The Sole Prince of the Fallen Kingdom

"K-Kiera..." Aziel couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his wife, the person he loved the most in the entire world, behind him holding the hilt of the dagger that had stabbed him near his heart from the back.

He was devastated ...if that word had the potential to describe his feelings at that moment.

The person who enacted justice against anyone with a straight face and did not let his emotions blur his sight and responsibilities as a ruler, be it for a friend, family, or a foe he admired.

That person was failing to keep his emotions in check.

In that brief moment, his emotions were all across the place... yet one was the strongest of them all - Shock.

Shock because Kiera was the last person...-

No.

Kiera wasn't even on the list of the people he would have imagined to betray and backstab him.

A gazillion questions were wrecking a disaster in his mind, yet there was nothing he had in response to them.

He wanted answers that no one other than Kiera herself could provide him, but when he tried to speak out the words stuck in his throat...

"D-Don't try... Please don't try to say anything, ...Az."

Kiera's teary voice stopped him.

"I ...I know that you have many questions that you want to ask as to..."

TWIST

"Cough... Urghhh... Cough"

"...why I'm doing any of this." Kiera twisted the dagger, making Aziel cough Blood and groan in pain.

"I know that after dying when you reach heaven, you still won't be able to forgive me for this and I... won't get the chance to apologize for my actions there because..."

Kiera tried to suppress all of her emotions, giving herself a hollow look but there was still a drop of tear on the edge of her right eye,

"...I won't be going to heaven after killing my husband, would I?"

"Kiera-..."

"Please ...Please don't speak, Az. Each time you would utter my name, my heart would waver and Biringing A-Aiden back would be that more difficult. So, please don't make this any more difficult for me than it already is."

'...Bringing Aiden Back?' Aziel shuddered just at the thought of something happening to his child.

'What did Kiera mean by that?'

'...Did I fail to protect my only son?'

He wanted to ask a lot of questions hearing Kiera's words but the blood loss combined with his wavering consciousness, made his condition such that he was unable to do so.

"You remember you said on the day Aiden was named that nothing would harm him as long as you are alive."

"..."

"At that time, I believed you blindly but around six months ago, He..." Kiera looked at Abraham with clear bloodlust and hatred in her eyes and continued, "...Abraham, Your Dearest Friend and the Captain of the force you were building to secure Aiden's safety came to me with a Message from Emperor Norbury."

"It was an offer to betray you and the Kingdom of Everhart and come to the Norbury empire with Aiden if I want to ensure him a happy, peaceful, and safe future, and the last line was written in red letters:

To not mention anything about this to you, Az, or else ...Aiden's life would be in danger."

"At first, I wanted to refuse it and tell you about all of this but..." She pressed her lips and continued,

"...When it mentioned the threat on the life of Aiden, even someone as stone-hearted as me couldn't keep my worries in place, and thus, I visited Emperor Norbury."

"There I saw that the plan he had made against our Kingdom, it... it was flawless, and I realized that even if I didn't accept his offer there wasn't any point in hope of our kingdom surviving with all of us together, well and alive,...thus, I decided to accept his offer to ensure that Both, you and Aiden, would make it alive from the conspiracy against the kingdom... even if you both end up hating me for it."

"Moving forward from that time till the day of executing the Plan, I had more or so prepared myself for everything but then..."

"...On that night when the Knights got their souls captured and Abraham betrayed you, Aiden... Aiden disappeared from the Castle."

"!" With the information that Kiera gave him and her earlier words, the worst thought crossed Aziel's mind which sent shivers down his spine.

'No, no, no, no... It can't be...'

"I... I ordered Elsie to stop fighting the knights in the Castle and go look for him but... she never returned."

"...And thus, as my last resort, I asked the Mastermind behind everything, Emperor Norbury himself and he showed me an image through his system of Aiden..." Kiera tried her hardest to control and stop the tears flowing from her eyes, but as if they had reached their limit, tears started flowing from her eyes.

'No... Please No...'

"...dying in the hands of Elsie as she tried to heal him, but to no avail."

"Hrghhh... Cough... Hrghhh..." As Kiera's words fell onto Aziel's ears, a shockwave of Mana traveled through the entire Irin, endangering the lives of thousands of people he, himself, was trying to protect all the time with the Glacial barrier in the fight against Abraham.

"...And then, he made me another proposal..."

"...He said that if I killed you and Brought total annihilation to the Kingdom of Everhart, he would bring Aiden back to life."

"Again, at first, I didn't believe his words about bringing back the dead but when he performed such a miracle in front of me by killing one of his guards and then bringing him back, I... I... I couldn't..." 

"I'm sorry, Aziel, but I just want to see Aiden once again."

"I want to see that radiant smile of his once again."

"I want to spend more time with him and watch him grow up in front of me."

"I don't know that after what I did if he would ever call me 'Mother' again but still..."

"...I want him back!"

ROAR

As Kiera started finishing her words, A roar echoed through the skies of Irin and an Army of dragons, Wyverns and other monsters came into vision.

It was clear that the Fall of the Everhart Kingdom, once the home of the Strongest Hero to exist, the Hero of Water, Alfred Everhart, was near.

Hearing the Roar of the dragons, Kiera pulled the dagger out of Aziel's Body and threw it aside, letting the Blood flow out of the fatal wound.

"I'm sorry, Aziel, I love you and I still do but..." Kiera summoned two glowing orbs, "...I can't also lose Aiden."

She threw one orb towards Abraham who was on his last few breaths and continued, "I'm sorry, and if you ever loved me..."

Activating the spell engraved in the orbs, Abraham and Kiera's bodies started blurring,

"...Please don't forgive me because after what I have done..."

Before completely disappearing from Aziel's eyes and the land of Everhart, the last words of Kiera which lingered in the air were,

"...I don't deserve to be forgiven."

Those words rang in Aziel's ears repeatedly as he prepared himself to fight against the oncoming monsters.

The thoughts that were gusting a storm in his head some moments ago were now calm.

Even though the Battle he was going to fight could very well be the battle where he would breathe his last breath, there was nothing but a slightly disappointed smile on his face.

No trace of pain due to the fatal wound on his back.

No sadness due to the Betrayal by his wife and friend.

No hopelessness seeing the number of monsters and their strength.

No fear in front of his death.

Just a simple self-disappointing smile as he gathered all of his last bit of remaining strength to repeat the last words of Kiera in a hollow voice,

"'Don't deserve to be forgiven' huh..."

"Isn't that more befitting to me than her?"

SLASH

"After all, I was the one who couldn't even protect my child..." Cutting the head of a wyvern in a single swing, Aziel headed into the battle which history would come to remember as the last battle of 'The True Hero of the Everhart Kingdom'.

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