It did not hurt.
Lloyd inadvertently chuckled at the phrase that praised selfless behaviors.
What an outrageous bullcrap.
Lloyd maintained a nonchalant smile on his face. He genuinely thought glorifying sacrifice was absolutely absurd, after having done it himself once; he had died in someone else's place and come back to life.
Because it's really nothing.
Lloyd rubbed his chest which had been pierced by the sickle. It actually did not hurt at all. He had been overrun with fear when the king of hell swung his weapon to skewer him, but the estate developer felt nothing after coming back to life, not because of the adrenaline. It was as if he had taken pain-killing opioids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Javier stared at Lloyd in absolute surprise, speechlessly. It appeared that the grandmaster was trying to think of what to say, but couldn't. Lloyd looked at the dropped jaw of his buddy and chuckled even harder. "Surprise, ahahaha."
Pull!
Lloyd exerted more strength into his arms and pulled the king of hell closer, using the blade of the sickle protruding from his chest to carve into the evil ruler's back. It pierced the enemy in the stomach and found its way out to the front, causing the king of hell to shake from the pain. Dark demonic energy left the enemy's body, but he wasn't going to fall or kneel on the ground. Lloyd wasn't going to allow it.
"How...?"
King of hell barely managed to ask the question, putting a more apparent smile of satisfaction on Lloyd's face.
"I have the dragon king endorsement membership. One of its benefits is resurrection, and it worked."
"Th-then...!"
"Yeah. This is what I've been planning from the get-go."
More demonic energy left the demon king's body, but Lloyd grappled onto him even harder with the intent to make the enemy struggle like a bug skewered by a spike.
"Urgh...!!"
"It hurts, right? I knew it, because I read about it in The Knight of Iron and Blood before."
"The knight of... what?"
"You know about it. It explained the only way to deal damage to a lich."
"No way."
"Yes, way. The lich can only be damaged by its own weapon. Anything else, it could recover from thanks to its invincibility and immortality. So the only way is to take the lich's weapon and use it against the undead sorcerer."
"But how...? That's impossible!"
"It is impossible under normal circumstances because anyone that holds the lich's weapon in hand sustains incurable damage and loses sanity."
"But you.."
"I didn't."
Lloyd glanced down at the sickle that skewered both Lloyd and the king of hell. It was gruesome to look at it, but that made his smile even greater.
"Because I didn't grab it with my hands."
"Urgh...!"
"Don't you dare try to push me away."
The king of hell struggled and twitched violently, but Lloyd tightened the grasp on the enemy's neck and ribcage. The king of hell lifted his arm to elbow Lloyd in the face.
Bam!
It was a clean hit and should have crushed Lloyd's face. But it did not hurt at all.
"It itches."
It didn't even. Lloyd actually felt nothing from the strike.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
More elbow strikes fell on his face, but Lloyd chuckled again.
"Holy. The resurrection endorsed by the dragon king is amazing."
It was indeed astounding and marvelous. Lloyd had been doubtful even though he had heard this answer from the Jewel of Truth due to how unbelievable this idea was, but it was real to have experienced it firsthand.
I can't believe it really was speaking the truth.
Lloyd was reminded of the question he had asked the Jewel of Truth before the battle began. The artifact gave him the answer to how to defeat the king of hell, and it was precisely this.
It said the resurrection benefit from the dragon king endorsement wasn't just bringing one's life back. It's supposed to grant the resurrected absolute invulnerability and healing magic regardless of the situation, for five minutes.
Lloyd thought it made sense because the individual who resurrected through this benefit while submerged underwater would certainly drown again without any form of protection.
Drown to death, come back to life, only to drown again. That's not fair.
It was likewise for someone who died from a fire. Without protective or healing magic, one was bound to suffer again immediately.
I would suffocate from smoke right away unless I die before that from severe burns.
The five minutes of absolute protection and healing magic was the time given to the individual to get out of the tight spot. Lloyd was enjoying its benefits to the fullest.
"Urgh! Argh!"
Pow! Pow! Pow!
The king of hell wildly moved its body like a beast that had walked into a bear trap. He smacked Lloyd in the face with his elbow and the back of his own head, but Lloyd did not feel any pain thanks to the invulnerability he had been granted.
Nothing will work.
The estate developer pulled him even harder. The king of hell finally seemed to realize that his efforts were going to be meaningless.
"Urgh..."
The evil ruler grabbed the sickle that protruded from his abdomen. Lloyd realized the attempt to break the blade off, but even this move had been anticipated.
False Swing!
Lloyd internally shouted out as he glanced at the king of hell's attempt, prompting a pop-up message in front of his eyes.
Ding-dong!
[Mana Heart Skill Option 6: Attack Design is activated.]
[Loading False Swing data from Slot 1.]
[It will cost 250 RP to activate this option.]
[Remaining RP: 7,718]
"...What?"
The king of hell's hands that was attempting to break the blade apart came to an abrupt pause as another message popped up.
[Target of your Attack Design is resisting.]
[He is trying to negate the movement preset by Attack Design through the amazing willpower of the mythical creature.]
[Duration of Attack Design will be reduced to 10%.]
[However, it will not matter because the duration of False Swing movement data is 0.2 seconds.]
[False Swing data from Slot 1 has been implemented in reality.]
As soon as the last message showed up, the king of hell's hands moved forward smoothly like a skater on ice. The sharp sickle glowed.
Slash!
"Urgh!"
Four fingers except the thumb from the right hand and the thumb from the left were severed. And those fingers weren't going to regenerate this time.
"Kim Suho! You little...!"
The king of hell shouted out in fury. Lloyd chuckled as he complimented himself for having waited for the right moment to use this attack design instead of resorting to it when he was being dominated. He grappled onto the king of hell even tighter, stirring up even more anger.
"How dare you!"
Thwoosh! Kaboom!
A nasty shockwave from dark magic was unleashed from the demon's body, which could literally shred Lloyd apart to pieces under normal circumstances. Thanks to the effect of invulnerability, however, Lloyd was unscathed.
"How long do you think you can hold on like this for?!"
Lloyd agreed. In fact, he only had four more remaining minutes until the invulnerability effect expired. The estate developer knew he had to wrap things up before that happened.
"That's why we'll be walking together."
He pulled the king of hell and walked backward, slowly but surely. The two men skewered by the same sickle moved together.
Ding-dong.
[Skill Option 3: Power Saving Mode is activated.]
[You are able to maintain the effect of the Asrahan Core Technique, albeit slightly, even when you're absolutely fatigued.]
[Mana Amplification Rate: 25% ]
Zing...
The threeway circle that barely operated provided bonus strength to the estate developer, allowing him to drag the king of hell with it. The enemy tried to resist, but perhaps he had lost too much energy from the sickle attack.
"Hmph! Do you honestly believe you can defeat me like this?!"
"Yeah. I think I can."
"What makes you think that way?!" The king of hell shouted louder.
"Nothing in particular," replied Lloyd with a chuckle. He had no reason to tell his enemy that, nor was he obligated; he did not want to ruin the plan now.
Lloyd continued dragging his adversary towards the intended destination consistently. It was the end of the huge platform, and the king of hell seemed to finally realize what the estate developer was trying to accomplish. "S-Kim Suho?!"
It was the first time the king of hell ever showed this blatant frustration in his eyes.
"No way!" The evil ruler resisted and tried to turn his head.
"Yes way," said Lloyd quickly, exerting more strength on his right arm that was holding the foe's neck. "Just shut up and come with me."
"H-hold on a second, Kim Suho!" The king of hell resisted even harder.
Shockwaves of dark magic were unleashed and more meteorites fell from the sky to explode the area. But Lloyd had three whole minutes before the effects of invulnerability expired. That was enough to drag the king of hell to the intended destination and to leave his last words to Javier.
"Right, Javier?" He raised his head and cast a glance far away. He saw Javiel struggling to crawl towards his side.
You can't do that. Don't do it alone, it seemed like he wanted to shout, but he didn't even have the strength to do it. Nevertheless, he tried to get to his side. To stop him somehow. He was looking at him with anxious eyes. Seeing that made him smile.
"I know, I know. I hate to do this too. I really despised this method, so I tried to see if I could beat this enemy in other ways."
But all else had failed. Lloyd knew he should have resorted to this from the start. He regretted having taken his allies all the way here to make them suffer.
"But this is the only way. Nothing else will work."
Javier's lips trembled for some reason. He was calling his name.
I see it, I hear it, I feel it. Yes, I know your heart. But what can I do?
"This is the right thing to do. The more I try to hold on, persevere, and fight through it all, the more sufferings that seem to fall on the people around me. I can't bear that."
Lloyd chuckled bitterly. In truth, he wanted to enjoy the fruits of his labor in the Frontera Estate and spend more time with his friends and allies, whom he had come to rely on. He wanted to lead an ordinary and unremarkable life with them. But Lloyd had realized even that was too much to hope for. It was greed.
"I wanted to deny it as much as I could at first. Who wouldn't? I want to live luxuriously like anybody else. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that even if I overcame the most imminent problem, the enforced fate phenomenon would occur again and... I don't think I can keep doing this forever."
Even if he were to slay the king of hell here and resolve this problem, another restoration of enforced destiny would take place, putting everyone in danger all over again. It was going to be a greater and more severe catastrophe because the previous one fell short.
"I really can't. I'm scared now. I don't think I can do this anymore. All this is happening because of me. I can't put the count and the countess, you, or everyone else in peril just to make my dreams come true."
Lloyd dragged the king of hell harder and continued walking.
"So this is really it. If I have to really choose between you and me for this to end once and for all, I choose to banish myself from this world. After all, you really belong to this realm whereas I don't. I came from elsewhere. I am an outsider. This all happened because of my stubbornness and unwillingness to cease to exist."
Lloyd's eyes became red, even without him realizing it. But he forced himself to smile. He thought that would make Javier feel less sad. He thought it would make him feel a little less guilty.
"That's why I must tell you this. Please tell my queen that I was genuinely delighted by her proposal. I was so grateful. That I am so sorry for leaving like this. And the days I spent with you… have been the most rewarding, enjoyable, and happiest times of my life. Instead of rotting away worthlessly in a moldy room in a tiny room in another dimension, in another world… I really, really had a lot of fun.”
Lloyd couldn't tell if it was him or Javier who was shedding tears. His vision was blurry.
“Thank you for those times, for being with me. I have no regrets. You, and everyone else will remember me. If you don’t forget the days we spent together, if you think of me sometimes, I can consider myself alive in your memories.”
Lloyd wanted to live in their memories, and that was going to be enough. He was willing to finally give up on the false hope and preposterous dreams. He would consider the memories of the past few years as a miracle of good fortune.
The greatest estate developer pulled the king of hell with even more strength, dragging him to the end of the platform. The king of hell resisted and shouted, but Lloyd couldn't make sense of what he said. It was too late.
The portal to rebirth swirled behind him. And the greatest estate developer jumped into it, holding his arch-nemesis.
"Goodbye."
