Chapter 402: Chapter 402: Realm-Protector Dragon Pearl
Aiden looked at the tear marks at the corners of her eyes and let out a soft sigh. The cold, distant air around him quietly faded away.
He stood up and walked over to Cheryl, looking down at her.
"I’m going there to bring back the Law Core. The Great Shaw Empire needs me, so I have to go."
"At most, one month."
There was a rare softness in Aiden’s voice.
"Within one month, I will bring the core back and return openly and proudly."
As soon as he finished speaking, Cheryl suddenly threw herself into his arms.
She wrapped both arms tightly around Aiden’s waist and pressed her cheek against his broad chest.
She held him so tightly, as if she wanted to melt herself into his very bones and blood.
Aiden froze for a moment, his hands hanging in the air.
In the end, he slowly lowered them and gently patted Cheryl’s back as it trembled from her sobs.
"Don’t worry. In this universe, the person who can kill me hasn’t been born yet."
Aiden’s words carried an absolute confidence that looked down on everything.
In his arms, Cheryl listened to his steady, powerful heartbeat, and her emotions finally began to calm down.
She slowly raised her head. On her tear-stained little face, there was a seriousness she had never shown before.
"Aiden, do you... actually like me?"
That sudden question from the heart made the air in the whole room freeze for a moment.
Aiden fell silent.
In his mind flashed the Abyss’s Myriad Races Ranking, the raging Evil Demons Guild, and the Golden Great Wall that was on the verge of collapse.
He carried the fate of the nation on his back and the lives of countless people on his shoulders. Right now, the one thing he could not afford was love.
Seeing that Aiden did not speak, the light in Cheryl’s eyes dimmed a little. But soon, an even stronger fire burned in them.
"It doesn’t matter whether you like me or not."
"My life was given to me by you. And I belong to you too."
"Even if you don’t want me, I will keep following you. I will keep waiting for you!"
Every word was firm and unshakable.
Looking at this stubborn girl in front of him, stubborn enough to make his heart ache, Aiden took another deep breath.
He lowered his head slightly. In the faint, sweet scent around her, his thin lips gently touched Cheryl’s forehead.
It was only a brief kiss.
There was no desire in it, only a promise.
Cheryl froze on the spot as if she had been struck by lightning.
Her pale little face turned red all the way to her ears, and even her breathing became quick.
The fearless courage she had shown when confessing to him vanished in an instant.
She covered the spot on her forehead where he had kissed her, like a frightened deer, and quickly stepped back twice.
"I... I’m going to sleep!"
After stammering out those words, Cheryl stopped making a fuss. She turned and ran away, not daring to look back.
Bang.
The door was shut in a panic.
The room once again fell into a deathly silence.
Aiden stood where he was, looking at the closed door. In his deep eyes, a faint trace of tenderness flashed by, so quick it was almost impossible to notice.
He gathered his thoughts and was about to turn back to the center of the magic circle, ready to push his condition to its peak.
Knock, knock.
Suddenly, two very soft knocks came from outside the door.
Aiden raised his brow slightly. His vast Spirit power spread out in silence like a tide.
The presence outside the door made no effort to hide itself. It carried a faint trace of true dragon national fortune, yet its pressure was held back to the limit.
It was Eira, the Empress of the Great Shaw Empire.
Aiden moved his fingertips, and an invisible wave of magic swept out. The wooden door opened at once.
The night wind rushed in, lifting the hem of the woman’s dress outside the door.
Tonight, Eira was not wearing the Nine-Dragon imperial robe that carried the power to overawe the world. Nor was she wearing any heavy ornaments that symbolized imperial authority.
She wore only a simple moon-white dress, and her hair was loosely pinned up with a white jade hairpin.
At this moment, she had less of the distant majesty of an emperor and more of a breathtaking gentleness and softness.
"Are you not going to invite me in?"
Eira’s beautiful eyes moved as she looked at the young man before her with a faint smile. But deep in her eyes, there was a sorrow of parting that could not be hidden.
Aiden stepped aside and said calmly, "Please come in."
Eira walked inside. A very faint scent of ambergris instantly replaced the cold, hard air in the room.
Her beautiful eyes swept over the rather empty room, which did not even have a single proper decoration. She let out a soft laugh.
"The great hero who protects the Great Shaw Empire, an honored guest of both the Great Shaw Empire’s military and the Reclasser Association... yet your room is so simple it almost hurts to see."
Aiden’s expression remained calm as he walked to the table.
He did not even raise a finger. The purple clay teapot on the table floated up by itself. Under the precise control of his Legendary Rank magic, it poured two cups of steaming spirit tea.
"It is only a place to stay. As long as it keeps out the wind and rain, that is enough."
The tea landed steadily in front of Eira. Not a single drop spilled, showing his absolute control over his terrifying magic power.
Eira did not pick up the cup. Instead, she quietly looked at Aiden.
In those eyes, which usually decided the lives and deaths of millions in the empire, many complex emotions were now surging.
"Tomorrow morning, you will leave for the Ancient Battlefield."
She spoke softly, with a slight tremble in her voice that was hard to notice.
"I came to see you one last time before you go."
Aiden nodded. He picked up his teacup and took a small sip. His gaze was as deep as an abyss.
"The situation in the Great Shaw Empire will solve itself once I bring back the Law Core."
Eira took a deep breath, as if she had made a great decision.
Slowly, she took out a small rosewood box from inside her robe. It was about the size of a palm.
The moment the box appeared, the space inside the room gave off a faint hum.
A vast, ancient, and terrifying pressure slowly leaked from the small box. Even the magic elements around it were instantly pushed away.
Aiden’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he put down the teacup in his hand.
Eira said nothing. She only used her fair, delicate hand to gently open the dark-gold clasp of the box.
Click.
The moment the box opened, a brilliant golden light filled the entire room.
Even Aiden, whose soul strength was almost at the Venerable level, felt a sharp sense of pressure under that golden light.
In the center of the box lay a golden pearl, about the size of a longan fruit.
Inside the pearl, a tiny five-clawed golden dragon could be seen swimming and roaring. It gave off the purest aura of the laws of national fortune.
"The greatest treasure of the Great Shaw Empire—the Realm-Protector Dragon Pearl."
Under the golden light, Eira’s voice sounded deeply solemn.
"This is a one-use defensive treasure. It is also the final trump card left behind by the founding emperor of the Great Shaw Empire."
"When you face deadly danger, it will activate on its own and create an absolute defensive barrier."
"Even if it is a killing blow from a high-ranking Demon God of the Abyss, it can block it completely for you once!"
As her words fell, the air in the room seemed to freeze.
Aiden looked at the Dragon Pearl, which was flowing with a terrifying Force of Laws, and his brows tightened at once.
"This is too valuable."
Aiden shook his head without hesitation and refused. "This is the last life-saving treasure of the Great Shaw Empire’s royal family. You are the Empress, and you stand at the center of the storm in the Sovereign City. You need it more than I do."
Right now, the Evil Demons Guild was moving in the shadows, and the Four Heavenly Kings were hiding somewhere. If this Dragon Pearl stayed with Eira, it would be the strongest pillar protecting the Great Shaw Empire.
"But you are more important than it!"
Eira suddenly stepped forward. Her eyes fixed hard on Aiden, and they turned slightly red despite her effort to hold back.
"Without you, even if the Great Shaw Empire keeps this lifeless object, it will sooner or later be swallowed by the Abyss’s Myriad Races Ranking!"
"Aiden, you are the true national fortune of the Great Shaw Empire!"
Her words were powerful and firm. They carried the force of an Empress, but also the stubbornness of a woman.
She grabbed Aiden’s large hand and forced the box holding the Dragon Pearl into his palm.
Their fingers touched. Aiden could clearly feel the cold sweat in Eira’s palm and the faint trembling of her hand.
Aiden lowered his head and looked at the box in his hand. Then he looked at Eira, whose eyes were filled with determination, and even a trace of pleading.
He knew that if he refused again, this proud Empress, who carried the weight of the entire empire, might break down right in front of him.
"Fine. I will take it."
Aiden closed his fingers around the box and slowly held it tight. His voice was low and solemn.
"Thank the past emperors of the Great Shaw Empire for me. And... thank you."
Hearing his thanks, Eira’s tense body finally relaxed a little.
She looked deeply at Aiden, as if she wanted to carve his face into the deepest part of her soul forever.
Then she did not stay any longer. She turned and walked toward the door.
The night wind lifted the hem of her moon-white dress again.
When she reached the doorway, her steps suddenly stopped.
Eira did not turn back. She only turned her face slightly to the side.
Under the dim moonlight, the Empress’s side profile looked beautiful and cold. A flash of tears appeared in the corner of her eye, then vanished.
"Aiden."
"The Ancient Battlefield is full of danger. You may have only a slim chance of survival. I do not care what you face there."
"Come back alive."
This was not only a friend’s hope. It was also the most unquestionable order from the Empress of the Great Shaw Empire.
Aiden stood where he was, looking at her slightly thin back, and nodded heavily.
"I will."
...
Three days later, outside the Sovereign City of the Great Shaw Empire, in Military Restricted Zone No. 01, the highest-level restricted area.
The sky was dark, and a cold, killing wind swept across the barren wilderness.
A huge ancient formation, more than a thousand meters wide, was set into the black earth like the open mouth of a giant beast.
At every node of the formation, piles of top-grade magic crystals were stacked like small mountains. They gave off terrifying waves of power that made the heart tremble.
This was the ancient teleportation array that the Great Shaw Empire’s military had barely managed to repair and restart after using up a hundred years of resources.
Around the great formation, guards stood every few steps. Countless soldiers in black armor stood still like statues.
The highest leaders of the Great Shaw Empire’s military and the Reclasser Association had all gathered here.
[Mad Tyrant] Luke, War God Sulla, John, and Cheryl, who was dressed in her battle Miko gear, all stood at the edge of the formation with solemn expressions.
Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the tall, slender figure at the very front.
