Chapter 495: Rest

Far beyond the material world...

Leviathan was laughing.

His laughter echoed throughout the darkness of his dimension, bouncing between the countless black structures that floated within the endless void.

"Hehehehehe..."

The ruler of Envy raised his hand.

Two fingers were missing.

The wounds had not healed.

That alone was remarkable.

Normally, an injury like this would have disappeared almost immediately. His existence was far beyond anything that could be considered mortal, and regeneration was as natural to him as breathing.

Yet this time...

The wound remained.

The connection Nero had severed had damaged something deeper than flesh.

Leviathan examined the injury with fascination.

"It will take some time."

He wasn’t angry.

Quite the opposite.

He was delighted.

Someone had actually injured him.

Someone had interfered with his connection despite being separated from him by an impossible distance.

Someone had seen something that should never have been visible.

That child...

Nero.

Leviathan’s smile widened.

"I really want to see what you’ll become."

He leaned back against his throne.

His eyes slowly closed.

The battle replayed inside his mind.

The transformation.

The golden lightning.

Those strange eyes.

That sword.

And finally...

The moment his connection had been severed.

Leviathan hadn’t even understood what happened until it was already over.

That was what made it interesting.

For the first time in a very long while...

He was looking forward to something.

Their next confrontation.

This time, he wouldn’t underestimate him.

This time...

He would descend properly.

"Hehehe..."

The darkness trembled around the throne.

"Our first meeting was yours."

"Enjoy that victory."

"Because next time..."

Leviathan’s smile became almost childish.

"I’ll be waiting."

---

Back inside the pocket world...

Nero stood silently.

His eyes remained fixed on Barak’s corpse.

There was no expression on his face.

No hatred.

No regret.

No satisfaction.

Only silence.

The battle had ended.

The person who had spent years hating him was dead.

Yet the world hadn’t changed.

The sun still hung in the sky.

The wind still passed through the forest.

Leaves still rustled.

Somewhere in the distance, monsters continued moving through the wilderness.

Life continued as though nothing had happened.

Nero looked down at his hands.

His body was exhausted.

His muscles felt heavy.

His prana was nearly depleted.

And mentally...

He was tired as well.

The confrontation with Leviathan had been far more taxing than the battle against Barak.

It wasn’t because Leviathan had directly fought him.

It was because Nero had been forced to remain cautious every second.

He had needed to conceal his true abilities.

Observe.

Calculate.

Wait.

And then, at the precise moment...

Cut the connection.

That single action had required an enormous amount of concentration. ℯℯ𝑙.

Nero slowly exhaled.

"...It’s over."

He turned away.

Not long afterward, a faint dimensional fluctuation appeared above Barak’s corpse.

The academy’s system had detected the death.

A retrieval formation descended.

Nero watched silently as Barak’s body was transported away.

There was nothing unusual about it.

This was a military academy.

Death was not an unfamiliar thing.

Students entered dangerous pocket worlds precisely because they were preparing for a world where death could occur at any moment.

Still...

Barak’s body would not simply be discarded.

The academy would perform an autopsy.

His body needed to be examined.

There were questions surrounding his abnormal power, his altered condition, and the strange energy that had been connected to him.

Afterward, his remains would be returned to the Raizen Clan.

They would have a corpse to bury.

Nero didn’t object.

He had nothing to hide.

Everything that happened had been witnessed by the academy’s systems.

More importantly...

This was exactly what he wanted.

The body being taken away would create another opportunity.

The academy would investigate.

They would discover that something abnormal had happened.

They would begin looking into the strange power Barak had possessed.

The evidence would eventually lead them toward the organization.

Toward the existence that had been lurking behind the scenes.

Everything was part of Nero’s plan.

He had never intended to conceal what happened.

Instead...

He wanted the truth to be uncovered.

Nero finally sat down.

The moment he did, his body seemed to lose its remaining strength.

He leaned backward against a tree.

His head rested against the trunk.

His eyes closed.

For once...

He didn’t think.

He simply rested.

---

Two hours passed.

The sunlight slowly shifted.

The heat became less oppressive.

Nero eventually opened his eyes.

His breathing was calmer.

His prana had recovered considerably.

His physical condition had also stabilized.

He remained seated for a moment longer.

Then he stood.

His stomach growled.

"...Hungry."

It was perhaps the first ordinary thought he’d had since the battle.

Nero looked toward the forest.

Then toward the distant lake.

He remembered the place.

The same water source where he had previously rested and prepared food.

Without wasting time, he moved.

The journey was peaceful.

No powerful monster appeared.

No enemy ambushed him.

Nothing disturbed him.

It was almost strange.

After everything that had happened...

The world seemed unusually quiet.

Eventually, the trees opened.

The lake appeared.

Its surface reflected the sky like a massive mirror.

The wind gently disturbed the water.

Nero walked to the shore.

He removed his outer clothing and entered the water.

The cool temperature immediately washed away some of the remaining fatigue.

He submerged himself completely.

For several moments, he remained underwater.

Silence.

No voices.

No enemies.

No expectations.

Only the sound of his own breathing.

Nero eventually surfaced.

He swam toward the middle of the lake.

His body moved naturally through the water.

The tension in his muscles slowly disappeared.

After everything...

This was what he needed.

Nothing complicated.

Nothing profound.

Just peace.

He eventually returned to the shore.

Using his spatial ring, Nero took out several ingredients he had collected beforehand.

Meat.

Vegetables.

Seasonings.

A few other supplies.

He quickly prepared a simple meal.

Nothing extravagant.

He wasn’t interested in that.

He simply wanted something warm after spending so long fighting.

Soon, the smell of cooked food spread around the lakeside.

Nero sat beside the water.

He ate slowly.

One bite at a time.

There was no hurry.

No reason to rush.

He eventually placed his utensils down and leaned backward.

The lake stretched before him.

The evening light reflected across its surface.

Nero took a drink from his flask and quietly watched the scenery.

His points had increased dramatically after defeating Barak.

The academy’s system had added the points that Barak had accumulated.

Nero had already been near the top.

Now...

He had climbed even higher.

Almost 2,000 points.

The undisputed number one.

The difference between him and everyone else had become enormous.

Nero wasn’t particularly excited by it.

But he couldn’t deny that it was useful.

Those points could purchase resources.

Training opportunities.

Equipment.

Information.

Anything that could help him become stronger.

And after what had happened today...

He understood more than ever that strength was necessary.

Not merely to defeat monsters.

Not merely to win competitions.

But to survive what was coming.

Leviathan.

The strange organization.

The failed experiments.

The accelerated awakening of ancient beings.

The possibility of another Ragnarok.

There were too many unanswered questions.

Yet Nero wasn’t thinking about them now.

Not tonight.

Tonight...

He simply wanted to rest.

He leaned against the tree behind him.

The gentle sound of water filled his ears.

The breeze passed through his dark blue hair.

His crimson eyes slowly became softer.

For a moment, he remembered his mother.

Her voice.

Her smile.

Her final wish for him.

Keep living.

Find happiness.

Nero stared at the lake.

A faint smile appeared.

Barely noticeable.

But real.

"I’m still moving forward."

He whispered the words quietly.

Then he closed his eyes.

The world remained silent.

No clan.

No enemies.

No expectations.

No hatred.

Just Nero...

Sitting beside a quiet lake beneath the evening sky.

For someone who had spent most of his life being denied even the simplest warmth...

This small moment was enough.

He stayed there for a long time.

The meal slowly disappeared.

The sky darkened.

Stars began appearing overhead.

Nero remained seated.

His mind was empty.

His body was recovering.

His prana quietly circulated within his core.

And somewhere beyond the boundaries of this world...

A Sin was already waiting for their next meeting.

But Nero didn’t know that.

Or perhaps...

He simply didn’t care right now.

There would be time for that later.

For tonight, there was only the lake.

The quiet wind.

The endless night.

And a young man finally allowing himself to rest after surviving another storm.