Chapter 224 – Choice

000

The weather that day was also a bright day, no different from usual.

If we compare now and then, when we lived in the dragon’s gorge, where the sunlight doesn’t shine down properly, are we really living in the same world?

Sometimes, I used to doubt it.

Cleon, who usually accompanied Tal Check at her training ground and today with Lesia, faced her with both hands holding her wooden sword.

Talchek trains against children (when Esca isn’t looking) using the Jin Sword.

As expected, Lesia also had an opinion closer to Esca’s in that part, as she did with Cleon, she looked down at it while holding her wooden sword in her.

“Wow~ These days, wooden swords like this are also coming out.”

It’s size and shape are exactly the same as the holy sword ‘Kaladbolg’ he wields, but it’s only made of wood.

It was a training wooden sword made by Bolt, a blacksmith in Elesia, specially ordered by Talchek.

Of course, it’s a matter of course, but the holy sword, Kaladbolg, is made of metal, so the wooden sword will be a little lighter.

It was Cleon who overheard Talchek saying that he planted an iron core inside to make the weight as close as possible.

To be honest, getting hit with a wooden sword like that was a pretty painful experience.

More than that, the fact that he could engage in sparring with Lesia made Cleon a little excited.

“How are you always doing with Talcheck?”

When Lesia asked that question, Cleon shut her mouth for a moment before she answered.

“When he swings his sword, he dodges it as best he can, repeating until I can land a blow on him.”

“You’re still so stupid… Ahaha…”

Lecia smiled bitterly while holding her sword.

Lesia herself is a hero who saved the kingdom, and she herself is also a kingdom citizen born in the kingdom territory.

Her swordsmanship her, which she uses, is closer to that of the National Army of the Empire.

Of course, at that time, Cleon as a child was unaware of it, and it was something he learned later while chasing her traces her.

The thing that taught her swordsmanship to Lesia was that she was a veteran woman who rebelled against the reign of the Demonic Sword Emperor.

This was the story she had heard from the few survivors when she visited her home her, which was being rebuilt after it had once been completely burnt in the war with the Empire.

“But. Actually, the swordsmanship teacher is unchecked. Wouldn’t it be better for me to match that?”

Saying that, let Lecia take a few steps.

Her Cleon her couldn’t react at all to her approaching her right in front of her in an instant.

Tok. It was only after she felt the touch of her wooden sword coming up lightly over her head and her self.

She was realizing that her most damaging attack her, for which she had n’t even used her magic her, was the one she had just had.

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence passed between Cleon and Lesia.

Realizing that she was wrong, Lesia removed her wooden sword and shook her hands hurriedly as she spoke.

“Mi-sorry, Cleon! Actually, it’s my first time teaching someone swordsmanship… I just did too much, right? Ha-ha-ha.”

Looking at her awkward grin her, Cleon shakes her head and straightens her wooden sword.

“I want to become strong enough to fight Lecia and win. In order to do that, I don’t think ordinary training will do.”

The absurd and bold words of such a child.

If Talchek had listened, he would have rolled on the ground holding her belly button and laughing.

But when Lesia heard such a story from her front of her, she opened her eyes wide as if surprised for a moment, and she answered.

“It’s the first time Cleon has talked like that, other than Talchek.”

With a somewhat happy expression on her face, she returned to her original position and stanceed once again.

Cleon also adjusted her breathing this time in order to receive and knock out even one move.

Naturally, magical energy is channeled into her eyes to enhance her visual acuity.

It was an impossible feat for her childhood self of her, but luckily she seemed to be able to use it even in her young body as she learned how to use it as an adult.

Of course, it is impossible to draw the power connected by the imprint…

Even so, if it was at the level of her mana control her, it was possible for him now.

“!”

Lesia also sensed the weak flow of magical power, and when she saw Cleon using her magic poetry of her, she looked a bit surprised, but-

Soon, her eyes sharpened, and as before, she took a single leap just by lightly stepping on the steps.

She jumped right in front of Cleon and swung her sword from top to bottom.

`Kuk, it’s still amazing speed… !`

If you ask if you can respond just because you see it with your eyes, that’s another story.

It was an impossible story to receive her attack without her moving the sword with a certain amount of prediction.

However, unlike technology, that part relied heavily on experience.

It was not a memory in my head, but a memory engraved in my body.

If Cleon’s hand her somehow moves and succeeds in receiving Lesia’s sword, it was really a fluke of noticing that he followed the attack earlier.

After that, the horizontal slash was slammed into Cleon’s side of her, and Lesia passed by while slicing him.

“Keah!”

As a stinging sensation hit his side, Cleon let out a scream of pain as he frowned.

When she looked back at Lesia, who had gone back to herself, Lesia stood there, exhaling her breath, and looked back at Cleon.

Soon, a smile spread across her face, and she approaches Cleon and messes with his hair her.

“When did you learn magical poetry~! You practiced really hard!?”

“Le, Lesia… Wait…”

Talcheck and Lesia are the same. She likes to mess up Cleon’s hair when she’s in the mood.

It was only annoying for Talchek to do it, but when Lesia did that, it made her feel uncomfortable and couldn’t resist.

“And also. The way to hold a sword. It has become a way for a fairly skilled person to hold a sword. After all, is it effective to teach Talcheck through actual combat?”

Pointing out one thing. Cleon himself was unaware of it, and at that time, he had figured out all the fighting methods possible only because he was a future Cleon.

After saying that, Lesia praised her Cleon her, then bent her knees and hugged Cleon.

“Right pole.”

She was wearing comfortable clothes, and at the same time as the soft sensation filling her face, when her nose and mouth her were covered by her breasts, Cleon involuntarily let out a gasping sound.

One of Lecia’s troublesome habits of her was the part where she forcibly hugged people like this when her emotions of her were overflowing.

Escado, Lutido, and Sophia. Even unchecked.

It seems that the people themselves were quite embarrassed if there were times when people looked around them at them with strange eyes as they hugged close opponents regardless of people.

“Hey Cleon. Does Cleon really want to be strong enough to defeat me?”

As soon as the strength in the arm he held was slightly relaxed, Cleon nodded his head.

“Why… ? After all, am I the one who destroyed the empire where the Dark Demon clan originally lived?”

In a somewhat sad voice, if you asked carefully, Cleon untied Lesia’s arms and answered.

“That’s not it! …To be able to protect Lesia… You have to be stronger than Lesia.”

“…Me? Cleon?”

Why? Lesia, who had the same expression, looked at Cleon dissatisfied.

She is a warrior She is a guardian who carries people’s hopes on her back and destroys “Evil” And “Evil” With her holy sword.

It is a being that stands at its apex her.

So, for a long time from the time I started fighting the Empire until now, I was used to protecting someone.

Even if someone asks for an errand-level favor, he listens without hesitation and constantly challenges things that an ordinary human would have given up a long time ago.

A person who walked the path to the end while remaining faithful to his duty as a hero.

That is the golden hero Lesia.

But that’s why

Cleon could understand her loneliness now.

To protect everyone, she became too strong.

On the contrary, because she became so strong, she could become a threat to someone.

Even if her will twists in the wrong direction … Even destroying the world was possible.

Like the golden comet that destroyed the primordial world.

“… Lesia is the kingdom, the world… She protected countless people and me. But I, too, want to protect Lesia.”

“…Hmm. Cleon thinks I might lose to someone?”

Lesia narrowed her eyes at Cleon’s answer her, as if slightly distressed, and Cleon nodded her head.

“… Lest Lesia lose to herself. I will protect her Lesia.”

At those words, Lesia opened her narrowed eyes completely wide, then shut her mouth.

Then, she rolled her eyes as if thinking about something, then rose from her seat after freeing her Cleon from her arms.

“Cleon. You…”

When Lesia said so and hesitated to tell Cleon something of hers.

“The golden warrior. Lesia.”

Cleon and Lesia turned their heads at the sudden voice her calling his name her.

There, standing there was a figure wearing a black robe and a mask that looked like an animal.

Lesia tilted her head, but Cleon’s eyes widened.

`She is her seat.`

In the memories of the past that can’t be erased, that figure that can’t be forgotten.

One of the guys who opened the passage to another dimension and expelled Lesia through it.

“Who are you? It’s the first time I’ve seen you…”

It was only natural that the other person was wearing a mask, but Lesia was wary of him and took a step forward as if to protect Cleon and stretched out her arms her as if to protect Cleon.

“I have come to ask you for your sins in neglecting the presence that disturbs the peace of the kingdom.”

“…”

Lesia became surprised at what the masked man said.

Cleon also knew what he was talking about.

`Ruti…!`

On that day, the crime hanging on Lesia was.

It was the fact that he was hiding and protecting the evil dragon ‘Lutios’, which was used as a weapon to slaughter numerous kingdom troops under the empire.

Of course, that she was brainwashed is what she later revealed to her kingdom.

From the point of view of the kingdom, it was an outright betrayal.

“Are you… A person of the kingdom?”

“Yes. My name is ‘Elijah’. I am one of the ‘Exile Executioners’ of the kingdom who serve the Father of All.”

Watching him reveal his identity and name her, Cleon widened his eyes.

`The Kingdom’s… Exile Executor!? Is that guy a subject of the kingdom…!?`

“I’ve never heard of such a position.”

“We are beings that move in darkness and shadow far deeper than you know. It’s not something you, a mere warrior, can know.”

Silence passed between the two of them.

“What did Ruti do?”

“Are you admitting guilt?”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to charge me with her. She won’t forgive her for doing her mean things to her.”

As Lesia raised her hand, a cluster of light gathered in her air, a golden holy sword with a blade split into seven.

Caladbolg revealed itself and emitted a brilliant light.

“…”

Elijah frowned at her and answered her question.

“The evil dragon Lutios is now… My companions have restrained her. With her horns covered with rods, she is in a state where no resistance is possible.”

“You…!”

As Lesia became angry with her voice harsh, divine magic flowed from her body and began to cover her surroundings.

Divine magic with a considerable concentration crackles and sparks, and affects nearby objects as well.

The pots in which flowers are planted will break by themselves, or the wooden box will crack and break.

The wooden sword she was holding in her other hand her splintered and cracked, and if she wanted to, she could pour out her mana like a wave and swallow the man in front of her.

Cleon could not understand why Lesia, who was so strong, had been attacked by this man and taken to the other side of her dimension her at that time.

However, when Elijah saw such a sight, she kept her mouth shut for a moment, and then she quietly raised her voice.

“Is this level of output even though I just loosened the reins of my emotions a little… It’s definitely ‘original’.”

“…I beg your pardon?”

Lesia asked, looking at Elijah who said something that seemed to bother him.

Elijah shook her head in response.

“Look around you, Hero Lecia. Just by standing still and releasing your power, you can see this scene destroying things around you. Your power is dangerous. It is a power that shouldn’t exist in this world. .. A power that is too powerful, even if it exists for protection, can itself become a threat.”

“…!”

After hearing that, Lesia’s expression her changed to shock once, and then she lowered the point of her sword, which she had been aiming at her man.

And, the divine magic that covered the surroundings gradually faded.

The fighting spirit in her eyes was also slowly waning.

Cleon looked at Lesia, who suddenly lost her strength, with a worried expression.

It must be that Lesia herself felt that what the man was saying was right.

“We, the Exile Executioner, have eliminated numerous threats from ancient times to the present in order to protect the balance of the human world. Hero Lesia. You, now, are unmistakably the ‘threat of the world’. You are an enemy of mankind that should not exist.”

“I…”

“It is not so!”

Cleon raised his voice involuntarily.

It might have been that he was attracted to his body her, but he spoke like a child, but his heart her was sincere.

“Lesia is not an enemy of the world. Rather, she turned her eyes to where others couldn’t see and saved people…! That’s how I was saved too!”

At Cleon’s loud cry, not only Elijah but also Lesia turned to Cleon.

“Close, Leon…”

“The Dark Demon Clan… You are- I can’t believe it?”

Elijah didn’t seem to listen to Cleon’s words in her, but when she saw Cleon, she responded by opening her eyes slightly wider.

“…This child is irrelevant. Is your purpose, that is, to ‘kill’ me?”

Perhaps to stop Elijah’s attention from going to Cleon, Lesia uttered a voice and turned his gaze toward her.

“If I kill you, your holy sword will run out of control. I can’t let that holy sword, which is as dangerous as you, go out of control in this world.”

“Then-“

Elijah twisted her hand as if answering Lesia’s question.

Then, there is a crackling sound like breaking glass, and the air really shatters like a window.

And what was visible on the other side was a ‘two-dimensional gap’.

“I will banish you beyond this. To the ‘dimensional rift’ filled with eternal darkness.”

Lecia looks at it and then frowns. But then she looked at Cleon standing behind her and she took one step forward towards Elijah.

“… Promise me. If I follow your orders, I will not lay a hand on ‘Luty’ or ‘Cleon’.”

“… I swear by my father’s name.”

Lesia returned Cala de Bolg to her waist, and once again she turned to Cleon and stroked her hair as if to reassure him.

“…Sorry Cleon. It’s just as he said. If the power I possess threatens everyone… As a warrior, I must act for the sake of the world.”

“No, Lesia. Wait, wait…!”

Cleon reaches out to her, but Lesia turns her body away from Cleon and walks into a chasm opened by Elijah.

As she moved her foot to grab Lecia, she felt time slowing down.

In the next moment, something appeared in the corner of Cleon’s field of vision her.

It took the same shape as the black shadow – Cleon, but Cleon could see that it wasn’t just a shadow.

[Okay, it’s time to choose. Are you going to let her go like this and repeat her her same regret her? If not… Would you stop her even if I killed her man her?]

That black shadow spoke only to Cleon, with a voice that no one could hear.

When he came to his senses her, Cleon had Galatea in his hand her.

It was the Galatea wielded by the original Cleon, not the unawakened Galatea of ​​the childhood Cleon.

If you use the power of this sword, if you use the power of ‘free extinction’.

If you use the power that even the Demon Sword Emperor cut off, that masked man-

[-Leon…]

Then, another voice flew towards Cleon.

It was a familiar voice.

[Quon…?]

[Cleon. Now, what you’re looking at isn’t the real past. It’s just a world of possibilities created by creatures from another dimension…]

Cleon’s gaze turned to the ‘black shadow’.

He still looked at Cleon with the corner of his mouth twisted, waiting for his choice her.

[… What should I do? Quon. To get out of this world-]

[… Cleon really wants to escape from that world? Now, if you wield the sword in that hand, you will surely save Lesia-san… She catches the possibility of staying with her. …Even if you end up breaking up with Cleon, if Cleon can live a happy life for you. I think it’s okay with that.]

At Quon’s words, Cleon was unable to answer for a moment and looked down at the Galatea he was holding in his hand.

A world of possibilities where you can live together with Lesia.

It was a fascinating story to Cleon, and a temptation he could not overcome.

[Quon. I…]

[I always wish for Cleon’s happiness. Cleon told me to do ‘what I want to do’. Yes, also me I want Cleon to be happy.]

[…What are you planning to do?]

At Cleon’s question, Quon became quiet for a moment, then raised his voice.

[If I release the angelic power inside me that Cleon sealed. You can observe and fix the world of possibilities that Cleon has chosen. To ‘a world where possibilities became reality’.]

Her angelic powers that indwelled her were part of the Nemean powers that created the world.

Even if it is originally just a possibility and should disappear soon, it is separated into a parallel world that exists as observed by Nemea, the ruler of the throne.

It was the act of breaking a branch from a tree and planting a new one to make another tree grow.

However, it is only possible because it is an existence that transcends everything called the ‘throne seat’.

If Quon were to do something like that with the power of an angel… Existence itself will disappear by using all its power.

[Quon that is-]

[Even in that world, obviously. I, Laila. And there’s Sasha. I’m sure you can meet Cleon if you want. We were all saved by Cleon… Maybe now He could be hoping someone would save him.]

Quon replied as if to reassure Cleon.

In other words, he said that he himself would disappear, but since the three people in this world existed, it was fine.

Cleon listened to Quon’s story and put strength into the hand of her holding her sword.

In response to emotions, magical sparks were moving along the blade.

And, time goes by again.

Cleon took a step forward with his sword in his hand.

I could see the shadow twisting the corners of its mouth her.

“Lesia!”

But Cleon raised his voice as if swinging a sword.

As if crying, I called her name her.

Maybe one day I will regret this choice again.

However, Cleon- just like he couldn’t betray Lesia.

I couldn’t betray the bonds I had with my friends until now.

Lesia looked back at Cleon as if in surprise.

As she looked back and forth between the demonic sword she was holding and Cleon, her face she became kinder.

“You’ve gotten stronger, Cleon.”

“…Ugh…!`

Looking at Lesia’s eyes that seemed to see through everything in her, she continued her words while swallowing breaths that could not be connected.

“…Someday… I’ll be strong enough to defeat Lesia- I will protect Lesia.”

“Yes.”

Cleon took a step forward.

The magical power of the magic sword gradually disappears.

“From Lecia… From the world. The kindest of all… Lesia you…”

One step. More, she moved closer to her.

“So… Lecia too. Please don’t lose. Wait a little longer. I will definitely go to rescue you.”

Cleon’s footsteps stopped in front of Lesia.

“Understand…?”

“…Yeah! Thanks, Cleon!”

And, once again, as always, out of habit.

Lesia embraced him with her young hands of her affection her.

No matter how many seconds passed, she now separated from Cleon and passed through the hole leading to the ‘Anti-Dimensional Rift’.

“…Lesia…”

With Cleon’s murmur, the space slowly began to crumble.

When everything around him disappeared like an illusion, what remained was a ‘shadow’ with the corners of his mouth twisted downward in the exact opposite way.

[Isn’t that unfair? Had it not been for her intervention of her, this man would have changed his choice of her.]

As Yogtos muttered that, Cleon, who had returned to his adult form before he knew it, looked down at his hand her in a somewhat vain manner.

[Cleon…]

Galatea’s comforting voice finally reached his ears.

Hearing this, Cleon closed his eyes for a moment and then woke up. He glared at the shadows.

“You-“

“You. What is aesthetics? Somehow, Cleon tempted you to make a different choice. A person’s past does not change. The good, the bad, and the foolish are all included to make that person.”

Before Cleon could do anything to him, Quon took a step forward and raised his voice angrily.

A fierce expression and a furious voice.

It was the first time Cleon had seen Quon so furious.

[A rule violation is a rule violation. Let’s say that his challenge was also a ‘failure’. Like the other two.]

The next moment, one arm of the shadow turned into a giant dog’s head and attacked Cleon and Quon.

“Kuh…!”

When Cleon tried to block it by swinging Galatea, Quon held out his one hand before that and formed a barrier of divine magic.

The golden translucent wall shone brilliantly and blocked the strange dog’s head, while Quon looked at Yogtos with an angry face as he spoke.

“Dive deep into people’s memories, where they regret the most. You who seduce and corrupt. You are a demon worse than demons. ‘Yogtos’. I… Will never forgive you. My precious person… I hurt you unintentionally!”

With the divine barrier deployed, one step. As I walked forward, the dog’s head was crushed and pushed away.

[That’s a huge output… Is this the power of the Astral Will? It seems that the throne lord cares about you quite a bit. However, you can’t beat me in a power showdown. Did you forget? This is the belly of Tindalos. It is a space overflowing with the magic of another dimension.]

The next moment, several identical dog heads appeared on the walls.

Just like that, it instantly covers Quon with a barrier.

“Quon!”

Just as Cleon was about to wield her Galatea to save her.

[Please take a nap.]

I heard a voice from behind and instinctively lowered my body.

Something- something embracing flame flew at high speed and tore apart the dog heads that covered Quon and burrowed inside.

“Just now, the thing-“

It’s not that you didn’t see it wrong.

The next moment, the dog heads were engulfed in intense flames and burned.

The barrier of divine magic that covered Quon was blazing.

With a divine flame that burns the unclean.

Again. What appeared inside the barrier with a voice.

With a greatsword of flame in his hand, he wasn’t wearing his usual green and white cleric outfit.

Wearing a divinely beautiful full body armor in white and red.

She was a woman with emerald-colored hair dyed red at the tips.

“…Thank you, Galatine. For lending me your strength.”

After muttering that, she spreads the sacred flame drawn from her her holy sword and burns everything unclean around her.

[Is that a lie…?]

Galatea muttered and looked at Quon.

“Saint of God – Quon. I will burn all your negativity. The predator of another dimension… Yogtos.”

That confidence is like that of Lesia.

The saintess of divine flames raised her greatsword of flame and pointed at the unclean shadow.