Level Up Legacy

Although he didn\'t appreciate Oren\'s attempt to change him, he couldn\'t deny the blessing he received. His heavenly blessing has evolved further, and so did his ability.

The old researcher has yet to awaken, so Lyle has no choice but to bend down and carry him. He started tracing their footsteps back, and Lyle found his belongings. After seeing his storage ring, Lyle wore his clothes and took out another vitalization runic card to use on the old researcher. This time, he woke up.

"Ah…" groaned the old man and opened his eyes to find Lyle sitting beside him, looking through his wallet. "I have no money to rob me, young man."

"Casper Sari," read Lyle, the identification issued by the empire. "You are turning sixty-three this year, and your birthday is a day before mine."

"Is it a ritual to learn the name of the man you want to kill?" asked Casper as he pulled himself up and noticed his missing leg. "I wished that nightmare was a dream."

"Even while hallucinating, I could tell what was happening. You should have chosen to abandon me a dozen times, but in every instance, you chose not to," said Lyle as he threw the ID to the old man and took out the family portrait inside the wallet. "You look like a man who loves his family, so why would you throw away your life?"

"I am… too ashamed," said Casper as he pulled his leg toward him. "I have committed too many atrocities, and I don\'t want that to be how my wife remembers me. I just want to… tell her of the fate that has befallen us."

"Alright, old man," said Lyle as he gave the picture back to him. "Your actions and your guilt have not gone unnoticed. Tell me your story."

"Haha," Casper chuckled as he caught the picture and stared at it. "I wonder what made you change your mind. Has the revengeful soul within you disappeared?"

"It has not."

"Then, don\'t ask for my name and my story," said Casper as he pocketed the photo and stared at Lyle with a resolute expression. "I saved you because I have seen a ruthless avenger in you. I don\'t want that to change. Do not show mercy, even to me."

"I have no responsibility to answer your wishes. The enlightenment changed me, but not in the way that Oren desired, or you expected. My rage… has cooled down and turned into a cold killing intent toward the man responsible for everything."

"As I heard, you were supposed to find peace after the enlightenment," said Casper with confusion. "How is this anything related to that? Has his attack failed?"

"It worked, but I don\'t think he wanted me to abandon my revenge. I think he wanted me to let go of my rage, but not my goal, because all I saw in the hallucinations are…."

"…are?"

"I watched the tragedy unfold over and over again, including every detail I have missed. In the end, I realized the real reason behind it. I blamed the world, but the real culprit was me all along."

"That cannot be true."

"It can, and it is, because my weakness was the one that made that scientist capture my friend, and that same weakness made me stand helpless, watching as he experimented on her for days. My revenge should be… against myself."

"I cannot believe that I did all of that for you to turn into a suicidal lunatic," said Casper with disappointment. "That is the biggest waste of an excellent leg."

"If so, then let me waste the rest of you," said Lyle with a glare that made the old man cough and turn away. "I won\'t kill myself. That is the easy way out, and I don\'t deserve this. But, as I have done so far, I will punish myself with a path only I can walk."

"What path is that?"

"The Supernova Path," said Lyle while clenching his fist, making azure flames appear on them. "I will leave this world with an ending befitting of a supernova, and I will drag down the people who made me all alone in this world straight to hell."

Casper was silent for a second before he sighed and stood. Then, he jumped on one leg to sit beside Lyle before grabbing his wallet and fumbling with it. After searching, he took out another photo that looked much older.

"Here, I was thirty. Can you see the woman standing beside me?" asked Casper as he showed Lyle a portrait of two people, a young man and a woman. Although the man couldn\'t match the woman\'s beauty, they both looked happy. "She was my first love, and I loved her for forty years."

"…what happened?"

"I loved her all of my life but never told her. I wanted to become an important scholar before I proposed to her. However, I was too late because she fell in love with a knight and married him after a few months."

"…if this should be an encouraging story, I\'m afraid you\'ve grown senile, old man."

"…let me finish. I thought that I would never find love after that and left the city. After twenty years, I finally found my wife and loved her more than I thought possible. It\'s never too late to move on."

"What happened to the woman?" asked Lyle with a frown. Casper was confused before his expression darkened. "Is she… still alive?"

"She died giving birth to a boy, I heard. In the end, I lost her in every way possible. Her husband was much older than her, but I heard he was kind and blessed with astral light. Her son would grow up to be…."

"…me," muttered the knight with a choked voice, and Casper was confused at the interruption. He seemed confused, so Lyle explained. "That picture that you showed me and this picture here," said Lyle as he took out a pendant with a picture in it, "they have the same face."

"Then, that means…" stammered Casper for words as he staggered back and stared at Lyle with slowly dawning realization. "You are his son, the son of Zonas Mantra!"

"It might be a freak of a coincidence, but you just turned out to be the only person who knows about my mother," said Lyle as he turned toward the old man. "How… was she like?"

"…she was the embodiment of sunshine and warmth," said Casper after a gulp, as his face seemed to collapse into sadness. "I heard about her fate from a friend of mine years later, but… I would never have imagined meeting her son here."

"My father never told me about her, as if the mere reminder of her existence sliced his heart in half," said Lyle as he stood up and offered his hand to Casper. "I will not kill you, old man. But, first, I will hear your story and then decide your fate."

"…tell me one thing first. Are you still going to kill the emperor?" asked Casper Sari with a trembling hand. "Would you still be determined to kill him, even after you learn the truth?"

"The truth would not change a thing about the past," said Lyle with the same hardened expression, but Casper started shaking his head with despair. "…what is wrong?"

"Zonas Mantra never told you the truth because if anyone knew who your mother was, you would end up dead. I planned on carrying the secret to my grave…."

"Talk, old man," said Lyle as he retracted his offered hand and grabbed the old man by the collar. He raised the old bag of bones while glaring at him. "What do you know that my father hasn\'t told me?"

"Your mother… she is… the eldest daughter to Osian the Invincible and has once been his heir before she disappeared."

"…that is one crappy lie," said Lyle with a frown before he threw the old man to the ground. "If so, you wouldn\'t know that she had a child. Yet, you are the only person to know the truth?"

"Because I lied," said Casper as he grabbed his neck. "I said that a friend told me, but that was a lie. I was the friend she sought with your father when they eloped together!"

"…if so, then how come no one mentioned her? She doesn\'t exist in textbooks, either."

"That was her power," said Casper as he tried to rise, but he fell because of his leg. "Your mother had… the power to erase memories. She erased her memory from everyone who knew her, and now, no one remembers a thing about her!"