Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Chapter 2078 Voice of Hope

Paladins were not like Magi.

They did not have a repertoire of spells from different Schools of Magic. They were not versatile. They were not as erudite.

Paladins were warriors.

If a Magus was the scepter, then the Paladin was a sword.

They fought with their physical bodies. Their strength. Their power. Their endurance.

While a Magus might have countless tricks hidden up their sleeves, a Paladin had only one thing to rely on.

Their willpower.

And Luca had plenty of that.

But even his immense willpower could do nothing now.

He drifted helplessly through the spirit world, surrounded by strange and incomprehensible things of abstract nature. He did not know any spells that could help him traverse this mysterious dimension. He did not possess any artifacts that could return him to the material world.

There was no battlefield beneath his feet. No sky above his head. No familiar landscape in sight. Just the myriad wonders and terrors of things unknown everywhere around him.

For the first time in a very long time, Luca felt truly helpless.

His elders always warned him about never setting foot in the spirit world, for it was a world of dangers and hidden existences — some so powerful they could extinguish his life with a snap of their fingers.

But Luca did not have any choice. When the secret plane imploded on itself, he, along with everything and everyone else inside that dimension, was sucked into the spirit plane.

He looked around, but all he could see were colors of countless shades and things he couldn't make sense of. The more he tried to study his surroundings, the more his head hurt. In the vicinity, he caught sight of the remains of Castle de Vile drifting aimlessly.

Sadness overwhelmed him.

Even a Mana Seed Magus — an inhabitant of the material world — could not stay inside the spirit world for a long time, much less a Templar Paladin.

As outsiders, their bodies were not accustomed to the harsh environments of the spirit world. As such, the more time they spent in this dimension, the more their body would break down.

"Damn it," he cursed quietly.

Everything had happened so quickly that he and Adam hadn't even formulated a proper plan of escape. But more than that, they did not think that Sanguina would pull off such an attack in the end.

Luca wondered about the mortal humans inside the secret plane. How many of them survived the meteor rain? How many of them made it out of the secret plane alive?

He did not wish to think about it, for it made his heart heavy with grief.

He wondered if Valerian, Genevieve, Michael, Leah, and the others had safely escaped the secret plane.

He found that he didn't care anymore.

As death slowly crept toward him, he found himself filled with regrets.

"Forgive me, Father, Mother," he murmured as his grey eyes glistened with tears.

These were not grand, dramatic tears. They were the tears of a man who had finally found acceptance in death.

"I'm sorry I couldn't live up to your expectations…"

And so, Luca Claudius quietly waited for death, for he knew any resistance in this bizarre world would only be futile.

"Huh."

A curious, familiar sound suddenly echoed beside him.

It was the voice of a friend.

The voice of hope.

"I didn't think you were capable of tears, my friend."

Luca's eyes snapped open. His head abruptly turned toward the source of the voice. And there he saw a familiar figure.

Adam floated in the void beside him. His flowing robes fluttered gracefully. They were clean and proper as though he hadn't just fought a deadly battle against a powerful monster.

"…How?" Luca was at a loss for words.

Adam winked at him. "Hush, hush. It's a secret."

He looked around, his greedy eyes finally settling on the remains of Castle de Vile in the distance.

"Anyway, let's go loot that place," he said as he flew closer and gripped Luca's shoulder. "I'm sure the bastard hoarded a lot of treasures in his lifetime."

***

In Kinrani Valley, grey mist covered the land.

Figures slowly emerged from the misty haze.

These were the survivors of the Blood Moon Secret Plane. One after another, they stumbled out of the mist, as though conjured from thin air.

A little less than thirty people had survived.

The survivors simply stood there in silence, staring at the world around them. They had escaped. They were finally out.

Some looked at their surroundings in disbelief, as though expecting the nightmare to suddenly return. Others collapsed onto the ground. A few laughed. Some cried. Some simply stood there with trembling bodies, unable to comprehend that they were no longer trapped inside that cursed world.

They had spent so long believing that they would never see the outside world again. Now, they were standing beneath an open sky. They were free.

But their happiness was mixed with sorrow. So many had entered the secret plane with them. Their friends. Their companions. Brothers and sisters. People they had fought alongside for years. People who had promised to return home together.

Most of them were gone now. Their absence was felt more sharply now that the survivors had finally escaped. Some looked around, instinctively searching for familiar faces that would never appear.

Some adventurers hugged one another. Others wiped their tears. There were even a few who smiled through their sorrow. It was a strange feeling. To be alive. To be free. To know that the nightmare was finally over.

Several long minutes passed after the last person emerged from the mist.

Then the space within the valley trembled. The survivors looked around in horror. The grey mist surrounding them began to ripple.

And then, in the blink of an eye, it vanished. Completely vanished as though it had never been there.

The beautiful night sky of Myrrandor finally came into view. Stars stretched endlessly across the heavenly canvas. And beneath them, the light of nearly a hundred moons shone down upon the stunned and terrified faces of the survivors.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed all around them. Hooves beat against the earth. From the darkness, dozens of torchlights became visible.

Before the survivors could even react, riders emerged from the darkness and surrounded them.