remain hidden below, judging by the nature of his sorcery, it likely aligns perfectly with what I suspected.’

The horrific practice of subjugating their own brethren to siphon away their vital essence.

Once the public learned that they had committed atrocities against their own people—acts that would result in total banishment even if inflicted upon rival factions—the Pureblood Society would be utterly ruined beyond redemption.

Turning on his heel, Leo walked toward the positions held by Lunia and Eiran.

At the vanguard, Eiran ruthlessly suppressed the advancing Templars.

Positioned securely behind him, Lunia maintained absolute focus on chanting her incantations.

Though the enemy forces were composed of specialized spellblades utilizing traditional Star magic, and possessed internal energy reserves that eclipsed Eiran’s own, they found themselves completely unable to breach his perimeter.

They were thoroughly dominated by the sheer perfection of his blade work.

Meanwhile, the auxiliary casters positioned in the enemy rear found every single one of their offensives utterly neutralized by Lunia’s [Flame Emperor].

The Flame Emperor, a technique conceived by Luna to manifest the ultimate manifestation of heat, was an extraordinary art.

It represented a formula that Luna herself had been unable to fully perfect during her lifetime, ranking easily among the absolute finest techniques within her entire repertoire.

The variation of Star magic utilized by the elves of Elden was inherently flawed.

Within the halls of Seyrun, they sought to forge their own distinct brand of cosmic magic by blending foreign arcane theories into the base foundations of Star magic.

‘The fundamental matrices of Star magic transmitted to succeeding eras were flawed from the start. Regardless of how much one builds upon those specific principles, the resulting arts will never be anything more than an imperfect imitation.’

To the members of the Pureblood Society, they likely viewed it as the ultimate expression of orthodox, unadulterated cosmic sorcery.

Yet, to an individual well-versed in the authentic, original art, it was nothing short of primitive.

‘Consequently, it was a mathematical certainty that they would be overwhelmed by Lunia’s manifestation.’

Regardless of any arguments to the contrary, Lunia stood as the legitimate heir to Luna’s legacy.

She was the elf who had consciously chosen to carry forward Luna’s profound resolve.

“You appear exhausted.”

“Leo?”

“Would you prefer I intervene?”

Lunia merely let out a dismissive laugh at Leo’s proposition.

Even with her absolute advantage in terms of elemental attributes, the adversaries they faced were highly capable combatants.

Both Lunia and Eiran were already teetering on the edge of complete exhaustion.

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Is that so? What drives that decision?”

“Because I refuse to remain a passive bystander who constantly relies on your protection.”

Lunia fixed her gaze firmly on the battlefield ahead.

“Observe closely, for we intend to press forward. We will break through, and when we do!”

Lunia made her proclamation with fierce intensity.

“We shall take our place right at your back!”

Leo’s eyes widened ever so slightly at her words.

‘Cast aside your worries! From this moment onward, I shall handle this!’

A vibrant recollection of a familiar voice making a proud, boastful declaration surfaced within his thoughts.

‘I will watch your back!’

It was the ultimate vow of a sorcerer, committing to safeguard the vanguard.

It was a promise to orchestrate limitless wonders from the rear.

“A mere youth speaking with such grand arrogance.”

“Who are you calling a youth! You absolute fossil!”

Lunia barked back, her temper flaring dramatically.

Observing her fiery spirit, Leo couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“I shall hold you to that promise.”

“Count on it! Just watch!”

Lunia replied with unwavering certainty.

Shifting his focus away from Lunia, Leo directed his gaze toward Berkia, who remained locked in a fierce, desperate struggle against Leo Bihart.

‘These youngsters are bleeding and fighting to stand upon the very ground where you faltered, Berkia.’

Leo tightened his fist into a rigid ball, watching his corrupted disciple writhe in internal torment.

‘Therefore, rid yourself of this madness and provide a proper example for those who follow, you foolish student.’