Fated to Be Loved by Villains

In Gideon Galestead La Tristan, the Grand Duke of Tristan’s eyes, everything in the world was divided into two:

Things he must protect, and things he could ignore.

For him, the former was his family.

That never changed, even now.

●

Time is on my side.

The pope thought so as he leisurely rested his chin on his hand.

This was why he didn’t really pay attention to what others around him were saying. He had an invincible combination that could withstand anyone.

I did well to heed that advice.

If the Prophet hadn’t said those words before leaving, he probably would’ve gone with his original method instead of this extreme one.

The pope himself was considered the best at handling Divine Power on the continent. If he had entered the battle directly, he probably could have just repelled most threats.

That way, he might have felt more satisfied from crushing that upstart Dowd Campbell.

But he had a better idea. To just divert all of his Divine Power to ‘regeneration’ like this and just endured.

This way, there would be no room for variables.

Though his options became limited, only having the Holy Kingdom’s forces and the Chimera Legions, which was already annihilated...

Once the Holy Body awakens, those were just byproducts that could be recreated anytime. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

By holding their attention, he ensured that any remaining attacks could somehow be resisted with his Divine Power.

If they had brought the Gray Devil and the Hero, things might have been different, but even then he had contingencies for them as well.

With that in mind, in the current situation, the pope had the leisure to laugh at whatever the man in front of him did while sitting in place.

That was why he stayed still even as he saw Yuria flying towards him like an arrow after Dowd threw her.

The Curse of Severance. The powerful curse dwelling in that sword sliced up the pope’s body. It cut deeper into his body, holding a stronger force, and it happened multiple times thanks to her reaching him so quickly.

But it was just a repetition of the process that has been repeated dozens of times so far.

”Is this the killing blow you’ve prepared so hard for? Throwing stones?“

As the pope said this, Lucia’s divine power flew from the side.

It was a powerful and dense Divine Power befitting someone called a Saintess, but the pope didn’t even try to deflect it and just sat still.

As expected, that energy simply dissipated as soon as it approached his body.

To begin with, it was the pope himself who raised those homunculus sisters. He knew best how they handle their abilities.

“Useless—”

He tried to say with a sneer.

‘Tried’, as in he failed to actually say what he wanted to say.

“...”

He looked at his chest with displeasure.

It should have regenerated immediately after being cut, but the wound remained open, refusing to close.

Around the cut, he could see his flesh rotting and crumbling due to a certain force, hindering his regeneration. Decay. The power of the Brown Devil. It was something that Dowd pulled out from the Fallen’s Seal.

“I see, so you can’t deflect two things at once, huh?”

Such words followed.

“I thought it was strange. There’s just no way you could regenerate all wounds you suffered without any cost whatsoever.”

“...”

“You can only properly deflect one type of energy at a time. The technique you’re using now, it could recover damage from one thing almost infinitely, but if there are more than one, you’ll become vulnerable to the other. Right?”

“So what?”

The pope responded with a sarcastic smile.

“What difference does it make if you know that?”

“We’ve found a solution. That’s already progress.”

“-Even so, do you have any means to use it right away?”

The pope continued, still wearing a contemptuous look.

In fact, as they exchanged this conversation, his wound from earlier had long since recovered.

Even if they mixed different types of attacks, his defensive ability was close to invincible right now. With the Holy Body’s awakening not far off, they didn’t have the means to deal with him instantly.

“...”

But...

For some reason, the man in front of him looked as if ‘he had already won’.

Even though it was clear that the pope had everything in control, no variables could appear, nothing could threaten him no matter—

“I guess you thought you hadn’t let your guard down that much, huh?”

Dowd let out a sneer to the Pope, whose expression had slightly hardened.

“Let me tell you something. The moment you have room for acting so leisurely, you already lost the qualification to think that way.”

Something...

Is off...

The feeling that the pope felt became more vivid as time went by.

He quickly scanned the surroundings with his eyes.

Everyone around him now were like his limbs who had never deviated from his intentions even when he was operating on a continental scale.

There couldn’t be anyone suspicious among them. Most of their actions weren’t known in the first place, and they always returned instantly as soon as it was over.

“It’s always the darkest under the lamp post.”

What the pope had overlooked was...

This man in front of him.

Through the gaps in his actions, to find crevices that even he didn’t notice...

Ever since a long time ago, he managed to do all that and plant a dagger to pierce his heart.

All for this moment.

To deliver this ‘single strike’.

“-You should have doubted everything, you fool.”

With those words.

One of the attendants who had been standing next to him, guarding him until now, changed his posture.

“...!”

Of course, his reaction speed wasn’t slow either. Massive amount of Divine Power suddenly surged up and poured towards the man.

But such an act only ended up stripping off the ‘disguise’ the man was wearing.

As the hood came off, his face was finally revealed.

Gideon Galestead La Tristan.

The Grand Duke of Tristan, whose whereabouts have been continuously reported as unknown.

This man had been infiltrating, pretending to be his attendant all this time.

Since when—?!

Just...!

Since when had he infiltrated this place—?!

“You planted people in the empire, didn’t you? Did you really think you could just do that without paying any price?”

The pope’s eyes widened at those words.

Indeed.

Around the time when it seemed like a civil war might break out in the Empire, he had sent some personnel to infiltrate the imperial palace to monitor the situation.

Since back then?

In that brief moment when I just dispatched some of my people for a simple reconnaissance? He managed to plant this man into my ranks?

“I told you.”

And, through that gap of shock.

“Don’t act leisurely when you don’t even know what your opponent might be hiding.”

The strike had already fallen upon him.

Since a long time ago.

It was said that the first Sword Saint, and the Grand Duke of Tristan, could split the morning and bring the evening closer.

Before, the Fist Saint Kasa Garda shattered the sky with one fist and changed the landscape.

Those who had reached a certain level often committed acts that distorted such ‘concepts’ themselves, accomplishing mythical feats with just one of their attacks.

And now, in this place.

For a very brief moment... For just an instant...

There was someone who had honed their power to the point where they could even ‘bring down the sun’ with a single strike.

And such a person...

“...”

The Grand Duke of Tristan wore an emotionless look, however...

What was gleaming under those eyes was a black flame ready to burn even his own life for the sake of ‘karmic retribution’.

After all, just now, the motherfucker himself admitted that he was the one who made him kill his own wife.

There were people in the world who could sacrifice even their own lives for the sake of a single purpose, and such individuals tend to achieve unbelievable miracles even with the most meager strength.

Such power...

Right here, right now...

...Was possessed by someone who could even bring down the sun.

The sword was drawn at a speed so instantaneous that even the top-tier martial artists living in the most fragmented moments of a second could not react.

Its trajectory was unbelievably simple, but the energy contained within was terrifyingly immense.

It was like that feeling of exerting superhuman strength when you meet the enemy you’ve been searching for all your life right in front of you.

For an ordinary swordsman, losing composure and being consumed by rage was nonsensical.

But what if someone in such a state...

...Was not just a mere swordsman, but someone who could reflect their own mental state onto their sword path?

What if one could imbue the skill that could even make the sun fall with anger that could even burn one’s life, and fully unfold that realm on his sword path?

”NOW!“

Matching Dowd’s command, Yuria and Lucia’s strikes combined again.

As they had ‘experimented’ earlier, the Pope’s defense became vulnerable when attacked with various attributes combined.

Yuria’s Severance, Lucia’s divine power, and the Demonic Aura Dowd additionally pulled out, all were combined to strike the Pope.

The pope’s defense inevitably splitted as it reacted to each of these attacks.

The later the attack, the slower the regeneration became. He received the damage, weakening his defense.

And when that repeated to the point that it reached its absolute limit...

The strike poured upon him...

-

-....

-///////////-

Was the strike of a sword...

That was capable of cutting the world in half.