Chapter 135
Chapter 135
Ch. 135 .｡.:✧ Solra’s Choice (3) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Revive Kali! Revive Kali! Oh! Ah! Aaaaaah!!!”
Cardinal Nicholas, or rather, Necromancer Luna, cradled the bisected spider monster and sobbed.
Solra stared blankly at the scene, trying to process what had just happened.
He reached a single conclusion.
‘I’ve been tricked!’
He had been played. He frantically looked around, but the man with the sly grin was gone.
He wasn’t a Heavenly King. He had impersonated one and tricked Solra into killing another.
He was the enemy.
Solra felt a wave of dizziness.
He had been deceived into killing his superior. He realized it far too late, but that wasn’t important now.
He had to hunt down and kill the man called Mijung, who possessed classified information about the Heavenly Kings and had manipulated him into this situation.
No, even the name Mijung was probably fake.
The spider monster had thought Mijung was a girl.
[T/N: Mijung means undecided in Korean but I tled it as Mijung so u guys don’t get confused]
“I apologize, Luna. But this is an emergency. We have to find the one who tricked me before the Holy Knights arrive-”
“Shut up!!! I’ll kill you first! You! You! You! You killed Kali! You killed her again! Just when she was about to be perfect! You dared to kill my Kali! Aaaaaah!!!”
Cardinal Nicholas, having lost his mind, lunged at Solra, raining blows upon him. But his untrained fists couldn’t harm the Holy Knight.
Solra simply stood there and took the beating, hoping Luna would calm down and regain his senses.
But he was wrong. Luna’s sanity had deteriorated long ago.
He had been clinging to his obsession with Kali, but now that her body was destroyed, his last shred of reason was gone.
He was consumed by a single desire, revenge against the one who killed Kali.
“Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!”
“Luna, this isn’t the time! If the headquarters arrive and see this, I’m dead-”
“Then die! Die! I can’t stand this! Kill this traitor, Xenon!”
“Xenon…?”
Solra frowned.
Why was he mentioning his brother’s name?
Cardinal Nicholas stepped back, laughing maniacally.
Solra’s eyes widened as he sensed a surge of magical power from above.
It was uncontrolled and leaking, like the magic of a complete novice. But the sheer quantity was overwhelming.
If this was the amount leaking, how much was being used for the actual spell?
It was impossible to estimate.
“Huh?”
Solra gasped as he saw a mage levitating above the buildings. It was his beloved younger brother, Xenon, his eyes vacant.
“Why… why are you here?”
An ominous red light pulsed from his chest. He was using levitation magic, something he had never learned.
His face was unusually pale.
Solra’s lips trembled.
He knew Luna had been eyeing Xenon, muttering about making him ‘perfect.’ He couldn’t believe it…
“W-What have you done to my brother?!”
“I made him ‘perfect.’ Consider it an honor to die at the hands of your ‘perfect’ brother!”
“That’s not… perfect… Xenon! Look at me, Xenon! Snap out of it!”
Solra’s desperate cries were ignored.
Xenon was clearly not in his right mind. He didn’t even seem alive.
There was no doubt now.
Xenon had been ‘perfected’ by Luna’s necromancy.
He was immortal, or rather, unable to die.
A puppet, eternally serving Luna, his body never aging, never decaying.
Solra collapsed, his life’s purpose gone.
“Huh?”
Xenon’s lifeless eyes turned towards him.
Their eyes met.
For a moment, Solra dared to hope that his brother might regain his senses.
But then Xenon raised his hand. A storm of magical power swirled around him, and he began to cast a spell.
Kaboom!
The explosion engulfed Solra.
His armor shattered, and he was thrown backwards.
“Gah!”
He coughed up blood, struggling to sit up.
Shards of his armor fell around him. Another wave of magical power washed over him, and he froze, watching as his brother aimed another explosion at him.
Boom! Boom!
Two consecutive explosions sent him flying.
His armor was completely destroyed, scattered into pieces. His long blonde hair was singed and torn, now much shorter.
“Ah…”
He couldn’t even stand anymore.
He couldn’t even muster the strength to beg his brother to come back to his senses.
He didn’t want to resist. He didn’t want to live. His life, dedicated to curing his brother’s illness, had been completely negated.
He wanted to die.
Xenon began to gather magical power again.
Solra knew he couldn’t survive another hit.
“Wait.”
Cardinal Nicholas frowned and raised his hand.
Xenon stopped.
A raven was approaching.
A flicker of awareness returned to Nicholas’s eyes, which had been fixated on killing Solra.
The raven landed on his shoulder, and he took the message tied to its leg, his expression darkening as he read it.
“Keep him alive…?”
A message from the Archdemon.
Solra must be kept alive.
But if he completely turns against us, kill him.
Simple and clear instructions.
They must have sent it after hearing about the trouble in Cologne.
Luna, who had been consumed by rage, regained a semblance of reason.
“Keep him alive? The one who killed Kali? Gah! Damn it… If Belphegor says so…”
The Heavenly Kings were equals, but Luna had to obey Belphegor’s orders. He had no choice.
He was the one who had fallen in love.
His rage subsided, and his eyes, now clear, focused on the bloodied Solra.
“I’d love to kill you and send you to Kali, but… my beloved Archdemon has forbidden it. Instead, you will obey me for the rest of your life.”
“Ugh… gah…”
Solra coughed, clearing his blood-filled airway.
He looked up and saw Cardinal Nicholas caressing Xenon’s cheek.
He didn’t have the strength to fight back.
He simply knelt there, blood and tears streaming down his face.
“Xenon’s heart is beating because of my necromancy. That means I can stop it at any moment. Do you understand?”
Solra nodded weakly.
“If you behave, I’ll remove the necromancy from his heart. Of course, if you prefer his current ‘perfect’ form, I’ll leave it as is.”
Solra shook his head vehemently.
He didn’t want that. He didn’t want his brother to live as a puppet, serving the Necromancer for eternity.
“Xenon… I’m… sorry…”
Solra clenched his fists, tears of blood streaming down his face.
He had been too greedy, trying to defy fate and save his brother, venturing into forbidden territory.
His wish had been granted.
Xenon had escaped his fate and would never experience death. But not in the way he had hoped. Not in the way Xenon would have wanted.
“I… I was… foolish…”
He was filled with regret.
Perhaps he had been deliberately ignoring the truth.
He had believed, as a Holy Knight, that the Heavenly King he served was on the side of righteousness.
No, he had wanted to believe it. But it was impossible.
He knew where Luna was getting all those corpses for his experiments. But he hadn’t questioned it.
He hadn’t questioned why the seemingly noble Archdemon was called an “Archdemon.” He had closed his eyes and ears, focusing solely on saving his brother.
And now he was paying the price for his ignorance. The price of losing what he cherished most.
‘Xenon… I’ll… let you die… This is my fault… I’ll take responsibility… and let you rest in peace…’
Solra swore to kill his brother with his own hands.
He had dedicated his life to saving him, but now his journey was to end his suffering. He had blindly joined the side of evil, and now he was on the path to complete corruption.
There was no turning back.
He, too, was a puppet, albeit one whose body wasn’t controlled directly.
He could kill anyone now, child or elder, if Luna ordered it.
“Luna, please… give me the order…”
“Good! Good, good! The Holy Knights are approaching! I’ll heal you now, and you’ll annihilate them-”
“Solra.”
Tap.
A large hand landed on Solra’s shoulder.
He flinched.
The man called Mijung stood beside him.
He had been suffering from magical exhaustion just moments ago, but now his magical power was fully restored.
“If you bow your head here, there’s no turning back. Then I’ll have to kill you.”
“So… you weren’t… a Heavenly King…”
“Of course not, you idiot. Only a fool would fall for that. Now choose. Are you really going to join their side?”
“I have… no choice…”
He had no other option.
His brother was his only reason for living. And now his brother, more precious to him than his own life, was living a fate worse than death.
He would commit any atrocity to grant his brother a dignified death.
“You do have a choice. Let me give you a hint. I’ve destroyed all of Luna’s remaining puppets in Cologne.”
“What are you talking about?! Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutup!!!”
“That means, if you kill that cardinal, the necromancy will be broken.”
Solra’s eyes widened.
If he destroyed Cardinal Nicholas’s body, Xenon would die?
The man smirked, as if he knew what Solra would choose.
“Heal yourself and follow me. I’ll make sure he doesn’t run away.”
A high-grade potion was poured over Solra’s head.
The man drew a black sword and walked forward, towards the incoming explosion magic, unflinching.
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