Chapter 26 Taking You Home
1344words
Those knights who had once sworn to protect the kingdom and honor now resembled a pack of hyenas that had caught the scent of blood, raising their weapons and advancing step by step toward the monarch who had lost all power and fallen to his knees. On their faces were greed, fanaticism, and the excitement of being about to slay a sworn enemy.
Arthur, the once light-bathed male protagonist of the game world, now stood at the forefront of the crowd. His face was expressionless, his eyes as cold as stone. He raised high the legendary holy sword once wielded by the first hero.
On the blade, dazzling holy light capable of purifying all evil in the world was frantically gathering, emitting a "humming" sound.
He didn't hesitate for a moment, his arm swinging down fiercely.
That holy sword, which carried the hopes of the entire light faction, flew from his hand, transforming into a golden meteor, with an irresistible, lethal momentum, its tip pointing directly at the heart of Frederick who lay in a pool of blood.
It's over.
Everything is over.
My mind went blank.
At that moment...
[System Notification: All main storyline quests completed. Congratulations, player 'Jin', you have successfully filled all plot holes. Final mission accomplished.]
[System Notification: World rules rectified, causality loop closed. Player 'Jin', thank you for your diligent efforts.]
The cold, emotionless system prompt, as usual, sounded in my mind.
Immediately, that semi-transparent strategy book that had been floating in the depths of my consciousness, guiding all my actions, at this moment, all the text on its pages transformed into golden data streams, and then the entire book "popped" and completely turned into countless points of light, vanishing without a trace.
A heavy and slow voice, seemingly from beyond the heavens, yet also from the deepest part of my soul, thundered in my ears.
It was the sound of shackles breaking.
The silencing spell that bound me, the rule constraint that prevented me from speaking the truth and forced me to play the role of a humble substitute, was undone with it.
Go home.
These two words, like the sweetest poison, tempted me.
If I just watched that sword pierce down, if Frederick just died, the game would end, and I could return to my ordinary but safe and warm real world. No fighting, no scheming, none of this damned, heartbreaking separation of life and death.
I could even smell the aroma of freshly baked croissants wafting from the bakery downstairs in my building in the early morning hours of the real world.
But...
My gaze pierced through all the clamoring crowd, fixating firmly on that faltering figure about to be consumed by holy light.
My Frederick.
For me, he had destroyed his magic core without hesitation.
And I, should I just watch him die for the sake of going home?
Screw going home!
Screw the plot!
Screw the author's decree!
I couldn't care about anything else anymore!
A power I had never felt before—strong and pure—suddenly erupted from the deepest part of my body. It wasn't Winifred's magic, nor was it the moonflower fairy's talent; it was the most primal, angry roar belonging to me, "Jin."
"No——!"
I channeled all the magical power in my body, condensing it into a visible shockwave shimmering with silver light, and slammed it forcefully against the holy sword that was about to touch Frederick.
"Clang——!"
A deafening sound of metal collision echoed throughout the entire magic palace.
That invincible holy sword was forcibly knocked off course by my all-out strike, grazing past Frederick's body and embedding deeply into the ground beside him. The dazzling holy light on the blade dimmed accordingly.
The entire world fell silent.
Everyone stared at me in astonishment—the "Dark Lord's beloved consort" whom they had just been treating as a hostage, appearing so fragile. They couldn't understand how I possessed such power, and even less why I would do such a thing.
I paid them no attention.
I only know that, as the biggest villain in this book, Frederick, even with his magic power ranked first across the entire continent, ultimately could not overcome the damn halo of the male and female protagonists.
I originally wanted him to commit fewer atrocities, to leave himself a way out, but instead, I unwittingly became the key to his devastating defeat.
In this world, nothing is more ironic than this.
I no longer cared about the still bleeding wound on my neck, nor about those so-called "champions of justice" who were looking at me with suspicious eyes. I pushed aside the scarred knight who was already frightened out of his wits, and rushed like a madman to Frederick's side, tightly, tightly grasping his cold hand that was covered in fresh blood.
"Master..." his lips had turned deathly pale from blood loss, yet he still managed to force a weak smile at me.
My heart felt as if it had been viciously carved out with a knife.
"Don't be afraid," I bent down and whispered in his ear, "I'll take you away."
Then, before anyone could react, I threw out a life-saving item that I had treasured, never dared to use, and kept as a last resort from my system inventory.
【Item: Highly Concentrated Concealment Smoke Bomb, essential for escape, perfect for travel, excellent tool for murder and robbery.】
"Bang!"
Thick, impenetrable white smoke instantly enveloped the entire magic palace.
"Not good! She's trying to escape!"
"Catch them! Don't let them get away!"
From within the smoke came the panicked shouts of the knights.
Without any hesitation, I used all my strength to support the severely wounded Frederick, and stumbled away from the magic palace in the opposite direction from them.
We hid in an extremely secluded cave that I had passed by before.
The cave was small, damp, and dark. I placed Frederick on a relatively flat stone, then tore off the hem of my dress, intending to bandage his terrible wound on his abdomen, which looked deep enough to expose bone and was continuously oozing black blood.
"Master, let me heal your wound." Frederick shook his head, looking at the wound on my neck which, though not deep, was still bleeding continuously. His eyes were filled with inconsolable distress and self-reproach.
He prepared to use the last trace of magic power remaining in his body to cast a most basic healing spell for me. I could feel that the magic power in his body was like a candle in the wind - using even a little more might extinguish it completely.
I quickly reached out and pressed my hand against him.
"Don't move," my voice was somewhat hoarse.
I looked at him, at his handsome face that had turned deathly pale from blood loss and excruciating pain, feeling a mixture of emotions.
"The plot has already been completed," I said slowly, word by word, as if telling him, and also telling myself, "I will probably be going home soon. Whether this wound is treated or not doesn't really matter anymore."
Yes, going home. That phrase I had been yearning for countless days and nights.
But now, when it was truly about to happen, there wasn't a trace of joy in my heart, only endless, cold sorrow.
Outside the cave came the noisy sounds of the knights' pursuit and the barking of hunting dogs. They were relentless, wanting to completely eliminate Frederick, removing any future threat.
We had nowhere left to escape.
I gazed affectionately at the young man before me, at those delicate features I had been looking at for over ten years, already etched into my very being.
Then, I gave him the most brilliant, radiant, and also most resolute smile of my entire life.
"Frederick," I leaned close to his ear, in a voice only the two of us could hear, and asked softly yet with absolute firmness:
"Come home with me."
