Chapter 469

Leo sighed as he looked up at the five figures staring down at him from the sky. "Are you from the Justice Guild?" he asked.

The mage who seemed to be their leader adjusted his staff. "My name is Seteon. I am a royal mage of the great Petimen Kingdom. A mage who enforces justice by the king's decree."

"For a royal mage from some backwater kingdom, your skills seem quite refined."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter." Leo drew his sword in response to Seteon's feigned ignorance. "I'll just capture you and interrogate you."

The moment he finished speaking, a massive man standing beside Seteon grabbed the giant battle axe strapped to his back and charged at Leo.

"Hrryaaah!" With a fierce battle cry, red aura surged around the battle axe.

Seeing that, Lily downed the rest of her wine in one gulp and carelessly tossed the empty bottle aside.

Crash—!

The sound of shattering glass rang out just as the battle hammer she summoned tore through the air.

Whooosh—! Boom—!

"Oh? I heard the third-year representative of Lumene wasn't from the knight class."

"That's correct. I'm an elemental summoner."

"Hah! And yet you think you can go head-to-head with a knight in melee combat?"

"I can manage well enough."

"How insolent!"

The man, easily three heads taller than Lily, unleashed an even stronger aura, and the air around them distorted.

Lily's body wavered, unable to withstand the force, and was sent flying.

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gang—!

A thick cloud of dust billowed where Lily crashed.

"Ah, youth is truly a wonderful thing! An elemental summoner daring to take on a knight in close combat! But it was foolish!" Letting out a boisterous laugh, he turned to Leo and grinned. "Now then, let's see the skills of the famous Leo Plov!"

Leo pointed behind the knight with his finger. "it doesn't seem like you're in any position to worry about me."

"What?"

Boom! Whooosh—!

The knight who had charged forward was engulfed in a powerful explosion. It was the same flames that had previously attacked Leo and Lily. Lily had been controlling them with elemental summoning but had now released her hold over them.

Whooosh—!

Leo brushed off the flames clinging to him and complained, "That was a bit much."

"I assumed flames of that level wouldn't affect you, Leo."

Resting her battle hammer on her shoulder, Lily walked over, completely unfazed. Even though Leo had gotten caught up in her attack, she didn't seem to care at all.

Well, I suppose fire attacks hardly work on me.

After all, Leo wielded Zerdinger's flame aura and had a contract with a phoenix. Even so, the way Lily retaliated without hesitation was something else.

Is her natural battle sense just that exceptional?

Leo already knew Lily was skilled, but he had never seen her fight in actual combat before. He observed her with newfound interest.

"Impressive." The knight who had charged at them rose to his feet with a hearty laugh, rested his battle axe on his shoulder, and grinned. "You may still be a young girl, but you're a strong warrior! My name is Joren! A knight of the royal order of the Petimen Kingdom! By the king's decree, I have come to enforce justice!"

Letting out a spirited shout, he lifted his battle axe and began to spin it.

Whoom! Whoom! Whoom! Whoom—!

"I hope this will be a glorious battle that sets my blood ablaze!"

Kwoooosh—!

A crimson aura surged, forming a massive storm. The sheer force of his physical power created a natural disaster.

Lily's eyes twitched. Summoning a wind elemental, she neutralized the storm Joren had created.

The Carnel soldiers caught in the tempest sighed in relief.

"Viscount Esimon," Lily said in a heavy tone.

"Yes?" Viscount Esimon swallowed dryly. He had experienced countless battlefields since his youth. Aura, magic, and spirit beasts were commonplace in war. He had seen firsthand how an individual with overwhelming strength could shift the tides of battle, but even he had never witnessed a fight of this caliber.

This is a battle far beyond the limits of ordinary people.

The war between Carnel and Petimen had turned one-sided ever since the Justice Guild got involved. The overwhelming power of a few individuals had allowed the Carnel Kingdom to be trampled.

But if we get caught up in this fight… the damage will be incomparably worse compared to before…!

"Lead the soldiers and retreat. Leo and I will handle this battlefield."

"Understood."

Viscount Esimon swiftly commanded his troops.

Seeing this, Lily sighed in relief. It's a good thing Viscount Esimon is a competent commander.

Coming from a prestigious military family, Lily had seen many commanders throughout her life. Even in this short time, she could tell Esimon was highly capable.

Watching the troops retreat in an orderly manner, Joren scoffed. "Running from the battlefield? How disgraceful."

"The truly disgraceful one here is you," Lily said in a low voice.

Joren had just tried to kill the soldiers around him, and Lily, having experienced war firsthand, immediately understood his intent. He wasn't trying to gain an advantage in a future battle.

It was nothing more than arrogance. A massacre meant to instill fear and demand reverence.

Lily had seen people like him countless times before, and she despised them more than anything.

Joren, however, simply nodded as if he understood. "How innocent, like a student untainted by the world. How nostalgic. I used to think like that too."

"What?"

"I was a Lumene student as well."

"What? Someone like you?" Lily's disbelief was evident.

Joren's lips twisted into a smirk. "Yeah, though I never graduated. I was expelled in my fifth year. You know Professor Harrid, don't you? He was the one who expelled me."

He pointed his battle axe at Lily. "Lily Luce, was it? As a student representative, you should know that heroes are chosen beings. They overcome trials, accomplish great feats, and are chosen by the gods to become heroes. In other words, they are divine agents."

"And what does that have to do with a massacre?"

"Are you familiar with the concept of karma?"

"Karma?" Lily furrowed her brows.

At that moment, Leo's eyes narrowed. "Karma? Are you referring to divine retribution? How do you know about that?"

"Oho, as expected of the youngest student council president. You know of a concept that only appears in ancient texts."

Karma was a concept spoken of by the gods during the Age of the Gods, before the Age of Calamity.

Every time one took a life, karma accumulated.

The Age of the Gods had heroes who amassed an enormous amount of karma, didn't it?

Leo recalled Lysinas' disgust when she spoke of karma.

"Some gods were deranged enough to consider even the killing of one's own kind as a great feat. That's why there were so many gods who excessively praised war heroes."

In this era, gods are considered absolute beings of good. But that's not the reality.

Leo let out a sigh. There were certainly benevolent gods. Pivua, whom he had met in Luna's world, was truly a god who wished for the betterment of the world.

However, gods were not inherently good. If anything, many of them were closer to forces of chaos. They were absolute beings who governed the world—omniscient, omnipotent, and immortal.

Among those who had ruled over existence for unfathomable eons, many pursued extreme stimulation and pleasure. However, the deeper one dived into pleasure, the more grotesquely it distorted.

That was why, during the Age of the Gods, there were upright heroes like the Guardian of the Azure Sky, Aaron's mentor, yet there were also those who were nothing like heroes, twisted by their own desires.

Leo had buried countless such beings during the Age of Calamity.

There were no set standards for heroes in our time.

When the Age of Calamity ended, and the feats of the Great Heroes were recorded in the Hero Record to be passed down to future generations, the standard for heroism shifted toward those who dedicated themselves to the world.

Even so, only those chosen by the gods are recorded in the Hero Record.

Leo was well aware that among the heroes of the Age of the Gods, there were those whose ideologies were completely warped. They simply pretended to conform to the modern concept of heroism.

Through Joren's words, Leo realized that these bastards were exactly that kind of hero.

"Karma… I still don't understand," Lily muttered with a frown.

Leo explained, "Think of it like this: the gods can see how many lives you've taken. The number of killings they see is what they call karma."

"Impressive. You even know that?" Seteon, who had been facing Leo, sounded genuinely impressed. "As expected of someone who attained the status of hero at such a young age. Leo Plov, did you also receive the teachings of the gods?"

Seeing that, Leo scoffed. Now I get what kind of people the Justice Guild is made up of.

Even now, there was no malice or murderous intent emanating from these people. Their claim of enforcing justice wasn't a lie. They were committing mass slaughter, yet there was no hesitation, no emotion, no guilt.

Even the most deranged psychopath feels something when taking a life, whether it be pleasure or something else.

But these people lacked even that. What Leo felt from them… was conviction. An utter twisted conviction.

It reminded him of something similar he had seen among the elves—their blind adoration of Luna, their unwavering pride in their race.

However, the Justice Guild was even more blatant.

Just the mention of the gods' teachings confirmed it. They were a type of organization that no longer existed in this era.

They're a religion. No, not just any religion—a cult.

Leo scoffed. "Do you seriously think of mass slaughter as the will of the gods?"

"It's not the will of the gods. It's a trial to become the gods' representatives," Seteon replied. "Those people are experience points to shape us into heroes."

"You sick…"

"You motherfucking sons of bitches," Lily growled, interrupting Leo's cursing.

Leo instinctively turned his gaze to the side. Lily, head lowered, was trembling.

"You… what do you think human lives are, you pieces of trash?" she said, releasing a chilling surge of spiritual energy.

Hummmm—!

She lifted her head, her eyes flashing with raw fury. "You insane, psychotic bastards! I'm going to crush your skulls to dust!"

The vulgarity and unrestrained rage in Lily's words were so uncharacteristic of her usual polite demeanor that Leo clicked his tongue.

Damn. When a normally quiet person loses it, they're terrifying.

Even Leo felt a brief chill, but now that he understood exactly what kind of people the Justice Guild were, there was no need for hesitation.

Hummmmm—!

A frigid killing intent seeped from Leo's crimson eyes.

Seteon, along with the other members of the Justice Guild, instinctively flinched.

"You lot will never be heroes," Leo declared icily.

"Foolish brat! Are you saying you won't follow the will of the gods?"

"The gods?" Leo sneered coldly. "Have you ever even seen a god before?"

"What?"

"I know a thing or two about those beings. If they saw what you were doing, they'd probably say this…"

Leo's face turned expressionless, and his voice dropped to a chilling monotone.

"You're not even worthy of breathing. Cut your own throats."