Timeless Assassin

Chapter 1197: Epilogue

( A Few Years After The Final War, The Eternal Garden, Leo’s POV)

Leo sat silently beneath a large tree beside Amanda while lovingly holding her hand, as the two of them watched their grandson Liam lying on his stomach upon the grass a short distance away, completely absorbed in the drawing book opened before him.

For once, the Eternal Garden was quiet, as of the three grandsons they now had, only Liam was visiting them here today, which kept the sibling squabble to a minimum.

"What do you think he’s drawing this time?"

Amanda asked softly as she leaned against Leo’s shoulder, as although Leo could easily see exactly what he was drawing if he wanted, he still guessed without peeking.

"Knowing him?"

Leo muttered while looking lovingly into Amanda’s eyes.

"Probably Aegon Veyr or Dumpy wrestling a dragon again."

Leo said as Amanda immediately chuckled.

Liam was obsessed with Veyr and Dumpy and the story of how they took down the Dragon King Moltherak, as it was his favorite bed time tale these days.

"Well, he does like his dragons...."

Amanda muttered, as at that very moment, Liam suddenly pushed himself to his feet and began running toward them with his drawing book clutched tightly in both hands, as excitement filled his face while he waved the book above his head.

"Grandpa! Grandma! Look! I made a new drawing today!"

Liam shouted as he ran across the grass.

However, in his excitement, his foot caught against a small root protruding from the ground, as—

THUD

The boy tumbled forward and landed upon the grass with a small yelp, as the drawing book slipped from his hands and several loose pages scattered around him.

"Oofff—"

Amanda muttered, while instinctively rising to go check on him, when Leo gently squeezed her hand and flicked one finger.

"Relax, I’ve got this...."

He muttered, as a soft gust of wind lifted Liam and the fallen pages into the air together, while a faint golden shimmer passed across the scrape forming on the boy’s knee and erased it before he could even start crying properly.

"Huh?"

Liam blinked in confusion as he floated toward Leo’s lap, before looking down at his knee with wide eyes.

"Grandpa..."

Liam muttered while touching his knee carefully.

"How did you do that?"

Leo smiled faintly as he settled the boy onto his lap and gathered the scattered pages back into a neat stack.

"How did I do that? Hahahaha.

I did it because I’m a God!"

Leo replied as Amanda gave him an amused look from beside him, while Liam frowned while staring at his knee.

"But it was bleeding."

He mumbled.

"It was."

Leo admitted calmly.

"But now it isn’t."

He added, as he seemed to think about that for several seconds before looking up at Leo again.

"If you’re a God, do you never get hurt, grandpa?"

Liam asked as curiosity slowly replaced the confusion within his eyes, as Leo leaned back against the tree while adjusting the boy comfortably on his lap.

"I can get hurt. But the damage can never stay unless caused by a very specific metal.

So even if damage appears on me, it immediately disappears...."

Leo replied gently, as Liam looked surprised before asking, "So why does it disappear?"

As Leo chuckled and decided to entertain the question properly, as he placed Liam on the grass beside him and said—

"Because beings like me experience time differently."

Leo explained as he picked up one of the loose pages from the drawing book and held it before Liam.

"Imagine time not as something that only moves forward, but as something that already exists in many places at once. A mortal like you lives in one moment at a time, however someone like me can touch more than one moment."

Liam stared at him blankly, while Amanda immediately smiled.

"You’re losing him."

She warned softly, as Leo cleared his throat and continued regardless.

"All right, let me explain it more simply."

Leo said as he pointed toward Liam’s drawing.

"Look at this picture. If the little you inside this drawing falls down and hurts his knee, can the real you erase that injury by drawing the knee properly again?"

He asked, as Liam looked down at the page for a while before nodding slowly.

"I think so."

He said, as Leo smiled and continued.

"That’s similar to what I do.

When something happens to my body, I can sometimes correct it by returning that part of myself to a moment before the damage happened."

He explained as Liam’s brows furrowed.

"So you don’t heal?"

The boy asked, as Leo wagged his finger and said—

"To someone watching from outside, it looks like healing.

But to me, it feels closer to correcting a mistake in the picture."

He said, as Liam stared at the drawing again, his little mind visibly struggling to understand the explanation, as after a while, he pointed toward the stick figure version of himself.

"So if this me had a mighty sword, could he hurt the real me?" freeweɓnøvel.com

Liam asked, as Leo smiled and said, "No."

"Because he’s just a drawing?"

Liam asked.

"Exactly."

Leo replied as his eyes softened.

"A two-dimensional drawing cannot harm a three-dimensional person, no matter how mighty the sword inside the drawing looks."

He explained as Liam nodded seriously.

"And in the same way, ordinary mortal weapons cannot truly kill beings who exist beyond the same layer of reality as them."

Liam’s eyes widened with fascination.

"So then..."

He muttered while looking up at Leo.

"Can gods never be killed?"

At those words, Leo’s smile slowly widened.

"Oh, they can be killed."

Leo replied calmly.

"In fact your grandfather has killed plenty of them."

Liam’s mouth fell open.

"Really?"

Liam asked as Leo nodded confidently.

"Really."

Leo replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the universe.

"Your grandfather is the strongest fighter in the universe, you see."

He declared, as for one brief moment, Liam stared at him with complete seriousness, before letting out a dismissive snort.

Snort

"The strongest fighter in the universe is the Dragon Aegon Veyr."

Liam declared with absolute confidence, as Amanda immediately turned her face away and began laughing.

"Excuse me?"

Leo asked slowly, his expression dumbfounded, as Liam doubled down and said—

"All my friends say that the Dragon Aegon Veyr is the strongest."

Liam explained while nodding firmly.

"They say he can beat anyone, and when I grow up, I’m going to become just like him." freeweɓnovel.cøm

For several long seconds, Leo simply stared at his grandson in complete disbelief, while Amanda’s laughter only grew louder.

"Don’t laugh."

Leo muttered while glancing toward her.

"I’m not laughing."

Amanda replied while very clearly laughing, as Leo looked back helplessly toward Liam, who had already returned to fixing his drawing as though he had not just shattered his grandfather’s pride into pieces.

"I killed like half a dozen Gods, you know."

Leo muttered, as Liam nodded without looking up.

"That’s nice, grandpa, but did you kill the Dragon King Moltherak?"

He replied distractedly, as Amanda laughed even harder.

Leo opened his mouth as though to defend himself further, before eventually closing it again and simply shaking his head.

For a moment, he looked at Amanda laughing beside him.

Then at Liam sitting beside his lap while happily drawing Aegon Veyr with what appeared to be six swords and a crown.

And slowly, warmth filled his chest.

Because this was why he had retired.

For conversations like this.

For peaceful afternoons beneath a tree.

For the right to be ignored by his own grandson while being told that someone else was cooler than him.

As at those thoughts, Leo simply shook his head and began laughing too, as these silly little moments were exactly what made retirement worth it for him.