“At… at least, we stopped you…” I spoke, weakly, feeling the last bit of my life leaving me.
“Stopped?” He raised his eyebrows and then chuckled. “You delayed me at best. You haven’t stopped anything.”
“…”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, you’ve been a major pain in my ass. I never would have thought Alysia would be so determined as to end her own life, even if it meant destroying the two of you.”
She thought she’d be saving me. My soul should have survived. I didn’t know what happened. However, it was too late to worry about that now. I should have escaped when I had a chance. With mana potions, I could have lasted a bit longer. With Elaya and Astria’s help, I’m sure they could have come up with some way to keep me alive. Elaya had a karmic soul created by a dungeon. There had to be a way to replace mine, even if it left me bound to a dungeon for the rest of my life.
“I really hate you…” I muttered, glaring at that irritating grin.
“Heh, well, I haven’t even gotten to the best part.”
“What?” I asked dryly.
“When I made my move on you, my troops were also ordered to move on your so-called embassy. That ridiculous general’s family fled, but I managed to capture the princess and the elf. Your other woman managed to escape, but it’ll only be a matter of time before I find her too.”
My eyes widened. “You… bastard, don’t touch them!”
I tried to reach out, but my arm wouldn’t move. He let out a piercing laugh.
“You set me back. I lost not just your god soul, but my incubator too. I’ll be needing to create a new incubator. Thankfully, you’ve given me the perfect opportunity.”
“Wh-what?”
“I think I’ll have fun turning that baby of yours into my new incubator. It’ll take a while, and Eliana may not survive the birth, but your child will serve me well.”
“I-I’ll kill you!” I cursed, my body shaking, but still unable to move.
“Don’t worry… I’ll raise your child like it was my own… until the day I use her as I used Alysia. She’ll fetch me the god soul you took away from me. Isn’t that justice? Oh… as for the elf… she might be fun to play with. She’ll serve me well.”
He grinned one last time before turning away. Showing his back to me was his last insult. He was telling me that there was nothing I could do against him. Anger continued to boil within me. I had to do something. If I could use the last of my life to cut him down, I should try. I noticed the headless body of Alysia lying only a foot from me. I grabbed the ring off her hand and using the last bit of power I pulled out a mana potion and began to drink it.
As I had hoped, mana began to flow back into the blessings. I ignited them again, accessing the store and switching everything to strength. I used all of my strength to pull myself off of the sword and stand up. With a roar, I grabbed the hand of the sword and lifted myself to standing. This caused the king to spin around in shock. I would pull out a sword from my inventory, strike him down, and kill him with the last bit of strength if I had to die trying. That was the only thing in my mind. That’s when a voice suddenly spoke up.
“You have met the requirements for the Soul Trial. Initiating entry in 3…2…1…”
“What?”
I let out a cry as my body broke away. It started at my hands, and then covered my entire body. In only ten seconds, I turned to ash and was no more. The ring I was holding, Alysia’s ring, fell to the floor with a ting.
From that moment on, a story spread like fire, hitting the borders of Aberis and even reaching Chalm. Deek Deekson was dead. He kidnapped the princess, attacked a general, and spread rebellion to instigate war. After killing the princess, he was defeated by General Nova in the middle of a square, his soul destroyed, as witnessed by hundreds of soldiers and citizens. Both the Ost Republic and Aberis began to prepare for war, the cease-fire now broken.
Somewhere, in a place that transcended time and space, my eyes snapped open.
{You have entered the Illusory Sword Dungeon. Complete the trial or die. There is no other option.}
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