The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 59

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 59. Midterm Evaluation (4)
Eight years have passed since my brother’s death.
Yet I think of him every day.
And every day, I regret.
I wish—how I wish—that I had died in his place instead.
If only.
Then perhaps I wouldn’t be living each day crushed beneath this suffocating guilt.
But wishes are merely wishes.
All I could do was torment myself by dwelling on the irreversible past, carving away at my own heart.
I had to grow stronger.
Reach higher.
Ascend to greater heights.
Until I became that radiant sun shining in the vast sky above.
Until I could replace the name ‘Yuren Helios’.
I could not stop.
I could not retreat.
Because this was the ‘price’ I had to pay for my sin.
And so.
Every day, I wielded my blade until blood seeped from my palms.
Every session, I trained my sword until I collapsed, retching.
No matter how agonizing, how exhausting, how unbearable it became.
I never gave up.
Perhaps the heavens acknowledged my efforts.
My swordsmanship improved by leaps and bounds with each passing day.
As my skills grew, I dared to hope.
If I could become ‘Yuren Helios’ instead of ‘Yurina Helios’.
Then Mother would love me again as she once did—or so I believed.
-Remarkable! At merely fifteen years old, to surpass renowned heroes and claim the runner-up position at the Empire’s Swordsmanship Tournament—truly worthy of the ‘Sun Swordsman’s’ legacy!
The fruit of my labor arrived after three years.
I, not yet enrolled at the Hero Academy, had secured the runner-up position in a tournament where active heroes themselves competed.
Surely Mother would acknowledge me now.
I returned to the Helios Mansion with buoyant steps.
Inside a spacious room of the mansion.
As I entered the door brimming with anticipation, Mother’s voice fell upon me—cold and distant.
-Runner-up? You placed second?
-Yes! I lost by the narrowest margin in the final, but still….
-You’re making a fuss over merely placing second?
Mother’s eyes filled with disappointment as she clicked her tongue.
-Yuren would have won.
Mother caressed my brother’s photograph, her voice wistful as she sighed.
—Sigh. If only that child had lived….
At the faint murmur that reached my ears, my shoulders flinched involuntarily.
I clenched my trembling fists and bit down on my lips.
—I’m… sorry.
—No need to apologize. I never had any expectations of you from the start anyway.
—….
—You carry the blood of the Helios Family, yet you don’t even possess the stigma of the ‘Sun God’. What could you possibly accomplish?
Each word that fell from my mother’s lips became a sharp blade, tearing through my chest.
—If you’re finished speaking, leave.
Slam.
The door shut harshly.
I sank down before the firmly closed door, my voice cracking as I begged endlessly for forgiveness.
I’m sorry.
I’ll do better next time.
I’ll work harder, and harder, and harder.
I’ll become first.
I won’t lose to anyone.
So, Mother.
Please… please just….
“Shrieeeeek!”
“Tch…!”
My mind, lost in reverie, snapped back to reality at the beast’s piercing cry.
I watched the unicorn charging toward me, snorting with unbridled excitement, my eyes gleaming.
‘This is my chance!’
I drew my sword arm back as if pulling a bowstring, concentrating my mana at the blade’s tip.
Golden light gathered at the sword’s edge.
Solar Sword Form Six: Radiant Brilliance.
A technique that fired the condensed blade energy from the sword’s tip at distance—and the highest-difficulty, most devastating form of the Solar Sword I could currently wield.
Whoooooosh!
The golden light coalesced at the blade’s tip, tearing through the air as it shot forward at terrifying speed.
Just as the golden blade energy was about to pierce through the bell hanging around the unicorn’s neck.
“Not so fast!”
Dale, who had been chasing after the unicorn, deflected the golden blade energy.
Clang!
“Ugh…!”
Dale was driven backward, swallowing hard.
Perhaps it was because the mana contained within the golden blade energy was so brutally overwhelming.
The impact, as if I’d struck a massive hunk of metal, tore the flesh from his palms.
Dale stared down at his bleeding palms and clicked his tongue in frustration.
“Damn it, your mana control is ridiculously strong.”
Under normal circumstances, I would have finely adjusted my mana to disperse the impact, but having rushed here so frantically, I didn’t have the luxury of such finesse.
“Dale…!”
“I told you. It wouldn’t be easy.”
I wiped the blood trickling from my palm onto my pants and leveled my sword.
“Move aside, Dale.”
“What if I refuse?”
….
Yuren glared at me fiercely, his lips pressed into a thin line.
“…If you refuse, then I have no choice.”
A golden torrent of mana swirled around Yuren’s body.
Despite the considerable distance between us, the mana storm was so potent that my skin prickled.
‘This feels stronger than when we sparred before.’
I’d thought his mana output was absurd back then, but I never imagined he could draw even more power from within.
Yuren opened his mouth quietly as I let out a hollow laugh.
“Don’t blame me if you get hurt.”
Yuren stomped down hard and swung his sword.
Rumble rumble rumble! Boom boom boom!!
A deafening roar as if thunder itself were descending.
Each swing of the sword wreathed in golden aura carved deep craters into the earth, shaking the ground as though an earthquake had struck.
Trees dozens of meters tall were uprooted and rolled across the ground, while boulders larger than a man shattered into gravel.
“Shrieeeek!”
Even the one-horned beast that had charged at Yuren, witnessing this brutish display of destruction like some mythical giant on a rampage, hastily widened the distance, snorting heavily.
Rumble rumble! Boom! Crack crack!
Who in their right mind would look at this and think he was wielding a ‘sword’?
The surrounding earth overturned, and dust rose in thick clouds.
“Tch!”
I used Wind Step to evade Yuren’s blade strikes, my eyes narrowing.
‘I always knew he possessed absurd amounts of mana.’
But there had to be limits—this was practically inducing natural disasters with a sword.
‘Yet something….’
I kept my eyes narrowed as I weaved through the golden sword auras raining down from all sides.
‘He’s far too hasty.’
The power was formidable, but that was all.
Yuren’s sword was filled with urgency, as though he were being chased by ghosts.
The fluidity that had once drawn gasps of admiration had vanished without a trace, and the subtle precision that had once probed for openings was buried beneath brute force.
‘If anything, he’s easier to fight now.’
I couldn’t fathom what was driving Yuren to such desperation.
Facing him now wasn’t particularly difficult.
“Hah, hah! Ugh… damn it!”
Perhaps he was irritated by the way I dodged his attacks like a pesky fly.
Yuren gasped for breath, spewing out a string of curses.
“How long do you plan to keep running?!”
“Until you come to your senses.”
“…Are you saying I’m not in my right mind?”
“Looking at you now, anyone would think the same thing.”
“That’s….”
Yuren’s words trailed off, struck by the truth of it.
“…I can’t help it.”
Yuren muttered in a small voice, his head bowed.
That’s right.
There was no way I could maintain my composure.
‘I can’t lose first place.’
I tightened my grip on the sword hilt and bit my lip.
This was the first time I’d felt such anxiety during an exam.
Ever since I’d entered Hero Academy as the top student, being first had been so natural for me.
For the past two years, there hadn’t been a single Candidate who could compete with me for the top position.
But.
‘If it’s Dale….’
Twice a week.
Learning swordplay from Dale, I could tell he wasn’t merely exceptional at ‘swordplay’ alone.
A seasoning that didn’t seem like a Candidate at all.
A boldness as if he possessed multiple lives.
Quick judgment and execution to match.
To the point where I wondered how he’d been hiding his strength all this time—Dale possessed abilities that were nothing short of miraculous.
‘The only thing I surpass Dale in is magical capacity.’
And so.
When Dale mentioned aiming for first place this time, my heart couldn’t help but sink.
At this rate, I’ll lose the top position.
Tension became anxiety, and anxiety became fear.
‘If I fail to take first even once….’
A nightmare surfaces.
That day, eight years ago.
The memory of the day the sun called ‘Yuren Helios’ fell.
-If only you… if only you didn’t exist! You didn’t eeeexist!!!
A scream that seemed to tear the world apart.
The sound of a flowerpot shattering.
Mother’s hands strangling my throat.
The agony of suffocation.
Those bloodshot eyes staring down at me, eyes, eyes.
“…I can’t.”
Yuren gripped his sword and cried out as if wailing.
“I… absolutely cannot lose!”
Not a single defeat was permitted.
Not a single mistake could be forgiven.
Because that was what Yuren Helios was—a radiant sun shining high in that lofty sky.
Kuguguguguguung!
The raging torrent of mana shook the surrounding earth.
The only advantage I held over Dale was sheer mana volume.
‘Then.’
I had no choice but to crush him with overwhelming mana.
“Hraaaaaa!”
With a fierce battle cry, I swung my blade.
Solar Sword Form Six, Variant Technique—White Light Wave.
The golden sword energy condensed at the blade’s tip became a colossal tidal wave, sweeping across the earth.
“…Yuren.”
Dale, who had been watching Yuren with eyes sunken deep in thought, furrowed his brow as if troubled, gazing at the golden tidal wave bearing down upon him with terrifying momentum.
“Ha.”
A faint sigh escaped Dale’s lips as he continued his deliberation.
Dale planted his feet to evade the incoming golden tidal wave.
He moved directly behind the unicorn beast.
Just as the unicorn beast was moving to dodge the golden tidal wave, Dale severed its leg with his sword and used the creature as a shield to block the golden sword energy.
“Shrieeeeek!”
The unicorn beast let out a pitiful shriek as its entire body was mangled by the golden sword energy’s tidal wave.
And then.
Crack!
The bell hanging around the unicorn beast’s neck shattered.
-Ding!
[Candidate Yuren Helios has successfully achieved the bonus objective.]
[Candidates who successfully achieve the bonus objective will rank first in the midterm evaluation regardless of their score.]
“Ah.”
Yuren’s eyes widened as he saw the message displayed on his Hero Watch.
“…Thank goodness.”
Whether it was from using too much mana or from the sudden release of tension.
Yuren collapsed right there on the spot.
“Mom… I… did it…”
Yuren, lying on the ground and speaking with difficulty, slowly closed his eyes.
“…”
Dale approached the unconscious Yuren slowly.
After lifting Yuren into his arms and laying him down on a nearby rock, Dale clicked his tongue.
“…Yuren.”
I thought I knew Yuren better than anyone else.
He was a cherished comrade and an irreplaceable friend.
That’s why.
I believed Yuren would take it in stride.
I expected him to laugh it off with a casual smile, even if I stole his first-place position.
I trusted it would even serve as good motivation for him, benefiting us both.
“Know him well, my ass.”
I made judgments on my own.
I made assessments on my own.
Knowing nothing, I strutted about as if I understood everything.
“…You weren’t shining on your own—you were struggling desperately just to shine.”
Was he trapped in some terrible nightmare?
Looking down at my friend muttering “I can’t lose” in a voice so faint it seemed to break, I exhaled a deep sigh.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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