Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 461 The Place Where the Light Doesn't Reach (Part 2)

Barney!

Belletti was the first to speak, her voice trembling:
"what are you up to!"

At this moment of disbelief, Barney gave a bitter smile, looking at everyone with a sense of relief and resignation.

"What to do?"

"do nothing."

Barney's gaze gradually calmed, becoming increasingly ominous.

"My father, you, and all of you..."

Barney chuckled and slowly shook his head.

"Samir is right, everything we've done has been pointless."

Samir lowered his head bitterly.

“Naki is right, we already belong here, there’s no way out.”

Naki snorted coldly.

“Even Sakel was right… some things should never be brought up…”

Sakel's expression was complicated.

"In this prison, the only one who was wrong, the only one who was foolish... has always been me."

Amidst everyone's horrified gazes, Barney Jr. sneered and shouted:
"I deserve to be buried underground for all eternity!"

After he finished speaking, his arm began to move!
Thales gasped.

However, before anyone could gasp in surprise, a figure lunged forward and firmly gripped Barney's wrist as he held the sword!
"Do not……"

Under Thales' astonished gaze, the former deputy logistics officer, Nai, clung tightly to Barney's chest, wrestling with him in a trembling struggle.

"No, Barney, no."

Nai pursed her lips, shook her head violently, and struggled to utter the words through her teeth.

Barney pressed hard against Nai, who wouldn't budge an inch.

"Let go, Nai, I don't want to hurt you."

Belletti gritted her teeth and took the opportunity to quietly walk behind Barney.

“I’m the logistics officer for the guards, you know,” Nai said, seemingly trying to sound humorous, but his eyes were almost pleading.
"Non-combat casualties... are my responsibility."

This statement elicited a response from many people.

Barney paused for a moment, then chuckled softly.

"Logistics officer..."

"What, you don't even value the last bit of dignity I have left..."

The next second, Barney's expression changed, and he shouted angrily:
"Are you going to take them all away?!"

In Thales's hellish senses, he saw the power of ending on Barney's body surge, and Nai instantly slipped from his grasp and was thrown away by his opponent!

Boom!
With a loud crash, Naijie collided squarely with Belletti, who was trying to take advantage of the situation to steal the sword. Naijie coughed up blood and let out a painful groan.

But just as Barney gripped the sword again, a third figure pounced and grabbed his arm!
This time, Barney looked at the person who stopped him with surprise and disbelief.

"It's not that simple, Barney."

Before Barney, Naki sneered, using a clever angle to seize his opponent's right arm:

"After so much torment, you think you can just run away like this? Like your cowardly father?"

Naki said bitterly:
No way.

Barney frowned at first, then anger surged within him: "You—"

But Naki interrupted him.

"At least, not in front of me."

The next second, to everyone's surprise, Naki, with a cold smile, lifted Barney's arm...

He walked straight into the sword's edge.

laugh!
A tearing sound.

That was the sound Thales had heard countless times: steel tearing through flesh.

"No!"

Thales' eyes widened in horror, and he cried out in alarm!

No.

It shouldn't be like this.

That shouldn't be!

He wasn't the only one to react this way; most of the royal guards exclaimed in surprise.

Clang.

The longsword fell to the ground.

thump.

With a long-lost, languid smile, Naki slowly released Barney's arm.

Endless blood gushed from his neck, reflecting the firelight like lava from a volcano.

He poured water on little Barney, who was standing there dumbfounded, until his face turned bright red.

It was as if he was about to unleash all the grievances and resentment he had accumulated over the past eighteen years.

"Naki!" Cannon, who was imprisoned in the same cell as Naki, roared and rushed forward, grabbing Naki's body.

Brie then pounced on him.

The two were in a panic.

Cannon held Naki, whose neck was gushing blood, and pressed his hand futilely against the horrific wound, beginning to murmur in terror:

"Help me, help me, Brie! No, it's an artery... I can't stop the bleeding, I can't stop it..."

Looking at Naki on the ground, Barney stood frozen in place like an ice sculpture.

He immediately raised his bright red hands and smeared them on his equally blood-covered cheeks, his face filled with disbelief.

what is this?
what is this!
Little Barney started trembling.

Naki gave a triumphant, pale smile, as if he wanted to say something, but when he opened his mouth, only blood gushed out and made a gurgling sound.

In the end, he simply shook his head slowly at the stunned Barney, his life about to end.

The sudden accident terrified everyone.

Startled, the quick rope pulled Thales backward:

"Damn it, this is your plan?"

"Turn them all into dangerous lunatics?"

Thales stared intently at the field with his eyes wide open.

Staring at the blood slowly spreading on the ground.

He remembered a long time ago, when he was in the abandoned house.

Quaid's neck blood was the same—bright red, surging, and utterly unrealistic.

Just like vibrant paint.

It was sprinkled all over his head and face.

“Or, or they’ve been insane all along, and you’ve just unearthed their madness… This…” Quick Rope stared incredulously at Naki, who was determined to die.

Thales trembled.

No.

This is not what I want.

but……

They want to...

suicide?

Thales thought blankly.

No.

Do not!
[Perhaps, I mean perhaps, Mr. Wu... she gave you a ride that day...]

[Maybe they're going to...]

[Is it to...]

At that moment, the terrifying crimson blood seemed to surge beyond the ground, rising like a tidal wave and rushing towards him.

It swallowed him up.

In the dimly lit dungeon, Samir, Tardin, and even Sakel were stunned. They stood frozen in place, unsure of how to react.

Until another terrified cry drew their attention.

"Nai!"

"Nai, what's wrong with you?!"

Belletti screamed in terror.

Everyone turned their gaze away.

Nai, who had been knocked over by Barney earlier, was now lying in Belletti's arms, coughing painfully.

His chest was covered in bright red blood, the color deepening with each mouthful of blood he coughed up.

"Cough cough...it wasn't him," Nai shook his head with a forced smile.
"But I just... got a minor injury from fighting those mercenaries..."

Belletti held him tightly, watching sadly as the blood in Nai's mouth flowed deeper and less.

“This is…this…no…” Belletti’s expression slowly turned to despair.

"Don't worry about it, it's just internal bleeding from a severe blow..." Nai shook her head bitterly.
"There was this guy wielding a sledgehammer, and I couldn't dodge it... That's when I felt something was wrong..."

Tardin walked forward in disbelief and knelt down beside Nai.

Thales' mind went blank; he just stared blankly at the two lives that were about to disappear before him.

“No, Nai, Naki… why…” Little Barney looked at Naki lying in a pool of blood on the other side, then looked at Nai.

His face contorted in pain as he backed away, his voice trembling with sobs: "Why..."

But Nai gave a bitter smile and coughed up another mouthful of blood:

"You know, after all, we are all..."

Things are not what they used to be.

Not the same anymore.

Once upon a time.

Barney murmured in pain, bent over, and buried his head in his hands.

"Haha... Now..." On the other side, Naki, whose life force was constantly fading, struggled to speak, and with a lazy smile, he could only utter a few words indistinctly:

"We're... even..."

Barney trembled and knelt on the ground.

"No, no, you can't do this to me...you can't..."

Under the sorrowful or terrified gazes of all the guards, Barney roared and grabbed the longsword from the ground once more!

You can't!

However, the next second, Barney stumbled!
He struggled to stand firm, trying to find what had just disrupted his balance.

But Barney didn't react; he just stared blankly at his hands: the longsword had inexplicably disappeared.

how……

Where's the sword?

Where is my tool for liberation?
Bang!

A dull thud of metal colliding.

The longsword landed mysteriously on the ground, attracting everyone's attention.

On the other side, Thales, panting heavily, withdrew his right hand, his face pale—the excruciating pain within him was spreading again.

No.

no way.

no way!

His body went limp, but he was held firmly by the rope to prevent himself from falling.

But in the next moment, before anyone could realize what was going on, a figure that hadn't moved for a long time rushed up!
Boom!
A deafening explosion!
The attacking figure delivered a powerful right hook, striking Barney hard in the side of the face!
He followed up with a knee strike, sending Barney sprawling to the ground.

The figure suddenly knelt down, pressing down on Barney's shoulders with both arms and pinning him to the ground!
“No, no…” the attacker hissed.

Upon seeing the person in front of him clearly, Barney's pupils contracted, and he roared indignantly:
“Sakel!”

Barney roared and broke free from the grip on his shoulders, straightening his upper body and grabbing Sackel by the back of the neck, followed by a fierce elbow strike!

But the Knight of Punishment neither dodged nor avoided it; he simply raised his left arm and took the blow head-on!
A crisp cracking sound came from Sacel's left arm.

The Knight of Punishment trembled slightly.

The next second, Sacel, pale with pain, grabbed Barney's right arm and pulled hard with both hands!
Click!
Another crisp sound rang out, and Barney, with his broken right arm, cried out in pain as he lay back down on the ground.

Barney, clutching his nonfunctional right arm, hissed in pain, unable to lift his sword any longer.

Sacel clutched his equally badly injured left hand, swayed, and fell back, pale-faced.

Everything happened in a flash of lightning.

The fight ended in just a few seconds.

Even Samir, who immediately picked up a weapon, could only stare blankly at what was in front of him.

"Why?" Barney cried out in agony, pounding the ground with the back of his head.
Why are you treating me like this?!

"Why!"

Amidst Little Barney's grief-stricken howls, Naki, nearing the end of his life, lay on the ground, grinning with his signature lazy smile, while Nai, coughing up blood, gasped for breath, trying to clear the blood from his lungs.

Just now.

Snapped!
A crisp slap across the face.

He silenced Barney's wails.

It also drew everyone's attention, which was filled with fear, pain, sadness, and helplessness.

Barney, his teeth chattering, raised his head like a dying patient.

"Eleven times..."

"don't want……"

It's Sakel.

Covered in wounds, he collapsed beside Barney, clenching his teeth and uttering a few words:
"Eleven times..."

"No more..."

His voice trembled, and his tone was sorrowful.

Barney seemed to have regained some of his senses, staring blankly at Sackel, who was convulsing.

"What...eleven times?"

Sacel took a difficult breath in, then exhaled with even greater difficulty, and slowly raised his head.

Expose your face to the firelight.

Tick.

A tear slid down his wrinkled eye socket.

It seemed to happen silently, yet it couldn't be ignored.

Sacel knelt on the ground, raising his empty hands, his face streaked with tears.
"enough."

He said it in a daze.

At that moment, Thales, who was on the verge of death from the aftereffects of the magic power, was stunned.

Sakel.

The Knight of Punishment.

strong.

Calm.

Perseverance.

cruel.

Unrivaled.

Unstoppable.

Unwavering.

That was his impression of Sacelle.

but now……

He had never seen Sakel like this before.

The weeping knight of punishment.

Everyone fell silent, staring in disbelief at their guards.

"Eleven times."

Sacelle sobbed and murmured, like a child who had done something wrong, filled with remorse and pain, speaking haltingly:
"In the 76th year of the End of the Calendar, John I died on his campaign, and his three sons vied for the throne, resulting in years of internal strife..."

His tear-filled eyes gazed into the void.

"From that time on, the royal guards were divided, each serving their own master, and comrades turned against each other..."

Naki's breathing became uncontrollably rapid, while Nai's coughing grew fainter.

"No one knows that, according to the Watchers' records, the Star Royal Guard, spanning over six hundred years, has already experienced eleven splits and internal conflicts..."

Sacel closed his eyes in agony once more, his hands, raised in the air, trembling as if holding a massive boulder, or as if they were empty.

"Royal Guard..."

"Eleven times in total..."

"Brothers killing each other."

Thales's gaze froze.

"Please, that's enough..."

Sacelle turned his head, his voice trembling with tears, pleading with everyone before him like a broken patient:
"There must never be another one..."

"bleeding."

The dungeon grew increasingly dark, with only one torch remaining, burning its last days.

Awaiting the inevitable darkness.

Samir stared at him blankly, Belletti stared at him in astonishment, Tardin stared at him sadly, and Brie stared at him sorrowfully.

Barney looked at him with a mixture of conflicting emotions.

Thales struggled to stand up, holding onto the rope with all his might.

"Compared to all my predecessors, I am the worst, cowardly, incompetent, worst, and most wretched watchman in the history of the Royal Guard!"

Sacel's confession continued, his tone filled with a regret and self-reproach that seemed to haunt him for a lifetime:

"I cannot protect you, I am powerless to lead you, I am incapable of sheltering you. I cannot even make my own choices. I can only watch helplessly as everything happens, powerless and at a loss..."

With tears in his eyes, he glanced around at his wounded teammates, finally stopping in the void, staring at people who didn't exist.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty."

"I'm sorry, Captain."

"I'm sorry, everyone!"

The lonely and desolate knight of punishment swayed slightly. Already seriously injured, he seemed to have exhausted even the strength to support his knees and collapsed helplessly to the ground.

"I can't do anything."

Sacel's tearful gaze was fixed on Thales, as if looking at another person, filled with sorrow and despair:
"Everything..."

"Can't, can't..."

(End of this chapter)