Rem was startled, and his hands shook unconsciously - he shouldn't have woken up so soon!!

He was well aware that Ed's power had not disappeared...... The wounds on his own body healed so much that they did not leave even a trace are proof of this. To this end, he specially poured a whole bottle of potion on Ed after knocking him unconscious, enough to keep several strong men unconscious for several days...... Could it be that the remnants of Nyo's Tears are still so powerful?

A flash of blood flashed in front of him, and Vala desperately reached out and grabbed the blade of the sword, pushing it away, breaking free from his shackles in his momentary panic and rushing towards Ed.

Rem let out a grunt of exasperation, chased after the woman who was in the way, and pounced with his sword at Akan as he turned to pick up the hammer - he had to deal with the only guy in front of him who could fight as soon as possible.

There was a sound of wind behind his head, and he avoided one but not the other, and something smashed firmly on the back of his head, giving off a rich fruity aroma in the crisp cracking sound...... It was a bottle of jam.

Rem shook and looked back angrily, a viscous blue-black liquid dripping from his ear. Vala was desperately slamming everything she could at him as she screamed, "Hanrietta, go find Scott...... Go call someone!"

The paladin lowered his head and looked at the yellow and white egg wash on his chest, and anger rose spontaneously.

He had never experienced such a "battle...... From the purpose to the method, there is no battle with any honor to speak of. No matter how hard he tries to convince himself, he doesn't do anything for his own benefit...... Deep down, he knew that his choice stemmed from his cowardice – a cowardice he didn't want to admit.

He had become accustomed to having another, more powerful force behind him. When the Goddess no longer answers His prayers...... Submission to the king seemed to be the best option.

— but even so. It is not the turn of a mercenary businessman's wife, the mother of a self-confessed liar, to insult him in this way!

In shame. The malice that has never been felt before is like a black snake, bursting out of a corner of the heart. He swung his sword up without a sound, splitting the oncoming rattan basket in half, consciously or unconsciously ignoring the distance he could easily judge - Vala Singhal was within his range of attack.

But when the blood splattered before his eyes, he seemed to wake up from a nightmare...... Or fall into a nightmare that you can never wake up from, and stand there dumbfounded, your pupils dilating blankly.

- What exactly did he do?

Protect the weak and innocent. Abide by honor and responsibility...... The vows that have been repeated again and again and fulfilled again and again echo heavily in my ears. Since when did the imprint on the soul become obscure?

Before the goddess turned her back on him. He may have closed his eyes.

In a trance, he heard the roar behind him, and felt the boundless fury of the giant as it swooped down, and even the howling of the wind as the heavy hammer fell......

A desperate and poignant voice roared in his heart to get him out of the way. Counterattack. Escape......

But he stood stiff, looking at the woman who was slowly falling in front of him, at the astonishment, nostalgia, and sadness that passed by her eyes, as they passed away with his life, never moving.

At the last moment of his life, the blood red in front of him suddenly shook...... As if from hell with the flames.

Ed staggered to his half-propped up, staring at the flour bag in front of him with wide eyes, and for a moment he couldn't remember what had happened.

He only felt that his limbs were limp. The brain is groggy. In sight, everything is blurred. In a hazy black fog, it flickered far and near.

In a chilling nausea, his hands went limp, and he rolled off the flour bag, his gaze involuntarily frozen on a terrible blood-red patch.

Memories came flooding back in that moment.

The fog of the plains of Collins, the cold corpses in the fog, the black flowers in the tombs, the sound of "sorry" in the ears of Rem Flender, the sharp pain in the chest and abdomen......

He stared blankly at the corpse lying not far away—a man lying face down on the ground, the back of his head almost like a smashed apple under some kind of blow, the red, white and white and the thick blood in the air made Ed unable to control the bitterness that spilled into his throat, and turned around and vomited.

The corpse was covered with River's shirt...... It was the body of Rem Flender. He didn't need to look closely to know that the paladin who inexplicably punched him and made him fall into a coma couldn't be saved this time no matter what.

Only one person in the castle would take down an enemy in this way—Akan sat on the other side of the corpse, his hammer stained with blood and tossed aside. With his back to Ed, his massive body swayed and let out a low, mournful whimper that sounded like a wounded animal...... Or abandoned children, with fear, incomprehension and heartbreaking mourning.

Ed struggled to his feet, unconsciously flustered. At the door of the storeroom, Hanrietta was cautiously probing in, and suddenly slammed back against the door, reaching out to cover her mouth, her eyes instantly wide with horror and disbelief.

The look made Ed's breath suffocate like falling ice.

He took a few steps, reached for the big man's shoulder, and blurted out anxiously, "Akan! you are injured...... Finish...... Is it?"

The last syllable to be spit out is frozen on the tip of the tongue.

Beyond Akan's broad shoulders, he could finally see the unusually petite body that was carefully held in the arms of the big man...... Vala lay there silently, her elegant silver-gray dress drowned in a blood-red, lifeless face as white as withered white petals, and her slightly open lips stained with red blood.

“...... Mother ......" Ed's faint voice was like the dying man's dying weeping. His feet went limp, and he fell to Vala's side, and in a panic crawled over, his hands trembling towards the terrible wound on his mother's neck, but his mind was suddenly blank, and he could not remember a single incantation.

"God...... Please......" he whispered in despair, desperately remembering what he had learned, everything he had felt. The spell that rushed out of his throat shattered hoarsely, almost silently...... But it doesn't work.

Over and over again, he prayed, chanted, roared, cursed...... Until he couldn't make a sound in his throat anymore, someone finally reached out and hugged him and dragged him away.

"Ed!" Scott's voice thundered in his head, "she's gone...... Let her rest in peace......"

Ed stared blankly into the void, the world blurred into a sea of blood in tears, and nothing else.

"Give her back to me...... Give her back to me......" he murmured, his voice raised a little more and more bitterly to all the gods in the underworld, and there was a desperate ferocity and anger in his eyes—

"Give her back to me!!!".

The ground shook as Nalya rushed down the stone steps.

She slipped on her feet, barely managed to hold her balance, and quickly reached out to support her father, who had fallen forward.

They looked at each other in amazement, and heard a loud, dull thud that thundered up from the ground.

Another violent tremor followed, as if a huge monster that had been sleeping underground for a thousand years was roaring and waking up, twisting its body in an attempt to overturn everything that weighed on it.

The whole castle trembled and shook, the huge glass windows shattered, and the people ran to avoid it in amazement, as if it were a few years ago, when a giant dragon descended from the sky and roared to destroy everything......

But this time, no one can stop a catastrophe with a single call. The former saboteur ran down the hallway, dragging away the two maids who were only huddled in the corner with their heads up and screaming, and threw them to relative safety.

Cracks appeared on the walls that had been rebuilt again and again, ugly as torn wounds. Iss jumped over the cracks in the ground, ignoring the falling rubble above his head and sprinting straight into the storage room.

He took a sharp step back when he saw what was in front of him, as if he had been hit hard.

There was a sharp pain in his chest that almost burst open - not even in the depths of the Temple of Collins, when he first learned his true identity from Lydia, and in the anger of being deceived and betrayed, he tore apart the soul of a human and was reborn as a dragon...... The pain of knowing that you are forever, irretrievably losing the most important and precious person.

He could clearly feel the endless anger, sorrow, and despair in Ed's heart, who was now kneeling like a statue on Vala's corpse, motionless, and it fixed him in place, unable to move.

Scott got up not far away, shook his head, and wiped the blood from his nose in surprise and exasperation. On the other side, on a smashed-up wooden frame, Akan lay silently, blood running down his nose, ears, and lips......

It suddenly dawned on Iss that it was not the "enemy" who was hurting them...... It's Ed's out-of-control power.

"Ed!" Scott yelled as he tried to get to his feet, "calm down...... Calm down! Think of your father!"

He didn't think it would be useful...... Now Ed probably can't hear anything at all.

Another violent shaking caused Isse to nearly fall to the ground, and Scott, who had not yet stood on his feet, fell again. Huge boulders fell from top of their heads and smashed into a mess of ground, one of which almost grazed Ed's shoulder, nearly hitting Vala...... Ed, on the other hand, still seemed unconscious.

If this continues, Ed, who has come to his senses, will have to bear even heavier guilt and remorse...... And he was clearly overwhelmed.

Eth gritted his teeth and strode over, raising his hand and striking the back of Ed's head.

There was a hollow echo from nowhere, as if the old castle itself was uttering a large, tired sigh...... Then everything was calm again.

(To be continued......)