Leon slowly opened his eyes. The first thing that came into view was a towering city gate.

Rain poured in sheets. Leon stood alone in the downpour, looking up at the gate.

It was all too familiar to him.

“The Empire? …Why am I here? Wasn’t I…”

What had he been doing again?

Before arriving at the Empire’s gate… what had he been doing?

Leon couldn’t quite remember.

Through the curtain of rain, everything around him looked hazy and unreal, yet the sensation of rain striking his body felt painfully real.

Just as Leon stood there at a loss, the Empire’s gates slowly opened.

A column emerged from inside.

They passed in front of Leon at a measured pace. Leon tried to speak, to ask them something, but no one responded.

As Leon debated whether to press them, the last carriage slowly rolled closer to him.

Leon’s gaze locked onto the rear plank of the carriage.

Because on that plank… it seemed like several people were lying there.

As the wheels rolled past Leon, the lifted curtain revealed face after face...

Aqua-tinted hair fell loose, soaked through by rain, exposing—together with the girl’s deathly pale skin—everything to the pounding storm.

Beside her lay a young boy, motionless.

And there was a middle-aged man, his face smeared with blood. Even though their features were covered in gore, Leon could still recognize who they were.

“Rebecca… Nacho, you...”

Only when the carriage drew close enough did Leon realize.

They were already three cold corpses.

In that instant, numbness and terror swept through his entire body.

He stood there, stunned, staring at his former comrades lying lifeless on that broken plank.

Boom!

Thunder exploded overhead. When the blinding flash died away, the three bodies vanished into thin air.

When Leon came back to himself, the plank in front of him was empty.

“They’re dead. Everyone’s dead, Captain—because you couldn’t protect us.”

“Aren’t you the strongest Flame Dragon? How could you fail to protect even your old companions?”
“You never treated me as a companion at all, did you?”
“In your eyes, I was a disposable pawn—just because we used to be enemies.”
“Captain! Leon Casmod! You loudmouthed bastard!”
“We’ll be waiting for you in hell, Leon Casmod.”

“…”

The dead questioned him, cursed him, their voices pressing in on his ears like a mountain, crushing so hard Leon could barely breathe.

He stumbled back without meaning to, muttering under his breath.

“No… that’s not how it was…”

Boom!

Another crack of thunder, and the bodies were suddenly back on the carriage, as if nothing had happened.

Leon stood there in a daze. When his emotions finally steadied, he shouted their names and started after them.

But his foot slipped, and he fell hard.

The moment he hit a puddle, Leon’s consciousness dropped violently—as if plunging off a cliff.

And in the blink of an eye, the stormy night became a bright, sunny morning.

He sat on the ground, blankly.

“Where is this…?”

He was in a courtyard with children’s play equipment—slides, a trampoline, things like that.

The familiar scene made him realize almost immediately where he was.

“The Casmod Orphanage.”

“Sharon, watch out!”
“Ah!”

A girl’s scream snapped Leon’s attention toward the sound.

A black vicious dog, fangs bared, was forcing a little girl into a corner.

“Sharon…”

His closest friend from childhood.

He would remember this morning forever.

He was supposed to be adopted by a couple today—but because he had saved Sharon, because that couple had witnessed him beat the vicious dog into submission, his fate had changed.

And now, forced to live it again, Leon made the same choice.

He moved at once, running toward Sharon as he shouted:

“Get away from her!”

But the dog wasn’t the same as in his memory.

It ignored Leon completely and lunged straight at the fragile girl trapped in the corner.

“No! Don’t! Ah...!”

The next instant, yellowed fangs pierced through Sharon’s arm, blood pouring out without stopping.

The sight was so horrific that no one there could bear to watch.

Leon’s heart clenched.

This wasn’t how he remembered it.

…

But there was no time to think.

Leon threw himself beside the dog and clamped both hands on its jaws, trying to pry its mouth open so Sharon could run.

No matter how hard he strained, the damned black dog wouldn’t release.

Blood kept streaming from Sharon’s wound. Leon could even hear the sickening crunch of teeth biting into bone.

“No… please… it hurts… it hurts so much… just let me die… it hurts…”

Sharon dropped to her knees, tears pouring down her face. Pain and terror had crushed her will to live.

“Don’t give up, Sharon! I’ll save you. I swear I’ll save you!”

“I’m going to die from the pain… let it bite me to death… it hurts…”

A suffocating despair washed over him, and Sharon’s cries grew weaker and weaker.

When Leon finally forced the dog’s jaws apart and turned back toward Sharon.

The poor girl was already dead.

He froze there, the light in his eyes fading.

“Sharon… how… how could this happen… how could this...”

At the same time, an elderly man with white hair came through the courtyard’s back gate.

He glanced over, saw the girl killed by the dog, and only shook his head with a sigh.

“Pitiful…”

Then he left.

“That kid… he’s a monster! Go, go—we’re not adopting him.”
“Leon! Why didn’t you let the adults handle it? You had to show off and you got Sharon killed!”
“It’s all your fault, Leon. Sharon died—she died from the ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) pain!”
“…”

Again—accusations. Spit and venom.

Leon dropped to his knees, fingers digging into his hair.

“No. No… I wanted to save her.

I wanted to save her...”

“Who do you want to save, Leon?”

Sharon’s voice.

Leon jerked his head up—and the world changed again.

This time it was Sky City beneath a shroud of darkness.

And standing in front of Leon was that former false god.

“Shadow…”

Shadow stood with one foot on Odin’s dragon bones, gripping Noa by the collar in his left hand, and choking Mevis with his right.

Around them lay the bodies of Constantine and the others.

“Who do you want to save, Leon?” Shadow asked again.

“Now?”

He lifted Noa—badly wounded and unconscious—then tightened his other hand, and Mevis’s body shuddered.

“Or the future?”

Leon’s pupils shook. “W-what?”

“Don’t understand? Fine. I’ll make it simpler.”

Shadow spoke slowly.

“I will kill one of them. And you… …must choose who dies.”

“Y-you won’t… If you touch them, I’ll kill you!”

“Heh. Wrong answer. Then… I’ll kill them all.”

Leon forced himself to grip Thousand Birds and dragged his shattered body toward Shadow.

At the same time, Shadow released a violent surge of magic.

Power gathered around him and expanded outward.

And in an instant, it destroyed everything.

Drip—drip

The world changed again.

This time, endless darkness and suffocation.

Leon knelt on the surface of water, gasping in huge gulps. Despair pressed down so hard he couldn’t draw breath, tears and sweat mixing together and dripping onto the water one drop at a time.

“Rebecca… Sharon… Noa…

I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”

He didn’t know what was happening.

Deep down, he knew these things were impossible.

And yet when those brutal scenes played out right in front of him, he couldn’t help but believe them.

Like a nightmare he couldn’t wake from.

Like a blade carving again and again into the softest place in his heart.

But Leon still felt that something was missing.

Or rather…

Someone.

In those three nightmares, he had lost the people he treasured most.

Yet the most important person of all had never appeared.

Who was it…?

Who…?

“Leon.”

A cool, distant female voice broke the silence.

Leon’s body jolted. He slowly lifted his head.

Silver-green eyes—so familiar—and a stunning face that yanked open memories buried deep in his mind.

She stood very close…

And yet completely untouchable.

Leon reached out, begging for her embrace, but he couldn’t touch her.

“Why…? Even you…?”

“You failed, Leon. You couldn’t protect anyone.”

“That’s not true… I did everything I could. You have to believe me!”

“How am I supposed to believe you? The facts already happened. Everyone is dead. You broke your vow.”

Her voice held not a trace of emotion, like she was passing judgment on a stranger who meant nothing to her.

And the final ember of hope in Leon’s heart began to die beneath those icy words.

His arm fell limp. His body sank inch by inch into the water.

Darkness crept over him, swallowing him slowly, and he made no move to resist.

Maybe…

Maybe he should just sink and die.

“Also, Leon...”

Black sludge crawled up over Leon’s face. With only his eyes still above the surface, he heard her continue clearly:

“I don’t love you.”

I don’t love you.

The words detonated something deep in his soul.

Just before rot and darkness could swallow him whole, blazing lightning burst through the black and lit the entire place.

The man who had been crushed by despair stood up again.

Raging lightning surged around him, striking the walls of darkness again and again.

Cracks spread at once. The entire space began to shudder on the verge of collapse.

He stood there, staring calmly at the illusion in front of him.

“You’re not her. And more importantly...”

Leon thrust his hand forward, fingers curling into a fist as he seized empty air with savage force.

Boom!

The dark illusion shattered instantly.

And in Leon’s grasp, his fingers had closed around the woman’s throat.

At that moment, the silver-haired beauty approached from the other side, dragonfire dancing in her hand.

From the faint weariness on her face—and the steadiness in her eyes—it was clear she had just broken free of the illusion as well.

Rosvisser walked to Leon’s side.

Husband and wife faced the same enemy together.

“More importantly... My wife is incapable of not loving me.”