My Students Regret It After I Retired

66 – Now it’s your turn to run.

Leos’s ability had only ever been about sealing Red Gates until now.

◈Legendary Gatekeeper [EX]: You can seal the mana of a gate you have subjugated.

As an EX-grade trait, it was a very special ability that could even seal higher-level Red Gates that others couldn’t, but at the same time, it was a useless, bothersome trait that had no other use.

An ability that was useless in combat.

Even so, Leos’s power was overwhelming. Until he encountered a member of the Heavenly Assembly who possessed an ability.

‘My body wasn’t in perfect condition, but even so, I was defeated too easily.’

The battle had raged for days. Unable to eat properly or sleep, he remained constantly alert, keeping watch. He slept for less than four hours, and even then, he couldn’t truly drift off; strictly speaking, he barely managed a full hour of real sleep each day.

His body was breaking down. Fatigue piled up from the continuous fighting. Furthermore, the massive damage he’d taken in the battle with Artan had already ravaged his body, but even taking that into account, Leos was overwhelmed by the shock of his defeat.

Losing in a one-on-one fight was almost unprecedented for him.

‘Did… did I develop an ability?’

Leos immediately tested his new power. He could command the Five Swords by manipulating mana, as if he were using Spyrel. The swords felt like an extension of his body, like moving his arms and legs, and their response speed was overwhelming.

It was a truly astonishing ability. So overwhelming that “cheating” felt like an understatement.

The raw power of Spyrel’s mana bombs might be greater, but he was certain that the versatility and targeted killing power of the Sword Demon Soul were absolutely unmatched.

“Leos… what is that…”

Lacarte stared into the air with a bewildered expression.

“It seems like you’ve awakened an ability.”

“Could it be…?”

“Yes. Before, you could only do things with an artifact, but now you can fight without it. You’ve now reached the same level as those b*stards from the Heavenly Assembly.”

Lacarte let out a hollow laugh. The situation was ridiculous. The moment Leos was defeated, an ability blossomed as if to say, “Here, now overcome adversity.”

Lacarte was certain. This was no mere coincidence.

The flow of fate was revolving around Leos. And now, he was convinced beyond a doubt. With an ability added to Leos’s arsenal, the concept of defeat was no longer applicable.

As Lacarte hesitated, Leos looked at him and asked.

“Lacarte, you said something earlier that sounded like you were giving up. Is your heart still in the same place?”

“…”

“That vow to change this rotten empire? That vow to kill that corrupt Emperor, is it still valid?”

“Yes…if I could… I want to change everything. After working as a purge squad, I’ve seen too much of the empire’s filth. I don’t want to let them create more people like us. More than anything, I want to give this empire, that treats human life like bugs, a taste of their own medicine. We’re not tools. That’s what I want to shout to the Emperor.”

“Then fight with me.”

“But…my will was once broken. As soon as I thought there was no chance of winning… of course, I always thought our odds were less than 40% to begin with. But when you were hurt and our odds dropped below 10%, I let go of my desire to strike against the Empire. If we accomplish our goal and die, it’d be eternal glory, but I guess I didn’t want a meaningless dog’s death. That’s what I was thinking, deep down.”

“It doesn’t matter if you bend as long as you don’t break. And from now on, there’s no chance our odds will drop below 50%. I’ll kill all those trashy b*stards of the Heavenly Assembly, the biggest problem. I’ve acquired the power to do so.”

“…I’d be grateful if you’d let me fight alongside you. I promise I won’t break down this time, no matter what. I swear on everything I have.”

“Do as you please.”

Leos then went straight into the tent.

“Are we departing immediately?”

Leos shook his head at Racart’s question.

“No. We’ll rest sufficiently. I don’t remember sleeping properly in the past few days. My actual sleep time was less than an hour a day. When I can’t sleep, mana recovery is slow, and not only that, my judgment and dynamic visual acuity are starting to go to shit. I must maintain peak condition. That was the most important thing in combat, but I’ve been neglecting it under the pretense of urgency for some time now. But not anymore. I’ll prepare for every situation. I’ll make perfect preparations so I won’t lose again. And I’ll kill them all. That’s all there is to it.”

“I’ll provide cover from the perimeter.”

Racart closed his eyes and stood there blankly for a moment. Faron, who was next to him, whispered with a worried look.

“Racart-nim. I understand. No one wants to throw their life away for something with no hope.”

“I’m so disappointed in myself.”

“…”

“I was willing to throw my life away even in situations where I might lose. Because ‘might lose’ also means ‘might win’. But when the situation became one where I was guaranteed to lose, I immediately tried to give up. What a pathetic thing to do.”

“Everyone is like that, sir.”

“I hated those selfish humans, that’s why I rebelled, yet I acted exactly the same.”

“As long as you don’t repeat the same mistakes, that’s all that matters, right? Nothing’s broken yet.”

“…Thank you, Paron. You’re right. I never had these thoughts when I was active in the Assassination Squad. I guess I’ve gotten pretty used to this reality after being out of the Empire for over a week. Not having to kill innocent people against my will, not having to blindly follow that pathetic Emperor’s orders, not being tortured for failing to complete a mission… I might have been unconsciously relieved by the very situation. Like a frog slowly boiling in the water.”

“Lord Lacart, do you remember what you told me?”

“…”

“Even if your legs are crushed, you can crawl with your arms. Reach the objective by any means necessary. That’s what an Assassination Squad member is.”

“I hated the title Assassination Squad member, but I liked your words.”

“Right. From now on, there will be no more showing weakness. I resolved from the start to fight till the end, even without a chance of victory. It’s for the best. I broke down once, so I absolutely won’t break down again, even if something similar happens.”

*

Leos slept for over 24 hours straight. They had secured the perimeter, so there were no monster incursions, but the Assassination Squad members remained on high alert, watching for any potential Imperial attacks. About 28 hours later, Leos opened his eyes and went outside. And immediately began training his powers.

He went to areas with monsters and honed his skills by slicing them apart with his power or shredding their corpses.

He sought out groups of looters and used his power alone to fight them. When he had time, he sparred with Paron, Lacart, and Benedict.

“Haa… I really can’t do this anymore, brother! What kind of unfair spar is this?!”

Benedict couldn’t land a single effective attack on Leos due to the barrier of the Sword Demon Spirit. Lacart and Parik weren’t faring any better.

He was already overwhelmingly skilled in combat before, but now, having gained control over the five swords as his own limbs, he felt not twice as strong, but many times stronger.

Furthermore, since he had been training relentlessly for several days, Leos’s power mastery only kept increasing.

About one to two weeks passed like that. Leos stopped acting impulsively, normalized his meal times and sleeping patterns, maintaining his body in peak condition. He trained regularly, and the proper amount of hydration and consistent power training turned Leos into a monster more and more each day.

Three weeks or so passed. The situation took longer than expected, but no one rushed Leos. Because Leos was constantly expanding the safety zone, and the Emperor, whom they thought could cause trouble, was still using his troops to hold off the monsters in the palace.

The difference was, there were an insane number of artifacts spread throughout the inside and outside of the palace. Having repeated a few battles of attrition with the monsters, the Emperor, fearing that everything would collapse, fully authorized the use of artifacts that had been forbidden until now, bolstering his forces. Thanks to this, they were able to fend off the 24-hour monster onslaught without heavy losses.

Both the Empire and Leos had found their footing. And not long after,

the moment of fate arrived.

-Shuffle, shuffle-

Someone approached Leos, who was training in the woods, and Leos immediately used his Sword Demon Soul, pointing five blades at the newcomer’s neck.

“Heh… quite the grand welcome, wouldn’t you say?”

Litan, a subordinate of the Heavenly Assembly Lord, wore a troubled expression, attempting to use his ability to push away Leos’s blades. But.

-Screech, screech, screech…-

Leos’s blades vibrated wildly, refusing to be pushed back by Litan’s power.

“…!”

Just as Leos’s blades were about to pierce his neck, Litan hurriedly pulled out an artifact and teleported backwards.

‘Shit… how the hell did that happen…?’

Litan stroked his neck. A deep gash had formed, and had he been a moment slower, he would have been sliced clean through. It was unimaginable that such power could come from someone who hadn’t even possessed an ability for a month.

“Who are you?”

Leos finally asked, and Litan replied with a calm voice unlike before.

“The Heavenly Assembly Lord has arranged a meeting for you. He will give you a chance to fight Bricks, the one you lost to.”

“Who, is giving what?”

Leos’s gaze lowered impossibly, and the five blades wildly thrashed in all directions, piercing into Litan’s entire body.

“Guh…!”

Litan couldn’t even dodge, and trembled, pierced by the blades, staring at Leos. Leos whispered to Litan.

“Something’s wrong, huh? You should have killed me when you had the chance. From now on, it’s your turn to run. I’ll kill you all, the moment I see you.”