Chapter 483: The Day She Took Her Revenge [Part 2]

The Day She Took Her Revenge [Part 2]

They had to confront it with their own hands.

Only then could they finally turn around and leave it behind.

Rias lowered her eyes.

She didn’t argue with Leon.

There was nothing she could say.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe this was something only Selena could resolve.

Rias had spent so long wanting to protect the people she cared about that sometimes she forgot there were wounds no one else could heal. Some battles couldn’t be fought for another person. No matter how much you cared. No matter how badly you wanted to help.

Leon slowly exhaled.

The breath left his lungs in a quiet sigh, almost as though he were finally letting go of a weight he had been carrying for years.

Then he lifted his head.

His eyes drifted toward the sky.

The clouds above the battlefield were beginning to break apart.

The violent storm that had swallowed the heavens earlier was finally losing its fury.

Thunder rolled somewhere in the distance.

It was faint now.

Almost peaceful.

The wind had weakened as well. It no longer tore across the battlefield with that savage, merciless force. It merely passed through the ruined land, carrying the lingering smell of smoke and blood with it.

Even the dark clouds seemed to be retreating.

Slowly.

Reluctantly.

As though the sky itself wasn’t quite ready to let the storm end.

Then, through a narrow gap between the clouds, a faint ray of sunlight slipped through.

It touched the battlefield below.

For a brief moment, the destruction looked strangely peaceful.

Broken weapons were scattered across the earth.

Some were buried halfway into the ground. Others lay twisted and shattered beneath the rubble.

Large stones had been thrown across the battlefield.

The earth was stained dark with blood.

Thin trails of smoke still drifted through the air, rising lazily before disappearing into the fading wind.

Leon stood beneath that pale light.

He didn’t move.

He simply watched the sky.

And somehow, that small change above him pulled his thoughts somewhere else.

Far away.

Far back.

To a time when everything had been different.

He remembered the first time Selena had entered the sect.

She had been much younger then.

So young that the sharpness she carried now had not yet fully settled into her features.

Her face still held the softness of youth.

But her eyes...

Leon remembered those eyes.

He could still see them as clearly as if he were looking at her for the first time.

There had been grief inside them.

Anger.

Hatred.

But beneath all of that was something stronger.

Determination.

She had refused to bend.

She had arrived with almost nothing.

No family.

No home.

No place waiting for her.

There was nothing left for her to return to.

She had lost everything that could have given her a reason to look backward.

And yet, somehow, she had continued moving forward.

All she had carried with her was hatred.

And a promise she had made to herself.

Leon still remembered the way she had looked at him that day.

She hadn’t begged him to save her.

She hadn’t asked him to avenge her family.

She hadn’t even asked him to take revenge on her behalf.

What she wanted was much simpler.

Strength.

She wanted enough strength to decide her own fate someday.

That was all.

She didn’t want someone else choosing her path.

She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life waiting for another person to come and save her.

She wanted to be strong enough to stand on her own.

Leon had understood that.

Perhaps that was why he had accepted her.

He had seen something in her back then.

It wasn’t just hatred.

It wasn’t only pain.

He had seen someone desperately trying to hold on to the last piece of herself.

Someone who had lost almost everything but still refused to let the world take the rest.

And at the time, Leon had made her a promise.

One day, she would become strong enough to stand on her own.

Strong enough that no one could decide her future for her.

Strong enough to choose where she wanted to go.

What she wanted to protect.

And what she wanted to leave behind.

Leon slowly shifted his gaze toward Selena again.

The woman standing in the distance was no longer the young girl he had met all those years ago.

She had changed.

Time had changed her.

Pain had changed her even more.

She had endured years of suffering.

She had experienced loss after loss.

She had carried hatred for so long that it could have consumed someone weaker.

There must have been moments when that hatred had nearly swallowed her whole.

Moments when the pain had been easier to embrace than the thought of letting it go.

But she had kept going.

One step at a time.

No matter how painful the road became.

No matter how heavy the past grew.

She had continued walking.

And now...

She was finally standing before the very past that had chained her for so long.

Leon watched her quietly from a distance.

He didn’t call her back.

He didn’t tell her to stop.

He didn’t try to interfere.

For once, there was nothing left for him to do.

He had already given her what she needed.

The rest belonged to Selena.

This was her battle.

Her p a s t.

Her choice.

And perhaps that was the most important thing Leon could give her now.

Not another helping hand.

Not another shield.

Not another person standing between her and the pain.

But the freedom to face it herself.

When Selena had first entered the sect, Leon had promised that one day she would become strong enough to control her own fate.

Back then, that day had seemed impossibly far away.

Almost like a distant dream.

But n o w...

Standing beneath the fading storm, Leon finally understood.

He had kept that promise.