Chapter 569: Chapter 79: The Choice

Facing Eleanor’s self-persuasion, Aske across from her cast an indifferent and disdainful glance.

“Why deceive yourself and others?” he sneered. “Haven’t I told you?”

“In this world, only strength is the foundation of all reason. Truth without the support of strength is false.” He drew his longsword from its scabbard. “If you want to convince me, then raise your longsword!”

Eleanor also silently drew her longsword, feeling as if her heart was bleeding.

The swords clashed suddenly, and the Blade Warriors on site hadn’t even seen clearly when the two had swiftly completed a pass by each other.

Eleanor quickly turned around and roared at the Blade Warriors nearby:

“Back off!”

The Blade Warriors hastily evacuated the courtyard, while Aske did not pursue them but took the opportunity to press close to her again.

Star Nine Forms. Breaking Heavy!

His sword emitted a strange hum, and Eleanor was fully aware of the power of the Star Nine Forms, as radiance burst from her body in a flash.

Unyielding Holy Sword!

The holy sword instantly enveloped her body, forming an extremely strong Light Armor. After all, facing Aske, a partial defense was useless. The Sharp-breaking ability of the Star Nine Forms could bypass any obstacle at any time, and thrust the sword tip into parts of her that were unprotected.

Known as the sword that never failed to break, against the inevitably penetrating Star Nine Forms. Breaking Heavy, which one would prevail?

The blades met the Light Flow, and the outcome was determined in an instant. Aske’s longsword shattered abruptly, his body flung away by the rebounding force.

Compared to the Unyielding Holy Sword’s instant invincibility, the Star Nine Forms seemed to be slightly inferior.

“Aske!” Eleanor unconsciously thought nothing and quickly deactivated the Holy Sword State, rushing towards his trajectory, trying to catch him before he fell to the ground.

However, Aske found his balance in the air, and with a sniper rifle now in hand, he locked onto her forehead.

Eleanor had no choice but to activate the Unyielding Holy Sword again, ensuring she wouldn’t be headshot by Aske in the next second.

“How long can your Holy Sword last?” Aske landed steadily and then stood up straight, continuing to aim at her, and sternly said, “Haven’t I taught you? The best defense is offense!”

“Or do you just want to die that badly? Die by my hands?”

“No!” Eleanor reacted again, realizing this was just her dream.

Including the “Aske” in front of her who kept “educating” her, but was actually looking for opportunities to kill her at every moment…

It’s all false.

Yet this dream was so real that even the slightest possibility “this is real” made her apprehensive as if she couldn’t let go and fight freely.

Now Eleanor finally understood why Nora had no resistance whatsoever when faced with this nightmare.

But she was different, because…

“The real Aske would never say such things!” Eleanor’s radiance suddenly intensified, accompanied by her growing furious emotion, dazzling to the point of being almost blinding.

“How much do you know about me?” Aske scoffed with a cold laugh.

“More than you, this impostor, could imagine!” Eleanor had completely transformed into the Light Angel, advancing at an invisibly high speed, and lashed out at Aske with a fierce and powerful sword strike.

The latter pulled out a shield from the void to block, but the shield was swiftly cleaved in two, along with the longsword behind it also shattering inch by inch. The residual force pressed onto Aske’s frame but was resisted by the radiance that shone the same, the shockwave ripping a trench dozens of meters long into the ground behind him.

War Skill. Plunder, Aske stole a part of the abilities of the Holy Sword, using it to counter Eleanor’s attack.

Eleanor felt only a small amount of radiance leaving her body surface, but the surging Will quickly filled in that tiny gap. The Light Angel advanced once more, the Light Sword striking down like thunder:

“He saved me at my most critical moment! How could he be like you’re pretending, instead trying to kill me?”

Aske drew his longsword again to block, the radiance upon him flowing into the blade to stabilize its strength, yet it wavered under the pressure of Eleanor’s light sword.

“So what?” Aske struggled against her attack, his voice laced with mocking derision, “And how did you repay him?”

“Leave the team, become Emperor, and then declare the extermination of mercenaries? The extermination of The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps who once took you in?”

“It’s just a nightmare!” Eleanor ground her teeth, feeling the anger in her chest like a fire scorching her heart, ready to erupt with a world-destroying deluge of lava in the next second.

“Dreams are a reflection of the deepest layers of one’s subconscious,” Aske’s light sword was pressed into a half-bend, and he could only support it with all his might while he continued to attack her sanity, “Admit it, this is what you truly think!”

“You abhor war, you detest it, and if one day you gained the power, you would use it to pursue your political ideals, to strive to eliminate war and maintain peace. This, however, contradicts the very existence of the Mercenary Group, as they are the evil that thrives only through war!”

“Until that day, you must choose to either betray the team, betray Aske who once saved you, or betray your own ideals and beliefs!”

“Isn’t this the very drama we are enacting?” His light sword emitted a cracking sound of unbearable stress, and his arm was forced to curl under the immense pressure. Yet, despite nearing exhaustion, this “Aske’s” face still bore an indifferent, mocking sneer.

“Either kill me, severing the last vestiges of sentiment in your heart, and fight for your political ideals from this day forward!”

“Or be killed by me, let the Queen Eleanor die, leaving behind only the woman Eleanor!”

“Choose!”

His tone was like that of a devil, boring into Eleanor’s consciousness, causing her to nearly lose her senses in an instant, as the intense radiance around her body flickered unstably.

Seizing the brief moment her mind wavered, Aske’s light sword suddenly brightened— he poured all the residual will he had plundered into the light sword in his hand.

Then, he unleashed his strongest force, reversing the blow to sever Eleanor’s light sword.

Only when the light sword was about to reach her chest did Eleanor snap back to reality. The Unyielding Will skill, guided by the Law, helped her recover smoothly from her dazed state.

Facing the slash of “Aske’s” light sword, she swiftly solidified the radiance armor over her chest and, with her right hand formed into a fist, she struck out, covered in the dazzling Will Light Flow.

Like thunder exploding beside her ear, the light sword shattered upon her breastplate, while Eleanor’s right fist had already pierced through Aske’s chest. His punctured lungs spasmed violently, and blood surged from his airways, trickling down the corner of his mouth.

“Then… let it be this way…” Aske deactivated his Plunder Skill, and the light around him extinguished.

He tried to grasp Eleanor’s arm, but his remaining strength quickly depleted during the attempt to raise his hand, and ultimately his arm fell limply.

He was dead.

Eleanor blankly withdrew her arm from his chest, her mind a void.

Of course, it was only a nightmare, and the “Aske” who lay dead before her was not the real Aske.

But the words he had spoken were the truth…

Those were the matters she had never contemplated before or had always avoided considering.

She loathed war.

Yet, within The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps, as a mercenary, she was destined to continually be drawn into wars, even to actively create them.

This was not the life she wanted.

But Aske…

She slowly knelt down, cradling the dead Aske in her arms.

“I admit, I do yearn for a world without war,” Eleanor stared at his blood-stained face and whispered softly.

“But, even if it were such a peaceful world, without you…”

Her voice began to choke.

“…I wouldn’t want it.”

Tears surged from her eyes, and the world around her seemed to freeze like a paused film, then began to shatter.