Chapter 402: The Beginning Of The End [LXIV]

Ãt Aestrea’s words, Kael swallowed hard.

“…Hey,” he muttered without looking away, his voice getting increasingly hoarse. “Why do I feel like I should apologize… for existing?”

Tyrian didn’t answer immediately.

His eyes were fixed on Aestrea, pupils slightly shaking as he adjusted his barrier out of pure instinct, even though he knew it wouldn’t matter.

“Those things…” Tyrian said slowly.

“…have a consciousness?”

The mimics reacted.

The Kael-copy roared and forced its body to move first, clearly panicking.

It clenched its fists, divine energy surging violently around it as it charged forward with a reckless swing aimed straight at Aestrea’s head.

At the same time, Tyrian’s copy raised its hands and began casting a layered spell array, trying to overwhelm Aestrea with pure volume.

“…Sloppy.”

Aestrea sighed before taking slighly step to the side

Fwoop!

The Kael-copy’s punch tore through empty air, missing by less than an inch.

Before it could even realize what happened, Aestrea’s knee came up sharply, slamming into its abdomen with a dull, hollow thud.

THOOM!

The Kael-copy’s eyes bulged as its entire body folded around the impact, divine energy collapsing in on itself as if crushed by an invisible weight.

Aestrea followed through without pause. He grabbed the copy’s wrist mid-fall, twisted, and pulled once.

CRACK!

The arm tore free unnaturally, dissolving into liquid before it even hit the ground.

“WHAT THE—?!” Kael shouted from the side, his eyes widening stupidly.

“I don’t bend like that!”

“Of course not,” Aestrea replied calmly, throwing the copy aside.

“You’re not a liquid dumbass.”

He turned towards the other copy, just to see that he had finally finished forming the spell.

BOOOOOOOOM!

A massive lattice of magic slammed downward, trying to lock Aestrea in place.

“…The Divine Energy really does feel similar to Tyrian’s.”

Aestrea raised his hand and pressed it forward.

Crasshh!

The spell collapsed on contact, folding like wet paper before evaporating completely.

The backlash sent Tyrian’s copy stumbling backward, coughing violently as its form destabilized.

And then, before he could react, Aestrea appeared in front of it and directly drove two fingers into the copy’s chest, directly over its heart.

『 Bleed 』

SNAP!

The copy’s body spasmed as crimson lines burst across its torso, artificial veins tearing open as liquid metal sprayed outward like blood.

Tyrian flinched hard.

“…That’s disgusting,” he muttered.

“Why does it look so real?”

The Tyrian-copy screamed, trying to retreat, but Aestrea caught its chin and tilted its head upward.

“Calm down,” Aestrea mocked.

“It’ll be over soon.”

He flicked his wrist.

FWOOOM!

The copy’s head disintegrated, its body collapsing into ash before it even hit the ground.

Only the Kael copy remained.

It was crawling now.

Dragging itself backward, leaving streaks of shimmering liquid behind as it stared at Aestrea with absolute terror.

Kael’s mouth hung open.

“…Wow,” he exclaimed faintly.

“I hate seeing myself like that.”

Aestrea slowly walked towards it with every single step of his making the space tremble from sheer, terrifying power.

The copy raised one trembling hand, mouth opening as if to beg, but it was interrupted as Aestrea pressed his foot down on its chest.

CRUSH.

The body imploded without sound, collapsing inward until nothing remained but another small pool of strange metallic liquid.

Silence returned.

The illusion space began to crack, walls shaking as the arcade struggled to maintain the environment now that all mimics were gone.

Kael let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and dropped onto his back.

“…Okay,” he spoke, staring at the ceiling.

“That was officially the coolest and scariest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Tyrian lowered his barrier slowly, his hands still shaking slightly.

“…You didn’t even look tired,” he sighed quietly.

Aestrea glanced at them, the crescent moons in his eyes fading as his silver mana withdrew back into his body.

“Honestly, even if your mimics had ten times their power, they probably still wouldn’t be able to beat me,” he spoke in a flat tone.

Kael stared at him for a few seconds.

Then he slowly pointed.

“…I hate you,” he said sincerely.

Tyrian, however, wasn’t joking.

His gaze stayed locked on Aestrea’s eyes, his brows drawn together as if something was finally clicking into place.

“Those eyes…” His eyes narrowed slighly at his stared at his glowing eyes that didn’t have the moon symbols anymore.

“That wasn’t just your power, was it?”

Aestrea glanced back at him.

“Earlier, you asked if mimics could copy blessings. That means… what you used back there wasn’t something that belongs to you alone.”

Kael blinked.

“Oh.” He straightened.

“Wait! Are you saying that creepy moon-eye thing was a blessing?”

Aestrea nodded once.

“Yes.”

“You have a divine blessing that lets you casually erase something that copies gods?” Kael’s jaw dropped.

“It’s not casual,” Aestrea corrected calmly.

“And it’s not mine alone.”

“A Goddess?” Tyrian crossed his arms, thinking.

“…Yeah.”

Aestrea leaned back against one of the arcade machines, the flickering lights reflecting faintly off his crimson eyes.

“She supported me back in the lower realms,” he said. “At the time, I didn’t even realize what she really was. I just thought she was… someone strong, watching over me.”

“That’s it? You just tripped over a Goddess?” Kael frowned.

“Something like that.”

“Figures.” Tyrian shook his head slowly.

“The Moon Mark obviously isn’t my authority. It’s hers, and when I use it, I’m borrowing power directly from her.”

Kael opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again.

“…And you’re just saying that now?”

“I don’t like relying on it,” Aestrea replied.

“Every time I activate it, it drains her. Not me.”

That wiped the grin off Kael’s face.

“Oh,” he muttered.

“That’s… actually kind of heavy.”

“So that’s why you only used it when you were certain the mimics couldn’t copy it.” Tyrian nodded.

“Exactly.”

Aestrea looked down at his hand, flexing his fingers once.

“I can fight without it. I prefer to. Using borrowed power too often is dangerous, even if it’s given willingly.”

“Man… and here I thought you were just flexing on us.” Kael scratched the back of his head.

“If I were flexing, you’d be unconscious.” Aestrea snorted quietly.

“Wow,” Kael said dryly.

“Comforting.”

Tyrian glanced back at the broken arcade machine behind them, its runes still cracked and leaking faint smoke.

“So that thing couldn’t copy blessings. Which means it wasn’t meant to deal with beings backed by something higher.”

“Then this arcade shouldn’t exist at all.” Kael’s mood shifted again, becoming more serious.

“No,” Tyrian agreed.

“It really shouldn’t.”

Aestrea straightened and pushed off the machine.

“That’s not our problem right now,” he said.

“We just dealt with what showed up.”

“Yeah… until the management realizes their attraction almost killed three students,” Kael sighed.

He paused, then glanced at Aestrea again.

“…By the way, that Goddess who gave you the blessing, does she know you’re casually using her power to erase ancient war weapons in arcades?”

Aestrea gave a small, tired smile.

“She knows everything.”

That answer made both Kael and Tyrian go silent.

“…Right,” Kael muttered.

“Of course she does.”

Tyrian then glanced around the damaged arcade, at the cracked floors, flickering lights, and the lingering traces of illusion energy still hanging in the air.

“Yeah, we should get out of here,” he said seriously. “Before someone notices that half the place nearly turned into a battlefield.”

“Agreed. I’m not explaining to academy security why an arcade almost ate us.” Kael nodded.

The two of them turned and started walking toward the exit, their footsteps echoing lightly across the warped floor.

After a few steps, Tyrian slowed.

“…Hey.”

“Yeah?” Kael stopped too.

Something felt off.

They both turned around at the same time.

Aestrea was still standing near the center of the arcade, staring at the ground where the mimic had turned to ash.

His expression was calm, but his eyes were focused, thoughtful, as if he were piecing something together in his head.

“Aestrea?” Kael called out.

“You coming or what?”

Aestrea lifted his gaze and looked at them.

There was a brief pause.

“Shall we see if there’s a graveyard here?”

Kael’s eyes widened.

Then they lit up.

“…Oh.”

“Ohhh.”

“You mean like an actual battlefield graveyard? From the Gods and Demons war?” A slow grin spread across his face.

“If Mimic Tears were here, then something far worse might also be buried under this place.” Aestrea nodded once.

“Treasures. Relics. Ancient junk with stupid valueeee!!!” Kael clenched his fists in excitement.

Tyrian immediately raised both hands.

“Oh, hell nah.”

“What do you mean by ’hell nah’?” Kael looked at him, offended.

“Did you forget what we just fought? A thing that copies gods?” Tyrian pointed at the ground.

“Yeah, and we won,” Kael shot back.

“We almost died,” Tyrian corrected flatly.

“You didn’t die.” Aestrea tilted his head slightly.

Tyrian stared at him for a moment.

“…That is not comforting.”

“Come on, Tyrian! When are we ever this lucky? A hidden war grave under a city? This is the kind of thing people write legends about.”

“And the kind of place people die in,” Tyrian shot back.

“Very painfully.”

“If this really is a battlefield site, leaving it untouched is worse,” Aestrea added lightly.

’Besides… I can’t lose the opportunity to get a few ancient relics if there are some.’

“Worse how?” Tyrian frowned.

“Someone else will find it. Someone who doesn’t know what they’re dealing with. Or someone who does.”

“Okay… yeah, that part’s scary.” Kael’s grin faded just a bit.

“Fuuuuuck…” Tyrian sighed heavily at his words.

“You’re both insane.”

He ran a hand down his face, then looked back at the cracked floor and dim lights.

“…But if we don’t check it… It’ll keep bothering me.”

“That’s the spirit!!!” Kael smirked.

Tyrian jabbed a finger at Aestrea. “If something ancient wakes up and tries to eat us, I’m blaming you.”

“Fair.” Aestrea gave a small nod.

“Alright then. Graveyard exploration it is.” Kael cracked his knuckles.

“I can’t believe this is my life,” Tyrian muttered in a tired tone.

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