Inside the ruins.
The black robe on Lilith’s body slowly dissipated.
She stretched her limbs and rolled her neck.
“Finally, some peace and quiet.”
She looked toward the distant battlefield and began to analyze the situation.
“That white-robed man is likely the one who tried to counter-track me earlier,” Lilith mused, rubbing her chin. “But for now, he’s not important.”
What she really cared about was this person claiming to be Hero Leonard.
“Hero Leonard died a thousand years ago, yet here he is popping up again, hopping around in a place where the demonic energy pollution is ridiculously high...”
It was highly abnormal.
“Either he’s a fake, or...” Lilith paused. “This isn’t reality at all.”
She looked around.
The gray sky, the dark red light, the orderly but lifeless buildings, and that youth claiming to be a Hero...
Everything felt eerie.
“Whatever, I’ll just watch the show for now,” Lilith decided, giving up on the thought. It wasn't like she could figure it out by thinking anyway.
She found a relatively intact roof to sit on and watched the battle in the distance.
...
Meanwhile, at the collapsed mountain.
The white-robed man crawled out from the pile of rubble, his face covered in dust and his white robe riddled with holes.
“Damn it!” he hissed through gritted teeth. “How can her strength be that immense?!”
In all his long life, this was the first time he had ever been kicked away like that.
Just as he finished tidying his clothes and prepared to head back to settle the score with the person in the black robe, he saw a white meteor falling from the sky. It crashed into the ground not far in front of him with a loud bang.
As the dust settled, Leonard crawled out of the crater, coughing twice.
The two of them locked eyes.
The atmosphere became incredibly awkward.
Leonard snapped back to his senses, immediately dropping into a combat stance and eyeing the white-robed man warily.
The white-robed man looked at Leonard and suddenly laughed.
“Heh, do you really think you’re a Hero?”
His tone was mocking. “You’re nothing more than a wraith I created using a remnant soul of a dead Hero combined with the demonic energy pollution here!”
Leonard froze.
“Listen to me,” the white-robed man said, reaching out a hand in a tempting gesture. “Let’s join forces and take care of that person from just now. I can give you a real body and real life. How about it?”
Leonard didn't answer.
He just stood there blankly, his eyes hollow, as if he were processing the words he had just heard.
The white-robed man frowned, sensing something was wrong.
He secretly surged his magic, attempting to control the demonic energy inside Leonard’s body. This was a fail-safe he had left when creating this wraith Hero, specifically to prevent the boy from going out of control.
But in the next second, his expression changed.
He felt the demonic energy he had injected into Leonard being repelled by some kind of power.
“That’s impossible!” the white-robed man blurted out.
He increased his magic output. Purple veins began to surface on Leonard’s neck—a clear sign of demonic energy erosion.
However, those veins only appeared for a few seconds before rapidly receding.
After a moment, Leonard slowly raised his head.
“Don’t even dream of controlling me,” Leonard said softly. His voice wasn't loud, but it reached the white-robed man’s ears with crystal clarity.
The white-robed man’s pupils shrank.
Leonard slowly stood up.
He closed his eyes and reached his right hand toward his waist, making a drawing motion.
But there was nothing at his waist.
The white-robed man scoffed. “Stop playing—”
His words cut off abruptly.
Because Leonard’s hand had actually pulled something out.
A sword began to slowly manifest in his hand.
At first, it was just a blurry silhouette of light, but then it gradually solidified into a longsword, pure white throughout and etched with golden runes.
The moment the sword appeared, the world itself changed.
The gray sky was suddenly covered in dark clouds, and lightning rolled through the atmosphere.
A wild wind rose from the ground, enveloping the entire battlefield in flying sand and stones.
Leonard gripped the glowing Holy Sword and pointed the tip at the white-robed man.
“Come.”
His voice was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable authority.
The white-robed man’s expression turned grave.
He set aside his previous contempt and cupped his hands in the air before him, dark red magic beginning to gather.
“Fine,” he said coldly. “Then, fake Hero, you’d better be careful not to let the demonic energy in your body consume you.”
Leonard didn't reply.
He simply took a step forward.
Then, he swung the sword down.
The instant he swung, a rift was torn through the dark clouds in the sky!
Golden sunlight poured through the gap, bathing Leonard in light and making him look like a deity descended from the heavens.
The white-robed man laughed loudly, his figure blurring as he vanished from his spot.
The sword qi missed, carving a bottomless trench into the ground.
“Too slow!” the white-robed man’s voice came from behind Leonard.
He held both hands high, the dark red magic having already condensed into a massive pillar of light over ten meters in diameter.
“Die!”
The pillar of light crashed down, completely engulfing Leonard’s position.
“BOOM!!!”
The ground exploded, and dust soared into the sky as the shockwave sent surrounding rubble flying.
The white-robed man hovered in mid-air, looking at the dust below with a cold smirk curling on his lips.
But in the next second, his smile froze.
Amidst the dust, a figure slowly rose.
Leonard was down on one knee, holding the Holy Sword with both hands. The blade was held horizontally above his head, having blocked that destructive pillar of light through sheer force.
His clothes were shredded and his body was covered in burns, but his gaze remained resolute.
“It’s not over yet,” Leonard gritted his teeth. His arms surged with strength, and the Holy Sword erupted with a dazzling golden light.
The golden light exploded, literally splitting the dark red pillar of light down the middle!
The pillar collapsed, turning into a shower of light particles.
Leonard breathed heavily as he stood up and looked at the white-robed man in the air.
Then, he raised his sword again.
This time, he didn't charge forward. Instead, he swung the sword through the air from a distance.
A golden arc of sword qi shot out, moving with extreme speed. The white-robed man didn't even have time to dodge and could only barely twist his body aside.
Pfft!
The sword qi grazed him, and his entire right arm was severed at the shoulder, flying off into the distance.
The white-robed man let out a muffled groan as he fell from the sky, crashing heavily onto the ground.
However, he quickly scrambled back up. Looking at his empty right shoulder, he laughed.
“Interesting,” he said softly.
At the stump of his arm, flesh and blood began to writhe.
A few seconds later, a brand-new arm grew out, looking exactly like the original.
The white-robed man flexed his newly grown arm and looked at Leonard, his smile becoming even more brilliant.
“It seems I’ll have to get a bit more serious.”
Leonard tightened his grip on the Holy Sword and said nothing.
But his eyes said everything.
The battle had only just begun.
...
On the distant rooftop.
Lilith sat there.
“It’s quite a lively fight. Their acting is just a bit lacking, though.”
She shook her head as she watched the two of them tearing the world apart in the distance.
“One’s a total show-off, and the other’s way too into his character.”
“However...”
Lilith fixed her gaze on the Holy Sword in Leonard’s hand.
“That thing seems to be the real deal.”
She could feel that the aura emanating from that sword was completely incompatible with this environment full of demonic energy pollution.
Yet, it clearly existed.
She decided to keep watching the show for a while longer.
Rate on N.U.
