The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 216

Azadin shot an arrow at Aldis and moved reflexively.

His body moved before his mind.

‘My light, my star, my everything.’

Even though he knew that what stood before him was not Aldis, but a vanguard of a death god who had taken over her body and was trying to understand this world by reading the memories left in her flesh….

She was still dazzlingly beautiful.

But Azadin relentlessly attacked her.

Her movements were undeniably dull compared to the real Aldis.

The arrow struck Aldis’s chest, and the Azure Executioner, wielded by Azadin, severed her arm.

Azadin spun around her, striking her legs, severing them below the knees. Yet, she did not fall.

When struck by the Azure Executioner, the wound should have gaped open, causing massive bleeding, but Aldis did not shed a single drop of blood.

Instead, black mist flowed from the wounds. The black mist connected the severed limbs, maintaining her form.

“Ahahaha. Azadin, Azadin.”

The thing that had taken over Aldis’s corpse wiggled its fingers.

“Don’t rush. I still need time. I’m in the process of understanding the memories and knowledge engraved in this body, so could you wait a little longer?”

It was speaking in Aldis’s voice, but it was definitely a death god. A death god from another world had taken over Aldis’s body and was trying to understand the present world through her flesh.

The incarnation of a death god. In Aldis’s form, that death god had descended into the present world.

“So, you still have time, you say?”

Azadin retreated and climbed onto the quartz throne.

He intended to inject the magic tome given to him by Araelle, a tome made by combining copies of the Divine King’s Scriptures, to sever the quartz throne from the power of the Nether [a realm of death and chaos].

But then, an unexpected interference occurred. An arrow flew towards Azadin, not from the death god’s incarnation, but from Hatir, who had picked up an arrow from the floor and shot it at Azadin.

It was a pitiful arrow for the leader of the Herald Clan. Perhaps it was because Hatir’s body had not fully recovered.

‘Attacking me in this situation? Is he crazy?’

Azadin was about to say that as he snatched the feeble arrow from Hatir, but.

“Ugh.”

Azadin’s body was not in good condition either.

The hand that caught the arrow slipped, and he fell backward, landing on his rear. Fortunately, the arrow had lost much of its force in Azadin’s hand and did not pierce his armor.

If it had been an arrow fired by a Herald Clan member in their prime, it would have easily pierced through leather armor, like paper soaked in water, even if Azadin had caught it with his bare hand. The fact that the attack was stopped showed that neither Hatir nor Azadin were in good shape.

“What are you doing, Hatir!”

“We must make the Hybrids and their king deal with this death god. If you want to live, leave, Azadin! Don’t even think about using that suspicious magic tome of Araelle’s!”

Hatir yearned for more death gods from the Nether to appear on this land and kill the Hybrids.

He had cut down the death gods of the Nether in Ararath, but that was a measure to save himself, not to hinder the death gods.

This man genuinely wanted to unleash the death gods to artificially usher in the Jupiter Era [a prophesied age of destruction] and see the Hybrid people die.

“You fool! Is it any wonder the clan is in this state with a leader like you?!”

“Fool?”

Hatir was shocked by Azadin’s words.

*********

The Herald Clan, the Aragas, were people with a very strong sense of hierarchy.

Although Hatir and Azadin ignored each other because they were enemies, normally, the difference in their ranks was so vast that Azadin shouldn’t even have been able to step on Hatir’s shadow.

Moreover, Acre was actually one of Hatir’s descendants.

Hatir had taken Aragas women multiple times to mix the blood of the gods and had children, so Acre was one of them, and Azadin, Acre’s son, was one of Hatir’s distant descendants.

With such a clear difference in status, and even being a descendant if he had been born normally, Azadin was now criticizing and insulting Hatir, which was enough to make Hatir’s eyes roll back.

Furthermore, being called incompetent and stupid was the most sensitive insult to the Aragas, who were obsessed with meritocracy [a system where power is based on ability].

Azadin had been insulted by the clan not only because he was the son of the traitor Acre but also because he was the weakest member of the clan, his incompetence being the greater reason.

The fact that Araelle, also Acre’s child, was respected showed their perception, and Hatir was no exception.

Competence and incompetence were what the Aragas were obsessed with, and yet Azadin, the most powerless and lowly member of the clan, was now insulting Hatir, calling him incompetent and stupid.

“Yes! We were trained as heralds, but you were the emperor’s son, so you were the leader from birth! You weren’t tested, and you didn’t receive proper training! You’re not a herald! That’s why you make such strategically and tactically foolish choices!”

Azadin realized that Hatir had not received tactical training as a herald.

Swordsmanship, martial arts, archery, and magic were a kind of culture that nobles and royalty always sought to acquire. On the other hand, the ability to adapt to various situations and carry out operations as an agent was strictly a skill needed by those who were commanded.

The crown prince would learn swordsmanship or magic, not the ability to carry out operations.

“You….”

Provoked by Azadin, Hatir, in his rage, strained to draw his bow and cast a spell. Even though he knew it wouldn’t work on Azadin, he used the emperor’s magic to attack Azadin.

Of course, Hatir wasn’t stupid enough to do that. The emperor’s lightning strike was so dazzling that he mixed it with arrows to blind Azadin and then shower him with arrows in that gap.

He was also curious if the emperor’s magic would not work this time.

The emperor’s voice, the artificial spirit, could project its existence throughout Hybrids without directly intervening in events.

Since the emperor’s voice had directly intervened and exerted power, its existence must have been greatly damaged.

Would the emperor’s magic not work now?

But this time as well, the emperor’s voice protected Azadin from the emperor’s magic.

Azadin, who had no eyes, was naturally immune to glare, and even in the dazzling lightning of the emperor’s strike, he calmly avoided the attacks aimed at him.

“When you said you would take the throne, everyone agreed because they wanted to be the one who controlled the Hybrids, not because they wanted a ruined world where the Hybrids were dead and death gods roamed! That’s why the rebellion happened, and the already small number of Aragas dwindled even further, didn’t it?”

“Then we should reduce the number of Hybrids even more!”

“If you kill that many, you’ll have to farm with your own hands and weave ropes in a hut, won’t you? I’m sure the Crown Prince would be great at that.”

“…….”

Hatir knew that his words were forced.

Every point Azadin made hit him hard.

Wasn’t this destruction the result of him forgetting that he should have persuaded and made them understand from the bottom up because his position was too high, and he had always held power, and instead, he had arbitrarily forced his plans?

“Admit it! Your plan failed the moment Araelle rebelled! If it weren’t for Aldis and Kazas, who loved you and defended you, it would have ended as the delusion of a backroom crown prince….”

Azadin, who had been attacking Hatir with words, paused. Mentioning Kazas and Aldis with his own mouth made something surge up from within.

“Why did they….”

In Azadin’s eyes, Hatir was not worthy of being loved.

He was only faithful to his own goals, goals that were close to delusions, and he did not care for Kazas or Aldis at all, yet they willingly threw their lives for Hatir and even prioritized him over Azadin himself.

Even though Azadin loved them so much, they cherished Hatir more than Azadin.

“Damn it!”

Azadin succeeded in assembling the bundle of copies of the Divine King’s Scriptures that Araelle had given him, the magic tome she had newly constructed.

“No!”

Hatir tried to stop Azadin, but he was already too far away, and he had run out of arrows.

Azadin brushed off Hatir’s interference and succeeded in inserting the magic tome into the quartz throne.

Then, the throne began to glow. From within the murky black quartz crystals, a pure white light burst forth, beginning to dispel the darkness.

“Aaaaargh!”

The Aldis, who had become the incarnation of a death god, writhed in agony.

Not only that, but the death gods wandering around the royal castle also groaned in pain, causing a throbbing in his lower abdomen and making his ears feel like they would burst.

Azadin also couldn’t withstand the shock and knelt down.

The Divine King’s Scriptures that Araelle had tampered with were being drawn back into the quartz throne, restoring its function.

However, the light of the king was woefully insufficient. The light of the king was too weak to banish the death gods that had been summoned and purify the world.

It was said that the light of the king would protect the world when a true king sat on the throne….

‘In my current condition, sitting on the throne would be the end of me.’

The royal castle, already a mess from the earthquake, was shaking and collapsing again. The ceiling was cracking, and the sky was visible.

Azadin’s body was a mess from losing so much blood, and because he had just inserted all the copies of the Divine King’s Scriptures into the quartz throne, the white magic that remained in his body had been exhausted in the act of pushing the magic tome in, leaving him weakened to the extreme.

In this situation, to sit on the throne?

It was a problem whether the throne accepted him or not. He had to escape quickly, or….

That’s when it happened.

-Thwack!

This time, an arrow pierced Azadin’s right arm.

To be precise, Azadin had unconsciously used his right arm to block an arrow that had been aimed at his heart.

Unlike the weak arrows Hatir had shot, this was a truly powerful herald’s arrow.

“Kuh-ack!”

Sion Etar entered the royal castle with his subordinates.

“Azadin!”

And Midiam was watching the scene. Bound by ropes and unable to move, he was being led in by servants when he discovered Azadin, covered in blood.

How could he have lost so much blood? And both his left and right arms were tattered.

If it weren’t for the magic that Shatty had cast and the king’s healing that Aldis had given him, he would have died long ago.

“I never thought things would go this well.”

“…….”

Hatir frowned as he saw Sion Etar and his subordinates enter.

When he was whole, he was a loyal servant. A young member of the Council of Elders, a member of the Five Great Families, but a humble and polite, cute fellow. And of course, he was also Hatir’s descendant.

But the current Sion Etar exuded a murderous aura.

“Araelle? Did you take care of her?”

Hatir had to try hard not to lose his dignity when dealing with Sion.

His body was also in terrible condition. He had already suffered injuries in the fight with Azadin that should have killed him, and he had exhausted his magic and energy, leaving him as nothing more than an empty shell, but he still asked sternly.

“Haha.”

Sion Etar burst into a hollow laugh.