"Um, if I—if I take it down, will you—will you let my father go?" Roman asked in a trembling voice.

  The man glanced at Count Wesley, then looked back at the pitiable little girl's tender white face. "Sure. As long as he's as obedient as you."

  Roman's eyes reddened. He bit his lower lip with his pearly teeth and slowly pushed himself up off the ground. "I'll make Father behave like me."

  The man said coldly, "Let's hope so."

  He raised his light sword, forcing Roman to walk step by step toward the altar.

  But Roman felt a small sense of relief. From the man's answer just now, Count Wesley should still be alive.

  Next, he just needed to work with Rosie to attack from both sides, control this mage, and resolve this crisis.

  The center of the altar was only thirty steps from the door. No matter how slowly he walked, he couldn't delay for long.

  Standing before the silver table, Roman glanced sideways at the light sword at his neck, then raised his left hand toward the floating golden broadsword on the table. His pale fingers touched the hilt and slowly gripped it.

  He deliberately slowed his movements. When he touched the hilt, the person behind him clearly got excited—the light sword at his neck even trembled slightly.

  Roman wondered why he was so excited.

  Based on what the man had said earlier, this sword could apparently only be taken down by someone from the Wesley family. Had he seen through the disguise?

  No, if he had, he wouldn't have kept him alive this long. Unless...

  Roman gripped the hilt and moved his wrist. The blade tilted downward with his motion.

  The man behind him breathed harder, his eyes burning with fervent light as he reached toward Roman. "Give it to me! Hurry up and take it down for me!"

  "O-okay." Roman pretended to remove the sword. While the man's attention was distracted, his right hand lifted his skirt, drew a short sword, and thrust it backward at the man's stomach.

  Clang! The short sword hit the man's protective belly armor.

  Not expecting to be ambushed by a little girl, the man immediately controlled his light sword to slash forward. Metal struck metal—crack!—the short sword broke in two, its sharp front half clattering to the ground.

  Whoosh—

  Roman reacted instantly. He abandoned the broken sword in his hand, grabbed the golden longsword from the table with his left hand, gripped the hilt with both hands, and jumped up to slash at the man's neck.

  Seeing this, the man was overjoyed, an uncontrollable smile spreading across his face. But that smile lasted less than half a second before turning to horror.

  "No, impossible! How can this be!"

  He stared at the longsword in Roman's hands and dodged on instinct. His shocked gaze fell on the silver table where the Blade of Judgment had been enshrined.

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  There, a golden longsword still floated quietly in the air—but its width had narrowed by half.

  "What did you do to it!"

  Furious, the man thrust his light sword viciously at Roman. He was too fast—Roman, whose swordsmanship wasn't good enough yet, had no time to block.

  "You bastard, die—"

  A roar came from behind. The man turned his head to see a gloomy youth with green eyes and black hair thrusting a short sword at his crotch.

  "Seeking death!"

  White light suddenly burst from his body. Surging light elements roared toward Rosie, sending her flying.

  "Rosie!" Roman shouted anxiously and raised his longsword to slash at the man. But his counterattack looked as ridiculous to the man as a puppy trying to kill someone with a stick in its mouth.

  "Weak human, even holding a godhead, you can't unleash one ten-thousandth of its power."

  With a casual wave of his hand, he knocked the sword from Roman's grip and grabbed his throat with one hand.

  "Unfortunately, I don't usually kill people. But you'll die by my hand."

  His five fingers slowly tightened as he lifted Roman up.

  Roman's face flushed red. His legs kept kicking at his opponent, but he couldn't break free from the fingers around his neck. His weak body was lifted higher and higher. Cracking sounds came from his neck bones. He gave up struggling.

  When his eyes were level with the man's shoulder, his unfocused gaze passed over the man's shoulder. In that instant, he suddenly raised both arms and used all his remaining strength to jab at the man's eyes.

  The man instinctively closed his eyes and leaned back. Just as he was about to crush this disobedient ant, a longsword emanating black energy pierced through his heart.

  "Unfortunately, you ended up dying by my hand."

  Rosie's voice was hoarse.

  Blood still marked the corner of her mouth. Her cold eyes released a chilling killing intent.

  The man looked down at his pierced chest and spat out a mouthful of blood in disbelief. "The other—the other half of the godhead... How is this possible? This is impossible! How can a godhead choose two people at once!"

  Roman pried open his fingers and dropped to the ground, clutching his agonizing throat. "What godhead? What are you talking about?"

  "Who cares what he's saying," Rosie gripped the hilt tightly and shoved it deeper. "I just want to know why he's not dead yet."

  Pfft— The man spat out another mouthful of blood, a strange smile appearing on his face. "Cough, cough, dead? Pitiful humans, I'm an Angel. You can't kill me. Only a god can kill me."

  He grabbed the blade in his chest and pushed it back. "If this human body could bear my power, you'd already be a pile of ashes."

  "Now, kneel and confess your sins to me. I can still forgive your souls."

  Roman picked up the golden longsword from the ground and asked seriously, "You're an Angel? Which god's Angel are you?"

  The man looked at him with pity. "I am the Archangel of the Supreme Moon God. Poor little girl, you could have received the Moon God's favor, but you ruined it all with your own hands."

  "So you're the Moon God's Angel!" Roman exclaimed, then raised his longsword again. "Then what's this? What did you just call it—a godhead?"

  "This is the Goddess of Justice's godhead. Unfortunately, it's shattered and can no longer pass on her divine position."

  Roman nodded and looked up with a sweet smile. "Thanks for explaining. Now I understand."

  As his words fell, his gaze turned cold. He gripped the longsword and thrust it into the man's left chest.

  "Whether we can kill you or not, we have to try to find out."

  Saying this, Roman pulled out the longsword and stabbed his heart again. "If one strike doesn't kill you, we'll just keep going."

  "You've got a point. Let me try too." Rosie pulled out her sword and stabbed from behind once, twice, three times. Blood sprayed across her face when she withdrew the blade.

  The man stood motionless, letting the two kids stab him repeatedly with their swords. Not because he didn't want to move—he simply couldn't.

  The moment Roman thrust the sword into his heart, his body became incredibly stiff. His soul grew unbearably heavy, unable to separate from his body, as if locked inside this riddled human vessel.

  He tried to speak but found he couldn't make a sound. Gradually, his vision blurred. Light disappeared from his eyes. The world went pitch black.

  Belated terror crept across his face. He finally realized what was happening.

  He was dying.

  This body, and his soul, were being destroyed at the hands of two weak humans.

  And even in death, he never understood how any of this was possible.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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