Chapter 454

454.

As consciousness sank into the abyss, a voice faintly echoed in the distance.

“Ar?”

The sound of that voice, which conveyed an unwavering trust bordering on foolishness, began to revitalise the fading consciousness little by little.

And alongside this, a long-forgotten memory resurfaced.

The Era of Catastrophe.

A time when countless orphans were born, and it was considered utterly normal.

A time when the happiness of a regular family was unknown.

A time where misfortune was the norm.

Even before being born, peace had already disappeared, and despair filled the world.

In the midst of that catastrophe, the most vulnerable were the orphans, those who had nowhere to go and nothing to rely on.

Day after day, it was simply about somehow extending life.

A childhood where everyone around was unhappy.

Among them, he was considered one of the more unfortunate children.

“What’s wrong with him again?”

“I don’t know. He’s scared of the sky.”

“Well, what exactly is he scared of? What a coward.”

Children from the alleys always looked at him disdainfully, as if he were pitiful.

It was understandable.

He was always filled with fear.

The grayish sky terrified him.

That’s why he could not even dare to raise his head.

“In the old days, the sky used to be blue.”

“What’s blue?”

“It’s a light shade of dark blue.”

“What? That’s strange!”

Orphans would share the food they scavenged during the day and fill their stomachs.

“Wolfie, you should eat some of this too.”

Back then, he was called “Wolfie.”

There was no proper name.

There were no parents to give him one.

It was merely a convenient nickname used within his group.

Fortunately, even at a young age, he seemed to have some good fortune.

There was a human girl in the orphan crowd who took good care of the other children.

This girl would always make sure to give him food, despite his continuous fear.

Then one day.

A wolf beastman came to the orphanage.

“Did you hear? It’s Agon, the Guardian of the Clear Sky!”

“I heard about him before! He’s a great man, right?”

“If he’s so great, why is he here on this street?”

“They say he’s going to take care of us! We can eat without having to beg for food anymore!”

“Really?!”

Agon, the Guardian of the Clear Sky.

To the orphans, he was like a savior.

Though they couldn’t eat as much as they wanted, they no longer had to beg painfully to avoid starving.

The children rejoiced, thinking this was true happiness.

In this way, a major change came to the orphan’s street.

But around that time, he started becoming even more terrified.

From the day Agon came to the children’s street, he avoided him and ran away.

“Too scary! So scary!”

Wolfie was afraid of Agon.

In Wolfie’s eyes, Agon was overwhelmingly huge.

There had been times before when he saw people on a main road leave the city for expeditions to protect the town. Even from them, Wolfie had felt fear, but Agon was on another level.

Since Agon was always on the orphan’s street, Wolfie ended up being hungrier than ever.

One day, when he was starving to the point that his stomach didn’t even make any sounds.

A giant figure of Agon approached the withered Wolfie.

“Are you now too weak to run away?”

“Yik-!”

In fear, Wolfie tried to escape by crawling, but he lacked the strength even for that.

Without a word, Agon placed a bowl of soup and a piece of bread in front of Wolfie and sat far away, quietly watching him.

Due to his hunger, Wolfie hastily gulped down the soup and bread.

“Glub-! Glub-!”

While choking from eating too fast, Agon simply closed his eyes and waited for Wolfie to finish eating.

A little later,

Wolfie approached Agon.

Because his guard had been lowered due to food, the wolf-child did something unexpected.

“T-Thank you.”

Wolfie was still terrified.

Agon, who had noticed the unusual sight, wondered what about himself made this child so afraid.

Still, despite the great fear, the fact that the wolf-child gathered courage to offer gratitude astonished him.

“Other kids call you a coward. You seem to be a far more courageous child than what I’ve heard.”

“M-Me?”

Agon smiled gently at the trembling boy who didn’t understand.

“Yes, kid. Why am I so scary to you?”

“M-My Lord Agon, you’re… simply too immense. Others might not see it, but you seem to possess a tremendous amount of power.”

Upon hearing that, Agon’s countenance changed.

‘He’s terrified because he can see through my power?’

Agon thought his power was completely contained.

Astonished, Agon completely suppressed even the faintest aura he emitted.

Then Wolfie’s eyes widened in surprise.

The paleness that had overcome him returned to normal.

When that fear disappeared, the boy’s face brightened.

After that, Agon had a long talk with the wolf-child.

“Being afraid of the sky, huh… I see. You must have been born with tremendous power.”

“Me?”

Wolfie’s eyes widened.

“Yes. The reason you’re always afraid is that your instincts know certain things that others don’t. Uncontrollable power is somewhat akin to a curse. It must’ve been tough for you.”

Listening to this, Wolfie looked sad.

“If so, I don’t like that power! It’s because of it that I’m always scared, isn’t it?”

Wolfie grew to dislike the power he was born with.

“No, there’s definitely a reason you were born with such tremendous power.”

“That’s hard to understand.”

“Once you get a little older, you will understand. So don’t fear your power, accept it and make it your own. If you do, there’s a possibility you might become someone to save the world.”

Agon smiled brightly, seeing possibilities beyond the boy’s imagination.

“What does saving the world mean?”

“Hmm. How can I make it easier to understand?”

Agon, who had been pondering, nodded.

“To save the world means to reclaim the clear sky.”

“What is a clear sky?”

“Sky filled with colors like this.”

Whooom!

A blue aura flowed from Agon’s hand.

“Long ago, the sky was all in this color.”

“Wow… it’s beautiful…”

Captured by the beauty of the color he’d never seen before, his eyes were filled with deep emotion.

Then, in excitement, the boy asked.

“What must I do to save the world!?”

“Saving the world is an extremely difficult task.”

“But I’ll do it! I want to see the clear sky!”

“If so, you must first grow stronger.”

“Get stronger?”

“As for that part, don’t worry. I’ll train you. Before that, though, it would be good to have a proper name.”

Agon, who was pondering, broke into a smile.

“How about Aron?”

“Aron?”

“Yes. In the ancient beastman language, ‘Ar’ means courage, and ‘On’ means person. When combined, it means ‘a brave person.’”

“A person full of courage… doesn’t sound like me at all?”

“Wrong. That fits you well. Aron, even though you’ve seen the clear sky and know the difficulties, you still wish to save the world, right?”

“Yes.”

“That is courage.”

“Courage…”

“Yes, so when you’re anxious and scared, remember the blue sky you saw today.”

Agon patted Aron’s white hair gently.

“Surely, it will give you courage.”

Aaaaaaaaaaaa!

Suddenly, the sound of a howl woke Aron completely.

‘Ar.’

Ar’s howl was giving him courage.

And as Aron responded to Ar’s howl, energy surged through his entire body.

Hwaaak!

With the power of Ar’s howl, Aron regained consciousness.

The blurry body returned to normal.

When he opened his eyes, he saw his sky-blue hair.

And he noticed the broken sword held by Chelsea.

Brave.

A symbol of the broken hero.

Chelsea must’ve mustered her courage to bring this broken sword to him.

Gripping the broken sword while looking at Chelsea’s hair,

Hwrrrrrr-

‘Dwenno’s flame?’

Suddenly, golden flames emerged and became the blade of Brave.

Smiling upon seeing Brave restored to its perfect form,

the fire of courage, which had dimmed by Ar’s howling, was reignited.

The sky-blue hair before his eyes showed him the way,

and the sword forged by Dwenno pushed him forward.

A flash of golden light appeared in Aron’s eyes.

Hwaaak!

Brave cut through the flame of catastrophe.

Tadak-

Aron, who had returned to the world, smiled gently and asked Chelsea, who was cradled in his arms,

“Are you alright?”

“Um-hum.”

“Thank you, Chelsea. I was able to find courage because of you.”

“I barely did anything…”

“The blue hair gave me courage.”

Aron smiled softly and carefully placed Chelsea down.

Seeing this Aron, Erebus contorted his face.

-How did you return? Was it a stubborn miracle to cling to the name of a hero?

“There’s no attachment to the name of a hero. I think it’s because I set foot into the domain of gods, isn’t it?”

-Such nonsense.

“To you, that’s nonsense.”

While Erebus’s eyes twitched watching Aron saying the same thing he had in mind,

-You… by any chance can you see the future…

“Yes, it’s crystal clear.”

-Nomad…

“Therefore, you realize now, the future can change.”

For an instant.

He transcended fragmentary visions of the future to clearly foresee it.

For just a moment.

He successfully dipped his feet into the realm of gods.

Thanks to this, he managed to acquire a tiny fragment of divine power.

“Though just a tiny fragment, it’s more than enough to finish you off.”

Flash!

Aron swung his sword at an unfathomable speed.

Gwaak!

Erebus’s body was bisected from the head.

“An old ghost who should’ve died long ago!”

Enraged, Erebus’s voice rang out.

Amused by this Erebus, Aron laughed.

“Since we’re in the same situation, don’t hold onto this world.”

-Gwwwwwwwwaaaaa!

Erebus’s roar filled with anger reverberated.

Seeing this, Aron swung his sword.

A golden flash appeared as Erebus’s body disintegrated into tens of thousands of pieces.

Phwoom!

“Amazing…!”

As Chelsea’s eyes widened,

Flash!

Leo’s wand emitted light, and a brilliant white light soared toward Aron’s sword.

Recognizing Leo’s magic imbued in his own sword, Aron’s eyes widened.

Leo motioned a slicing gesture toward Aron.

Understanding his intent, Aron gripped his sword with both hands and raised it high.

Just before swinging it,

he turned back as if something came to his mind.

“Chelsea.”

“Yes?”

“I have a secret to tell you.”

“A secret?”

“Yeah. The truth about Leo.”

Aron whispered so quietly.

“He’s the Hero of the Beginning.”

Chelsea’s eyes went wide.

“Kyle carries too many burdens. He will never share them. So, please, for the sake of his brother, be the strength for Kyle… be the strength for Leo. Create a space for Leo to laugh comfortably.”

“Find what you want to do.”

Before the final battle,

These were Kyle’s words as a brother, even before being friends.

“Since I came to this world and thought about becoming a true hero… it’s not what I want.”

In the first place, he had no interest in such matters.

“What I want is just one thing. For my family and good people to live in peace and smile. That’s my wish.”

It’s a wish Leo would surely have gotten angry about if he heard.

He would have scolded him, calling it a selfless wish.

But Aron liked it.

Just thinking about it made him happy.

So he decided to bury this fact within his heart.

Tubbock… Tubbock…

With the sword imbued with pure white strength, Aron walked toward Erebus, who began to flame again.

“It’s over.”

Swish!

Aron, correcting his grip on the sword, donned a fierce expression.

“Disappear, the primal evil.”

Flash!

Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

Erebos screamed in agony as his remnants were cut by the pure white light and golden aura.

Kwaawwwww! Hwaaak!

Enveloped by the pure white light, Erebus disappeared.

The crimson sky was fading.

The menacing demons, enveloped in black flames, burned and soon vanished.

Erebus had disappeared.

The only evidence of the primal evil’s existence was the traces of the fierce battlefield.

In the silence of everyone, dawn began to break.

At the sight, Aron shouted.

“We’ve won!”

“Yaaaaayyyyy!”