Chapter 311: The War Is Over

The world fell silent.

Rion let out a soft breath, and a sharp shimmer caught his attention.

He stored his spear, then flapped his translucent wings and reached the object within a moment. He crouched beside it and mumbled.

"A mirror shard?"

He picked up the mirror shard, and despite him being right in front of it, the shard had no reflection.

Witnessing the strange phenomenon, Rion frowned.

"What is this?"

He tried to wrap the shard with his Zone, but just as they came in contact, the shard reflected it away from itself.

"How curious..." Rion whispered.

Curiosity shone in his pitch-black eyes with golden pupils, and he stored the item in his inventory.

There was no point in guessing when he could simply get the information from the system.

[You have stored a Shadow Mirror Shard!]

Rion straightened to his feet and checked the item.

————

Shadow Mirror Shard

Description: A broken piece of the mirror carved out of the God of Mirrors' shadow.

————

Rion blinked a few times and muttered in utter disbelief. "What?"

'This little shard is actually a God's shadow?' He didn't know what to make of this.

The more he heard and witnessed, the more dangerous the God of Shadows appeared.

For now, though, he had other matters to deal with.

"Time to get to work—"

At the same time, the unified energy which had been formed by the harmony of chaos and order, and will and life, went haywire.

The Dance of Yama had forced them into this state so that its effects only lasted for a specific amount of time. Once the time ended, Rion naturally came out of the temporary stage of enlightenment.

The effects were immediate.

His body froze like a lifeless statue, and he crashed face-first to the ground. Then his muscles burst, veins ruptured, and bones cracked.

Sickening sounds filled the place, and the Nexus Ring disappeared with his body returning to its prior state.

The effect of the Immortal Body continued to heal him while the backlash from the forced enlightenment assaulted him endlessly.

Rion let out low groans and curses, and after what felt like eternity, the backlash receded.

His muscles wiggled and finally came to a stop.

Dust rose with his heavy breathing, and sweat drenched him head to toe.

After lying there for a few minutes, Rion rose to his feet and used Zone Relocation to appear between the thousands of dark statues, which were the soldiers and knights of the Leonara Kingdom.

With his newfound understanding of Absolute Spark, he mumbled, "Break."

The word slipped off his tongue and took the physical form of a tiny translucent gray thread. The thread wrapped around the statues one by one as though weaving a net, and then at the same moment, cracks spread across the statues.

The solidified shadows covering them fell onto the ground and burst into black smoke before disappearing.

Grunts and low-pained cries echoed throughout the place as the soldiers and knights were freed one by one.

Within the next fifteen minutes, everyone was freed of the dark clutches of the shadows, and all of them were looking around in confusion.

They were supposed to be at the war camp but the camp was nowhere visible instead they were standing at a wide plain with beautiful flowers covering the ground like a natural colorful carpet.

"Prince Bael!" Melvin shouted and dashed toward Rion with a worried expression.

Rion smiled. But just as Melvin was about to reach him, he stopped.

His expression turned troubled.

Rion frowned. "What's wrong?"

"You feel different, my prince... It's as if you are someone I have no right to stand near."

Hearing those words, Rion's face darkened. He knew it wasn't because of the Honored One, as he was canceling its effects with Intent Veil.

'Did the temporary stage of enlightenment cause this?' Rion thought somberly.

It was possible after all, Honored One, only to imitate the divine presence which the Gods had.

'This is troublesome...'

Even though he had reached such a height of strength, he didn't wish to lose his normalcy; however, he was no longer the child who couldn't think beyond himself.

The power he had wasn't something that should be used for oneself; instead, it was a decree to fix everything that had caused the world to fall apart... Rion was eternally grateful for this second chance at life and the absolutely broken system, so now it was his turn to return to the world.

A faint smile spread across his face, and he said while looking at Melvin.

"The war has ended. We have won."

Melvin blinked a few times and mumbled in disbelief.

"The war is over...?"

Rion nodded softly. "It is."

Melvin lowered his gaze to his palms, then at his sword, and lastly at the soldiers behind him.

The endless bloodbath that had caused the world to disregard Leonara's strength, the limitless hatred that had ruined the lives of Leonara's citizens, was finally over, and he didn't know what to feel about it.

He had lived the past few decades bleeding and murdering the soldiers of the duke, and all of a sudden, everything had reached a conclusion.

Despite the conclusion that favored him, he couldn't help but feel a faint sting in his heart.

Melvin shook his head and mumbled.

"Come out of this, you old fool."

His gaze shifted toward Selva, who was helping a female knight calm down her fears- and mumbled, "It's time for the new generation to take over."

Rion smiled and said, "If that's your wish, Lord Melvin, then I will see to it."

Melvin bowed deeply and declared, "I will give my all to assist your rule, my liege."

Rion patted his shoulder, though all he hit were the metallic plates of his armor. Then he raised his fist toward the sky and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"SOLDIERS!"

Everyone turned their gazes at him, and he continued.

"The war is over! Leonara has won!"

Everyone's gaze widened, and cheers erupted.

"YEAHHH! Victory!!"

"Glory to Leonara!!"

"Glory to the Crown!!"