The Knight's Aspiration
Aspiration. While every Awakened fought desperately to hold back the orcs, Eclipse's time remained frozen at the instant of his clash with Terta. In that collision, he felt a crushing exhaustion seize him—one he had never known before. This was the result. Powerless, kneeling. Though he had poured out every ounce of strength, his weakened body could not withstand the sword's impact, nor could he slay Terta.
Even with his knees buckled and no strength left to rise, Eclipse perceived the entire battlefield. He saw Shin Seongmin and Adein merge and charge into the fray. He saw Hwanryeong Team 2 stepping forward to shield him. He saw Yusoha, clad in armor, sprinting ahead. Yet despite witnessing those weaker than himself move, Eclipse could not stir. Even his face was numb; he could not bite his lip. Self-loathing welled within him at his own helplessness.
Am I truly being pushed back by an opponent like that? Have I grown so frail that a battle of this scale drains me completely?
In that moment, scenes from the past flashed through his mind.
When his master had sacrificed his life to the servants of Terror to save him, the people had abandoned the two who stood to protect them and fled.
“Master! The people…!”
“It is all right. I shall hold them. So, Eclipse.”
“Live. Live, and protect them. Are they not pitiable? You possess the strength to shield them. After today, on the day you rise again… you will be able to guard everyone.”
“I… I am too weak. I cannot, Master!”
“No. You can. Are you not the disciple I raised? Though I am reluctant to place such a heavy burden upon you, it seems I must burn my life for you today. Therefore, Eclipse, this is my final will.”
“……”
“Do not resent them. And… protect them. That is my last request.”
His master perished that way, slaying the servants of Terror and casting aside his own body. Yet even as he threw himself into death, he never resented them. He understood it could not be helped. He had believed in nobility, fought for it, yet knew the wall of reality was too high. They were all people for whom their own lives mattered most.
But to honor his master's dying words, Eclipse resolved to protect those who had abandoned him. He vowed to carry his master's values and live by them. He never wished to witness human lives extinguished by otherworldly beings again. Thus, after the battle, he donned his master's worn armor, gripped the greatsword his master had first fitted for him, and swore to inherit his master's legacy.
Yet he had failed. He failed to carry on his master's will, failed to save the people as his master had hoped. If he could no longer move, the same outcome would repeat. He would save nothing, and once more nothing would remain around him.
In that instant, he saw everyone hurled away by Terta's crimson storm. Yet they did not retreat, even as death loomed. Yusoha, her sword shattered by the red tempest, drew up her mana once more. Her face was pale from overusing her power, blood trickling from her lips. She glanced at Eclipse, and despair clouded her expression at his motionless form.
Shin Seongmin fared no better against the orc champion. Wounds covered his body, even after fusing with Adein and manifesting the dragon's form. Hwanryeong Team 2 was likewise overwhelmed; the orc elites, emboldened by their king's rise, pushed them back, and the injured multiplied.
Why do they fight so? The question seized his mind. Why do they risk everything to protect me? Why do they not abandon others to save themselves? Why are they different from the humans I once knew?
It was reckless. At this rate, Terta would slaughter them all. His strength rivaled the servants of Terror; none here could withstand even one of his strikes. Perhaps Shin Seongmin might endure once, but at the cost of his life.
Yet their will did not waver. In the slowed flow of time, Eclipse watched them closely and saw they had embraced death, their resolve absolute. Words they had spoken rose in his mind.
“We can't just leave civilians to suffer, can we?”
Hwanryeong Team 2 had said that.
“If I hadn't stirred things up, none of this would have happened. So I have to take responsibility.”
Yusoha had said that.
They could not abandon civilian casualties. Since the crisis stemmed from their actions, they would bear the responsibility. These were the very people Eclipse had longed to fight alongside—those who cast themselves aside without hesitation to protect others. In them, he found nobility. The nobility he had yearned for in his previous world, glimpsed now in fragments, almost drew a hollow laugh from him.
One by one, he took in those who carried that nobility as naturally as breathing. And he noticed a common thread: their gazes remained fixed on him.
Why do they look to me?
It was not difficult to understand. The reason they could remain noble was because they held a single hope in their hearts—hope in Eclipse himself. Because of that hope, their nobility did not break. Yet their greatness remained unchanged. Who could so easily throw themselves away, clinging to a fragile, uncertain hope?
Then, if that hope originated from him… should he not answer it?
Eclipse tried to force his unmoving body to rise, but it would not. He needed power—power to overcome this situation and lead himself forward.
In that moment, Rumeorn's words flashed through his mind.
“To wield mana, one must first feel it and hold aspiration. The stronger the aspiration, the more mana grants itself to the person.”
Rumeorn had said to hold aspiration to use mana. Yet when he had first learned of it, why had his mana refused to move? He had desired strength, but it had not stirred. He shook his head. He thought of what he had truly desired most.
Time fractured, and his consciousness drifted into the past. There, Eclipse found a memory.
The day he first became a knight. The lord who had knighted him. His master watching with pride beside him. The red carpet beneath his feet, the lord's sword tapping his head.
“A knight must be just.”
“A knight must be honorable.”
“Those who become knights show no fear before the enemy.”
“Those who become knights always hold courage and pursue nobility.”
“Act for the weak, and punish evil.”
“Eclipse Lulandel. From this moment, you are an honorable knight.”
“Henceforth, become the most honorable sword that protects humanity.”
The emotions he had felt then swept over him. Joy at becoming the knight he had dreamed of, every word from the ceremony etched into his mind. What he had desired, what he could never abandon even at the very end, was this:
“Those who become knights always hold courage and pursue nobility.”
Nobility.
In that instant, he understood what he truly aspired to. When first summoned to this world, he had wished to be arrogant—to enforce his will and oppress those who did not obey. Yet what lay beneath that impulse? The reason he had wanted to act that way? Was it not to protect humanity?
Protect humanity. Prevent their lives from being extinguished.
The aspiration he had desired most fiercely bloomed once more in his heart. At last, mana answered Eclipse. A golden radiance rose. Mana the same color as Yusoha's enveloped his entire body.
Kneeling with his greatsword planted in the ground, Eclipse felt vitality return to his limbs. He rose. Gripping the greatsword in one hand, he stood, removed his helmet, and crushed it.
He had sought to save humanity yet could not trust them, so he had hidden his face. He had believed he could never trust humans again. Yet there was no reason to withhold trust from those who believed in him and placed their hope in him.
Black hair streamed in the wind, and sharp black eyes were revealed upon the battlefield. In that moment, Eclipse's gaze met Yusoha's as she lay fallen, looking at him. Her face, which should have been furious at his deception, instead bore a radiant smile.
Golden mana coursed through Eclipse's body, restoring his armor. The golden light infused the worn plates, returning his master's armor to its former, pristine form. The tattered red cloak regained its shape and turned gold. Then his broken greatsword instantly regained its original shape.
A golden radiance, mightier than Terta's crimson storm, settled over Eclipse's entire form. Even so, he knew this mana could only sustain one full swing of the greatsword. Yet… one swing would suffice.
Without hesitation, Eclipse gripped the greatsword firmly. He looked ahead. Terta, wreathed in crimson mana, charged toward him. It was a sight he had faced several times today alone. But it would be the last time he ever saw it.
Thinking this, Eclipse brought the sword down in a decisive arc.
In that instant, Shin Seongmin—battered while blocking Terta with all his might—along with Yusoha, her armor cracked and bleeding from the crimson mana, and Hwanryeong Team 2, wounded while holding back the orc elites, all saw hope light their eyes.
A golden flash engulfed earth and sky, sweeping over Terta's entire body. His crimson mana crumbled without resistance. The core of the gate embedded in his heart for decades split in two and turned to dust. And with Terta, every orc who had crossed into this world through the gate's power dissolved into ash, while the land, once covered in cooled lava, regained its original vitality.