Chapter 48
Silence gripped the arena.
Not the stunned silence of spectators—but the suffocating kind that precedes catastrophe.
Mana coiled around Alexi like a living thing, unstable, violent, refusing restraint.
The Pope felt it.
For the first time since Alexi became a Hero, unease crept into his chest
Aria sat amazed (lugh brought forth the true potential that Alexi carried as a hero. Something Even I as his professor failed to do)
The audience couldn't breathe.
This wasn't the Hero they knew.
This wasn't the Hero shaped by sermons, prophecies, or chains disguised as blessings.
This was raw.
Unfiltered.
Alexi's knees trembled—but did not bend.
His heart pounded so hard it felt as though it might rupture, yet for the first time, the pain didn't frighten him. It ignited a smile of satisfactory excitement.
"I see it now," Alexi muttered, voice hoarse. "All this time… I wasn't meant to wield this power."
His violet eyes locked onto Lugh.
"That doesn't matter anymore as I choose this power"
Alexi vanished.
The ground detonated where he had stood as he reappeared before Lugh in a blur of shattered air, blade already descending in a ferocious diagonal strike.
Lugh's eyes sharpened
He met the blow head-on.
Steel clashed—
and this time, the impact didn't explode outward.
It imploded.
A crushing pressure swallowed the arena, flattening sound itself. The audience felt it like a hand squeezing their chests, weaker spectators collapsing into their seats as barriers flared desperately to compensate.
Lugh slid back a single step as his blade cracked.
Lugh thrusted this cracked blade which exploded on contact pushing back alexi.
"So you broke it," Lugh said quietly as he stepped into the storm. "Good."
He lets go of the empty hilt. It falls—Hero rushed lugh.
He met Alexi's next strike bare-handed—gripping the flat of the blade.
Blood spilled instantly from his palm.
The crowd screamed.
Alexi froze for a fraction of a second.
He didn't flinch.
"Don't stop," Lugh said, voice low, almost disappointed. "If you hesitate now, you insult that power you chose."
Alexi's breath hitched.
Something snapped inside him—not fear, not doubt, but the last shackle he hadn't known was there.
Mana surged.
Hero brought his sword up facing the sky..holy blue mana ruptured from his veins as it crawled up the length of the blade in preparation of an overhead slash
Lugh responded by simply going in a hard stamd as he opened his bloodied palm and thrusted it in Alexi's abdomen.
A massive wave of energy escaped his palm as it passed through the hero hurling him back.
He barely managed to held his feet as it dragged through cracking the already crumbling stone floor.
He panted hard holding his abdomen.
Alexi stood opposite him, chest heaving, blade trembling—but unbroken.
Lugh straightened.
"You've crossed the line," he said calmly. "There's no going back now."
No," he replied, voice steady, resolute.
"There isn't."
The mana around him changed.
Lugh narrowed his eyes (If i push him a little more. He will reach a Breakthrough)
The Pope rose from his throne.
(If this continues…)
Lugh smiled.
Then he took a step forward.
"Good," he said.
"Now show me—"
His presence dropped.
The air screamed.
"—how far you're willing to go."
The broken hilt trembled.
Metal screamed as if dragged by an invisible will.
Alexi's hand shot out—fingers spread—and the shattered remains of the grand blade ripped free from the ground, spiraling back into his palm.
The blue stone at its core pulsed violently, cracks spider-webbing across its surface as mana flooded in.
His hand shook.
His entire body shook.
But he closed his grip anyway.
"Come…" Alexi whispered, teeth clenched.
He thrust the blade upward.
The stone ignited.
Alexi's eyes glew
A colossal pillar of holy blue mana erupted skyward, tearing through the clouds like a spear aimed at the heavens. Within the pillar, fragments of steel screamed back together—shards melting, reforging, realigning—until the broken blade was whole once more, reborn under sheer will alone.
Alexi screamed as he seized the hilt with both hands and dragged the blade down.
The slash fell.
Not a wave—
—but a monument.
A crescent of annihilating blue light carved through the arena, compressing space itself as it raced toward Lugh, carrying everything Alexi had left—his blood, his resolve, his desperation.
Lugh smiled.
His eyes glowed crimson.
The slash reached him—
and ruptured from within.
The mana imploded violently, collapsing in on itself as if crushed by an unseen gravity.
stone vaporizing as the attack devoured itself.
Alexi's scream died in his throat.
The backlash tore through him.
His legs buckled.
The blade slipped from his fingers as he crashed down onto all fours, gasping, coughing—mana bleeding from him like mist. His hands trembled against the broken stone.
Then he cried.
Not in rage.
Not in pain.
But grief.
Hot tears struck the ground as his shoulders shook.
"I was so close…" he choked. "I just… I just wanted to protect—"
Lugh walked toward him.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Each step echoed.
Alexi clenched his fists, head bowed. His chest burned, lungs screaming for air as shame crushed him harder than any blow.
"What was it?" Lugh asked quietly.
Alexi didn't answer.
"What did you want to protect?" Lugh repeated.
Silence.
Alexi's teeth dug into his lip until blood ran. If he spoke—if he said it aloud—then Lugh would know. And if Lugh knew… then that thing would be in danger.
"I won't say it," Alexi whispered.
Lugh stopped in front of him.
"…Look up."
Alexi hesitated.
Then, slowly, he raised his head.
The world was grey.
The arena—colorless.
The crowd—frozen statues of ash.
Mana—motionless, suspended mid-eruption like shattered glass.
Only two figures retained color.
Him.
And Lugh.
Alexi's breath hitched as realization slammed into him.
"T-Time…?" he whispered.
Lugh's crimson eyes regarded him calmly.
"I stopped it," he said.
The air did not move.
The world did not breathe.
And in that frozen, colorless reality—Lugh stood before the kneeling Hero, untouched by time itself.
.
.
.