Pain

"Toong... Toong" (dripping water sound)

"Pop"

A few drops of bitterly cold water have just fallen from a small crack in the rock above. They move 'playfully' in the jagged form of an uneven terrain, but unfortunately penetrate the centre of a faint golden flame.

Wait, that's my spiritual fire.

"So cold !" I sat up, my body shaking, and reached out to rub my chest. I felt as if my whole body had just been covered in a bitter layer of winter snow.

"What happened ?" I tried to remember, but I couldn't. All I had in my mind at that moment were fragments of memory, vague and unclear. It gave me the feeling that I was suffering from amnesia or something like that.

I sighed.

"Master, you're finally awake!" A very familiar voice suddenly appeared. If I'm not mistaken, this voice belongs to the Great Sage.

"Is it you, lazy one?" I exclaimed wearily. A slight dizziness suddenly appeared, causing me to hold my head.

"Master, it seems that your body is still not used to receiving such a large amount of magic power in a short time, is it?"

"Receiving magic power? When? It's not like I fainted because..."

"Wait, Yumi! Where is she and everyone else?"

"What was happened?" Streams of dark memories suddenly came back. It made I called out Yumi's name in panic and started to look for her tracks.

"Yumi-san" I shouted, running for my life to a small pool of water in front of me. Yumi was sitting collapsed, her skin pale, her breathing shallow and her body very cold. The stick next to her injured arm was dark red.

I immediately took off my woollen robe and put it on Yumi. I took her to a small rock nearby and used the magic stones that had just fallen out of her bag to light a fire.

I tried to wake Yumi, but it didn't seem to work. I lost my temper at that moment, long tears falling down my boneless cheeks.

I had hoped it would be just a dark nightmare on a stormy night. But what about the reality, it's even more horrible !

The feeling of losing friends I consider relatives will leave me completely devastated.

It makes me wonder, does someone like me deserve to survive what happened?

_

(From now on, the story will be told in the third person.)

"What am I supposed to do?" stammered Leon, deeply distressed to see Yumi in pain and coughing from breathlessness.

"Yumi..." Leon lamented.

"Master, I have just analysed and looked at the lesions on this girl's body. She is suffering from a severe lack of magic power. Her vital signs are slowly declining"

"What?" cried Leon nervously, his limbs shaking.

"There is one way, your magic. Use it to heal her"

"My magic?" the words of the great sage rekindled hope in Leon, "Hurry, how do I do that now?"

"You will need to use a light magic called [Transfer], Master'"

" Light? Isn't that sacred magic?" " I startled, "but a Lich can't use light magic, you've already said that"

"Theoretically, the use of sacred magic would corrode and destroy your body. But what if its components, the sacred runes, are altered?"

"Can you do that?"

"Yes. But it would be at the expense of this being of mine"

"Expense .. Will you disappear?"

"Yes."

Leon fell thoughtfully, turning awkwardly to look at Yumi.

"Master, to sacrifice oneself for you is an honour for a skill like me" the great sage said seriously.

"But..."

"Great Sage, is there no way..."

"According to my analysis, Miss Yumi is showing signs of heart failure, so please decide quickly!"

"What? Heart failure!"

A blue board suddenly appears (Announcement: The Great Sage wants to be granted agency by you)

"I.." Seeing Yumi's face turn purple, Leon panicked.

"I... I"

"I can't" Leon broke down.

"Master, hurry up"

"Thoughts for the girl, please"

"Agreed" His index finger trembled.

(Pip. The system has confirmed your choice!)

(Self-determination has been set for the skill Great Sage)

"You have made a wise choice, Master"

"I will immediately synthesise the light magic into my core and recreate it in the form of an ancient book."

A distraught Leon sat in silence.

"Here it is, the magic you need to find... on page no. ... 0.22, line 4!" His voice began to distort.

.....

[Inverse structure]

(Goodbye Master!)

(Announcement: The Great Sage has been removed from the skill category)

(Announcement: Reproduction of item in new progress... [Error]... )

([Error])

From that moment on, the last remaining sounds of the Great Sage faded and disappeared completely. All that remained in Leon's mind, apart from the "pips" from the bulletin boards, were vague lines of thought.

Leon sat there, Yumi underneath him, her clothes stained red with blood. He looked at her with lifeless eyes, his bony hand touching Yumi's pale skin. Leon was silent, unemotional, though the cold winds of the dark night hissed in waves overhead.

Although the Great Sage was only one of Leon's abilities, he was touched by his gift, even if it was an old one. Besides, in a situation where he had almost lost everything, any further departure could become a memory scar that would haunt Leon forever.

"Rumble"

The ground shook incessantly. The characters, which had come from nowhere, gathered in one place and formed a magic book. It is white in colour, with a red border and, most notably, a cherry jewel set in the centre.

The book is quite thick, the outside is covered with a beautiful silver aura, on the back cover is a large cross carved on a symmetrical gilded square with the ruby on the front.

Gritting his teeth, Leon picked up the holy book that hovered in front of him. Despite the corrosive sounds and the blackboards printed with the last red sentences that appeared before him, he didn't stop.

"Great sage, thank you!" He looked at Yumi and clenched his fists in determination.

Leon took a deep breath and slowly opened the book.

A white light suddenly appeared and enveloped Leon, creeping into every corner, merging with every bone in his body.

[Notice: Your body structure is being changed, please...please...] A message appeared distorted, the intertwined letters hard to understand. It only appeared for a few seconds and then immediately disappeared, replaced by flashing [Error] commands and dangerous warning sounds.

"Sizzle"

"Too hurts. AAAAhhh.!" A painful sensation with white smoke emanating incessantly, combined with the spiritual fire that had turned silvery white, caused Leon to collapse. The hand holding the book melted before his eyes, his mind spinning with pieces of old memories before he was teleported into a white room.

"It's so hot... so hot" Leon gritted his teeth, his vision greatly diminished by a distorted, corroded half of his head. He no longer felt anything in his lower body, his mind was gradually being invaded by a white colour.

On the outside, this white space was slowly shrinking and devouring Leon.

"Sizzle"

Trying to use the last of his strength, Leon reached the 22nd page of the book.

The characters he didn't understand before were now written in the form of familiar kanji, and he turned to line 4 and read them aloud.

[Blessings of ... Light] (Sizzle)

[Transfer] !

(Sizzling)

The moment the last sacred words were uttered, a white pillar of fire with an extremely large radius formed in the centre of the cave. Its light and heat were so terrifying that it burned an entire region of the black sky, which was swallowed by darkness.

◇

"Rumble, rumble" The wheel of history has just turned, the great magical hourglass at the centre of the continent has awoken from thousands of years of deep sleep. The people of all the kingdoms were startled by the sudden shaking, they looked towards the pillar of light and fell to their knees.

At the top of Holfy Tower, the largest church on the continent, sacred flames and bells rang out.

"Calliandra-sama, what's going on?" A worried voice came from a girl on the highest balcony of Holy Castle in the Holy Kingdom, her name was Melina Rapha Forsythe, the Second Princess. Standing beside her in a beautiful white gown was the current head of the Holy Kingdom, Ice Queen Dorothea Frozen Forsythe.

"So a new holy knight will be born" the queen muttered, her face expressionless as she turned and walked into the room.

"All this time, holy knights have been born in our holy land and..."

"Melina, that may be the wish of the gods!" Queen Calliandra said seriously, clenching her hands.

Melina was surprised, she didn't believe in this unprecedented thing. She turned around and looked at the pillar of light with her yellow eyes. They are the eyes blessed by the gods that can help her see through every creature, every black and white truth or falsehood in this world.

"No..."

"No way" Melina collapses, "this huge magical thing is too pure, it's impossible..."

"Maybe the gods don't trust us anymore. Have we done something wrong..." Melina held her head, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Huh. Label, you quickly summoned the four holy knights on duty and the heads of the kingdoms, we need an urgent meeting" Calliandra stroked the pet cat in her arms to keep her composure, she ordered Melina's maid.

"Yes, Calliandra-sama!" Label stormed out of the room, leaving Melina still sobbing.

(In Forestyl, Elfdolf)

"Huh" the old man with long ears, a beautiful blue stone necklace around his neck, and casual clothes, watched the light source intently.

"Grindoff-sama, do you have any speculations about this unusual pillar of light?"

The man sighed, stood up with difficulty, his back to the column of light, which had faded considerably. He let go of his mouth:

"The truth is, I have nothing to say. I've never seen it in my life"

"Even the Elder doesn't know anything about it..." The loud whispers from the crowd annoyed Elfdoft's chief, Sylfold. He slammed his hand down on the table and ordered them to be quiet.

"Father, I will contact the divine clans who have taken refuge in the Dragon Kingdom, they will probably know something about this"

"Uhm..."

Finishing his words, Sylfold stood up, carefully taking out a magic ball and placing it on the birch table.

""Mielys-sama, bitte höre unsere Bitte an" The magic ball suddenly flashed, and pale blue particles of dust began to appear, creating a wonderful scene.

"Bitte verbinde Elfdolf mit dem Drachenreich !!"

...

"That day was so special" said the historians and wizards. They told an epic legend that a holy engineer was born in a cursed space with absolute, endless power, though not blessed by the gods.

Not only were there creatures in the world, but the gods themselves were surprised by this powerful pillar of light. It marked a new era, one in which darkness and light became one.

Concerned, a high-ranking female angel was sent down to the world to observe and investigate this extraordinary event.

Her name is Ilumia.

◇

"Yumi, run now" Himmel's bloodied face screamed, he raised his broken hand and tried to gesture to Yumi, but was immediately ripped from behind by rotting tentacles coming from "Stalker". His sudden appearance startled Yumi, who woke up in fear and gasped for breath.

"Himmel" Yumi's whole body was drenched in sweat as she screamed his name.

"A nightmare?" Yumi looked at the peaceful scenery around her - small halos of light squeezed into the crack in the rock, the occasional breeze blowing through her blonde hair. She calmed herself with a sigh of relief.

"Wait, Leon-san..." Yumi looked down and realised that something was wrong.

"Leon-san, what are you doing?" Yumi blushes when she notices Leon's arms around her waist. As a natural reaction, she tried to get out while giving him a ... "slap"?

"Pop"

….

Leon's bone face was decorated with a red handprint that looked very funny. And he, who scratched his head awkwardly at Yumi's apology when she knew the cause of everything.

"Leon-san, I'm sorry I misunderstood you !"

Ignoring that, Leon was glad to see that she had fully recovered, her shirt dyed red but her badly injured arm healed. Her skin was rosier and more vibrant.

"Yumi-san, it's good that you're okay!"

"But I, I... and this robe of yours" Yumi shyly removed the robe from her body.

"I'm really sorry!" She bowed.

"Never mind. It's just a momentary misunderstanding, after all!" Leon waved his hand.

"But..." Yumi still hesitated. She turned around, her face flushed shyly.

Leon just smiled lightly and his eyes looked at Yumi "Yumi-san, just rest. I'll be right back" he grabbed his cloak and headed towards a nearby rocky shore.

"Looks like it's going pretty well" Leon chuckled, touching the clear water and looking at himself through it.

"This book..." A silver book emerged from the water. It drifted close behind Leon, as if clinging to him.

Leon's emotions suddenly turned dark, fragments of memories fragmented before the moment he was swallowed by the white space gradually appeared.

"Great..Sage" Leon took the book.

'Status'

Leon strained his eyes, trying to glide up and down, holding on to hope as he searched the list of skills for the name Great Sage, but couldn't find it.

"Ha..." Leon sighed, dejectedly switching to the category of notifications that were constantly bothering him.

"Huh. Full of nonsense..."

(Announcement: The Great Sage has been removed from the skill category) Leon suddenly stopped his hand at a white announcement, the difference of it made him tremble.

"…" Leon was silent, he took his cloak and carefully wrapped the book in it.

◇

Leon sat by the fire and Yumi was much calmer next to him. They had a small talk and both decided to go back to where they had fought the day before.

Yumi's eyes fell on the burning fire, sadly dreaming of beautiful moments with everyone.

Leon wasn't much better, his mind was full of complicated thoughts. He looked at his face through a cup of hot tea in his hand and found it disgusting to remember that the "Stalker" was a Lich just like him.

Leon shuddered, wondering if he would be corrupted later and become a monster like him.

The surroundings remained eerily quiet, with only occasional gusts of wind blowing from the depths of the cave, carrying a terrible stench of decay.

After a long time, it was time for the fire to go out as well, the two of them still sitting there, silently creating a sad air.

Without knowing when, darkness had enveloped every corner of the space, it was like a liquid that penetrated deep into their minds, devouring the last remaining flames of hope in them, especially Leon.

At that time, Leon thought of only one sentence:

"If only..."

◇

Long winds hissed across a vast, ash-covered space.

Everything around was engulfed in flames on a dark moonlit night, the agonised screams of innocent creatures torn apart in endless despair.

"Huh, they're such a useless bunch of vermin" - The foot of a man dressed as a cardinal, a missionary book in his left hand, a packet of cake in his right, his mouth always chewing, his round, bulging body like a ball, stepping on the muddy back of some bony creature.

With a mist around him, thick black flames, it was definitely the Stalker.

"Please, sir, please spare me..." The 'stalker' panicked.

"Shut up, I remember I didn't let you say anything" He was angry, his eyes narrowed in horror. He grabbed the stalker's head roughly, broke it and threw it into a puddle of filthy slime born from his own body.

"Please spare me... spare me?" The Stalker stammered as he saw a black space in front of him.

"Haven't you lost two filthy mice?"

"Rumble" - He stomped mercilessly on the stalker's head with his foot, laughing contemptuously, "There's no room for error here, stupid puppet".

"At least you're honoured to be a small part of me!"

[Absorb] The tentacles appeared and pounced on the Stalker's body, turning it into a pile of broken bones. The thick, rotting flame was held tightly by him and torn into small pieces, placed in his mouth and chewed.

"Hmm, it seems to have run out of food?" He snapped, throwing his packet of cake to the ground and entering [Reality], a spatial portal that separates the fantasy world from the real world.

The cardinal stepped out of his sample space, his hands still smelling of rotten eggs. He looked at the kneeling goblins before smelling the fishy blood of the victims and was amused:

"Great, eating again..." He stuck out his long, lecherous tongue.

"It'll be delicious today" He walked over to the large sack, his face puffed out like an arrogant nobleman.

"Let's see, humans, dwarf flesh and..." He used giant tentacles to sort out the 'food sources' for dinner.

"Elf" He chokes Kate and pulls her up, unable to contain herself, jumping for joy.

"It's been a long time since I've smelled this scent again. It doesn't smell like Elysia's, but..." He couldn't contain his gluttony, rows of drool dripping to the floor.

"Garrif, put those piles of meat and half the goblins on the 'party table' for me. And that elf" he grinned disgustedly, "leave him here, I'll play with her body after I've eaten"

"Ré...réee" Garrif, the dark-skinned goblin, nodded. He turned his back and pointed his fingerless hand at a flat space where eight stone pillars were already inscribed with strange characters.

The steady footsteps of the goblin army were all too familiar. They skilfully split in two and lined up in a long line on the rock face that the Cardinal called the Sacrifice.

"It's time to eat..." The Cardinal straightened his shoulders as he opened his huge mouth. Faint cries of pain emanated from inside, with the occasional distorted face and strange red handprints appearing.

[Absorb]!

Half of the goblin legions became his dinner. But just as he was rubbing his fat belly in satisfaction, he felt a huge source of the magical power he craved close at hand.

"Oh, what have we here?" His eyes narrowed again.

"Hah. Our fun time will have to be postponed, Doll-chan" He was about to take Kate into his own space when he stopped. A fierce gluttony began to rise above the still blood-covered mouth.

Rows of thick drool dripped down again, and inside there were a few white larvae moving about.

He smiled excitedly and walked towards the source of the magic power, his fat body gradually changing into the shape of a fly with a bloody straw and a disgusting smell of decay.

He was the first cardinal of the Congregation, one of the twelve closest apostles of Diablos. "Voracious" - Beelzeb.

◇

"This book is so special" Leon turned the pages intently, silently calling out to forget the still dark night around him.

Leon was still sad and worried, even though he was tired of moving all the time, but he didn't neglect to protect the mage girl Yumi, who was resting nearby.

"Is everyone still ok?", Leon thought.

(Announcement: Seeker of Light Achievement received)

"Seeker of Light?" To Leon's surprise, he opened his status sheet to check it again without noticing that the book had just been shaken.

"What is that?" Leon shuddered slightly as he encountered the bright particles of dust that had come out of nowhere and were getting thicker and thicker. They held on and manipulated Leon's hand to turn to the last page of the book.

"This ..." Leon exclaimed, and in front of him was a long white sword, the blade of which was red and looked very similar to a traditional katana he had seen in a museum. The only difference was the small letters engraved on the blade, although they were a little blurred Leon could still make them out:

"espylakopa red knehcseg sad"?

Suddenly, an electric current appeared and ran down his spine, making Leon jump, followed by a white light that blinded him.

"What's that ?" Leon panicked, his mind confused at the thought of the possibility that the stalker had found them.

But nothing happened.

Just as Leon had calmed down a bit, a shadow appeared behind him, startling Leon. As a natural reflex, he raised his hand to use the martial arts his grandfather had passed on to him as a martial arts master.

"You have such a unique stance, boy!" a deep voice broke the silence.

"I need to talk to you" the shadow used tremendous pressure to control Leon's body, slowly revealing his form.

In front of Leon was a large bone horse, with two red eyes and a body covered in armour. It approached Leon, used a short teleportation spell to make him sit on its back, and then disappeared into the darkness.

Leon was startled and had no time to do anything, his limbs stiff and his teeth clenched in fear.

"Say something, boy" the horse pushed Leon down as he entered a divided room, knocking him over and knocking out an arm.

"Huh, my name is Gabul, a legend horse!" The horse patted his chest and chuckled proudly.

"Ga...Gabul," Leon had just opened his eyes when he was overwhelmed by the room around him, where black and white pieces were interspersed.

"Your name is Leon, thank you for opening the seal!" Gabul fumbled with the exact same sword as in the book. He whinnied and placed it in Leon's hand.

"What is it... I don't understand!"

"Hm... The younger generation is really slow to understand now" Gabul boasted. "In short, you have become my new master"

"Master ?"

"Uh. You inherited the title of Knight Saint from my former master, Arthur de von Roseblade"

"Roseblade? Where have I heard that name before?" thought Leon.

"More importantly, how could a Lich use this holy magic?" Gabul pressed his face against Leon's body, much to his annoyance. He tried to avoid the questioning look by turning his head away.

"I don't know"

"Boy, don't expect to get in my way"

[Appraise]

--

Race : ....

....

--

"Nothing special," Gabul looked at Leon's stats and shook his head dismissively, "Wait, why would a weak Lich like you get these two extremely rare items?"

Gabul pointed to two yellow lines next to each other: "That's strange, where is your career line? I thought everyone in the world had them"

"How dare you look at my status board, with or without something that has nothing to do with you?" Leon felt uncomfortable with Gabul's two questions.

"What a complete and utter idiot"

"Who do you say is an idiot... "

"You" Gabul pointed at Leon.

"You..." Leon's anger reached its peak and he was about to shout at Gabul.

"Hm, how do I make you understand?" Gabul didn't care about Leon's grimace and sighed.

"Alright. I'll start with..." Gabul quickly used [Spiritual Force] to pull two items out of Leon's robe.

"Oh, this book is a special item, only given to worthy heirs, and you... so weak!"

Gabul's expression was wistful when he saw the book with the cherry-coloured jade in the middle, "I don't understand why the holy sword is hidden in here.

"And the jewel" Gabul suddenly trembled as he touched it, falling to his knees.

"No way..."

"This can't be it."

"Lich, where did you find this gem?"

Leon was reassembling his arm when he was startled and turned around:

"This jewel was a trophy when I defeated the giant black spider, whose name seems to be mutated widow spider."

"What does it look like?" urged Gabul.

"Well, it has a huge black body, eight big strong legs..." Leon remembered.

"It has a big wound on its head, doesn't it?"

"Yes. How do you know that?" Leon exclaimed in surprise.

"So that's it."

"?"

"You've probably heard the story of the monster that tore through the Roseblade's knights alone?"

"I've heard it from... Great Sage" Leon paused, "I've heard it before."

"It was their first and only battle"

"More than half the knight were Arthur's students, including the two Roseblade lady"

"By the time Arthur and I arrive, it's too late," Gabul's voice deepened. "They've all been killed by it, leaving nothing but a bloody ground with incomplete body parts."

"I can't imagine it ate every one of them, every single one."

"So cruel"

"Yes, Arthur flew into a rage. He and I hunted down the spider soon after."

"Day after day, in a valley of death, we found it and fought it. After a powerful blow to the head, the spider fell off a deep cliff"

"I thought no monster could survive being slashed by the holy sword, but it seems I was wrong. This jewel..."

"I see"

Leon quietly drew his sword, closed his eyes and imagined himself in the image of a warrior.

"Huh, why is it so itchy ?" As soon as he opened his eyes, Leon was horrified by the scene around him.

"I didn't think you could beat him" a strange heat made Gabul turn his head.

"What is this. Why..." Gabul panicked, his mouth gaping at Leon, who was exuding an enormous amount of pressure.

The black and white pieces around him coiled and stuck to his body, and the sword turned from white to inky black. The spiritual fire burns strongly.

In the line of information about the species, a mysterious distorted square appears, with a purple phrase written in indistinct handwriting.

"Holy Horseman..."

"Revelation [Error]"

These two phrases kept swapping places in a very small space of squares. They looked like they were trying to destroy the enemy, trying to fight to survive.

Gabul also began to change. His whole body was itchy and gradually covered in a black liquid.

Not long after, Gabul's armour grew a few more black stripes. His eyes were also redder, his body larger and his stride stronger.

(Baka Lich, what did you do ?)

◇