Chapter 248
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*Whoosh-*
A gust of wind tore through the air.
Leo ducked his head, dodging the swirling storm of aura.
Then, he swung his arm.
*CRASH-!*
With a tremendous roar of aura clashing against aura, Xian was sent flying.
“Ugh!”
Xian’s eyes widened as he glared at Leo.
The stone chamber had only one entrance.
And guarding that entrance was Leo.
Xian had just experienced an overwhelming difference in power.
However…
‘He came here after getting through Artkan.’
He couldn’t imagine Artkan having been defeated.
‘He probably let him go to deal with my father. But he wouldn’t have let him go easily.’
Xian knew of Artkan’s abilities.
The authority to collect corpses and reanimate them with the abilities they possessed in life.
‘Dirge.’
Every time he cleared the World of Heroes, he would test his newly acquired powers using Artkan’s authority.
Thus, he was well aware of its potency.
Indeed, Leo’s body was covered in wounds, big and small.
Fatigue was etched on his face, and his shoulders heaved as if he were out of breath.
‘Compared to him, I’m perfectly fine.’
Artkan had even restored his stamina completely.
‘And now, in my hand, is the sword used by the Hero of the Beginning.’
This sword wasn’t just hard and sharp.
Holding it, Xian could tell.
The weapons forged by the divine blacksmith Dweno are called divine artifacts.
This is because they contain an immense power that transcends imagination.
‘Though I don’t yet know how to use this sword’s power.’
Xian readjusted his grip on the sword.
‘If I can just use it, I can defeat Leo Flove.’
With that thought, Xian pointed his sword at Leo.
“It would have been better for you if you hadn’t come here.”
*Step- Step-*
Leo took a step forward.
Xian flinched, taking a step back in response.
But his face soon flushed as he shouted indignantly.
“You’d better be prepared. Things are different from before.”
“What’s so different?”
“I now have the sword of Kyle, the Hero of the Beginning.”
At Xian’s words, Leo glanced at the sword in his hand.
It had a rather peculiar shape.
The blade was short enough to be mistaken for a dagger.
But the hilt was as long as that of a typical longsword.
A strange sword with a blade-to-hilt ratio of nearly one-to-one.
Of course, it wasn’t a sword he was seeing for the first time.
“That sword doesn’t belong to the Hero of the Beginning.”
“What?”
Xian’s face contorted.
“That sword’s name is Erquint. It’s the sword of the Fairy Knight, Verchia.”
Erquint was more closely associated with Luna than with Kyle.
After all, Dweno had originally given Erquint to Luna.
Luna then gave her sword to her disciple, Verchia.
Verchia was also Kyle’s disciple, so it wasn’t entirely unrelated, but it was still not a weapon of the Hero of the Beginning.
‘So, you found it.’
Leo smiled bitterly.
Verchia had lost Erquint in the Battle of Tarmetia.
It was the last battle the Great Heroes had participated in before leaving to subjugate Erebos.
Vihar had told a disheartened Verchia, who was downcast about losing the gift from her master, that she would find the sword for her.
‘It seems she couldn’t return it.’
After Erebos was subjugated.
Upholding their masters’ will, the two must have spent their days frantically rebuilding the world.
“Nonsense! Why would my ancestor be keeping the Fairy Knight’s sword!”
“There must have been a reason. In any case, I’m certain that sword is Erquint. We even learned about it in Heroics class at Lumerne.”
Last year, the Heroics professor, Artian, had given a lesson on the weapons of heroes unknown to the world.
Among them was a lesson on Erquint.
“And you can’t wield that sword properly.”
At Leo’s words, Xian’s face twisted in anger.
“Don’t talk like you know everything!”
Enraged, Xian charged at Leo.
A powerful aura erupted from his body like an explosion.
*KRAKRAKAK-!*
Xian began to move at an incredible speed.
Moving so fast he was nearly invisible, Xian aimed for Leo’s vitals.
“You’re exhausted! You won’t be able to follow my movements!”
Taunting Leo, Xian accelerated even further.
Leo let out a light breath and raised his sword.
*Slice-! Grab-!*
Slashing Leo’s back, Xian’s lips curled into a smirk.
A head-on fight would mean certain defeat.
‘I’ll just keep inflicting small wounds like this.’
Xian quickly vanished into the darkness, evading Leo’s sight.
The power of shadow.
He was using the power of shadow he so despised, but Xian didn’t care.
What mattered now was defeating the monster before him.
But Xian’s assault didn’t last long.
Just before he could hide his body in the darkness, Leo grabbed him by the neck.
“H-How…!”
“Sloppy.”
Leo said coldly, his red eyes flashing.
“Is that all you have to show me?”
Leo.
*Wooooosh-!*
The Jerdinger flames blazed to life.
Seeing the flames swell as if to swallow even their user, Xian’s face went pale.
*KWAGAGAGANG-!*
Leo’s flames mercilessly incinerated Xian.
“Guuuh…”
Having barely escaped, Xian crawled on the floor, muttering.
“Impossible… It can’t be… I… I was chosen… I was born with the talent to become a Great Hero… Why…!”
As Xian struggled and crawled towards the entrance, Leo’s foot blocked his path.
Xian’s face turned white as a sheet.
“S-Spare me! You’re a hero candidate, aren’t you? I’m Xia’s family! Would a hero candidate carelessly take the life of his friend’s family?”
*Fwoosh-*
As if it wasn’t worth listening to, Leo unleashed his flames.
Seeing this, Xian shouted desperately.
“I-I’m going to be a hero! You-You’re going to be a hero too, right? You’ll fight against Tartaros, won’t you? Having even one more strong person will be a great help in the future!”
“That’s certainly true.”
“Th-Then…!”
At Leo’s affirmation, Xian’s face brightened.
“But I don’t see you as such a remarkable person.”
Leo grinned.
Xian instinctively knew that grin was a death sentence.
“And I certainly don’t see any value in keeping you alive.”
*WHOOOOSH!*
“Aaaaargh!”
The phoenix flames engulfed Xian.
Thrashing and rolling around the room, Xian’s movements ceased, and he soon turned to ash and disappeared.
Leo picked up Erquint, which was lying on the floor.
‘I’d like to give this to Eiran, if possible.’
Eiran, the second-year salutatorian at Seirun and a descendant of Verchia.
It would be best for Erquint to be in Eiran’s hands.
‘Vihar would have wanted that, too.’
Although she couldn’t return it to Verchia herself, Vihar would surely have wanted it to go to her descendant.
Leo looked around the wrecked records room.
“What are these?”
“They’re all… records of the shadows.”
At Chen Xia’s explanation, Leo picked up a book lying on the floor.
He opened it to find it detailed the deeds of a certain shadow.
“I see.”
Leo nodded and carefully placed the records back on the shelves one by one.
The gesture seemed like a show of respect for a hero.
Staring blankly at his back for a moment, Chen Xia spoke.
“There was no need for you to dirty your hands, Young Master Leo.”
“Is it really something you’d call ‘dirtying my hands’?”
Leo said nonchalantly.
“Executing a traitor is a perfectly natural thing to do.”
“…”
“Let’s go back. Any more unexcused absences and this won’t end with just an apology letter.”
“Thank you for coming to get me. I’m truly happy.”
Chen Xia smiled bitterly.
“But I am a shadow. I can’t become a hero.”
“Why not?”
“Because the gods will never acknowledge me.”
Chen Xia held out her hand.
“I’ve done more dirty work than you can imagine, Young Master Leo. And I’m a cruel woman.”
Chen Xia smiled faintly.
“Even if Xian was a traitor, he was my twin. I watched him die, and yet I can still smile like this.”
No matter how much he deserved to die.
He was family she had spent her entire life with.
Yet, despite her kin’s death, Chen Xia was unfazed.
“Are there any other hero candidates like me?”
“I doubt it.”
“See? I’m not suited to be a hero candidate.”
The smiling Chen Xia looked somewhat eerie.
“Will the gods acknowledge someone like me?”
“They probably won’t.”
“Yes, I’ll never be able to get my name in the Hero Record…”
“But is that important?”
“Pardon?”
“Is the gods’ acknowledgment that important?”
Chen Xia’s eyes wavered at the unexpected response.
“Didn’t you enroll at Lumerne because you wanted to become a hero? Why did you want to be a hero?”
“…Because I wanted to be someone who helps many people.”
Chen Xia answered, her eyes downcast.
“So? Now that you think you can’t be a hero, you don’t want to help people anymore?”
Chen Xia answered in a fluster.
“N-No. In the way of the shadows…”
“Is there a specific way to help people?”
Leo chuckled.
“If that desire hasn’t changed, then you still want to be a hero.”
Chen Xia’s shoulders flinched.
“You’ll definitely become a hero loved by the people. Whether your name is in the Hero Record or not doesn’t matter.”
Her heart stirred.
He was affirming the very dream she herself had denied.
It felt as if he was extending a hand to her as she hesitated, her feet submerged in darkness.
It felt as though the darkness was receding in the face of a dazzlingly bright light.
‘This is why… I didn’t want to see you.’
She had made up her mind.
But seeing Leo affirm the dream she had cast aside, her resolve crumbled in an instant.
She found herself unconsciously reaching for the light.
“Let’s go back, to Lumerne.”
“…Yes!”
Chen Xia answered before she even realized it.
‘Even if I can’t get my name in the Hero Record… I want to try.’
The Hero Record wasn’t what was important.
As she came to that realization, Chen Xia couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Leo, who had been smiling faintly at her, suddenly froze.
‘Divine power…?’
He turned his head with a start.
A bookshelf in the corner of the records room.
There, he saw a worn leather cover.
Leo approached the bookshelf and pulled out the book.
‘An Aura Seal?’
An Aura Seal.
An ability where one imbues their will into their aura, creating a seal that only the chosen one can open.
‘This is Vihar’s aura.’
Sensing his disciple’s aura, Leo summoned his gray aura.
The seal reacted to Leo’s aura and naturally unraveled.
And what was inside…
“A Hero Record…?”
Chen Xia’s expression was one of shock as she saw the pages emitting divine power.
The moment Leo was taken aback.
[Would you like to open your world?]
A message appeared before his eyes.
Leo’s eyes widened in surprise.
This was different from any Hero Record he had seen before.
He had entered the World of Heroes countless times, but he had never seen a message like this.
‘And it says ‘my world’?’
Flustered, Leo responded with his will.
‘No.’
With that, the message vanished.
Leo looked down at the Hero Record.
The bundle of hero pages before him contained a powerful divine energy.
It was like looking at a Hero Record in its complete, original state.
Chen Xia rushed to Leo’s side and, after checking the contents of the Hero Record, her jaw dropped.
“This… looks like a record of the shadows?”
The deeds recorded in the Hero Record.
The name was erased, but it was filled with accounts of executing traitors.
She wondered if it was a fake, but to a Lumerne student like her, this Hero Record was undoubtedly real.
“What in the world…”
As Chen Xia stood there in shock, Leo’s grip tightened.
‘My… records.’
The contents of the pages were all things Leo had done in his time as Kyle.
‘I see…’
Looking at the Hero Record, Leo understood the situation.
‘Did Vihar take all the records of my time as a shadow for herself?’
Among the Great Heroes, only Kyle had executed traitors.
Naturally, many of those records were unpleasant to read.
It was a job someone had to do.
Even so, there was no guarantee everyone would understand.
If these records had remained intact and been passed down to future generations, he would have been remembered as the Great Hero who did the dirty work, especially when compared to his friends.
Vihar did not want her master to be recorded that way.
‘Is that why she hid them?’
He smiled bitterly.
‘She should have just left them alone.’
If she had, perhaps the shadows would not have been denied.
If it had been known that even a Great Hero operated in the darkness for the sake of the world.
If it had been known that the deeds of a shadow were also acknowledged by the gods.
The treatment of shadows today might have been different.
‘Vihar, too, might not have vanished into the annals of history.’
Just as Leo let out a deep sigh.
*Flutter-flutter-*
Suddenly, the pages began to turn on their own.
And at the very end, a blank page was created.
‘What is this…?’
[Would you like to record the hero's great deeds?]
Leo narrowed his eyes at the message that appeared before him.
Bewildered by the unprecedented situation, Chen Xia stared at the blank page.
‘Record.’
The moment Leo thought that.
Vihar
The name ‘Vihar’ appeared at the top of the page, and her great deeds began to be recorded.
*Wooooom-!*
The Hero Record began to glow and levitated into the air.
*Drrrrrrr-*
The records of the shadows, which had been shelved in the archive, began to shake and then shot out all at once.
The shadow records swirled around the Hero Record.
*Wooooom-! Flutter-flutter-flutter-!*
A pure white light emanated from the Hero Record.
All at once, the shadow records were sucked into the Hero Record.
*Fwaaa-!*
A powerful light filled the space, then vanished.
The records of the shadows that had filled the archive were also gone.
“Wh-What in the world.”
As Chen Xia stood there in shock.
A large book fell from the air.
*Thud-!*
A black-covered book landed in Leo’s hands.
Seeing its cover, Chen Xia gasped.
Leo brushed his hand over the cover.
‘I see.’
Leo let out a dry laugh.
Pivua’s words came to mind.
The Hero Record belongs to Kyle.
Meaning…
‘Does that mean I also have the authority to record?’
[Hero Record - Book of Shadows]
It was the moment the great deeds of the shadows, who had toiled in darkness their entire lives, were finally acknowledged.