Chapter 183
The Dragon Monarch, who had mostly been observing until now, took a few steps forward and approached Isabel.
“Isabel?”
“……”
There was no response from Isabel.
Crackle!
With a large spark, Arun’s body, which had been clinging to Isabel, was flung away.
Viaton barely managed to catch Arun.
“I don’t have a hobby of hugging Sir Arun, you know.”
The smile disappeared from Viaton’s face.
‘My arm is broken.’
His arm was broken from catching Arun’s flung body.
Asellia spoke.
“In the end, Wilhelm was just a pawn on the chessboard you created, wasn’t he?”
“……”
Isabel raised her head.
Isabel’s eyes were black.
The life had completely drained from her face, and dark red blood vessels stood out all over her body.
“It was God’s trickery, taking advantage of the human arrogance that claimed to summon the God of Death.”
A black energy began to rise from the ground.
It gathered in one place, formed a shape, and then transformed into Wilhelm’s form.
“Am I…… alive?”
Isabel spoke.
“Protect me. I am not yet complete.”
“……Huh?”
It was a phenomenon that even Wilhelm could not understand.
The energy emanating from Isabel was not human.
He felt a pressure so overwhelming that he couldn’t dare look directly at her.
‘Could it be?’
He didn’t know the exact sequence of events.
But when he came to his senses, it seemed like Narvidal had descended.
“I! I summoned you!”
Wilhelm burst out laughing. “Khahaha!”
“Obey me!”
But a golden crown formed on Wilhelm’s head.
It began to tighten around Wilhelm’s head.
“Kaaaaaaagh!”
He had experienced countless pains and fears throughout his life, but this pain was unlike anything he had ever felt.
It felt like his mind was shattering into pieces.
“I ordered you to protect me.”
The light faded from Wilhelm’s eyes.
He stood beside Isabel like a puppet.
Asellia spoke.
“So, you succeeded in taking over the vessel as you wished, but you’re not yet complete, are you?”
“Dragon Monarch. And it would be nice if the dragons would step aside here. There won’t be any world destruction like you’re talking about.”
Asellia wasn’t really interested in topics like the end of the world.
Instead, she brought up something else.
“I was surprised too, you know. Arun was much stronger than you thought, wasn’t he?”
“……”
The moment Arun was flung away, Asellia saw it clearly.
That Narvidal, who had possessed Isabel’s body, had tried to escape from this place.
Dozens of attacks and defenses were exchanged in a split second, too fast for the eye to see.
“But you know what?”
“What?”
“It’s not that Arun was weak and pushed back by you. If you were just an enemy, his head would have already been rolling on the ground.”
It was already a fight that couldn’t be established.
Because Narvidal had taken over Isabel’s body.
“Our Sir Arun has a disease that prevents him from attacking Isabel.”
✦✦✦✦✦✦
“Dragons, strengthen the mana barrier here.”
Asellia spoke to Viaton and the princes.
“You guys stay still for now. I think we need to hear what she has to say.”
“Sir Asellia. Shouldn’t you show respect to your superior? I am your superior, Sir Asellia.”
Asellia chuckled.
“Please, Sir Viaton. I think we need to hear what Narvidal has to say to get Isabel back.”
“Alright. I’ll wait.”
Asellia turned her gaze to Isabel.
“So? This shouldn’t be a bad offer for you either, right?”
“……”
“You’ll need time to recover your strength, or to fully take over that body.”
For some unknown reason, Narvidal wanted to completely take over Isabel’s body.
“But Isabel’s resistance is quite strong, isn’t it?”
“……”
“That’s the potential of humans, arrogant God.”
After a brief silence, Narvidal spoke.
It was Isabel’s voice.
“I……”
Everyone fell silent and watched Isabel’s lips.
“……want to die.”
Michael clenched his fists.
“I’ll break you if you say such things with my sister’s mouth!”
Sermon, who had been putting up with his tantrums, chopped the back of Michael’s neck, knocking him unconscious.
But even Sermon’s eyes, who had stopped Michael, were filled with murderous intent.
“Keep talking, God.”
“As you know, I am the God of Death. I have existed since the beginning.”
Tears welled up in Isabel’s eyes.
The Dragon Monarch and the others felt a little puzzled.
It was difficult to find any hostility from Narvidal.
Karin’s body flinched.
‘It’s like…… me before I met Her Highness.’
She knew it as soon as she saw it.
That Narvidal’s current state was the same as hers before she met Isabel.
‘Why would a God?’
Karin couldn’t take her eyes off Isabel.
It was an expression she had never seen on Isabel before, but it was also an expression that was too familiar to Karin.
‘Ah……’
Now she seemed to understand a little.
‘Those words, wanting to die, are not lies.’
The God of Death is the god who governs death and is death itself.
But she has existed as a god since the beginning of time.
A paradox arises where death has continued to live.
‘This God wants to be extinguished.’
But a god does not naturally disappear.
‘That’s why she created and spread the Mark of Narvidal.’
It wasn’t a difficult task for Narvidal.
Just by sharing a little of the ‘authority of death,’ humans would die in 21 years.
And Wilhelm refined that power and created this space.
A space filled with the energy of death, where the God of Death could be temporarily summoned.
‘She wants to enter Princess Isabel’s body and experience complete death.’
Because she can’t kill herself.
She was trying to die through Isabel.
‘But right after descending, she used up too much power in the attack with Sir Arun.’
That’s why Narvidal needed time.
Time to fully assimilate into Isabel’s body.
For complete extinction.
“You have no choice. I have been watching you. Can you really cut Isabel down with your swords?”
Narvidal shook her head.
“I will appear before you again. You will be able to extinguish me, won’t you?”
Wilhelm, whose eyes had lost their light, stood before Isabel.
He raised his mana to cast a teleportation spell.
“It won’t take long. Please, kill me then.”
✦✦✦✦✦✦
Wilhelm cast the teleportation spell.
‘For now, I’ll listen to what you say.’
The pain caused by the crown on his head was a pain that no human could possibly resist.
‘Who said you could die?’
He had finally summoned Narvidal.
How much preparation and hardship had he gone through for this?
‘If only I could make even a little of that power mine!’
Then he could rule the world.
He could make even those arrogant Bilotians kneel at his feet.
For now, he decided to cooperate with Narvidal and wait for an opportunity.
‘There’s a gap.’
The mana barrier that the dragons were maintaining wasn’t perfect after all.
They too were exhausted from the previous battle, and he could see a gap to slip through.
‘Teleport.’
✦✦✦✦✦✦
Ron spoke, looking somewhat anxious.
“Haven’t we prepared too much?”
“It’s a thousand times better to over-prepare than to under-prepare, Your Majesty.”
“Dailtha. I feel like we’re overestimating that Wilhelm bastard.”
“It’s a thousand times better to overestimate than to underestimate, Your Majesty.”
Dailtha continued to stare into the void.
She was no less anxious than Ron.
‘It feels like it’s been too long since he should have appeared.’
In the past, Ron had made a promise to Dailtha.
That he would give her Wilhelm’s neck. That he would let her avenge her husband.
‘But it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t show up.’
Even if she couldn’t kill Wilhelm herself, if he didn’t appear here, it meant he had completely disappeared from the other side.
Then the threat to Isabel would be gone.
Dailtha thought that would be enough.
‘Huh?’
But she felt a mana fluctuation.
It was definitely the same mana fluctuation she had practiced and felt many times through Teyselon and Karin.
“It’s a teleportation spell.”
“He came here after all.”
The Bilotian strategy worked perfectly.
If they pressured and cornered Wilhelm, he would eventually try to escape.
They had deliberately left an escape route open.
To drive him into a more perfect trap.
They had set traps in layers, double and triple.
Wilhelm appeared through the magic circle.
“You bastards……!”
He couldn’t finish his sentence.
Dailtha, who had drawn her sword at some point, sheathed it and spoke.
“Thank you for yielding to me, Your Majesty.”
The robe covering Wilhelm’s body was split in half.
Ron had promised in the past.
That he would let Dailtha personally cut down Wilhelm.
Today, he kept that promise.
Thud.
Bones shattered, and Wilhelm could no longer move.
It was a futile end.
Isabel’s voice was heard.
“Father.”
It was definitely Isabel’s voice. And Isabel’s face.
Except for her pale complexion and the dark red blood vessels that stood out, it was undoubtedly Isabel.
“Please let me go.”
“……”
Even Dailtha hesitated.
Neither of them could understand what was going on.
“Please. Please let me go. I want to be alone.”
“……”
“I want to rest.”
“……Isabel.”
Ron approached Isabel.
He knelt on one knee, took Isabel’s hand, and examined it closely.
He looked up at Isabel with worried eyes.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to have any other injuries.
“Is your body alright?”
“Yes, I’m really fine. I just want to be alone for a while.”
“……”
At Isabel’s earnest request, Ron nodded.
“If you say so, I can’t do anything about it, can I?”
“Thank you.”
Isabel managed a weak smile.
She turned and walked somewhere.
And Dailtha screamed.
“Your Majesty! Th, this, what, what!”
Ron’s sword pierced Isabel’s body.