Chapter 769: Sword Broken

Thales's words fell.

Reverse Blade remained silent. In the tunnel, there was only Miranda's difficult breathing.

Thales slowly raised his hands and tried hard to negotiate.

"Look, I know you, so..."

"You have the wrong person," the Supreme-class assassin's gaze changed, and she denied it coldly. "I am not the boss, and I do not run a bar."

Huh?

Thales froze.

"The wrong... wrong person? No, no, no. How could that be? This saber of yours, I..."

Thales glanced at Miranda, who was being held hostage, and was hesitating over how to explain it.

Huh?

In that instant, Thales suddenly sensed something wrong.

Where was the saber?

The reverse-curved saber that had been laid across Miranda's neck. Why was it gone?

If that saber was not there, then how was he supposed to explain to her that they...

The next second, the Sin of Hell's River inside him erupted.

Cold killing intent spread through his hell senses, making every hair on Thales's body stand upright.

"Your Highness!"

Freed from being held hostage, Miranda turned and urgently warned him:

"Careful!"

Thales shuddered and woke as if from a dream.

Not only the saber.

Where was the person?

Reverse Blade, who had been standing behind Miranda...

Had disappeared?

Where had she gone?

When had she vanished?

Had he not been staring at her the entire time...

Fuck!

In the next instant, amid the frantic roar of the Sin of Hell's River, Thales, who instinctively wanted to retreat, discovered in horror that the strange blade that had mysteriously disappeared had abruptly appeared only inches before his eyes.

Bad. When had it come?

Thales was horrified and desperately ducked, only to find that at this distance, he could not dodge.

Was this a scripted Batman kill, or had she cheated and turned on invisibility?

The Sin of Hell's River let out a despairing rumble. At the brink of death, the boy struggled with all his strength while his thoughts ran wild.

But at that moment, a fierce sword light appeared from behind him. Though it came later, it arrived first, rushing straight toward the reverse-curved saber that had seemed certain to succeed.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

The sound of wind rose loudly enough to hurt Thales's eardrums.

But the expected clash of sword and saber did not happen.

The sword pressed forward without turning back, while the saber move wavered and withdrew.

Saber wind and sword light crossed in the air, barely skimming Thales's forehead.

Thales's eyes widened. The Sin of Hell's River strengthened his senses, letting him see clearly in slowed time:

Reverse Blade narrowly avoided the life-taking sword light, flipped sideways, and landed steadily.

Beside Thales, a thin, poorly dressed swordsman raised an old sword covered in rust.

The first exchange ended like this.

One saber and one sword had clashed around the prince in a flash. It ended without result, but left Thales drenched in cold sweat and the Sin of Hell's River restless inside him.

"You hid well, swordsman." Reverse Blade raised her head, her eyes outside the mask glinting coldly. "You almost killed me."

No, missed by a great deal.

The thin and shabby Sir Cassian stood beside Thales, fully on guard, as if facing a great enemy.

"My apologies, Your Highness Thales. The ambush failed."

Cassian's heart was heavy. He knew that in the first clash just now, he had already fallen into disadvantage.

The opponent had only been probing.

Yet he could not endure it and exposed his ambush.

Together with that strange ability of suddenly vanishing from sight...

This was an unprecedentedly powerful enemy.

If he wanted to live, he had to be prepared to die here.

"Ambush?"

Reverse Blade glanced at Thales and gave a disdainful snort that said, I knew you were talking nonsense to stall for time.

"No, no, no..."

Thales recovered from the danger just now. Without time to comfort himself, he hurriedly waved his hands.

"Sir Cassian, not an ambush... This is one of us..."

"If he is one of us..."

Cassian's gaze was like a sword, pressing straight at the assassin.

"Then why does he not lay down his weapon and obey orders?"

Reverse Blade seemed not to hear, not moving at all.

"This..."

Thales was immediately stuck and said with difficulty:

"Not... not entirely one of us. Just an acquaintance. An old acquaintance... In short, sir, Boss, before anyone acts, let us first..."

Thales turned back toward Reverse Blade, but he was instantly startled.

Reverse Blade...

Had disappeared again?

No way. Again?

The next second, Cassian frowned. His momentum changed, and his longsword swept horizontally before his chest.

"Right side!"

Miranda had picked up her weapon with difficulty. Covering one eye, she shouted from afar:

"On the wall!"

Cassian's expression changed. He dragged Thales behind him and pointed his longsword.

On the right tunnel wall, an ordinary-looking shadow moved.

Under the grave, startled gazes of the three, Reverse Blade, who had pressed herself to the wall at some unknown time and almost merged with the shadow, finally snorted coldly. She slowly slid down to the ground, returned to sight, and looked at Miranda behind her.

"Cheating is bad."

Cassian stared at the Supreme-class assassin who had inexplicably disappeared and inexplicably appeared again. His eyelids twitched, and his grip tightened more and more on his sword.

"Indeed, very bad."

Miranda clenched her teeth, covered her eye, and shook her head, seeming to endure some pain.

"Very... very... bad."

Without anyone noticing, another round of contest among ambush and detection, concealment and scouting, assassination and counter-assassination, passed between the three.

What the hell...

As a witness, Thales exhaled nervously.

She was different from Yodel, who hid without trace or sound and absolutely would not strike until the final moment and the decisive chance.

Although both were assassins, Reverse Blade shifted back and forth between revealing herself and hiding herself, deliberately applying pressure and provocation. She made opponents lose their footing between failing to see in time and uncertainty, and she was even more frightening than the masked assassin, sending a chill down the back.

"Sir Cassian, be careful. Apart from being good at slipping into blind spots in your vision..." Miranda raised her sword through clenched teeth, blocking Reverse Blade front and rear together with Cassian. "He is also very strong in direct combat."

"Good," Cassian said calmly. "How does he compare with Lausanne the Second?"

"Compare?" Reverse Blade said disdainfully.

The Supreme-class knight and Supreme-class assassin looked at each other, and killing intent reappeared in the air.

Bad.

Thales scratched his head hard in anxiety.

No, no, no, no. This was not how it should be. If this continued, both sides would suffer.

"Oh! Old fellow... Boss, do you remember?"

Thales suddenly thought of something and hurriedly spoke.

"When I was little, you even held... uh, beat me!"

What?

As soon as these words came out, the two experts building up momentum and facing each other paused together.

"Yes, that day was Revival Day. I was hungry and slipped into the back kitchen... Then you, Boss, came back and found me. You thought I had stolen, stolen..."

Thales took a deep breath, remembering as he drew the dagger from behind his waist.

"Yala's thing."

Seeing the special reflection from that dagger, Reverse Blade's gaze moved.

"Lies," she said coldly.

"And your saber!"

Thales hurriedly spoke, finishing before she could disappear again.

"This saber of yours was a birthday gift from her, from Yala... You also have four spare sabers with different weights for different situations, right?"

Miranda and Cassian both cast startled, doubtful looks at him.

But Reverse Blade did not speak and did not move.

Good.

This was a good sign.

"I know. That year, Boss, your old bone-chopping knife had a huge notch and could not be repaired. Yala wanted to give you a new set of knives, a set that could 'cut faster'..."

Thales did not dare delay and tried hard to choose his words carefully.

"At first, this saber was only an idea. Turning it into a forged weapon was not easy. The shape is unique, broad in front and narrow behind. The reverse curve, the width of the belly, the proportions of each part, the choice of materials... everything required precise calculation and repeated testing."

He looked at that strange saber whose curve felt familiar and sighed.

"Karaq on South Street is a very capable blacksmith. He took a lot of money and boasted loudly, but after a whole year he still could not make it. He dragged it out until after your birthday... In the end, Yala still had to use Edmund's connections and find an expensive workshop run by a dwarf master before..."

"You."

Reverse Blade suddenly spoke, interrupting Thales.

She slowly raised the saber, its downward-curving tip pointing at the boy before her.

"You..."

Cassian and Miranda both frowned and gathered momentum.

But Reverse Blade ignored them. She only stared intently at Thales.

She remembered.

One year, for Revival Day, Sunset Bar had spent heavily and bought in a batch of fine Ellenbian ham.

Yet, meticulous as she was, she discovered that for some reason, the hams in the storeroom were successively "losing weight," as if someone picked one already-cut ham every day and sliced off a thin layer with an extremely sharp blade, changing to a different ham each time to avoid discovery.

In the end, she, who managed the accounts, could no longer endure it and threatened the gluttonous cook and younger brother with her blade, warning him not to embezzle the shop's hams anymore.

At that time, the shock, confusion, innocence, and grievance on the latter's face made her understand something. She decided to wait by the tree for the rabbit and catch that hateful thief.

Of course, because of Yala, the thief's punishment changed from having his throat cut to a painful spanking.

"It was you."

Reverse Blade looked coldly at the boy and the sharp, familiar dagger in his hand.

"The brat who stole ham."

Miranda and Cassian both looked at him.

Feeling the Boss's gaze, Thales instinctively put away the dagger and covered his backside.

"Yes. Me."

He awkwardly squeezed out a smile.

"It was me."

Reverse Blade studied him for quite a while, then looked at the two opponents in front and behind. Her gaze gradually grew grave.

"They call you Your Highness... Your surname is Jadestar?"

"Yes, I..."

Thales suddenly thought of Sariton and the "past events" of Emerald Palace, and his words faltered.

"I..."

Thales's head hurt.

"I also only discovered later that my surname was Jadestar."

Miranda and Cassian stayed fully on guard, quietly waiting for the result of Thales's negotiation.

But Reverse Blade said nothing.

She only stared coldly at Thales, and that coldness grew colder and colder.

Not good. Getting close to her does not seem to work.

Thales's eyebrow twitched.

As the rarely seen owner of Sunset Bar, Old Fellow was as cold, fierce, distant, and hateful toward troublesome children as always, even though he was clearly no longer a troublesome child but a teenager.

He could only resort to other methods.

Of course, if he could persuade her to drop her hostility, or even stand on his side...

Thales took a deep breath and thought through his strategy.

"Listen to me, Boss. No matter who paid you, or who entrusted you to do this job, I believe your employer must have given instructions and concerns beforehand, especially with Jade City involved..."

"How clever."

Reverse Blade interrupted him with a cold laugh, no longer deliberately concealing her clear voice.

"A Jadestar, right under my nose for so many years?"

And she had not noticed at all.

The other party had also coincidentally found her bar and attached himself to her daughter?

What kind of conspiracy had to be arranged for even her to be calculated into it?

And this matter, Black Sword...

Those country mercenaries who did not know whether to live or die, who had thrown themselves into a royal conspiracy and wanted to contend against calamity, did they know?

Was it for this prince that they came to Black Street, seized territory, and founded the Black Street Brotherhood?

Had they reached an agreement with the Black Prophet again?

Or had they made connections with Renaissance Palace?

Yet kept only her in the dark?

Very good, Black Sword.

Reverse Blade's gaze was cold, and the curved saber in her hand turned lightly.

She should have let the Mystic kill you again. No, kill your brothers again.

"Speaking of that, Boss..."

Thales sensed that the other party's attitude was growing hostile and hurriedly changed the subject.

"I heard you and Yala both moved... Sunset Bar changed owners... I even entrusted someone to look for you..."

But before he finished, he felt the Sin of Hell's River burn fiercely.

Reverse Blade before him did not disappear, but her figure moved, rushing at Thales with extreme speed.

Thales was instantly startled.

"Careful!" Miranda chased after the assassin and roared.

Cassian raised his sword with the flow.

Seeing conflict rise again, Thales was greatly alarmed.

"No..."

But it was already too late.

"Step back."

Cassian calmly shielded Thales. He watched every detail of his opponent, patiently waited for her to charge before him, then swung out an imposing waist-level slash.

Reverse Blade, rushing at high speed, had her pupils shrink.

The next second, the Supreme-class assassin tapped the ground with her toes, and her body folded and leapt up unbelievably, narrowly avoiding that fierce sword strike and continuing toward Thales.

But the instant Reverse Blade passed the sword tip, Cassian seemed to have predicted it. He stepped, turned his wrist, and the previous majestic sword move scattered away, transforming into a hidden follow-up sword that had been waiting for a long time, straight for Reverse Blade's landing point.

Reverse Blade's heart sank.

This follow-up change had been premeditated for a long time, and both timing and angle were perfect.

It left her nowhere to evade.

As expected, this was a Supreme-class sword.

But...

The Supreme-class assassin gave up on Thales, returned her saber, and pressed down diagonally, barely meeting Cassian's sword edge.

The majestic force made her grunt.

Reverse Blade endured the vibration and pain that traveled from her arm into her chest and, using Cassian's sword momentum, kicked the wall and vaulted upward.

The opponent was undoubtedly Supreme-class. The only flaw was...

He was truly amateurish.

Enduring the pain, Reverse Blade looked regretfully at Thales below and thought coldly:

Do you even know how to kill?

If it were Black Sword...

He would probably have used himself, or even the boy, as bait. Even if he were wounded and the hostage were seized, he would hide that life-taking follow-up sword in an even deadlier place, leaving Reverse Blade no room to defend or shed force, much less borrow force to break through.

In only one exchange, Black Sword and she, both enemy and ally, would have to fall.

Then it would depend on who fell more thoroughly, or who climbed up first.

After all, to oppose Supreme-class, one could not fear death.

Of course, if it really were Black Sword, she would not be foolish enough to face that heaven-chosen killing star head-on, blood for blood, life for life.

As for now...

Reverse Blade fiercely reached out and unbelievably grabbed a gap in the wall, swinging through the air and barely avoiding Cassian's returning follow-up sword.

Thales was pressed to the ground and only had time to see Cassian's sword edge sweep over his head, while Reverse Blade's figure passed even higher above him and met his dumbstruck gaze.

In the next instant, the Supreme-class assassin flipped away, broke through the enclosure, and landed not far behind Cassian and Thales.

Only now did Miranda rush to Thales's side and shield him behind her.

"As expected of the assassin who once infiltrated Emerald Palace and forced Jade City to change masters."

Cassian suppressed the roiling blood and energy in his body, calmed his breathing, and only then slowly turned, fully on guard.

"Are you the unforgivable Flower of Assassins, or the infamous Shadow Shield?"

Reverse Blade laughed coldly. She turned back, her gaze cold and sharp.

"There are so many assassins in the world. Do you only know Sariton?"

Cassian frowned at the words.

From ancient times to the present, Reverse Blade thought disdainfully, over thousands of years of change, so many assassin families, gangs, bands, and organizations had risen and fallen, lived and died.

As for the so-called Flower of Assassins Sariton, they were merely one branch among them with better luck and longer survival.

"As for Trickshadow... a gang of killers who take money to do jobs."

Reverse Blade snorted coldly, disdain overflowing.

"They deserve to be called assassins?"

Cassian frowned tightly.

"Is it true?"

Thales climbed up from the filthy ground and insisted on asking:

"Boss, over ten years ago, was it really you who killed Jade City's old duke?"

Reverse Blade glanced at Thales.

Thales clenched his teeth.

"Who exactly commissioned you? Or who coerced you? Why? Is that why you hid under another name? And this time? Why this time?"

Reverse Blade did not answer. She only looked deeply at Thales, who was protected in the middle by Cassian and Miranda.

"Brat."

She said coldly:

"Do not look for us again."

In that instant, Reverse Blade's words seemed to have life, passing coldly through the air into Thales's ears and making his whole body tremble.

"Unless your backside itches again."

Ah, backside?

Thales froze for a fraction of a second. Then he reacted and hurriedly spoke:

"Wait, I only want..."

But in the next instant, Reverse Blade's figure flashed and vanished around the corner.

Thales held one hand in the air and stared blankly at the place where Boss had disappeared.

But Cassian did not move in the slightest. He still stared fixedly at the dark tunnel corner.

Miranda also covered one eye, clenched her teeth, and did not dare grow careless at all.

Finally, after several seconds, Cassian slowly lowered his longsword and looked at a new wound on the back of his hand, his gaze complex.

"The sense of threat has disappeared," he said faintly. "At least nearby."

Hearing this, Miranda finally released a breath.

"Fuck."

She shook her head, closed both eyes tightly, and propped herself on her sword.

The great enemy had only just left, and the heavy atmosphere had not yet dispersed. None of the three spoke, and the tunnel was quiet for a while.

But before long, Thales and Miranda reacted at the same time and urgently asked in unison:

"Is everything all right? Where is Hilley? Where are the others?"

"Your Highness! Why are you alone? Where are the others?"

The two anxiously spoke over each other, but Cassian turned his head and looked gravely toward another corner of the tunnel.

"Thales?"

A trembling female voice sounded.

Thales shuddered and hurriedly turned.

"Hilley?"

Hilley's figure appeared in the dim lamplight. She leaned against the wall, weakly reaching out toward Thales.

"Thales... is that you? And... Cassian?"

"My lady." Cassian bowed respectfully, but his voice choked.

"Thank goodness!"

Thales quickly stepped forward, not even caring that he kicked away a fake hand that was still trembling on the way. He grabbed Hilley, who was on the verge of collapse.

"Hilley, it is good that you are all right. Otherwise Zayen would probably... Hilley?"

Thales's words trembled.

With the aid of his hell senses, he saw in shock:

Hilley's eyes were wrapped in a thick circle of bandages, covering almost half of her face from forehead to cheekbones.

"Your eyes... Are you hurt? Did she injure you?"

The blindfolded Hilley trembled and hurriedly let go of his hand.

"No! It is nothing. Dust and sewage splashed into my eyes. They hurt, so I used some medicine to ease them. They will be fine soon. Right, what is happening above? Chadwi?"

"Chadwi... Chadwi... oh, Chadwi is fine. But you..."

Perhaps Hilley herself could not see, but...

Thales looked at the girl before him in disbelief.

Her eyes...

The bandages wrapped around Hilley's eyes were stained with specks of blood.

Even more scarlet seeped out from beneath the bandages, dyeing them red inch by inch. It was frightening.

Her eyes. What was this...

"It is nothing." Miranda swept past Thales, supported Hilley, and arranged her appearance while coincidentally blocking his line of sight. "The attack came too suddenly. The lady accidentally got dust in her eyes while evading. It is not serious, but it is hard to endure. She needs rest to recover."

"Right. I am fine. I only need... need rest. Let Cassian, let Cassian take me..."

Blindfolded Hilley's breath was as thin as a thread, and her head tilted.

"Hilley!"

Thales was startled, but Cassian came from behind and gently, slowly, yet indisputably took the unconscious Hilley from Miranda's hands.

"As you wish, my lady."

He carefully lifted Hilley by the waist. His movement was so practiced and his expression so calm that it seemed not to be the first time.

"I will escort the lady back to Emerald Palace at once." Cassian turned decisively, blocking Hilley's face from their sight. "I will trouble Your Highness with matters here."

"Of course. Reinforcements will arrive in fifteen minutes. But..."

Thales stared blankly at the knight's departing back, still unable to believe it.

"She, she..."

"My apologies, Your Highness," Miranda came back to herself, her expression grave. "The situation inside the dungeon... may be somewhat bad."

Several minutes later, Thales stood blankly outside the dungeon that had held Lausanne the Second, watching Miranda first help up Ralf, who had just awakened, then pull up Glover, who was still unconscious.

"Mute? Mute, are you all right? Do you remember what happened before you fainted? Did you see the enemy clearly? Were you knocked down by an ability, or by the assassin?"

Ralf painfully held the back of his head, his gaze confused, as if he had not fully woken.

But Thales paid no attention to them. He looked in disbelief at the wide-open wooden dungeon door, and at the scarlet and black beyond it.

Behind that door, his hell senses sent back unsettling information.

Blood.

Blood all over the floor.

Foul and thick blood.

"Glover? Vanguard Officer Glover? Zombie? Wake up, wake up. Do you know where you are? Do you still recognize me? I am Arunde..."

Thales breathed in a daze. He lifted his foot and, ignoring Miranda's attempt to stop him, stepped through the dungeon door first.

As expected, in the center of the dungeon, the stone shackle that had once locked the vampire killer was now empty. The prisoner was gone.

Lausanne the Second had disappeared.

But...

Thales's steps stopped. He had accidentally stepped into a shallow pool of blood, and the sticky, slippery feeling beneath his boot made his foot tremble.

But...

In the faint light of the everlasting lamp, Thales blankly lifted his foot and looked ahead.

A person.

A man lay quietly by the wall, motionless.

His sword had fallen beside his hand, stained with blood.

Thales's thoughts stopped for an instant.

That was not the prisoner. Not Lausanne the Second.

That was...

Thales took a deep breath, used all his strength to pull his boot free, and approached the wall step by step, coming beside the person on the ground.

That was...

The instant he saw the man's face clearly, Thales's mind went blank. His whole body went numb, and he felt all emotion vanish.

"Then there is the guard wing... ordinary heroes, great guards, confirming your safety with flesh and blood, paving the way for your glory with hot blood..."

"This humble one is Danny Doyle, Your Grace, and also the most reliable one among your six guard officers!"

At this moment, D.D., first-class guard officer of the Royal Guards, Danny Doyle from Mirror Lake, was lying quietly in a pool of blood.

At his neck, a terrifying saber wound full of coagulated blood was clearly visible.

No.

Thales moved forward in a daze, came before the man on the ground, and slowly knelt.

Was this really...

Him?

D.D. was still as handsome and dashing as before. He merely no longer made that lazy, annoying voice, no longer told inappropriate jokes, no longer wore that never-diminished smile, and no longer did infuriatingly stupid things.

He only lay with both eyes open, peacefully and calmly gazing at the dark ceiling, unmoving, his remains tranquil.

Just like that day at the royal banquet, when he walked down from the platform, preparing to sacrifice a pawn and duel.

"Your Highness, I know that over these days, in order to curry favor with you, I acted somewhat exaggeratedly and overdid it, but... you are a good person."

"Compared with Renaissance Palace, here... it is very relaxing."

"If one day my father... please remember today."

No. How could it be? How could it be D.D.?

Why?

Glover and Ralf outside were both mostly all right, but why, why was D.D. the only one...

Dazed, Thales wanted to reach toward D.D., but halfway there, his hand weakly lowered again.

"Your Highness..."

Miranda's footsteps sounded behind him, then abruptly stopped, accompanied by a suppressed inhale.

After that came Ralf's hoarse, sorrowful throat sounds, and Glover's voice full of shock and pain.

"This is... no, no, no... Your Highness... how could..."

Thales did not turn back. He stared at the unmoving D.D. and pushed the Sin of Hell's River with all his strength, suppressing the trembling throughout his body and preserving the last thread of extra reason.

With a splash, Glover knelt beside D.D. in disbelief. The still-wet blood splashed onto Thales's face, leaving a scarlet streak.

"I... I arranged for him to be inside here... I thought this place would be very safe. That killer could not break free from the shackles..."

Miranda sighed, wanting to speak but stopping.

"Vanguard Officer Glover..."

Glover held D.D.'s already cold hand, shocked and dazed.

"I thought that if someone came to break him out, they would have to... have to take us down first... D.D. should not... he should not have had an accident..."

Ralf's expression was also heavy. He limped to Glover's side, hesitated, then still knelt on one knee and placed a hand on the latter's shoulder.

"What if you, Wya Caso, if merely standing at my side, keeping up with my steps, or even walking into my surroundings, means you are doomed to be smashed to pieces and die?"

"Then I had better choose a good position."

"Your position was taken, Wya."

Thales spoke faintly and gave an unconscious hum of laughter.

He stared fixedly at the wound covered with blood on the corpse's neck and understood.

Yes. It was Reverse Blade.

One saber strike broke the neck. Blood loss was fatal.

In other words, Boss, Old Fellow, had acted cleanly, without the slightest mercy.

As expected of Yala's mother.

Thales gave a soft scoff, his expression stiff.

From the very beginning, Reverse Blade had been resolved and had come prepared to kill.

And he, Thales himself, had still counted on the fantasy and fluke of "everything can be negotiated" and "why should both sides suffer," wanting to dissolve contradictions and stop conflict.

How naive.

How pathetic.

The enemy was ruthless and cruel.

Yet you are weak and incompetent.

Thales looked at Danny Doyle's half-open, half-closed eyes, as if he were merely napping, and smiled self-mockingly with a disdainful hum.

No, far more than today.

The voice in his heart grew harsher, as if that could hide his guilt and blame.

All of Jade City, whether afraid or worried, everyone, everyone in this game, knew and had already prepared.

Prepared for rivers of blood, for a fight to the death.

Jade City had even begun seeing deaths long ago.

It was only that those who died had not been people beside you.

More than that, the whole kingdom had begun bleeding.

Only you. Only you, Thales Jadestar, still held on to that pitiful, pathetic, hateful, detestable fantasy.

Only you still wanted to rely on an old sick nag, rotten armor, a worn-out lance, and that trace of laughable self-righteous persistence to charge at that impossibly high windmill.

The result could only be being smashed to pieces.

Dragging those beside you down.

So D.D. died, the voice in Thales's heart was cold and direct, tearing his heart open bloodily to help him resist the grief and pain that would drown everything.

Because of you.

Thales Jadestar.

And how will you respond?

Thales took a deep breath and opened his eyes coldly.

Yes.

Respond.

Thales looked expressionlessly at D.D.'s remains.

He had to make a strong and forceful response, no matter who he faced.

To keep what happened today from happening again.

Thinking to this point, Thales abruptly stood, but stars flashed before his eyes.

His body tilted, and the hand he used to support himself pressed into a pool of blood.

It was cold and sticky to the touch.

In that instant, Thales's breathing stopped.

He lowered his head blankly and, with blood-soaked fingers, pulled something out of the pool beside D.D.

It was an old, crooked little thing, covered in blood, yet still grinning at him.

A small cloth bear?

In that instant, Thales's pupils froze.

The Sin of Hell's River suddenly failed.

The boy began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Why?"

Thales spoke in a shaking voice.

The three immersed in sorrow all turned back together.

"Why did he bring it with him?"

Thales trembled, holding up the blood-covered cloth bear. He wanted to wipe away the blood on it, but only smeared it redder.

"Does he not usually put it at his bedside?"

"Your Highness?" Glover asked in confusion.

"Why did he bring this little bear?"

Holding the cloth bear, Thales looked blankly at D.D., dead for some time on the ground. His speech grew faster and more urgent, as if this question were terribly important.

"Why did he bring it? Why keep it with him? Why bring it down here? Bring it to such a dangerous place?"

The other three lowered their heads without speaking. No one answered him.

"Why? Why? Why?"

Receiving no answer, Thales grew frightened and could not help shouting:

"Why!"

"Because you gave it to him." Mallos's voice came from behind.

Thales paused slightly.

Everyone turned and saw Mallos pass through the doorway, looking at D.D. on the ground with a complex expression.

At some unknown time, their reinforcements had arrived.

Morgan, Oskerson, Kusta, Neshy...

Many people from the Star Lake Guard stood outside the door, shocked and sorrowful as they looked at what had happened in the dungeon.

"He said that with your temper, no one knew when you might confiscate it back," Mallos said softly. "So he had to keep it with him, just in case."

Just in case.

As those words fell, Thales collapsed to the ground like a ball losing air.

"Your Highness..."

Miranda wanted to help him, but Mallos reached out and stopped her.

"But I do not need it."

Thales was expressionless, but he could not help gasping in great gulps, each breath uncontrolled and using all his strength, as if he wanted to exhale all the air in his chest.

"I do not need this ugly little bear. Who the hell needs this?"

"Your Highness..." Glover said hoarsely.

"He should have kept it himself... why give it to me... I do not need it!"

Thales raised his voice and emphasized again.

He knelt on the ground, looked at the blood-red little bear in his hands, and, while striking the ground, trembled and roared angrily:

"I do not need it!"

The subordinates inside and outside the dungeon looked at one another, not knowing what to do.

Miranda could not bear it and was about to step forward, but someone was faster than her.

It was Mallos.

The Watchman knelt beside the prince, pulled Thales, who was roaring out of control and unable to stop himself, into his arms, and gently patted the boy's trembling back, letting him hide his face in the crook of Mallos's shoulder, in a place others could not see.

"But you do need it, child. You do."

Thales trembled violently, and his cry stopped abruptly.

Miranda looked at them with a complex expression and thought of the comrades who had once died on the battlefield.

"Courage... burning a great life..."

Miranda's voice echoed in the tunnel, singing several lines of a funeral song unique to the North.

Her song was graceful and sorrowful, making everyone lower their heads in grief, and also hiding Thales's tears and sobs within it.

"Death... is but a long-awaited return home."

Thales regained his calm. He broke free from Mallos's embrace and wiped his eyes, ignoring the blood on his hand.

Glover swallowed, reached out, and closed D.D.'s eyes. Ralf sighed and stepped forward to hold D.D.'s arm.

"Wait. The oath."

Everyone turned back and saw the youngest vanguard officer, Nate Neshy, his eyes red and his throat hoarse, point toward D.D.'s remains.

"He... D.D. is a member of the guard, and also a knight. According to tradition, we need... need someone... someone for him..."

He choked up and did not continue.

Everyone fell silent and looked toward Mallos.

And so the Watchman sighed.

"Imperial Guard, First-Class Guard Officer, Danny Doyle."

Mallos spoke softly. The royal guards inside and outside the dungeon lowered their heads one after another, drawing themselves solemnly upright.

"Your sword is broken. Your mission is complete."

Glover trembled slightly, clenched his teeth, picked up D.D.'s sword, paused for a while, and placed it back into his colleague's hand.

"You have fulfilled your duty. You shall rest at the Emperor's side."

Glover clenched his teeth and, together with Ralf, arranged D.D.'s appearance and posture while chanting in unison with the guards inside and outside the dungeon:

"Only inheritance endures... witness eternity."

As the chant fell, the dungeon sank into silence.

"Hmph. The man is gone already," Morgan snorted angrily and kicked away a stone at his feet in resentment. "What use is doing all this now?"

"It has use." Paul, leaning against the wall, looked at D.D. with a complex expression. "As long as someone believes in it, it has use."

At that moment...

"My fault! My fault!"

The corpse in the pool of blood suddenly spasmed upright, grabbed Glover by the collar, and screamed madly:

"Sorry! This is all my fault! Not hers! It was me! I killed her! I killed her!"

What the hell?

Thales shook all over and looked carefully at the scene.

The sight was far too horrifying. The others were similarly chilled and instinctively reached for their weapons.

"D.D.!"

Glover, the closest, reacted first. He was shocked, then overjoyed, not caring that the corpse was gripping his collar and not caring about its nonsense.

"D.D.! You are not dead! You are alive! He is alive! He is not dead!"

The badly startled crowd was shocked again and looked at one another.

"My fault! I killed her! Me! All of us!" the corpse twitched madly, shouting out of control.

Thales's expression changed. He immediately rushed up and embraced the corpse's shoulders.

"D.D.? You are still alive?"

Mallos was even more direct. The Watchman stepped forward and slapped the corpse fiercely across the face.

"Wake up!"

The twitching corpse paused. He trembled violently, and what he said changed:

"Left... left side! Left side! Assassin! He is on the left! Saber! A reversed saber!"

The "D.D." who had returned from death was covered in blood. He looked at the people around him, first terrified and panting, then weakly collapsed into Glover's arms and fainted.

Thales, clutching the blood-soaked little bear, stared at all of this in shock, completely unable to react.

He...

D.D., he...

He was still alive?

The crowd exploded with noise.

"How? What is going on?"

"Did the corpse rise?"

"How is that possible? I checked just now..."

"Blessed Sunset Goddess... unclean things stay away..."

"I have never offended D.D. usually..."

"What did he say just now?"

"No..."

Amid the chaos, Mallos finished checking D.D.'s condition and concluded gravely:

"Although very weak, Doyle is alive."

The crowd stirred again.

"How is that possible? Such a huge cut on his neck..."

"He lost so much blood..."

"Could the prince have used some evil art..."

"Bah, bah. Even if there was anything, it would be divine art. The Jadestar royal family is deeply blessed by the goddess..."

Thales, shocked and uncertain, reached out and wiped the blood from the fatal wound on D.D.'s neck.

Only then did he discover in surprise that the skin beneath the blood was whole and tight. Apart from an already scabbed scar, there was no further wound.

This was...

"Carry him up. Treat him immediately," Mallos ordered decisively.

The uncertain guards received the order and immediately moved, taking down the door panel and clumsily carrying D.D. out of the dungeon.

"D.D., what did he... encounter?" Thales asked in shock, gripping the little bear.

Mallos frowned tightly, his expression unchanged.

At that moment, Miranda sensed something.

She picked up an everlasting lamp nearby, stood, and slowly paced toward one side of the dungeon.

"Here!" the swordswoman called loudly.

Everyone turned together.

The instant the swordswoman lifted the lamp to illuminate the corner, everyone was shocked.

"This is..."

Glover held D.D.'s sword and spoke in disbelief.

In the deepest, most remote, darkest, narrowest corner of the dungeon, a person was curled up.

To be precise, a "person" no longer in human shape.

"Lausanne the Second," Mallos said, his gaze freezing.

What?

Hearing that name, the guards in the dungeon grew nervous, drawing weapons one after another and guarding Thales, who was still in shock, at the center.

But after several seconds, Mallos waved for everyone to drop their defenses.

"No need."

Mallos carefully stepped forward and stood side by side with Miranda and Glover.

Thales broke free from the guards and saw Lausanne the Second in the corner clearly. He could not help freezing.

Was this really him?

That Lausanne the Second?

In the dungeon corner, the once-arrogant vampire killer was hugging his knees tightly with his remaining arm, curled in the corner in an ugly posture, rigid and tense. His joints and limbs were exaggeratedly twisted, yet he did not move at all.

His face was covered with blue-black withered lines, making him look hideous and terrifying. His hair and skin were dry and shriveled, disgusting and ugly.

Lausanne the Second maintained this ugly posture, motionless.

Eyes empty.

Complexion ashen.

All life gone.

Like a...

"He is dead."

Mallos poked Lausanne the Second's unmoving, desiccated body with his scabbard, looked at the cracked skin, and reached his conclusion.

Thales froze.

Lausanne the Second had just...

Died?

He looked at the vampire killer's final posture before death, his feelings complex.

Everyone released a breath together.

"Wonderful!"

"Finally dead!"

"We succeeded!"

"Honor avenged!"

"Should we add a few more cuts to the head?"

"When the intruder came, he did not run away? He was killed together with the rest?" Glover looked at the other party's cringing posture curled in the corner and asked in confusion. "This posture, was he afraid, or hiding from something? The intruder?"

"No."

Miranda carefully observed along Lausanne the Second's posture, understood something, and put away her weapon.

"He was hiding from... blood."

Thales's gaze moved.

Several feet from the vampire killer's feet, the ground was full of blood that had flowed from D.D.

Lausanne the Second had merely done everything he could to curl himself into the corner, struggling with all his strength to stay away from the blood.

Until the final moment arrived.

Thales understood, and could not help sighing inwardly.

"Then what... exactly happened here? Lausanne the Second just... withered to death?" Glover asked in confusion.

Miranda shook her head.

Mallos was silent for a while, then reached out to take Miranda's everlasting lamp, turned, and lifted it high to illuminate the wall D.D. had been leaning against.

Thales's expression changed.

"This is..."

Everyone raised their heads.

On the wall of the dungeon, two crooked lines of large characters smeared in blood were illuminated by the lamplight:

"Within one day, do not let him die again."

Thales's brow jumped.

"So that is it."

Mallos sighed. He looked at the blood words, which had clearly been written with trembling effort, then turned back to look at Lausanne the Second's desiccated corpse in the corner, and finally toward the direction in which D.D. had been carried away.

"Your sword..."

Mallos closed his eyes and gently set down the lamp.

"Is broken."