Green felt as if his very bones were about to scatter.
What did it feel like for a single man to stand against the three greatest powerhouses of the kingdom—of the entire human world? To Green, there was only one word for it: “Death.” Against such beings, a hundred Greens wouldn’t be enough to last a minute.
Actually, that wasn’t quite right. He was already dead. Thoroughly dead, soul-extinguished, with no chance of resurrection.
Yet, Green still stood there, standing in front of Alice, shielding her from enemies millions of times stronger than himself.
BOOM!!!
“Thousandfold Thunder!” The Grand Magus, the Kingdom’s Regent, raised his wand and screamed an incantation. The black clouds tore open, raining down a bolt of lightning that completely engulfed Green.
Sizzle—
Green took another direct hit. As the smoke cleared…
“You… you’re still not dead?!” The Prime Minister stared in shock and fury at the figure. “You’re clearly just a mid-tier professional, not even Level 50! How are you still standing?!”
Facing the Prime Minister’s disbelief, Green smiled faintly. He gently stroked his Exorcism Blade, treating the mass-produced Church weapon as if it were the most precious treasure in the world.
“Perhaps it’s because…” Green answered quite seriously, “I died a long time ago.”
“What?” Montague was stunned, the answer so unexpected he froze for several seconds.
“Lord Sword Saint!” Seeing that he couldn’t take Green down instantly, the Prime Minister’s eyes darted around, shifting tactics. “Your disciple… I don’t mean to be petty, but look! He is siding with the vessel of the Evil God!”
“Can you bear to watch your disciple fall deeper into error? If that girl isn’t stopped, the Evil God will descend upon this world!” The Prime Minister shouted with righteous indignation. “Think of the millions of citizens! Think of the peace and prosperity of the human world! Lord Sword Saint, will you not act? And you, Lord Grand Marshal?”
Clang!
“Young man,” the Grand Marshal raised his spear, his voice cold. “To withstand legendary power at Level 50—even if you’re using some foul secret art—you have earned my respect. Be proud of that.”
“Is that so?” Green ignored the Marshal’s killing intent, shielding his goddaughter, who had lost her mana after the Withered power receded. “To strike down an innocent woman… Lord Marshal, surely that doesn’t fit the Code of Chivalry you champion?”
“Innocent?” The Marshal looked at Alice, who was staring at Green with tearful, devastated eyes. “I saw her slaughtering people at my estate just now. She is no innocent. And besides…” His face twitched with a lingering fear. “Any evil must be uprooted. It’s not that I’m heartless, Green, but you don’t know how dangerous the Withered Cult is. My daughter was almost taken as a sacrifice last month!”
“The Marshal is right!” Montague nodded frantically, waving his wand to gather the elements—wind, fire, water, and earth—fusing them into suffocating runes of power.
“Godfather! Godfather!!” Alice, seeing Green’s figure growing transparent, finally understood. She struggled to her feet, weeping. “Enough! Please, it’s enough! Stop sacrificing yourself for me…” She clung to him, begging the three legends, “I’ll go with you! I’ll die! Just please… please let my Godfather go!”
“My, my. It seems even your cultist daughter is more sensible than you, Mr. Green.” Montague stroked his mustache, sighing. “You’ve been a Paladin so long, have you forgotten the Commandments? To do all this for a ‘trash’ child from the slums?”
Green straightened his back. “No. You are wrong,” he replied with unshakable conviction. “I protect Alice because I am practicing the Way of the Light. The true Way, without a single drop of hypocrisy.”
Montague blinked, confused.
“Alice is not a cultist,” Green said, taking a deep breath of the world’s air for the last time. “She is just a simple, honest fool. Nothing more.”
“Laughable! Enough talk—die along with your delusions!!!” Montague snarled.
Hummmm! The mana peaked. The Marshal leveled his spear.
“Forgive me, Green,” his master, the old Sword Saint, finally spoke. “I know your goddaughter might just be confused, but I cannot risk the descent of a god.”
BOOM!!!
Three Peak Legends struck simultaneously. Time seemed to freeze. There was no explosion, no blinding flash—just a blow so absolute it shattered the very reality of the space they stood in.
“Space-Time Erased,” Montague muttered, looking at the spot where the figure had vanished. “Just as I thought. A Level 50 nobody could only survive by using a Soul Gem to exist as a Heroic Spirit, immune to physical laws. That gem must have come from Lawrence…”
“GODFATHER!!!” A piercing scream cut him off.
Alice lunged forward. Green, who had been erased, flickered back into view. But this time, his body was dim, turning into countless specks of starlight. He was fading for the final time.
“No! Don’t leave me!” Alice reached out, her hands passing through the light. “Why… why did you fight for me? I’m just a ‘sinful’ daughter of the cult!”
“Cough… Alice…” Green’s fading voice whispered. “You aren’t… and your mother wasn’t either. Don’t forget…” Just before his soul vanished, he reached out and pinched her cheek one last time. “Our promise, Alice. You…”
“Must become the Light!”
With those words, the starlight that was Green didn’t dissipate—it surged into Alice.
Vroom!
Alice, whose mana was gone and whose connection to the Light was severed by her “fall,” suddenly felt a warmth she hadn’t felt in years. A warm, steady, invincible power.
The Light.
“I see.”
After what felt like an eternity in a single second, Alice looked up. Her hair turned from white to a radiant, shimmering silver. Her eyes remained crimson, but the darkness of the Withered Cult was gone. In its place was a holy, terrifying majesty.
“Godfather,” Alice said, her voice devoid of sorrow, filled only with peace. “As you wished… I have become the Light.”
BOOM!!!
An irresistible force erupted from her.
“That power…?” Montague’s eyes bulged. “A Demigod?!”
Alice ignored him. She looked up at the deep night sky, at the twinkling stars, her eyes full of memory.
“I finally understand why you always protected me. I know my mission now.”
Alice savored the memories flooding her mind—the memories of a magnificent, turbulent, and selfless life.
The life of Green.
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