When the first ray of sunlight emerged from the end of the mountain, Langmuir ended his brief meditation.
He slowly exhaled, opening his eyes in the direction of the sunrise.
“…Brother.”
Aiden, who was standing by his side, looked haggard, with dark circles under his eyes. He held tightly to a leather briefcase in his hands, which was personally organized and handed over to him by the Holy Monarch last night.
Langmuir stood up, his expression unclear in the backlight, but his voice was very gentle.
He said, “Aiden, don’t forget what I entrusted to you.”
Then, the Holy Monarch tied up his golden hair, put on a robe blessed with charms over his soft armor, inserted his sword at his waist, and picked up the blazing golden bow of light sent by the Brett Temple. In this way, he walked out of the palace.
The city wall of the royal city was densely packed with people.
Perhaps many years later, there would be historians wearing thick single-lens glasses, frowning and studying this historical material, and shaking their heads repeatedly for this foolish act.
One should know, those were all unarmed mortals. Once the demons attacked the city, there was no other way but to die tragically.
But in fact, that day there were still a small part of fanatical believers standing on the city wall. They firmly believed that “the Holy Monarch protected by the Goddess could not be defeated by the demon”, just as they firmly believed that “fish cannot drown in water”, and they longed to witness miracles with their own eyes.
The elder prophet, of course, did not stop them. Under the gaze of thousands of eyes, Prince Aiden silently accompanied his brother to finish the last part of the journey within the city.
When Langmuir left the city, the Demon King seemed to have been waiting here for a long time.
Hun Yao sat alone under the city, with a relaxed and generous posture, as if he was not afraid of cold arrows from above. His scaly tail behind him was boredly stirring up the dust on the ground, and his black hair braided into a bunch was glowing with a golden edge in the sunlight.
The Demon King was dressed in light armor, with that bronze curved knife around his waist, and nothing else.
It was not arrogance, but the abyss really had nothing good, how could it compare with the accumulation of the temple and the royal family?
From a great distance, Langmuir said to the Demon King, “Thank you.”
If Hun Yao had not agreed to this duel and had chosen to directly attack the city with his army, then for the sake of the citizens behind him, the Holy Monarch would have had no choice but to point his sword at the invading demons.
He would have had to kill hundreds, if not thousands, of his former brethren with his own hands. As the descendants of the perpetrators, they would once again harm the descendants of the victims.
For him, that would be irreparable.
“No need to thank me,” the Demon King looked at him with a smile, stood up leisurely, and slowly gathered demonic breath at the tips of his claws, “Merciful Holy Monarch.”
Langmuir raised his left hand, which was holding the Bow of Light, and with his right hand, he drew a golden feathered arrow from the quiver behind him, placed it on the string, and calmly drew the bow.
In his heart, he silently said:
Demon King Hun Yao, thank you for saving me again, even if you didn’t mean to.
If you knew, you would probably find it unlucky.
I’m sorry, I can’t fight you in the full glory you’re hoping for.
But at least at this moment, please allow me to bear all your hatred and war intentions.
In an instant, a golden light illuminated the ground beneath the city wall. Langmuir extended his arm and shot three arrows in succession. The arrows, forged from honey gold, left the string and broke through the air, carrying a vast amount of Mana towards the Demon King.
The rising black flames swallowed these three comets.
The Demon King let out a hearty chuckle, and demonic breath overflowed from his palms. The feathered arrows quickly turned to ash, and the honey gold that made up the arrow shaft and arrowhead melted into three balls of metal liquid under high temperatures, spinning rapidly!
The next moment, those three suspended balls of liquid honey gold were suddenly shot back in the direction they came from.
There was a cry of surprise on the city wall of the royal city!
A stern line of sword light horizontally split the hot liquid honey gold, and hundreds of gold beads splashed in all directions.
Langmuir’s figure emerged from the curtain of beads, the cross sword in his right hand thrust straight forward, his golden hair and silver robe fluttering in the wind.
——Clang!!
The blade of the Holy Monarch collided with the blade of the Demon King, and with a loud noise, the ground outside the city gate actually sank into a circle full of cracks!
…….
“Elder Prophet!.. Elder Prophet!”
On the city tower, countless believers were anxious. A woman clasped her hands and stopped the elder in the white robe, “Please tell me, when will the Goddess’s protection come!?”
A drop of cold sweat silently slid down the side of the prophet’s temple.
Something was wrong, this was not right.
Langmuir had received a huge amount of magical power last night, and should have shown great power with the first move, shooting the Demon King dead with a golden arrow.
But now, looking at the Holy Monarch and the Demon King fighting, the two sides were actually evenly matched, completely different from what was expected!
Could it be that the Holy Monarch was being cautious and deliberately holding back, wanting to first probe the Demon King’s strength?
The prophet couldn’t figure out the situation, and could only say stubbornly: “…The Goddess’s protection will surely come, we just need to wait quietly for the miracle.”
Under the royal city, the cross sword and the bronze curved knife collided more and more fiercely.
Hun Yao gradually squinted his eyes, he noticed something unusual in the Holy Monarch’s fighting style.
The physical strength of humans was naturally weaker than that of the demons. But after the first three arrows fell short, Langmuir had been pressing step by step, actively engaging him in close combat until now.
Hun Yao was all too familiar with this tactic. It was a way of fighting that deliberately controlled the consumption of Mana, trying to make up for the gap between him and his opponent by relying solely on moves and strength.
Here’s the issue, he had to do so during combat because of the problem of being easily backfired by demonic breath. What did the Holy Monarch mean…deliberately not going all out?
The Demon King was suddenly so angry that he was fuming. The bronze curved knife, carrying the flame of demonic breath, once again fiercely chopped down on the sword in front of him.
Clang!——
This time, the Demon King, in his rage, used all his strength, and Langmuir’s expression changed slightly, and he could hardly hold his long sword. Hun Yao pressed step by step, and the Holy Monarch was forced to retreat again and again, the crisp sound of the sword and knife colliding almost became continuous!
Where did Hun Yao know that Langmuir was really powerless at this moment.
The Holy Monarch smiled bitterly to himself: He had not yet recovered the Mana he had consumed last night, and had originally intended to drag out the time at the start, but it seemed to have backfired… he had provoked the Demon King.
“Langmuir, what are you waiting for!?”
In the moment of crossing swords, Langmuir heard Hun Yao’s low growl, suppressing his anger.
His pupils shrank slightly, and his left palm quickly drew a string of runes, barely dissolving the incoming demonic breath.
However, the remaining force still knocked the Holy Monarch flying. He inserted his sword into the ground and retreated a great distance before he barely stabilized his figure.
“…”
Langmuir’s face turned pale, he breathed lightly, and his eyes quickly swept over the royal city behind him.
The sun rose from the slant to the top of the head, and then tilted to the west. At some point, the believers on the city tower began to pray in sorrow.
Some people even cut their wrists again, hoping to move the Goddess above the sun with their blood.
Miracle, come quickly.
The urgent sound of horse hooves came from behind.
“Everyone follow me into the inner city! It’s too dangerous here!”
Prince Aiden, wearing soft armor and leading a team of guards, shouted on the city tower. “The inner city gate is already open, all citizens immediately retreat into the inner city, hurry!”
As he galloped past the main gate, Aiden saw the pale-faced elder prophet.
Nearly a hundred people had gathered around the prophet, and they were eagerly asking why the Goddess’s protection had not yet come. Because the agitated people kept pushing forward, the Golden Sun Knights of the temple had to raise their shields and protect the prophet in the center.
Aiden clenched the reins tightly, feeling bitter and indignant. He still couldn’t help but look down from the city wall.
Brother…
——Why hasn’t the Goddess’s protection come?
Of course it won’t come.
Aiden remembered last night again, Langmuir had put all the evidence of the temple’s evil deeds collected over the past seven years – including the truth from two hundred years ago, as well as the various ways of squeezing the national wealth and deceiving the public in recent years – all in a briefcase and gave it to him.
Aiden was shocked when he saw it, and only then did he truly realize how much Langmuir had done behind his forbearance. If the time for the Gasuo barrier to open was a few years later, perhaps the showdown between the Holy Monarch and the temple would also start in another way…
“Brother, you tell me first,” he gritted his teeth and pushed the box aside, “Where did all that Mana go!?”
At first, Langmuir still said it wasn’t important, but when Aiden pressed him, he sighed.
“Do you remember the purification spells I had the mages set up on the city walls around the barrier cliff?”
“——!!”
Aiden gasped. He moved his lips and squeezed out a voice from his throat, “Brother…you!”
In the study, the orange glow of the candle seemed to merge with the golden hair under the lamp, and the broken light also stuck to Langmuir’s drooping eyelashes. He showed that kind of smile again, with loneliness and sadness.
“If one day, we can find a way to open the barrier, the miasma inside must be cleared. I’ve tried it, with the power of an individual or a few people, it’s really not…”
As he listened, Aiden’s tears welled up, and it felt like a sharp knife was cutting his heart.
“Aiden?.. No, don’t cry for me.”
In his blurred vision, he saw his brother come over and gently wipe away his tears with a gentle movement.
“Anyway, it’s true that I used faith, and it’s true that I deceived the public. I have committed sinful acts, and whatever I suffer next is deserved retribution.”
“What next?” Aiden’s voice trembled, “What are you prepared to suffer next?”
……
The battle between the Holy Monarch and the Demon King continued from dawn to dusk.
Langmuir’s disadvantage became more and more apparent, and he could only be said to be struggling under the storm-like onslaught of the Demon King.
By the time the moon rose, the Holy Monarch, who had been knocked flying, crashed into the city wall and coughed up blood with a pale face.
Perhaps he really couldn’t hold on any longer, the Holy Monarch even began to pray.
His voice was hoarse and sad, crying out “my God,” crying out “have mercy on me,” making even the most hard-hearted unable to bear to hear.
The Demon King, holding his curved knife, strode forward, his eyes dark and cold. From afar came the laughter, curses, and shouts of the demon soldiers.
“Langmuir, is that all you’ve got?”
“Rather than begging your god,” Hun Yao ground his teeth, and a cold and dark emotion flowed in the depths of his red eyes, “you might as well beg me.”
The despair enveloping the city tower gradually thickened, and more and more people couldn’t bear to watch and chose to follow Prince Aiden’s advice to retreat into the inner city.
In the early hours of the morning, the last batch of human believers who couldn’t wait for the miracle finally began to flee to the inner city in panic. Sometimes they pushed each other, sometimes they helped the old and the young, and the movement of millions of pairs of shoes on the road raised dust.
But there was no sound of speech, and the eyes of every person were filled with gloom and confusion.
Why? Just like the blond boy who collapsed seven years ago because he didn’t get a response from God, these citizens were all pondering in confusion, why, why, why?
Why can’t the Son of God defeat the Demon King, why doesn’t the Goddess protect the Son of God?
What will become of their fate, when will the demons start attacking the city?
Once the royal city falls, will everyone die horribly at the hands of the demons?
“——The Goddess’s protection must come!!”
Suddenly, the elder prophet’s high-pitched voice rang out in the crowd.
In the night, the old man’s face twisted, every wrinkle was tightly stretched, and it turned red.
He must have thought he had found a way to save them, those turbid eyes, bursting with a vulture-like gloom.
“Unless,” the old man shouted, “the one who should receive protection, his faith has long been unclean!!”
This sound was like a thunderbolt in a clear sky, causing a great uproar all around!
“Impossible, impossible!” The woman who first stopped the elder prophet on the city wall shouted, her eyes red with anger, “We all know that His Majesty the Holy Monarch is the most devout good person in this world!”
Another young man wearing a brown cloth turban also shouted incredulously. “Yes, Elder Prophet, what are you talking about? His Majesty the Holy Monarch is the Son of God who was raised by the temple!”
“That’s right, that’s right! If even His Majesty’s faith is considered unclean, what is our faith, mud and dust!?”
Seeing the citizens in an uproar, the elder prophet shouted again. “Seven years ago, the Son of God was bewitched by the demons!”
As he spoke, the elder prophet suddenly pulled a man out of the crowd–a man dressed as a temple knight, his eyes dodging, the muscles on his cheeks twitching in pain, as if he was struggling.
“Gilbert, you are the most honest knight who has sworn to the Goddess! Tell everyone, what happened to the Son of God seven years ago?”
“Prophet! I…”
Gilbert stammered in bitterness, and countless citizens looked at him in surprise. Prince Aiden, sitting on his horse, also turned around and looked at him from a distance…
Since his ascension, Langmuir no longer used the guards arranged by the temple elders.
As for Gilbert, Aiden remembered his brother saying that he had probed the knight several times about the issue of the demons, each time ending in disagreement, and afterwards their relationship cooled. He didn’t expect to see him again now.
The prophet shouted sternly. “Gilbert! Why are you hesitating, aren’t you an honest believer?”
“I… the Son of God, he…”
Under the compelling gaze of the prophet, Gilbert lowered his head helplessly.
This knight, who had always prided himself on his honesty, finally said. “The Son of God…did indeed go to the abyss seven years ago.”
“After he came back, he was delirious for a while, and even spoke evil words favoring the demons. But…but he has been purified…”
Dead silence spread among the people.
Everyone who heard these words turned ashen.
The elder prophet seemed to have been saved, and loudly said, “The poor Son of God must have been affected by the demons crawling out of the barrier, and the shadows of the past are once again haunting him!”
He kept muttering something about “the Goddess sees through everything”, “this is the punishment for those whose faith is unclean”, and “just need to pray again, let another devout good person take over the protection”…
But suddenly, a trembling voice came from the crowd.
“But, Elder Prophet.”
The voice swallowed, “Back then, you clearly told us that the Son of God had successfully killed the Demon King.”
The elder prophet was taken aback.
He was about to continue to argue, to display his eloquence that he had honed for a hundred years.
But suddenly, with a “plop”, a cold, wet lump of something hit his right cheek, causing the old man’s head to tilt to the left–
It was a lump of mud.
Perhaps it was a lapse of judgment due to the chaos, the holy elder prophet was actually hit in the face by a lump of mud!
A five or six-year-old boy stood in the crowd, his baby-fat face angry, his raised fingers still covered in mud.
“The prophet is a liar, the prophet is a liar!” he shouted, “‘Those possessed by the demon’ cannot continue to be the Son of God! The Goddess will be unhappy, and then she won’t talk to the Son of God, even I know this!”
——What are you prepared to suffer?
Aiden remembered, that night, his brother answered his trembling question like this.
“I am the Son of God of the Brett Temple, I have enjoyed a comfortable life since I was a child, and I have also enjoyed the praise and halo that I should not have. Even if I don’t want to admit it, I have long become their idol.”
“So…to smash me is to smash the false idol; to tear me apart is to tear apart the decorated faith.”
“The Brett Temple has long been rotten to the core, it’s time for it to be destroyed. Let me, this sinner, along with my kind, fall into hell in all our ugliness.”
……
The commotion behind him became more and more intense, from waves to a flood. But Prince Aiden did not look back.
He rode his horse through the gate of the inner city. At this time, the pale dawn light had just peeked out a little from the edge of the distant mountains, quietly falling into the pupils of those people who were blankly looking up at the sky.
