Book 1 Chapter 543

543.

Leo glared at Ulleyn as if to kill him.

He felt a magical power that transcended imagination.

Endless magical power.

For a moment, in that figure, a shadow of Luna peeked through.

But then Leo shook his head.

'Comparing him to Luna would be an insult to him.'

Luna's magical power was entirely her own strength.

But Ulleyn in front of him was not.

'This is magical power that clearly surpasses his vessel.'

He could clearly see magical power overflowing, unable to be contained in its vessel.

And that the source of that magical power was underground.

He easily realized what that magical power was.

Clear and transparent magical power.

'Life force.'

It wasn't his own life force.

Leo's gaze dropped.

'There are countless people in this underground.'

And it was clear that he was plundering the life force of those people and using it as the source of his magical power.

Leo focused his magical power into his eyes.

Then he saw the magical formula carved into Ulleyn's body.

"It's unique magic."

Surprise flickered in Ulleyn's eyes.

"Is it a mana trait that allows you to use the mana of others?"

"Remarkable."

Ulleyn admired Leo, who had seen through not only his magic but also his mana trait, then asked.

"What do you think of my magic, which has attained infinite possibilities?"

"You dare speak of possibility while plundering the strength of others."

"Possibility comes in many forms. Isn't it our duty to use the best of what we can do to reach our predecessors?"

Ulleyn spread his arms.

"Even the inferior ones will surely be pleased. To know that they are the cornerstone of the journey towards the great predecessors."

Such an act was what Luna most detested in the world.

There was no meaning in a possibility gained by trampling on the possibilities of others.

But even if he talked for a hundred days, they wouldn't admit it unless Luna herself came.

"Conversation would be meaningless."

"How unfortunate."

A sharp aura emanated from Leo's body.

Leo, having entered the realm of supersenses, quickly grasped the surrounding area.

Everything around him felt vivid.

Leo sharpened his supersenses even further.

It was very difficult to step into the realm of supersenses created by Arion.

But the true complexity of supersenses began the moment one stepped into that realm.

Arion had acquired mythical martial prowess through breathing and supersenses.

But breathing and supersenses were different in nature.

If breathing was the ability to amplify power, supersenses were literally the concept of information.

The enemy's appearance.

The enemy's scent.

The sound of the enemy moving.

Supersenses allowed one to know all of that faster and more extensively than others.

Information was immense power.

But it was useless if one couldn't utilize it.

Even Leo had gone through countless trials and errors to properly utilize the information obtained through supersenses.

Swoosh-!

Leo extended his sword forward.

His senses were already sharp.

But he sharpened the information even further.

Along with that, everything around him began to move slowly.

The realm one could reach when supersenses were honed to their limit.

And this was the last realm Kyle had reached.

'If you go one step further than the slowing realm, things start to appear as if they've stopped.'

'Is the next step the future?'

'Something like that. Kyle will be able to do it soon too.'

Recalling Arion's words, Leo smiled bitterly to himself.

'I couldn't. You bastard. If I could, I wouldn't have gone through such hardship.'

Leo lowered his stance.

In the realm of supersenses, stamina was consumed rapidly.

If it were his body from his previous life, it wouldn't have been a huge burden, but for his current self, it was.

'Because my current body hasn't reached its prime yet.'

No matter how much he trained his body and pushed past its limits, he was still a boy.

In his previous life, he had acquired a strength incomparable to his current age.

Even so, he had not yet reached the power of his previous life.

'Still a long way to go.'

Leo put strength into his entire body.

'Reaching the level of my previous life isn't enough.'

Gooooooh-!

Gray mana surged from Leo's body.

'I have to go further than my previous life.'

Clench-!

Leo had thought until now.

That he, Kyle, the Hero of Beginnings.

That he, who had to live in that era, had completed all his duties.

'I thought saving the world was all I had to do and could do.'

Leo bit his lip tightly.

He realized that was wrong when he saw Berkhia.

'If I had thought about what I wanted to do after saving the world, like the others, it wouldn't have come to this.'

He was always ready to die without regret.

Sacrificing his life for the future where his friends would live.

He thought it was enough if he saved the world where future generations would live.

But in other words, it also meant he wasn't prepared to live.

'Was it too much just to subjugate Erebus?'

Of course, it was.

Because the promised future for the world seemed to be only despair.

Even if Leo had dreamed of the next like his friends.

Even if he had his own ideals and beliefs, there was no possibility that he would have survived the final battle.

Leo himself knew best that wishing for that possibility was greed.

'But at least… Berkhia and Vihart wouldn't have lived such a life.'

Leo wanted to stand on the same battlefield with his disciples.

That wasn't some romantic idea of wanting to fight with his disciples.

It was merely a wish he held because he desperately needed comrades to fight alongside.

But if he had wished for that, he should have at least taught them how to live a peaceful life after everything was over.

Kyle's life was also far from peaceful.

But at least he could teach them what kind of life existed when peace came after everything ended.

Because the two disciples were clumsy at enjoying happiness in peace.

Luna and Arion probably couldn't have taught them that.

They had dreamed of returning and living a happy life together, so they wouldn't have thought of teaching it.

Only he could teach them.

'But I turned a blind eye to it.'

He just thought his disciples would do well on their own.

'I have to change that now, even at this point. And this time, it shouldn't be solved by me dying.'

So, he must overcome.

His past self.

Moving forward one or two steps won't be enough.

Until now, he would have been satisfied with that.

'Surpass your limits.'

Words left by his successor, whom he had never met, for future generations.

Words he had emphasized to the hero candidates who would carry on the lineage.

But…

'Since I was reborn, have I ever challenged my limits even once?'

In the eyes of others, Leo might have always overcome limits and achieved the impossible.

But to be cold, that wasn't overcoming limits.

'Those were things I did countless times in my previous life. That's following in footsteps, not overcoming limits.'

Therefore.

'Let's create a clear goal.'

Leo's eyes looked into the distance.

'With aura, towards Arion.'

That was a clear challenge.

'With magic, towards Luna.'

A level he thought was absolutely unattainable.

'With summoning, towards Lysinas.'

But…

'There's a path, isn't there?'

The path his friends had forged.

He just had to run along that path.

To the level he considered ideal.

To the place he thought he could never reach.

His supersenses became even sharper.

'Surpass the limits!'

Leo's body shot forward at an incredible speed.

Ulleyn, who had become Leo's target, looked disbelieving.

'How can he acquire such power at that age?'

That was power that transcended common sense.

Kwooosh-! Crrrack-!

Leo's sword struck Ulleyn's barrier, causing cracks to appear across the entire barrier.

Seeing that, Ulleyn quickly deployed magic.

Incredibly fast incantations.

But the magical power wasted on it was immense.

Leo, who was about to pursue Ulleyn, suddenly changed direction.

Ulleyn, who had been preparing for Leo's attack, momentarily looked puzzled.

Then he looked at where Leo was headed and made a surprised expression.

Clang-! Crash-!

Leo's sword and Berkhia's sword clashed, scattering sharp sword energy in all directions.

Leo felt his bones rattling throughout his body from the impact.

Whoosh-!

A magic circle was generated from Berkhia's palm.

Seeing that, Leo bent his upper body down.

Craaash-!

An immense flash of light surged from the magic activated at close range.

Everything in front of him was swept away by the flash that flew in a straight line.

Leo broke out in a cold sweat from the immense power of the magic.

"Luna would have been happy to see this, you damn disciple!"

Boom-!

Leo, who had burrowed into Berkhia's embrace, body-checked him with his shoulder.

He maximized the destructive power gained from weight transfer with aura.

If it were any ordinary hero, their bones would have shattered into pieces from this attack.

Chwaaaak-!

But Berkhia merely slid back, dragging his feet.

Leo, instead, clicked his tongue at the crushing pain in his shoulder.

'Anima's Armor.'

Berkhia's unique magic.

The moment Leo was about to prepare for Berkhia's attack.

Flash-!

Once again, the Light of Termination engulfed Leo.

Leo used spatial displacement magic to escape the attack range.

Rumble-!

A powerful wave of magical power surged where the Termination had been activated.

"Are you trying to stop Lord Berkhia from harming others while you're fighting me?"

Ulleyn exclaimed.

"Leo Flobe, you are truly a noble hero, aside from your ideology."

Ulleyn clapped his hands and wore a regretful expression.

"But that's why it's unfortunate. The fact that I have to send a being like you back to the starlight."

Leo chuckled, looking at Ulleyn.

Ulleyn looked puzzled at Leo.

"What's so funny?"

"Isn't it funny for a third-rate mage who considers the plundered power of others as his own to prattle on as if he's someone important?"

"Did you just call me a third-rate mage?"

He had been praised as a born genius.

Therefore, it was the first time in his life he had heard someone call him a third-rate mage.

"What else is it if not a third-rate mage, to crudely scrape together magical power and activate it purely with magical output?"

"With my unique magic, [Star's World], I can activate any magic. Just like your [Bible]."

Ulleyn spread his arms.

"Are you saying I, who created such magic, am third-rate?"

"More precisely, worse than third-rate. You're a half-wit who can do nothing once you leave this land."

Ulleyn's face twisted slightly at Leo's words, which accurately pointed out the flaw in his magic.

"If Berkhia wasn't here, dealing with a half-wit like you wouldn't be that difficult."

"Excuses come in all shapes and sizes. If you're so confident, why don't you leave Lord Berkhia alone?"

"Knowing a disciple is making a mistake and just watching means you're not qualified to be a master. Besides, he asked me to."

"Master? I don't know what you're talking about. Well, Lord Berkhia won't be able to move anymore anyway…"

Flash-! Craaash-!

Magic burst forth from the ruins where Termination had been activated.

Ulleyn gasped in horror and hastily dodged the magic.

The barrier he had cast shattered into pieces.

"How could my magic…!"

"Dispelling the incantation before it's a direct hit. That's basic in magic combat, isn't it?"

"How can an undead be capable of such a thing? Moreover, she can't even use star magic!"

Ulleyn's face contorted.

Seeing Ulleyn, Leo said.

"That's why you're a half-wit, worse than third-rate."

Leo curled the corner of his mouth.

"A half-wit who boasts endlessly about his own possibilities but doubts the possibilities of others."

Ulleyn's face twisted in rage at the mockery.

He was filled with fury at Leo's sneer.

That was because he saw something familiar in Leo's eyes.

A gaze that seemed to look down on something insignificant.

It was identical to the gaze of the purebloods looking at elves who couldn't use star magic.

He genuinely wasn't treating him as a mage.

Fury surged at the gaze that seemed to deny his very essence.

But Leo didn't even glance at Ulleyn.

He merely looked at his disciple.

'Even if she loses her reason, it's entirely possible.'

Berkhia had endlessly trained herself to instinctively use precise swordsmanship and magic.

She had shouldered the world with her own strength alone.

'And not being able to use star magic has nothing to do with being able to nullify star magic.'

Leo looked at Berkhia.

'In this world, Berkhia would have known the most about star magic after Luna and me.'

Even though Berkhia ultimately failed to use star magic, she had tried harder than anyone to use her master's magic.

It was impossible for her not to understand the magic just because she couldn't use star magic.

'If Sayrun is Luna's successor as a star mage, then Berkhia is Luna's successor as a pure mage.'

So it was, in a way, natural for such a Berkhia to easily nullify Ulleyn's magic, even in a state where she had lost her reason.

Leo's claim that he could easily deal with Ulleyn was absolutely not bravado.

'To others, he might be a formidable opponent armed with overwhelming magical power, but to me, he's just a big, useless idiot.'

Leo looked at Berkhia.

'First, I need to subdue Berkhia.'

Leo put strength into his hand.

Ulleyn was next.

The moment Leo pulled up his magical power.

Berkhia rapidly closed the distance with Leo.

The current Berkhia made no distinction between friend and foe.

She was merely an undead aiming to annihilate everything in her sight.

The moment Leo gritted his teeth and tried to respond.

A shadow surged in front of Leo.

Along with that, Chen Xia appeared and swung her dagger towards Berkhia's sword.

Boom-! Craaash-!

Sword and dagger clashed, and a massive shockwave resonated.

Leo's eyes widened as he saw Chen Xia's back, blocking Berkhia.

"You…"

The familiar back reminded him of someone else.

But it was by no means a stranger.

"Vihart?"

At Leo's call, Chen Xia subtly looked back.

And she gave a faint smile, looking at Leo.

"Master…"

The moment he saw that.

Berkhia, who had been clashing swords with Vihart, instinctively stepped back.

"Ah…"