Ending Maker
chapter-194

Chapter 194 - LORD PROTECTOR (2)

“Lord Protector, Lord Protector.”

The third king in his life didn’t have a heartless personality.

“Lord Protector, so this is where you are.”

He had no talent for the sword either. He was not very smart or decisive, and he was not good at judging.

“Lord Protector, what should I do?”

But he wasn’t that incompetent either.

His personality wasn’t that heartless, but he wasn’t a sociable person either.

He didn’t have a talent for swords, but he did not slack off. He laughed and continued his training even though he was annoyed that his skills did not improve much.

He couldn’t make up his mind at once, but he wasn’t that indecisive. He just took a long time to ponder and think before making a decision.

Of course, he couldn’t help but have a poor judgment.

He was not stubborn, but he did not have a proxy either, as he deemed it pointless. When people who were better than him talked, he listened, but he did not heed their advice either.

“Lord Protector, should I confess to her?”

The third king was also fortunate to have helpful people around him.

His first wife was his childhood friend, lifelong companion, and reliable advisor.

“Lord Protector, I’ve become a father. I’ve become a father.”

He had a loyal prince who would not betray his sister, who was a crown princess that was as clever as their mother.

“Lord Protector, my father… My father…”

On the day the second king died, the third king burst into tears like a child.

He had a hard time saying goodbye to his father, but he was also afraid to be king.

“Daphne is smart, so if I could do as I please, I want to pass the throne to her quickly… but I can’t do that, right?”

The third king who grew up seeing the second king knew what being a king meant.

It was not a position where he could do whatever he wanted.

It was not a position where he could wield his authority as he pleased.

A king shouldn’t be like that.

A king was the leader of a country.

It was a position that had a lot of responsibility and power.

“I’m happy though. I have the First Queen, the smart Daphne and Dion… and more than anything else, I have you, Lord Protector.”

The third king always smiled brightly, despite being almost 40 years old.

Like a child.

Like the day they first met.

***

Bababababang-!

The Lord Protector’s sword was a sword sharpened from his battles on the battlefield.

It was rough and unrefined, but at the same time, it was a sword terrifyingly specialized in killing.

‘He’s different from First Sword.’

His sword wasn’t smooth.

It wasn’t even a quick sword that resembled light.

‘Rough.’

His evasion and blocking skills were rough.

His sword was too difficult to deal with.

So Jude decided to give it up. It was a fight against a much stronger opponent in the first place.

Jude gave up completely avoiding. He accepted having some injuries.

“Haa!”

With a roar, the power of the Supreme Sun Divine Art surrounded his whole body. The regeneration of his body was strengthened by activating the power of the Sphere of Life that was absorbed by the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.

‘He’s too powerful.’

The Lord Protector’s skill was far superior. His attack power was also terrifying, so if Jude approached him carelessly, he and Daphne would only end up flying.

Jude held his breath. He kicked the ground with a golden whirlwind, and pushed the Lord Protector with his speed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The roaring sounds caused by the Hyper-Fast Thunderbolt was like thunder. The energy of the black dragon was released to the extent that it was almost wasteful, but the Lord Protector cut it. Princess Daphne couldn’t keep up with Jude’s speed, so she just supported him.

She couldn’t keep up with him, but she didn’t just watch. Whenever Jude’s attack was blocked, she stretched out her sword and drew the attention of the Lord Protector.

But it was only for a short time.

The Lord Protector adapted to Jude’s speed.

He began to read Jude’s attack, and he made Jude’s attacks simpler by limiting Jude’s movements with his sword attacks.

Blood splattered.

Jude’s entire body began to turn red.

In contrast to the Lord Protector who did not have a single scratch, Jude was covered in blood.

“Juuuuude!”

And Cordelia shouted at that moment.

It was a signal, and Jude pulled out one of his aces without hesitation.

“Solar Flare!”

An intense light emanated from Jude’s fist.

The Lord Protector anticipated the attack, hurriedly backing away and closing his eyes. On the other hand, Princess Daphne’s eyes were blinded for a moment and she took a step back.

And Jude ran towards Cordelia. He was also unable to see, but he recalled the exact map in his mind, so he did not make any mistake in the direction and distance.

The light only stopped the Lord Protector for a few seconds.

And time was up.

But Cordelia carried out her planned move.

“Aaaaaah!”

Cordelia absorbed the power of the divine sword, Claíomh Solais, and the divine power of Solari, the sun god.

It was too much for her.

Cordelia’s arms that held the divine sword was burned by a white flame, and she screamed in pain as if her soul and body were burning.

But Cordelia did not give up. She held on despite the pain that seemed to come from the nerves of her entire body. She grabbed Jude’s hand who had landed next to her.

“<Life Drain>, <Reverse!>”

She cast her magic. The immense divine power of the divine sword was converted into life energy within Cordelia and passed on to Jude.

It was a really crazy plan.

The burden and pain on Cordelia increased several times because she had to absorb the divine power and convert it into life energy at the same time.

But she did not stop.

She widely spread out her white wings and continued to transmit the power.

This was what Cordelia thought.

If the difference in their basic specs was a problem, then match the other’s specs.

Like what the two did in the wild lands.

Just as how Jude absorbed the power of the dragon veins from the ground and opened a new door of the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.

In the Temple of Life, Jude opened the fifth door.

Because the power contained in the Sphere of Life was not enough to open the sixth door as it was impossible to go straight from the fifth to the sixth door at once, Jude almost died when his soul and body were almost destroyed.

But now.

Now that he got used to the fifth door, he could now absorb the divine power that Cordelia herself converted into life energy, which was far greater than the energy from the Sphere of Life.

“Aaaaaaah!”

Cordelia screamed. Jude dived deep into his consciousness.

It was harder than when he opened the fifth door.

But he had to do it.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have a future.

And at that very moment, the Lord Protector opened his eyes. He had yet to fully recover his eyesight, but he blurringly saw Jude and Cordelia.

He felt a sense of crisis at the colossal power from the divine sword.

“Haa!”

The Lord Protector kicked the ground. He tried to cut down Jude and Cordelia at once.

Their distance was only around a dozen meters at most, but for the Lord Protector, it was a distance that could be narrowed within a blink of an eye.

But he couldn’t reach it.

Because space was manipulated.

A distance of hundreds to thousands of meters was created between the Lord Protector and Jude.

The Summer Fairy Queen.

As soon as the battle began, she hid in a corner, but she did not just curl up and tremble.

She watched the fight and realized what she could do.

She was the Fairy Queen who as good in manipulating space.

It was more like a superpower than magic, so the Lord Protector was not able to respond like he did before.

“Aaaaaaah!”

Cordelia continued to scream, and at that moment, a black flame-like energy erupted from Jude’s entire body.

The Lord Protector made a decision. That was why he turned away from Jude and Cordelia. He rushed towards Princess Daphne and Prince Dion who had barely opened their eyes.

“Nooo!”

The Fairy Queen cried and hurriedly tried to manipulate space again, but it was impossible. Because she had used too much power in manipulating the distance between Jude and the Lord Protector.

The Lord Protector narrowed his distance with Princess Daphne.

Having barely opened their eyes, Prince Dion screamed while Princess Daphne clumsily moved her sword.

And blood splattered.

Princess Daphne’s right wrist that held her sword was roughly cut as if it was torn apart and then flew in the air.

He began to use his next sword attack.

The second slash of the Lord Protector aimed at Princess Daphne’s neck.

Cordelia released her hold from the divine sword as soon as he was about to strike. She collapsed on the floor in exhaustion, and she saw Jude opening his shining green eyes while still covered in a black flame.

But they were out of time.

The sword of the Lord Protector struck Princess Daphne’s long neck.

“Lord Protectooooor!”

In that moment.

In that short nick of time.

The scream – no, the cry that stopped the movement of the Lord Protector.

The Lord Protector reflexively stopped his sword and unconsciously had a stunned face as he turned to the direction from which he heard the sound.

“Lord Protector, Lord Protector, Lord Protector.”

There was a man there who repeated the same words with a face covered with tears and snot.

He struggled with his pronunciation because he had run in a hurry and was out of breath, and his knees were shaking as if he was about to collapse now, but he looked their way and cried like a child, and the Lord Protector had no choice but to be distracted by him.

“Lord Protector.”

He said in tears.

He repeatedly called him like a real fool, but the Lord Protector understood. His voice echoed in the Lord Protector’s head.

It’s a lie, right?

That you betrayed us.

That you killed the royalty.

Those are all lies, right?

It’s not true, right? Just this time, Justina is wrong, right?

It’s not true, right? Lord Protector.

It isn’t, right?

Please, Lord Protector.

Please.

Please say something, please say it’s not true. Lord Protector. Lord Protector. Please!

The third king in his life.

He was a guy who was always smiling brightly since they met for the first time.

The guy who didn’t even know that the Lord Protector would kill him, the guy who gave him a tracking device and said that he was relieved if the Lord Protector was here.

Henry II sat down on the floor. He gasped for breath and sent a pleading gaze.

He wasn’t competent, but he wasn’t a fool either.

When he first woke up, the First Queen said to him.

She said that the Lord Protector betrayed them.

She said that the Lord Protector had become the enemy of the kingdom. She said that he killed the other royal family members that were left behind in the banquet hall.

Henry II never once doubted the words of the First Queen in his life.

But he denied her words for the first time. He ran away from her when she tried to explain and convince him.

Because he was scared.

He felt like he would admit that the Lord Protector had betrayed them if he listened to her.

But it was useless.

Because he already knew.

Because he knew better than anyone that First Queen Justina would never make up such nonsense.

But he couldn’t stop himself.

He still couldn’t admit it.

“Lord Protector…”

He burst into tears. He howled like a child.

And at the sight of such Henry II, the figure of the third king made the Lord Protector feel a bit shaken.

His fingertips trembled even though he had already made up his mind. It was just a moment, but he felt like he wanted to hide somewhere.

But he didn’t do that.

Because he already drew his sword.

Even if the third king, Henry II, would forgive him for everything he had done now, because the third king was such a person, it was already too late.

‘No, it’s not a matter of being too late from stopping.’

Nor was it a matter of whether he could go back or not.

Because the Lord Protector himself had no intention of going back.

‘I’m getting old.’

He was already close to seventy years old. No, he didn’t know the exact date of his birth, so perhaps he was already seventy.

He had wrinkles on his face.

His fingertips became wrinkled, and his energy weakened little by little, as if it was sand that slipped through his fingers.

He had not neglected training for even a single day ever since he first came back from the battlefield.

But at some point, he hit the point where it all came spiraling down.

He no longer became stronger no matter how hard he trained. Rather, he became weaker day by day.

When he naturally realized that he wouldn’t be able to hold his sword anymore.

When the naturally continuing flow was cut and stopped flowing.

He felt fear rather than despondency.

Because he realized that he was dying.

‘I don’t want to die.’

The words he had forgotten for a while after the war.

He was called the Lord Protector, dressed in fine clothes, and received the king’s trust, but his fundamental part remain unchanged.

I don’t want to die.

I want to live.

I want to be stronger.

I don’t want to be weak.

Like the tall person who died from an arrow in the head.

His pupils became pitch-black as if there was nothing in it.

He lived most of his life on the battlefield, inflicting death to countless people.

In the process, he was at risk of death dozens of times.

But it was different from then.

It was a completely different situation from the time he could live by just killing the enemy first.

He couldn’t avoid it.

Whatever he did, he wouldn’t be able to escaped his fated death.

Every day, he headed towards a death where he wouldn’t be able to see or feel anything, something that could only be expressed as nothingness.

‘I’m completely helpless.’

Like a slave tied to a chain.

The Lord Protector came back to reality.

She was only twenty years old now, and she was quite good in swordsmanship because of the fact that she was devoted to training daily, but he couldn’t cut such a princess with his sword.

Even though he was doing his best, he couldn’t do such a thing to these children.

Weak.

He had become so weak.

And even at this moment, he felt like he was getting a bit weaker.

He couldn’t stand it.

He was afraid.

He hated the feeling of his fated death squeezing his throat.

So he cut it off.

He shook off his superficial relationships.

He would destroy the barrier by killing all the royalty, and in return, he would be united with a great demon.

He would become a demonic human and escape from his fated death.

He would break his chains and free himself from the curse of aging!

“Lord Protector!”

He didn’t hear it anymore. He ignored the screams of the third king, Henry II, and looked at Princess Daphne. He glared at her as if to kill her, and tried to swing his sword again.

But he couldn’t.

The Lord Protector’s experience and instinct made him wield his sword in a different direction.

Claaang!

The powerful energy that rushed towards him was cut off by his sword.

And then he realized. What he cut right now was just the aftermath. It wasn’t an attack.

The appearance of Henry II bought them some time.

His cries prevented the death of Princess Daphne, and it gave Jude and Cordelia the least amount of time to forcefully finish their plan.

Cordelia swallowed her groan. While lying in front of the divine sword, she clenched her teeth before forcibly raising her head to see the Lord Protector, despite her body trembling from the pain and suffering. Facing his flushed face, she smiled as her fangs glistened.

‘F*ck him up.’

Her voice didn’t come out of her mouth. Because she couldn’t even do so.

But an answer came back.

Jude responded to Cordelia’s call like always.

Thunderbolt Twelve Steps.

The second step.

The Thunder God Invokes Lightning.

And the power that made it possible.

Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors – Sixth Gate.

Black Sun.

The Supreme Sun Divine Art completely became one with the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.

Thus, the Black Sun was born.

Jude raised his head and saw the Lord Protector.

He clenched his fist and took a step at the same time.

And at that moment.

In that time.

As thunder shook the heavens and earth, black lightning exploded.