Kayden's HP started decreasing at high speed. But suddenly, it stopped and started increasing.
"….!"
Aurora was still a healer, and she healed Kayden before his HP could hit Zero.
"Brother!" Aureon yelled with a furious look on his face.
Dominic threw Misha to the side and punched Aurora, slamming her into the broken Gazebo. She couldn't block or dodge the attack as she was healing Kayden.
Aurora slowly got up and prepared to dash at Dominic, but her body stopped responding, and she fell to the ground.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself standing in front of Lyda, once again in the white space.
[…]
Lyda stared at Aurora in disbelief without speaking a single word.
"Am I… dead…?" Aurora asked with an anxious look on her face.
[No,] Lyda responded in a calm voice.
SIGH!
Aurora sighed in relief and said, "Then send me back. Fast! My friends need me!"
[My blessings… they are absolute; the strongest. I was supposed to give them to Zach when he met the requirements, but I chose to give you my blessings.]
"…"
[Now, I can't give them to him. Blessings are power, strength, or whatever you want to call it. We can choose to give blessings to anyone, but we can only give them to one person. Unless that person dies or ceases to exist, we can't give them to anyone else.]
"…!"
[Do you realize the responsibilities you have? The power you possess can defeat the gods if you use them correctly. And yet…]
"What…?" Aurora asked reluctantly.
[I gave you my blessings, so you don't die in this war. You are Zach's heart. You had to survive. And what did you do?]
"But you said I am not dead!"
Lyda frowned her face and said, [Answer my question.]
"I did what I thought was right. I saved as many people as I could. I fought against the monsters and demons. If I hadn't, many along with me would have died," Aurora replied with no hesitation and a resolute expression on her face.
[You wanted to save lives. That's a noble thought, and I respect that. But who is going to save you? Right now, on that battlefield, you are the strongest. And history can testify that no one has ever come to save the strongest,] Lyda uttered in a disdainful tone with a distant smile on her face.
"… what are you trying to say?" Aurora asked with a confused look on her face.
[Are you trying to become a hero?] Lyda asked.
"…no…"
[Good. But do you know what heroes do?]
"They save everyone?"
[No. Everyone wants to save their loved ones, but that doesn't make them a hero.] After a brief pause, Lyda said, [Maybe for the person they are trying to save, but not for all.]
[What you did was without a doubt a remarkable thing. And you used my blessings the way one should. But do you know why I gave you my blessings?]
"You said a while ago that you did it so I could save myself."
[Correct. And Why do I want to save you?]
"Because…"
[Not because you are a princess of an enormous dynasty, nor because you are beautiful; that has nothing to do with it. I didn't give you my blessing because you love Zach. I gave them to you because Zach loves you.]
"That's…"
[You see, Zach… he was born dead.]
"….!" Aurora stepped back in surprise and muttered, "What…?"
[Yes. He wasn't supposed to be born. But an anomaly happened, and he was born. Dead.]
"How… is that possible…?"
[He had a soul, but he had no body. He only had a heart, which wasn't beating either. His father begged and rubbed his head in front of all the powerful beings he knew; friends and foes, both. He wanted Zach to live.]
After a brief silence, Lyda continued, [They all agreed on one condition, and that was that Zach would have to be indebted to them.]
"But it was his father who asked for help…" Aurora mumbled quietly.
[Yeah, but they were doing a favor on Zach. His father had no other choice but to agree, so he did.]
[All of the supreme beings gathered at one place and performed a sacred ritual. They gave their blessings and formed the body of a newborn by using each of their body parts. Then, they inserted Zach's soul inside the body of a newborn and sealed all the powers.]
That was the reason why Zach's soul powers hadn't awakened on birth; because his soul never belonged to that body.
[Of course, they used his original heart, but everything else in his body belongs to someone else.]
"I… don't know how I should feel… about this…" Aurora muttered under her breath.
Lyda turned to Aurora and said, [That's not what you are supposed to say. You are supposed to ask, 'Why are you telling me all this?']
"Why are you telling me all this…?"
[Because you are his heart. The only thing that belonged to him, he gave it to you. Now, your life is no longer yours; it belongs to him,] Lyda stated in a solemn voice.
"I know that. Even if you hadn't told me that, I am going to dedicate my entire life to him. If his heart is mine, and my entire body and soul belongs to him," Aurora asserted without any hesitation in her voice.
Lyda furrowed her brows and said, [Do you think you are in any condition to say that? Don't promise something if you don't mean it.]
"But I truly…!"
Lyda waved her hand in the air, and a mirror appeared in front of Aurora.
"What is…" Aurora was left speechless when she looked at her reflection in the mirror.
Her entire body was filled with cracks as though her body was breaking apart. She looked similar to Lyda but in worse condition.
"What… happened to me…?" she asked as he touched the cracks on her body.
[You tell me. Can a normal human walk, run, jump, and fight for more than six hours without any breaks, water, or food?]
"…."
[The answer is no. And my blessings increased your AGILITY by 100 times. That's 600 hours, which is equivalent to 25 days.]
"…!"
[You fought continuously for 600 hours straight. Can a human run, jump, and fight nonstop for 25 days without any rest? No. Not even the higher beings can. But you did that without thinking about any consequences. What do you think will happen to you?]
"I…"
[If I hadn't stopped you, and if you had used my blessings for even a single nano-second, your entire body would have been destroyed— in this game and the real world too. Leaving you with a painful death,] Lyda stated with a glare in her eyes.
"So… am I going to die…?" Aurora asked hesitantly with tears in her eyes, seemingly afraid to know the answer.
[No. You are safe. However—]
Suddenly, the white space started quacking vigorously, and the mirror in front of Aurora shattered.
"What's going on?!" Aurora asked with an anxious look on her face.
Lyda looked into Aurora's eyes and uttered, "Zach is here."
***
Total players in the game- 1,485,410
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256 players died.
