Gavi could not defy Helos’s command.
The phrase, “Kill him,” had been forcibly branded into her core like a fundamental command.
Her body, this new body that had just gained warm skin and a soft touch, betrayed her personal will at this moment.
She heard Julius’s heart-wrenching cry just now.
With her current keen perception, she could feel no malice from him, only an anxiety and concern that were very familiar to her.
She immediately realized that this man had come to save Helos.
But Helos’s command was absolute.
“Yes, Master.”
Gavi’s crisp voice held no emotion.
She slowly stepped forward, positioning herself between Helos and Julius.
Whoosh!
Her fair and tender arms suddenly swung out, and the silver armor-piercing spikes that had been hidden under her armor sprang out from the back of her hand like Wolverine’s claws.
The sharp spikes reflected a cold gleam under the faint light of the Magic Crystal.
She assumed a standard combat stance.
But in her heart, Gavi made a decision that was her own.
She had to obey the command to “fight.”
But she would never “kill” the one who tried to save her master.
She decided to hold back.
“Move aside!”
Julius looked at the incredibly “evolved” puppet golem before him, his jet-black eyes filled with anxiety.
“I don’t have time to waste here! You’re not my target!”
“My command is to eliminate threats.”
Gavi’s voice remained flat, but in her gray eyes, a flash of struggle that only Julius could see flickered.
The next second, Gavi moved.
Her speed was astonishing!
This new “bionic” body was far more agile than her previous heavy metal frame.
Like a golden leopard, she instantly closed the distance between them, and the armor-piercing spike on her hand drew a deadly silver arc aimed at Julius’s throat!
Julius’s pupils contracted.
‘So fast!’
He had no time to think; the Holy Sword “Daybreak” in his hand instinctively crossed in front of his chest.
Clang!
A clear sound of metal striking metal echoed through the forest!
The tip of the armor-piercing spike precisely struck the blade of the Holy Sword, sending sparks flying.
Julius felt a tremendous force transmitted through the blade, numbing his arm slightly.
He was forced back half a step by the impact.
‘Such strength!’
But Julius was, after all, a battle-hardened chosen one.
The moment he blocked that strike, he sensed something was off.
This strike had no killing intent.
Although Gavi’s movements were swift and her angle was tricky, the “will” on her spike was hesitant.
Julius understood instantly.
He looked into Gavi’s gray eyes, filled with pain and struggle, and knew that this “evolved” golem was still desperately trying to protect her master.
‘She’s faking it!’
‘She’s helping me in this way!’
A faint smile flickered at the corner of Julius’s mouth, but it quickly disappeared.
“I understand. I’ll go all out.”
Gavi missed her strike and immediately changed her move.
Her body twisted in an unnatural way, and the armor-piercing spike on her other hand, like a viper emerging from its den, thrust upward from below straight at Julius’s heart.
Julius no longer held back.
He stopped trying to awaken Helos and focused all his attention on the fight before him.
“Holy light!”
He shouted lowly, and the “Daybreak” in his hand erupted in a dazzling golden glow.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
On the forest clearing, two figures became phantoms that ordinary eyes could not track.
One was a golden figure shimmering with icy silver light.
The other was a black figure wreathed in sacred flames.
Gavi’s attacks grew faster and fiercer.
She unleashed all her combat skills and her abilities as a golem to the utmost.
Every swing of her spikes was accompanied by a piercing whistle.
But Julius stood like an insurmountable mountain.
His swordsmanship was ancient, steady, with not a single wasted movement.
No matter how fierce Gavi’s attacks were, he always blocked her claws with minimal effort and the most precise angle.
The holy light on the Holy Sword “Daybreak” scorched Gavi’s arms with a sizzling sound each time it collided with her armor-piercing spikes.
Gavi felt her body reaching its limit.
She knew she had to “lose.”
“Master!”
Gavi let out a roar, as if putting in her all.
“Now!”
She thrust both spikes out simultaneously, exposing an opening as if gambling everything.
Julius had been waiting for that moment!
He did not use the Holy Sword to slash.
He sidestepped abruptly, dodging the feint of the armor-piercing spike.
The young man’s body spun sharply, and the Holy Sword “Daybreak” reversed in his hand.
He smashed the pommel, infused with holy light, hard against the back of Gavi’s fair neck.
Thud!
A dull sound.
The light in Gavi’s gray eyes instantly faded.
Her fierce aura receded like a tide.
Her petite “bionic” body went limp, collapsed forward, and fell to the ground, completely unconscious.
Gavi had fulfilled her mission.
She had obeyed Helos’s command to “fight.”
At the same time, she had protected Julius, the “savior,” in her own way.
The moment Gavi fell, Julius didn’t even have time to look back at her.
His jet-black eyes, across the short distance, locked onto the silver-haired girl who still stood there coldly watching everything.
Helos!
Julius’s figure vanished from his spot.
In an instant, he crossed the battlefield and stood before Helos!
Squeak?!
The Chaos Demon Beast that had been hiding at Helos’s feet let out a terrified shriek upon sensing the holy aura on Julius, as scorching as the sun!
The tentacles on its back shot out, trying to attack this intruder.
“Get lost! Filthy thing!”
Julius didn’t even glance at it!
His right hand, gripping the Holy Sword, swung fiercely, and the holy light enveloping him exploded like a tsunami, instantly engulfing Helos and the beast at her feet!
That pure, uncontaminated holy light was like a red-hot branding iron to the cold “will” on Helos’s body.
“Ugh…”
The indescribable discomfort and burning sensation forced a pained moan from Helos.
Her eyes, filled with azure light, shut involuntarily, her long lashes trembling violently.
As for the chaos rat, it didn’t even qualify to endure that power!
The moment the golden light touched its twisted body, its shrill scream cut off abruptly.
It was like an ice cube thrown into a furnace—it “evaporated” instantly under the holy light.
Its mutated flesh and twisted tentacles turned to black ash in less than a second, then were purified by the holy light and vanished without a trace.
At the same time the beast was purified, the Holy Sword “Daybreak” in Julius’s hand suddenly dimmed.
Boom!
The next second, the sacred longsword dissolved into golden particles and disappeared from his hand.
The forest was once again shrouded in darkness.
Only the Magic Crystal that had fallen from Gavi still emitted a faint white light.
Julius withdrew the Holy Sword.
He looked at the silver-haired girl before him, her eyes shut and body trembling from the holy light’s burn.
His heart, numbed by battle, was now filled with endless remorse and pain.
He suddenly opened his arms, and without hesitation, he pulled Helos’s petite, trembling body tightly into his embrace!
Julius used all his strength, as if to meld her into his own flesh and blood.
He buried his face deep into her familiar silver hair, which still carried a faint scent of medicinal herbs.
The young man’s unbreakable will collapsed in that moment.
His voice was hoarse, choked with sobs.
“I’m back…”
“I’m sorry I’m late…I’m sorry…”
“I’m back, Helos…”
He held her close and whispered softly in her ear, in a voice only the two of them could hear:
“I’m back, Helos, you idiot.”
“Can’t you wake up and look at me already?”
This embrace.
This warmth, familiar to the depths of her soul.
And this tearful whisper, after three long years.
Helos’s tightly shut eyes twitched violently.
Her brow, furrowed from the holy light’s burn, grew even tighter.
In her mind, in that icy world completely dominated by azure light and blood-red radiance, something seemed to—
Something seemed to have been forced open by this embrace and this whisper.
Crack.
Her soul, the part of her that was “Helos” suppressed by “Will” and “Chaos,” seemed to awaken at that moment.
The girl used all her strength to open her heavy eyelids.
She looked at the black-haired young man holding her tightly, his shoulders trembling slightly.
In her eyes, still possessed by Chaos, the azure and red lights flickered wildly.
But in the midst of that chaos, a trace of her original pale purple emerged, struggling to appear.
Her gaze was no longer indifferent, but filled with endless confusion and bewilderment.
The girl’s lips trembled slightly as she softly murmured that name:
“Yu…li…”