Chapter 145: Chapter 142: The Lionheart Kingdom. Aftermath

“Uh-oh…!”

“Jump in…!”

The gate opened, and in unison they threw themselves toward the entrance.

There was light, there was darkness, and finally the world came into view.

“I’m out?!”

“Ha, Ha-ri!”

“Jae-hyuk!”

They emerged from the gate and were greeted by the other knights and soldiers of the TTG Guild.

“Ha-ri, are you okay?”

Chief Kim Jin-soo, who had been standing by with Oh Kang-hyuk, the Association’s chairman, in case of an emergency, rushed over, and Koo Dae-sung supported them with the other knights.

The six of them sank to the ground, breathing heavily. Even Beatrice couldn’t care less about dignity right now.

“…….”

Leon stood before them, his face so welcoming, so grave…and yet so sad.

“What did you see?”

“……Your Majesty.”

Ha-ri took a holy object from her bosom. It was the Final Grail.

The Grail that so many had sacrificed to protect, forged by the Holy Knight Antoine, infused with the essence of the sages of the forest, and perfected by the Holy Mother.

Upon seeing it, Leon immediately realized what had happened inside the gate.

“Two hundred years ago, this king rejected Gunnar’s offer to complete the Final Grail.”

“Because it would require the sacrifice of the High Priestess of Chastity, the Sages of the Forest, and the Holy Mother.

Above all, he knew that if he tried to make it, the evil ones would not stand idly by.

“There must have been many sacrifices, many deaths. So, what was it like for the others there?”

“Wonderful…yes.”

Ha-ri sobbed, remembering the sacrifices of Isabel and Anak.

“They were the coolest people in the world!”

Jae-hyuk remembered Gunkar, dying but looking forward to the future──

“They protected us, all of them.”

He thought of Gillingham, who had stood up to the Fallen Archduke──

-Soot.

Antoine and the knights, who collected the shards of the moon while burning their last flame──

“Your Majesty fought to the last, for the future.”

King Lionheart, who finally cut down the Lord of Wisdom and paved the way for the future──

“Grand Duke Karina returned for you.”

Chun So-yeon, who had begged Isabelle for change, remembered Grand Duke Karina and the Northern Army appearing with the sound of horns.

What they saw was a tale of heroes racing to the end of time.

The end of a dazzling journey of knights who followed the divine, upheld honor, and sought glory.

Stories of men who nevertheless left something for the future.

And then.

“So be it.”

The Lionheart King stood before them.

A king of knights who will unfold the future from the past.

* * * *

Leon Dragonia Lionheart, the honorable Lionheart, leader of the Holy Knights, believed in the purity of humanity.

He rejected the peace of bondage and subjugation and believed in the honor of dying a free man even if it meant extermination.

“Great…….”

The hand gripping the sword trembles. His mind is foggy from the loss of so much blood, and his legs are wobbly. Finally, as his body threatens to collapse, he is supported by an arm across his back.

“You are not…meant to fall like this.”

“Lord Loxley…….”

Loxley, Holy Knight of the Sun and Judgment, supports Leon with his one remaining arm.

The once glorious Holy Knight was already dying because of his wounds. His arm was torn off, his holy sword broken, and his armor crumpled with his flesh.

How thick were the limbs he had to break through to cause such damage to his immortal sword and armor? Surely not less than his own.

“It is an honor to die by your side, my king.”

To this honorable knight, loyal to the end, Leon has only one thing to say.

“It was an honor to fight alongside you.”

The knight needs no further words. With that one word, Loxley closed his eyes in contentment. All power drained from his body, and Leon, taking over what remained, rose to his feet.

‘Karina…….’

The Northern army that had been stabbing at the flanks of the battlefield was nowhere to be seen. He hadn’t gotten a final hug from his daughter, but he wasn’t sorry for that.

Karina, the light of his wife’s gift, had come to him in the end.

‘What a long life,’ he thought.

He died of overwork at a young age and was reincarnated in this world.

As the heir of the Grand Duke of Dragonia, he was relieved to see his beautiful mother, assured of no future love affairs, and looked forward to fantasizing about the otherworldly scenery outside his window.

At eight years old he was thrilled with his first sword.

“This, too, must be the guidance of the Goddess, and it will be worth teaching.”

Under the tutelage of Sir Gordon the Holy Knight, he realized that the world was not easy.

He even complained that his training was not the otherworldly fantasy he thought it would be.

What was it like to set out on your journey to become a Holy Knight?

Didn’t he wander the world as an adolescent, laughing at the ridiculousness of the quest?

“Gildus! Thanks for the help!”

“Hahahaha! The young fellow is quite skilled!”

“Treeman Gunnar. May I join you on your journey?”

He met friends for life.

“Leon Dragonia, son of Grand Duke Wolfric Dragonia, I grant you a quest to prove your honor and faithfulness.”

He met the Goddess.

Became a War Knight, then a Holy Knight.

He waged war against the orcs, defeated the Archdemon, and was chosen to succeed the fallen Lionheart King.

On that honorable journey,

“I am a priest, sworn to chastity. Your Majesty should not incur the wrath of the Goddess for something as insignificant as me.”

They made love.

“Castile, this child shall be named Karina, and she shall succeed me as Grand Duchess of Dragonia!”

The child was born and the journey continued.

“Your Majesty, I will escort the holy relics from that savage land.”

The venerated old Holy Knight set out, never to return.

“Your Majesty, the Empire… the Empire has fallen.”

The Lord of Chaos destroyed the Empire.

“Gates are opening all over the world! Their numbers are beyond counting!”

As the Great War continues.

“Your Majesty, the enemy legions are on the move!”

“They’re in the Grand Duchy of Dragonia…….”

He lost his wife.

“I am Vulcanus!”

His trusted knight disappeared along with the enemy Glacial Archduke.

After that, Leon’s history was one of endless war, too much for him to bear but just as he was ready to face the end, they came.

‘It was a girl named Han Ha-ri, and she had a lot of power. I wonder where she came from…….’

The name of my hometown sounded familiar. I poked at it, and it was.

“Seo, Seoul! Seoul, South Korea!”

Their story was astonishing.

He couldn’t believe that the knights he had sent from the future were here but then he collapsed.

In the end, our destiny was destruction.

After all, our fate was destruction.

I was the only one who survived, and I was able to return to Earth after finally taking revenge on all the demons.

Isabel, his wife’s sister, his old friends Gildus, Antoine, Gunnar, Gillingham Loxley, his loyal companions and Karina, his most precious treasure along with the countless soldiers and citizens who, until the very end, gave him hope.

They are all dead, and he is the only one left.

What does that mean?

“There is hope.”

Arianna whispered to Leon.

“Do you not remember, Leon, and are you not the proof of it, that the collective will of all those who fell in glory and honor remains with you?”

Though doomed to perish, he kept the pantheon in his heart, a paradise where all ends.

There are those who carry on the will to the end.

I am Leon Dragonia Lionheart, the 15th Lionheart King.

My role in this recreated world is.

“to assist the burden of the future.”

And

The demons approached the Lionheart King, who had risen from the ashes of all his predestined deaths.

[Foolish, Lionheart]

Magnificent walls crumbled, knights fell, and soldiers were consumed by flames.

Demons without honor strode contentedly over the deaths of the honorable.

Even after the death of the Demon Lord Caracael and countless other Archdemons, they were still many, and their enemies now included only the Last Knight.

[Is this thy grave, to be buried amidst the carcasses of thy deeds?]

[Hast thou struggled enough, weak wench’s servant? Didst thou think the waves would recede when thou stabbedst the sea with thy toothpicks?]

[I will build a temple of ruin upon your blood-soaked ashes, and your paltry honor will be chewed with the meat of your people]

Leon could only listen to the words and the demons thought he had broken down with grief and helplessness.

…….

That is an arrogant illusion as the knight merely held his breath and waited for the demons to approach.

In his shallow sense of victory, the Archdemon was about to bend Leon’s knee when-!

-Snap!

“……?!”

The light of the holy sword penetrated the Archdemon knee shin. The last thing the Archdemon, whose knees disappeared under the blow, saw was the figure of the knight who leapt at him.

-Degurrrrr.

The demons cowered as the Archdemon neck fell from the two blows. Dozens of Archdemons gnashed their teeth and raged.

“Did you say grave? Did you think it dishonorable to be buried among their corpses?”

The Holy Grail glows.

It was a holy relic of a goddess that grants its wielder infinite vitality: he never grows old, heals wounds quickly, and has unlimited holy power.

“Behold, the arms of men of honor who have fallen in glorious battle! How can it be dishonorable to be buried among them, for what greater honor can there be?”

The demons could not help but cower as they surrounded the unyielding knight.

“To build a shrine on my blood? To chew on my honor? What a lowly idea from a lowly loser. What a narrow way for lowly demons to relieve their despicable inferiority complex!”

They realized that the spirit of this great knight was beyond their ability to corrupt.

“I stand here, demons. I will fight. You will never be able to defeat me. Remember your humiliation forever!”

“Fear, demons.”

Here is a knight of the gods that you cannot corrupt!

The demons scream and charge, unable to hear Leon’s last words.

To give their shallow sense of victory a little more satisfaction, to hide their sense of defeat.

But they could not swallow the roar of the Grail Guardian.

“To the Lionheart…! Glory be!!!”

The endless battle resumes.

The one and only war that would last for the next two hundred years begins but the knight does not give up.

The Knight of Glory, the Lionheart of the Gods is destined for victory against all odds.

* * * * *

-Recording complete. Data saved.

~In a corner workshop in the TTG Temple~

Even though he had just returned from an exhausting battle, the Holy Knight of Steel worked nonstop.

Backing up and storing data.

It was to break down all the information he had experienced and accumulated inside the Gate and organize it into categories.

Among them…….

“A weapon is a tool for killing, but when it is in the right hands, it becomes a shield to protect the world.”

The hammer that the knight with the graying hair pounded until the end, forcibly sustaining life.

His attitude toward life.

-Kirk.

The strong artificial intelligence coldly catalogs and stores the data. And then, finally, the time came to name the folders.

-「13A057-77 video data」…….

A folder name generated inorganically according to a set format.

Yappy stops computing on the data just as he is about to move on to the next task.

“What about you, won’t you be my student?”

-……

A presumptuous offer from an organic. Nothing could be more ridiculous to a strong artificial intelligence that had been watching his every move just to learn a skill but…….

-Scum.

Yappy quickly renamed the folder, knowing that it was a meaningless and irrational name.

Renamed folder.

Renamed folder.

[Enlightenment]

End of data operations.