Chapter 563

563.

“So, what are we calling this tournament?”

Once the intricate details of the schedule were finalized, Ar crossed her arms, tilted her head, and posed the question.

“Come to think of it, we haven’t actually settled on a name for such a major event.”

Lunia nodded in agreement with Ar’s observation.

Gradually, everyone’s attention shifted toward Leo. Everyone in the room was well aware that the initial concept for this massive gathering had originated entirely from him.

Feeling the collective gaze of the student representatives, Leo replied with complete indifference.

“We can just throw something together.”

Lunia looked completely dumbfounded by his casual remark.

“Does it make any sense to just ‘throw something together’ for an event of this scale?”

Yet, Leo remained entirely unbothered by her exasperation.

“Leo, you are the student council president of Lumerne, aren’t you? You’re supposed to be spearheading this entire initiative, yet you haven’t even given the title a single thought?”

When Driana questioned him with a hint of curiosity, Leo offered a simple explanation.

“Our academy is full of highly competent individuals, both among the upperclassmen and the underclassmen.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Noticing Driana’s bewildered expression, Chelsea reached over to grab a pastry from the refreshments table before speaking up.

“It means there is no shortage of people he can exploit.”

Crunch.

Chelsea bit into the treat and continued speaking.

“Everyone was practically begging to follow Leo oppa to Dragonia. Right now, Lumerne is turned completely upside down just trying to get everything ready for this event.”

‘Leo! Take me with you!’

‘No, take me instead!’

‘What are we supposed to do if you leave us behind!’

‘What about your own responsibilities then!’

Chelsea shook her head slightly as she recalled the chaotic memory of older students and classmates swarming the student council office, all shouting over one another.

Hearing Chelsea’s description, the students representing the other academies could only shake their heads in disbelief.

‘We’re certainly going to be overwhelmed preparing for the competition ourselves, but Lumerne sounds like it’s on an entirely different level.’

After all, this was a massive public spectacle. It was only natural that they would go to extreme lengths to ensure everything was flawless to protect their school’s reputation.

“Still, that’s rather unexpected. I was certain Elena Zeron would be the first to reject this idea, considering how much of a hassle it is.”

At Hardin’s remark, Chelsea shook her head to clarify.

“Senior Elena is actually driving the other students the hardest. Though, to be fair, she is also burying herself under the most massive workload.”

Elena’s core philosophy when pushing her subordinates was simple: ‘If I am working myself to the bone, you have no excuse not to do the same.’

“That’s surprising. We’re talking about Elena, right?”

Hardin from Seyrun belonged to the exact same academic year as Elena. While Elena reigned as the undisputed pinnacle of her generation within Lumerne, Seyrun had Hardin to match her. Furthermore, having clashed repeatedly during the Luse War since their freshman year, he possessed a decent understanding of her character.

‘To think that monstrous woman is willingly handling tasks under someone else’s direction.’

While many referred to Elena as the Queen or the Witch of Lumerne, Hardin believed the title of “tyrant” was far more accurate. That was simply how Elena operated—doing precisely what she wanted, whenever she pleased. Even considering Leo’s overwhelming presence, imagining her working beneath anyone else was difficult to fathom.

“Honestly, looking at Senior Elena these days makes me a little anxious,” Chelsea admitted with a quiet sigh. Her expression remained typically composed, but the sheer volume of work Elena was managing was truly unprecedented.

“She’ll be fine. A little hard work isn’t going to kill her,” Leo interjected carelessly. “It’s good to endure hardships while you’re still young. That’s how you build real strength and resilience for when you’re older.”

“Black Rabbit, you’re young too.”

“Leo, isn’t Elena Zeron technically older than you anyway?”

Ar and Dorveman both stared at him, looking completely exasperated.

“How does he manage to sound exactly like those ancient geezers from High Smith?”

“Wow, Driana, look at this. I literally just got goosebumps.”

Driana and Marigold both shuddered slightly. Leo merely let out a soft chuckle at their dramatic reactions.

“Wouldn’t it be beneficial for everyone to realize through this tournament that the real world is a brutal battlefield?”

“Lumerne’s Student Council President, we all recognize your brilliance. No matter what anyone says, you’ve already attained the status of a hero, which is what the rest of us are striving for. But remember, I’ve been attending Damian for five years now.”

As Marigold offered a wry smile and scratched his cheek, Dorveman let out a soft laugh.

“Leo, I’m not dismissing your advice, but despite how we might appear, we’ve survived our fair share of trials. We already know intimately well that life isn’t a walk in the park.”

Leo responded with nothing more than a quiet smile. However, looking at him, the expressions of Lunia and Chelsea—the only ones who truly understood his secret identity—grew visibly pale.

‘What kind of ridiculous scheme is he cooking up this time?’

“By the way, Black Rabbit, if you’ve pawned off all your student council obligations onto everyone else, what exactly do you do with your spare time?”

In response to Ar’s inquiry, Leo offered no verbal reply, maintaining his enigmatic smile.

Clap!

In that moment, Melina clapped her hands together to draw everyone’s focus, speaking with a gentle grin.

“Let us bring an end to the idle chatter. How does the title ‘Festival of Heroes’ sound for the competition?”

Upon hearing her suggestion, the gathered students voiced their immediate approval.

“That is an exceptional name, Dragon Lord,” Dorveman answered with deep respect, earning a warm nod from Melina.

“Excellent. Moving forward, until the Festival of Heroes officially commences, let us ensure smooth progress through close coordination between our respective institutions. With that, I declare this gathering adjourned.”

Later that evening.

Leo stood alone in the courtyard of the quarters assigned to him within Dragonia. Silently, beneath a canopy of brilliant stars, he drew his blade.

Ever since taking his very first steps in this life, Leo had driven himself forward without a single moment of rest. In his early childhood, it was to awaken the latent abilities of every distinct class. Later on, it was to reclaim the overwhelming might he possessed in his previous incarnation. Thanks to that relentless, unyielding dedication, he was rapidly restoring the full scope of his past strength.

Reclaiming that original power had been Leo’s primary objective from the very beginning. However, ever since his encounter with Berkhia, Leo had begun pushing his body and mind even more severely.

Shring—! Wooong—!

A sharp resonance vibrated through Leo’s weapon as a distinct, ash-gray aura erupted along the steel. Observing the energy, Leo closed his eyes.

‘Concentrate.’

Every single one of his perceptions converged entirely onto the sharp tip of his blade. It was a profoundly quiet night. Yet, past a certain threshold, even the ambient sounds of the evening vanished completely.

When his eyes snapped open, nothing remained but his weapon, radiating its gray luminescence amidst an absolute, pitch-black void. It wasn’t an illusion. It was a manifestation brought forth by his senses being utterly and entirely focused on his sword.

Clack—

Gripping the hilt firmly with both hands, Leo raised the weapon to eye level and pointed the tip straight ahead. As he did, a distinct figure materialized in the emptiness before him. It was a fierce beast-human warrior, firmly holding a blade of his own.

Arion.

Within that boundless, dark realm, only Leo and Arion stood facing one another. Simultaneously, Leo’s own physical form shifted, reflecting the visage of Kyle.

Arion dropped into a low combat stance. Without hesitation, Leo lunged across the ground, closing the distance toward his opponent.

Kwa-ga-ga-gak—!

Waves of aura erupted violently from Leo’s descending strike. The fractured remnants of his energy swirled with such chaotic velocity that they became invisible to the naked eye, tearing through the air as if intending to shred Arion to pieces.

Yet, in that exact instant, Arion’s blade moved with fluid elegance.

Ka-ka-ka-ka-kang—!

The defense neatly severed both the golden and gray energies. The attack had been completely neutralized. It was exactly what he had anticipated.

‘Of course. My opponent is Arion, after all.’

It was an undeniable fact that in the current era, Leo stood as the absolute strongest pure warrior. Indeed, even looking back across the history following the Age of Catastrophe, it was highly unlikely anyone had ever truly surpassed him. Neither his own pupils, Berkhia and Bihal, nor the legendary figures of creation, Lumerne and Azonia, could match his pure martial expertise.

It was an inevitability. Leo possessed the unique capability to master every form of weaponry perfectly. Because of this, he was incredibly well-versed in all manners of unconventional and unpredictable combat styles. His legendary moniker, the “Hero Who Survives,” had certainly not been granted without reason.

‘In any era, sheer experience is the true metric that defines a warrior’s mastery.’

The sheer volume of battlefields he had traversed was incomparable. The number of instances where he had balanced on the precipice of death was entirely different. Quite literally, his foundational understanding of combat was on an entirely separate plane. From that specific standpoint, Leo’s individual mastery as a swordsman technically exceeded Arion’s.

Chae-eng—!

Right then, Arion’s blade forcefully parried Leo’s weapon away. Sensing the immense, heavy pressure driving through Arion’s strike, Leo instantly materialized a rift to his sub-space.

Hwoosh—!

Swapping his weapon, Leo gripped a massive battle-axe and spun his entire body, channeling his full momentum into the heavy swing.

Kwang—!

Arion absorbed the impact of the battle-axe, using the force to leap backward and re-establish his footing on the ground. Immediately after, Arion began shifting into his beast form.

‘And yet, in a direct clash, I am still the weaker one.’

While Leo’s versatility and tactical execution were unparalleled, Arion’s absolute martial dominance remained overwhelming. This disparity wasn’t merely a matter of physical strength. Leo optimized his lethality by fluidly cycling through various armaments depending on the immediate flow of battle. Arion possessed no such versatility.

‘To be more precise, he has absolutely no need for the methods I employ.’

A warrior relies on multiple weapons when they find themselves unable to shatter their limits using only one. In a sense, it was a tactical compromise. Arion, however, was entirely different. He had broken through the absolute zenith of power through a single, solitary weapon. That single-minded devotion was precisely why Arion, as a pure combatant, held a superior position to Leo.

Abruptly, Leo shifted his grip back to his sword. The ash-gray aura blazed with renewed intensity, looking as though it might combust at any second.

‘The true nature of the pure mana attribute is a force completely unburdened by restrictions, isn’t it?’

That fundamental characteristic was the very reason Leo could operate as an all-class master. It allowed him to bring forth an infinite variety of techniques. Leo’s personalized magical codex, the “Bible,” was a specialized system that owed its existence entirely to this specific trait. He had expanded the total number of distinct powers available to him, using that vast repertoire to elevate his overall combat capability. This was the precise methodology Leo had utilized to forge his strength since his days as Kyle. As a consequence, the sheer depth of his options was as vast as an ocean.

However…

‘It lacks true depth; it remains altogether too shallow.’

To any ordinary observer, his capabilities would seem unfathomably deep. The sheer accumulation of his knowledge set him apart from the rest of the world. Yet, when measured against the literal pinnacles of his era, the reality was entirely different.

‘To be completely unburdened by limits also means possessing the potential for infinite growth.’

That reality meant Leo himself was capable of becoming boundlessly more powerful. It was a fact that had been definitively demonstrated during the absolute final moments of his previous life. Utilizing the collective strength entrusted to him by his closest companions, Leo had successfully defeated Erebos, the entity of eternal malice.

However, when all was said and done, that victory had been achieved using borrowed power, not his own intrinsic strength.

‘Because of that, I achieved nothing more than an imperfect triumph before drawing my last breath.’

Clench—!

Leo’s fingers tightened securely around his hilt. In this current life, Leo fully intended to secure an absolute victory. He refused to entertain even the slightest possibility of failure from the very outset.

‘But there is no guarantee that this journey won’t culminate in the exact same manner as my past.’

There was no absolute certainty that he wouldn’t be forced to defeat Erebos through the ultimate sacrifices of those around him once again.

‘I refuse to let that happen.’

With that thought, Leo lunged directly toward Arion. Arion simultaneously surged forward to intercept the strike.

‘Therefore, I must completely surpass him. This man right here!’

Arion represented the absolute peak of martial prowess within Leo’s memories. And it wasn’t just him; Luna and Ricinas were the same. Whether as a mage or a summoner, he needed to definitively eclipse his former comrades who had stood uncontested at the apex of their respective disciplines.

Clack—!

Suddenly, Leo’s blade was severed cleanly, spinning high into the open air. Before he could react, the edge of Arion’s sword was already resting gently against his throat.

As their gazes locked, Arion’s lips parted slightly, forming words.

‘Incredible. You truly are Kyle, through and through.’

The exact moment Leo let out a self-deprecating smile at the silent praise—

“Amazing! You really are the incredible Black Rabbit!”

An enthusiastic, high-pitched voice shattered the silence. In an instant, the crushing, pitch-black space dissolved into nothingness, and Leo found himself pulled back into reality beneath the cascading starlight.

Ar came rushing directly toward him, her large eyes glittering with absolute excitement.

“You look even more incredible than before! Black Rabbit! Come on, let’s have a duel right this second—Nyaaahk?!”

“What do you think you’re doing, disrupting someone else’s private training session, you foolish cat?”

Lunia firmly grabbed Ar’s twitching tail, pulling her back with a sharp yank. Ar immediately clutched her lower back, dropping into a protective squat as a tiny tear welled in her eye.

Amused by the sight, Leo offered a small laugh and placed his hand flat on Ar’s head, applying just enough pressure to keep her still.

“It’s perfectly fine. I was actually just wrapping things up for the night.”

Hearing Leo’s reassuring words, Ar’s expression instantly relaxed into a satisfied, feline look. Watching the interaction unfold, Lunia found herself quietly reflecting.

‘Just a moment ago… that presence was undeniably Lord Kyle.’

From the very first moment she had encountered Leo, Lunia had consistently picked up on a strange sense of dissonance. It was largely due to the fact that she regularly caught glimpses of an unsearchable, ancient depth within him, despite his youthful appearance. Now, she finally understood the reality behind it. That brief glimpse had been Leo’s authentic self, completely stripped of the persona he maintained in this current era.

Noticing Ar’s profoundly relaxed expression, Leo smiled and began gently stroking the underside of her chin. In response, a distinct, vibrating gororong-gororong sound began leaking from Ar’s throat.

Then, out of nowhere—

Ar suddenly snapped out of it, her face flushing a deep crimson as she let out a loud protest.

“Stop treating me like some common house pet!”

“But you literally are a cat.”

“Anyone who looks at you would say you’re nothing more than a stray kitten, honestly.”

Lunia and Driana chimed in consecutively without showing the slightest bit of mercy.

“Ugh!”

Frustrated beyond belief, Ar began rolling around erratically on the grass. Loud thump! thump! sounds echoed from her tantrum, but unfortunately for her, absolutely no one present was remotely intimidated by the display.

“Regardless! You have to fight me!” Ar demanded, staring up at him.

Leo simply shook his head. “I have an appointment I need to keep later tonight. My practice session is officially over.”

With a soft chuckle, Leo glanced down at his own energy. The ash-gray aura flickered briefly along his hand.

‘First and foremost, I must develop the capacity to completely eradicate Erebos using nothing but my sword.’

Leo’s intrinsic power was fundamentally the natural antithesis to Erebos. However, during his previous existence, while he possessed the means to inflict devastating, near-fatal trauma upon the ancient evil, he lacked the capability to destroy him entirely. The limitation stemmed from the fact that Leo held only a singular method capable of permanently erasing Erebos from existence.

‘Innocent.’

The highly specialized, unique magic that Luna had left behind for him. The absolute crystallization of pure magical energy.

‘If such a power can be manifested through the medium of spellcasting… then there is absolutely no reason why aura shouldn’t be capable of expressing that exact same purity.’

The very moment he successfully achieved that fusion, his aura would transform into a definitive weapon capable of permanently severing the existence of the primordial darkness. To reach that level, however, he had to shatter the existing ceilings of his current martial comprehension. And Leo understood precisely what that barrier entailed.

Leo turned his gaze slightly to the side. Although he had completely disconnected from his inner mental realm, the lingering phantom of Arion somehow remained visible to his eyes.

Watching the illusion of Arion offer him a supportive, encouraging smile, Leo sighed quietly to himself.

‘I’ll be surpassing you before you know it, so lose that patronizing expression. You picked up far too many unnecessary habits from Ricinas.’

Clicking his tongue softly, Leo gave his blade a light, practiced flick.

Hwoosh—!

In an instant, the remaining ash-gray aura dissolved into the air.

“Huh?”

Ar’s expression twisted into a sudden look of complete bewilderment.

“What’s wrong?”

“No… it’s nothing.” Ar shook her head slowly, keeping her thoughts to herself.

‘Just now, right when the Black Rabbit’s aura dissolved… didn’t it look like it flashed completely white for a split second? Did my eyes just play tricks on me?’