The Weight of Scars
Yusoha returned to her hotel room with her heart soaring after the long, eventful day of the Hwanryeong Tournament came to an end. She immediately opened her smartphone. She wasn’t usually one to browse communities or news articles, but today was different.
First, the articles…
As expected, an absolute flood of stories about Eclipse’s dazzling debut had already gone viral. Perhaps it was because she—the one who usually treated reporters with icy disdain—had unusually opened up about her Guardian Star with genuine warmth. Every single article painted her in a favorable light.
After skimming through the articles, Yusoha broke into a wide, beaming smile and checked the comments. It was hard to believe these were under her articles—usually flooded with hateful comments. Instead, they were remarkably clean. No, they were overflowing with praise. The complete absence of the usual venom made the articles feel almost boring to her.
Next, she entered the Awakened community, Transcendence.
The community that had always been so negative toward Yusoha was now filled with overwhelmingly positive sentiment. The tide was turning in her favor. She couldn’t help but think so.
“The public opinion is good. That’s a relief,” she murmured.
Suddenly, Eclipse’s voice echoed near her ear. At some point he had materialized; he stood beside her holding a smartphone in one hand, speaking casually.
It seemed that while Yusoha had been absorbed in the articles, he had been quietly checking the news and community posts on his own device.
Yusoha turned to him, still smiling brightly. “Of course it is. After the show you put on, what did you expect?”
“Is that really such a special thing?”
“Obviously. My sister is incredibly strong, you know.”
“I still don’t fully grasp the standards of strength in this world. I suppose I’ll have to fight Shin Seongmin myself to understand.”
At Eclipse’s words—which could easily be seen as arrogant—Yusoha laughed.
“You asked me to teach you arrogance, but it looks like you’re already plenty arrogant.”
“This isn’t arrogance. It’s simply stating a fact.”
“In this world, people usually call that arrogance. I should know—I’ve been that way my whole life. Arrogance starts from the belief that your words are more correct than others’, that you’re simply better than everyone else.”
“Then it’s a positive sign. After all, I contracted with you to learn arrogance. So behaving this way is correct?”
“You could say that.”
“Understood for now. By the way, the finals are in three days, correct? I don’t recall any other schedule until then.”
“That’s right. I should spend the time training. Shin Seongmin is strong, after all.”
“Will we head to the hotel training room tomorrow?”
“Yeah. They prepared it for Awakened, so I should take advantage of it too. Oh, but before that… I need to see my sister. She looked pretty badly hurt. You could’ve gone a little easier on her.”
“That was me going easy.”
“You sent a giant flying past the barrier with one punch and you call that easy?”
“If I had used my full strength, both Hidelixius and Yu Danha would be dead. Since I cannot kill anyone, I adjusted my power.”
“…That wasn’t your full strength?”
“Correct. Didn’t I mention my greatsword before? I said it would be difficult to control my strength with it.”
“Yeah, you did.”
“I don’t know exactly what happened, but it seems some strange power was granted to my greatsword when I crossed worlds. That’s why I can’t draw it freely.”
“Ah, that. I can explain it in detail. I forgot to mention it before because of my bias against that old armor of yours… But it’s already been confirmed by several other Guardian Stars, so it’s probably accurate.”
“You mean you can tell me the origin of this strange power?”
“Yes.”
“Could you tell me what it is?”
“Most likely, the hardships you endured in your world have become power and reside within your broken greatsword. That’s what happened with the other Guardian Stars too.”
“…Power equal to my hardships?”
“Exactly. That’s why an unknown power dwells in your weapon.”
Eclipse nodded, convinced by Yusoha’s clear explanation. If the battles against Terror he had fought in his previous world were converted into power, then it made sense that he couldn’t handle the greatsword recklessly. Fighting Terror was a trial that ordinary people could never endure. If that suffering had transformed into power and fused with the broken blade, then it was only natural that his weakened self as a Guardian Star couldn’t wield it.
“I see… So that’s how it is.”
Eclipse nodded in understanding. Watching him, Yusoha asked carefully, “If it’s alright… could you tell me about the world you lived in?”
“My world…?”
“Yes. I want to know how you became so strong.”
“I can’t explain it in detail, but in simple terms, I was just a vagrant.”
“A vagrant?”
“Yes. A beggar who wandered the rural villages of the kingdom, stealing from others. Then I met my master, became a knight, fought powerful enemies, and was summoned to you right before I died. That’s the end of the story.”
Eclipse deliberately avoided giving Yusoha the full details. The memories of his previous world—especially anything related to Terror—were so painful that he hated even recalling them.
“…I see.”
“I’m sorry, Yusoha, but I don’t wish to speak of it in detail. I ask for your understanding. Those memories are horrific to me, even just remembering them…”
“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. I can understand that much.”
“Thank you.”
Yet Yusoha couldn’t completely hide her disappointment.
“Then I’ll return to the room assigned to me. Rest well. We’ll see each other tomorrow.”
“Okay. And again… thank you. It’s all because of you. The fact that I’ve become stronger, that I defeated my sister—it’s all thanks to you.”
“Your reaction is quite different from when we first met.”
Yusoha laughed brightly at Eclipse’s words. “Hehe. That’s because I didn’t know your true worth back then. Still, I’m not ashamed of how I acted. At the time, I believed I was right.”
“Yes. That is very much like you.”
As Eclipse turned to leave, Yusoha suddenly remembered something else and called out to him.
“Oh, right, Eclipse.”
“Hm?”
“Can you show me your face? Now that I think about it, I’ve never actually seen it.”
“…Later.”
“Later?”
“Yes. Once I know you better, and you know me better, I will show you then.”
“So you won’t show me until we’ve built enough trust? What, did you hear that you’re ugly or something?”
“Yes. To be precise… my face is covered in countless scars. It’s quite hideous. You might recoil the moment you see it.”
“Setting aside the fact that I prefer beautiful things, I have no intention of judging you by that standard…”
Yusoha swallowed a faint sense of disappointment as she looked at him. Honestly, whether her Guardian Star’s face was handsome or not, she had wanted to see it at least once.
“I know you don’t judge people solely by appearance. However… the possibility that your attitude toward me might change after seeing my face is something I find slightly unpleasant.”
“Hmm… I understand.”
Yusoha nodded. After all, expectations about someone’s looks often turned into disappointment and affected how one treated them. Of course, she was confident she wouldn’t react that way, but if he was this reluctant to show his face, he must have suffered considerably because of his appearance. In that case, she had no reason not to understand.
She wanted to cherish her capable Guardian Star as much as possible.
“If you don’t want to, then there’s nothing I can do. Later, once I’ve earned enough of your trust, we can consider it then.”
“Thank you for understanding, Yusoha. Then I will truly return to my room now.”
“Alright.”
Once back in his room, Eclipse fell into deep thought.
The Hwanryeong Tournament would soon reach its final stages. After it ended, what kind of life would he lead?
Come to think of it, I don’t have a clear purpose.
Learn arrogance. Live that way. And in doing so, help Yusoha. But once he learned arrogance, then what?
He no longer had to face Terror. The idea of living arrogantly had originally stemmed from the desire to forcibly control those who would stand against fear. Yet now that the root cause had vanished, he honestly didn’t even need to learn arrogance.
Compared to the world he came from, Earth was an incredibly peaceful place. It reminded him of his own world before Terror had descended. In such a peaceful world, perhaps he should value the nobility his master had pursued more than arrogance.
The thought suddenly occurred to him.
No, this isn’t something to think about right now. It’s only been a month since I arrived on Earth. There’s no telling what might happen in the future. Depending on the situation, I may still need to learn how to deal with people forcefully. And the foundation of that mindset is… the belief that I am right.
It was peaceful now, but Terror could invade Earth as well. His own world had suffered the same fate. Therefore, mastering an arrogant attitude would surely prove helpful later.
The memory of blindly trying to protect everyone only to watch them all perish was more than enough. He never wanted to experience it again.
Having organized his thoughts, Eclipse lay down on the bed.