Only Lereon was on his feet as he faced the former candidates and members of the Grand Order. The situation looked anything but good to him and yet, he did not give up.

He summoned roots and surrounded the enemies with them, letting those roots run wildly at them.

"He’s crazy...!" Werena remarked with a frown as she dodged those roots.

"..."

Eliza remained calm while she swung her ax at the attacks.

However, the candidates had more trouble than them. They began to shoot their magic desperately at the roots but some roots appeared as if they were indestructible.

"Gah!"

It was only a matter of time until someone was finally caught. Roots wrapped themselves around the body of their victim and stabbed the person shallowly with their peaks.

The attack did not hurt, however, if one knew about Lereon’s ability, then there would have been a bigger reason to panic.

"...!"

The first victim could not say anything and was just fidgeting as the life force was sucked out.

"Don’t!" Loram shouted frantically when he saw someone else hurrying over to the victim to help.

However, the person did not listen to Loram.

Instead, the former candidate blindly ran toward her comrade but she failed to realize that she, too, was surrounded by roots that quickly restrained her.

"Hngh!" she groaned when the roots dug into her body.

Loram turned back to Lereon whose expression was indifferent.

Their group consisted of 8 people but Lereon already trimmed them down to 6.

"Lereon!" Loram yelled.

He gathered wind in one hand and launched a horizontal hurricane at Lereon.

Lereon, in turn, erected a wall made out of roots and vines but the wind force was still too strong.

He was blown away and crashed into a nearby building.

"..."

Loram keenly watched the spot where Lereon crashed in until he noticed long and firm thorny stalks coming his way.

It was not just one stalk but dozens of stalks. They spread in different directions, attacking the others as well.

"!"

Loram quickly realized that he averted his eyes from the spot.

"Ahhh!"

Then, he turned his head in the direction of the scream only to see Lereon holding down the candidate for the position of the plant mage. In other words, Lereon’s candidate.

"Was it my fault for choosing you...?" Lereon wondered as he pressed the candidate’s head further into the ground.

His body was covered in dust and dirt. He was also bleeding but he still remained cool.

"Ugh...!"

Lereon’s black ring on his right index finger started to glow when the candidate began to feel nauseous.

Soon, the candidate did not react anymore.

"..."

5 left.

But starting now, it would not be so easy for Lereon anymore.

Eliza charged at Lereon.

At first, he managed to dodge her ax but Eliza quickly adapted and followed with a heavy kick, sending him up.

There, Werena was waiting for him.

Countless small water drops were floating around her.

"Die."

Once she gave the signal, those water drops were shot at Lereon at a high speed.

Many of those missed Lereon but some hit them and put holes in his body, albeit those holes were tiny.

"I will be the one to finish you!" Loram declared as he flew to Lereon from the ground.

As he charged upward at Lereon, he assembled wind in his right retracted hand.

"..."

The exhausted Lereon noticed his next move, however, his body could not react in time anymore.

"Keh...!"

Lereon received a wind slash across his body, losing a lot of blood in the process.

Following Loram’s attack, the candidates for the ice and earth mage went after him in midair.

Catapulting himself up with the help of the earth mage candidate, the ice mage candidate created an ice sword and swung it at Lereon.

The ice blade cut him in the trapezius muscle deeply.

"...?"

The ice mage candidate tried to pull the blade out but it was stuck.

"Ack!"

Although being exhausted, Lereon grabbed his enemy’s neck and activated his life-draining ability.

The candidate also grabbed Lereon and tried to freeze his arms but he felt weaker and weaker with every single second.

"..."

Eliza, Werena and Loram attacked his back. Especially, Eliza’s attack with her ax was fatal.

The candidate was let go by Lereon, however, he also did not move anymore as Lereon used his relic to the maximum, enabling him to drain much life force as fast as possible.

But shortly after the candidate, Lereon fell, too.

He landed badly right before the earth mage candidate.

"..."

Naturally, the candidate was scared as Lereon single-handedly took down almost the entire group.

He vigilantly looked over Lereon’s blood-smeared face.

At the same time, the three in the air quickly descended down, throwing their magic at Lereon.

However, Lereon opened his eyes suddenly. He created a thick wall with roots to protect him from the magic attacks coming from above and also tackled the last candidate.

Stone pillars emerged from the ground and hit Lereon from every angle.

He felt his consciousness slowly fading away but he also knew that he could not stop yet.

While he was getting attacked, he secretively summoned small and thin roots and let them wrap themselves around the candidate.

"Hngh!"

That candidate kicked his legs wildly as he was getting strangled and drained by the roots.

"Lereon!"

Loram blew the roots, which protected Lereon, away.

"...?!"

Lereon suddenly backed away from the candidate after he noticed something strange coming from his relic.

"That’s enough!" Loram screamed wrathfully.

He rammed his wind-engulfed hand into the already wounded back of Lereon.

"..."

Lereon slowly looked down on Loram’s bloody fingers which peeked out from his abdomen.

Blood gushed out from his mouth.

"He really managed to kill all those candidates..." Werena commented flabbergastedly.

Realizing that Lereon did not move anymore Loram pulled out his hand.

"Damnit...!" he cursed quietly, looking at the motionless body of the earth mage candidate.

In the meantime, Lereon fought against closing his eyes.

His life flashed before him as his body wobbled to the back and front.

Lereon Pantl.

He was the youngest ever to join the Grand Order.

He grew up like a normal child in a normal family in Malnor. Lereon would always practice magic on his own, keeping it a secret from everyone, including his family as his parents did not want him to chase a dangerous career, involving fighting monsters and demons.

But when it was time to choose an academy, he chose a local magic academy. His family was against it at first but they then hoped that Lereon would change his mind after witnessing mages and magic in reality. However, everyone soon realized that Lereon was exceptional, even compared to the teachers there.

And when he went out for his first mission, he took down countless high-ranking monsters by himself. Following that, one article after another was made about him.

In the same year, he got his hands on a relic, raising his reputation even more until even the Grand Order from back then reached out to him. Thus, he joined their ranks as a 15-year-old at the same time when Olivia Rostanta, someone who was just a few years older than him, was named the captain of the Grand Order.

"..."

Lereon smirked.

10 years had passed since then, but it felt like yesterday when Olivia scouted him.

"...?"

Loram noticed flowers, grass and roots emerging from the ground below them.

"Tch! Why won’t you die already?!"

Loram gathered wind in both hands which he both retracted.

"I won’t forgive you for dragging our name through the mud..." Lereon muttered.

Even though his body did not want to move anymore, Lereon forced himself one last time.

He turned around to Loram and tried to get up as he thrust his palm toward him.

Simultaneously, Loram launched his wind attack as well.

"!"

Eliza quickly erected a thick wall around herself and Werena.

It came to a great wind explosion, blowing away almost everything.

The walls that Eliza summoned broke down, too, but she and Werena were unhurt and looked at Loram who was in the center of the enormous crater.

The buildings around them were away, too, without a trace being left.

Eliza sighed.

"Although this is our win, we lost too much." she stated sternly.

"..."

Werena looked saddened at the standing figure of Loram who was pierced by stalks.

Those two could only see the stabbed back of Loram but they did not see what was in front of him.

There, Lereon lied on his back, coloring a small flowerbed in his blood.

Loram did not move an inch of his body nor did his eyes blink, however, he could not fall down as Lereon’s stalks kept him standing.

Lereon passed away with a smile.

And even though he died, he died with pride as he was at least able to defend his title as a true member of the Grand Order.

However, if he had one last wish, then it would have been to see his comrades one last time.