I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy

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“Ed!”

The moment Enya spotted Ed, she jumped toward him.

Her face was filled with both nostalgia and relief.

Isabella also approached Ed almost simultaneously.

Finally, as the three stood face to face, they gazed at each other in silence for a while.

Enya and Isabella looked at him with eager eyes, as if trying to confirm that Ed truly had returned.

In their gazes lay all the pain and waiting they had endured.

Ed smiled gently, as if to reassure them.

Warmth and deep understanding flickered in his eyes.

“E-Ede!”

At that moment, Charlotte appeared a bit late.

The cold, biochemical weapon user she once was was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, she had returned to the timid and pure Charlotte that Ed was well acquainted with.

She approached Ed carefully, struggling to hold back her tears.

“You all have really grown strong.”

Ed opened his mouth gently.

He immediately noticed the change in Enya and Isabella.

Now, their power was close to that of the Heavenly Beings.

One could only imagine how much pain and effort they had endured to reach this level.

Even though they carried the blood of Heavenly Beings, fully awakening that talent was definitely not an easy task.

“…Yeah. Now we can fight together too. I won’t leave everything up to you like before.”

Enya said with a firm determination.

There was a sense of resolve in her voice.

The determination not to dump all the burdens on Ed again.

Within her words lay a sense of loss greater than the pain of training, and the powerlessness of having lost Ed.

She knew all too well how immense the feeling of helplessness was when she could only watch.

That was why she was able to reach this state now.

Isabella, while not expressing it in words, shared the same strong gaze that spoke volumes.

She too had endured just as much pain to stand here as Enya did.

“Thank you. You’ve all worked hard to get here.”

Ed nodded warmly, acknowledging their efforts.

Their growth was not just an increase in physical strength.

The boiling will deep within their hearts and the wounds that made them strong had come together to form who they were now.

Ed understood all of this and truly respected their efforts.

“Charlotte.”

Ed called out to the hesitant Charlotte.

Charlotte was hesitating whether she could join the three of them in their reunion.

It seemed Ed was more than satisfied just being with those three.

“You’ve worked hard. I missed you.”

But the moment he said he missed her,

All of Charlotte’s worries turned into a puff of dust and vanished.

With a tear rolling down her cheek, she nodded and slowly moved toward Ed for a hug.

She too had engaged in harsh research every day, just as much as Charlotte and Isabella.

To be of any help to Ed, to release him from his seal, she had trained in her own way.

And Ed understood all of it.

“I’m glad. That you’ve come back, Ed.”

Meanwhile, Lucas and Claire were watching the four of them embrace from a distance.

Lucas was smiling softly at the fully returned Ed.

Claire leaned on Lucas, sporting a smile somewhat similar to his.

“Ah.”

At that moment, Ed turned his head to glance at them.

He looked at Lucas and Claire with an expression that seemed proud of them.

As he nodded once, Lucas too smiled and nodded back.

The dialogue between the long-time friends from their current life and the ties of their past life sufficed by itself.

“……”

And Adela, intentionally keeping her distance, watched the scene.

What was important to Ed was this life, and she, bound by ties from a previous life, knew she shouldn’t be greedy.

The moment Ed returned as Jack and embraced her would be enough after this war ends.

“Have you returned?”

At that moment, Sephilia approached with a somewhat elegant expression.

As the newly crowned Empress, she wasn’t hugging Ed, mindful of the surrounding eyes.

As an Empress in a wartime situation, she had to maintain her dignity and decorum.

Ed, who well understood this, smiled and paid his respect to Sephilia.

“God, Edgar Fix. I have returned as per your command.”

“…Uh, um.”

“Your Majesty, after this war ends, I will embrace you even tighter.”

Sephilia’s face quickly turned red.

Flustered, she stuttered out a somewhat embarrassing “I, I grant permission,” and turned away.

While everyone was smiling, Eve approached and said,

“The deity time is over. The Grand Duke is regaining his strength.”

Everyone looked at the place where Eve pointed.

They could see the Grand Duke, beginning to regain his form, centered around a black core.

Elena came closer to Ed and said,

“Disciple, aren’t you going to take care of me? I’m a bit disappointed.”

“How about we share a deep kiss later?”

“Forget it. Let’s focus on those guys for now.”

Elena solidified her expression and gathered mana.

Ed’s lovers and companions also geared up, solidifying their resolve for battle.

Soon, the Lords of Hell regained their true forms.

【Edgar Fix…】

The leader of the Lords of Hell, Melfirn,

A massive knight figure reaching nearly 8 meters looked down at Ed.

At that moment, everyone tensed, feeling the overwhelming power of the Grand Duke, as he opened his mouth.

【Is this the plan you devised? To hold us back and bring such lowly beings?】

Ed raised the corners of his mouth.

They were completely oblivious to the fact that they were now on the defensive.

Ed spoke.

“Yeah, to you gigantic beings, all these people may seem like ‘just this much.’”

【…】

“But the mech soldiers that took you down were forged from the blood and sweat of people like them. A culmination of thousands of screws and bolts, dozens of engines, thousands of electrodes, thousands of iron plates, hundreds of train cores, and countless pipes and cables. Each one is a product of human labor and suffering.”

Ed had undergone hundreds of cycles and knew very well why he had continued to lose.

It was because he tried to solve everything on his own.

He sought answers alone, monopolized the opportunities, and shouldered everything by himself.

The reason for that was simple.

Every time he regressed, the people who were by his side vanished, becoming beings he could never meet again.

To trust and rely on them felt too futile.

‘If I was alone, I would have never found an answer in this endless fight.’

But it was different now.

Ed had forsaken even the opportunity to regress, sealed together with the Grand Duke.

That decision had cost Ed dearly, but at the same time, it had given humanity a new chance.

A single opportunity to end this long war.

He slowly opened his mouth, gazing at Melfirn.

“Melfirn, you have already lost. Because this moment is the last opportunity I’ve found after hundreds of regressions.”

Ed’s voice carried certainty and resolve.

As soon as he finished speaking, a sinister aura radiated from Melfirn’s body.

The aura spread like dense darkness around, and the other Grand Dukes resonated, exuding their own ferocious energies.

Their energies felt as if they pressed down on space itself.

This energy shaking the ground was like a signal of war.

Melfirn spoke in a deep voice, slowly.

【No, rather, right now is your end. Since you’ve abandoned the power of regression, today is your last day. This war will conclude with our complete victory.】

As soon as Melfirn’s words finished, his right hand began to swell and transform.

His hand morphed into a gigantic spear, glimmering sharply like the fangs of a grotesque demon.

When this massive spear, several meters in length, was completed, he raised it and swung it down toward Ed.

The speed at which the gigantic spear descended was unbelievably fast.

The pressure created by the spear slicing through the air sent everything around it flying backwards, and there was a deafening roar that seemed to rip apart the ground.

However, in that moment, a voice cut through space and echoed.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Enya’s sword appeared behind Ed, glowing and drawing a red line through the air.

That line emitted an alien energy as if transcending reality.

Following the red line, Melfirn’s gigantic spear was instantly cut in two.

The massive fragments fell to the ground with a huge crash, causing the earth to tremble.

Melfirn’s eyes narrowed at the sight.

He couldn’t hide his confusion at the energy he sensed from Enya.

【You…】

The unfamiliar yet familiar energy he felt from her.

It was the same power he’d felt long ago.

The power of the “Heavenly Being” that had sealed them was now emanating from Enya.

At that moment, Melfirn and the Lords of Hell began to realize why Ed was so confident in victory.

He had indeed awakened a descendant of the Heavenly Beings.

Melfirn gritted his teeth and mumbled.

【I see… Fine. Then we too shall unleash our full power to fight back.】

Suddenly, a gigantic wave of unfamiliar energy began to emanate from Melfirn’s body.

This colossal wave spread throughout the Empire, reaching every corner of the continent.

It summoned all demons and monstrosities that existed on Earth.

Hatred and resolve glistened in Melfirn’s eyes.

【We will launch an all-out war. I will turn this place into humanity’s grave.】

His voice boomed grandly, resonating through the ground.

And at that moment, the final war, determined by the fate of humanity, was about to begin.