Ending Maker

Terms used in this chapter:

PTSD – abbreviation of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. It is a mental health problem that can occur after a traumatic event.

The two main characters of Legend of Heroes 1, Kamael and Landius, were like night and day in many ways.

Both were good-looking, but one was beautiful enough to be mistaken for a woman due to his fine features and fair face, while the other was manly and vigorous with his masculine appearance and well-defined features, the so-called cheerful person.

Their heights were also different since Kamael was a little shorter than the average person while Landius was already a giant who was over 190cm tall and had bulky muscles at the time of the first episode.

‘Their personalities differed too.’

Kamael was a realist who could be described as calm, composed, and rational, while Landius was a classic warrior full of passion, hope, and courage.

‘A song of ice and fire.’

Kamael used Yin energy while Landius used Yang energy.

The two were known for their martial arts, the Twelve Snowflake Sword Art and the Supreme Sun Divine Art.

‘The warrior of the sun.’

Landius was like what his nickname meant.

When Kamael and Lena as well as all the survivors of the Paragon Kingdom fell into despair and fear before the absolute power of the Demon Prince, he was the only one to not fall into despair. He did not give up.

‘He’s like the sun.’

Like the sun rising alone in the pitch-black darkness to light up the world.

A man who drove out the fear and terror in everyone’s hearts and instilled them with hope and the courage to fight again.

‘The Supreme Sun Divine Art is like Landius.’

An endless life force/vitality.

The power of light that drives out the darkness.

The martial arts of a man who always did his best to destroy the enemy in front of him without any petty tricks.

“Disciple, do you know about the Supreme Sun Divine Art?”

At Landius’ question, Jude came to his senses and slightly nodded.

“I’ve only heard…a bit about it.”

“Okay, then do you know what makes the Supreme Sun Divine Art distinct?”

When Landius asked again, Cordelia’s eyes lit up.

“Excessive strength! Increasingly very high stamina! Fast recovery speed! The attack itself is simple but the power of his one punch is strong! Landius is surely the best one-punch damage dealer out of the five main characters! He’ll make you taste that one punch gathered in his fist!”

If one analyzed the Supreme Sun Divine Art in game terms, it would be like what Cordelia thought.

But Jude couldn’t say all that, so he summarized it nicely.

“I heard that it’s a martial arts that is based on a strong vitality…like the sun.”

“Yes, you are right. The Supreme Sun Divine Art will turn you into the sun, and if you succeed well in it, the endless power of life that will never be exhausted will be with you.”

‘That’s right, that’s right! You get superb strength! You’ll surely never get tired! Like an energizer! You can work all day long like Captain America! No, you can work for many days and nights! You’ll become Captain Sälen!’

As Cordelia’s eyes sparkled again, Jude bit his lips and held back his laughter.

Landius spoke again.

“I created a new Supreme Sun Divine Art by adding Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors to the existing Supreme Sun Divine Art. But disciple, I will teach to you the existing Supreme Sun Divine Art.”

Jude’s Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors was different from that of Landius himself.

‘Twenty-Four Gale Steps.’

Jude’s footwork techniques changed with the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.

Having learned about the Thirty-Six World Steps from Jude, Landius came up with a hypothesis.

If Jude could combine the Thirty-Six World Steps with the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, wouldn’t it be also possible with all the other martial arts in the world?

Landius himself couldn’t do it, but Jude who was born with Cheonmujiche could do it.

Something that only Jude, who had learned the more perfect Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, could do.

“If you can indeed do that, I can compare it to my new Supreme Sun Divine Art. And through that, I can also improve my Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors. Of course, your Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors too.”

Jude nodded his head.

He couldn’t find the timing to talk about it, but he actually wanted to talk about the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, the female sage he met every time he opened the door, and what he learned when he opened the fifth door this time.

‘Umm…by the way, Jude.’

It was at that moment. Cordelia slightly raised her hand and gazed at him, and Jude immediately responded to her gaze that was different from before.

“Cordelia?”

“C-can I ask a question?”

Landius was also interested in Cordelia’s question.

“Girl, what is it? Are you curious about the Supreme Sun Divine Art?”

“No, it’s…the Sphere of Life.”

Jude got the Sphere of Life, the divine item of Aerith, the goddess of life.

Because of that, the Sphere of Life was no longer just a beautiful ornament. Because its power was completely absorbed by Jude.

‘But the Sphere of Life has several unique effects.’

Like regenerative power or the amplification of one’s peak life force.

‘Wouldn’t those effects be passed on to Jude?’

Her question was quite reasonable.

When Cordelia honestly spoke aloud about her thoughts, Landius looked at Jude who began to think as he closed his eyes.

‘The Sphere of Life.’

If the life energy I absorbed wasn’t the only thing inside it.

If the goddess’ blessings were also in it.

Jude went into meditation.

He went deep down below the surface of his consciousness and looked at his soul and body.

Perhaps he also got a skill that he didn’t know when he opened the fifth door.

He went deeper and deeper.

He found it when he observed his own soul and body.

New abilities that Jude himself had acquired.

“Wow.”

Jude unconsciously exclaimed before he pulled out a dagger from his waist and wounded his forearm.

His sudden action surprised Landius and Cordelia as their eyes widely opened but they did not shout.

Because his small wound healed in an instant.

“Regeneration?”

“Wow, it doesn’t even show.”

Cordelia said in admiration as she touched Jude’s arm.

Because there wasn’t even any trace of the wound left.

“Amazing. The blessing of the goddess of life remained in my disciple’s body. Indeed, it’s the blessing of the goddess…a miracle from the goddess. Be thankful.”

Landius said before putting his hands together to pray.

It was very natural for him to pray because he was a paladin in the first place.

“Thank you, goddess. Thank you very much.”

Cordelia also prayed and Jude was swept away by the atmosphere too as he closed his eyes and expressed his gratitude.

“Anyway, that’s good. Now that you have a regenerative power, you can just tolerate the training unlike before.”

When Landius chuckled and said that, Jude blinked his eyes. He had no choice but to do that.

‘What?’

I can just tolerate the training?

No, that before…are you talking about tolerating that crazy training we did before?

“Disciple, there’s no time to lose. I have a lot of things to teach you, and a lot of things I want to learn from you, so let’s hurry.”

“W-wait a minute. Master?”

“Hohoho, your regenerative power must have activated, right? Now that I look at you, your strength seems to be overflowing. The regenerative power seems to have accelerated the absorption of nutrients.”

“No, that can’t be possible.”

Is there a relation between my regenerative power and accelerated digestion?

‘Perhaps?’

He wasn’t hungry.

He had used up his strength because of the metamorphosis, so he no longer had any strength in his entire body, but not at the present moment.

He felt like he had absorbed all the nutrients from the 4 liters of that horrendous liquid prepared by Landius.

His vision was clear, and his limbs were full of power.

“Kekeke, that’s good. There’s no risk of injury, recovery is quick, and you can digest food as soon as you eat it. Your body is definitely optimized for training. So from now on, let’s train without taking any breaks.”

Landius was delighted as he jumped from his seat and threw a training uniform at Jude, who looked at Cordelia with a face full of distress.

‘He-help me! No, save me! Cordelia!’

His eyes were like that of a dog who got soaked in the rain because it wandered around without an owner.

Cordelia’s compassion surged at that moment, but she could only do one thing.

‘Fighting.’

Don’t die.

I’ll give you a lap pillow and clean your ears…anyway, I’ll treat you nicely.

So my Jude, I’ll cheer for you, okay?

‘Hey! Cordelia! Hey!’

His silent screams remained as silent screams.

Landius forcibly carried Jude with his big hands, and the blanket covering him fell so Cordelia quickly covered her face with her wide open fingers.

***

Time passed.

As Landius himself said, he trained Jude really hard.

He trained all the time except for the time he ate and slept, but his meals were the gray liquid and not a proper meal, so it was like he was being tortured separately with the force feedings.

As a natural result, Jude’s only pleasure in the day was his sleeping time.

“Sob, sob. Cordelia. Huhu.”

Cordelia bitterly smiled as she stroked Jude’s head in her lap as he trembled like a PTSD patient.

She only saw the training for a short time on the first day, but it seemed like a hellish training when she saw Jude broken like this in just three days.

“My Jude, you better sleep. You have to sleep. You only have 3 hours of sleep a day. You now only have 2 hours and 53 minutes left.”

“Sniff, sniff.”

Jude trembled again at Cordelia’s words, and he closed his eyes as he tried to sleep while Cordelia continued to stroke his head.

And around 10 minutes passed.

Cordelia gently removed her legs under Jude’s head after he was completely asleep as she slowly stood up.

It was Jude’s sleep time, but for Cordelia herself, it was the time to start her new routine.

“Girl, are you going again today?”

As she came out from the entrance of the small room where Jude slept, she heard Landius’ voice.

Landius didn’t really need to sleep because he succeeded in using the Supreme Sun Divine Art, so he just sat cross-legged like that when his training with Jude was over.

Cordelia replied with a small smile.

“Yes, I think it’s paying off.”

“Don’t overdo it. Immediately send me a signal if it becomes dangerous. I know that you’re strong, but no one can tell on what will happen in real life.”

“Yes, thank you for your concern.”

Cordelia answered nicely and left the training room on the 3rd floor as she headed deep into the Temple of Life.

Cordelia was doing something while Jude was training with Landius.

‘It looks like I got everything on the 3rd floor.’

Cordelia was wiping out the monsters in the Temple of Life.

Because she had nothing to do during Jude’s training, but she had other reasons too.

‘I can’t stand still.’

It’s good that Jude is becoming stronger.

It’s not some empty words because I’m really happy.

Because he’s my Jude.

The enemies we’ll be fighting in the royal capital are tough.

I really hate seeing Jude getting hurt.

I always thought and wished that he would become stronger and not get hurt.

But apart from all these feelings.

‘I have to become strong too.’

I have to level up by collecting even a little more experience points.

I have to look for new ways to grow, and not settle for what I have now.

This is reality and not a game.

There are other ways to become stronger aside from the established methods.

Jude is striving forward.

I’m scared because his speed of getting stronger is too fast.

So I have to catch up.

I have to become strong.

‘I want to stand by his side.’

No, it wasn’t that tender feeling.

She wasn’t thinking about him in that way, as the emotions that welled up in her heart was a little different from that.

It was something more fundamental.

Cordelia’s own feeling from her previous life that she still held in her present life.

‘I have to become strong.’

Not only because I want to see a perfect happy ending.

Not only because I want to overcome the challenges ahead.

But for a more fundamental reason.

A simple but strong wish of mine.

‘Even if that Outboxer had become my Jude…’

I don’t want to lose.

I really want to win someday.

‘I will not lose.’

A fierce smile spread over Cordelia’s face.

She clenched her fists and looked straight ahead. The power of a holy angel then emanated from her entire body.

She spread open her wings of light, and an angel’s halo floated above her head.

But it didn’t stop there. She tried something new.

Because she wanted to get ahead of Jude, and even go beyond winning against him as she wanted Jude to never beat her.

Cordelia closed her eyes.

She released a new power that did not appear in the game.