Suddenly, Erold's features changed completely, as if another person had taken over his body. Arthur spoke through Erold's tongue in a playful tone: "Let's play!"
Erold shouted in anger from the depths of his consciousness: "You annoying spirit! I told you to wait!"
Arthur smiled: "Don't worry, I won't make it long… just watch and learn. Look at this move, Erold!"
Arthur cast a fleeting glance at Kress, then lunged toward him with astonishing speed that surpassed the limits of perception. Kress did not comprehend what was happening and found himself retreating in amazement, screaming in shock: "What just happened?!"
He was left with a superficial wound on his stomach; at that moment, the magic matrix collapsed suddenly, and the darkness that shrouded the arena dissipated, the light returning to reveal the horror of the surprise. The commentator screamed in astonishment that shook the arena: "Lord Kress!!! He is wounded! What happened just now? How did Erold manage to surpass Lord Kress and strike him with such speed?!"
Kress felt annoyed by the commentator's shouting and muttered with biting sarcasm: "Advanced… huh? That's what you think, then!"
Then he fixed his sharp gaze on Arthur and said in a heavy tone filled with threats: "I didn't intend to use this technique in front of everyone… but you, boy, have truly forced me to do so!"
Arthur's senses trembled suddenly, and he felt an imminent danger he hadn't expected, so he shouted in a worried tone: "I won't let you do that!"
But before he could move, Kress unleashed a wild, dark storm that ravaged the arena, pushing Arthur away with brutal force. Then Kress placed his hands on his heart and closed his eyes, muttering chilling words: "Night Matrix… Wake up, Ancestor!"
At that moment, the ground shook beneath everyone's feet, and Arthur trembled, feeling a dark energy filling the place, shouting in unprecedented astonishment: "What is this?!"
Darkness swirled quickly like a black hurricane around Kress's body, turning him into a mass of mysterious energy. The commentator's cheering rose in a trembling voice of excitement: "Look! It seems Lord Kress has begun to take the duel with absolute seriousness now! What kind of power is this, I wonder?!"
Amidst that pitch-black darkness, Kress's voice rang out, deep and majestic, calling out a title that froze the blood in the veins: "Awaken… awaken, Erold Lionheart!"
Astonishment froze in Arthur and Erold's eyes at the same moment, and they shouted in one voice filled with suspicion: "Impossible!!"
Kress manifested in the majestic form of Lionheart, floating in the air while threads of pitch darkness swirled around him as if he were the Lord of Darkness. In the depths of Erold's consciousness, Arthur trembled in terror and whispered in a voice filled with brokenness: "I cannot face him… I won't dare to do that, for I haven't yet fulfilled my promise!"
Arthur retreated in terror, returning full control to Erold, who found himself suddenly face-to-face with Lionheart. Erold stopped, stunned, his eyes wide with shock, and whispered in a faint, trembling voice: "Impossible…"
Lionheart opened his eyes slowly and looked around in a daze as if he had awakened from an eternal slumber, then asked in a deep tone that echoed throughout the arena: "What happened?! Am I not dead yet? How did I return to this world?"
Little Erold retreated a step, his blood running cold from the horror of the scene, and replied in indescribable amazement: "Is this… are you truly Erold?"
Lionheart gazed at Erold with a piercing look as if reading his soul, then asked in a firm tone that made the arena air tremble: "Who are you? And how dare you stand in my way?"
Suddenly, Kress's voice emerged from within that dark entity, a muffled but determined voice: "I have summoned you via the Night Matrix… we are now in the midst of a decisive duel, and I need your powers to achieve victory!"
Lionheart closed his eyes for a moment, as if sensing the flow of dark energy granting him this temporary body, then said in a deep voice with the resonance of steel: "You have what you wanted…"
Then he swept his gaze across the arena, contemplating the massive crowds and the stunned faces watching him in terror, and added in a tone filled with nostalgia: "So… this is the world of the living? Hah… it is still just as noisy as I left it!"
Lionheart lowered his gaze toward the blade of the sword in his grip and addressed the dark power lurking within it in a commanding tone that shook the bodies: "Come on, Night Matrix… let's show this 'boy' your true power!"
In a moment, thick tongues of black energy erupted to cover the sword completely, and the majestic entity roared at the top of his voice, a sound that echoed in Erold's consciousness and across the arena: "No more holding back… I will unleash everything I have! Night Matrix… Darkness has prevailed!"
Erold froze in his place, astonishment paralyzing his limbs; for whoever stood before him with the features of darkness was not just a strange legend, but the man he spent his childhood under the care of… the man who raised him and taught him the meaning of strength. His consciousness screamed in silence: "Are you truly Erold?!"
Fate did not give him a moment to think; the Matrix exploded around Lionheart, who lunged with speed the eye could not track, directing a crushing blow that threw Erold away, making him collide with the ground with a force that made the golden sand fly everywhere.
But, as soon as the strike settled, the dark aura cracked, and the Matrix shattered like broken glass, vanishing into the air. The sword's glow dimmed, and a suspicious silence occurred, for Lionheart to say to Kress: "I have used it before… and it broke, correct."
Kress replied in a fragmented voice from deep within his consciousness, filled with astonishment: "Yes… it broke! He is illogically strong… but why isn't he showing any reaction now? Why is he staying in his place like a corpse?"
Lionheart replied, staring at Erold's face lying on the ground, his eyes shining with a strange glimmer: "I do not know… but this boy's features… they remind me exactly of him! No, it is impossible for it to be him… I don't know how many aeons have passed since I parted with life, but I remember him when he was just a small child."
Kress shouted in a voice filled with hatred and confusion: "Kill him! Finish him now, this is our chance!"
But Lionheart replied with majestic calm and absolute coldness, as if he had regained his absolute sovereignty over the body: "No… I will not do that!"
At that moment, in a desperate and sudden move, Erold lunged, attacking. Lionheart parried him with utter lightness and one hand, then looked into his eyes and said in a mocking tone that carried hidden nostalgia and paternal scolding: "Attacking someone who is unprepared?! You bad boy!"
Erold's features suddenly burst into a wide smile, and he shouted in a voice filled with nostalgia and joy despite the blood and wounds: "It has truly been a long time, you old man!"
Lionheart stopped, shocked, but Erold struck him on the face, saying: "I am sure… it is you!"
Lionheart retreated a few steps, wiping the trace of the punch from his face, then rose slowly, his eyes widening in astonishment he hadn't known his entire life. He shouted in a shaking voice that shook the corners of the arena: "This smile… this reckless punch… are you truly Arthur?!"
At that moment, Erold's expression changed completely, as if two souls had merged into one body. He replied in a tone that mixed laughter with tears and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Yes, it is me… my brother!"
Tears welled up in Erold's eyes, overflowing with nostalgia. In return, Lionheart's features were flooded with a wide smile filled with pure joy, and he shouted in a booming voice: "You have truly grown up, Arthur…"
Erold prepared to attack, but Lionheart did not raise his sword this time; instead, he lunged toward him and suddenly pulled him to his chest in a warm, majestic embrace, and whispered in his ear in an emotional tone: "You do not realize how happy I am to see you again, Arthur… I missed you, boy."
A deafening silence fell across the arena before the commentator's voice erupted in absolute amazement: "What is it that we see now?! Lord Kress… is hugging his opponent, Erold?!"
Lionheart smiled, saying jokingly: "You stopped stealing things… and started stealing names now?"
Erold replied with a shy smile as he scratched his head: "Something like that…"
Lionheart burst into laughter from the bottom of his heart, then pulled Erold toward him to hug him tightly before thousands of stunned eyes, and shouted in a booming voice that shook the arena: "Look, everyone! This is my son! I am the one who raised this brat!"
At that moment, the stands erupted in anger and disapproval, and the audience's cries demanding blood grew louder: "Continue the fight! What is this nonsense? We want a duel, not a family hug! Damn you all!"
Erold looked at the revolting crowds coldly, then turned to his mentor and said with a smile: "It seems they are truly angry because we ruined the show for them…"
Amidst that destruction, Jasmin's sharp voice rang out as she shouted from her place in amazement: "What are you doing, Erold?!"
Lionheart turned toward Jasmin, examined her with a surprised and probing look, then asked Erold with spontaneous amazement: "Oh! Is that your daughter?!"
Erold shook his head sadly as he looked at Jasmin and said in a quiet voice: "No… her parents were killed, and she has no one left… and I am the one who takes care of her."
Lionheart's smile widened with pride, and he placed his hand on Arthur's shoulder firmly, saying: "How proud I am of you, boy… you have become a man who carries the burden of others just as I used to do."
Suddenly, with a move the eyes could not track, Lionheart's body vanished from the middle of the arena like smoke, to appear in a fraction of a second directly in front of Jasmin in the stands. Her blood froze, and shock paralyzed her senses as she saw him standing with all his majesty before her, to initiate: "I came to you to entrust you with one last thing… I am 'Erold Lionheart', and I want you to take care of my son who is standing there."
He was silent for a moment as he looked toward Erold with a gaze filled with love, then added: "He may be reckless, stupid, and immature in many times… but he has a big heart, and he always needs someone by his side…"
Jasmin was watching him with eyes glistening with a mixture of awe and admiration, and she whispered to herself in astonishment: Is this the great one who raised Erold?
Lionheart's eyes clouded suddenly, and a majestic silence enveloped him as he sailed through ancient memories he shared with Arthur; the days of grueling training, their laughter under the moonlight, and the promises that were made and never fulfilled. He sighed deeply as if bidding farewell to a world he no longer belonged to, then said in a faint, dignified voice: "The time has come… I must return to where I belong now."
At that moment, the commentator's voice boomed, shouting in astonishment mixed with anger: "What a farce! What is happening for heaven's sake?! The duel that was supposed to be a bloody epic has turned into a gathering for entertainment and side conversations!"
Erold turned to Lionheart and whispered to him smartly: "What do you think if we pretend to fight to satisfy these angry people, and continue our conversation in the meantime?"
A wide smile spread across his face, and he replied with admiration: "A clever suggestion…"
The two lunged toward each other in the blink of an eye, and their swords clashed with a force that created flying sparks and a resounding screech that made the audience ignite with enthusiasm again. While they were in the position of close-quarters engagement, Lionheart's eyes fell on Erold's sword, his features froze for a moment, and he shouted in muffled shock: "This… this sword! Isn't this the sword of the King of Thieves?! How did it reach your hands?!"
While the swords were clashing with violence that deluded everyone into the ferocity of the duel, Erold whispered as he pressed his sword blade against Lionheart's sword: "Yes… I gave it a name worthy of it: Thorn."
Lionheart retreated with astonishing agility, and his eyes widened in massive astonishment as he asked in a low voice: "What happened to him?!"
Arthur parried a powerful attack, sparks flying between their faces close together, and answered in a tone overwhelmed by the bitterness of memory: "I killed him… he is the same one who insisted on dying."
Heavy sadness shrouded Lionheart's features, and he shook his head in sorrow, muttering: "So that's it… this is a method, Thorn."
Then he turned to his son with a warm gaze filled with tenderness and asked him in a tone with which he wanted to lighten the situation: "Tell me, boy… are you not married yet? I want to have peace of mind and be assured of you before death overtakes me once again; I don't want to leave while I am worried about your loneliness."
A sudden silence prevailed, and Erold raised his gaze toward the sky in a distraction that lasted for seconds, as if looking for an answer among the clouds. Lionheart was horrified by this prolonged silence, and shouted in astonishment and anxiety: "What?! Why are you looking at the sky like this? Is she dead?! Has she passed away too?!"
Erold burst out laughing as he parried a fake strike from Lionheart: "No… not like that, the matter is just different."
Lionheart asked him with growing curiosity: "Then tell me… who are you?"
A calm smile filled with serenity formed on Erold's face, and he said in a voice carrying the majesty of the humble: "She is a person who has always stood by my side… watching me at every moment, and guarding me from behind the veils."
Lionheart dodged him with a quick move while smiling: "That sounds beautiful and suspicious at the same time! What kind of love is this, boy? And is she present here among us?"
Erold raised his gaze toward the horizon and said with certainty: "She is everywhere… she is a Star."
Lionheart stopped suddenly, his eyes widening in shock that shook his spiritual existence: "A Star?! What is her name?!"
Erold answered with a booming calm: "Astra… the Lady of the Stars."
Lionheart's body trembled, and he retreated steps as if he had been hit by a thunderbolt, shouting in a voice filled with astonishment: "Impossible! In my death… I visited the Cemetery of Stars, and I heard many dead stars talking about Astra having loved a lowly human… I didn't believe them! I felt sorrow for that poor human who dared to love the Lady of the Stars… but, is it possible?! Was it you who was that human?!"
Erold's clear laughter erupted to fill the arena and said: "That is true, you old man."
Lionheart's smile mixed with astonishment widened, and he retreated a little, shaking his head as if he didn't believe the magnitude of the miracle this boy had achieved, muttering with pride that words could not contain: "I thought I had only taught you how to fight humans… but you have exceeded the limits, what a lucky bastard you are!"
Kress shouted from the depths of his suppressed consciousness, a voice filled with hatred and despair: "Return control to me immediately! I am the one who will kill him!"
Lionheart did not pay him any attention; he remained staring with his gaze toward Erold, whose intensity of looks suddenly retreated and said calmly: "There is another person… someone who has waited a long time for this moment to talk to you."
In a fleeting moment, the gleam of Erold's eyes changed, and the look of the stern warrior disappeared, to be replaced by the look of a frightened and hesitant child. His voice came out hoarse, trembling, carrying the weight of years of loss: "I truly missed you… Erold."
Lionheart stared at him and whispered: "Are you he… who controlled that brat?"
Arthur lowered his head in shame and brokenness, just as he used to do when he committed some folly as a child, and whispered in a voice barely heard: "Yes… it was I."
Lionheart lunged and pulled him to his chest forcefully: "I saw you that day… when my soul exited my body. I knew that what was before me was not the real Arthur. I know you did what you did out of revenge… but whatever your goal is, do not fill your path with blood. Blood… despite its lightness, with time it weighs down your soul, just as corpses weigh down your shoulders. You will regret it exactly as I regretted it."
Suddenly, that warm moment turned into a hell of vibrations; Kress's body trembled violently, and his hateful voice screamed from within to tear through the calmness of the conversation: "Enough nonsense! I will take control now!"
But Lionheart smiled, raised his sword, and whispered: "Arthur, you hear me, don't you? After my son's death, I didn't know the taste of life, but after meeting you everything changed, even that I loved you like my son, and possibly more. I want you to know that I have always loved you, and forgive me for abandoning you on that day. If there is something I regret, it is not that I sacrificed my life, but that I left you alone in this desolate world. Goodbye, my son; let us meet in the Cemetery of Stars in the other life."
The dark blade sank into Kress's heart with a force that left no chance for survival, and an aura of white light exploded from his body before extinguishing forever. An absolute silence prevailed for one second, as if time had stopped, before the commentator's voice erupted in a hysterical scream that shook the corners of Uruk: "My God! What a tragedy… Lord Kress committed suicide! One of the Four Greats falls by his own hand in the middle of the arena!"
The stands trembled from the horror of the shock, and astonishment dominated the faces. Eva: What happened to him? While Cobra remained sitting with suspicious coldness, as if the death of the earth no longer mattered to him, while Eric's seat was completely empty.
Erold felt consciousness returning to him, and the weight of his real body settling on his feet again. He sighed deeply as he looked at Kress's corpse, and whispered in a voice heard by no one but himself: "Thank you… Kress. Thank you for being the vessel that granted me the final moment of farewell."
The doors opened for the girl to appear again and say with a smile: "Please come this way, oh new Great One… you will meet the Prince now."
While silence reigned in the battle arena after Erold's exit, and the audience's eyes remained attached in astonishment that was not yet resolved, deep in the earth, Commander Kurash stood amidst a circle of blood, reciting rituals in a fragmented voice, while whispers rose from around him as if they were coming from the walls of the place. His body trembled when he repeated: "Come out now!"
A door of blood opened, from which pitch-black darkness flowed, swallowing all light. From the depths of that darkness emerged a tall man with broad shoulders, his skin dark grey as if it were frozen ash dust. His eyes shone like two burning embers in the darkness, steady but sending chills into the bones. His long black hair fell onto his shoulders like the curtain of night, and his handsome face was not devoid of merciless cruelty.
He remained silent for five seconds, as if the earth held its breath waiting for him. Then he spoke in a hollow, deep voice, carrying with it an echo as if it were coming from other worlds: "How did you know the method of summoning me?"
Kurash tried to gather his courage, but his knees were trembling: "It was you who told me about it… I even taught it to others, who carry my same goals."
The entity's eyes glowed with a frightening red glimmer, and he replied in a voice that shook the hearts: "It was not I who did this… but, since you have summoned me, I will allow you to speak. Speak… what do you want?"
Kurash swallowed his saliva, and in a moment of false madness and greatness, he said: "I want you to destroy the Kingdom… and to join me."
The entity burst into laughter, a deep laughter carrying mockery and pride, laughter that made the walls crack: "Oh Summoner, have you run out of choices or have you gone mad to summon destruction? Did you think… that I would be an extra number adding chances of victory to your plans… oh, what a mockery of decision? And here I am dodging my lust to cut throats. Since I cried at birth… I will destroy and destroy until my prey falls…"
Then he leaned slightly toward Kurash's pale face, to whisper in a faint, sharp-as-a-blade voice, making the experienced commander's blood freeze in his veins: "…under the ruins!"
Kurash trembled and retreated two steps, and said in a desperate voice: "What… what do you mean by this?"
And before he could finish, a deadly flash shone, as if an invisible sword had pierced the darkness to cut his head off with a single blow. Kurash's body fell silently, while the head hit the ground, and his eyes were still open in horror.
The entity smiled maliciously and said: "As for now… let us enjoy what remains of the time; destruction has returned to you, oh humans."
He opens his arms to laugh a laugh that flies around the Kingdom.