Book 1 Chapter 452

452.

Psychic abilities.

It was a power Arion was born with, a power that allowed him to know things others didn't.

Thanks to it, when Arion activated his psychic abilities, he possessed a power close to precognition.

However, Arion had a secret related to this power that he couldn't even tell his friends.

"I hate this power."

More accurately, he feared it.

Knowing what others didn't know was more painful than he could have imagined.

Especially during the Age of Calamity.

He had instinctively felt the terror of the calamity that engulfed the world from the moment he was born.

His tendency to be startled and frightened by small things was also due to his childhood experiences.

The events of that time became a trauma, and he had never once used his psychic abilities to their absolute limit.

Only after meeting his master and training, and gaining some control over his psychic abilities, could Arion escape his fear.

But as Arion grew stronger, his psychic abilities became sharper.

In battle, it reached the level of predicting the near future.

And just before entering the final battle.

Arion had to witness the deaths of Kyle and Luna.

"I hated it."

Seeing the future.

"I was scared."

That the future might be their failure.

But somehow, he had to find a way for Kyle and Luna to live.

And the path he found was his own death.

In the eyes of others, it would have seemed like a noble sacrifice to save his friends.

"But I just indulged myself with my brother and sister… people like family."

Arion gritted his teeth.

"I was just a coward who chose the easy path, trusting them."

And he arbitrarily felt relieved after seeing the saved future.

He had declared that he would find what he wanted to do now that the world was saved, without even knowing that Leo was still carrying his burden.

"As much as Kyle was hurt by my death. Kyle must have been hurt by my death too!"

He hated himself for only realizing that now, to the point of gnashing his teeth.

He desperately tried to use his psychic abilities to see the future, to change it somehow.

Those psychic abilities have now disappeared.

More accurately, dulled.

Sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.

His sharpened senses still provided him with a wealth of information.

But the battle sense that approached precognition was lost.

Overload due to excessive use of his abilities.

It was the result of using his psychic abilities excessively after listening to Erebus.

Even as he desperately tried to see the future, he couldn't.

"Maybe… it's because I'm fake."

Arion gritted his teeth.

God had died long ago.

He was merely a record in the Hero Records.

*Fwah-!*

Arion burst through the black flames.

With a fierce expression, he rushed at Erebus and swung his sword.

"Haaap!"

*Kwaga-gagag-!*

Golden aura sliced through Erebus's body.

-Do you think you can cut me with such a dull sword!

Erebus roared and struck Arion with his hand.

*Peok-!*

"Cough?!"

With his psychic abilities limited, Arion had not been able to anticipate Erebus's movement.

As he was directly hit by the attack, an immense shock washed over his entire body.

It was a simple physical attack.

But that attack contained a power that crushed the body and mind and destroyed the soul.

*Hweeeing! Kwang-!*

Arion, sent flying by Erebus's attack, crashed into the ground.

Leo rushed to Arion.

"Arion!"

*Kwaaaaah! Thud-!*

As Arion was embedded in the ground, the dirt and debris that had shot into the sky fell back down.

*Swoosh-!*

Arion, getting up, said,

"Kyle, prepare the Innocent."

"Are you okay? You don't seem well."

"I'm fine."

Arion glared at Erebus.

"Trust me. I won't be a burden anymore!"

"What? Hey! Arion!"

"Kuhuhuhuhuh-!"

Leaving Leo's urgent calls behind, Arion let out a howl as if to console himself.

With his eyes wide open, Arion readjusted his grip on his sword and charged.

"That idiot!"

Leo gnashed his teeth, watching his retreating figure.

"Why is Arion-nim saying something like that?"

Melina asked with a perplexed expression.

"He's shaken by Erebus's words. Arion is someone who gets discouraged easily."

Leo knew well that the friend he considered like a younger brother was too fragile and kind.

"Will he be okay?"

Melina's eyes trembled.

To Melina's question, Leo took a deep breath.

"He'll be fine."

Leo looked at Arion's retreating back.

"Arion was the one who experienced the most despair among us. That's why he's also the one who overcame the most trials."

There was no waver in Leo's voice.

"Arion isn't the type to be shaken by words like that and collapse."

Leo said, sending absolute trust.

"Melina, you go and deal with the monsters."

"Yes!"

***

Watching the endless stream of monsters, the hero candidates guarding the castle paled.

"There are too many!"

"There are more than the monster queen's army we faced last year!"

Anxious voices were heard among the Lumern and Seirune students.

Seeing them, Lise, who was creating flames, shouted,

"Don't be intimidated by the numbers! While there may be more than the monster queen's army last time, each individual monster is weaker!"

At Lise's cry, the party members fighting Erebus arrived from the sky.

"I'll help! Wiping out many enemies is my specialty."

Toruya said with a smile.

"Magic Department, gather! Prepare a joint spell!"

At his words, the first and second-year magic department students moved in unison.

"Seirune, too, show your passion!"

Rienia commanded the Seirune students.

"The Knights' Department, with the students of Azonia and Demian, will stop the monsters climbing over the castle wall!"

As Jamua took the lead in directing, Ardo raised his fist next to him.

"We can't show a disgraceful sight in front of Arion-nim! Azonia students, forward!"

"You! Insolent cat! Directing is my job, you know?!"

"Kwaaak!"

Banir put Ar in a headlock.

Ulta gathered the summoners and distributed them well between the Knights' and Magic Departments.

Meanwhile, Kal, who had climbed onto the castle wall, swallowed nervously.

"They might not be as strong as the monster queen's army, but… still, there are so many?"

Last time, the monster queen's army was strong, but the allied forces were also formidable.

The heroes of humans and elves, as well as the hero candidates of Lumern and Seirune, were gathered.

In addition, there were the great heroes who had graced an era.

In contrast, the current allied forces were all hero candidates.

At Kal's muttering, Chelsea gripped her staff tightly.

"It's okay."

Since Kal and Chelsea were not suited for joint spells, they took on the role of stopping monsters on the castle wall.

"We have the Dragon Lord, don't we?"

At that moment, a massive magical power stirred in the sky.

Around Melina, her original silvery magic and the black magic inherited from Lysina's power were swirling simultaneously.

Thump- Thump-

Melina's dragon heart beat rapidly, emitting magical energy.

As a result, the space around her began to distort.

Seeing that, Chelsea swallowed hard.

"Melina, the Dragon of Silence… although she hasn't appeared for a long time, so people might forget, but… she was the one who attacked the world of creation. Even though the result was a failure."

*Pajijik-!*

The space around Melina began to crack, not just distort.

"She is considered one of the most powerful Dragon Lords in the history of the Heroic Age."

As Chelsea's words ended, Melina whispered,

"Silence."

The creations of Erebus, charging towards the castle wall with an imposing demeanor, suddenly stopped moving.

The monsters, standing in place, looked at each other as if they didn't understand why.

Then, one by one, they began to disappear, turning into white powder.

It was truly a breathtaking sight.

A force comparable to Tartarus's army was silently annihilated by a single magic spell.

Everyone who witnessed it looked at Melina with awe.

Melina landed on the castle wall.

It was where Kal and Chelsea were standing.

Her veil fluttered in the wind.

"Everyone, do not fear."

Melina said with great strength.

"As long as I am here, the castle walls will not crumble."

At those words, the hero candidates raised their weapons and let out cheers.

"Waaaaaaaah!"

"Dragon Lord!"

The hero candidates' morale soared instantly with Melina's overwhelming presence.

"Wow… she's like a goddess."

"Thank you, Kal."

Melina smiled brightly and greeted him, hearing his muttering.

For a moment, Melina's face was slightly revealed under her veil.

Seeing it, Kal flinched.

Her face was somehow familiar.

Her apparent age was clearly different.

But her aura perfectly matched that of someone Kal knew.

Kal asked with a look of disbelief,

"Teacher Mel?"

Chelsea, standing beside him, also looked at Kal with wide eyes.

Reacting to Kal's response, Melina put her index finger to her lips and whispered,

"Shhh-!"

At her action, Kal and Chelsea instinctively followed Melina's gesture.

Meanwhile, the monster army was still being summoned endlessly.

As Melina and the hero candidates were about to exert their power,

*Hweeeeee-! Kwang-!*

Something flew and crashed into the castle wall.

Everyone flinched and looked at the collapsed wall.

*Thud-!*

Arion got up from there.

"Damn it!"

Arion revealed an uncharacteristic passion.

The sword in his hand had melted away without a trace.

A menacing aura flickered in Arion's eyes.

At that aura, everyone flinched and stepped back.

With a contorted face, Arion glared in the direction he had flown from.

There was Erebus, who had been brutally mangled by Arion to the point of being unrecognizable.

Erebus, who had been wriggling, soon regained its original form.

Arion, discarding his completely unusable sword, unconsciously took out a sword from the spatial bracelet Luna had made and gripped it.

And then he stopped.

He gritted his teeth and looked at the sword in his hand.

There was a broken Brave.

"This kind of sword won't do!"

*Clang-!*

Arion roughly threw Brave away.

His gentle and innocent demeanor was gone.

Arion's face looked fierce and impatient.

"A-Arion-nim…"

Ar's face turned white at Arion's appearance, so different from what he knew.

"Don't worry. Wait."

*Goooo-!*

A golden aura flickered from Arion's body.

"I will defeat him."

A voice filled with a fierce aura.

This was the appearance Arion had before entering Azonia, the appearance Ar knew.

A beast on the battlefield.

A warrior who fought against the enemy without yielding even in desperate situations.

The brave Arion, possessing overwhelming might.

"W-wait a minute! Arion-nim!"

Ar urgently called out to Arion, but Arion kicked off the ground and charged towards the recovered Erebus.

He didn't wield a sword.

But Arion, flying at an invisible speed towards Erebus, threw a punch, and Erebus's giant body shot into the sky.

"Amazing…!"

Borman exclaimed.

"Is that the true form of the brave?"

As Lewin murmured in admiration.

"No…"

Ar gritted his teeth.

"What?"

"That's not Arion-nim's real form!"