The Legendary Midnight

Lozzaro was a man of great focus; he always deals with his problems at hand systematically.

He never skips a task just because it becomes time consuming or delays his plans.

When he sets his mind to complete his tasks and move his plans forward, he would always do it.

The Adventurers who work under him knew that, they never once doubted Lozzaro's actions, if Lozzaro tells them to die, they would do it.

Lozzaro was a talent that various cities searched for, but unfortunately for them, Lozzaro's home Marlov is the one who has his loyalty.

He always looked for someone else's back even if the person does not ask for his help.

If there is a parent figure for Marlov, then Lozzaro is surely the man that every single person looks up to.

After his years of battling in the frontlines against the common invasions in Marlov's borders, he eventually earned the recognition of the Kingdom and various neighboring continents.

His good work is finally up on the light where everyone could see.

He was then crowned as a titled Hero, the Melancholy, as chosen by him when he rejected his initial title, Sky's Mage.

After his years of effort, he has now reached the pinnacle of adventuring.

However, why did he propose such a sad gloomy title? Why did he choose to be unsatisfied even after reaching this far?

He does not have the answer to his own unexplainable feelings; all he could do is feel a massive hole in his heart.

Something must be missing, something or someone or some occurrence that I should never ever forget.

He keeps searching and searching, even his allies found his behavior odd.

What is he searching for after reaching the peak?

Eventually, he remembered the great library of Qua'ar, he must be able to obtain clues there or some form of information regarding a missing memory.

He desperately ran and created gates after gates to reach Qua'ar in the shortest time possible.

Pant pant pant.

Holding his aching knees with both of his hands, he then wiped his sweat and arrived on the gate.

'Finally' he muttered to himself as he calms down his breathing as he heard a voice in his mind.

"I am the librarian, Azazel. What is your purpose for visiting the great library, human?"

"I am an Adventurer by the name of Lozzaro; I wish to find a clue using the endless information in your great library." Lozzaro answered respectfully.

"Very well, however, you must already know the conditions for entering my library." Azazel smiled.

"Yes, I am prepared." Lozzaro closed his eyes.

Shurururururuk.

After arriving at the chaotic space, Azazel briefly explained the rules and finally started her attack.

First Divine Technique: Phantom's Descent!

A phantom of a sword descended towards Lozzaro, he then countered with his own.

Mana Expansion: Lightworld Brilliance!

Skill: Blue Devour!

A massive torrent clashed with the sword phantom until it both exploded and disappeared.

Second Divine Technique: Phantasmal Laceration!

Azazel swung her sword again, a fiercer and bigger sword phantom descended above Lozzaro.

Sure-kill Skill: Aquamarine Annihilation!

Lozzaro tapped the floor with a finger; a massive bluish sword leaking aquatic mana fell down on the phantom sword.

Vuoshhhh! BOOOM!

The collision drained out all the calm mana in the atmosphere, only berserk mana filled the air.

Azazel then smiled before all the colors and mana seeped out of the space.

Lozzaro similarly smiled seeing that the final trade is about to occur.

Third Divine Technique: Transcendental Severance!!!

Sure-kill Skill: Midnight Spellbind!!!

Lozzaro's new sure-kill skill allows himself to manifest aquatic mana into his own body, taking the form of a gigantic aura.

Using his form, he made all the water surrounding him into a sword as big as the descending sword to counter it.

The next moment, a blinding light filled the space, no sound, no colors, no mana, everything seemed to disappear.

This stillness remained for countless seconds feeling like eternity.

The deafening silence could only bring ringing into the ears of Lozzaro as he feels like collapsing.

The only thing he could feel is that he is still contesting with the Archangel's attack and he must not absolutely lose his consciousness.

If mana from his body is cut off when he tries to sleep, he would lose the trial.

He maintained awake and refused to fall.

[…]

"Great job, human. You have succeeded my trials, I shall provide you the information you are looking for, as long as it is available within the pool of knowledge in my library." Azazel applauds the man.

"Thank you Great Librarian, I want nothing special within the library itself, in truth, I have a question to you that I believe you know the answer." Lozzaro said anxiously.

"A question?" Azazel was slightly confused.

"Yes, for the past months, I feel like I have been missing some of my memories, it feels like I cannot feel satisfied even with my biggest achievements without this memory." Lozzaro explained with a gloomy tone.

"Hmm, let's see. I will try to use my World Crystal on you to see the structure of your memories, to confirm if you indeed have lost a fragment of it." Azazel walked Lozzaro into the room.

Just as Azazel was configuring the World Crystal, she stumbled and felt an extreme dizziness.

It was like a crack formed in her head when she controlled the strands of mana.

"Great Librarian! Are you okay? Is there something wrong?" Lozzaro asked anxiously.

"You… you are right… we are indeed missing our memories…" Azazel smiled bitterly as she regains her calm.

"Missing memories…" Lozzaro quietly muttered.

"Here, you will understand better." Azazel stretched out her hand into the World Crystal and one into Lozzaro's forehead.

Azazel transferred a fraction of Azazel's memories into Lozzaro via the World Crystal.

Vuimmm!

'!!!'

Lozzaro was shocked and even teared up when he saw the lost memories.

"Veil… How could I even forget…" Lozzaro soon realized as the lost fragments of his mind return to him.

After exchanging a few more information, Lozzaro travelled back directly into the city of Marlov with his improved mana after receiving guidance from Azazel.

He informed the members of his Adventurer alliance, Midnight, of their mission to restore Veil's honor through their own hard work.

They do not have the power to restore everyone's memories of Veil and he would not dare ask Azazel to restore everyone's memories; however, he could use his Hero status to slowly but surely build Veil's status back even if it is not close to the original.

Doing this voluntary work, he visited every city he could think of that knows of Veil, he spread through stories in which people believed because he was a known Hero.

Various Midnight officials spread on different parties to expand the scope of their work, they are all doing this for their leader and their own honor.

Midnight continued their work for years of their career, hunting monsters on the side.

If there is a subjugation quest issued for them, not all of them would respond, a single party is strong enough to repel strong monsters.

Spreading Veil's honor is more important for them, since she was the one who unified all of them and even saved the entire continent from falling under the Gaia.

More and more countries started recognizing Lozzaro's efforts and even ensure to put Lozzaro, Veil and Midnight on their history books.

Through this, their names would not die even through time, for as long as the knowledge is being passed down, their achievements will not fade out.

This is the people's way of recognizing their efforts.

After more years have passed, Lozzaro, now with a completely white hair and beard, sat down in front of the graves of his men.

"Thank you for your service everyone…" He wiped his tears before digging one more spot for a grave; he then tossed his hat and his robe into the space he dug.

He then left his staff floating above his supposed grave, he also cast a spell on the ground around him to soften it.

He gently lied down on the space before closing his eyes and facing death through time.

Eventually, he lost his consciousness as he drifted into the eternal sleep called death.

The ground soon caved in and buried him, the spell was then cancelled, the floating staff stabbed into the ground, just above his grave.

This staff will serve as a memoire for him and his achievements.

On this hill, where the high officials of Midnight Adventurer alliance were buried, their great stories were passed down into history.

Potentially traversing futures they would not have imagined in their lives.

[…]

Veil travelled with Elliot and his knights, they visited various cities first to check out their states and affairs.

They would also join subjugation quests and repel dungeons on the side.

Veil did not even join the battles, she just watched Elliot's techniques, which she was of course, truly amazed.

Elliot did not have guidance on his techniques, he developed it on his own; however, to some extent, he could already damage an opponent's magic circuits.

This is an extremely dangerous technique, because once that a creature's magic circuits are completely destroyed, it will not be possible anymore to restore or repair it.

Small cuts would still mend through mana control and time, but large amounts of damages will be unrecoverable.

If Elliot learns to cut off his opponent's mana supply via their magic circuits, no one would stand a chance against him.

This is also the reason why Veil only watched quietly.

After travelling and going in combats for another 3 days or so, they finally started travelling straight into the capital, Duran.

Elliot also shared a tale of the Midnight, the strongest known Adventurer alliance established in the history of Adventurers.

They are regarded as the Legendary alliance who had members capable of becoming Heroes, they just never went on with the formalities.

It was said that they are satisfied with their commander's title and achievements alone, being proud as if it was their own.

But it is true, Lozzaro's achievements are because of them as well.

Veil only listened in a gloomy silence, nobody remembers her anyways.

"Hey, do you want to see the plaza? I am sure you are going to be interested when you see the statue." Elliot asked Veil.

"Mhm, sure." Veil nodded, she has not introduced her name yet.

Walking far in the distance, Veil recognized one of the statues, which is Lozzaro on his peak, however, due to the angle, Lozzaro's statue could be seen blocking the statue next to him.

After circling around the statue to see its front, Veil stared in shock when she saw the identity of the person next to Lozzaro.

Plop. Thud.

She plopped down on her knees, in the body of Runa, and cried in extreme sadness.

Elliot and the others could not understand the reason why the girl accompanying their journey has suddenly cried, but they did not stop her from bringing her emotions up.

They all looked at the statues with revering eyes, wishing they all could meet these timeless existences.

The statue on the left, a robed man standing tall with a staff, engraved the name Lozzaro, commander of the Midnight Adventurer alliance.

The statue on the right, next to Lozzaro, is a woman wearing a coat, holding an odd shaped longsword on her hand, engraved the name Veil, the savior of Arnelia.