Victor’s eyes opened.

For a single moment, purple irises stared at the darkening sky. Blank. Unseeing. Still lost somewhere between consciousness and death.

Then something happened.

Boom!

Immense light element burst from Victor’s body like a supernova. The explosion was not destructive. It was gentle. Warm. Like sunlight breaking through storm clouds after a century of rain.

Golden light poured upward into the heavens. Then it began falling.

Rain.

Healing rain.

Every drop carried the power of an Adept Rank spell. Greater Heal. The spell Victor had comprehended but never consciously cast. His body, operating on pure instinct, had detected the healing energy Merlin provided. A tiny crack had opened in his broken circuits. Enough to let the spell flow.

And now it would not stop.

The golden rain fell across the entire battlefield. Every human within sight was touched by its warmth.

A young warrior with a gaping wound in his stomach watched in disbelief as the flesh knitted itself back together. His pain vanished. His strength returned.

A mage with both legs broken felt bones realign and heal. She stood up for the first time in hours and cried.

A squad of soldiers who had been dragging their dying comrade watched as color returned to his pale face. His eyes opened. His chest rose steadily.

The rain continued falling.

Even the Sages felt its effects. Minor wounds closed. Exhaustion lifted slightly. Their tired eyes widened with wonder.

Sage Merlin, collapsed on the ground, felt energy trickle back into his empty core. He laughed weakly.

"The boy is healing us while unconscious," he muttered. "What kind of monster has humanity raised?"

---

Victor spat another mouthful of blood.

His body went limp again. His eyes closed again. His breathing slowed to almost nothing.

But the rain continued.

Diana held him tighter. Her tears mixed with the golden raindrops falling around them. Her forehead pressed against his.

"No need to take all the burden yourself," she whispered into his ear. Her voice was barely audible. A secret meant only for him.

"I am alive, you know."

A sob escaped her throat.

"Your princess is alive."

Victor’s lips twitched. Almost a smile. Almost. Even unconscious, even dying, even broken beyond reason, he had heard her.

Diana saw the twitch. Fresh tears poured from her eyes.

"You impossible boy," she whispered.

---

Then it happened.

Thud.

The sound of a single knee hitting blood soaked earth.

A young soldier from the northern front knelt facing Victor. His armor was shattered. His face was covered in scars both old and new. His eyes, red from crying, stared at the unconscious figure in Diana’s arms.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

More knees hit the ground. Soldiers. Mages. Warriors. Healers. Scouts. Support corps. Everyone.

One by one, they fell to their knees.

Not because they were forced. Not because of pressure. Not because of fear.

Because of gratitude.

Because of awe.

Because a single boy had walked into a battlefield covered in blood and monsters and had refused to stop. Because he had fought for three hours without consciousness. Because he had killed thousands of Elite monsters alone. Because even now, dying, broken, fading, he was still healing them.

Thud.

An Elite Rank general knelt. His weathered face, hardened by decades of war, crumpled like paper. Tears fell from his eyes and splashed onto his armored knees.

Thud.

A young woman from the Royal Magus Academy knelt. The same woman who had called Victor the guardian of humanity. Her lips moved in silent prayer.

Thud.

A child from the support corps, no older than fourteen, knelt beside the body of a monster Victor had killed. The child had been saved by one of Victor’s swords hours ago. He had been carrying water to wounded soldiers ever since. Now he knelt and pressed his forehead to the muddy ground.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound spread across the battlefield like rolling thunder. Thousands of knees. Thousands of grateful hearts.

Except for the Sages.

They remained standing. Not because they refused to kneel. Because their knees would not bend. Their bodies, exhausted and wounded, had locked in place. But their eyes spoke what their bodies could not.

Respect.

Boundless, endless, overwhelming respect.

---

"Thank you, Your Highness, Victor Walker."

The words came from a single voice. A young man. The Adept Rank genius who had been saved from three Adept monsters earlier. His voice carried across the silent battlefield.

Then another voice joined.

"Thank you, Your Highness, Victor Walker."

A woman. The Apprentice mage whose life had been saved by a sword from hundreds of meters away.

Another.

"Thank you, Your Highness, Victor Walker."

An old soldier who had seen five wars. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Another.

"Thank you, Your Highness, Victor Walker."

A girl who had watched her entire squad die before Victor’s swords cleared the area.

The voices merged. They became a chorus. A song. A prayer.

"Thank you, Your Highness, Victor Walker!"

Thousands of voices shouted the words together. The sound echoed across the mountains. Across the plains. Across the blood soaked earth where monsters lay piled like mountains.

The live broadcast carried the sound to every corner of the world.

In underground bunkers, civilians wept openly.

In hospitals, wounded soldiers sat up in their beds and pressed their hands to their hearts.

In homes across the Federation, families held each other and cried.

A boy. A single boy. Had done all of this.

---

Sage Lyria watched the scene with wet eyes. Her silver hair hung limply around her shoulders. Her elegant features, usually composed and regal, were streaked with tears.

"A true man among men," she whispered.

"Why didn’t he born a few centuries earlier," she murmured, "when I still had a chance?"

Beside her, Sage Elyndros choked back a laugh that turned into a sob. He wiped his eyes with the back of his bloody hand.

"Control yourself, old woman," he said gruffly.

But his voice cracked.

Lyria looked at him. Her lips curved into a sad smile.

"You are crying too, Elyndros."

"I have dust in my eyes."

"There is no dust."

"Then I am allergic to heroes."

Lyria laughed. It was a wet, broken sound. She reached over and squeezed his hand.

They watched the golden rain fall. They watched the thousands kneel. They watched a broken boy lie in a woman’s arms while the entire world thanked him.

---

Sage Elyndros stepped forward. His voice carried across the battlefield with the weight of authority.

"Diana."

She looked up. Her face was a mess of tears and blood. Her ocean blue eyes were red and swollen.

"Take him with you," Elyndros said.

He turned to look at the horizon where distant roars still echoed. The S Rank monsters were not all dead. The beast tide would not end until every last one was hunted down.

"We will hunt the rest of the S Rank monsters," Elyndros continued. His voice hardened. "The beast tide will not end otherwise. You stay with him."

Diana nodded. She could not speak. Her throat was too tight.

She lifted Victor in her arms. His body felt so light. So fragile. This was the boy who had slaughtered thousands of Elite monsters. This was the boy who had made the battlefield kneel. And he weighed almost nothing in her arms.

She turned to leave.

Then she stopped.

She looked down at Victor’s pale face. At his closed eyes. At his blood soaked lips.

Slowly, gently, she leaned down.

She kissed his forehead.

Her lips lingered against his skin. Warm. Soft. Full of promises she could not yet speak.

"Rest now," she whispered against his forehead. "You have done enough."

Then she straightened and flew away.

---

Sage Lyria watched Diana’s retreating figure until it disappeared behind the ruins. She let out a long, shaky breath.

"That boy," she said softly, "has captured more than just Diana’s soul."

Elyndros grunted.

"He captured all of ours."

Lyria nodded. Tears fell from her chin and splashed onto the blood soaked ground.

"Indeed," she whispered. "Indeed he has."