Level Up Legacy

He was now sprawled on his face somewhere in the lower district. He looked around and found himself beside a stream that fed the lower district. It was deserted because all citizens were trapped inside the death arrays.

"I need to… reactivate the arrays," muttered Joseph as he tried to rise, noticing that the earlier fight had tattered his clothes. "Dammit. This isn\'t how an emperor should look at all."

"Don\'t worry. You won\'t be an emperor after today," said a voice behind the emperor as a man materialized from the wind. He was carrying a translucent sword covered with blood. "We are yet to be done."

"…how… how… how?" the emperor asked as he trembled and staggered back. "My father should have killed you already! How did you manage to escape? How?"

"Osian lost against Arthur Silvera," announced Lyle Mantra. "And he sent me to finish the job and claim your pathetic life."

"Father… lost?" Joseph muttered the words as if they were the most absurd thing he had heard. Thus, he started laughing. "Father can never be defeated! He is the chosen one in our family! You lying traitor!"

"I cannot betray who I never followed, to begin with," said Lyle Mantra as he walked forward with his blood-soaked sword. "In either case, I am here to take your life. You don\'t have any other left, right?"

"…no, wait, we can find a compromise," said Joseph with despair, as he realized he was no match to the man in front of him. Even when blessed with unimaginable mana and life force, he still died countless times against him. "I can grant you whatever you want!"

Those words seemed effective as Lyle paused and halted his steps. He lowered his sword as his lips parted, "Whatever I want?"

"Yes! Yes! Whatever your heart desires, I can give it to you! I\'m the most influential person in Ilios, and there is nothing I cannot achieve with my plans. Money, power, and women can all be yours forever!"

"…I don\'t see such grandiose things," said Lyle as he raised his sword again and placed it on the emperor\'s neck, allowing his blade to break his skin. "As long as you give me back what you took, I will spare your life."

"…I will give back whatever you want, just don\'t kill me. Tell me what it is, and I will give it back."

"Give me back my life," said Lyle with a blank expression. "Go back and save her life, and I will forgive you. If you can bring her back here, I will forgive you. If you can revive her, I will forgive you."

"…that is…" the emperor\'s face as every request was as impossible as the one before. Lyle pressed his blade against his neck, making more blood gushed out as the pain made the emperor wince.

"You cannot do it?" said Lyle with a slowly appearing smile. "This is how I felt for the past ten years. I relived losing her over and over, piece by piece until she no longer let out a sound. Then, she was discarded like a broken toy, all for the sake of your plan."

"Listen… the past cannot be changed… but… there is no reason to throw away your life like this. You have sacrificed so much of your life to get here, and I can help you take that back. I can… give you enough life force to live forever. Listen to me, Lyle, I…."

"Not a single word more," said Lyle as he pressed his sword hard enough to dig into the emperor, but he flinched and allowed the blade to pin him to the ground. "This stream… is where I met her. The irony of her killer being executed here is the only divine justice I will acknowledge."

"If I die, what… do you gain?" asked the emperor as he started shaking. His fingers dug into the grass as sweat rolled down his face. "Revenge? Is that all?"

"Justice too, which is ten years too late," said Lyle as he retracted his sword and walked away from the emperor, choosing to stare at the opposite end of the stream. "I met here for the first, and I could still remember this scene as if I\'m reliving it with every passing second."

"I… can… bring her back," said the emperor as he tried to rise. "I can find a way to bring her back. Just give me time, and I promise to bring her back. I heard stories about people who can travel through time."

"I heard of those stories too, but that\'s not my job," said Lyle as he turned around with a smile. "My mission is to kill you, and Yurirl will take care of the rest. He will bring her back."

"…and where would you be?" asked the emperor as a grin appeared on his face. He saw a glimpse of hope to dig into the selfishness in the man before him. "You will be dead! Yurirl will be with her, but you will be gone, never to see her again! Let me help you live until she returns, and you will get to meet her again!"

Lyle paused as he lowered his sword. Then, he turned around to stare at the opposite side of the stream, almost as if seeing someone. Then, he gave a weak smile, and the emperor thought he had fallen for his trap.

"We can even form a spiritual contract, agreeing to help each other," said Joseph as he approached Lyle. "I can grant you lifeforce and resources, ensuring you would be there to see her."

"Someone like you doesn\'t understand love," said Lyle as he raised his sword high, allowing it to bask in the sun. "I don\'t care what happens to me, as long as she lives and you die."

His sword disappeared as Lyle swung it down, hitting the emperor\'s shoulder and cutting through it like butter. Joseph lost his arm as blood started gushing out like a fountain. The attack was so sudden that he failed to react until his arm hit the ground.

"Ah?" the Light Emperor stared at his arm, dyeing his white robes. "AAAAAAAAA!" he screamed as he fell to the ground, trying to grab his arm and reconnect it to his body. However, Lyle struck again, cutting his forearm and sending it flying. "STOP! PLEASE!"

The emperor fell back with a missing arm and forearm. His blood was everywhere as he grew pale, knowing his arrays won\'t save him this time. Thus, he turned around to flee, but Lyle struck his leg this time.

The dismembered parts fell on the grass, spilling whatever blood they used to contain. The emperor started crawling away using his last foot, which Lyle then pinned to the ground with his sword.

"I want to kill you, just as much as I miss her," said Lyle as he stabbed the sword deep into the ground, making sure the emperor could not move. "I lived for this moment, not any other."

"Please, it hurts! Stop! Stop! I\'ll do whatever you ask. Just stop!" shouted Joseph the Strategic, as his plans failed to save him. Lyle let go of his sword and faced the emperor, looking down on him.

"I can dismember you a thousand times, but it wouldn\'t be enough punishment," said Lyle as he crouched in front of the emperor and grabbed his face. "It wouldn\'t be enough to satisfy my ten years of imagining what I would do to you."

Lyle placed his thumb on the emperor\'s eye and started to press hard as the emperor struggled. His green flames covered his hand as his thumb crushed the emperor\'s eye.

"AAAAGGGGHHHHH!"

"We still have one more, dear Light Emperor," said Lyle as he placed his thumb on the other one and did the same. The emperor howled like a slaughtered pig before Lyle opened the emperor\'s mouth and grabbed his tongue. "We still have… so much to do."

***

The howls soon disappeared from the stream as the emperor lost his life one last time. Lyle sat beside the river with his legs crossed and his hands covered with blood and what was left of the emperor, which he tore apart with his fingers until he died.

"…this is… the end," muttered Lyle as he stared at the flowing stream, remembering the blue-haired girl sitting under the setting sun and reading her book. "I have fulfilled my promise, Anna. I\'m now ready… to die."

The declaration didn\'t come with sadness but relief. Lyle had a smile as his eyes gazed into the distance. He had already died when he watched Anna get dismembered in an experiment. On that day, he became the haunting ghost who refused to leave until it took revenge.

"I am ready to leave now," said Lyle as he closed his eyes. Green flames covered his body as he started to burn into ashes. "I can finally… let go, forever."

Lyle Mantra achieved the ending he sought most of his life. His greatest desire was revenge, and he lived solely for that purpose. However, no one knew that beneath all his hatred, he had one more desire. He wanted to die. And he did.