Chapter 112. Return
[Congratulations! You have earned the unique title: {Guardian of the Harvest}]
Levi blinked. Of all the titles the System could’ve bestowed upon him, he didn’t quite expect that. Harvest, huh? That was a rather odd way to put it. Was the System referring to all the souls he’d just saved? He’d never heard the term used that way before.
Though, he wasn’t complaining. It could have definitely been worse. Besides, Guardian of the Harvest… It had quite a nice ring to it.
He didn’t have any more time to ponder the new development as Anastasia rushed next to him. “You’re back,” she said, kneeling down to him and scanning his form with naked concern in her eyes. “Are you alright? You’re covered in blood and – are those spleen gobbets on your cloak?”
Levi winced. In retrospect, perhaps he should’ve cleaned up a little first. His tattered clothes were soaked with blood, his shoes were dusty with bone fragments, and he was pretty sure there were pieces of gore tangled in his matted hair. He looked less like an archmage and more like the unwilling sacrifice of a Hollow cultist.
“I’m fine,” he said. “It’s not as bad as it looks, I swear. I’m unharmed.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
A beat.
Levi closed his eyes. “Is there a reason why you’re casting magical diagnostic spells on me?”
“No reason at all,” Anastasia coughed. A second later, her holy magic finished running its course, and she relaxed as the results returned to her. “Thank the Goddess,” she breathed in pure relief. “You’re okay. Where did you go? We tried everything to find where you were, but nothing worked.” She paused. “Did… did you win?”
Levi chuckled. “You tell me. What are your thoughts on the Devourer and the Chorus?”
“What? I think they are some truly reprehensible monsters, of course–” Anastasia froze. “Wait. Devourer and Chorus… I can hear them. You dismantled the anti-perception field?”
Levi smiled. “I did more than that.” He turned to the System terminal. “Mind running another check?”
[ROUTINE SYSTEM CHECK: ALL CLEAR]
[SYSTEM INFECTION SUCCESSFULLY PURGED. FULL FUNCTIONALITY RESTORED]
“You cleansed the System of the Devourer’s corruption,” Selene said, instantly interpreting the System’s message. Her expression was unreadable as she gazed at him. “All this world’s Time has been restored, then?”
Levi nodded. “Everything is back to normal. The souls are safe.”
Or, perhaps, should he say the harvest?
Selene let out a long breath, looking as though she wasn’t certain how to react. “I see. That is… good.” She sounded a little lost. “What about the Devourer and Chorus? Did you kill them?”
Levi’s expression was grim. “I did, until they induced a causality implosion and unmade their deaths. I tried to stop them, but unfortunately they managed to escape.”
Selene hissed, her dark eyes narrowing. “So they’re still out there. That means we can’t rest yet.”
Strangely, she seemed a lot less lost than before. Levi looked at her, his gaze assessing. In that moment, it was like staring at a reflection of himself. Was eliminating the Devourer and Chorus the sole mission that drove Selene? Did she have a purpose beyond that?
… Did he?
Indeed, the official reason Levi had originally accepted Death’s offer of reincarnating into this new world was to investigate what was causing the shortening of lifespans. But now that he’d completed that mission…
Levi had to admit, he felt a little lost himself. Empty, even.
Only for a moment, though. Then, he remembered that he wasn’t the same man he’d been two months ago — or even two hours ago. He’d formed bonds, established roots, and even accepted a certain dream. There were still too many things he had to do, issues he had to take care of, conundrums he had to deal with.
One of which was standing right next to him.
“So you were telling the truth,” Phantasm said. “The System was indeed corrupted by… the Devourer, was it? An entity that was using the System as a conduit to drain the Time from every living being in this world.” He shuddered. “I suppose I owe you a word of thanks, Levi Ironwood. If you didn’t stop the Devourer here, then… I don’t even want to imagine what would’ve happened–”
“Death,” Selene said quietly. “To everyone and everything. This entire world would’ve been wiped of all life, reduced to a scorched wasteland of death and despair with no hope of salvation or recovery.”
“Ah,” Phantasm said. “Yes, that does sound about right, though the sheer certainty in your tone is rather disconcerting…” Selene looked at him, and though her expression remained impassive, her eyes seemed to burn with an unnatural darkness. Despite himself, Phantasm took a step back. He coughed. “Well. At any rate, I’m glad we avoided that fate – for now, at least. Though…” He turned, his blank white mask peering into Levi with an eerie intensity. “The Chorus was the one that attempted to possess me earlier, wasn’t it? Do you know of any limitations to its abilities?”
Levi shook his head. “Not really. It undoubtedly has some, as it failed to possess you, but the specifics I do not know.”
“I see. Then, it’s possible that it…” Phantasm trailed off. “Well. That’s a conversation for another time. For now, if you’ve finished whatever business you came here to take care of, then we should leave. It’s already been four days.”
Levi froze. “W-What?”
Shit. He hadn’t noticed earlier, but now that he looked more closely… Phantasm, Anastasia, and Selene’s appearances all seemed rather disheveled, as though they’d slept in their clothes.
Of course. With all the esoteric Time magic the Devourer had been tossing around, combined with the parallel branch of reality inherently running on a different cloud of spacetime, some time dilation was to be expected.
Still, though. Four whole days?
“The imperial government would’ve learned about the missing border Huntsmen by now,” Levi said, his mind racing. “Yukihasa will know that there were intruders.”
Phantasm nodded. “I don’t know what’s been happening in the outside world, but we should probably hurry.”
Levi nodded. He turned to the System terminal, and with just a thought, sparks of magic flew from his hand to attach to the terminal.
[QUERY: WHAT IS THIS?]
“In case the Devourer tries to infect you again.”
[... THANK YOU]
Levi smiled. “Anytime.” He ignored the others looking between him and the System messages in disbelief as he turned back to Phantasm. “So. You have any idea on how to get out of here?”
It took Phantasm a few moments to tear his eyes away from the universal screens and respond. “Beats me, the myths rarely cover this part. I assume we can just teleport out…” He sagged as he recalled what Levi’s teleportation had been like. “I don’t suppose you have another method of teleportation up your sleeve?”
Levi grinned. “As a matter of fact…”
Ding!
[Greater Realm Warp!]
Levi waved his hand, and his magic enveloped the four of them in a bubble. A moment later, the fabric of reality around them twisted and folded before they warped out of the Source subdimension. It was like traveling through a long compressed tunnel upward, if ‘up’ was a direction that could be extrapolated from the many interwoven layers of existence that they streaked through.
The exact teleportation mechanism that powered [Greater Realm Warp] was extremely similar to the process behind warpgates. Identical, actually, except this technique didn’t require any ward anchors in the real world to open a portal between the two points of travel. Levi didn’t even know that was possible. Was it using his memory to act as an anchor? But then how was it stabilizing the bridge between portals?
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Before Levi could ponder on the matter any further, they rematerialized in the real world.
“Huh,” Anastasia said, blinking away the disorientation. She looked pleasantly surprised, her tense body slowly relaxing, as though she’d been expecting something much worse. “You used a proper teleportation technique this time.”
“I resent that,” Levi said. “There’s nothing wrong with my normal teleportation…”
“Nothing wrong with body reassembly, he says,” Phantasm muttered under his breath. “And I’m supposed to be the bad guy?”
Levi snorted. “Oh, quit whining and go let your boss know that we’re back.”
“My boss? You mean Terminus? He’s not my boss, we’re coworkers…” Phantasm paused as he took in their surroundings. “Oh, we’re back in Hoka.”
Levi nodded. He’d warped them directly back to the small island where they were supposed to rendezvous with Terminus. It was to save them the trouble of having to travel back, and definitely not because he wanted to avoid tangling with the Three Pillars no doubt waiting outside the Source.
He didn’t know if they were still under the control of the Chorus, and quite frankly, he didn’t want to find out. Even if he was no longer afflicted by magical overburn, he was still physically, emotionally, and magically exhausted. He didn’t want to get into another battle so soon. The Three Pillars were a problem for another day.
“I didn’t even know teleportation could have a range this long…” Phantasm murmured. “Fascinating. You’re just full of surprises, Levi Ironwood.”
“I try my best,” Levi said. “Now if you’ll please excuse me, I’m going to pass out for the next twelve hours. We can proceed with Terminus’s whole plan to disable the Dragon’s Leyline after that — but until then, don’t wake me unless you want a fireball between your eyes.”
Phantasm chuckled. “Hell of a fight you just went through, huh?”
“You have no idea…”
Anastasia and Selene were both strangely silent as they made their way through the village. Hoka looked more or less the exact same as when they’d left. The villagers glanced at them warily as they walked past, but none of them said anything. Phantasm had passed a message to the Resistance member who came out to greet them, and within a few minutes the Resistance had organized things to let them stay at the same house they’d resided in last time. Phantasm had left to go meet up with Terminus, saying that he’d be in touch the next day.
Levi had cleaned himself up with a convenient [Impromptu Shower] skill. He didn’t know why there was a skill for that, but he wasn’t complaining. His magic had automatically cleansed his entire body of all the muck and blood and grime, leaving him relatively spotless, albeit with holes in his clothes. As such, he didn’t draw too many terrified glances as they walked through Hoka.
The moment they entered the house, Anastasia whirled around to face him. Before Levi could react, she reached out and hugged him tightly.
Levi froze, his entire body going tense as a faint floral scent laced with honey filled his nose.
“A-Anastasia?”
“Shut up,” she mumbled into his shoulder. “You scared me, you – you incorrigible fool.”
“I–I did?”
Anastasia pulled back, though she didn’t fully release him. “What do you think? You started screaming out of nowhere before your magic went totally haywire and black blood began leaking from your eyes. Then, you threw a bunch of spells at seemingly empty space before disappearing altogether for four whole days. Do you have any idea how it looked from the outside? We thought you were wiped from existence by a [Deletion Protocol].”
“Ah,” Levi said. Right. Anastasia and the others had been utterly unable to perceive the Devourer. Levi wasn’t even aware he’d been screaming when he locked ‘eyes’ with the Devourer due to his eardrums having been blown out. He paused. “I… I’m sorry.”
“You should be,” Anastasia said. Then, she hugged him again. As the seconds ticked on, Levi slowly relaxed into the embrace. She was soft and warm. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
This… this was strange. Strange, but not unwelcome.
Hesitantly, Levi brought his arms up to wrap around Anastasia.
It felt… nice.
Then, off to the side, Selene let out a soft cough. Anastasia ignored her. Selene coughed louder. Anastasia’s hold on Levi tightened until his bones creaked. At that point, Selene gave up on subtlety and just began speaking.
“I am also… pleased that you are alive and well,” she said. “Doubly so that you were able to foil the Devourer and Chorus’s plan. Well done, Levi Ironwood.”
Levi smiled over Anastasia’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
“How did you win?” Selene asked curiously.
“I almost didn’t,” Levi said. “The two of them had me dead to rights, I’ll admit. At one point, my heart even stopped.” Selene’s eyes flickered, and in his arms, Anastasia stiffened. “Thankfully, the System restored my account just in time.”
Selene and Anastasia blinked in unison. Anastasia finally drew back, looking him up and down.
“I thought you felt different,” she said. “You look stronger. Healthier. So you finally unlocked your System?”
Levi smiled. “Lemme tell you about it.”
After casting a sound-cancelling field around them, he filled them in on the details of his fight against the Devourer and Chorus. From the remnants of his counterpart’s soul awakening and snapping him out of the madness, to the magical overburn that hit him, to severing the anti-perception field that obscured the System’s sight, to finally unlocking the System and defeating the two eldritch entities. He was about to tell them about his specific level and stats, but then Anastasia stopped him.
“You shouldn’t go around sharing that information,” she said, frowning.
Levi paused. Oh, right. In this world, a person’s stats were meant to be private information, only shared with close friends and comrades. He’d say that Anastasia and Selene counted as both, but he supposed that he might as well follow this world’s customs.
And, truth be told… A small part of him wanted to keep that particular information to himself, if only so he wouldn’t have to explain how the million souls he’d slain was the reason why he was so high-leveled.
However, a person’s Class was public information, so Levi freely told them about selecting [Mage] as his base class (“Good, as you should,” said Selene), then [Archmage] as his Class Evolution (“Of course you did,” Anastasia chuckled).
Then, Levi hesitated.
Selene noticed. “What is it?”
“I…” Levi swallowed, a trace of uncertainty slipping into his voice. “After I selected my Class Evolution, the System offered me the choice of Class Transcendence.”
Anastasia blinked. “What? What’s that?”
So she didn’t know either… Levi tried his best to ignore the implications. Before he could respond, though, Selene spoke up.
“It’s the System’s measurement of who a person is at their core,” she said quietly. “It disregards all pre-existing skills and class paths, and only takes into account one’s immanent essence.”
Levi and Anastasia stared at her.
“Fascinating,” Anastasia said. “I’ve never heard of it before.”
“Unsurprising,” Selene said. “You’re a human, after all.” Anastasia frowned, but before she could ask any questions, Selene turned back to Levi. “So, what Class did the System grant you?”
Levi was silent.
Then, softly, he said, “[Hero].”
There was a long moment of silence.
Anastasia drew in a sharp breath, her emerald green eyes widening in shock as she looked at Levi.
Then, she beamed at him, her face lighting up with the purest pride and joy.
“You did it. I knew you would.”
A memory of a conversation from what felt like a lifetime ago resurfaced in Levi’s mind.
“Once upon a time, I really wanted to be a hero.”
“Then be one.”
And Levi smiled back.
“Yeah. I guess you did–”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Selene cut in, her voice tinged with the barest hints of confusion. Levi and Anastasia looked at her.
“What do you mean?” Levi asked.
“Why would the System assign you such a defective Class?”
Levi blinked. “What?” He gazed at her, but Selene seemed fully sincere. Her head was tilted to the side, and her brows were furrowed together. “What do you mean? Defective?”
“I mean…” Selene struggled for the right words. “Heroes don’t exist. They’re nothing but a childish, naive dream, impossible to actualize in reality. Why would the System grant you a Class that’s inherently false?”
“Who said it was impossible to actualize in reality?” Levi asked, his gaze piercing into Selene.
“Because if heroes existed, then my world wouldn’t have been consumed,” Selene said simply. Matter-of-factly. “Only a world without heroes would’ve died out like mine.”
There was a long moment of silence.
For once, Anastasia didn’t look at Selene with scorn or contempt. Instead, her eyes seemed almost sad as she gazed at the lone archdemon.
“Ah,” Levi said. “I see.”
The conversation came to an end after that. Levi finished off the tale describing the causality implosion technique that the Devourer had used before retreating to the bedroom. He took the bed, collapsing onto the straw mattress like a rock.
He was completely spent. Already, his eyes were slipping shut, darkness overtaking him.
Then, several noises reverberated in his head.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
Ugh. System notifications, now? Levi ignored them; he’d deal with it when he woke up–
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
Ding–!
“Alright, I get it!” Levi snarled, his eyes snapping back open as he sat up straight. He glowered at the System screens crowding around him.
Then he blinked.
[System Notification: The god of War has recognized your display of fortitude and offers you divine sponsorship!]
[System Notification: The god of Order has recognized your display of precision and offers you divine sponsorship!]
[System Notification: The god of Love has recognized your display of sentiment and offers you divine sponsorship!]
[System Notification: The god of Justice has recognized your display of conviction and offers you divine sponsorship!]
[System Notification: The god of…!]
On and on it went, countless more screens appearing before him.
Hmm...
Levi narrowed his eyes in thought.