Chapter 62: The Level Zero [Hero] Chapter 59

It was finally over.

The Monster of the Mist had been defeated. The Miststorm Riders were wiped out, and Odell was dead. Noele had won.

She took in a deep breath as a gust of wind brushed over her, nearly knocking her off her feet. Exhaustion finally began to settle in, but she managed to stand upright for a moment longer. And that was when the golden aura coating her broken blades dissipated.

[Dance with Death] finally came to an end. The Noble Spellsword blinked, and found herself lying on the ground in the next instant. Her knees had buckled beneath her. She collapsed, dropping both pieces of her sword.

But Odell was dead, and that was all that mattered.

Noele closed her eyes as she sighed wistfully. “No one will ever die by his hands ever again.”

She remembered her sister. The very last moments of Nora the Noble Sworddancer’s life had been burned into the blonde girl’s mind. And it finally began to fade away.

It wasn’t that Noele was forgetting about Nora— no, instead she recalled the rest of her memories with her sister. From the first time that Nora had brought the blonde girl to the Adventurer’s Guild of Whiteridge to the moments where the Noble Sworddancer had showed off her brand new Skills with her dual blades.

Noele remembered it all. It was like a fog had been lifted and a haze cleared as she could actually think about her sister without tearing up. A smile slipped onto the Noble Spellsword’s face as she sat up with a groan.

“Are you proud of me, sis—” she started.

And there was a blast of purple energy. It came from the crater where Odell’s body lay, and the explosion shot up into the sky, parting the clouds. Noele’s eyes grew wide.

“How…?”

Odell the Monster of the Mist cackled as he rose to his feet. His body had been reduced to nothing but pieces of a torso mere moments ago. But now, he was back in perfect condition. It was like he hadn’t even been blown to bits in the first place. He looked no different than he was before he had even been impaled by Noele at the very start of their battle.

There was no purple stain on his skin, nor did he look up at the Noble Spellsword with hollow eyes. He looked as human as ever, but wreathed in the Void’s aura.

“Did you really think you won?” he said as he stepped forward. He strode out of the crater, chuckling as she stared in horror. “You cannot defeat me. I haunt your dreams. I am your nightmares.”

Noele tried to back away, but she could hardly even move. Her legs were too weak. Her hands numb from exhaustion. She flopped backwards as Odell drew closer, stronger than ever.

“Do you not understand? I am the Monster of the Mist. You… you…” he trailed off, then paused.

The purple aura wisping off him flickered. His right arm bulged, deforming as his skin rapidly decayed and ripped to accommodate the new flesh. He stared down at himself, gritting his teeth.

Odell tried to speak, but struggled to work his jaw as his left arm twisted into a withered tree branch. “They call me… the Monster of the Mist… because… bec—”

He reeled back, grasping at his face as his body continued to bend unnaturally. Noele just watched as Odell stumbled back, writhing in pain. He groaned, then screamed, and a pulse of purple energy rippled over Whiteridge.

“Y-you… cannot… e-escape… me…” the Monster of the Mist gasped out, his voice echoing despite his screaming.

Noele just looked on in disbelief as she heard a set of footfalls approaching her from behind.

“What is going on?” a voice asked, and she glanced back. Saros stood there with round eyes as his gaze was fixed onto Odell’s twisting figure. “That power… is that…?”

And a terrible howling gale knocked Noele back as the Void’s aura seemed to recede back into the Monster of the Mist. His distended body crumpled into a ball, even as he continued shouting with a distorted voice, no longer sounding like it belonged to him. 

“You caNnOt EScaPe mE. YoU wIlL NEveR esCApE ME! YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE ME!”

All at once, Odell’s body rapidly shrunk and disappeared. For a moment, Noele just stared in shock as the world calmed again. The Gnome Inventor gaped behind her at the suddenly peaceful scene.

And a rift tore through the world, pouring out an infinite empurpling darkness. Streaks of purple energy spun around this hole in space like a disc, and it unleashed an aura that seemed to corrupt everything it touched. It rapidly spread towards the Noble Spellsword as she just helplessly lay there. An unfamiliar booming voice screamed at her.

“I AM YOUR DESTIN—”

“That’s enough,” Amelia said, slicing down with her sword.

There was a flash of light. In a single slash, the brown-haired woman tore through the proliferating depravity, and cut the rift in half. The hole in space vanished as she sheathed her blade. A white aura flickered around her before dissipating as the corrupted magic faded away.

Noele and Saros just watched as Amelia landed lightly at the edge of the crater. The two of them were at a loss for words. Neither of them moved, even as the world returned to normal. Amelia strode past them, and Noele finally mustered up the strength to speak.

“That… wasn’t Odell, was it?” the blonde girl asked.

It couldn’t be him. The Monster of the Mist looked like he had almost been possessed there at the end. Especially with that strange voice that chilled Noele to the bone— it hadn’t been Odell who was screaming.

Odell… had already been dead. Killed by whatever twisted being consumed him.

Saros stumbled forward and fell to his knees. He steadied himself with both his hands on the ground as he blinked.

“That power— it belonged to the Void. Why was it…? How did you…?” He turned to Amelia as she continued down the street.

She glanced back fractionally, before shaking her head. “It was just a minor annoyance. That’s all.”

There was no elaboration beyond that. Amelia just walked on as both Noele and Saros continued gaping. And finally, the battle of Whiteridge came to an end.

 

—--

 

I didn’t stay to explain myself. It was too much of a hassle, and I didn’t want to deal with it. At least, not right now. I just went around Whiteridge, offering healing potions to all the injured and wounded in battle. I also helped put out the burning buildings, and dug out those trapped underneath the rubble.

Saros joined me soon after, and as did Deon. Skye and Noele were too exhausted and injured to help out, but we were just dealing with the aftermath, so their assistance wasn’t really necessary. The entire time I was helping out, I could tell that Saros was giving me a side-eye, wanting to question me further.

But a single glare from me made it clear to the gnome that I didn’t want to be bothered. He immediately froze up and stopped glancing towards me after that.

I could explain what was going on, but then I had to explain a lot. I just closed my eyes as I recalled Odell’s words. They didn’t belong to him. His body had been taken over, used as a vessel for a being that was far more powerful than any living creature in all of Vacuos.

Even Grat-ra’zun’s strength paled in comparison to this entity. And it was an entity. It was not mortal. It was a god.

It was the Voidgod.

The very same Voidgod I had killed to escape the Fractured Realm.

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I could recognize its voice. I heard its echoes, even now. Because it was all that I had heard for so long— for the entirety of that eternity I spent fighting the Void.

And now, the Voidgod had returned.

“Of course,” I murmured to myself.

It was evening by the time I was done helping Whiteridge with what I could. A quarter of the city had been burned down in that short period of fighting, and thousands lay dead. Fortunately, most of the civilians had been evacuated to the town square before the fighting even began— not all of them, of course.

Like the little girl I had saved. She had been hiding in her home because her parents were out when the evacuation order was called. I helped her find her mom and dad, reuniting them before breaking off to find Noele once more.

I ran into Nicole and Garron, but the blonde girl was nowhere to be found. Nicole immediately panicked when she realized her daughter was missing, and I had Garron hold her back as I searched for Noele.

It didn’t take me long to find Noele. She was hanging around at the edge of the city, standing atop the rubble where the wall had fallen. Her gaze was fixed in the far distance where smoke was billowing up from the burning farmlands around Whiteridge, painting the skies a dour gray.

“Noele,” I said her name, and she glanced back my way. “Your mom is looking for you.”

“Oh, sorry.” Noele blinked a few times. She looked like she was in a daze. Barely focused— her attention still partially on the curtain of smoke surrounding the city.

I raised a brow at her. “Is something wrong?”

“I… not really.” She inhaled deeply. “I’m just… unsure how I’m supposed to feel.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, and the blonde girl shook her head.

“I thought I would be happy. The Miststorm Riders are finally gone. I had defeated Odell myself, and my sister can rest easy now. But even after all that, I’m still…” she trailed off.

I didn’t say a word. I remained silent, and Noele just sighed. She shifted uncomfortably before turning to face me with her lips pressed thinly together.

“I’m still processing it, I guess,” she said. “It feels so surreal. Like nothing is real.”

I closed my eyes, nodding slowly. “I get that. I really do.”

Noele just chuckled weakly as she looked down at the palm of her hand. “I never thought this day would come, you know? I always dreamt of it, but it felt more like a fantasy than anything. It never actually felt like a real… goal?”

She spoke uncertainly as I opened my eyes and stared at her. I didn’t say a word. I truly understood how she felt— how thoughts and dreams always felt like they were so far out of reach, but when they were actualized into reality, all that was left was a lingering feeling of emptiness.

So there was nothing for me to say. I just stood there, letting Noele sort out her own thoughts. She clenched a fist and raised her gaze.

“Amelia, about what happened with Odell—” she started.

“Please don’t pester me with questions about it,” I said flatly.

“I won’t.” She nodded back at me. I looked on as the blonde girl looked at me with her white eyes.  “I don’t know what happened to you when you were trapped in the Void, but I know you don’t want to talk about it. So I won’t ask you any questions about it.”

“Oh.” I blinked. I wasn’t expecting that answer.

Noele simply brought her fist to her chest. “I just want you to know that I am going to keep getting stronger, Amelia. And whenever you’re ready to talk about your problems, if I am strong enough, I don’t want you to be afraid to ask for my help. Because you’re my mentor. You helped me achieve my dreams. And I want to be able to help you as well.”

She held my gaze as she finished. I stared at her for a moment. I saw the resolve in her eyes. The Noble Spellsword wore a mix of gratitude and determination on her face. There were no ulterior motives there— nothing for her to gain. There was no trade, no barter. She wanted to help me with my problems, and that was it.

I opened my mouth, then slowly smiled.

“Thank you.”

And I truly meant what I said.

 

—--

 

Noele felt at ease, getting what she wanted to say off her chest. She simply followed her mentor back into Whiteridge as she closed her eyes and finally sorted through the World System’s messages.

[You have defeated the Graceful Twins!]

[You have defeated the Crimson Claw!]

[You have defeated the Bone Crusher!]

[You have leveled up! You are now Level 54!]

[You have leveled up! You are now Level 55!]

[Skill Evolved: Noble Slash -> Noble Aura Blade!]

[Skill Gained: Dual Wielding Mastery]

[Skill Gained: Graceful Dancing]

[Class Advancement Now Available!]

 

The Noble Spellsword came to a halt when she saw the final message. She had… a Class advancement available? But that wasn’t right. Those typically only came in increments of ten, not increments of five.

This didn’t make any sense. She ground to a halt as Amelia continued on, not noticing what was happening with the blonde girl. Noele quickly focused on the Class advancement. A blue box flashed before her face. And when she saw what it offered, her eyes went wide.

“What…? But… why me?” she asked.

But Noele never got an answer.