Duality of Fate [LEON & NOEL]

[NOTE: As the story of duality; LEON & NOEL has reached a certain point. The chapters now will move on with a combined approach as the story is connected already. Basically, it’s less hassle for the readers as they can now move on with a straight pattern just like any other novel, lol. Also, the next chapter's going to be the last. So, thank you all for giving your precious time to read this]

In two distant battlefields, destinies collided.

As the celestial warrior and the demon turn back, Noel and Leon respectively realize that it’s the red-eyed shadow.

Noel, “So, you really were that celestial warrior.”

She materializes a rapier out of thin air.

“I suppose... there’s no way forward but through you.”

The clash begins.

On the other side.

Leon, “So, you are my final challenge?”

He points the sword toward the red-eyed shadow.

The subtle energy pulsed through the sword.

"I’m going to get past you," he said, each word a vow. "Because Noel’s waiting. And I... I need to see her again."

The clash begins.

The world split.

Ice and fire clashed in distant harmony.

Noel spun like a comet across the sky, her rapier left frost-wrought crescents. The celestial warrior met her with precision.

Her movements were a symphony of grace and fury. She was fluid and relentless, but the celestial met her pace, never faltering, never speaking.

Meanwhile, Leon roared through the battlefield. Sword ablaze and body coursing with righteous fury. His strikes crashed like a falling meteor, his footwork was wild yet precise. The demon met him blow for blow.

Back and forth, they battled along with cracked skies. But something felt... off.

They weren’t being hunted.

They were being tested.

Noel darted left, her mana-infused rapier shimmering blue. She feinted, dipped, struck high with her every motion driven by questions that refused to stay buried.

“I have come this far. So, can’t you tell me the reason? The intention behind the follower of Levedin conducting such sinister assassinations?”

The celestial warrior stayed silent.

“Are you mute? Why don’t you say anything?!”

Noel in fury.

On the other side

Leon charged with his blazing sword.

“What’s your true identity, red-eyed shadow? A demon? Or something else? I am having difficulty even digesting that a demon could target me without any reason. Why are you silent? Are you a mute?!”

Leon blazes up with fury.

The dark-armored demon stayed as silent as ever.

Both sides, frame by frame.

“I’m carrying the souls of all peoples who have helped me reach here. I shall not stop until I slay you.”

Both of them charge more violently.

Then…

Something changes…the flow of battle.

Some sort of intangible energy begins originating from nowhere.

Noel’s rapier cut through the air with an elegance that bordered on celestial. Her stance was tightened, her footwork had found harmony, and her strikes struck not merely with force, but with clarity. A surge of strength…no, of presence rose behind her.

Then it appeared.

A glimmer at her back, more felt than seen. It shimmered in the air like a living memory. It was the Great Hero, Natsume Maruyama. His form moved in tandem with hers, mirroring each strike as though the very essence of his courage flowed through her limbs.

On another realm.

Leon pressed forward with a burning roar. His blade blazed with searing determination, yet what ignited now was not only his own will. Behind him, the figure materialized. Noel’s uncle, the berserk demon.

In that instant, the tides turned.

Noel’s strikes found openings that didn’t exist before. Her foe, the radiant yet silent celestial warrior with glowing red eyes, faltered for the first time. It stumbled…not from weakness, but surprise.

With each clash, more figures bloomed behind her like sacred echoes.

The bright-eyed, mischievous, and brave triplets appeared. Then came the lizardmen, their spears raised in silent salute. Leon’s father, Leica stood tall with arms crossed. Her uncle and Rosaria.The Marquis and his sons, The guild, the ancestor ‘Lizbeth’, and finally, Aciel. Her mother’s hand hovered gently over Noel’s shoulder.

Noel surged forward.

On Leon’s battlefield, the same thing happens.

Uncle, Natsume Maruyama, the triplets, the lizardmen, Noel’s mother “Aciel”, Leica, etc.

Their presence did not speak. They didn’t need to.

Leon shouted, voice hoarse and unrelenting, “This power... this bond... this is everything we’ve lived for!”

Their blades clashed again. Noel’s frozen light and Leon’s blazing fire. The red-eyed shadows, once impenetrable, reeled.

Then…

A sudden shift.

The world fractured again.

Both Noel and Leon found themselves standing on shifting ground. An enormous platform hurtling through the sky

Then…the ever-silent red-eyed shadows, spoke for the first time.

One voice. One presence. Split across realities.

“Pretty intriguing.”

“It seems your desires... have begun to shape themselves. Without the aid of any external force.”

Before Leon and Noel could ask anything they continued,

To Noel, “You were wrong, daughter of Redlaw. We are not followers of Levedin. Mortals have long misread us. We were only moving according to their will. Nothing more Nothing less”

To Leon, “You might have prevailed, had we been a mere demon. But we were never your enemy. We were only moving according to their will. Nothing more nothing less”

Both at the same time.

“Their? Who is that? And where is this?”

Both shadows look at the side and gesture with their,

“Look around you.”

Noel and Leon turn their head around. They are shocked to find out that we are in their own respective world. They were on the comet from the beginning. Noel was on the silver-white one. Leon was on the purple-black one.

As Noel sees a familiar mansion. It was her mansion and there she saw herself. Noel of the past. The silver streak in the sky in the beginning chapters. We are all the way back to there.

From Leon’s viewpoint, he sees the buzzing city. Lightened-up buildings, a crowd of people clicking the picture of the comet, vehicles, and the Leon of the past who was looking towards the comet. The black and purple streak in the sky in the initial chapter. We are all the way back to there.

Then, the shadows spoke again.

“As you see, this was all a cycle. A cycle of events. A cycle of time. Now, it's up to you to believe which one is real and which one is not.”

After that, they shimmer. Leon and Noel are alerted thinking that their enemies are going to flee. So, they dashed and drove their weapon through their enemy's chest.

The enemy doesn’t say anything. They lit up white and black respectively and shined. Then they exploded, tearing apart the entire realm. Leon and Noel were unharmed.

But….

Crackle.

The sound of a glass shattering. It's actually the world itself. The world shattered.

The enemy fades away. Leon and Noel fall through the cracked world.

They finally think they are going to meet each other.

The scenario changes again.