Chapter 429 Death

"Come, god of resistance and change," Esmerel whispered. She took a step forward, and the rubbing of armor against each other made a resounding metallic clang.

Esmerel raised her sword, pointing the sharp tip at the god's chest - her hand was steady, not trembling with nervousness or fear, and she looked surprisingly calm and composed, even a little excited to attack a god.

Cassius II covered his face and let out a loud sob, as if he was afraid to look anymore.

The noise coming from outside the council hall was getting louder and closer. It seemed that the rebels had broken through the walls of Yuanxin Palace and were rushing into the palace.

Esmerel also moved. The marble floor, centered around her, sank and cracked, leaving a grotesque spiderweb of cracks. But the rubble and dust didn't fly everywhere. Instead, they hovered in mid-air in a counterintuitive way, surrounding her like a loyal guard protecting a queen.

Don't look up.

Yialos's face grew paler and paler. Without divine protection, he could clearly feel that his body had suddenly become heavier than ever before, and even his cervical vertebrae made unbearable creaking sounds.

The professor, who was tightly wrapped by the wind, also felt his body suddenly sink. The surrounding furniture sank with an ominous creaking sound, and the table legs were deeply embedded in the floor tiles - in the area where Esmery existed, two completely different gravity suddenly appeared.

Esmerel's figure suddenly blurred and disappeared from the spot. Although she was wearing heavy and clumsy armor, she was as swift and light as an arrow that had escaped gravity, with only the tip of her sword gleaming with a last bit of cold light.

The professor opened his eyes wide with great interest. This was the first time he had seen such a strange spell. From the perspective of personal strength alone, Esmerel should have been an extremely difficult opponent, if she was not facing a god.

Azuka didn't use any magic, he just grasped the sword that appeared out of thin air in his hand.

The training of a Faithless is far more difficult than that of an ordinary person. In his early years, before he had mastered magic, he could only rely on physical skills to protect himself. Initially, his sparring partner was Orel, a man who repeatedly fought and lost, but kept fighting until, by the time they had mastered each other's moves, they could almost guess each other's moves. Maxine was also a formidable opponent, specializing in unexpectedly breaking his ribs with a single punch. However, as his magic skills improved, it became increasingly difficult for him to reach the hem of his clothes.

Later, when he entered the battlefield, he mainly used spells with a wider killing range, not to mention after he became a god. Either the timing was not right or the opponent was not suitable - to be honest, it had been a long, long time since Azuka had a satisfying fight with someone using only the most basic physical skills.

The professor stared at the two afterimages very hard for a while, finally silently took off his glasses and wiped them, deciding not to challenge the limits of his dynamic vision anymore.

...He had indeed been somewhat surprised to learn that Esmerel possessed such astonishing skill in swordsmanship—to be able to fight the Savior back and forth. Even if the Savior wasn't using his full strength, his strength was undoubtedly astonishing. This wasn't the ornate display favored by court nobles, nor was it the brutal, unrestrained fighting style of the military. It was more like the work of a beast forged in the fiercest battles of life and death.

Looking back at his past, he was able to achieve such a level without much systematic teaching, and even with his age increasing and his physical fitness declining, so he can definitely be called a man of extraordinary talent.

……pity.

"Well--!"

A suppressed groan of pain escaped from Esmerel's throat. She glanced at her left shoulder armor which had been cut off by the sword. Blood immediately gushed out, staining the silver armor red.

She simply tore off the obstructing shoulder armor with her right hand and threw it to the ground. Sweat and blood soaked the woman's hair, clinging to her pale face. The god remained silent, waiting for her to catch her breath.

"...You're really old," Esmerel propped up his weight with his sword, panting and raising his eyebrows as he smiled, half complaining, half unwillingly. "If it were me when I was younger, your left shoulder would have been injured just now."

"I don't deny it." Azuka glanced at the strands of hair that had been cut off and raised his sword calmly: "Again?"

The god's eyes were serious. There was no hatred, no anger, and even less mercy—he responded with an unwavering strike of the sword.

All the unsecured objects in the hall began to shake violently, as if the entire Yuanxin Palace was groaning and trembling under the final blow created by the palace owner's burning life... but soon returned to silence.

Tick-tock.

Blood slowly flowed out along the cracks in the plastron, and the black sword finally couldn't hold on. With a clear shattering sound, it broke inch by inch and fell to the ground with a crisp and harsh sound.

Without support, Esmerel staggered a few steps, finally falling heavily to one knee on the ground. She clutched her bleeding abdomen tightly, coughing lightly and suppressively at first, but soon began to vomit, blood mixed with internal organs gushing out of her throat.

"...Merry...Merry!"

Cassius II fell from the throne, tumbling and crawling. At this moment, he seemed to have completely forgotten his great fear of the rebel leader. He rushed to his wife, trembling, and held her in his arms, trying in vain to cover the huge wound on her abdomen that was constantly bleeding.

Yialos stood stiffly on one side, staring at the pool of blood that was gradually spreading on the ground. His whole body was shaking, and a suppressed and weak gurgling sound came out of his throat as if he couldn't control it.

As footsteps sounded, Cassius II looked up in panic and confusion, his face pale and distraught as he looked at the black-haired young man approaching them.

Get out of here! He wanted to yell at them, but in reality he just stared blankly at those smoky grey eyes, his lips moving a few times.

"Do you have any last words?" Nova squatted down beside the man silently, watching Esmery's face gradually lose its color.

The other person barely lifted his eyelids and looked at him, and seemed to let out a slight laugh, but the sound was blocked by the blood, and it sounded more like a strange groan.

I'm waiting for you on the other side of history, she opened her mouth and answered silently, don't die too early.

However, just as the professor was carefully judging the lip reading, the pair of golden eyes that had gradually become cloudy and empty suddenly burst out with extremely bright and sharp flames.

“——Cough, cough, be careful…!”

As if she had regained her composure, her right hand, which drooped limply at her side, fumbled for a moment, picked up a fragment of the broken sword scattered on the ground, and threw it at the black-haired young man with all her might.

Nova's vision blurred, and when he realized what was happening, he was already being dragged away. A cold, pure, and blinding light enveloped Cassius II, who was holding his wife. Then, the professor's vision suddenly fell into darkness, and Azuka, standing behind him, covered his eyes with her hands.

"Zephir."

He heard the Savior's indifferent voice ringing in his ears.

"...a new god, a being from another world." The voice of Zephyr, the god of light and glory, boomed through the council chamber. The professor couldn't see a thing; light mages were just that annoying; looking directly at them risked burning his eyes. But he could hear, and listening closely, the god of light's voice sounded somewhat... exasperated?

Azuka stared coldly at "Cassius II" who had his head lowered in front of him. He casually pushed the lifeless Esmerel away from his arms, letting the body roll to the ground, and then slowly stood up.

After branding the divine seal on an ordinary person and forcibly descending upon him, Cassius II would not live long, and this also limited Zephir's power to the greatest extent.

But he still descended divinely, obviously something went wrong in the abyss.

Outside the Council Chamber, the cries of the People's Army grew increasingly clear. They were rapidly clearing out the remaining resistance and advancing towards the Empire's final power center. Excitement, anger, and an urgent need for an unknown outcome combined into a cacophony of voices, fiercely pounding on the Council Chamber's door.

However, just as the soldier at the forefront was about to touch the magnificent door—

With a humming sound, the fastest soldier was caught off guard and crashed into it, only to be pushed back by a gentle and irresistible force. A strange transparent barrier suddenly rose, isolating them from the outside.

"What's going on? The door won't open!"

"This must be a magic circle set by the royal family! Hurry up and get some sorcerers to prevent the king and queen from escaping!"

Inside the hall, after preventing the civilian army from entering the realm of the gods, Azuka withdrew his gaze.

"New God, do you care about the safety of those humans?" Zephir said slowly. An unprecedented majesty emerged on the cowardly and panicked face of Cassius II.

"I used to care about them, too." He actually had some thoughts of a pre-battle chat. "I am their supreme monarch, the greatest and most dazzling sun crown. I carefully protect their fragile bodies and souls, leading them to victory and glory that would be praised by the gods."

"But what did I get in return?" Zephir's face revealed a sneer mixed with deep anger and sarcasm: "Betrayal."

The professor strongly suspected that the God of Light had tried to descend upon Pavaton Miller, but the "deal" between the ghost and the Pope failed. It was quite tragic to say that almost all the carriers of God's descent chosen by this guy turned to their side.

"Remember my advice, young new god." The God of Light and Glory said gloomily: "Humans are not trustworthy, whether it's the one in your arms or the group outside-"

"Excuse me for being blunt." Before Azuka could say anything, the professor, his vision shrouded in darkness, coldly interrupted him. "Most of those willing to believe in you are here for 'glory.' They derive joy from comparison, and their lifelong dream is to surpass others. 'Others' here naturally include you."

“You can’t have it all, Zephyr,” he scoffed. “The world doesn’t revolve around you.”