Dalia could not possibly have traveled from District 17’s ruined building to the Imperial Palace this quickly.
In other words, Grimie must have transported her here.
‘He brought Dalia to save the Emperor.’
How could powerless Dalia save the Emperor? The precious child could be hard by that ancient monster.
Then...
‘Dalia must have gained a ward!’
With a ward, she could save the Emperor. Such an impact would once again make her the world’s protagonist!
‘I must stop her.’
“Minky!”
At my shout, the giant tarantula Minky barred Despair’s advance with its eight massive legs.
Dalia’s path was blocked, and I seized the chance to push through the crowd toward the Emperor.
“Your...!”
“No.”
Soone barred my way. I looked up and saw Duke Germo.
“Your Ladyship has already fought Despair. You may be infected by its poison and cannot approach His Majesty.”
I gritted my teeth. He was not wrong, and I could not argue.
“Then, allow —!”
Dalia raised her hand quickly. The Emperor and the nobles turned to her.
“You...”
At the Emperor’s prompting, Dalia hurried toward him.
“I heard sothing terrible happened at the palace, so I ca.”
“Shouldn’t you evacuate, then?”
“I have the power of healing. I believe I can protect Your Majesty from Despair’s poison!”
She moved even closer to the Emperor and noticed the White Knight beside him.
“Oh—your hand is injured...”
“It’s a wound from training.”
Dalia gently took his wrist and lightly stroked the injury.
“...!”
“...!!”
In an instant, the wound healed completely.
Dalia looked at the Emperor. “I can now use a little bit of warding power. Please let aid Your Majesty!”
“...”
“I truly did not know about Crumatus, but even if I was ignorant, it’s still my fault this happened...”
Tears sprang to her eyes as she spoke.
Duke Germo turned to the Emperor. “Is it not a worthy deed? Let us relocate together.”
“...Very well.”
Dalia practically leapt for joy. “Thank you, Your Majesty! No matter what happens, I will protect you.”
Duke Germo smiled faintly, then glanced at .
“Your Ladyship, stand down.”
“...”
“For His Majesty’s protection.”
“...Yes.”
I stepped back a few paces and stole a look at the Emperor. Dalia was pressed against him, beaming.
‘If she actually saves him from this crisis...’
Just in case, I activated my ward.
‘Fortunately, Han Jihyeok is still the protagonist—for now.’
Then.
“Aaaah!”
A soldier of the Left Wing scread, his ankle caught by Despair and being dragged away. His skin turned pitch-black, as if about to lt.
Isez swiftly sliced off Despair’s arm, and Jowik grabbed the soldier’s collar and yanked him free.
“Stay alert!”
“Ugh—!”
“Anyone who’s been touched by Despair, fall back—”
In that instant, shriek—!
Several human arms burst from Despair’s body, using the absorbed people’s limbs as tendrils.
Isez, Jowik, Liam, and other soldiers were grabbed.
“No!”
Isez, Jowik, and Liam were certainly experts who had developed their wards to at least Tier Three—aning they possessed trendous magical and divine power. If they were absorbed, no Imperial troops could stop it.
‘Damn—it can’t be helped.’
“Awen, here!”
Awen, who had been holding Despair back from behind, dashed to . Despair, straining to advance, lost its balance.
“Ah, uh—!”
“Ugh!”
Thud—!
Despair toppled forward. So soldiers freed themselves, but Isez, Jowik, and Liam remained trapped.
I drew a dagger from a nearby soldier’s belt.
“Source of Fla!”
“Source of Fla!”
“Erilot!”
The soldiers and Han Jihyeok, ashen-faced, called to —I was dashing toward Despair.
‘Let strengthen my ward further.’
More.
More, more!
Stronger!
The narrative’s latest chapter expanded—the View now described the present in greater detail.
‘More... more... stronger...!!’
My head felt like it would burst. I had no idea what state of mind I was in. Every vein in my body thrumd tightly; the veins at my temples bulged as if about to burst, and pain rimd the edges of my vision.
Madness. This narrative is disgusting as hell.
I plunged into Despair. “Source of Fla—!!”
Soldiers’ torn screams ca from behind , but I pressed deeper in.
“Ugh... ugh...”
It felt as though my body was burning, lting as if on a mountain of fla.
‘It hurts so much.’
I gritted my teeth and tore inward.
Fortunately, it had not yet matured fully, and its interior was soft. But as I pressed deeper...
“Save... —.”
“Mother, mother, mother.”
“Don’t... go, don’t... go.”
“Help... , help... .”
“No... go—.”
“Don’t you leave, don’t you....”
People’s arms reached out and grasped .
“Let... go. Let... go.”
I slashed the arms like cutting vines, driving further inward.
Ahead I glimpsed sothing bright red—an orb-like mass, veins entwined.
‘The core!’
I gripped my blade and, staggering, drove it forward. The mont the tip grazed the core—
“I told you not to go—!”
Thud!
An eyeless old man’s face blocked my path. Startled, I dropped my blade.
‘This is bad!’
I have no offensive ward. Without my sword, I cannot destroy the core!
I crouched and clawed at the ground in panic. A child, huddled nearby, appeared before .
“Are you looking for this? Kee-gig, kik, kik-kik.”
Beside him stood a middle-aged man.
“Kik, kik-kik-kik, kik-kik.”
A hunched grandmother was there too.
“Kee-gig, kik, kik-kik.”
And another...
“Aan-nyeong!”
“Hello, young lady!”
“Hi. Your na is...?”
“Molly.”
“Oh, Molly, master of green grape pies.”
“You rember ? Oh, I’m so happy...!”
“Molly....”
“Miss... pies... I love them... Soon I’ll go up—I'll go buy grapes, I’ll be right back....”
“...”
“Miss... also loves green grape pies....”
“Enough.”
“Kee-gig, kik, kik—You killed .”
“Stop!”
“Do you... hate this? Then what about... this?”
Molly’s face shifted into the old woman’s.
“What about... this?”
“Don’t.”
“Then how about this?”
Now a boy’s face.
They were all the faces of the servants in our manor.
“Don’t—!”
I clawed wildly, tearing through Despair’s interior.
“Miss... loves the village’s... food....”
“Granny, buy... buy apples. Miss said she likes... green apples. Moll—Molly... co... co on, let’s go.”
“Alright. B-but don’t... run... AAAGH—!”
“Tell... . I don’t want to die! Kii-gig, kik, kik, kik!”
These were the mories of the absorbed.
‘They went out to buy things for .’
They went to the market for provisions. So... so...
My hands began to tremble. My body froze and I could no longer move.
“Stop... please, stop...”
I clamped my hands over my ears and whimpered. My body felt like it would lt away, yet I was paralyzed.
Then.
“Erilot—!”
A familiar voice, and light ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ flooded behind . Soone yanked back hard. I looked up blankly.
“Alexis.”
He had slain Despair to reach .
“You found her?!”
It was Han Jihyeok’s voice. ‘His voice slowed because he extended his ward.’
“Awen!”
At my call, dark tendrils shot in from outside. They dragged Alexis and out of Despair’s maw.
“Source of Fla!”
“Lady Astra—!”
Dragged into midair, I cried out.
“I nicked the core! Despair must be pouring energy into core restoration! Now’s our chance!”
Awen, having leapt off Despair’s back, caught and we fell to the ground. Alexis thrust the thrown tendril aside and charged back at Despair.
‘Physical strikes alone won’t do.’
If only we could imbue his blade with purification...
“Isez! Purify it!”
“My power won’t suffice—!”
“Do it! Quickly!”
“Damn—.”
Isez unfurled his ward. Alexis’s gaze turned to him. In that instant, the blade glowed with brilliant divine light.
The special ward —which duplicates others’ wards and amplifies them manyfold—had activated.
Alexis plunged his sword into Despair, penetrating its outer layer. He was engulfed entirely, and monts later—
GRAAAAAAAH—!
Despair’s chilling scream filled the sky. People clamped their hands over their ears in agony; the Emperor too pressed his hands to his head, panting. Despair, thrashing wildly, flailed its grotesque arms in every direction.
“AAAAGH!”
A struck noble scread. None could focus on protecting the Emperor.
‘No!’
Then, a limb shot toward the Emperor.
“Your Majesty!”
Dalia leapt to block him. A transparent barrier blood before her, shattering the limb at once.
‘She condensed her healing into a ward.’
The instant Despair’s limb hit it, it crumbled. Dalia covered her mouth and coughed; blood dripped from her palm.
“Dalia...”
“I’m f-fine. I just protected the Empire! Wow, I did great!”
“...”
“Co, Your Majesty. I’ll guard you with my life.”
The floating text of the View shimred wildly.
‘In the end, Dalia becos the protagonist again?’
I bit my lip.
But then...
Thud!
Despair collapsed. From its lting husk stepped a man.
At the sa ti, Salvatore approached the Emperor.
“We have lifted the wards at the Central Magic Tower. The Wardstones are now usable—please proceed to the secondary palace... Your Majesty?”
The Emperor was staring, speechless, at the man erging from Despair’s remnants.
Salvatore turned to follow his gaze. Empress Ocelia’s pupils trembled.
“How—how...!”
The Empress Dowager, the nobles, even the soldiers regarded the man in shock.
I walked forward slowly toward my Alexis—my Alexis, whose cyan eyes, once still as a lake, now shone like the sun...!
“Alexis.”
“...Yes.”
“Alexis...”
“Mm.”
I took Alexis’s wrist and turned toward the Emperor. The Emperor, rigid, still stared at Alexis—more precisely, at those sa radiant eyes.
“Your Majesty, there was a child.”
“...”
“A child born who fled the Imperials, unaware of why she lived.”
“...”
“She hid in sewers one day, trembled under a discarded wooden crate another.”
“...What are you saying?”
“But that child should have been born into blessing and grown into greatness.”
“...”
Duke Ishiron, standing behind the Emperor, shut his eyes tight.
I choked out, “He is Your Majesty’s son.”
“...”
“The firstborn of Your Majesty and Empress Anna Maria, stolen from the palace.”
I cried out as if in anguish:
“He is Prince Alexis Kalsoye.”
“...!”
“...!!”
Empress Ocelia’s face drained of blood; Salvatore’s expression went hard; the Emperor gazed at Alexis with trembling eyes.
I t Alexis’s eyes and continued:
“He is Prince Alexis, Your Majesty.”
Then, at last, the floating text shifted:
< SOVEREIGN’S MAJESTY >
Abandoned Prince Becos Emperor!
Alexis pulled into a fierce embrace.
Reviews
All reviews (0)