He clutched his abdon in searing pain.
It felt like his entire nervous system was burning and his brain was lting.
Alex looked at Enya's face, which had co close to him, with a distant gaze.
"I'm sorry."
He gave up swinging his sword at the last mont.
He knew well that it would be a truly foolish act.
Even knowing that, he did it anyway.
"In the past, and now."
Red blood flowed down Alex's lips.
"I'm still a foolish man, it seems."
He might have been a little selfish.
He might have asked others to bear his suffering for him but then and now, Alex's choice was always consistent.
He decided to bear all the wounds himself.
"It hurts like hell."
He thought he had experienced enough pain, but the agony of a sword piercing his belly was beyond imagination.
The best he could do was barely suppress the urge to scream in pain.
Alex found himself laughing.
Just when he thought he was dying, a conversation he had with Rudger long ago ca to mind.
'Leader. You told this. You said to stop hurting myself. Because it's such a sad thing.'
The reason he could say that with such sincerity was probably because Rudger had experienced the sa thing as him.
No, now that he knew his true identity, could it be called the sa experience?
He must have gone through more terrible and difficult things than himself.
'Leader was right. That's really sad and foolish. But you know what, Leader, you told that... but in the end, you couldn't fix that tendency in yourself until the very end.'
Just look at how he beca a demon king fighting against the world.
'In the end, both you and I were just foolish n.'
That fact was deeply sad.
The fact that people like them had to disappear like this without ever being rewarded.
-Shhk.
The sword lodged in his belly was pulled out.
Alex, whose legs gave out, slowly collapsed backward.
Alex moved his pupils to look at Enya.
"Ah."
Enya, who should have had no expression due to being brainwashed, was now looking flustered.
"Why, why did I..."
Enya's trembling gaze alternated between the blood-stained sword and the fallen Alex.
"I, I didn't an to do this..."
The pure white ring that had taken control of Enya's head emitted an even stronger light.
As if a mask was being put on again, the expression was erased from Enya's face, which had been caught in panic.
The one controlling Enya gave her a command to finish off that fallen man.
-Tremble tremble tremble.
Enya raised her sword with trembling hands.
Even when she tried to resist the command, her body had a rejection reaction.
Enya's expression changed.
She seed expressionless, yet she was afraid and sad.
Tears flowed from one of her eyes and fell down her cheek.
Though no voice could be heard, it seed like Enya was letting out a soundless scream.
"Is this the price of pursuing romance?"
Alex smiled as if he had found enlightennt facing death.
The faces of his comrades flashed through his mind. He felt sorry for them.
Most of all, Rudger weighed on his mind.
"Leader."
Alex desperately moved his blood-soaked lips.
"Don't beco like ."
Enya's sword fell toward Alex's neck.
Rudger, who had been dealing with the holy knights and priests, suddenly turned his head back.
"Alex?"
It seed like he heard Alex's voice from sowhere.
Of course, it was a mistake. Alex was now down below, fighting against the holy crusaders in the 1st checkpoint city.
Hearing his voice in such an intense battle was close to an auditory hallucination but that's why Rudger felt uneasy, wondering if sothing had happened to Alex.
He understood.
In this kind of war, hoping for no sacrifices would be excessive greed.
The comrades he had shared hardships with were at great risk of dying.
It was the sa even if he had gathered only people who wouldn't die easily.
However, Rudger's thoughts couldn't continue for long.
The dogs of Lunsis that kept appearing from far away revealed themselves to block Rudger.
"Persistent bastards."
Ard with hatred and fanaticism, they rushed forward even knowing they could die.
Rather, they seed to want to die in such a battle.
As if they felt infinite emotion in putting a splendid end to their faith by throwing their lives toward the demon king in this holy war.
It was ironic.
Soone fights desperately to live, while soone else tries to die to prove their faith.
Of course, that didn't an Rudger would show them rcy or point out their wrong actions.
In the end, it was a fight of kill or be killed.
Because that's what war is.
"It's annoying to deal with them one by one. I'll end it all at once."
Rudger scattered magical power around him.
Another 7th circle magic was about to unfold.
-Clang!
What blocked Enya's attack that seed about to strike Alex's neck was a long, large greatsword.
Alex, who had sensed death, rolled his eyes to look at the person who had saved him.
Terina Ryanhowl had blocked Enya's descending sword with Giant Killer instead.
Alex couldn't ask why.
Because Terina's eyes looking at Enya were so murderous that they seed ready to explode if wrongly touched.
Enya's unfocused gaze turned toward Terina.
Her lips moved. Not of her own will, but by the one brainwashing her.
"What is this behavior? Commander Terina Ryanhowl. A person who should be leading the holy crusaders is protecting the demon king's minion."
"..."
"Such an act is clear treason. Even before being referred to military court, you would have nothing to say even if you were executed on the spot."
"Execution on the spot."
Terina twisted her lips.
"Very interesting words. After brainwashing my precious adjutant without permission, and even interfering with my fight."
"Strange talk. Rather, didn't you win thanks to ? You couldn't have defeated this man with your skills. Rather, thanks to , you could have avoided unnecessary sacrifice. I question that attitude. It's neither rational nor reasonable."
The one borrowing Enya's body, the cardinal of Lunsis, said so.
"Aren't you the Lord Protector of the Empire? You belong to the Security Bureau and lead the Night Crawler Knights who deal with criminals. You, who handle things more coldly than anyone else, would know what I'm talking about."
"Yes. I know well. That sotis you have to set aside human feelings to reduce ally casualties and win battles with minimal damage."
"And yet you stopped ?"
"I'd rather ask you. What do I look like in your eyes?"
Murderous intent overflowed from Terina's body.
"Do I look like a puppet who will do whatever you order, who can be handled however you want? Did my adjutant and my subordinates look like tools that could be treated like that?"
-Crackle.
The Giant Killer pushed away Enya's sword.
"Clean your ears and listen. I am human. I'm fundantally different from you who see people as tools."
"So you're saying you'll be hostile to now?"
"I didn't like you from before. Do you know what makes angrier than anything else?"
Terina glared at Enya's pupils, the being beyond them, as if she would shoot and kill them.
"That you made tears flow from my precious adjutant's eyes."
"The Empire's fate has run out. With the Lord Protector moving so emotionally, I can clearly see that future."
"I can see your future."
The brainwashed knights who had been surrounding to kill Alex tried to surround Terina one by one.
But the Night Crawler Knights stepped forward to block them to protect Terina.
Of course, their expressions weren't good.
They were just being brainwashed; their essence was still comrades.
They couldn't easily swing their swords but the enemy was different.
They could manipulate the brainwashed ones to cut down the Night Crawler Knights without any pangs of conscience.
Ard with divine power, they possessed stronger power than existing knights, so even if the Night Crawler Knights had greater numbers, a proper fight couldn't be established.
Knowing this, they still stepped forward because the thought that this wasn't right never left their minds.
"Such commander, such subordinates. It wouldn't be bad for you to die at the hands of your loyal adjutant."
The cardinal controlling Enya spewed such nonsense while infusing divine power into Enya's sword.
The divine power burning brilliantly in bright yellow color lted the nearby building debris it touched.
"I wonder if you have the courage to cut down your adjutant."
"What did you hear say? I have no intention of hurting my proud adjutant."
"And yet you're going to fight ?"
"Yes. That's why I drew my sword."
"Ridiculous talk. You can't even cut ."
"I can't."
Terina agreed.
"I can't."
"...!"
The cardinal, sensing the ominousness hidden in Terina's words, urgently looked around.
Thanks to being cunning and quick-witted, his response speed was exceptional, but it was still too late.
The people who moved first were faster than him.
"Disciple!"
"Understood!"
Two shadows that dropped from the sky swung their weapons at timing that could be called simultaneous.
-Swoosh.
Along with the sword strike cutting through the air, the sound of sothing being cut echoed.
At the sa ti, the bodies of the brainwashed Night Crawler Knights collapsed like puppets with cut strings.
"What!"
The only one who didn't collapse was Enya, who was directly controlled by the cardinal.
But his voice carried undeniable bewildernt.
"To cut through our divine power!"
He couldn't help but be shocked.
What the uninvited guests who suddenly appeared had cut was nothing other than the rings of light floating above their heads.
This wasn't sothing that could be physically cut or eliminated.
It was close to a spiritual form of brainwashing called blessing.
Yet with a single sword strike, that form crumbled and collapsed.
As the rings disappeared, the brainwashing was severed.
The ring of light carved above Enya's head was also partially erased and slowly fading.
That's why it was even more unbelievable.
To cut what cannot be cut? Was such a thing possible?
"Wow. It really works?"
The actual perpetrator, Madeline, let out an honest impression while looking at the result she had created.
What cut the rings controlling the knights was anti-magic shot from a staff in the form of a sword.
Magic that nullifies all magic.
It had affected not just magic but divine power as well.
"Master! We really did it!"
"See, you brat! I told you it would work, didn't I?"
"...For that, didn't you also seem surprised just now?"
"What! When did I!"
Originally, anti-magic couldn't have shown this level of effect.
Anti-magic used alone only worked on magic.
What gave Madeline the hint was the incident in the capital.
The anti-magic she had wielded together with Aidan at that ti had neutralized Basara's divine power for a mont.
If this ring of light brainwashing people was a similar type of power to the black storm that Basara had deployed...
Her calculation was that it was worth trying with anti-magic.
What was needed was another person who used anti-magic like herself.
The unpredictable synergy created when two anti-magics were deployed simultaneously.
That's why she brought Aidan, and Madeline’s guess was exactly right.
"This, this is ridiculous!"
Enya, no, the cardinal who had taken over her body, staggered.
The cardinal, clutching his eye area with one hand, couldn't accept the reality before him.
The ring of light floating above his head flickered as if it would go out at any mont.
It was quite an excessive reaction for having brainwashing lifted.
Terina could intuitively feel that the anti-magic had also dealt a great blow to the cardinal's mind.
"Strong brainwashing power, so that impact was directly transmitted to him."
"This, this...!"
The cardinal couldn't even utter proper language now.
The bewildernt and hatred from the unexpected blow never ca out, disappearing along with the ring of light.
The brainwashing was lifted and light returned to Enya's empty pupils.
"Uh, uhh..."
Having been strongly shocked and her brainwashing shaken once, she knew well what state she was in now.
She had finally regained her freedom.
Without anyone having ti to ask if Enya was okay, she moved urgently.
Her steps headed toward Alex.
Seeing Alex bleeding from a sword wound in his abdon, Enya didn't know what to do.
"A, Alex. Blood, blood. Blood..."
"Enya."
Due to severe bleeding, Alex's lips were pale.
"You look fine, so that's a relief."
"Don't, don't talk! I'll stop the bleeding right now!"
Enya used a portable hemostatic agent to plug Alex's wound, but the bleeding didn't stop.
It wasn't just a sword wound, but a wound imbued with divine power, so general ergency supplies couldn't substitute.
"Po, potion."
Enya frantically searched her belongings, but all she saw were fragnts of broken potion bottles.
They had all broken during the fighting.
"Am I going to die here?"
"Alex!"
"Still, it's fortunate. The last face I see before going is yours."
Alex smiled at Enya, who was shedding endless tears.
It's not your fault. So don't worry.
"Do, does anyone have a potion! Anyone is fine, please!"
Several knights who saw the situation handed over potions and poured them on Alex's wound, but the wound caused by divine power couldn't be healed by potions either.
It just slightly prolonged the life of the dying Alex.
Enya's face was colored with despair.
"No. I still have so much I want to say to you."
Enya said sothing, but Alex could no longer hear her voice.
Sound scattered murkily as if subrged in water.
His body spread languidly and sensation disappeared starting from his fingertips.
So this is it. This is death.
Even his vision beca blurry and now he couldn't even see Enya's face.
What Alex saw last was...a dazzling and warm light that suddenly appeared in the void.
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