Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

In the end, Leon somehow managed to use all that mountain of mithril in just three days. He had to use all the mana his body could absorb and emit per second, but he succeeded. However, that had a price…

"What is this…" Leon said while his whole body was trembling even though he couldn't feel anything.

"That is what happens when you emit too much mana through your whole body for too long," Sekundez said already in her evolved form. "Although you aren't a machine, you too emit heat and energy. Well, given you natural healing abilities, you should be back to normal in just a few hours."

Congratulations! The skill Summon Sekundez's Fragment evolved to Summon Great Sekundez's Fragment.

Cost: 500 mana per second

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Accelerate has reached the max level.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Dark Rocket.

Cost: 5000 mana

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Dark Volley.

Cost: 5000 mana

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Vortex of Darkness.

Cost: 5000 mana per second

You obtained 01 status points.

In the end, there were so many skills one could learn using only one element. The number of spells Leon could learn of the darkness attribute from the shadowy figure ended, but he still had a lot of memory to read.

Regardless, Sekundez's new appearance made Leon frown. She and Ilyana were quite similar. However, Sekundez's hair wasn't red, and she didn't have pointy ears as well. Instead, her hair had a silver tone, and unlike the other spirits, she was wearing a white dress instead of armor.

It was quite a good sight for his sore eyes, but Leon didn't feel like watching her. It would be too creepy to watch an ally like that, and besides, it was time to offer Darya a proper funeral.

Without wasting time, Leon returned to Earth, but only to take Darya's body back to Miebos. Although she said that she didn't like that place all that much, she fought and died trying to protect it. So, her place was there. In the end, Leon even summoned the Donan from his memories to participate in the funeral. He didn't owe him anything, but he had promised that he would protect her… if anything, Leon deserved to hear his complaints, but after hearing from him what had happened and while watching the state of his world, he couldn't bring himself to blame Leon. Donan only stood there in silence while he let the tears fall…

Leon's body was still numb, but he still could feel a cold inside his body. If anger makes his body hotter, sadness was so cold that Leon couldn't help but wonder his resistances weren't protecting him from that.

"Did you kill him?" Donan suddenly asked.

"No… he isn't of any use for me dead," Leon replied. "I'm absorbing his memories and assimilating his powers. Eventually, he will be just an empty shell. As long as he can make me obtain status points, he will stay alive."

"… Can I ask you one more thing?" Donan hesitated.

"I won't summon her…" Leon said without a hint of hesitation. "Even if I tell her what happened, she won't be the same person. Just like you, she would be only a copy based on my memories."

Leon didn't want to fool himself by playing with magic like that. He failed, so he didn't deserve to see those who died. Leon shouldn't play with their lives either since their existence would only be temporary.

"This will be the last time I will summon you," Leon declared.

In the end, Leon stayed there until his body returned to normal, and without saying anything, he canceled his Mind Summoning. Before leaving, Leon watched one more time on the island where he buried Darya. It was the first island they found, and spent some months training together. That place hadn't changed one bit, so he felt pretty satisfied with having her funeral there instead of the continent where he could only find ruins.

Leon felt like he should stay in that place for a while more, but he couldn't since his other friends also needed his help. Leon couldn't fail with them as he failed with Darya. If he tries hard, maybe Leon could develop a skill that would grant him the chance to summon her soul at least to talk with her for a while. At the very least, Leon wanted to ask for forgiveness. However, Leon wanted to think that she was in a good place right now, and by summoning her, he would only make her recall the memories of her life where he suffered a lot and had been treated like a tool for decades. It was just a possibility, but Leon really wanted to believe that was the case.

He more or less knew it was useless, but at some point, he asked Sekundez if he or she could reverse time to the point where the body had a spirit. But as expected, it was impossible. The moment a person dies, their spirit loses the connection with their body. When that happens, the spirit and body become two things… even if Leon could spend all the mana in the universe, he would never be able to bring her spirit back.

There was a chance that he could bring her back by studying the method the angels tried but sacrificing the mana of several worlds was necessary. Leon knew that Darya wouldn't want to sacrifice the potential and the life of six worlds to bring her back… she was that kind of person.

"Darya, I failed you," Leon said. "But I promise you something… I will hunt and kill all the bastards involved with the system, or I will die trying. That way, you and everyone else who died will rest in peace. You have my word.