*He wanted a quiet life. He got a war hero's title, a mountain of paperwork, and two beautiful women he's too scared to answer.*
Lion Fou Bartfort—reincarnated mob character, reluctant marquis, and self-proclaimed future background extra—just wants to live unnoticed. But three days after the great war ended, his desk is buried in urgent documents, his compensation is being docked for every missed deadline, and his sarcastic AI partner Luxion never lets him forget it. Worst of all, he can't stop
Blooming After the War - False Bonds, True Ties — Conclusion — When Two Souls Sleep
The central plaza of the royal capital Vermut lay sunk in the dusk, yet an eerie light illuminated it still.
The activation device of the old civilization that Celestine had set up gave off a pale blue phosphorescence, tracing geometric patterns across the stone paving. The light pulsed and flickered like the heartbeat of some living thing.
Across the plaza, the bodies of the fallen lay heaped atop one another.
Merchants. Housewives. Children. Old men. Royal knights.
Station and age meant nothing. They had clutched their chests, crumpled to the ground in agony, and now they did not stir so much as a twitch. Their mana circuits had been forcibly shut down.
Lion Fou Bartfort watched the scene from the plaza's entrance.
His tousled black hair stirred in the lukewarm wind. His deep brown eyes took in the fallen people—and the girl standing at the center of it all.
Golden hair, straight and falling to her waist. Blue eyes harboring a cold light. On her left ear, an earring that looked to be a relic of the old civilization.
Celestine.
An eighteen-year-old girl who claimed descent from the betrothed of the ancient humans.
She gazed down at the fallen and smiled, quietly.
"Hm. The effect exceeds my expectations. So this is what it feels like to halt the mana circuits of the new humans. The ancient humans' dearest wish is finally fulfilled."
Her voice rang through the plaza's silence like scattered grains of ice.
Lion clenched his fist.
His nails bit into his palm. Pain shot through him. But beneath it, a rage came boiling up from the pit of his stomach.
"You bastard..."
Lion's voice was low, crawling along the ground.
Beside him stood a girl with flaxen hair.
Olivia.
A scholarship student at the Royal Academy of Magic, a commoner born with the power of a saint. Her blue eyes trembled as they took in the fallen. On her left wrist, the cheap bracelet Lion had given her still swayed.
"Everyone... everyone's dead...?"
Olivia's voice quivered faintly.
"No. Their mana circuits have merely been stopped. They're still breathing."
A clear, resolute voice came from Lion's other side.
Angelica Rafa Redgrave.
A duke's daughter with radiant blonde hair swept up and fierce red eyes. The bandage wrapped around her shoulder was a painful sight. Even so, she held her back straight and stood proud.
"But if we leave them like this, their lives will be in danger before long. We must hurry, Lion."
Angelica's red eyes looked straight at Lion.
Lion gave a short nod.
"Yeah. I know."
The fingertips of his right hand touched the leather bracer on his left wrist.
A plain bracer modeled after Luxion's terminal. It grew faintly warm.
"Master. Arroganz is ready for activation. The rear container is already loaded with the parts needed for docking with Schwert."
A flat, emotionless voice sounded from the bracer.
"Yeah. Let's go, Luxion."
Lion took a step toward the center of the plaza.
"Lion! I'm coming too! I'll use my power as a saint to protect everyone!"
Olivia called out to Lion's back.
Without turning, he answered.
"I'm counting on you. Olivia, Ange—you two handle the ones who've collapsed. I'll stop her."
"...Understood. But please, don't be reckless. You always try to shoulder everything alone."
Angelica's voice held anger, and worry, and trust.
"Lion... please, come back safe. I'll protect everyone—absolutely—until you return!"
Olivia's blue eyes were brimming with tears.
Lion gave a small laugh at their words.
"Don't worry. I'm not gonna die. I've still got a mountain of things to do."
With that, Lion broke into a run.
He raced through the twilight plaza like a black shadow.
"Arroganz, activate."
In answer to his words, the space around him warped.
Arroganz—the legacy of the ancient humans.
The old-civilization armor that Lion possessed. On the outside it looked like an obsolete model from the dawn of development, but inside it utterly surpassed current-generation machines. It fought by swapping out weapons and tools ejected from its rear container.
Jet-black armor enfolded Lion's body.
In that instant, his field of vision expanded at once.
"Master. Hostile reactions confirmed. Old-civilization automated weapons are deploying around Celestine."
Luxion's voice resonated directly inside his head.
"How many?"
"Twelve confirmed at present. All are high-mobility types equipped with Eclipse fragments."
"Twelve, huh. What a pain. But I've got no choice but to do it."
Lion drew a single sword from Arroganz's rear container.
A high-frequency blade forged with old-civilization technology.
"Here I go!"
Lion kicked off the ground.
Arroganz's thrusters spat pale blue light.
In an instant he closed the distance to the automated weapons.
"First one!"
The high-frequency blade sliced one of the automated weapons clean in two.
The grating shriek of tearing metal. Sparks scattered.
"Master, two from the right!"
"I know!"
Lion twisted his body and kicked the second automated weapon flying.
Using the momentum, he vaulted above the third and drove his sword down into it.
An explosion.
The automated weapon burst apart in a shroud of flame.
"Nine remaining."
"Don't count them! It's distracting!"
Cursing under his breath, Lion destroyed the automated weapons with precision.
Arroganz's performance was overwhelming.
A crystallization of old-civilization technology, Arroganz tore through the automated weapons Celestine commanded as though they were scraps of paper.
Yet Celestine's composed expression did not waver.
"You think that's enough to reach me?"
Her blue eyes shone coldly.
"Let's put an end to this game."
Celestine raised her left hand.
Pale blue light poured from her fingertips.
The moment it struck the ground, it birthed countless automatons.
Their number was beyond comparison to before.
Roughly thirty of them.
"Tch... no end to them."
Lion clicked his tongue.
The automatons crept closer, slowly tightening their encirclement around him.
"Master. At this rate, we'll be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. I recommend docking with Schwert."
"Yeah. Let's do that."
Lion purged Arroganz's rear container.
The container dropped to the ground.
At the same moment, a single thread of light raced from the bracer on Lion's left wrist.
"Schwert, dock."
The light formed a shadow behind Lion.
Schwert.
A luxury airbike gifted by the Atlee earldom, modified by Luxion. It docked with Arroganz once the rear container was purged, becoming a high-mobility booster.
Schwert locked onto Arroganz's back with a heavy clank.
"With this, mobility increases dramatically."
"Perfect. Let's blow them away!"
Lion threw Schwert's thrusters wide open.
A roar.
Lion's body accelerated like a bullet.
He broke through the automatons' encirclement in an instant.
"What...?!"
For the first time, Celestine's expression twisted, just slightly.
Lion wove between the automatons as though threading a needle.
His high-frequency blade cut them down one after another.
Explosion. Explosion. Explosion.
Pillars of fire rose into the twilight plaza.
"Right, Lion!"
Angelica's clear voice reached him from afar.
Lion reflexively twisted to the right.
In that instant, a light bullet fired by an automaton passed through the spot where he'd been.
"You saved me, Ange!"
"Watch what's in front of you! Here comes the next one!"
"I know already!"
Lion shattered an automaton charging from the front with an energy wave fired from Arroganz's palm.
Impact.
Lion's signature move—driving energy into a target from Arroganz's palm.
"Master, a high-density defensive field is confirmed around Celestine. As things stand, you cannot strike her directly."
"What do I do?"
"Please connect me to her terminal. I can seize control of Eclipse."
Lion's movements stopped for an instant.
"...You want me to bring you close to her?"
"Yes. If my terminal makes contact with Celestine's activation device, I can intrude into Eclipse's code. However, I will be defenseless during that time. Your support is essential, Master."
Lion gritted his teeth.
Exposing Luxion to danger.
For Lion, that was more terrifying than anything.
But there was no other way.
"...Don't die."
That was all he said, briefly.
"You too, Master. Stay safe."
Luxion's voice sounded just a little softer than usual.
Lion removed the bracer from his left wrist.
The moment it left his hand, it transformed into a sphere.
Luxion's terminal.
Its single red eye glowed eerily in the twilight.
"Go, Luxion!"
Lion hurled Luxion's terminal with all his strength toward Celestine's activation device.
The terminal flew in a straight line toward Celestine.
"...What do you intend to do?"
Celestine noticed Luxion's terminal and sent her automatons after it.
"Like I'd let you!"
Lion threw Schwert's thrusters wide open and planted himself in front of the automatons.
He swung his high-frequency blade, destroying them one after another.
"Your opponent is me!"
Lion fought to draw the automatons away from Celestine.
In that opening, Luxion's terminal made contact with Celestine's activation device.
"Connection confirmed. Beginning intrusion into Eclipse's code."
Luxion's voice echoed inside Lion's head.
"...What are you doing? Luxion. You are a weapon of us ancient humans, are you not?"
Celestine's voice wavered for the first time.
"Why do you side with the new humans?! You are supposed to be the tool for fulfilling our dearest wish!"
Her scream rang across the plaza.
In that voice was anger, and sorrow, and a deep despair, as though she had been betrayed.
"...I met Master."
Luxion's voice rang out quietly, yet clearly.
"Master treated me not as a tool, but as a partner. In the time I spent with Master, I came to know that the new humans are not creatures to be hated."
"Being bound by the past is over. By my own will, I choose the future—together with Master."
Luxion's words pierced Celestine's heart sharply.
"...No... the ancient humans' dearest wish... you deny it...?"
Celestine's blue eyes flew wide.
A single tear spilled from them.
"...I have successfully seized control of Eclipse."
Luxion's voice reported calmly.
"However, to seal Eclipse permanently, I have no choice but to erase my own core. Eclipse has sunk its roots deep into my core. If I disappear, I can take Eclipse with me."
"...Huh?"
Lion doubted his own ears.
"Master. Thank you for everything. The time I spent with you was irreplaceable to me."
Luxion's voice quietly said its farewell.
"Now, I will take my leave."
"Don't give me that crap!!!"
Lion's scream rang across the entire plaza.
"I didn't come all this way to lose you! I won't allow you to just vanish on your own!"
Lion leaped down from Arroganz.
The jet-black armor crashed down into the twilight with a heavy sound.
The moment he landed, Lion ran with all his strength toward Luxion's terminal.
"Master?! What are you—?!"
"Shut up! Just stay there and wait!"
Lion threw both arms around Luxion's terminal.
Cold.
The cold touch of an old-civilization machine.
Yet within that coldness, he could certainly feel Luxion's presence.
"You're my partner. The past doesn't matter. From now on, and always, we're together."
Lion held Luxion's terminal with all his strength.
"I will never let you go. So you don't get to leave me behind either."
Lion's voice was trembling.
"You're my one and only partner."
Tears traced down Lion's cheeks.
"...Master."
Luxion's voice trembled faintly.
"...I am glad I met you."
Luxion's single red eye glowed softly.
In that instant, within Luxion's core, the Eclipse program quietly fell asleep.
The pale blue light faded away.
The eerie phosphorescence that had covered the plaza vanished like mist burning off.
And then, one after another, the bodies of the fallen began to stir.
"...Huh? What was I...?"
"M
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