“Attempting to slay a god? What a foolish act, failure is an inevitable outcome.” Cantarius mocked, looking at the unconscious Isatia.
“You bastard, you're not dead yet??” Winnie couldn't imagine, inside the [Everlasting Imperial Crown] there were so many invincible, overpowered Imperial Knights left by successive Lanteville family heads, immortal, tireless, and yet they hadn't managed to kill this guy??
The King of Durability, huh??
However, Winnie could tell that Isatia's [Everlasting Imperial Crown] wasn't defeated by Cantarius, but rather it was because the Hub Bell Tower's durability ran out and collapsed, literally wearing Isatia down to nothing.
“Damn it, what the hell happened??” Winnie didn't know what had happened before, or how Cantarius had managed to wear Isatia down.
Right.
Winnie remembered, when they were fighting each other earlier, Cantarius hadn't used his Soul Armament at all!
Could it be that Cantarius's Soul Armament was very special??
“Cough.......” Just as Winnie was deep in thought, Isatia's cough weak in his arms caught his attention.
“Isatia, are you, alright??” Winnie felt his question was pointless.
Whether she was alright or not, wasn't it obvious at a glance?
Isatia, who spoke with full vigor, had never spoken so weakly, usually indicating that her condition had plummeted to rock bottom.
“No.” Even so, Isatia still replied to Winnie.
“It seems, there's no way to take you back.” A moment later, she said another sentence. “The important functional buildings in the [Everlasting Imperial Crown] are almost all too old to be used.”
“So you were facing such trouble?” Winnie sighed deeply. “What you said before was really overly simplified.”
“Using that crown, whether you won or lost, you were overdrawing the bell tower's remaining durability, and you would die, right??”
“I promised you, didn't I?” Isatia's eyes remained calm, as if she didn't fear death. “Besides, telling you these things are useless.”
“Winnie, you can't help me.” This sentence was exactly the same as what she had said to him when he sold her potions before entering the dungeon.
At the time, Winnie thought Isatia looked down on him, didn't think highly of him, but now it seemed...
Isatia's meaning was that those who stood with her had to bear the same responsibilities and obligations: to protect the common people, to protect the weak, and to protect the nation.
He didn't have the ability to stand with her; if he insists on standing with her, he will definitely lose his life.
Just like her today, who sacrificed herself for her duty and to protect the weak.
“Isatia, you really are something.” Winnie pursed his lips. “So now, what are you going to do??”
“You two, are you done talking? Have you forgotten about me, your king?” Cantarius swaggered over.
“Fat pig, is it your turn to speak here? Shut your damn mouth!” Winnie threw the magic scroll Aesphyra had given him.
Several fireball scrolls and ice spear scrolls were thrown, hitting Cantarius's flowing white bone armor, the [Archon of Enslaved Souls].
Instantly, several more souls flew out.
“Damn it, so that's how it is.” Winnie finally understood why Cantarius was able to wear Isatia down. Seeing those crying specters dissolved, he roughly understood what was going on.
“Calling you a beast is an insult to beasts, I'm off to my morning class!”
“Heh heh, kid, if you were half as powerful as your mouth, you wouldn't have ended up with a woman to protect you.” Cantarius said disdainfully.
“Now, back in my domain, my immortal body has returned. Even without Soul Armament, you cannot kill me.”
“Heh, so what? From now on, you'll guard this imperial mausoleum with only yourself in it, and torment yourself!” Winnie said coldly.
“Only me? No, that black-haired foreign queen will also be captured by me. What do you think I'll do to her next? Hahahaha!” Cantarius laughed heartily.
“Winnie, kill me.” Isatia frowned slightly, saying so directly.
“Kill my foot!” At this point, Winnie didn't bother with politeness, raging. “It's not the last moment yet, I haven't given up, why are you giving up here!?”
“I'm telling you, do you think you've lost just because you've fallen? Am I not being treated as a person by you??” Winnie said irritably.
Isatia was silent for a moment, then quietly explained, “No.”
“No? I think so!” Winnie was really getting bold. One day he actually dared to reprimand the First Princess of the Tyrell Empire head-on. He remembered how he used to be scared to death of Isatia, his nominal fiancée.
Perhaps, just like with Aesphyra, after understanding the other person's nature well enough, he knew they wouldn't do such things.
“Want to die? Little beauty, falling into my hands, death isn't so easy.” Cantarius let out a sinister laugh.
"Hey, fat pig! Do you really think I have no way to deal with you? Open your eyes and see, this is for you, catch it!" Winnie deliberately spoke to attract Cantarius's attention, throwing a magic scroll at him.
"More of these papers containing spell? Useless, I cannot be killed...." Before Cantarius could finish, a fierce flash of light passed before his eyes, blinding him and deafening him.
After an unknown amount of time, Cantarius recovered and opened his eyes again, finding that the two were gone.
“Interesting, it seems they still want to play cat and mouse with me. Very good, I now have all the patience in the world to continue playing with you.” Cantarius sneezed, walking out of the arena.
“Whew!.......” Taking advantage of Cantarius's blindness, Winnie, who had run out of the arena with Isatia in his arms and found an unknown room to hide in, let out a sigh of relief and put Isatia down.
He was also out of strength.
All the magic scrolls and alchemy potions Aesphyra had given him were now completely used up.
He had to praise Aesphyra; Even though she wasn't in the dungeon, she was still carrying them, all the items she gave came in handy and helped Winnie and Isatia many times.
But, it was probably at its limit.
Winnie looked at Isatia, who was sleeping beside him, her eyes flickering on and off.
Her Sea of Spirit was burned out, the [Everlasting Imperial Crown] had collapsed, and her life force was about to be overdrawn.
“Don't sleep, don't sleep! Look at me!” Winnie no longer cared about etiquette, patting Isatia's cheek and waving his hand in front of her eyes.
“...” Isatia's eyes regained a bit of clarity.
“You are really stubborn.” Winnie shook his head. “Someone like you must have never asked for help from others, right? After all, in your opinion, others are not qualified enough, or capable enough to help you.”
“The king's duty, others cannot bear.” Isatia replied.
“Then it seems we have a big dissent in our views. If it were me, I would also choose to protect everyone, but if there were people who wanted to help me, I would also give them equal responsibility, because that is the most basic respect for them.” Winnie didn't know what was wrong with him, he suddenly thought of this and said it.
“You are irresponsible with their lives, you will kill them.” Isatia said.
“Then, like you, taking everything upon yourself, feeling that no one can help you, what about those Imperial Knights??” Winnie asked.
“Even at the moment the [Everlasting Imperial Crown] collapsed, they were still desperately trying to help you.”
“.......” Isatia was silent for a long time before saying, “But you, you're just an ordinary person.”
“An ordinary person who needs protection.”
“Alright, if you want to think that, I can't do anything about it. You can't convince me, and I can't convince you.”
“Boom boom!” Just then, the door was broken open by a huge spiked club, and a burly figure walked in.
“Little brats, the cat and mouse game is over.”
Indeed, they were discovered earlier than he had imagined.
Winnie also knew that trying to hide in someone else's palace was basically impossible.
Isatia still seemed to want to stand up, but she couldn't anymore. Critically ill, she couldn't even move her fingers.
They had nowhere left to retreat.
“Since that's the case, Isatia, shall we make a bet?” Winnie got up, walking towards Cantarius with tired and heavy steps.
“Are you trying to prove that your point of view is correct?” Isatia watched Winnie's back and asked.
“Pfft, having to prove right or wrong, that's too serious.” Winnie smiled for some reason.
“We'll bet on whether the two of us can return to the Carillian Academy safely together.”
As Winnie walked, white feathers fluttered from his body.
Isatia didn't know why Winnie's tone in the latter half of his sentence became a little playful, until those pure white feathers flew before her eyes, shattering into thousands of pure white specks of light on her cheeks, only then did she gradually widen her eyes, staring intently at Winnie's back.
“Oh oh??” Cantarius was the same. Beneath the mask, his large face was filled with surprise and strangeness.
Soon, a sacred, warm, and gentle pink glow shone forth, and a pair of angelic wings enveloped the blue-haired youth.
“Light of Healing, Pure White Feather.” Isatia's eyes were astonished and disbelieving as she watched this scene, afraid she would miss a single frame.
As the Angelic feathers and Radiance dissipated, cherry blossom-like hair fluttered up, and the cherry-haired girl opened her charming peach-heart eyes. Angelic wings spread out, dancing gracefully in the air, soaring upward.
The mithril mace in her hand shone brightly, smashing fiercely onto Cantarius's crown, the immense force sending Cantarius's headless body flying, crashing through several walls before stopping.
[Charged Light Strike]
After a home run, Vanessa's feet, clad in white high-heeled boots, landed elegantly on the ground, gently brushing aside the soft, silk-like hair by her temples.
“You?” Even Isatia had never seen such a sight. On one hand, it was due to extreme fatigue, and on the other, it was due to immense surprise, leaving her speechless.
After sending Cantarius flying, Vanessa quickly walked to Isatia, supporting her with her palm and releasing a cherry-pink holy light.
This was, holy light.
Isatia watched this scene in disbelief.
Winnie Varelis, her nominal fiancé, ‘He’.
No, it should be ‘She’.
For the first time, Isatia felt that she had never truly understood her, never seen truly through her.
Not just her, but her imperial father, the courtiers in the Tyrell Imperial Palace, and the nobles of all sizes in the empire were the same; they had never truly understood this descendant of a goddess who bore countless slanders.
Until today, those false rumors could instantly be labeled as irresponsible fabrications.
Isatia knew those rumors contained a lot of exaggeration, but she also believed that the Varelis bloodline in Winnie was dead and basically impossible to revive.
So that's how it was, all of this, was it her way of protecting herself??
Connecting it with the current actions of the Church of Radiance and all possible scenarios, Isatia quickly understood what was going on.
With the healing of the holy light, Isatia's condition was no longer so weak.
Holy light could not heal her collapsed Sea of Spirit and [Divine Blessing], as [Divine Blessing] was related to the gods.
But holy light was holy light after all; Even if it couldn't fully restore, it could alleviate, at least enough to sustain her last breath.
Isatia felt much better, which gave her the illusion of a temporary resurgence of vitality.
“Don't move around carelessly~ Isatia.” Before she could try to stand up, she felt herself enveloped in a soft, fragrant breeze.
The scent of white camellias and lavender makes Isatia feel a sense of confusion and enchantment.
“My holy light merely stabilized your collapsing spirit, it cannot completely cure it.”
“Unfortunately, I also cannot completely cure your problem right now; I can only temporarily seal your collapsing Sea of Spirit.” After that, Vanessa said something that Isatia found meaningless.
“Are all of you Carillian family members fated to clash with me? One wants my blood, the other wants my life.” This sentence contains a teasing meaning.
Carillian family members, all of them with her??
Isatia raised her delicate eyebrows slightly.
Meaning, besides their Lanteville family, there were other people with Carillian bloodline?
And, “Winnie” had even saved her life with her own blood??
If Winnie's bloodline wasn't dead, that meant her blood was genuine Blessed angel blood.
Suddenly, Isatia, who had never felt curious about anyone, experienced a slight change in her mindset.
She was very curious, extremely curious, who was the person for whom Vanessa was willing to use consecrated angel essence blood to save?
Before Isatia could think further, Vanessa carried Isatia and flew into the air.