The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Aria could only awkwardly blink.

To Aria, it was just a proper gesture since the following actions that she had to take in order to find out more about Leonis' case could actually come off as insulting and not as prim and proper.

She wanted to give credit to the lost soul. To perform the magic that would hopefully be somehow seen and accepted by the target.

She didn't actually think much of it, so it took her a couple seconds to review back in time and recall the memory.

However, to Leonis, Aria was basically an anomaly within the many others that came to visit the place.

She was the most dedicated, even though the action did not trouble Aria in the slightest. Her spirits were very proficient and flexible, and performing the act was a piece of cake.

Leonis marked Aria's figure since that day because of her actions. It was like means of consolation within his darkest of days.

He set off for his journey right after that, but that did not stop him from hearing Aria's news and updates from time to time due to her increasingly massive popularity.

Due to him paying slightly more attention to Aria's cases, he was able to remember the woman.

"Ah.. yes, I did," Aria acknowledged the man's words. She stopped for a few seconds before adding a few more words. "Leonis.. could I ask you something?" Aria probed.

The man became hesitant, as he backed away as if scared of Aria. However, he suppressed his erratic gestures as he continued to converse with Aria because he had a slightly positive intake on her.

"What. Ask?" Leonis trembled in place, unsure of his decisions.

"Why are you here?" It was a very simple question.

However, Leonis backed away and cowered in fear.

Fear of what?

The one that imposed everything on the man?

A being who hurt him?

Aria waited for the man to calm down because there was clearly something wrong with Leonis' reaction. He was not comfortable in recalling it, let alone discussing it.

"It's fine if you do not want to tell me," Aria decided to state.

If Leonis became provoked because of her excessive probing and went over his emotional limit, he might just go berserk and cause a large amount of damage.

Even though Leonis was in this state, and clearly weakened from his prime state, Aria still did not know to what extent the man preserved his power to.

After all, he was still able to create this dungeon's stages. Although the earlier stages were simple and easy to take care of with just a high stamina, the slime cluster was a headache.

Remembering the creature, Aria soon began to wonder if the slime included inside the cluster was the very slime that became Leonis' companion in his journeys.

After a few minutes, Leonis actually spoke up.

"Promise. Deal," the cloak that covered Leonis began to stir.

Anger. Sadness. Terror.

Negative emotions surfaced from Leonis' body. The surging power fluctuated around him.

Slowly, he floated upwards. Higher, and higher.

"Promise! Fake, Lie! Dungeon, forced..." Sounds of woe circled Leonis.

Dark energy began to cloud over the man, and soon became accompanied with thundering sounds.

Aria frowned hard at the scene. Leonis was beginning to change into something terrifying.

What was it about his story?

Aria began to approach Leonis, walking one step at the time and fighting against the raging currents flowing around Leonis.

"Aria!" Rallaka shouted from the side as a warning to her.

Aria gulped a mouthful of saliva as she nodded. "I know, I will be careful,"

Rallaka was still worried, so he also began to follow after Aria closely.

Inside her summoning space, Aria could feel Dianthe start to tremble as well. The spirit was still sensitive to the outside world's changes even though she stayed inside the space, so she conveyed her worry towards Aria.

Aria continued walking, while her hand gestured towards her team members to stay put and let her handle this.

Leonis was currently in a super unstable state.

He was weakened, and emotions seemed to affect him a lot.

Getting closer to him was a problem that she had to get around.

If Aria wanted to land an attack, then she must wait for the perfect chance.

"Leonis, calm down! Remember why you are here. There must be something that you haven't fulfilled," Aria said in a loud volume, enough for the man to hear and notice her.

The first step to her success was provocation.

"Not.. fulfilled..." Leonis repeated multiple times, as if trying to recall a painful, yet forgotten memory. "NO!"

His loud roar pierced through the area, causing Aria to wince.

"Try to face it. What made you choose to be here in the first place?"

"No," Leonis began to cry, sobbing and breaking into wails as he bellowed out continuous 'no's.

"It's alright," Aria drew closer and closer. "This dungeon, there must be a connection with your beloved family, right?"

"Connection.. family. Connection, Adele.. Alice.. Happiness.. Dungeon, home," Leonis spewed out those words without context, but Aria took them into consideration and formed a theory.

"Yes, this is your home. A place where you can be happy. Right?" Aria summarized.

The room before this was clearly made for 'Alice'. A baby daughter's room. A figment of his dreams. What he envisioned.

The blurred picture was him and Adele before the disaster happened. Before everything went downhill.

It could be said that, with the room's creation, it was like trying to reverse time and erase the things that had happened. Because the room did not contain anything in regards to Leonis' necromancy.

It would've been the reality without what happened to Adele that day. It was his future before his world got overturned.

"But... here, not happy," Leonis began to answer clearly.

Finally, a proper conversation was held. Aria could communicate with the man.

Although the turbulence was still going on, Aria shrugged all of that away as she continued to prod.

"Why? Why can't you be happy?"

"Adele.. Alice, look, be sad," Leonis said.

"You are sad when you look at Adele and Alice? Why? Because you are reminded of something terrible? Because you couldn;t fulfill your dreams?"

"Adele.. Alice.. not here. No point. Not home,"

"..It's not home if Adele and Alice is not here? Then, why are you here?"

Aria was currently standing in front of Leonis.

During their conversation, the man had slowly lowered down from the altitude, but the turbulence and storm around him still went on.

"I... want. Create, home," Leonis said.

"This might sound cheesy, but.. Isn't Adele and Alice always looking after you from the faraway heaven? I read about your storybook. Your daughter, Alice is meant for happiness. I'm sure that.. she must be looking after your lovely wife and making her happy up there. Won't she be sad if she saw you struggling for so many years without end? That you are trying to create a home for them here, even though they have flown away?"

"I think with all your efforts, if they truly have seen it, then they would be happy. Not only that, but also worried," Aria smiled.

"Alice... happy? Adele... can't. Happy. She.. suffer, because me," Leonis muttered.

The dark energy began to dissipate. Instead, a rotten smell emanated from the man.

"Happiness comes in different ways and methods. You are trying to make them happy, but what about you? You endure suffering for all those years, and where did that get you? Here. You are stuck, unable to leave, and unable to return Adele or Alice," Aria's expression became tender as she spoke.

"Stop... Not. True!!" Leonis shook his head as his trembling worsened. "I.. I need to,"

"Need to what?"

"Need.. Home. Family," Leonis cried. "With them. Happy,"

"Then..  go build your home in heaven or something please," Aria smirked devilishly, jumping on Leonis while summoning [Halvargg] all in one split second.

She stabbed the blade into the man's already broken body, hacking and chopping it into pieces.

She summoned Dianthe, and made her help her turn the man into smithereens.

After repeated blows, Aria finally blew a long sigh and checked her System.

Leonis | Lv. ???

HP: 0/20500

Rage Bar: 0/100]

She suspected that the man was supposed to be a Control-type creature with low to no defense. Ever since she stepped into the room, she had been surveilling the conditions and even asked Rallaka to snoop around.

This was definitely the boss room because of the specialty of this place.

However, it seemed like the notification would only trigger when she entered a hostile meeting with her enemy. The System couldn't detect Leonis into its database because Aria was approaching it with a persuasive way.

She was only afraid that Leonis' body was not his true body. That his soul could still be floating around even after she attacked his body.

However, with the System confirming that the man was truly dead, she could finally rest easy.