[Last Episode: [He walked back toward Luna, toward Isaac, toward everyone who had fought and bled and stayed standing for this exact moment — and let himself, for now, simply be Leo]
Chapter 131, Episode 131
『3 days Later 』
[The Guild Hall was packed wall to wall — every member of every guild crammed in together, the low, buzzing energy of people who had survived something enormous and were finally, properly, letting themselves relax about it]
[The moment Sagris walked through the front doors, the entire hall erupted cheering. Applause. Someone in the back — probably Blaze — let off a small fireworks display of pure elemental portals that nearly took out a chandelier]
[Sagris raised both hands, and the noise gradually settled, though the grins on every face in the room stayed exactly where they were]
Sagris: Alright. Alright, settle down. I know we've got a lot to celebrate, but I actually have business to conduct before the celebrating properly starts.
Christo: Business meaning rankings?
Sagris: Business meaning rankings.
[A fresh wave of murmurs swept the room near the front, Leo and Isaac were already deep into an argument that had, as far as anyone could tell, started sometime yesterday and simply never stopped]
Isaac: I'm just saying, mathematically, if we both hit the core at the same time, and my fist arrived a half-second before your sword—
Leo: It did NOT arrive first, I was already mid-swing before you even—
Isaac: That's not how simultaneity works, Leo—
Leo: You don't get to lecture me about physics, I'm literally the physics guy—
[Luna, sitting beside them with her arms crossed, finally reached the end of her patience.]
Luna: Both of you. Shut. Up.
Leo: But—
[She knocked him on the head. Then, without missing a beat, leaned over and knocked Isaac on the head too, for consistency.]
Isaac: OW—
Luna: I don't care whose fist arrived first. Nobody cares. Sagris is trying to talk.
[Angela, a few seats down, was doubled over laughing.]
Angela: This has been going on since yesterday. YESTERDAY. They argued through dinner. They argued through breakfast. I watched Leo bring it up mid-sentence while eating soup.
Leo: The soup was relevant.
Angela: It was NOT relevant.
[Marx, sitting nearby with his arms folded, finally cut in, dry and unimpressed.]
Marx: Both of you, calm down. Sagris is trying to run an actual ceremony.
[Leo, rubbing his head]
Leo: Fine.
[Isaac, rubbing his head]
Issac: Fine.
[They both settled, though the tension of an unfinished argument still radiated visibly off both of them.]
[Sagris pulled a long scroll from within his coat, unrolled it, and began]
Sagris: As most of you know, the Saint Crix system governs standing across every guild in the Chaos Universe. Eight tiers. Beginner Saint at the bottom, Grand Emperor at the top, and very few people ever see the top from where they started. This war changed a lot of things. It's going to change a lot of ranks too.
[He cleared his throat and began reading.]
Sagris: Ice Knights Guild. Blaze Roulacase — promoted to National General
[Blaze whooped from somewhere near the back.]
Sagris: Christo Liverster — Captain, and additionally recognized as a Goddess level
[Christo straightened, visibly pleased, though he tried to hide it behind his usual scowl.]
Sagris: Becrux —National General. Quinn Renata — Lieutenant, holding steady, pending further review given recent field performance.Which, from what I heard, was considerable... your rank would be Goddess
[Isaac, beaming, elbowed Quinn.]
Isaac: Told you you'd get noticed.
Quinn: Shut up.
Sagris: Shannon Bea — National General. Athena Louise — National General. Staril Neputineo as the — Captain Lieutenant. Your ranking would be National General
[He moved down the scroll.]
Sagris: Dark Lords Guild. Nox Llyord — Captain. Izar — General. Nerose — Captain Lieutenant. Rose Beatrice — holding. Haschwalth Reeliio — Lieutenant. Cetus Benetsnatcht — promoted to National General. Mael Pascal — General
[Mael, near the front, gave a small, satisfied nod.]
Sagris: Solar Dragons Guild. Aries Felixiana — Captain. Avior—
[He paused, glancing up at Avior with something close to genuine respect.]
Sagris: Avior — promoted to General, and I want it on record that after what I witnessed in this war, that promotion feels criminally small for what you actually did out there.
Avior: I appreciate the sentiment more than the technicality.
Sagris: Noted. Valentina Marguerite — Lieutenant. Raphaela Dina — Goddess Laaki Weest — National General. Elaine Itzayana — Captain Lieutenant. Sao Bexley — General
[He continued.]
Sagris: Black Phoenix Guild. Juno Igniotus — Captain. Vesper Yuelo — Captain Lieutenant. Luciana Vivy — National General. Cian — Lieutenant. Rhea Clintina — General. Matthaus Acqico — National General. Kurina Gaberlina — National General.
[Finally, he reached the last guild, and his tone shifted — something warmer, heavier with the weight of what this particular guild had actually done.]
Sagris: Force Light Guild.
[The room quieted.]
Sagris: Klaus Aiacos — Captain. Isaac Hector — Captain. Both are promoted to Grand Emperor
[A ripple of applause. Isaac grinned, exhausted but proud.]
Sagris: Marx Crimson — General. Angela Reed — Goddess. Leon Altair — General. Luna Roseveltie — Goddess
[Luna's expression flickered with genuine surprise and pride.]
Sagris: And Leo Sebastián.
[He paused, looked up, and set the scroll down entirely.]
Sagris: There isn't a rank above what he already holds. Grand Emperor. He earned that title before this war even started, and everything he did in it only confirmed it belonged to him.
[The hall erupted again — genuine, thunderous applause, and Leo, sitting there with his ears going faintly red, just raised a hand in acknowledgment.]
[Christo watched the applause from where he stood, arms crossed, expression unreadable for a long moment]
[Then he walked over]
Christo: Sebastián.
Leo: Christo.
[A pause. Christo's jaw worked like he was chewing on something he didn't particularly enjoy saying.]
Christo: I've spent a long time not liking you.
Leo: I noticed.
Christo: I'm not going to pretend that's changed completely. You're still insufferable.
Leo: Fair.
Christo: But I watched what you did out there. All of it. Nobody fakes what you did. Nobody fakes coming back from actual death and still standing at the end of it.You've got my respect. That's not nothing, coming from me.
[Leo shook it.]
Leo: That means a lot. Genuinely.
Christo: Don't get used to it. I'm still going to complain about you constantly.
Leo: Wouldn't expect anything less.
[Christo walked off, and despite the same permanent scowl, there was something looser in his shoulders that hadn't been there before.]
[The applause died down, the room settling into the comfortable buzz of celebration, and Leo stood]
[He hadn't planned to. But something about the moment — the rankings finished, the war behind them, everyone he cared about in one room — made the words rise up before he'd fully decided to let them]
Leo: Before this turns into an actual party, there's something I need to say.
[The room quieted again, guild members turning toward him with mild curiosity.]
Isaac: Uh oh.
Leo: It's not bad. I don't think. I just — I need to say it now, because I've been carrying it since the end of the war and I'm tired of carrying it alone.
[He took a breath.]
Leo: I'm a Demon King.
[Silence.]
[Genuine, total silence, the kind that swallows an entire room whole.]
Sagris: ...Come again?
Leo: Not a Demon King the way you're probably picturing it...I'm the origin point. The first one. Before there was a hierarchy of Demon Kings, there was just me.
[He explained it slowly, carefully, the way you explain something you've only recently let yourself fully understand.]
Leo: I was born to two beings named Xina and Grantiel, and I wasn't born ordinary. I was born already carrying the supreme primordial core of the original Demon King. Before any of this — before the Chaos Universe, before Force Light, before I was twelve years old and grieving in a world I didn't recognize — I fought entire wars against things that predate almost everything currently in this cosmology. Primeval beasts. Ancient warlords. I broke their territories and made them kneel, and I built a throne out of it, and I forged the laws of darkness that every demon since has operated under whether they know my name or not.
[The room stayed dead silent, hanging on every word.]
Leo: I split my own essence into six generals to structure the empire I'd built, because I couldn't be everywhere at once and I needed something that would hold after I moved on. I fought to protect that empire more times than I can count. I became a myth before I ever crossed into this current timeline, this current life.
[He looked up, meeting the room's stunned faces one by one.]
Leo: And then, somehow, I ended up here. Reincarnated. Twelve years old, no memory of any of it, no power from any of it — that version of me got erased when I crossed over. Completely. I didn't wake up with demon magic or a throne or six generals waiting for orders. I woke up with grief and a Satanael source I didn't understand and nothing else. But the bloodline's still there. Underneath everything. Every Demon King that exists right now, every single one of them, their power still traces back to that original core. To me. Even though I didn't know it until recently, and even though I've spent this entire war not saying anything about it.
[The silence stretched.]
[Sagris was the first to speak, his expression somewhere between shock and genuine bewilderment]
Sagris: Why. Why would you hide that. That's not a small thing to sit on.
Leo: Because I didn't fully understand it myself for most of my life. And once I did — during this war, actually, someone I fought pointed it out without meaning to — I didn't know what it meant to say it out loud. I still don't, entirely. I just know I didn't want to keep hiding it from people who've bled next to me.
[Guild members were murmuring now, a rising tide of disbelief and questions.]
[A voice from the Dark Lords section]
Izar: Wait, so — every Demon King. Every single one. Traces back to him?
[Another, from Black Phoenix]
Kurina: That's not possible. That's — that's the kind of thing that gets written into founding myths, not something a guild member just casually says at a rankings ceremony.
[Isaac, watching all of this unfold, wasn't shocked at all]
[He was smirking]
Isaac: Called it.
Leo: You did not call it.
Isaac: I absolutely called it. Years ago. I told Avior — remember, Avior? — I told him, 'there's something about Leo's strength that doesn't add up for a normal reincarnated kid,' and he told me I was overthinking it.
Avior: I stand by that. I was wrong, but I stand by having said it.
Isaac: You watched him move Ereshkigal three steps and you're telling me you didn't suspect something was up?
Avior: I suspected the Satanael source was the reason. I did not suspect an actual, literal, original Demon King bloodline. That's a different category of suspicion entirely.
[Isaac shook his head, grinning at Leo.]
Isaac: I've known you were built different since we were kids. I just didn't know exactly how different. This tracks.
[Luna, sitting quietly through all of it, simply smiled]
[Sagris turned to her]
Sagris: You don't seem surprised.
Luna: I am surprised. A little.
Sagris: You're taking it remarkably well for someone whose partner just announced he founded the entire concept of demonkind.
Luna: It doesn't change anything for me.
[She said it simply, without hesitation, looking at Leo with the exact same warmth she'd carried since the barrier, since the battlefield, since long before either of those.]
Luna: He's still the person who built the Eastern World out of grief. He's still the person who came back from actual death because he refused to leave things unfinished. Whatever he was before any of that — whatever ancient throne or ancient war built the foundation he's standing on — it doesn't change who he chose to become with it. I fell for the person, not the resume. I love him no matter what...
[The room, somehow, went even quieter at that — the specific quiet of people genuinely moved by something sincere.]
[Leo looked at her, something tight in his chest finally, fully loosening.]
Leo: Thank you.
Luna: You're welcome. Now sit down, you're making everyone uncomfortable standing there looking dramatic.
[Leo laughed and sat.]
[Sagris studied him for a long moment, processing everything, and finally shook his head, something between disbelief and reluctant amusement settling into his expression]
Sagris: You know, I named you Grand Emperor before I knew any of this.
Leo: I know.
Sagris: Turns out I undersold it.
Leo: I wasn't exactly advertising.
Sagris: Clearly. Does anything else exist that I should know about before the next crisis. Any other secret ancient titles. Hidden bloodlines. Founding myths I should be aware of.
Leo: Not that I know of.
Sagris: That's not entirely reassuring given today's track record.
[A laugh moved through the room — real, warm, the tension of the reveal finally breaking into something lighter.]
[Isaac leaned over, grinning at Leo, and lowered his voice just enough that it was still audible to everyone within ten feet]
Isaac: For the record — Demon King or not, I'm still surpassing you.
Leo: You wish.
Isaac: I don't wish. I plan.
[Luna groaned, dropping her head into her hands.]
Luna: They're doing it again.
Angela: They never stopped.
[And as the argument between the two of them started right back up — louder now, dragging Marx and Angela and half the Force Light Guild into the debate about whose fist or blade had actually landed first]
[The Guild Hall settled fully into celebration, war behind them, secrets finally spoken, and the future, for the first time in a very long while, wide open ahead of all of them.]
『Meanwhile at the Force Light Guild』
[The rest of the celebration had scattered into smaller clusters across the Chaos Universe, but the Force Light Guild had claimed their own corner of it — a wide training courtyard behind their guild hall, half-collapsed from years of exactly this kind of gathering, everyone sprawled across broken benches and cracked stone with the loose, comfortable energy of people who had earned the right to be loud]
Leo: I'm just saying, if you'd committed to the swing instead of pulling it—
Isaac: I didn't pull it, I redirected it, there's a difference—
Leo: There is not a difference, Isaac, pulling a punch and redirecting a punch are literally the same—
Marx: They're doing it again.
Angela: They never stopped.
[Leon, leaning against a broken pillar, just shook his head, unbothered.]
Leon: At this point I think it's load-bearing. If they stop arguing the building might actually fall down.
[Angela stretched, rolling her shoulders, watching Isaac and Leo's argument spiral for the third time in an hour with the specific restlessness of someone whose body was itching for something more physical than talking]
Angela: Hey. Isaac.
Isaac: What.
Angela: Fight me.
[The argument with Leo cut off instantly.]
Isaac: ...What?
Angela: You heard me. Fists. No fire, no forms, no magic tricks. Just hands and skill. Let's see who's actually better at this.
[Isaac's face split into a grin — the specific, delighted grin of someone who had been handed exactly the kind of challenge he lived for.]
Isaac: You've been wanting this for a while, haven't you.
Angela: Since the war started, honestly. Every time I watched you fight I kept thinking, I could take him barehanded.
Isaac: Big talk from the Wukong style queen.
Angela: Big talk that's about to be backed up.
[Leo, sitting nearby, immediately perked up, leaning forward with genuine interest.]
Leo: Oh, this I need to see.
Luna: You're actually excited about this.
Leo: Angela's martial arts are genuinely incredible. Isaac's are too. This is going to be good.
[Klaus, arms crossed near the courtyard's entrance, considered it for a moment before nodding]
Klaus: Fine. I'll allow it.
Isaac: Great.
Klaus: On one condition. No transformations. No fire beyond your baseline. No forms, no Twilight, nothing beyond what your body can naturally do. This is a skill fight, not a power fight.
Isaac: That's — fair, actually.
Angela: More than fair. I want to know who's actually better with their hands, not whose source is bigger.
[Marx and Leon exchanged a look, already heading toward the guild hall's side door.]
Marx: We're getting drinks for this.
Leon: Obviously.
[They returned a moment later with mugs in hand, settling onto a broken bench with the specific satisfaction of men about to watch quality entertainment.]
[Leo and Luna moved to the edge of the courtyard, and Leo settled with his arms folded, a small, focused smirk already forming]
Luna: Is this guy not affected by anything?
[She said, watching him watch the two combatants square off with the calm, analytical focus of someone studying a technical problem rather than a friendly brawl.]
Leo: I'm affected. I'm just also taking notes.
Luna: Notes.
Leo: Angela's stance is lower than usual. She's expecting Isaac to go for takedowns early, which means she's planning to counter into a joint lock the second he commits Isaac knows that. Watch his footwork — he's already adjusting his approach angle.
[Luna stared at him.]
Luna: You're doing actual analysis.
Leo: It's a good fight. I like watching good fights.
Luna: You're insufferable.
Leo: You love it.
[She rolled her eyes, but didn't argue.]
[Klaus raised a hand]
Klaus: Begin.
[Angela moved first — fast, low, a sweep aimed at Isaac's ankle that would have dropped a lesser fighter in half a second. Isaac hopped it clean, using the momentum to close distance instead of retreat, and threw a jab that Angela redirected off her forearm with barely a flicker of effort]
Isaac: Not bad.
Angela: Just getting started.
[She spun into a follow-up strike, elbow driving toward his ribs, and Isaac caught it on his forearm hard enough that both of them grunted from the impact.]
[They traded like that for a while — fast, clean exchanges, each one testing the other's guard, neither landing anything decisive. The courtyard's other guild members had gathered at the edges now, watching with genuine interest, several placing quiet bets under their breath]
[The fight escalated]
[Angela's kicks started carrying real force behind them, cracking the stone beneath Isaac's feet when he dodged. Isaac's punches, even without fire behind them, hit with enough raw physical strength to crater the ground where Angela slipped past instead of blocking outright]
[A wide chunk of the courtyard's outer wall came down when Isaac overcommitted to a strike and Angela sidestepped it entirely, sending his fist straight through stone]
Isaac: That's coming out of my paycheck.
Angela: You don't have a paycheck.
Isaac: It's the principle.
[Guild members near the wall scrambled back as the fight kept spreading — Angela's spinning kick clearing a full bench in half, Isaac's counter-strike cracking a support pillar down its length.]
[Klaus, watching from a safe distance, called out without much real concern in his voice]
Klaus: Try not to level the entire hall.
Isaac: No promises!
[The two of them kept trading — faster now, harder, both of them clearly enjoying themselves despite the growing damage around them. Angela caught Isaac with a spinning heel that sent him skidding, and he came back up laughing, wiping blood from his lip]
Isaac: Okay, that one hurt.
Angela: Good.
[He came at her with a flurry of quick strikes, and she matched him blow for blow, blocking, redirecting, occasionally taking a hit she judged worth trading for an opening. The fight had the specific rhythm of two people who genuinely respected each other's skill and were, despite the destruction, having the time of their lives.]
[Luna, watching Leo's continued calm analysis, finally broke]
Luna: How is none of this bothering you? They're demolishing the entire courtyard.
Leo: It's a good courtyard. It'll rebuild.
Luna: That's not the point.
Leo: The point is watching two people who are genuinely, evenly matched find out who's better. That doesn't happen often. I'm enjoying it.
[Klaus, overhearing, added without turning.]
Klaus: That's also why there's no transformations allowed. This way we actually learn something about their raw skill instead of just watching a power contest. Power fights end wars. Skill fights make better fighters.
Luna: ...That's actually a good point.
Klaus: I have those occasionally.
[The fight ground on for a long while — long enough that both combatants were visibly tired, bruised, breathing hard, the courtyard around them reduced to considerably more rubble than it had started with]
[Neither of them had backed off. Neither of them looked like they wanted to]
[Finally, in a last exchange, Isaac caught Angela's incoming strike on his forearm, used the contact to pull her slightly off-balance, and landed a clean hook that sent her down — not hard, not brutal, just enough]
[She hit the ground, stayed there a second, then started laughing]
[Angela: "Okay. Okay, you got me]
[Isaac extended a hand, pulling her back up.]
Isaac: Barely. That was way closer than it should've been.
Angela: I'll take it as a compliment.
Isaac: It was one.
[They shook hands, both grinning despite the bruises, and the watching guild members broke into applause and a few groans from those who'd bet wrong.]
[Leo, still smirking]
Leo: Good fight.
[Marx, mug in hand]
Marx: Genuinely one of the better ones I've seen.
Leon: Worth the beer.
[The courtyard slowly emptied as the celebration wound down into evening, and Leo found himself standing near the guild hall's entrance with Isaac, both of them finally quiet after a full day of noise]
Leo: I need to head back to the Eastern World soon.
Isaac: The Guardians.
Leo: They've earned some real leadership time, not just orders shouted across a battlefield. I want to actually be there for it.
Isaac: Makes sense.
[A pause.]
Isaac: I've got somewhere I need to be too. Training. Somewhere quiet, somewhere I can actually push without worrying about collateral damage to an entire universe.
Leo: Anywhere specific?
Isaac: Somewhere I planned a while back. I'll tell you eventually.
[Leo raised an eyebrow but didn't press.]
Leo: Fair enough.
[They looked at each other for a long moment — two rivals, two friends, both bruised and tired and completely, quietly satisfied with everything the last several days had cost and earned them.]
Isaac: One month.
Leo: One month.
Isaac: We both come back stronger.
Leo: Obviously.
[They bumped fists.]
Isaac: Try not to die out there.
Leo: You too.
Isaac: No promises.
[He grinned, turned, and walked off toward the edge of the guild grounds, already fading into the specific quiet focus of someone whose mind had already left for wherever he was headed next.]
[Luna appeared at Leo's side almost the moment Isaac was gone]
Luna: I want to come with you.
Leo: I've got a meeting with the Guardians. It's important — restructuring, training plans, a lot of logistics.
Luna: I can sit through logistics.
Leo: It's going to be long. And boring. Genuinely boring, Luna, not the kind of boring you pretend to tolerate.
[She crossed her arms, something flickering across her face that was almost hurt, mostly stubborn.]
Luna: You always do this.
Leo: Do what.
Luna: Find a reason I shouldn't come with you. It's like you don't want me beside you.
[She said it lightly, but there was something real underneath it, and Leo caught it immediately.]
[He reached out and, without really thinking about it, patted her on the head — the specific, casual affection of someone who'd stopped needing to think about how comfortable he was with her.]
[She went bright red instantly.]
Luna: Wh— don't just—
Leo: I always want you beside me. That's not the problem. I just don't want you bored out of your mind for six hours of subordinate scheduling.
Luna: I don't care if it's boring. I want to be there.
[Leo looked at her for a moment, and something in his expression softened.]
Leo: Okay.
Luna: ...Okay?
Leo: Okay. Come with me. I promise I'll come back regardless — you know that — but if you want to sit through six hours of logistics with me, I'm not going to stop you.
[Luna's expression brightened instantly, the blush still lingering.]
Luna: Good. That's the right answer.
Leo: I try.
[He held out his hand, and she took it, and together they turned toward the path leading back to the Eastern World, the day's noise finally settling into something quiet and certain behind them.]
To be continued...