Chapter 524: Chapter 524: Warborn
Chapter 524 – Warborn
Elijah sat there, head ducked down and buried deep within his trembling hands. His shoulder-length golden hair fell over his face.
And as they all looked at him, the Vaelgrim witnessed in real time how the golden luster of Elijah’s hair began to shift. It started at the edges — whitening as if soaked in pale ink — then spread slowly to the rest.
In an instant, Elijah’s hair was no longer golden. It was a deep, dirty white. Not the white of purity and beauty. The white of despair and pain and anguish so profound that his very existence had been altered by it.
Justicia watched it happen, her hand pressed against her mouth, eyes wide and still wet — witnessing the fall of a man who had done nothing in all his life but love her.
Yes. Love. His love for her had gotten him tortured by Idalia. His love for her had made him live a life of constant struggle, fighting toward her in a world where everything and everyone wanted a piece of him.
Elijah was not a nobody.
He was a Lightbringer. And his Alter-Ego was Icarus, the One Burned by the Sun of the Progenitor, who had still lived to tell the tale while cackling.
He was never meant to fall in love with a simple member of the Celestial Faction with no background. Never at all.
Yet it happened.
And now he was paying the price.
No words escaped Elijah’s mouth. He seemed to have lost all his faculties entirely, clutching his head as if wishing to crush it apart.
It pained Justicia. More than she realised. Not because she was still in love with him, but because she couldn’t stop feeling that all of this was her fault.
And in that instant, something dawned on her she had never thought to consider before:
Was this how it felt? Was this what it was like to love someone so devastatingly, and receive nothing in return?
Was there truly anything worse in this universe than that?
Being unloved by the one you love?
That understanding made her exhale a guilty breath of relief. Then she lifted her head and looked toward Noah where he stood.
The tension had drained from his face. His aura was much calmer. And without even realising it, a smile broke through her tears and the mess of her face.
"Thank you." Justicia said softly, her voice ragged from crying. "Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for giving me the chance to choose for myself."
After all, Noah was more than capable of killing Elijah and rewriting her memories if he had wished. Yet he hadn’t. He had brought Elijah — a past rival and enemy — into his own home and endured within himself the urge to see his woman touched by someone else.
He had done all of that for her.
He had respected her as her own person. And she knew — she knew — Noah would not have killed them even if she had chosen Elijah.
So with all of that combined...
"I am grateful." She continued, sweeping her eyes across her sisters standing there with relieved, happy smiles. "I am grateful to be loved by those I love. I am grateful to be among you. I am grateful for our bond. I am... just grateful for everything."
Because now she knew. Not everyone in the universe had the privilege she carried — the privilege of giving love and receiving it.
"Sigh..." Noah exhaled at her words, the weight lifting from his chest visibly, running both hands through his hair and then down his face. "Never again." He whispered, heart still pounding. "Never again will I let this happen. Next time, I will simply kill the man. I don’t care."
"Please, Noah, don’t spoil the moment."
"Shut up, Anya. It’s because it wasn’t you standing where I was, fighting every second not to lose control."
"Wow, Red, did you hear that? Noah told me to shut up. First time ever! Do it again, Noah?" Anya was weirdly thrilled by it.
He ignored the short girl bouncing around him. Fortunately, Red snagged her favourite sister before Noah had the chance to immobilise her with his power.
He walked toward Justicia, passing Elijah without a glance, and crouched down in front of her. He held her gaze, reached out, and took her soft, shaking hands into his own, wrapping them together.
Justicia smiled at the touch, and smiled even more when Noah pressed his forehead against hers, as if trying to overwrite the spot Elijah had touched.
Warmth bloomed through her exhausted eyes.
"I should be the one thanking you." He said after a moment of silence. Behind him, his wives watched with tear-filled eyes. All of them except Diatah, of course.
"I won’t lie," Noah continued, twisting his face into one of exaggerated terror. "I was honestly freaking out."
Justicia let out a chuckle, finding his honest, dramatic expression hilarious despite everything.
"Elijah was right about some things. And I hate admitting it, this bastard loved you." He exhaled slowly. "He loved you in a way I could never love you. He loved you and you alone, without associating you with any partners."
"I know." Justicia said.
"I can’t love you like that."
"I know."
"I love many other women."
"I know."
"And you choose me?"
"Don’t look so surprised." Justicia smiled. "You have beside you the very proof of how love can be irrational...how it transcends everything, be it situations, obstacles, or goals. That’s what happened to me. That’s what happened to all of us with you."
She kissed his left cheek. "I love you, Noah. And just like you always say... I have chosen to keep loving you. No matter what."
"Then let me say it again, thank you."
"No need for thanks."
"Maybe. But I want to say it." He kissed her in return. "Thank you for loving me despite everything. Thank you for choosing me... despite having a man who chose you above everything else in his life."
Justicia paused, tilted her head, and punched his shoulder lightly. "That last part was heavy with arrogance."
Noah put on an innocent face. "Slander." He muttered.
Justicia shook her head, murmured a soft ’Rude’ in return.
Noah shrugged, then finally turned his eyes toward Elijah. His expression settled back into seriousness.
"I promised to kill you." He said, approaching the man frozen in his grief. "But after what you have shown me... I will make an exception."
The world around them stilled.
Noah raised his hand and placed it atop Elijah’s head. "I don’t hate you. But I don’t like you either. You and I have a past that you no longer remember but I will carry it within me forever."
’For you were the very beginning of my journey. So let me give you a new one.’
"You came back seeking nothing but love. And love didn’t find you." He shook his head. "I never thought I would say this...but you, Elijah Lightbringer, don’t deserve all of this."
His wives’ eyes widened. Even Justicia, watching the scene, had eyes shimmering with feelings too tangled to name.
"So let me give you another choice."
Noah activated the authority of his Throne.
"I will burn away your feelings. Your memories." He said, as Elijah’s body began to glow. "I will leave your core existence and natural inclinations intact, so that you remain who you are at your depth."
Laeh began to tremble as Noah used his full power to do something unbelievable, pulling away the very soul of Icarus, bound to Elijah.
"Let me give you a new life. A life that is your own. A life where I will not be present."
At those words, Elijah’s head lifted slowly. He looked at Noah with empty eyes. Yet behind them, Noah caught a flicker of something not yet extinguished.
He smiled and confirmed his choice.
"You will be reborn when your time comes. Your lineage will be great. Your family will love you. And you will be loved by most of those you meet."
He paused. Then...
"Do you wish for a new name, Elijah?" He asked, not truly expecting an answer.
Yet after a few seconds of silence, Elijah’s voice echoed inside Noah’s mind.
"War... war..." Elijah wheezed.
Noah’s eyes were puzzled for a moment. Then he simply nodded, feeling his control over the process beginning to slip.
"War then." He said. "When your time comes, you will be reincarnated. Not as Elijah Lightbringer..."
Elijah’s soul and Icarus’s drifted away, dissolving into an unknown place.
"But as a Warborn."
—End of Chapter 524—
