Julius could no longer bear it. The creature before him that had devoured the bird, its head split into four parts, the tentacles tearing from its back… all pointed to a fact he least wanted to see but had to acknowledge.
‘A Chaos Demon Beast.’
‘This was his nemesis as the chosen one.’
‘It was something he had spent the past three years, on the empire’s borderlands in those corrupted lands, doing everything he could to purify.’
He knew full well that if this Chaos Demon Beast were allowed to grow, it would bring about a horrendous disaster.
‘It would devour everything it saw, turning this forest, and even the Imperial Capital, into a scorched wasteland.’
‘He had to purify it immediately.’
But what made his heart ache and almost stopped his breathing was the girl standing beside the beast, a satisfied smile on her face.
‘Helos.’
‘She had created it.’
‘She had given the command to “devour.”‘
An indescribable sorrow and rage surged in Julius’s heart.
‘It was those damned Chaos Believers who had step by step misled Helos, made her come into contact with this forbidden knowledge that blasphemed life, and made her commit this crime with her own hands!’
‘He had to stop her before she committed an irredeemable crime!’
Thinking this, Julius no longer had any hesitation.
‘He could not wait any longer.’
‘Helos was now standing at the edge of chaos, perhaps even already…’
‘As her former squire, he had a duty to pull her back!’
He slowly closed his eyes, his murderous intent and regret intertwining.
A solemn hum as if from the heavens echoed through the forest.
A faint yet utterly pure golden light flashed, and a solemn hymn seemed to resound in the air.
***
The next moment, the holy sword “Daybreak” appeared in his hand.
It was an archaic cruciform longsword, its blade emitting a warm golden light like the sun in the dim forest.
That light was so holy and pure that the moment it appeared, the surrounding gnarled tree shadows seemed to shrink back in fear.
In the clearing, the Chaos Demon Beast that had just devoured a living creature and was about to return to its master’s feet to receive praise suddenly let out a terrified “squeak.”
The wound on its back that had just healed seemed to split open again from the burning.
It sensed the threat from its natural enemy and cowered, hiding at Helos’s feet.
Crack. Julius slowly rose, snapping a dry twig underfoot.
He stepped out of the bush where he had been hiding for so long, walking out one step at a time.
The crisp sound was especially piercing in the silent forest clearing.
“Who?!”
The noise Julius made naturally alerted Helos immediately.
The smile on her face vanished instantly. In its place was a kind of cold indifference that came from being disturbed.
She whipped her head around to look at the dark bushes behind her.
She saw that man. A tall, dark-haired man in simple civilian clothes.
In his hand, he held a longsword emitting a blinding golden light.
That light made her feel slightly uncomfortable.
He was walking out from the shadows, step by step.
Helos stared at this suddenly appeared “uninvited guest.”
Julius’s heart nearly stopped at that moment.
He had prepared himself for her shock, her questions, even her tears.
But he did not get that. Helos seemed… not to recognize Julius?
There was no surprise in her eyes, no nostalgia, no joy of reunion.
The girl merely indifferently glanced at the other.
In those pale purple eyes flickering with an eerie blue light, there was a flash of “impatience” at being disturbed.
She did not even ask why he had come.
She simply raised her hand, pointed at the man slowly approaching, and gave a cold order to the blonde girl beside her.
“Gavi.”
Her voice was flat, devoid of any emotion.
“He saw my secret.”
“Kill him.”
The order was light, yet the killing intent was as heavy as a physical entity.
As if in her world, this was just a trivial matter.
This order not only made Julius’s forward step abruptly halt but also froze Gavi’s delicate face instantly.
Hearing this command, Gavi was stunned for a moment.
Of course, she had also heard the noise behind her.
In fact, she had long noticed this man who had followed them from the Academy all the way here.
Her body had been “modified,” but her core remained precise.
Her perception of danger was even keener than before.
Therefore, Gavi had long detected Julius’s presence.
She also recognized that this person was the same Julius who always bickered with her master three years ago but always protected her master at critical moments.
Otherwise, with her level of alertness, she would have acted long ago.
The reason she did not make a sound, and even “unconsciously” looked back, was that she did not know what to do.
Because she did not know whether Julius was friend or foe.
But even more, she did not know what was wrong with her master.
But now, Helos seemed to not recognize him at all.
She even… gave the order to “execute”?
“Master…”
Gavi’s unease reached its peak. She could not help but speak, asking tentatively:
“You… don’t recognize who he is?”
“Who he is doesn’t matter.”
Helos coldly interrupted her. She slowly turned around, her deep eyes completely locking onto Julius.
“What matters is that he saw my secret.”
“Therefore, he must die.”
As she spoke, her originally pale purple irises were now entirely occupied by that eerie blue light.
Not only that, within that blue, a trace of blood-red like fresh blood flashed through the depths of her pupils!
Faced with this scene, Julius’s heart sank completely.
‘Those eyes, that aura…’
‘The girl had clearly been controlled by some evil power he could not understand!’
‘She was not Helos.’
‘Or at least, now, the one controlling this body was not the Helos he knew!’
His rage extinguished in an instant, replaced by piercing cold and endless regret.
‘He had come too late.’
‘He had ultimately… come too late.’
‘He had to make the other party come to their senses first!’
“Helos!”
Julius suppressed the surging killing intent in his heart, raised the holy sword, and the golden light drew a barrier in the night.
“It’s me! Julius!”
He shouted loudly, trying to awaken the soul within that cold shell with his voice.
“Look at me! Helos! Wake up!”