Chapter 144 - Virtues

"And that's why all of you are here?" Leon's brows twitched as he narrowed his eyes at the trio before him. Guy, Silvia, and her husband Sarion stood before him as they explained the situation. "And what does that have to do with you being this close to me?"

He pushed at Guy's face as the red primordial leaned at his side, way past his personal space and making direct contact with him. Leon used all of his strength to bring even more distance between himself and the demon.

"Don't be so cold," Guy's lips raised into a smirk, moving a few steps back as Leon's expression was beginning to grow angrier. "I came here to help you, you know."

"Same here!" Silvia added, puffing her chest as her eyes set on her pupil. "I won't let them kill you, Leon-kun."

Leon looked between the two, placing his hand on his temple, massaging it as a headache appeared every time he looked at them. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to find a fellow hero looking at him with slight pity in his eyes.

"Hang in there." A genuine, almost too pitiful smile could be seen from Sarion. "Silvia and I will protect you. Just don't let them get to you. They are just lightening the mood."

Leon looked at Silvia, then at Guy. Even with Sarion's words, he could still feel the annoyance growing inside. "Fine."

"Speaking of, Leon-kun," Silvia placed a hand on her chin, "are the children here? I think we should have them and the others evacuate."

"I already did." He turned to the black knight standing nearby. The knight nodded as if confirming his words. "I had Alrose start evacuation of everyone living here. Something about letting them stay in Ramiris' labyrinth for a bit, or something Shizu said."

A gate could be seen opened, with Agni and Runa guarding as the various majins and inhabitants passed through and into the Spirit Queen's labyrinth.

With her Small World ability, even a population of millions could be taken care of with just the addition of floors and a few adjustments to make it livable enough. In fact, it could accommodate and become a real territory where all of one city or country could live indefinitely.

Agni cracked his neck as the refugees were about two-thirds done, with Shizu and the kids already long gone. Other than them, the magic knights with Claude were guiding the people in an orderly fashion.

"When I heard we were needed, I thought it would be for a battle." Agni exhaled sharply, his eyes showing boredom as he placed his axe on his shoulder.

"This place will become a battlefield soon," Runa admonished as she walked towards him. "Just be patient and we—"

A massive amount of magicules could be felt, and the two quickly jumped high into the sky. With their magic and skills, they erected massive barriers above the gate.

A white-haired woman clicked her tongue as her attack was blocked by the two spirits. "Two pests just had to get in the way."

"Velzard-sama." The grip on Agni's axe tightened as he fixed his posture to a proper stance. "I won't ask you to snap out of your state, but please go easy on us."

Velzard scoffed as she fired several more spells at Agni, invoking his Sun God's Garment that boosted his abilities to a level akin to the original fire spirit.

Runa raised her bow, her own Moon Goddess raiment equipped. "I'll handle support. I'll probably be a bad matchup for her."

Agni smiled wryly, flames beginning to cover his body. "I doubt we could last that long together. Let's buy time before help arrives."

With those words, he dashed forward, raising his weapon as Velzard matched him with a materialized blade of her own.

Runa began firing barrages of arrows as the two clashed high in the sky. The temperature in the area grew colder and colder while Agni resisted with his flames.

Runa took a deep breath as she manipulated the sharp decline in temperature and redirected it to herself to support her comrade.

Guy couldn't help but sigh, his blades crossing with Leon's as soon as the fight started. "I guess I should have expected this."

Dodging multiple disintegration spells from Leon, he glanced upward, seeing Feldway in his true form. His arms were crossed confidently as he watched the battle, waiting for Guy to slip up and deliver a heavy blow.

"We'll deal with Leon." Silvia held her vajra weapon as she lengthened it to a spear-shaped blade. She jumped back as the seraph Cornu flew toward her with his warhammer.

Debris and tremors spread as Cornu slammed his weapon, planning on flattening the high elf. He snickered as Silvia did nothing but dodged his attacks. "What's the matter? Why don't you fight back?"

With a downward swing from his hammer, he crushed Silvia's body. With a grin on his face, the high elf erupted into magicules as the illusion wore off.

"Wha—" Backstepping from the sudden reveal, he felt a blade pierce his back. He quickly swung his hammer to counter and moved away from the sudden sneak attack.

Sarion's appearance began to reveal itself. The abilities he obtained working for Kagali were useful for espionage and deception. He gave a quick glance as Silvia pushed Leon out of Guy's way, who in turn rushed to Feldway.

"Why don't you fight me instead, angel?" Sarion smiled, his blade shimmering a bright light similar to his time as a hero. Holding it with one hand, he pointed it at Cornu, who was visibly displeased.

"You!" Cornu roared as he clashed with Sarion.

With a bright spark of light, the clashes began in El Dorado.

...

Chloe and Luminas chatted in one of the forts near the Long Wall. With them were the currently recovering Granbell and Razul. While no visible injury could be seen, their physical, mental, and spiritual exhaustion was at its peak.

"Hinata-san should rest too." Looking out of the window, Chloe could see Hinata giving orders to the soldiers and knights.

Even with the battle with the giants over, the aftermath still required attention, if not more so. The discussion of the next step after Demon Lord Dagruel's defeat was something that couldn't be put off.

Hinata was currently discussing such things with Glassord, who was the deputy of the entire army and basically the second in command of the entire giant race.

Fenn was apprehended and sealed carefully while he was unconscious, currently being guarded by the remaining powerful giants, including Basara, the brother of Dagruel's wife.

"I did get the ultimate skill, but..." Granbell sighed, looking lazily at the hero before him. "I doubt that I can be much of a threat even with that."

"While that is true, Granbell," raising her tea, Luminas took a sip before setting it down, "you are still one of the targets of the enemy that needs to be eliminated."

Jeering, Granbell leaned from his seat as he closed his eyes. Focusing on his new ultimate skill he had just recently managed to use, he found the existence of such skills fascinating and terrifying.

Knowing that there are existences that hold this power and are likely much more powerful than himself, he shivered just imagining fighting such individuals, especially the one that had the skill to control other users.

A sudden strange feeling reverberated in his soul, like someone was grabbing hold of his very being. His eyes opened quickly and his body moved to his blade, stabbing at the unsuspecting Razul.

"Gran... bell..?" Razul muttered, unguarded, before losing the life in his eyes.

The former hero's eyes wavered before dashing towards Chloe. A loud clanging sound echoed as Luminas, with her blade ready, blocked the blow. A horizontal swipe at him made him take a few steps back.

Luminas glanced at the Insectar's body before looking back to Granbell.

Chloe's form was already vanishing from their sight as their swords exchanged blows.

Granbell jumped behind his seat, looking at Luminas before quickly sending the chair flying towards the vampire. She pierced through, destroying the furniture and found Granbell right behind it for a sneak attack.

She weaved to the side, the blade a few inches from her face as she swung her own horizontally at his body. The man blocked the sword with his arm and reversed his grip on his sword, moving to slice her head.

Luminas frowned as she burst her mana, the large explosion of magicules causing him to keep his distance.

"You just killed your old friend there; don't you feel anything about it?" Raising her sword, she imbued her ultimate skill's powers in life manipulation, readying it for another exchange with an individual with a similar attribute.

Granbell remained silent, not even sparing a glance at the Insectar pitifully still on his seat.

Granbell narrowed his eyes as he pushed the two of them past the wall of the room and into the open. As the commotion spread across, many individuals found the scene confusing, as Granbell was fighting Luminas.

The clash left the onlookers bewildered and mesmerized by the fight. Those who could occasionally catch a glimpse of the exchange of swords found it, in a way, beautiful and a sight to admire.

Then suddenly, everything froze in place.

Luminas couldn't move a muscle, and neither could Granbell. The two fighters were confused as their bodies and everything around them all halted like time itself had stopped.

If it weren't for the two individuals moving in fast movements around the entire Long Wall and even nearby them, they would believe they were seeing illusions.

Luminas couldn't believe her eyes as Chloe fought who she could assume to be the one they called Michael. Their movements were fast-paced and hard to keep up with, especially with her state of being frozen.

Each blow they exchanged ruined the area around them. Each swing, each blow, even the steps of their feet left deep marks on the ground.

The unfortunate souls that were in the way of their battle were destroyed like still statues that cracked and collapsed after being slammed with heavy force.

If that wasn't strange enough, time suddenly returned, and Luminas dropped to the ground, heaving from the intense visual earlier. Granbell bit his lip and tightened the grip on his sword.

"Luminas..." His voice hoarse, a hand on his neck like he was scratching at it. "Finish me... hurry!"

Luminas nodded as Granbell's expression returned to neutral, and they continued their battle.

She couldn't help but pity the man. He was a hero, a true hero that cared for the people in the past. He served humanity's best interests and made sure to choose the best decisions within his capabilities.

He was a grounded person who knew the limitations of his own strength. He never challenged Guy Crimson, never chose to pick a fight with any True Dragons.

But,

The death of his wife caused him massive grief. One could even say he had similarities with the Emperor of the East. Their conviction and resolution broken, leaving behind hollow and ruined heroes that were barely a fraction of their past selves.

Luminas groaned as his blade slashed at her left hand, his expression dark and desperate. She recalled the happy expression he had whenever Maria was with him, the sweet moments the two had, even with Razul as an addition.

Her sword glowing, she grabbed at his blade, pulling him closer. With a resolute expression on her face, she bid farewell to an old acquaintance, a comrade in building the Holy Empire, and the former hero that did his best to protect humanity.

"Memory End Requiem!"

With a red glint, the battle ended. Luminas held her limping left arm as Granbell fell to the ground, a small upward curve on his lips as he went to the afterlife.

Maria...

Razul...

I'm coming now...

A/N: I never mentioned this but I once had most of my outline and information on my old phone's notes before I managed to acquire a laptop... Long story short, I lost most of my planned arcs and original ultimate skills.

Chloe had an ultimate skill basically about her obsession with Rimuru but I forgot the name! I think it was a goddess or something I literally forgot!

Not to mention, I never had the time to fully develop Agni and Runa's garment/raiment. It was supposed to be this cool 3 stage ability with Agni's ability called 1st degree to 3rd degree (Like burns). Runa had Phase 1 to Phase 3 (Like moon phases).