Chapter 194 - LORD PROTECTOR (2) (2/2)

In that moment.

In that short nick of time.

The scream – no, the cry that stopped the movement of the Lord Protector.

The Lord Protector reflexively stopped his sword and unconsciously had a stunned face as he turned to the direction from which he heard the sound.

“Lord Protector, Lord Protector, Lord Protector.”

There was a man there who repeated the same words with a face covered with tears and snot.

He struggled with his pronunciation because he had run in a hurry and was out of breath, and his knees were shaking as if he was about to collapse now, but he looked their way and cried like a child, and the Lord Protector had no choice but to be distracted by him.

“Lord Protector.”

He said in tears.

He repeatedly called him like a real fool, but the Lord Protector understood. His voice echoed in the Lord Protector’s head.

It’s a lie, right?

That you betrayed us.

That you killed the royalty.

Those are all lies, right?

It’s not true, right? Just this time, Justina is wrong, right?

It’s not true, right? Lord Protector.

It isn’t, right?

Please, Lord Protector.

Please.

Please say something, please say it’s not true. Lord Protector. Lord Protector. Please!

The third king in his life.

He was a guy who was always smiling brightly since they met for the first time.

The guy who didn’t even know that the Lord Protector would kill him, the guy who gave him a tracking device and said that he was relieved if the Lord Protector was here.

Henry II sat down on the floor. He gasped for breath and sent a pleading gaze.

He wasn’t competent, but he wasn’t a fool either.

When he first woke up, the First Queen said to him.

She said that the Lord Protector betrayed them.

She said that the Lord Protector had become the enemy of the kingdom. She said that he killed the other royal family members that were left behind in the banquet hall.

Henry II never once doubted the words of the First Queen in his life.

But he denied her words for the first time. He ran away from her when she tried to explain and convince him.

Because he was scared.

He felt like he would admit that the Lord Protector had betrayed them if he listened to her.

But it was useless.

Because he already knew.

Because he knew better than anyone that First Queen Justina would never make up such nonsense.

But he couldn’t stop himself.

He still couldn’t admit it.

“Lord Protector…”

He burst into tears. He howled like a child.

And at the sight of such Henry II, the figure of the third king made the Lord Protector feel a bit shaken.

His fingertips trembled even though he had already made up his mind. It was just a moment, but he felt like he wanted to hide somewhere.

But he didn’t do that.

Because he already drew his sword.

Even if the third king, Henry II, would forgive him for everything he had done now, because the third king was such a person, it was already too late.

‘No, it’s not a matter of being too late from stopping.’

Nor was it a matter of whether he could go back or not.

Because the Lord Protector himself had no intention of going back.

‘I’m getting old.’

He was already close to seventy years old. No, he didn’t know the exact date of his birth, so perhaps he was already seventy.

He had wrinkles on his face.

His fingertips became wrinkled, and his energy weakened little by little, as if it was sand that slipped through his fingers.

He had not neglected training for even a single day ever since he first came back from the battlefield.

But at some point, he hit the point where it all came spiraling down.

He no longer became stronger no matter how hard he trained. Rather, he became weaker day by day.

When he naturally realized that he wouldn’t be able to hold his sword anymore.

When the naturally continuing flow was cut and stopped flowing.

He felt fear rather than despondency.

Because he realized that he was dying.

‘I don’t want to die.’

The words he had forgotten for a while after the war.

He was called the Lord Protector, dressed in fine clothes, and received the king’s trust, but his fundamental part remain unchanged.

I don’t want to die.

I want to live.

I want to be stronger.

I don’t want to be weak.

Like the tall person who died from an arrow in the head.

His pupils became pitch-black as if there was nothing in it.

He lived most of his life on the battlefield, inflicting death to countless people.

In the process, he was at risk of death dozens of times.

But it was different from then.

It was a completely different situation from the time he could live by just killing the enemy first.

He couldn’t avoid it.

Whatever he did, he wouldn’t be able to escaped his fated death.

Every day, he headed towards a death where he wouldn’t be able to see or feel anything, something that could only be expressed as nothingness.

‘I’m completely helpless.’

Like a slave tied to a chain.

The Lord Protector came back to reality.

She was only twenty years old now, and she was quite good in swordsmanship because of the fact that she was devoted to training daily, but he couldn’t cut such a princess with his sword.

Even though he was doing his best, he couldn’t do such a thing to these children.

Weak.

He had become so weak.

And even at this moment, he felt like he was getting a bit weaker.

He couldn’t stand it.

He was afraid.

He hated the feeling of his fated death squeezing his throat.

So he cut it off.

He shook off his superficial relationships.

He would destroy the barrier by killing all the royalty, and in return, he would be united with a great demon.

He would become a demonic human and escape from his fated death.

He would break his chains and free himself from the curse of aging!

“Lord Protector!”

He didn’t hear it anymore. He ignored the screams of the third king, Henry II, and looked at Princess Daphne. He glared at her as if to kill her, and tried to swing his sword again.

But he couldn’t.

The Lord Protector’s experience and instinct made him wield his sword in a different direction.

Claaang!

The powerful energy that rushed towards him was cut off by his sword.

And then he realized. What he cut right now was just the aftermath. It wasn’t an attack.

The appearance of Henry II bought them some time.

His cries prevented the death of Princess Daphne, and it gave Jude and Cordelia the least amount of time to forcefully finish their plan.

Cordelia swallowed her groan. While lying in front of the divine sword, she clenched her teeth before forcibly raising her head to see the Lord Protector, despite her body trembling from the pain and suffering. Facing his flushed face, she smiled as her fangs glistened.

‘F*ck him up.’

Her voice didn’t come out of her mouth. Because she couldn’t even do so.

But an answer came back.

Jude responded to Cordelia’s call like always.

Thunderbolt Twelve Steps.

The second step.

The Thunder God Invokes Lightning.

And the power that made it possible.

Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors – Sixth Gate.

Black Sun.

The Supreme Sun Divine Art completely became one with the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.

Thus, the Black Sun was born.

Jude raised his head and saw the Lord Protector.

He clenched his fist and took a step at the same time.

And at that moment.

In that time.

As thunder shook the heavens and earth, black lightning exploded.