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n

nSylvester remained silent, trying to think how his secret had come out. ‘Did Xavia send him the word? No, she’s not that foolish, not anymore.’

n“Who sent you?” He asked.

n“Your father, your highness. I am Zhoron Gilgwyn. I work as a Royal aide to your family. We are ordered to bring you back with respect and care.” Zhoron bowed his head with respect.

nBut Sylvester could see further than what was on the surface. ‘He may be obliged to act respectfully with me, but his innate disgust towards my ‘tainted’ blood is clear. The sharp smell of rotten eggs is strong with this one.’

nSylvester tapped the shoulders of Sir Dolorem and Augustus as they stood in front of him, trying to shield him from any attacks. Then, he turned around and whispered at the Spirit of the Forest, Mirnor.

n‘Alright! Let’s do this.’

n“Don’t you despise me? A half-blood like me must infuriate you.” Sylvester asked the elven man.

nZhoron nodded his head truthfully. “I shall not lie, for that’s beneath me. I do despise you and feel disgusted by your mere existence. But, my orders come from the royal authority–Good soldiers follow orders, your highness.”

n“Then why should I come with you? When I know that I will be hated by all of you, except maybe my father?” Sylvester countered with another question.

n“That I can’t answer, your highness. But I know about you and your talents. Your power alone can easily make you an elder among us, and the High Elves will revere your light magic. You will be hated but certainly won’t be harmed. What do you even have here? They are merely using you for their own good. Join us, your highness.” Zhoron sounded genuine, and he was too honest for his own good.

n“Thank you for your honesty,” Sylvester replied and started walking forward.

nHe pushed Sir Dolorem and Augustus to the side and made his way closer to the elf. “To be honest, they tried to kill my mother recently. Just so they can ensure that I don’t have any weaknesses.”

n“It does sound like an average clergyman from the faith of Solis. They are always too fanatic.” Zhoron said.

nSylvester nodded and made a sad face while continuing to walk. “That truly disturbed me. They even play petty politics and stop me from rising.”

n“Not surprising.”

nSoon, Sylvester reached as close as an arm’s length to him. “Let’s go then. I’m utterly disappointed in the church anyway.”

nZhoron stared into Sylvester’s eyes. Of course, Sylvester just finished singing a hymn for Solis not long ago. It was hard to think he would change his mind so fast and come with them.

n“Don’t you wish to bring your mother with us?” Zhoron asked.

nSylvester sighed and brushed his hair tiredly. “I would have loved to, but I know what happens to humans in the Elven kingdom. I do not wish for her to live a life of slavery. So, it’s better she remains here as a Bright Mother.”

n“Wise decision, Your Highna�””

nBam!

nSylvester’s right hand punched the elven man’s gut. A strong, sharp, bright blade made of solidified light was on his fist. ．𝗻𝐞𝘁

n“You thought I’d be so naive?” Zhoron easily blocked his strike by putting his small dagger in the way.

nSylvester smiled. “You didn’t, but your dumb subordinates did! Kill them all!”

nBoom!

nMiraj had already done his work to throw around all the remaining explosive crystals. Spirit Mirnor had also done her work by planting her vines in a circle around them, effectively blocking off the escape route.

nSo, when the explosions erupted, six more elves got thrown around, and their invisibility magic gave up. The disoriented elves could not return to their feet immediately and got their throats stabbed by the vines or swords of Sir Dolorem and Augustus.

nBut there were six of them. Mirnor could not go overboard either, as she didn’t want to go berserk again.

nSo, in the end, two elves got back to their feet and began battling Sir Dolorem and Augustus.

nClash!

nSylvester also got into a fight with Zhoron and picked up his spear from behind. “Surrender, Zhoron. You will die anyway!”

n“I should have known! Tainted blood can never be loyal! You’re filth and shall remain so for eternity!” Zhoron roared and unsheathed both his swords, dual wielding them easily.

nBut Sylvester was a better wizard, so he used his magic from the get-go. He kicked the ground and used Earth magic to turn the land into quicksand underneath the elf.

n“Petty tricks!” Zhoron scowled and jumped in the air. Not once, but thrice, kicking the air to attain a higher altitude.

nSylvester knew that the elven fighting style must be different, so he prepared himself for everything.

n“Sadly, I’d have killed you if not for the royal order.” Zhoron angrily stated and did something strange. He joined the hilts of his two swords and somehow turned them into a unified bow.

nAfterwards, Zhoron pulled the invisible string and created magical arrows made of various spells and runes. As multiple rune circles appeared before the bright green arrow, Zhoron chanted something silently.

n“You have forced me to do this, your highness. I’m sure his majesty shall forgive me for one or two lost limbs!”

nBoom!

nThunder burst in the sky, and Zhoron released his arrow. It travelled faster than normal eyes could see, so Sylvester instantly created a shield of light above his head.

nJust then, rain also started, and it was a heavy downpour. The storm seemed to have taken its final form as the wind, the rain and the sea violently showed their wrath. The thunder boomed every other second and illuminated the violent battlefield.

nCrack!

n‘Fuck! How strong is he? It has to be somewhere high in the Archwizard ranks! If it were a Grand Wizard, I’d be dead.’ Sylvester gritted his teeth and pushed against the arrow.

n“If one does not suffice, then let’s make it twice!” Zhoron mockingly spoke and launched one more arrow of magic, but this time it was bright red as if made of fire.

nCrack!

nSylvester knelt down as his feet could not support the pressure. ‘Of course, they’d send a strong team to kidnap me! I guess I will have to try this then–Old man Pope, I hope your martial arts training was not nonsense.’

nSylvester tried pushing himself up as he needed to escape the current predicament.

n“I’ll help!”

n“What? What about…”

n“Killed him,” Augustus blurted as he lowered himself under the shield and helped Sylvester push it up.

nImpressed, Sylvester glanced to the side and saw the dead body of one elf, and the other wasn’t in good shape either. Sir Dolorem was being a badass, dodging every single sword struck by the elf, and replying with a perfect counter.

n“Thank you, my brother.” Sylvester gratefully replied and pushed the shield up. “He will keep sending more arrows if we do this. So I will turn the shield opaque, so let’s slowly move towards the shield’s edge and jump out simultaneously.”

n“Understood.” Augustus obeyed the suggestion despite knowing Sylvester was a half-elf.

nEven Sylvester was confused about what was going on in Augustus’ head since this was the best time to kill him.

nBut, to Sylvester’s delight, Augustus did as asked, and they reached the edge of the shield. Then, at Sylvester’s word, they jumped at the same time.

n“Go!”

nWoosh!

nSylvester crouched and rolled a reasonable distance from the shield as it shattered apart and the arrows above it touched the ground.

nBoom!

nA deadly explosion erupted and revealed the destructive power behind the arrows. If not before, now Sylvester was sure that this man was also an Archwizard.

n‘Alright! Let’s try this now.’ Sylvester started doing acrobats to confuse his enemy.

nWoosh!

nThen as he kicked the air, a blade made of solid light in the shape of an arch got released towards Zhoron. It was fast and precise.

nClank!

nZhoron easily defended against it with his bow by simply slamming it on the attack.

n“Is that all?”

nSylvester was merely starting, however. “Not at all, Zhoron.”

nWoosh!

nWoosh!

nSylvester picked up his pace. Both his hands and legs continuously sent a blade made of light magic toward him. Occasionally, he’d also send streams of fire, invisible blades of air.

nBut his endgame was something else as he also created light tiles underneath himself to gain altitude and reach Zhoron in the sky. Meanwhile, the elven man kept himself in the air by jumping on something invisible now and then. So, in a way, he was not flying but just avoiding falling.

nBam!

nClash!

nZhoron, as expected, got busy trying to avoid the barrage of attacks from Sylvester and didn’t get time to shoot an arrow.

nSylvester kept climbing slowly, one step at a time. ‘Alright, keeping the enemy wizard busy is done. I even got the element of surprise. So the next phase is…’

nSylvester took a long breath and raised his right palm towards Zhoron. He didn’t stop climbing up and kicking or punching blades of light, though, as they were his insurance.

nThen, he started singing a hymn and turned into a shining beacon of light on that stormy day that had turned into a night.

na??The sky may be dark, but he sees it all.

nThrough us, he watches your soon-to-arrive fall.

nI am his harbinger, his hymn’s singer.

nI vow not to allow your breath to linger.a??

na??O’ Lord of Light, strengthen me in this fight.

nFor I stand here by your grace and might.

nDespite all the odds, I shall remain bright.

nMy destiny, I leave it to you to write!a??

nBoom!

n‘Fuck!’

nHe cursed inside as he miscalculated something. As the mini-version of the Wrath of Heavens left his palm, he lost his balance from the recoil. Then, since he was already in the air, a dozen metres up, he started to fall.

nBut he cared not about falling and only focused his palm on Zhoron.

nBam!

nThe beam of deadly plasma of light made contact with Zhoron. The elven man tried to parry it with his strange bow again, thinking it was light. But he miscalculated, and the plasma overflowed around the bow and hit him.

nShh…!

n“Aaargh! Mother Remira! Give me streng–” Zhoron cried in pain and prayed to the elven goddess.

nBut Sylvester had no wish to let him go. He infused more solarium in his move and made the beam bigger and deadlier.

n“Say hello to your god!” Sylvester bellowed and gave it his all.

nHe was still falling, however. But as he got closer to the ground, the screams of the elf diminished as well.

nBut Sylvester was not happy, for he knew what a huge mess this event had brought to him.

nThud!

nFinally, he fell hard onto the wet ground on his back. Fortunately, besides a few gasps, he wasn’t hurt by it. He only focused on Zhoron and aimed his palm at him.

nSh…!

nEventually, the beam of light also started to diminish and ultimately doused down. The body of Zhoron was nowhere to be seen, as the man died from his own naivety of underestimating Sylvester’s light.

nSylvester stayed resting and looked at the sky. The drops of water looked beautiful under the thundering bolts of lightning. But the thought that elves knew about him now was also frightening.

n“Sylvester!” Sir Dolorem ran close to him, worried he was hurt.

nBut the blind knight only felt sadness in Sylvester’s silence. “Are you hurt?”

nSylvester shook his head. “A-Augustus… He now knows.”

nSir Dolorem used his senses to feel the surroundings. He perceived Augustus a distance away, sitting and resting as he was injured.

nThen, he patted Sylvester’s forehead and spoke with a sad but firm voice.

n“What has to be done–Must be done.”

n________________________

n1000 GT = 1 Bonus chapter.

n1 Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.

nApe Together Strong

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