[Eldion Empire]
Travelling to the dead of the night, two horses could be seen running through the valley as they headed towards the cottage by the hill
Soon after they then arrived at their destined location as soon as possible, after that two silhouttes donned in brown robbed jumped down from their horses as the other one showed his face
Luke then looked over the cottage as he faced Lily by his side
"Lily! If your going to talk to him, then go! I'll be staying here to tend the horses" said Luke the former SSS-RANK adventurer and once a companion of Lily
Apparently Lily hired Luke to infiltrate the castle and take her to Hibiki, of course she offered a hefty amount of money as a compensation, but due to their relationship as acquaintances and former party member, Luke somehow rejected the offer and took the job free of charge
Of course in the end Luke has his own reason why he accepted this
With Luke tending the horses, Lily then slowly walked over by Hibiki's door and tried knocking into it when suddenly she heard a voice over the door which caught her by surprise
"You don't have to knock... I know your there with Luke... I don't know why your here but there's nothing for you here" said by the weakened voice of Hibiki
Hearing that Lily clenched her fist as she asked
"How..."
But before she could finish her words, Hibiki then cut her in and said
"I'm a hero... I have my own prestige... I know you were here with Luke by the moment you stepped near my cottage..."
At that Lily then steeled herself as she said
"You know... It's cold outside right? Can we talk properly? Please" begged Lily
But at that begging Hibiki just kept silent about it as he didn't opened the door
Seeing that Lily then leaned by the door as he begged him
"Hibiki... Please! I beg you"
After of what felt like a minute or two, Hibiki finally have in and opened the door for her
At that instant she saw Hibiki who was ragged all over as he felt hopeless with his dead like eyes, in fact all this time Hibiki have been blaming himself like there's no tomorrow about all the death that have occured
He was traumatized by the fact that every death that was laid upon the humans was his doing
He was trapped inside by Raguel unable to do anything at all but watch as he saw people after people dying, but the most critical of all which killed him inside was witnessing the death of Alda and Mia as he killed them by his command and with his hand, he even remembered how Alda carried over the head of Mia as he embraced her till he lost his life
Seeing such a scene really impacted him a lot to the point that he broke down and traumatized him
Due to that experience which lasted for about a year, the moment that he regained his body, the old Hibiki that everyone knew was gone and was replaced by hopelessness and deep seethed despair of once the former hero
Looking over at him Lily felt pity at some point and couldn't even muster any words right infront of him
He really looked tired as Hibiki felt like he haven't slept for nights, in fact he couldn't sleep at all, every night he would be haunted by all the voices of the people he killed, what seemed to be his last turned into a endless nightmare for him, due to that he became as haggard as he looked when he led Lily by the table
Since he left everything including his title and finances back at the castle, he was then subjugated to eating and drinking only bread and water everyday, he was really living a poor life even worse than the people of the Slums inside the empire
"Hibiki..." Muttered Lily
"If your going to say something, say it quick, then leave" muttered Hibiki as he couldn't even look at Lily straight in the eye
Seeing his reaction, Lily couldn't help but lament over what he had experienced as she then proceeded to talk
"Hibiki... I know you must be suffering from all of this, infact being possessed for a year traumatized you, if only..." Muttered Lily
"You can't do a thing..."
"!!!"
"What's done is done, It can't be changed... I for one is to be blamed, if it wasn't for me, no innocent people would have died... It's all my fault" said Hibiki
For a moment Lily was speechless as she couldn't even utter one word of consolation to him as she then clasped her fingers together and said honestly
"You know... The death of Mia and Alda... I blamed them all to you, I hated you for killing them, they were an important people in my life and yet you took them away from me"
"...."
"But when I saw you shed some tears for them even thought the person possessing your body mocked those tears, I know for one was that you were hurting inside, you the one who was originally owner of the body have to endure the pain of seeing your friends killed... You never really intended to kill them, it's just that you were unable to do anything" said Lily as she started to tear up
"....."
"I blamed you all this time... It's only natural though, I'm a human, it's human nature to find someone to point their frustration, in the end you have to be burdened by all of this... After a year of thnking it through, I then realized how incompetent i am, what an idiot I've become, you were never to be blamed with all those deaths, and yet you were forced to face them"
"..."
"Even though I was once your companion, I was also one of the people who blames you for the death of everyone that shouldn't have died"
At that moment Hibiki suddenly felt a pain in his heart as he kept listening to Lily's words
"I... I'm sorry, I realized it wasn't your fault after all, you left the castle burdened by the fact that you were responsible for everything that happened, all the people that's survived the war blamed all the deaths to you without even minding how you may feel, all they saw was you gaining huge amount of power and yet still let many people die"
At this moment Lily's voice begun to crack as tears filled her eyes, the same could also be said to Hibiki as he held his tears back
"I was supposed to carry the burden with you, I was supposed to be the one to console you and help you in your time of needs, but in the end... I was one of the people who blames you for all of this... I'm sorry Hibiki... I hope you can forgive me" said Lily as she cried
Seeing her like that Hibiki then spoke up
"I'm no hero... In fact I'm just a faker... A person who claimed to be a hero... I accepted the fact that as a hero I will protect the people and their interest, but in the end due to inferiority... I lost my way, obtaining power in exchange for someone else to live inside my body was the dumbest choice I've ever made... I... I just wanted to..." At that tears swelled up from his eyes as Hibiki held his words and started crying over
"I saw them all, even though I was trapped inside, I saw them die... It's my fault that Alda and Mia died, even more so that someone else was now using their dead corpses as puppets... If only I wasn't too obsessed of obtaining power, they wouldn't have died... It's all my fault to begin with" said Hibiki
Seeing him like that Lily stood up from her sit and sat beside Hibiki as she pulled him over and embraced him
"I'm sorry for pushing everything to you..."
"No! It's all originally my fault..."
"You know... Maybe... Just maybe if we could change the past, maybe the outcome for everything would have changed"
"But in the end we can't change anything... Not me, not Kaido, not some God... It's all my fault to begin with so I have to carry it all"
"Hibiki..."
At that moment memories of that past flashed by Hibiki's eyes as such happy memories can't be forgotten
All those emotions swelled up inside of Hibiki and finally broke down like a dam
As tears swelled up on his face she clutched on Lily's clothes as tears swelled up up his sight
"I... I miss them, I wished they were here, they shouldn't have died, it's all my fault! I saw them die before my eyes... I killed them... With this bare hands that's soaked in blood... I..."
At this thought Lily held unto Hibiki tightly as she muttered something that she remembered from her grandfather's words I the past
"You know my grandfather used to tell me "A person isn't defined by his achievements and success in life, what defines him is what's inside of him, his feelings, thoughts, and emotions... Whatever what you may become always remember what you originally are""
After hearing that for some reason something tugged inside of Hibiki as if such words resonated inside his heart, he couldn't even describe such feelings, but it felt like such words has lifted some of the burden in his mind
At the same time Hibiki remembered the times when both him and Lily were happily and shyly talking by the garden, after remembering what seemed to be a distant past, oh how he wished that everything that happened so far was just a dream
He even remembered the time where he offered Lily's to be his wife, and promised her to protect her no matter what
After remembering this he then turned to face Lily as he said
"Lily... Do you remember the time by the garden?"
Hearing that question Lily then tried to answer such question when suddenly Hibiki leaned over and kissed her by the lips as he said
"No matter what happens... I love you" at that moment when he said that Hibiki finally lost consciousness as he was exhausted from all those stress and despair that kept him awake all this time
Cause of Lily's words he felt like he was relieved of some burden as his feelings swelled up again and kissed Lily
At the same time Lily was caught by surprise as she glanced at the sleeping Hibiki who fall asleep by her shoulder
Embracing him tightly Lily then muttered
"Me too... I love you... Forever"
After putting him to bed, Lily then silently closed the door of the cottage after she covered Hibiki with a blanket
When she walked over to Luke, the person on the other half mounted his horse in silence as he said
"Looks like you've taken your time... You must have enjoyed that kiss"
"What?!?! How did you..."
At that moment Lily noticed Luke's snickering smile and realized she was tricked into admitting something
After realizing that Lily mounted her horse with a pout as she talked to Luke
"Hey tell me... Luke... Did you blame Hibiki for the death of Alda and Mia?" She asked
Hearing that Luke was frozen for a bit as he glanced at the cottage before looking at Lily
"At some point yes, I did blame him, but later I realized that he was just a young lad who lost his way... Everyone lost their way atleast once in their life, it's just that Hibiki's way was way more harsher than the others" said Luke as he led the way back to the castle
"Come on! Let's go back before your mother freaks out" advised Luke as he remembered that this escape was illegal
Remembering that Lily the hurriedly follows Luke after taking a glance at the cottage
*********
[Midnight]
When midnight came about 2 am by Earth's time, Hibiki woke up from his sleep and sat upright on his bed
After thinking through for a while he then finally made a decision to make things right and liberate both Alda and Mia from someone's control before quiting as a hero and live a normal life
With newfound resolve after hearing Lily's grandfather's words, Hibiki then looked over at his armor and sword before deciding to put them up
As he inserted his holy hero armor and holy sword, he then realized that his power had reverted back to its original state before Raguel possessed him
With Raguel's disappearance, his powers too disappeared with him
Knowing that he still kept his resolve to liberate Mia and Alda as he plans to apologize for everything to them
Walking out of his cottage fully armored and with the prestige of a hero, Hibiki then begun to kneel on the ground as he prayed for assistance to the god the brought him to this world
When all hope has been lost only by his only choice was to lean on the gods for luck
When he stood up he then proceeded to walk ahead
Unknown to him the God of Justice and law Rabdul, the god who summoned him into this world had heard of his prayer
By his side stood Serafina as she too could finally observe Kaido's movements
With compassion the god of law and justice finally gave assistance for Hibiki at a limited time of 1 month
With that something unexpected change happened to Hibiki as he felt a familiar energy entering his body
Soon after white wings appeared behind his back as Raguel's power was given to him by Rabdul for a months time
"This is..."
Recognizing such overwhelming power, Hibiki finally felt like he could save both Alda and Mia from their suffering
With this additional strength he finally released his power which cause a huge pillar of light to shot out from the sky
The moment this appeared all eyes look over at that towering power as both Lily, Luke and Evelyn recognized such power
But looking at it's direction Lily and Luke realized that for some reason Hibiki was finally making his move
With a few flaps of his heavy angelic wings Hibiki then zoomed off the horizon planning to entering the fray
As for Lily who saw all this, she then clasped her hands together as she prayed
"Please come back and be safe..."
*********
[Beastman Country]
Walking by the hallway Alduin was now not the same as before as his right arm lost all the nerves it felt after the war, apparently he actually received a huge damage from over-exhausting himself and pushing his limits to the critical
Due to that his nerves broke down and he had to rely to a nerve sensory machinery to make him able to regain the feeling in his right arm
But after the war he somehow felt not contented by it as he somehow changed and avoided meeting any woman for atleast a few weeks by now.
Just as he planned to take a rest in his room, he suddenly felt a presence in the hallway as his eyes constricted and he himself pointed a gun towards the corridor
But when he looked over he saw Hibiki with wings and aura similar to Raguel
"Raguel?"
At first Alduin mistook him for someone else but them when he saw Hibiki's attitude he immediately found out that this was a different person
"I see your Hibiki... What do you want from me?" Asked Alduin as he showed his machine supported right arm
"I need your help" said Hibiki
*********
[Elven Nation]
Inside the spacious balcony together with Horus, Cara, and Queen Vivian, Elijah was at most having the best time of his peaceful life when suddenly he hear the flap of songs and the sound of engine above them
When all of them looked over they saw Hibiki hovering with his angelic wings and Alduin hovering with his combat armor
After seeing this Horus looked over at Queen Vivian and Cara as he said
"It's time..."
As for Elijah he then looked over and immediately knew it was Hibiki controlling the body not Raguel through the interface, cause of that his ill will vanished
"What are you guys doing here? Asked Elijah who seemed to have matured a bit
At that moment Hibiki said
"Elijah... I need you help"