The legendary knight staggered as blood poured from his wounds and dyed the ground a deep red. He felt no joy from winning, only a hollow emptiness. Life was slipping out of him. He could feel it. Wincing, he reached for his torso. There should have been his plate armor there, but nothing was there instead. A familiar warm liquid covered his hand. He looked at it. It was covered in blood. As it turned out, at the exact moment he slashed Sentinel Kong's throat, the sentinel retaliated with his glaive. The two dealt a blow at the same time! This was Sentinel Kong's final gift. Sir Winstin's left torso had a massive chunk missing where most of his organs and bones could be seen! It was a horrifying fatal blow!
Blackness filled his eyes. The blade slipped from his hand and shattered on the ground. He could not move a muscle. This time, he had really reached his limit. There was nothing else he could do. Sir Winstin glanced at Elizabeth and her friends. He hoped they could escape. Just as the life faded from him, the bald man whipped his staff into the knight. Boom! His body flew. He was a Perception Realm Master, a Royal Guard, and a Protector. Although he considered himself a pitiful man with many regrets, he was the leader of a generation, and a beacon for the next. His name and legacy would continue to burn for many years to come. A legendary knight, a hero… Sir Winstin Mormont had finally died!
The bald man gasped for air. They were both Perception Realm Masters, and yet… there was such a large gap between them! It felt like they were nowhere close in strength! Had Sentinel Kong not been the one to die, he feared he would have died instead. It was truly ridiculous! Not to mention, this was against a Sir Winstin who had lost one arm and was lying on his deathbed the whole time. His true strength must have been extraordinary in his prime. No wonder it took the Four Cardinals, four of the best Imperial Sentinels in the empire, all Perception Realm Masters, to topple this man. He was in a league of his own! The bald man regarded Sir Winstin's corpse solemnly. It was a crime what they did to this man. He deserved respect but sadly, they had to be enemies. It was unfortunate. He glanced at Elizabeth. Although he could step in and capture her, he shook his head. He would honor Sir Winstin's last wishes. This was his little way of paying respect to the legendary knight. The man turned around and left.
Meanwhile, Ten Dawn Yvonne and Runenda were doing their best to support an omnidirectional barrier around themselves, Elizabeth, and Freon, but the damage was building. Flying strike upon flying strike crashed into the barrier, sending ripples across the delicate surface. It was breaking! Ten Dawn Runenda hurriedly changed her spell to reinforce the barrier. Despite shimmering with newfound vigor, the vibrant glow quickly dimmed. It had little effect! The Ten Dawns grimaced. The backlashes from earlier were beginning to rear their ugly heads. They could not exert their full strength! Furthermore, Benedict and Shirley were stuck in a tense battle. Although Sir Winstin managed to kill five soldiers, one of the Tiuxan couple, Lord Xu, Sentinel Kong, and even persuaded the bald man to leave, there was still almost twenty people remaining, including Little Sword, Sentinel Mao, Lord Xiaobo, and Lord Ru. Their odds stayed terrible. They could see no way out!
Elizabeth saw Sir Winstin fall and promptly froze. She could not look away. It was a strange feeling, because they barely knew each other. She never heard about his family or friends, his habits or hobbies, nor even his favourite foods or colors. To her, Sir Winstin was simply her Protector, a lone and solitary guardian. That was all. The urge to learn more about him did not exist. However, Elizabeth could hardly be blamed for that. Sir Winstin was old, quiet, serious, and deeply intimidating. He was the kind of person that tolerated zero nonsense. She remembered her first month in Castle Reinhard. She had gained the position of heir apparent and moved into the royal castle of her dreams. Her whole life had made a dramatic jump from those simple farming days on New Havens. Every day, she was lectured on how to become a lady, a princess, and later a queen. There was a mountain of material to learn and practice. She was already stressed, so when Sir Winstin kept standing there and watching her every move, it was like she had no privacy. It was very unsettling. This led to her poor impression of the man.
A Perception Realm was sensitive though. Sir Winstin must have noticed her distress and chose to give her due privacy. He would step out, restrain his aura, or avert his gaze when possible. At his level, his Martial Perception was more than enough to cover the surroundings and given they were in Castle Reinhard, he could afford to be a little casual. It was a simple gesture, but crucial to Elizabeth's mental state. She could finally relax! After that, she would see Sir Winstin in a different light. He was not as scary or as dangerous as people led her to believe. In reality, he was quite nice and approachable. He was just poor at showing it. She eventually grew used to his presence. Sir Winstin had become a permanent addition to her life, even more than her friends had become in some ways. The knight was always there for her, ready to lend a hand whenever she needed it. The impact he had on her could not be overestimated. Therefore, to see that indomitable figure fall in combat, Elizabeth felt her world turn upside down!
It was funny in a sense. Since the battle began, she did not feel the weight of it. Of course, how could she? A battle on this scale, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers involved, was honestly mind-boggling. It was hard to visualize, much less empathize with. That said, Elizabeth did feel genuine sadness and anger. That was not a lie. This war was a travesty and needed to be stopped at all costs. It was just that… until now, she had not fully understood what that meant. However, when she finally saw her friends getting hurt and her Protector getting killed… The reality of everything finally set in. Everyone was dying. Everyone was going to die!
She reared an ugly laugh. How funny was this? The absurdity of everything made her laugh! Ever since the Battle of Liguang… No, it might have been earlier than that. She had begun to think of herself as the heroine in a story, that she would never lose, never suffer, and never fail. That she could succeed where nobody else had before. That she could create history! Her arrogance made her believe she could do anything. The world was her oyster! But the harsh truth was that… she was not the heroine in some sort of story. She was not the chosen one. Luck just happened to be smiling on her, and that luck was finally running out.
Boom! The barriers exploded into a million shards as the backlash threw the Ten Dawns back. They were heavily injured! Similarly, Benedict and Shirley were being pushed into a corner. The focused assault of four Perception Realm Experts was a little too much for them to handle! They were losing quickly! Freon screamed a curse and raised his wand. Screw the consequences! At this point, he could not afford to be picky. He would blow up the entire cliffside! Dying in a landslide was better than dying to these dogs! He planned to take everyone down with him! Little Sword and Sentinel Mao saw their chance and slipped past Benedict and Shirley. They would kill Freon first and capture Elizabeth next. Then this battle would be over! Benedict and Shirley wanted to block them, but they were stopped by Lord Xiaobo and Lord Ru. They could not break through! Furthermore, more than a dozen Perception Realms converged on Elizabeth and Freon. Despite casting his Three-Pointed Barrier ahead of time, the enemies tore through it like paper. It did little to stop them! The interference strength had grown too strong, meaning he was too slow to cast his second spell. He despaired. He would not make it in time! Was this the end?