Dios turned his shield sideways, sharp edges slicing across his forearm, pulling out a bloody wound.

He tried to keep his consciousness awake with pain, but to little avail. The gray-black mist was surging endlessly, and more and more toxins were invading its body, and the ethereal feeling was getting stronger and stronger.

It's like stepping into the clouds, and you can't find a definite foothold at every step. The mirage extracted from the sea monster can cause the mental fluctuations of intelligent creatures to become slow and sluggish. At the same time, the memories buried deep in the soul, those unwanted but deepest imprints, mixed with naked desires, weave a bizarre illusion.

The giant's gaze has begun to drift. The one-eyed that was originally fierce and full of light now seemed foggy and dazed, and it seemed that it would fall asleep at any moment.

It seems that there is also a hint of sadness mixed in it.

Dios knew he would find himself in the same situation before long. But the other party's expression at this time still surprised him a little. It turns out that this crazy and bloodthirsty guy also has such quiet moments, which reminds people of the cyclops petrified by the song of the Siren on the clear blue sea.

You can't just go to sleep.

Dios kept reminding himself, but when the pain couldn't be suppressed, pieces of fragmented memories still flew in front of his eyes.

Yellowed, memories so long ago that he would forget......

At the coming-of-age ceremony, he got the first knight's sword, which was a reward from his father after he led his army to exterminate a group of bandits. Dios remembers that after killing the bandit leader with his own hands, he retched for a whole day and a night.

For the first time in his life, the two armies faced each other, and they bumped into Snowton's "Purple Electric Light Cavalry", and the art of war, which he was very familiar with on weekdays, did not come in handy at all. Under the endless assault of the other side. The eldest son of the Elendil family was in a big mess, and since then he has fallen into the laughing stock of paper talk.

It wasn't until a few years later that he defeated Snowton's two young stars, Hancent and Carter Roman, in front of the Iron Wall. Just then made the dignitaries and nobles of Rankin City close their mouths in unison.

Time is a river. The new rises against the tide, and the old falls with the tide.

Elendil became a mainstay of the Civil War, pushing the family's glory to new heights. The leader of the Knights Templar was an old friend of the Templar Order, the son-in-law of the Samuel family, who wanted to worship him as his teacher, and the neighboring small city-states supported Elendil as their suzerain......

With the power of a city, he tightly choked Snowton's throat as he went south. The rest of the countries under the rule of the Holy See temporarily lost the threat of war, and gradually prospered economically. The common people were able to live and work in peace and contentment. For a while, the prestige of the "Shield of Light" within the "Holy Alliance", especially among the civilian class, even surpassed that of the Holy See itself.

The good news from the front line was transmitted back to the "Holy Alliance" again and again, and the name of Elendil also spread throughout the south. Prestige grew, territory expanded, power grew. At this time when the capital was thriving, disaster fell from the sky.

......

The past is like a knife. Dios felt a throbbing pain in his heart and suddenly came to his senses.

From one illusion to another.

Here it is......

Dios looked around blankly, and beneath his feet was a field of burned rubble. It's a city, a huge city, but now it's full of corpses. Everywhere there was spilled blood, and raging flames.

Strangely, the shouts of killing echoed endlessly, but he could not see any scenes of the army fighting. Could it be that the massacre is over, and the victors are preparing to burn the entire city?

This is unwise. Subconsciously, Dios analyzed the art of war he had learned, unless it was a bandit wandering around, no one would be so short-sighted and give up such an important strategic fulcrum. But how could those rogues have the strength to capture such a big city?

He casually turned his head, his gaze swept across the smoke-filled sky, and suddenly froze.

A tall and slender tower, the tall tower familiar and unfamiliar, broke in two and fell into the dust. On the original glorious tower, the magic lines are all dim, like a pile of ordinary broken bricks and tiles, and they will never fall back to the good name of the past.

Here it is...... Rankn......

Sure enough, it's just an illusion, Dios muttered. The mirage actually aroused the deepest desires in his heart, and made up such a ridiculous scene, which was really unexpected to him.

At this moment, at the corner of the ruined street, a figure that he didn't expect suddenly turned around. The tall and burly giant, armed with a huge flail covered in blood, seemed to have just indulged in slaughter.

What's going on?

Dios couldn't help but be stunned, could it be that the illusion of the mirage structure could still be connected?

"Why are you here?" Unexpectedly, the giant man also asked with some surprise. Now he seems to be much more conscious than in reality, the scars on his face are relatively thin, and even the madness in his eyes is a little lighter.

"I'm also wondering. Dios shook his head, and then he realized that he was not holding a shield of light and thorns, but a blood-drenched sword, and the accumulated blood light seemed to be thicker than the flail in the giant man's hand.

"Whatever," the giant man stepped forward slowly, the fierce look in his eyes flashed again, and he smiled fiercely, "Since it's such a coincidence, I'll give you a ride by the way." ”

Dios snorted and greeted him without showing weakness, the distance between the two quickly shortened, and he was about to end this battle between reality and fantasy on this blood-filled rubble field.

Finally, the blood-colored sword and the blood-colored flail collided violently.

With a loud bang, the surrounding images shattered, and the illusion disintegrated, and after a moment of lightheadedness, the fluttering fragments were spliced together again, forming a very different scene.

This...... And where?

Autumn is high and the clouds are light, and the blue sky is boundless.

The clear wind swept by, driving his dark blue cloak to fly.

Dios stood on the top of the city, looking out over the picturesque landscape.

This is...... The city of Elendil.

He quickly recalled it, because it was almost the scene he remembered the most. For countless times, he stood here, looking down on his city, his territory, half of the country he defended, and the thousands of people he guarded.

It's a dream, but it's also a beautiful dream. Dios stroked the rounded hilt of his sword at his waist and looked around greedily. I want to take another look at those familiar, blue-on-blue banners, those determined, loyal warriors......

and the brother who lives and dies with him.

Dios's gaze slowly retracted and fell on the burly knight next to him.

The knight also turned his head sideways, and there was a touch of tenderness in his single eye. (To be continued......)

PS: (2000 words.) ）