My Students Regret It After I Retired

65 – Leos and the Heavenly Lord, Gaining an Ability.

After hearing the Heavenly Lord’s words, Ritan asked, a puzzled look on his face.

“Lord, Leos… no, Sir Leos, isn’t he already in an awakened state? He’s the only one who can seal the Superior Red Gate, after all.”

“That could be considered an ability if you want to get technical. But if you ask if that’s made Leos’s power stronger, then no. Even though he has the ability to seal the Superior Red Gate, Leos’s half-baked ability has been of no help in killing the monsters inside, fighting against people, or doing anything else. In other words, until now, he’s been wielding a half-baked ability.”

“What’s different this time?”

“Among senses, combat, and various types, the ability Leos has awakened this time is a combat-type ability. Depending on the type of ability, it could even shake the entire Heavenly Assembly.”

“To that extent…?”

Ritan tilted his head, gazing at the prone Leos as he asked the question.

“Celestial Lord. But didn’t Leos lose to Brix in the battle two days ago? He couldn’t even resist that ability and was nearly killed…”

“Don’t talk nonsense. How dare you compare Leos to trash like that.”

The Celestial Lord’s face was filled with fury, and Litan quickly waved his hands in explanation.

“I…I wasn’t trying to compare them. I just thought that he might be too weak for you to watch, for you to take an interest in, Celestial Lord…”

“Think about the situation. Who has Leos fought until now? He was imprisoned for three years. Even after getting out, he was constantly fighting and on guard against knights and raiders. He hasn’t slept more than four hours a day for over a month, and just a few days ago, he faced Ferratone and Artan, members of the Celestial Council. He was practically killed when fighting Artan, right? And he used Spirell in every one of those instances.”

“I know that, but…”

“Just using Spirell consumes enormous mental energy. As a high-grade, aerial-floating artifact, it drains not just your mental energy, but your innate mana as well to control it precisely. And to use mana bombs, you need an unimaginable amount of mana on top of that. Leos used dozens of mana bombs in the fight against Artan. And dozens more in the battle two days ago. Even in his state with his body, mind, and even mana utterly exhausted from countless repeated battles and controlling Spirell.”

The Celestial Lord stroked Leos’s hand, adding,

“Ah… and I almost forgot. He also sealed over 35 Redgates alone. And in the last two weeks, Leos has killed over 2500 monsters in total, and more than 100 types of mutated monsters.”

“…All…all of that happened in less than a month?”

“Yes. Any normal human would have already collapsed mentally and died. But look at Leos. He hasn’t broken. He was overwhelming Brix, even before that ability hit. All without any combat-specific ability. Litan, answer me again, could you have handled all that Leos has in less than a month and then still win against Brix?”

“…Impossible. Perhaps even the opposite is true, if Brix had gone through all that exhaustion and then faced me, even Brix wouldn’t have been able to defeat me.”

“Exactly. The fact that he achieved this much without an ability already makes him surpass human limits. We can’t judge him with our standards. Leos is the strongest human in the entire world who doesn’t have a combat ability. That’s the truth. But now, he has even gained a combat ability. It makes me excited.”

The Celestial Lord stroked Leos’s head, whispering with an expression that seemed to express sympathy.

“It must hurt a lot. Having tasted your first bitter defeat. But this will be the driving force to make you grow. Do not be disappointed. The name of the Celestial Council is not something that can be used lightly. If you are the best of the Peren Empire, we are the best from all over the world. So, don’t be ashamed. It’s not your inadequacy.”

She whispered, inhaling Leos’s scent.

“I await the day you kill me, Leos.”

Lita swallowed hard, unnerved by the Celestial Lord’s appearance. She had never seen the Celestial Lord so desperately crave and want something.

Her eyes were beginning to shine with a crazed glint, and the greedy gaze she gave off was incomparable to when she saw gold or jewels.

What made the Celestial Lord so obsessed with Leos, Ritan still struggled to understand. From his perspective now, the Celestial Lord was far stronger than Leos.

‘There seems to be a wall that can’t be overcome, even a lifetime wouldn’t be enough…’

Ritan just silently waited for the Celestial Lord’s response. She lay next to Leos for a while, then slowly got up and said,

“Let’s go.”

“Don’t you want to wait until he wakes up? You said you wanted to face him directly.”

“Haven’t I met him? Seeing his face is enough.”

“But…he might wake up if we wait just a little longer.”

“It’s alright. I’m already overflowing with happiness.”

The Celestial Lord whispered into Leos’s ear.

“We’ll meet again. Leos.”

*

Time passed, and Leos slowly got up.

At that moment, Herisia and Hemina, who were nursing him on either side, fussed over him.

“Lord Leos! Lord Leos! Are you awake?”

“A-are you alright? I really thought you were dead…”

Leos, leaving behind the worried expressions of the two, looked toward the door. There, Paron and Lacart stood with serious expressions.

“Leos, we have something to say.”

At Lacart’s words, Leos immediately got up and spoke.

“Herisia, Hemina, thank you for taking care of me. It seems like there’s something urgent, so let’s talk later.”

“O-okay.”

“Yeah… I get it…”

Leos roughly straightened his clothes and went outside, and then Rakarth, after looking around, spoke quietly.

“While you were sleeping, someone believed to be the Heavenly Lord visited.”

“Where. Where is that b*stard?”

Leos’s expression instantly contorted. He looked like he was about to kill someone right then and there, so Rakarth gestured for Pharon to explain.

“A figure presumed to be the Heavenly Lord and someone who seemed to be his subordinate approached this tent, so I did my best to stop them. But… I was taken out with one blow.”

“One blow?” Leos asked. Pharon lowered his head and replied.

“Yes. I was completely flanked in an instant, and by the time I realized it, I had been struck and knocked unconscious.”

Rakarth spoke with a troubled expression.

“Leos, listen. Pharon is one of the most powerful amongst us. I’d bet he could last 10 seconds against you in a fight. But even Pharon couldn’t keep up with their movements. The Heavenly Society… they’re more dangerous than the Empire. It seems like they’ve hidden forces within the Empire and are manipulating them at will. Seeing how they’ve been interfering with every blow we try to land, the Heavenly Society wants to maintain the status quo… perhaps the more we try to bring down the Empire, the more they’ll try to stop us.”

“So?”

Leos asked, and Rakarth quietly said with a bitter expression.

“There’s no chance of winning.”

“So?”

“Realistically… we can’t envision a future where we win. I don’t know why you passed out, Leos, but you were probably attacked by Heavenly Society members hiding inside the Empire… just like Pharon was… so you must know how dangerous they are.”

“So, what are you trying to say?”

“…”

“That we should give up because it seems impossible? That we should stop here because the opponent seems too strong? What about your ambition to protect the Empire from that moronic Emperor? What about the resolution to kill all those trash Dark Shadows and return the rotten Empire to normalcy? Do your resolutions only have any force when there’s a chance of winning?”

“That’s not it…”

“Give up if you want. I’ll keep fighting. Just because I went to prison because of the Empire? No, that’s not the reason anymore. I realized it with this whole thing. Those b*stards in the Heavenly Assembly, the Dark Shadow Unit, and the Empire act like they’re gods. They sort through people, mixing those who don’t fit their standards, killing them without a shred of guilt, and forcing sacrifices with the excuse that they had no choice. It makes me want to throw up looking at these pieces of trash. If I pretend I don’t know, if I just give up here, the Empire will keep running like this for the rest of my life. And there’ll be countless more b*stards who suffer the same fate as me.”

Leos looked straight at Rakart and added,

“For life, everyone will be toyed with by the Heavenly Assembly and the Empire. Forever, they’ll live as the subjugated, not even knowing what’s happening to them. If you want, you can live like that too. Throw everything away, hide in a corner like a useless idiot just because the odds are against you. I’ll keep moving. You pathetic coward. I shouldn’t have trusted a dog of the Empire in the first place.”

“Leos-nim!”

Paron shouted at Leos’s excessive words and raised his sword,

Leos also tried to draw his sword towards Paron, but.

“What…what the hell is…”

Leos could only stare blankly into the air. At the same time as recognizing Paron as an enemy, five swords had instantly sprung from his inventory and were pointed at Paron’s neck.

Leos whispered, looking at the scene.

“An ability…a combat-type ability, why…”

Leos checked the message appearing before his eyes.

[A hidden condition has been met, your ability has bloomed.]

[Sword Demon Soul]

[You can now use 5 swords simultaneously. From now on, a soul dwells within the swords you wield.]

[Caution: Only five swords can be used simultaneously. The number of swords you can use will increase as your ability strengthens.]