()22：58。

Although the small magic array composed of black blood was small, the elemental reaction produced distorted the space around the magic array.

"The magic of spatial teleportation, no, it's the magic of breaking the seal!" Sophia felt deeply uncomfortable, and hurriedly shouted to Dani, "Get out of here!"

"It's too late!" Instead of listening to Sophia's persuasion, Danifetan slashed his sword at the vampire prince who was standing at the top of the statue and looking down on them.

Although I don't know what the magic that the Vampire Prince is going to cast, it will definitely not be a good thing, and once it is cast, it will definitely be troublesome, and the only way is to interrupt it in the middle of the cast.

"Bang--"

The sound of metal clashing echoed through the front yard of the palace.

Before Dany's sword slashed, the Vampire Prince reached into the distorted space and quickly pulled out a swarthy object. The object not only blocked Dani's attack, but also bounced her body back more than ten meters.

"Wow!" Dany felt the blood in her chest tumble and a mouthful of blood spurted out.

"Dani. Sophia hurriedly ran to Dani's side and injected the healing magic into her.

At the same time, the Prince of Vampire had completely pulled the item out of the spatial rift. I saw that it was an ancient two-handed heavy sword, the blue-black sword body was covered with traces of time, but there was no trace of rust, and four gems were inlaid with alchemy on both sides of the sword body, faintly shining in the night.

"Endless sigh!" Duris, who was standing on the tower, blurted out.

He had seen this ancient weapon in the classics, so he could immediately recognize it when he saw it with his own eyes. This is a divine sword that only Prince Edward, the "god of war" of the ancient Shumiro Empire, is qualified to have, symbolizing the invincible glory of its master.

My name is Edward Shumiro, and I am the prince of the Shumiro Empire.

There are very few princes who can grow up in harem struggles, and I was lucky enough to be one of them. On the day of my 16-year-old coming-of-age ceremony, I suffered my first and last assassination attempt as an adult from within the court.

If it weren't for the golden retriever Hal I grew up stealing that poisonous cake, I would have joined the dozens of brothers and sisters who died young. At that time, his father was furious, and he ordered a thorough investigation and put the cook on duty to death. But I know, and everyone in the palace knows, that the investigation will not lead to anything. As before, the matter was settled, and in the end, I couldn't find out who was behind the scenes, but all the doubts pointed to my eldest brother Nero.

Nero and I were only two brothers, but Nero was eleven years older than me, he was born before his father ascended the throne, and he was far beyond my power in terms of force, mind, stratagem, and power.

So, I proposed to my father to go to the army for training, and from then on I left the palace and never returned.

The military career is hard, but it is also happy, at least I don't need to beware of poisonous hands from my relatives, and with Woody, a confidant and friend who is like a brother, it is not a big deal to lose the position of emperor without those intriguing flesh and blood brothers. I'm not here for the gilding, so I can put aside my status as a prince and fight, get wounded, be promoted, and enjoy the joy of victory with ordinary knights.

It took me a few years to pull up my own troops, which are, in Woody's words, "enough to protect my troops." "And Woody, although his martial arts and military exploits are no worse than mine, he gave up the opportunity to become a knight and willingly became my chief of staff.

Based on my swordsmanship and my physique, Woody recruited the world's famous blacksmiths and carefully searched for the finest ores, and created a two-handed heavy sword for me that was as sharp as clay.

"Let's call it 'Endless Sigh'. "After the sword was played, Woody said to me.

Although I didn't understand why Woody chose this ominous name, and I objected, Woody insisted and I went along with him.

In the following twenty years, from the Gobi Desert in the south, where the Orcs fought bloodily, to the icy and snow-covered Lianjin Mountains in the north, wherever there was a war in the empire, there were my army and the figure of "endless sighs". Where the "endless sigh" points to, the army is invincible and invincible. When a strong enemy hears my name, they will retreat, and when they see the eight jewels set in the sword, they will flee without a fight. My title of "God of War" has since resounded throughout the Empire

While I was on a campaign, Nero took over the Emperor's scepter from his deceased father, and became known as "Nero the Great". Nero was a murderous tyrant in later history, but the Shumiro Empire under his rule reached unprecedented prosperity, and of course, without the lasting peace won by my army's years of war on the frontier, Nero would not have had enough energy to govern the country.

I don't know if it's because I'm nostalgic for my early death, or if I've accepted that I can't shake my influence in the military, Nero has given me a fief on the northern border of the empire. With fiefdoms, there are subjects, and with subjects, there are farmlands, and the turbulent life of the southern and northern wars has finally come to an end. After settling down, I gave my soldiers knighthoods and rewarded them for their meritorious deeds.

But Woody refused to give him the official position I had offered him, and was willing to remain my staff, saying that he did not want another source of light to appear next to my aura, and Woody refused to allow me to build him a weapon equal to the "Endless Groan", saying that the sword of the god of war could only have one and that his authority could not be challenged. He is such a person, who has been silently supporting me behind my back, using his shadow to reflect my light.

However, the good times were short-lived.

When I was 38 years old, the Empire went to war with the Forest Elves over logging. The battle was a shocking situation, the mighty imperial army was defeated in front of thousands of angry elves, and even the imperial capital of Relman City was captured by those elves who came to avenge it. On the way to escape, the king of the empire, my iron-blooded brother, Nero the Great, fell ill and vomited blood to death, and Nero's eldest son Mondrien ascended the throne and became the last emperor of the Shumiro Empire.

In order to recapture the imperial capital, Mondrien's boy sent troops to the generals, but the empire, known as 500,000 male soldiers, fell into chaos like headless flies, and failed to form a siege of Relman.

I really couldn't look past the fiefdom in the north, so I personally led 40,000 elite soldiers to attack and recapture the imperial capital. But on the march, my army was stopped by a mysterious army that did not raise its flag. This mysterious army is not an elf, but a real human being, unlike the enemies I have encountered before, although they are not many in number, but they are extremely tactically accomplished, individual soldiers are outstanding, and they are quite well-equipped, my army has repeatedly attacked and fought fiercely for a day and a night, but still cannot tear open the gap in the enemy's defensive line, but has suffered heavy casualties and lost soldiers, and is forced to camp in place and regroup.

As usual, Woody and I rode up the hill to observe the enemy troops. I don't need an extra guard with me, because Woody is here.

"What are these guys, why are you blocking our way?" I asked Woody in confusion as I looked at the mysterious army that seemed to emerge from the ground on the other side.

Woody has always been in charge of intelligence work, but this time he did not receive any information from this army at all, which is really unusual.

"They are the Knights Templar. Woody gave me an answer that I couldn't have believing.

"The Knights Templar, they have come from the Papal Dominion to fight us on the territory of the Empire?" because this answer was so unscrupulous that if it hadn't been for Woody's answer, I would probably have been guilty on the spot.

"That's right. Now you understand why the Empire has an army of 500,000 and has not had a decent force to relieve the siege of the Imperial Capital, right?" Woody's voice was surprisingly low.

"You're saying that rescue forces from all over the world were intercepted by the Templars?"

"Nope. Some of the forces were slow to move because they were attacked by small forces, some were directly assassinated by their commanders, and the only ones who were qualified to intercept them were your legions. ”

"Why are they doing this. ”

"This is the plan of the Central Church to completely destroy the Miè Xiumiro Empire. The spies of the Central Court had already infiltrated the core of the empire, provoking a war with the elves, poisoning Nero the Great, delaying reinforcements, and finally letting the empire fall into the hands of the elves. ”

Hearing this, I suddenly felt a cold sweat on my head, because I noticed that something was wrong: "Woody, since you know so clearly, why didn't you say it before?"

"Because ......" Woody suddenly showed a smile that I had never seen before, and it was like Woody I had known before.

At this moment, I suddenly felt a burst of dizziness, and my whole body seemed to be drained, and I fell to the ground on my stomach.

Woody crouched down and leaned in front of me, "Because I'm part of the plan." ”

"No, it can't be!" I struggled hard, trying to get up, but couldn't.

"Give it up. When I created 'Endless Sigh' for you, I infused the hilt with chronic poison that seeped into your body every time you swung your sword into battle. For more than a decade, there are enough toxins that have invaded your body that would not have flare up in normal times, but," Woody took out a bottle and shook it twice in front of me, "once combined with this bottle of colorless and odorless gas in my hand, the toxin will attack immediately, rob you of your mobility, and quickly deplete your physiology, and it won't be long before you die." ”

"Why...... Why are you doing that?" I couldn't believe it was Woody.

"Because I don't want to kill you all the time!" Woody's face turned hideous.

For the first time in my life, I really felt what fear was: "No way! We grew up together, we used to dig birds' eggs, smoke foxes, steal girls' clothes while they bathed, ......"

"That's all my leftovers!" Woody yelled at me, "Every poor kid who grows up in the countryside knows these things, how can you, a prince and nobleman, understand?"

"Poor? no, you're ......"

"I'm obviously a nobleman? My so-called 'father', that bullshit lord, would he be willing to let his precious child enter the palace as a waiter? I dreamed! My family has been a poor peasant for generations, and the lord has a debt that he cannot pay off in ten lifetimes, and the only way to pay off the debt is to have a child enter the palace as a waiter in place of his child. So I was sold by my poor and crazy parents. The lord gave me a false nobility and his surname, and sent me to the hellish palace. Back in the palace, the reason why I tried my best to protect your safety was also to protect myself! Because once the prince or princess was killed, the attendants around them would suffer. Do you know? During the ten years in the palace, I was afraid every day, if you died, I would die too. And you are also your eldest brother's biggest competitor, he will definitely bite you, you can't fight him. In order to prevent you from losing your life in vain if you fight with him, I tried my best to portray you as a person with a kind personality, a weak name, and a person who does not value power. And in order to make you decide to leave the palace, on the day of your 16th birthday, I also directed and acted in a good play. ”

"It turns out that the poisonous cake back then was your ......"

I really can't imagine that a child can have such a deep city.

"That's right, it's me! Let's go to you again, after joining the army, I spent 20 years shaping you into a hero, a military god. Look, I've succeeded, but I've been hiding under your shadow, people have only seen your exploits, your bravery, singing your praises, praising you, but never noticing me in the shadows. ”

"Yes, all the qiē I have today are given by you, and I have always regarded you as a good brother who shares blessings and misfortunes. ”

"Don't do this a little bit, good brother? You know what? I have had countless chances to kill you, so why wait until today? Because killing you too early will not do me the slightest, it will only make me a wanted man of the Empire. So I can only wait patiently and slowly, waiting for an opportunity to turn what you have now into what I have, and now this opportunity has finally come!"

"What the hell did you do?"

"A deal. Kill you, disband your army, and a vacant position of Captain in the Templar Order will be mine. Some time ago, someone from the Central Church found me. At that time, I knew that this scene, which had been acting for more than 30 years, was finally over. I'll never have to act in front of someone I hate so much. With that, Woody stood up, spread his arms, and took a deep breath, "Ah, I'm finally liberated, the air of freedom is so fresh." ”

It's only now that I know the real Woody. In the past thirty years, he has been wearing a mask and behaving as a person, and this feeling makes people's hearts furious just thinking about it. All along, I only think about what I want to do and what I want to get, and Woody follows unconditionally, but I never ask Woody what he wants to do and what he wants to get. Woody built the sword for me, and now I finally understand why he named it "The Endless Sigh," because that's exactly how Woody really felt in his heart for more than thirty years.

That sword, "Endless Groan," wasn't made for me, it was forged for Woody himself, for him to kill me!

"It's all false, but for the sake of your trust in me, I will have great mercy and put an end to your suffering!"

Woody picked up the "endless sigh" and stabbed it into my heart.

I am Edward Thumero, and this is the truth of my death.