Zahid was fending off the Holy Knights rushing in at the rear garden entrance. Even while doing so, he was watching for an opening in Aietar’s movents.
But no matter how much damage he takes, he heals instantly—could even Zahid do anything against that?
What made it worse was that after Aietar rose, the morale of the Holy Knights skyrocketed, and they were charging in like their lives depended on it. Zahid seed overwheld too.
“Maybe it’s all that filthy blood in you—you’re even worse than the previous heir.”
Aietar fully stood up and looked down at like I was an insect.
Then he began walking toward with heavy steps.
Ah.
I stood there, completely frozen.
In the end...
It was then.
From between the bushes behind him, I saw a puff of fur suddenly appear.
It was Liri, who had quietly shown up carrying the Sacred Relic of Ti in his mouth.
“Promise . That you’ll do your best.”
I pushed myself up with strength in my arms braced against the ground.
* * *
Aietar could only scoff as he looked at Rosie in front of him.
Her features resembled Yuta’s so much that he couldn’t help but be reminded of the young woman he had once lusted after in so rural corner of the world.
That woman had been far more sultry, but she’d had the sa silver hair and green eyes.
Even while narrowing down potential candidates, he’d dismissed her. The bloodline was too vulgar by his standards.
He’d only thought of her as sothing to take his anger out on...
“I... I might be a truly special person, even among the priests born with divine power...”
That prayer had been laughable to the point of absurdity.
Sure, her divine power was excellent at a glance, but it was nowhere near his level.
Even compared to his power at her age, hers was small.
Judging from how confidently she’d spoken, she really was the master of her Divine Beast.
But lying there, collapsed so pathetically, she showed no trace of anything special. It was honestly disappointing.
anwhile, she was staring at his upper body with eyes full of fear.
The grotesque scars marring him were the price he paid for his power.
Even when he’d obtained divine power through the Divine Beasts, even now through Arhad—it had all co with excruciating pain.
It was power earned through the agony of having his flesh shredded for days on end. Sothing such a pitiful byproduct couldn’t even dream of enduring.
“So all these weak nobodies are throwing tantrums... for another weak nothing like you.”
He didn’t care about the Holy Knights and priests being sacrificed behind him.
Apparently, her Divine Beasts were all exerting their power, but it didn’t matter. He knew better than anyone how much weaker Divine Beasts had beco.
The priests couldn’t use divine power, so the archmage must’ve arrived—but that didn’t matter either. Mana this diluted was aningless to him.
He even spotted Yuta, free at the tower in the distance, which ant Julian Noart had to be here as well. But that didn’t matter either.
Aietar had already acquired imnse power, and Julian was just a re human before it.
In short, he had no interest in the weak.
All he cared about now was stopping his own aging—and his long-sought heir stood right before him.
“Even if you gather a hundred, a thousand pathetic bugs...”
Leaving the chaos behind him, Aietar marched toward Rosie.
“...They can never compare to one overwhelming force.”
He was going to grab her and drain her divine power, converting it into life force.
That was when—
“Liri!”
Vines stretched out from behind the thickets and tightly wrapped around Aietar’s body.
“Hah.”
Though Aietar could heal from any wound instantly, the vines wrapping around him were irritating.
They didn’t injure him, but they bound him tightly, locking him in place.
“Looks like my first test subject for this new power...”
His red eyes glead ominously. He was about to drain Rosie’s divine power to delay his aging, even for just one second. A pesky vine like this wouldn’t take long to deal with anyway.
“...Will be my dear son’s Divine Beast.”
Now, Aietar could wield divine power offensively.
He reached out his arm toward Liri—when Rosie suddenly crawled over and pressed her hand against his upper body.
“You...”
Surprise flickered in Aietar’s eyes.
“Right now...?”
Right now, Rosie was draining Aietar’s divine power.
As divine power of a different nature flooded her body, blood welled up at the corners of Rosie’s mouth, and then began to spill.
“No!”
Zahid shouted from the back, having just taken down the Holy Knights.
“No, Rosie! Don’t!”
* * *
“Uuugh...”
I could feel it—my body being wrecked in an instant.
“Urgh...”
Blood poured from my mouth in waves.
Taking Aietar’s divine power and keeping it inside .
I’d been thinking about this for a long ti. Just like Yuta had once drained mine.
Yuta had a smaller capacity than , but he’d still shoved my divine power into himself, wrecking his own body in the process. So maybe I could do it too?
The flow of divine power is one-way.
While I was in contact, draining his divine power, Aietar couldn’t use his own.
But his divine power was so imnse that even just accepting it put extre strain on my body.
Back then, Yuta oppa held on until I woke up after eating cake...
Was the difference in power too great?
As soon as I began accepting his divine power, it felt like all my blood was flowing backward.
“You disgusting worm...”
Aietar looked at , eyes bloodshot, his voice incredulous.
“Let go! I said, let go!”
His voice now carried clear fury.
Every ti he tried to move, Liri’s vines tightened around him, holding him fast.
“Hah...”
He looked down at with rage-filled eyes.
“How long do you think you can keep doing that?”
I understood what he ant.
I’d barely taken a little of his divine power, but my head was already spinning and I felt like I’d pass out.
“And...”
Aietar sneered.
“All this divine power will return to anyway, once ti passes.”
I couldn’t even reply. {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Blood just kept spilling from my lips.
It felt like my insides were burning and twisting.
“My poor daughter, you can’t even commit suicide properly.”
Aietar looked like he was watching the final flailing of a dying insect.
But his voice was undeniably filled with rage—he couldn’t accept that his divine power was being stolen.
“Even if you take my divine power, you won’t be able to move. In the end, you’ll still die by my hand! Stop this nonsense and let go! I said let go!”
He thrashed violently, but Liri clung to him with all his strength.
I coughed and vomited blood again. I could faintly hear Zahid screaming from far behind, but I couldn’t see him—couldn’t hear properly anymore.
This had always been my last-resort plan.
If everything fell apart, I would grab onto Aietar’s divine power and die.
Just like Yuta had, in the previous life.
Better I die alone than let everyone else die with .
If I could reduce even one innocent death—if I could spare those I loved...
I’ve already planned everything. I will defeat Aietar.
I’d believed from the start that this thod was how he could be defeated.
Of course, I never expected to survive the process.
“Let go! I said let go!”
Aietar didn’t seem to realize—Liri’s vines could crush my throat in a single squeeze.
He probably didn’t know how to control Divine Beasts.
Well, most people didn’t know that a Divine Beast could even kill its own master. I hadn’t known either, until I asked Yuta.
But...
I clenched my hands tighter around Aietar, resisting the urge to pass out.
I didn’t know it would hurt this much...
My instincts scread relentlessly.
Let go—if I let go, I could escape this pain.
But I held on.
This is the right thing to do.
Aietar was right.
I wasn’t special at all.
He even said I was worse than the previous heir.
But I had mories—mories more special than anyone else’s.
I thought of Yuta, who had endured this pain, placing his hand on my sleeping self in the peaceful theology library at the Academy.
I thought of Julian, who had fought and clawed his way back alive through this brutal land.
Of Linna, who tried to take her life by drinking, and Ray, who confessed while surrendering Athena at the river mouth.
And then...
I thought of Zahid, unconscious in that cave lake.
They were all mories of people who had loved —and I could hold on because of those mories.
I may be weak and pitiful before this man... but because of everyone else, I made it this far.
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