TMLLT 70

Chapter 70

“The Most Precious Thing”

When I didn’t answer, Roitz swallowed hard again, pleading desperately.

“Please, Serdin. Quickly.”

“…What are you saying?”

I stood frozen, trembling, unable to move.

What was he talking about? Stab him? Stab Roitz?

“The… core… it’s here. So…”

His labored breath grew weaker with each word.

“Stop talking nonsense!”

“I might… kill you.”

His voice broke through in a low tone between shallow breaths.

He was holding on. He hadn’t fully returned to himself.

He meant that before Necroquad could take over completely and kill me, I should stab him.

There’s no way I could do that.

His mind must be clouded. How could I kill him to save myself?

At that moment, his eyes changed again.

The pupils, twisted in pain, suddenly went empty.

Necroquad stretched his sword toward me again.

I couldn’t attack him, and it was too fast to dodge.

Clang! The two blades clashed.

I barely deflected his sword, but I couldn’t avoid his leg striking my stomach.

“Urgh—”

My breath caught, a dull pain spreading through my stiffened body.

A memory from the cliff flashed through my mind—

“You’ll die! Aren’t you afraid?”
“If I were afraid of dying, I wouldn’t have come here!”

The truth was—I wanted to live. I was afraid.

But strangely, in that moment, what made me move wasn’t the will to survive.

It was knowing exactly what would happen to Roitz if he killed me.

I pushed myself up, shoving him down. Necroquad’s grip on his sword loosened, and it fell from his hand.

“Roitz!”

I ran to the other side, calling him. Roitz, you’re still here, aren’t you? You can hear me. You can come back…

“Roitz!”

If he woke again, maybe we could find a way. Maybe we could tie his hands, find some way to restrain him.

“…Roitz!”

But as soon as Roitz picked up the sword again and aimed it at me—

His eyes returned. I stopped in place, calling his name again.

“Roitz!”

Yes, if he just kept coming back like this—

But the next moment—

“…Senior?”

He strode toward me, snatching the Light Dagger from my hand.

Without saying a word, he plunged it into his own chest.

His eyes were full of pain, but without a trace of hesitation.

Everyone has something important to them.

For centuries, the Velkyrente Dukedom had been the Empire’s wealthiest house and the right hand of the Imperial family.

As the Velkyrente swordmaster and sole heir, Roitz Velkyrente was no different.

To him, the things he gained in the name of Velkyrente—

No, more than that—the things he had to endure to avoid losing them—

Those were what mattered most.

“This is not yours, Roitz. It’s the power of the family.”

Among all of those, Necroquad was the most important.

It was the symbol granted to the Velkyrente swordmaster, a god-like existence that maintained the family’s name.

Roitz first bonded with Necroquad at the age of twelve.

On the day he was chosen as swordmaster, the family carried out the method to create the strongest blade—

By implanting the beast Necroquad into Roitz’s mana.

Though there were ways to keep a beast in a summoned form, no one had ever tried this method.

On the first day Necroquad was sealed inside him, his body reacted violently to the beast’s core, leaving him bedridden for days.

During that time, he was confined underground in the ducal manor, bound hand and foot, drifting in and out of consciousness.

What allowed him to endure was not his stamina, but his willpower.

“As expected of you, Roitz. Well done.”

When he finally accepted Necroquad and emerged from underground, he was welcomed in a grand ceremony, at last recognized as the true swordmaster.

He knew he could withstand it.

There was an inexplicable certainty that he would succeed—that it was already decided.

That he would be recognized as Velkyrente’s swordmaster, that he had the skill, the power, everything necessary.

That the path ahead would always be open, and enduring all hardship was only natural to walk it.

From the day he first bonded with Necroquad, it became the most important thing to him above all else.

It was the very symbol of Velkyrente’s power.

It proved how this house was different from other sword families.

“You’re the swordmaster of Velkyrente. The future. The fate of the whole family rests on your shoulders.”

Everyone said so, and Roitz accepted it as truth.

That’s why, even when he realized Necroquad was slowly encroaching on his body, he never tried to destroy it.

Even as the pain of being clawed, stabbed, and cut came regularly.

Even while feeling a strange disillusionment between the bare weight of the crown and people’s expectations.

He berated himself for being unable to endure something so small, pushing himself desperately just to keep Necroquad from taking his consciousness.

It was the most important thing to the Velkyrente family—

And so, it was the most important thing to Roitz.

But one day, something more precious, more important than that appeared.

Senior.

The flash of dazzling reddish hair across his vision—

“I’m happy… Thank you for accepting me!”
“I think it’s because of you, Senior, that I could do it.”

Her every word lingered, making him stumble, or giving him the strength to stand.

“I waited for you!”
“If things get hard, tell me too. I want to be someone who helps you more.”
“I’d rather fall than let go!”

The things Serdin had said to him, her radiant steps that never slowed,

Her bright smile pulling him into the sunlight,

The moments when he felt life shone brightest—

All of that had, without him realizing, become what mattered most.

Roitz raised the dagger.

“…Senior?”

To Velkyrente, Necroquad was the most important treasure, a symbol of its power.

But now, to Roitz, it was nothing more than a threat to something worth tens of thousands of times more.

He drove the blade into his chest beside his heart.

In Serdin’s widening eyes, the darkness of the forest and his collapsing figure were reflected.

He could feel Necroquad’s core breaking apart.

“…”

The pain was only natural.

But so was turning the blade on himself to protect what mattered most.

I did want to live.

Even in Elche, I had vowed and believed I would never die.

But this wasn’t what I meant.

I never wanted Roitz to die to keep me alive.

Then why…

Roitz’s body, with the sword in his chest, collapsed.

I couldn’t even scream—just held him as we fell together.

“Se… Senior…”

My own voice calling him sounded far away. My whole body and mind went numb.

What is this? Why is this happening?

It didn’t feel real.

Only the cold wind brushing past in the eerie forest told me otherwise—

That this was real, happening right now, not a dream or merciful illusion.

Kneeling before him, I shook, blank and empty.

“…”

I couldn’t breathe—worse than when I’d been kicked in the stomach earlier.

Like sinking into the depths of a lake, my breath was stolen.

It was strange. Suddenly everything felt meaningless.

I used to be filled with a will for life.

But in an instant, it was gone.

I felt surrounded by a heavy sense that nothing mattered anymore.

What’s the point?

The goal that pushed me forward, the reason that had kept me alive by facing danger,

My closest friend, who knew me best and always encouraged me,

The shade where I could always rest safely—

All of it was gone.

I lowered my head to look at Roitz’s face.

His closed eyes, sealed lips, limp hands.

It didn’t make sense. Roitz couldn’t be dead.

He was the main character of this world—there was no way he could die like this.

“Roitz.”

Really, it was impossible.

“Roitz!”

And then—

His hand moved.

“…!”

I grabbed it, wide-eyed.

His pulse still beat. His breath, faint but there.

He was still alive.

“Senior, can you hear me?”

Roitz opened his eyes.

But it wasn’t Roitz—it was Necroquad.

Necroquad tried to pull the sword from his chest.

No…!

With its core pierced, Necroquad was clearly dying.

But it was desperately trying to remove the blade from its core.

No, if he pulls it out now…

Then, from the blood loss, Roitz really would die.