Hans slowly moved forward. Cluna and Bayard tried to follow, but the Dragon Lord stopped them. Yuren, now consumed by Aegis, could not truly be considered Yuren.
In other words, it was a situation where a sudden ambush could happen. The Dragon Lord determined that the only one who could handle Yuren’s power, which even he could not withstand, was Commander Hans of the Royal Knights.
And that was not a wrong judgment. At the very least, Hans believed he could handle it alone. It wasn’t thanks to his Time Stop Ability or because he believed in his Dragon Heart.
Even without anything at all, Hans would have moved forward alone. The reason was simple: to save Yuren. Yuren, consumed by Aegis, was not herself.
Her arms and legs were already stained crimson. The way Yuren moved with the momentum of someone about to kill was closer to that of a beast. Hans sighed and spoke.
“What has caused you so much pain?”
What returned instead of an answer was Yuren’s completely red fist. The speed was immensely faster than the basic abilities of Yuren, almost beyond imagination.
But thanks to Time Stop, Hans dodged it easily. Even in such a situation, Hans did not attack Yuren. Instead, he simply moved toward her. Nothing more, nothing less.
Realizing her attack had missed, Yuren stomped her foot heavily. At the same time, red spikes erupted from the ground, aiming to pierce Hans.
Yet even that momentum could not pierce Hans. He continued walking forward without the slightest retreat. As the distance closed, Yuren roared desperately.
What she unleashed was even more massive than a breath attack. An enormous red energy charged toward Hans, tearing apart everything in its path. Cluna shouted urgently.
“Commander!!!”
Cluna wasn’t reacting for no reason. What Yuren unleashed was the essence of Aegis filled with her anger. That power, fueled by her emotions that denied the world, tore apart everything it touched.
Even Hans could die if he took a direct hit. Yet, facing the worst power imaginable, Hans remained calm. Soon, an explosion erupted where Hans had been standing.
Seeing this, Yuren was convinced the intruder had been obliterated. It was the kind of power packed in that essence. Soon after, when Aegis collided with the ground and exploded, the continent would be destroyed.
“What would the Commander say seeing me like this?”
For some reason, that thought suddenly crossed her mind. As if the Commander were here with her. Yuren smirked. It couldn’t be true, could it? Just a fragment of hesitation, perhaps.
From the beginning, she didn’t deny that belief. In fact, she had clung to it desperately. Had she failed to protect another precious person? With a heavy heart, she waited for the Commander every day.
So, she at least wanted to protect the place the Commander would return to. If that place vanished, the Commander wouldn’t be able to return. But the reality that confronted her was brutal.
She could not be bound by the past.
Look at reality. The dead are dead.
Don’t be frustrated; move forward.
Countless weights pressed down on her shoulders. Nevertheless, Yuren wanted to protect until the end. But ultimately, she couldn’t. The Royal Knights disbanded, and everyone scattered.
She appealed again and again, but in the end, only a terrible sneer returned. How could this happen? Everything we did was just a clown’s trick, was it?
Yet they fought risking their lives. They believed it was for a cause. How could you do this to me, to us? Doubts soon turned into anger, and that anger accumulated, becoming hatred.
In a way, it was a release of frustration.
A release with no gains.
A tantrum-like release.
But it didn’t matter. The moment she realized the Commander wouldn’t return, everything felt futile. Then wouldn’t it be better to burn everything together?
“This is the world we protected. So it’s only right to end it with our own hands.”
The endlessly blazing anger now aimed at the world. No more regrets or hesitation. And finally, to end everything, Yuren raised her hand high into the sky.
A hand stained with blood and rage, one that no one had held. But just as she was about to finish everything, someone grabbed Yuren’s hand. Yuren’s furious eyes turned back.
Who dares to hold my hand? No one has the right. Yet here they were, trying to stop me. Mixed anger turned toward the intruder who grabbed her hand. Until she heard their voice…
“No matter if nothing returns, even if everyone turns away from you.”
“…?”
“Still, you tried not to give up until the very end.”
“!!!”
A familiar voice. A voice she had never forgotten even in her dreams calmed the rage-filled Yuren gradually. Yuren struggled to confirm the presence of that voice before her.
Knowing it couldn’t be true. Yet the last remaining hope kept her from giving up. The vision she had longed to see, even once, was right in front of her.
The image of the Commander she could never see even in dreams was now before her. Was this just a mere dream? Or a hallucination born from her desperate desire?
She didn’t know.
However, she couldn’t absorb the image of the Commander appearing before her. For some unknown reason, tears welled up in her eyes, extinguishing Yuren’s profound anger.
But Aegis did not agree. Unlike Yuren, who felt everything was okay when she saw the Commander, Aegis had become pure rage, refusing to accept it. Instead, it only fueled her anger.
Aegis’s rampage began to affect Sky Island. The Dragon Lord clicked his tongue. It was completely consumed. The only way to break it was to kill the link.
[Sir Hans! You must kill Yuren right now!!]
But contrary to the urgent voice of the Dragon Lord, Yuren and Hans, reuniting after so long in the center, seemed to not hear that voice and were savoring their touching reunion.
“Commander… you’re alive?”
“Yes.”
“How did you find your way here?”
“I came to save a precious member.”
“…It really is the Commander.”
Unintentionally reaching out to the Commander, Yuren withdrew her hand once more. Now that her anger had calmed, she realized what she had done. She had wanted to destroy everything while hating the world.
Did she really have the right to hold the Commander’s hand after trying to do such a thing? Yuren raised her head. The noble shield that tried to protect Sky Island was now a manifestation of anger.
If Sky Island were to crash to the ground like this, the anger-filled Aegis would explode. If that happened, it would become hell from which no one could survive. So the solution was simple.
“Commander, do you know? When you gave me a new opportunity.”
“…”
“I felt the dead heart beating again. Just like now.”
“What nonsense are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Yuren swung her fist. The moment it made contact with the ground, it shattered the ground and flew straight to Aegis before her. Instantly separated pieces were caught by Yuren as she ascended.
“I will carry my own sins. I won’t burden you anymore.”
Yuren left those words and flew into the sky. Towards a height that no one could reach. Soon, Aegis, consumed by rage, was about to explode. At least in the sky, the damage would be less.
That was her judgment. The Dragon Lord thought it was the best course of action. Unfortunately, it was already too late. However, only one person, Hans, did not accept that.
“This one and that one, deciding things and acting on their own.”
The world shifted around Hans. No, could this really be called a shift? It might be more accurate to say it was returning to its original state. Hans raised his head.
Fragments of Sky Island, once torn away, began to return to their original forms. Yuren, who had transformed into a dragon, returned to being human. However, Yuren’s mind did not return. This was Time Reversal.
“Did they say the Royal Knights disbanded?”
An extraordinary power to only rewind the time she wanted to. Yuren looked around in disbelief at the sudden situation. Everything had returned to its original state.
“If that’s the case, then a new knight order and rules are needed.”
Even Aegis, consumed by rage and beginning to rampage, along with the pieces of Sky Island she had tore apart—all except for one thing. That was Hans, who reached out his hand before her.
“I won’t die before the Commander.”
Hans said with a gentle smile on his lips.
“That’s the first rule.”
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