Chapter 586.2: Wilhelmina (2)
When the sandstorm finally died down, the hills of carcasses were no longer anywhere to be seen; they had been reduced to splatters of flesh and blood that marred the pristine white sand.
Roel had been dragged down from his pedestal, but he obstinately stood on his feet while clutching his weapon despite requiring the support of a giant boulder.
The combined blessings of Being Toward Death and Indestructible Body allowed him to survive the full prowess of the three Race Sovereigns, but that was already his limit. He couldn’t move his body anymore, and his consciousness was constantly slipping in and out at this point.
Indestructible Body’s recovery couldn’t catch up with the rate at which he was sustaining injuries due to the enemies’ persistent assault. Being Toward Death had also been squeezed to its very limits after having been triggered many times.
Roel had used up his trump cards.
His frailty quelled the three Race Sovereigns’ nervousness and shook the surviving deviant soldiers out of their earlier trauma. Some of the deviant soldiers roared passionately, wanting to slay the enemy and accrue merit, only for the Race Sovereigns to bellow at them to back off. They chose to stand a distance away, awaiting the moment he breathed his last.
Perhaps they thought that there was no need for any further attack. All they had to do was to quietly watch his end.
Deviant Sovereign Banjol also finally walked over from afar as if to send off the final successor of this ancient bloodline.
I wasn’t able to return in the end.
Roel had also come to realize that his time was ticking down. His vision and consciousness were blurring, and he knew that he would be a goner the moment he passed out. He fell into a daze, which triggered a flashback of the events that had transpired in his short life. His family and friends appeared before his eyes as illusions.
Carter, Alicia, Nora, Charlotte, Lilian, and many other people appeared before his eyes, only to vanish a second later. It was almost as if they were going to accompany him to his eternal rest. Amidst a feeling of unprecedented fatigue, he was brought down the memory lane of his life.
I have tried my very best to live well.
Thinking about the original fate that awaited him, Roel could confidently give such an evaluation to himself. The short sixteen years he had lived in this lifetime was far more exciting than what he had been through in his previous life… just that he had far too many lamentations.
With a blink of his eyes, the illusions he saw suddenly vanished into thin air. He raised his head to look at the Race Sovereigns before him, and the silhouettes of the most important women in his life flashed across his head.
“…will win. If it’s them, we’ll win…”
Roel smiled as he thought about the women who had brought him endless joy in his short life. His life hadn’t been in vain. It might have seemed as if nothing had changed, but the truth was that the world was different because of him. The true stars of the world had displayed potential far surpassing his imagination, reaching greater heights than they did in the game.
He had no doubt that the final victory would be humankind’s under their leadership.
“…You’re the ones who will be destroyed.”
Roel stared at the quiet Deviant Sovereign as he murmured his prophecy. He slowly closed his eyes as a heartened smile formed.
“I’ll be waiting for you in hell, Banjol…”
His head slowly lowered as the final flicker of flame fueling his body extinguished.
Just as he was about to tread over the boundary of death, a shooting star suddenly shot across the sky from afar and landed before Roel, bringing about blinding light and a furious storm.
…
Boom!
An intense explosion ravaged the desert once more, catching the deviants by surprise.
The faces of Deviant Sovereign Banjol and the three Race Sovereigns darkened upon the inexplicable descent of the shooting star, and the surviving deviant soldiers panicked as well. Fear could be seen on their faces.
Roel’s terror had been imprinted deep in the deviants’ hearts. His tenacious desire to live, despite having all of the odds stacked against him, had been so frightening that it was hard for them to breathe easy until he finally met his end.
Needless to say, such a change was not something the deviants needed now.
Before an order could be issued, the three Race Sovereigns, prompted by their fear of Roel, frenziedly exerted their mana at the same time, releasing three devastating spells toward the heart of the sandstorm.
The Deviant Sovereign quietly watched the situation with a frown.
In contrast to the panicking deviants, Roel wasn’t too affected by the change in the situation. None of the hurtling sand struck his body, and the explosion from the shooting star’s descent didn’t burn him either. If there was anything that changed, it would be the sudden surge of life force swelling inside his previously dying body.
At the heart of the sandstorm, Roel’s body jolted as his ailing heart, which had already slowed to a halt, suddenly began beating once more. Within seconds, his body regained its key functions, and his consciousness was dragged back from the abyss.
Cough!
The swift and abrupt recovery had Roel coughing out a mouthful of coagulated blood.
Roel felt as if a divine hand had reached deep into hell to drag him back into the mortal world. The first thing he did upon regaining his consciousness was to lift his head and search for the source of the miracle.
Such a miraculous recovery spell was completely unheard of to Roel. Not even an Origin Level 1 transcendent would have been able to pull off such a feat. Much to his surprise, what he saw upon lifting his head wasn’t an old saint but a figure he hadn’t seen for a long time.
“Are you awake, Roel?”
“You are… Mina?”
“Yes, it’s me… Don’t worry. I’m here to take you home.”
“!”
The gentle voice echoing from the armored figure had Roel widening his eyes. An intense gush of emotions from his near-death experience and his unexpected salvation caused his eyes to become a little moist.
But when he took a closer look at Wilhelmina’s condition, his face quickly paled.
Her body was trembling ever so slightly as both mana and life force surged from her body into Roel’s through the armor’s ability. Even her usually dark armor turned golden-white under the effects of the transfusion. A faint blood mist lingered between them.
Wait a moment. This is…
Roel widened his eyes in horror as the truth behind his miraculous recovery finally dawned on him. He looked at the swiftly weakening woman, wanting to say something, but it was too late.
Three surges of light harnessing mana concentrated to the extremity exploded on them. The simultaneous attacks from the three Race Sovereigns landed at this instant, irradiating half of the sky with blinding light.
Roel was completely caught off guard, and the shadows of death loomed before him once more.
The all-out attacks from the desperate Race Sovereigns were so powerful that not even an Origin Level 1 transcendent would have been able to neutralize them, let alone the immobilized Roel. Yet, when the attacks landed, something shocking happened.
Faced with an attack beyond measure, the armored Wilhelmina quietly turned around and covered him, determined to keep him from harm.
“Ah?”
Roel’s mind went completely blank as he subconsciously voiced his confusion. But before he could do anything, everything had already been obliterated by the ensuing explosion and white light.
Boom!
The third explosion rattled the desert, producing intense shockwaves that stirred up the fouled sand once more. The surviving deviant soldiers roared triumphantly at the feat achieved by their three leaders. The Race Sovereigns also calmed down a little after releasing the attack.
They waited with bated breath to witness Roel’s disintegrated corpse. At this point, there was nothing they looked forward to more than his death.
Yet, Roel survived despite being at the heart of the explosion. He couldn’t have died—not when someone else had taken that terrifying attack in his stead.
“Mina!!!”
As the shockwaves died down, Roel quickly regained consciousness and called out, hoping to find her silhouette. However, his body stiffened at what he found. Within a mere instant, the woman before him was no longer the same as before.
Half of her armor had disintegrated into ashes. Bits of her flesh and blood had been blown into the surroundings, some even splattering on him. A crimson puddle of blood had pooled beneath her.
Her ash-blue hair swayed in the wind as her body wavered unsteadily, but she firmly stood her ground by anchoring her sword in place, not allowing the impact of the explosion to get to Roel. Her life force had become so faint that it was almost undetectable, but her sword continued to glow with faint light as if murmuring her faith.
It was the Swordheart.
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