The Paladin Owns the Relic

Chapter 192

192 – Backstory (2)

The child heard a sound. Got up from the seat

“Ah, a child?”

An adult passing by called me, but I didn’t stop. She kept running.

I just had a hunch that something had happened. It wasn’t because I was sensitive to something, or because I could see things others couldn’t see.

Just.

I just heard it. Strange sound.

The child reacted.

I moved along with the sound that the adults had misheard.

The child staggered. After taking two steps, the adults who had been agitated began to stand up.

“Ji, what are you talking about right now…”

“Another…Something…”

“…A. No.”

“You heard it wrong.”

The child walked. I just pricked my ears to the sound that everyone was turning away.

The child started running. He trampled down the spiral staircase and hurried up.

“Hey kid!”

“I can’t go out!”

She ran.

The child wanted to run all the time.

Her outstretched leg staggered. She even fell once. A small bump formed on her head that had been driven into her railing.

Tears from pain covered my vision. But the child didn’t stop running even while whimpering.

Once…

She could run when she just wanted to.

She could go up anywhere and look down at any sight she wanted.

「Ned.」

He heard her mother’s voice. But she knew the child.

She knew that there was no way she could hear that voice any more. That what has already passed cannot be picked up again.

But…

“Hey, kid?!”

“Who is this child?!”

“If I go out…!”

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The child dug in between the remaining soldiers as if rolling over. She entered through a makeshift barricade in front of the door.

I shook off the hand holding it. He kept moving his feet.

Sound.

A sound was heard.

A sound that resonated deep underground. The child heard it.

The adults were afraid to go outside, saying that they had all heard wrong. It’s safest to crouch down, she said, even if strange noises sweep through the basement once more.

But the child crawled. Even though her whole body was bruised from hitting the furniture piled up inside the barricade, she continued on her way.

「Ned.」

I heard my mother’s voice. She knew the child.

She said that there was no way she could hear that voice. That she saw her mother’s death with her own two eyes.

But…

But it moved nonetheless.

Although the adults ignored it and thought it was an auditory hallucination, the child moved forward.

The light flashed. It contained her mother’s voice.

「No need to worry. I’m sure the saint… Will save us all.”

The child’s mother believed in her until her death.

She knows that the saint who saved her life once will return. That she would rescue her garnet from grief.

That’s why even the child believed it.

Someday the saint will return…

I’ll save everyone once more.

”……”

The child got out of the barricade. She couldn’t see the stairs and fell down.

Blood leaked from the lips that were collided. Pain ran through her body. But she looked up.

And I heard it this time too.

“…Ned!”

Definitely.

I definitely heard it.

The child coughed lightly and looked up at her.

Garnet was the same. It was still a mess. The building collapsed, and I saw a world that was more damaged than before.

But something has changed.

Voice.

“…Um…”

The voices of people you thought you’d never see again…

“…Mom…Mom…!”

Falling from the sky.

The child opened her eyes wide. She looked up at the sky’s fireworks falling like stars.

It’s bright, but not that bright. The color of the gloomy sky is dyed by the sunset.

A scene I had seen casually before.

The child stretched out her hand in front of her. She reached out her hand to the countless stars falling from the sky.

Hundreds and thousands of stars falling like comets.

The child saw someone while the numbers were being called out.

The shape of the comet gradually being caught. One star slowly became a person and set foot on the ground.

The fire on his body goes out and the stars regain their human form. In the midst of that beautiful sight, the child started running in front of him.

“Saint… Sir…”

Amidst the spectacle of fireworks covering the world and stars singing miracles, the child caught on.

The hand he thought he would never see again. A warm embrace that can be embraced by hugging.

“Mom…Mom…”

The face of a child who had always believed in one person was distorted. Tears started to fall and flowed down my cheeks without stopping.

“The Holy Father…”

The mother of the child, who swept her own face in disbelief amidst her croaking cries, fell to her knees.

And just like that…

She embraced the child.

“Ned…Ned…Ah…Thank you…Thank you…”

The adults who started sticking out her face from the last shelter rubbed their eyes. Led by the child who came out first, they slowly walked out into the red-tinged world.

“Oh my God…So sa…”

“What the hell is this…”

“Am I… Dreaming…?”

The dead are resurrected.

The survivors meet again.

“Miracle…miracle…”

“Who the hell…?”

“I can’t believe this flame…then then…”

“Sir… Sir…?”

The child raised her head. She smiled broadly, with tears hanging from her eyes.

This time it’s not fake laughter. It’s not a forced laugh to wait for someone.

“The Holy Son…!”

Garnet was dying.

The ruined human city regains its light.

“The Holy Son is here…!”

. . .

[Unique Divine Twilight (SSS) is activated.]

Unable to read the proper explanation, the divinity activated on its own. But there was no time to worry about that.

A rattling body. The pressure covering the whole body is no joke. The whole body was twisted as if the five organs were being destroyed.

“My… Way…!”

It was never easy to command the whole. If the Moon Paladins, Lucia, and Arpina play important parts…

I had to produce ‘results’ with it. In the end, the most important role was me.

-Strength…Listen…Yo…!

Beatrice gasped inside. Surtur continued to scream as if he couldn’t calm down.

-aaa!!! What high-speed piston is this…?! The energy went out and then went in half-booooohgogogogogogo…?!!!

“Don’t… make… strange… sounds…!”

My legs trembled as if they would collapse at any moment. But there are still many people left to save.

I didn’t even start properly. At best, I only tasted some of the power.

The power of the sealed camp Lu had arranged was enormous. It was an incredible capacity.

…No. Would it be rather strange if the means to completely seal an imperfect god that could have destroyed the entire world were weak?

“… Ugh… Ugh…!”

The amount was enough to revive hundreds of thousands of people. Even then, a long time remains.

The important thing is whether I can fully consume it now.

Part of the body collapsed. The fingertips were ignited with a white light and were slowly breaking down.

The total amount of tremendous power. Moreover, it was as if I was manipulating a new body that had just been created.

Half body. A person who inscribed an incomplete divinity into his body.

That was me. And the divinity I embraced was still incomplete.

It’s only natural that he couldn’t handle such a total amount of power all of a sudden.

But I can’t take a break and do it again. The power flowing from the broken seal dissipates over time.

In the end, it will turn into a land of nothing. The souls who wandered around Gucheon were also in a situation where they had deviated to some extent.

To save the most…

Now is the best time…!

“…Hold on…Hold on…”

He whispered to me.

“Hold on…Zaha…De…!”

I drew the frame.

“You can…You can…Ah…!”

I saved a person.

“More… A little more…!”

You saved countless people.

“Even one…More…!”

The moonlight spread out. The power that turned into flame through Arpina covered the world.

Innumerable souls begin to be drawn in the sky. Each of them takes shape and falls like a star falling on a garnet.

The dead are resurrected.

People who will never be seen again are reunited.

My fingertips are melting. My rattling bowl cracks.

-aaah!!!! It hurts so much!!!

“Hold on…! Almost everything…!”

Draw.

Even if I can’t save everyone, I’ll do my best.

A happy ending enough for those who left to leave safely.

“The last…!”

Squeeze the power. Gather in your hand until the last, last light.

Quaaa!!!!

Swirling light. Amidst the exploding sound, I grabbed the last glimpse of my soul.

Yes. You.

It’s up to you. I can’t leave you out!

“aaa!!!!”

The flames fall. A clearer and brighter soul than ever before unites at my fingertips.

The shape of the flame imitates the figure of the deceased. Based on the last piece left after being sucked up…

Creates a spirit with a human body.

Duran’s eyes widened as he watched. I sat down as if collapsing, holding on to my crumbling body.

“f*ck…Foot…”

With the overflowing people in the crumbling streets…

The twilight hours are over.

“I… Take a break…”

. . .

Duran stretched out his hand. I slowly walked towards the opponent in front of me.

It is a small child. But in appearance he resembled what he remembered.

The feeling of power is insignificant. It is less powerful than any lower spirits.

…But.

“…Your Majesty… Ha…?”

I’m sure.

My queen.

“……”

The little one opened her eyes. I slowly looked back at Duran.

The girl blinked her eyes. Her head staggered as if in pain, then she stood upright.

The mouth opens slowly. But before she could utter her words, her girlish gaze swept over her own body.

“…Human…Body…”

The girl wiggled her fingers awkwardly. Then she slowly placed her hand on her chest.

She closed her eyes as if feeling the heartbeat. She let out a breath as if confirming her own feelings.

A moment of silence.

The girl opened her eyes.

“…It’s gotten smaller. Whopping.”

“……”

“I have no strength. It has become insignificant.”

“……”

“My body and soul are completely stuck. I… Can’t go back to being a spirit.”

“……”

“I have completely distanced myself from the queen that the knight will serve.”

Duran fell to her knees. She slowly lowered her head in front of her.

“…You know. Duran.”

The girl hesitated and stretched out her hand.

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“I… Am no longer a queen. You don’t have to serve me.”

“…….”

“The desire within you must have also disappeared. The only shackles I thought I had to protect… Would have been completely gone.”

“…….”

“So…So…”

The girl put her forehead on Duran’s head.

“…You don’t have to force yourself to stay by my side anymore.”

Duran was silent. She felt the warmth touch her forehead.

It is different from her spirit. She does not have infinite life, and her overflowing power has also disappeared.

The restraint in her voice was also gone. The feeling of ‘I have to follow’, which had been suppressing her all along, was also gone.

…But.

But she still remains.

“Your Majesty…Doing…”

Duran raised her voice for the first time.

“Why, Your Majesty…don’t you listen to what I am saying?”

“…Yes?”

“I said my throat would burst. It doesn’t matter how many times you repeat it. It doesn’t matter if all the time and years that dwell in this body melt away. But…Now…Listen to me.”

I look at the falling queen’s forehead. The forest knight whispered.

“According to Your Majesty’s words, the restraint within me has disappeared. The way I look at You has also disappeared.”

“……”

“Your Majesty is no longer my Majesty. The spirits will no longer serve you. The Guardians will do the same.”

The girl nodded her head slightly.

But Duran’s words weren’t over yet.

“So…”

He draws out his sword.

Put it into the ground slowly.

The thing hanging from the tip of the drawn sword is an evening primrose. A flower she always carried in her arms and always carried to show her.

A flower that I have always cherished because I wanted to see her smile one more time.

She…

The flower she said was her favorite.

“I will swear here once again.”

The knight of the forest stretched out his hand. He gently wrapped her hand around the girl who was flinching.

Whispered.

From the front without running away.

“Will you give me a chance…to serve you once again?”

“……”

The girl stared blankly at Duran.

Her eyes narrowed.

“…Are you stupid?”

“Maybe it’s right.”

“There is nothing to be gained by serving me.”

“Maybe.”

“Rather, you might be chased by countless beings. Because I… Can’t be caught between spirits and humans anymore…”

“I know.”

“Continue… You may have to fight. I might have to keep running away.”

“I am determined.”

“Why… Why the hell…”

Duran said.

She said it once. But this time, more sincere than ever.

Even her heart, which she thought was due to the shackles, was real. She treasured every minute and every second of her being with her, and she couldn’t stand it even now.

Yes.

I…

“I am not an incarnation of the World Tree.”

It’s a knight.

“But this heart is real.”

A knight who will love only one person for the rest of his life.

“I…”

The girl’s eyes widened. The hand that gripped her trembled.

The forest knight whispered.

“I adore you as Duran. Your majesty.”

The girl looked up at the knight in the forest. With her infinitely smaller gaze, she slowly reached out her hand.

She shook his hand. Her hesitant mouth swallowed her words several times. Then she slowly…