A Hero’s Sacrifice

Wedan summoned a volley of icicles and hurled them at the epic, who deftly dodged using the power of telekinesis. Repeating the same movements didn't get us anywhere. But we could take advantage of it to attack with something else.

Lezlie swung her staff for an earth attack and magic attack, charging at the enemy, but the enemy not only stopped the attacks before they got close but also threw Lezlie to the side. Lezlie, using her magic, managed to escape the attack unscathed.

Rose extended her vines to me using her sword, and I grabbed them with my arm and quickly threw Rose at the enemy.

Rose approached the enemy at such speed that there was no way for the enemy to stop her. The enemy then moved backward, and Hiroshi took advantage of this, attacking with his weapons.

Lezlie continued to attack with her spells, and Wedan supported her with his ice. Although our successive attacks did not hit the enemy, we managed to draw the enemy to exactly the point we wanted.

The fifth epic, as it dodged our attacks, did not realize that it had actually fallen right in the middle of us. When it spread its focus and head around us, we attacked it with all our forces from every side, without allowing it to use its power.

Wedan used his ice, Rose with her vines, Lezlie with her earth, Hiroshi with his weapons, and I with the fire in my mouth, all aimed at the enemy in our midst.

Our attacks were so strong that the enemy could only try to stop the incoming attacks with its telekinetic power. It couldn't respond in any other way.

When we ceased our attacks, the enemy was battered and bruised, and we were finally able to launch a close assault. I managed to land a hard punch on the Epic, who fell in front of me. Wedan swung his hammer, and although the enemy blocked it, he could not avoid Lezlie's attack.

The enemy dodged Rose's sword strike, but couldn't evade Hiroshi's weapon. He was running away from one of us and getting hit by the other. He was trying to fight back and dodge our attacks, but it was getting more and more difficult for him.

After landing his last blow on Rose, the Epic looked like he was about to attack again, but I erupted in anger, and In a sudden rage, I swung my claw at him with all my strength, leaving a deep gash in his chest and even damaging his necklace.

Suddenly, the situation took an interesting turn. The enemy was more focused on the necklace than the wound. The necklace lost its shine in a strange way and trembled, causing the Epic to cry out in horror, "No, no, this can't be. My power is being taken from me."

At that moment, it was as if fear had gripped the eyes of the fifth epic.

Somehow, the necklace, after being damaged, was absorbing the Epic's power instead of granting it, causing him to weaken and lose his powers. He stumbled backwards, and fell off the castle, into the rocky sea below, where he exploded in a massive blast. We were unsure if he survived, and we weren't sure if we would ever see that necklace again.

But it was finally over. After all this time, I thought we could finally breathe a sigh of relief until I turned around and saw Rose lying on the ground, wounded.

She had lost a lot of blood and and was wounded in the heart by the surprise attack of the Fifth Epic. I rushed to her, cradled her head in my lap, and spoke to her.

"Rose, please stay with me."

With blood coming from her mouth, Rose struggled to talk to me, "You got what you wanted, Ryuu. We've done the impossible. We've put an end to the epics and stopped the moon from crashing down."

After stopping the fifth epic, the moon stopped coming. But I still wasn't happy. I turned my head to Lezlie and asked, "Lezlie, can't you do something?"

Lezlie looked at me with despair and sadness and said, "I'm sorry, Ryuu. She's so badly hurt. Even if I bandage her wounds and give her the strongest potion, her heart will soon stop beating."

It was my fault that Rose was in this state. I had forced her to do this and only I could fix it. I took out the water of immortality that I had been hiding from the others for a long time and said to Rose, "Drink this."

Lezlie looked at me in surprise and said, "Ryuu, you said you threw the water into the sea."

My intention wasn't bad. The reason I hid the immortality water from everyone was that I was ready to sacrifice myself if something happened to my friends, just like now.

"I lied because I was afraid of something like this happening in the future," I explained.

"So what are you going to do?" Lezlie asked hesitantly.

"What I have to do," I replied.

"Ryuu, please don't do this," Lezlie pleaded.

I knew Lezlie didn't mean any harm but I didn't listen to Lezlie and made Rose drink the water. I thought that if I could get Rose, whose eyes were almost closed, to spell the words, I could make her say what I wanted. So I spoke to her.

"Rose, if you want to live, please repeat after me. You spent years…"

Rose gradually forgave me and agreed to repeat what I said because she didn't know what we were doing.

"Years," she repeated.

I said it one more time and she repeated it back to me, word for word.

"To get… To take it… I'm asking permission," I continued.

"Permission," she repeated.

After he finished his sentence, I answered him for Rose to live. "I'm letting you take my years."

Everyone wanted to say something, but they didn't know what to say in such a situation.

After a brief moment of silence, we thought it was over. But the water had done its work. Rose opened her eyes again. Gradually my body was getting dusty, and the last thing I saw was everyone looking at me with watery eyes. So I gave them one last smile so they wouldn't be sad.

"It was an honor to fight with you, my friends," I said with all my heart.

After long darkness, I woke up in an unexpectedly beautiful place. Everything was shining brightly. A big man next to me held out his hand for me to get up and said in a very strong voice, "Son, you're here at last."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing because Alpha Prime, my father, was standing right in front of me.

"Dad, is that really you?" I asked.

"Yes, son, it is," he replied.

I had won the war but still wanted to ask him if he was proud of me for what I had done. "I just wanted to be like you. I just wanted to honor you, Dad," I said.

My father helped me up with proud eyes and said, "I know, son. And I'm proud of you. You saved our bloodline. You saved a lot of people. You're not just everyone's hero. You're my hero too."

"Thanks, Dad," I replied with a smile.

"Come on. Your mum and the rest of the family are waiting for us. And I'm sure you have a lot to tell," he said.

As we walked together in the direction of the light, I said to my father with pride and success, "Yes, I can't wait to tell you."