LHAHS Chapter 379
"O great God of Shadows, may I ask why you have summoned me?"
There was no longer any trace of hesitation in Kirin's demeanor. From the moment she had met Leo in person, her attitude had completely changed.
Kneeling before him, Kirin clasped her hands together and looked up at him as if in prayer. Her posture was reverent, almost worshipful.
Leo clicked his tongue, leaning back in his chair with his chin resting on his hand. "I'm not some god."
"No, to us, you are. You are the absolute light that has saved all Shadows."
From the outside, Leo was nothing more than a sixteen-year-old boy. But his achievements spoke otherwise.
Not only had he become Lumene's student council president as a mere first-year, but he had also proven himself worthy of holding that position as a second-year. His conquest of Hero Records was just as extraordinary.
Officially, Leo had conquered Luna and Dweno's worlds. Unofficially, during his first-year summer break, he had also participated in Azonia's entrance trial and conquered Aaron's world.
Many who had become heroes after accomplishing godly feats had spent their entire lives searching for an opportunity to challenge even a single Great Hero World—yet Leo had already conquered three.
And it didn't stop there. He had even earned the recognition of the Comet Mage Seiren, one of the Heroes of Dawn.
At this point, the world no longer saw Leo as just another hero candidate. No one doubted that it was only a matter of time before he would carve his name into the Hero Records and become a hero himself.
And that was only what the world knew.
Beyond that, there was yet another Hero Record unknown to the world—the Book of Shadows. Not only was Leo the Book's master, but he was also the rightful ruler of the Xian Empire.
That alone is remarkable…
Kirin smiled as she looked up at Leo.
As a Shadow Lord, she had spent years hunting down traitors and demons from the darkness. Her existence remained unknown to the world due to the nature of the Shadows, but Kirin was someone who could easily overwhelm even heroes who had etched their names into the Hero Records.
Just watching Leo fight in the underground arena through a projection had been enough for her to acknowledge him as the Master of Xian. But now, facing him directly, she could sense something that the recordings had failed to capture.
What stood out the most was the darkness coiling deep within Leo's crimson eyes. Even as a Shadow Lord, she couldn't see its depths. Yet a mere sixteen-year-old boy held such darkness within him.
A Hero bathed in brilliant light. A Shadow dwelling in unfathomable darkness. An unknown existence beyond comprehension.
If he isn't a god, then what else could he be?
Leo sighed as he looked into Kirin's eyes.
She's gone off the deep end… though in a different way than Anya.
Anya, the daughter of the Northern Shadow Lord, had also followed Leo from the moment they met. But in her case, it was due to her beliefs.
A conviction she had held since long ago—to serve the noble hero who would not hesitate to step into filth for the sake of the world. It was a path she had chosen as a Shadow, and to her, Leo embodied that ideal. She believed Leo was the great hero who would eradicate evil from the world.
But Kirin saw him solely through the eyes of a Shadow. Leo could tell exactly what kind of beliefs she held.
Eliminate everything that threatens the world from the darkness.
Unlike other Shadows, she wouldn't follow a hero. She was someone who lived according to her own creed. And with the birth of the Book of Shadows, that creed had been validated. The Shadows had risen to stand alongside heroes.
Leo had made that possible. And now, Kirin saw him as the ultimate Shadow—no, as something beyond that. A god.
I can see it in her eyes.
Leo knew those kinds of eyes. It was an emotion that no longer existed in this era. A sentiment that had only existed in the distant past—before the Age of Calamity, and during the Age of the Gods.
The Pureblood Society elves had similar eyes.
What filled Kirin's gaze was not just faith. It was fanaticism, bordering on madness.
There's no reasoning with her. But… she doesn't seem like a threat to me, either.
Leo knew that people like her couldn't be reasoned with. So he decided to leave her be.
"We're here to explore the underground labyrinth," he said.
"Granting you access won't be difficult, but I doubt you'll find what you're looking for," Kirin replied. "There is no Hero Dungeon here."
"I know. What I seek is the treasure left behind by the Dawn Dragon, Rodia."
"The Dawn Dragon?" Chen Xia, who had been listening quietly beside Leo, widened her eyes.
"The Dawn Dragon… Rodia's treasure?" Kirin mused. "We've been keeping strict watch over the sealed area at the end of the labyrinth because of the overwhelming darkness emanating from it. I never imagined that seal was meant to guard a treasure left behind by the Dawn Dragon Rodia."
"A darkness emanates from it?"
"Yes."
Leo fell into thought at Kirin's response.
Laruel told me that Rodia left something related to Lysinas in this vault. But darkness is emanating from it?
Lysinas, the Dragon of Wisdom. Leader of the Great Heroes and the one who guided the world to salvation.
All Great Heroes were exceptional, but Lysinas was truly special. If Leo were to name the most noble being in this world, he would choose Lysinas without hesitation, and not just because she had saved the world.
The Age of Calamity was a time when everything was falling apart.
It was an era of endless corruption. A time when nobility was abandoned, and depravity flourished unchecked. A time when morality and humanity were mocked.
Even in such a time, there were those who still shone. Luna, Aaron, and Dweno had been among them. Because they had not lost their light, they had joined the extermination force without hesitation.
But even they hadn't dared to save the world. No, the world had been so wretched that even they had turned away from it.
Yet Lysinas had chosen to bear all of it and lead the world to salvation.
Even those who had already been tainted and corrupted—she had not hesitated to save them. She had always smiled, saying that if they saw the light and hope, they would return to their true selves.
If Kyle was the Hero of the Beginning, the one who ended the Age of Calamity and ushered in a new era, then Lysinas was the beginning of salvation, the one who led the world into the light.
Wise beyond all others. More noble than anyone. And endlessly compassionate.
Yet even she had one thing she despised about herself. A fact only Leo knew.
Darkness.
Lysinas was a black dragon, and black dragons fed on darkness.
Among the dragons, they were the first to succumb to corruption during the Age of Calamity. Many had fallen into depravity and turned their backs on the world.
They couldn't be blamed for it. After all, what they had done during the Age of the Gods was the same as what Kyle had done, and what the Shadows did now.
The dragons had once devoured the demons of Tartaros and the traitors to grow stronger.
That was why Lysinas had loathed the darkness within her.
During the long campaign to defeat Tartaros and eradicate Erebos, she had left behind tremendous achievements as both a mage and a summoner.
She had reinterpreted the curses of Tartaros' demons to develop dragon magic, and in doing so, she had also established the foundation of existing dragon magic.
Lysinas' greatest achievement was making it possible for all dragons to use the unique magic of every dragon species.
Originally, the fire dragons' exclusive magic could only be used by fire dragons, but in the present era, even fire dragons could wield the magic of water dragons.
That's a major reason why dragons are considered the strongest race.
They had always been powerful, but now their status surpassed even what it had been during the Age of the Gods.
However, there was one magic Lysinas never passed down: the black dragons' unique magic.
Not even her closest companion, Leo, knew of it.
Lysinas believed that if she had fully embraced her identity as a black dragon, she would never have been able to save the world.
And she was right.
If Lysinas had mercilessly cut down those she deemed unworthy, the world would never have been saved. She had been able to save it because she had embraced its ugliness.
And the one who took on the role she could not was Kyle.
I was the best suited for it.
Even if people had been tainted by filth, those who crossed the line could not be spared. It was Kyle's role to eliminate them.
She used to worry about pointless things.
Leo recalled the past and gave a bitter smile.
Then, he considered something seriously.
If the darkness tied to Lysinas is involved… it might be the black dragons' unique magic that she never told me about.
A magic even she had kept hidden from him.
But if it had been passed down to Rodia, who had conquered Lysinas' world, that was a different story. Given the nature of Hero Records, Rodia could have inherited a power from Lysinas that even Leo was unaware of.
Just as Leo arrived at this conclusion…
Rustle.
From the darkness, a beastman stepped forward.
Leo, Chen Xia, and Kirin, who had already sensed his presence, turned to him impassively.
"Master," the beastman said.
"What is it?" Kirin asked.
"There has been a report of signs indicating an imminent Hero Dungeon rampage in the Monster Forest."
Leo's eyes twitched at those words.
Step. Step.
The dark night of Godthrone.
Kyle, his entire body drenched in blood, arrived at his home and found Lysinas sitting on a cold bench in the barren garden.
As soon as she saw him, she stood up. "Welcome back, Kyle."
"What are you doing out here? It's late."
"I heard from Dweno," she said, clenching her teeth. "That you went to execute the traitors. I was worried, so I waited for you."
"You worry too much. Compared to the monsters of Tartaros, dealing with a few pathetic traitors is nothing. You don't need to concern yourself."
"That's not what I'm worried about."
As Kyle walked past her toward the house, Lysinas reached out to grab his arm, but he avoided her touch.
Her hand sliced through empty air.
She looked startled, but Kyle only shook his head. "My body is too filthy for you to touch."
Lysinas narrowed her brows. She knew. It wasn't that he hated her touch. Rather, he couldn't stand the thought of the blood of those traitors staining her.
She was already foolish enough to try and embrace everything in this world. Kyle would never allow her to be tainted by the blood of vermin unworthy of even pity.
Hearing his words, Lysinas let out a deep sigh and forcefully grabbed his hand. "It's not filthy at all. It's yours."
Her voice was warm yet firm as she held his scarred, bloodstained hand with both of hers.
"These hands step into the darkness for me, for our friends, and for the world. They will never be dirty."
Kyle let out a bitter chuckle. "I'm more worried about you. If you keep doing this… I'm afraid your purity will be tainted."
"If that was enough to corrupt me, I would have been defiled long ago."
Kyle smirked. Before he knew it, he found himself reaching out to pat his worried companion on the head.
Lysinas flinched.
"Oh, am I not allowed to do that?" he asked.
"N-No! It's fine!"
"When I patted Luna's head with bloody hands last time, she made a huge fuss about it."
"That's just because she's fussy!"
"Still, wouldn't you feel the same?"
Kyle turned and opened the door to his house. "Then, I'll wait. After I clean up…"
"It's too late. What are you waiting for?"
"I mean, nothing in particular. It's just late, so I figured I'd stay over. That's all."
"If you stay, it'll just make things awkward for no reason. Besides, with teleportation magic, you could be home in an instant. You don't need to worry about me. Just get some rest, you must be exhausted."
Earlier that day, Lysinas had exterminated the demons that had invaded Godthrone. Kyle, thinking only of her well-being, stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
Lysinas stared at the door that had shut her out.
She clutched her head. "Idiot! Why did I flinch like that?!"
Kyle often ruffled Luna's hair. But he had never once patted Lysinas' head.
The reason was simple.
Before she was his companion, before she was his friend, Lysinas was their leader.
Kyle, despite his blunt words and constant teasing, respected her as their leader.
It was an unnecessary, frustrating form of respect as far as Lysinas was concerned.
At times, she envied how naturally close Kyle and Luna were, like siblings.
And then, when he had finally tried to pat her head, she had ruined the moment by flinching.
Cursing herself, Lysinas glared at the closed door.
She hated crude language. A noble dragon like her would never use it.
But at times like this, there was only one thing she could say.
"Goddamn idiot."