There was no way to explain this feeling except as love.

Something that you absolutely cannot be apart from, no matter what you have to endure. Something that you simply must be together with. Something that makes you jump in despite knowing the danger.

If this wasn’t love, then nothing could be love.

‘I don’t care what happens to me. As long as you live. If I can just do that, I have nothing more to wish for.’

His confession lingered on the edges of her memory. Though she hadn’t realized it, it seemed he had been prepared for today for a long time.

Who asked for that.

Who on earth asked for such a thing.

Kirion pressed Rublier, who had lost his weapon. The trajectory of the sword trying to harm him was dizzying.

Rublier narrowly avoided it. However, no one could guarantee how many more times that luck would continue.

“Rub!”

Satin screamed.

“You said you’d protect me! You said you’d atone for a lifetime! If you made a promise, you should keep it no matter what! I haven’t forgiven you yet! You jerk, if you die, I really won’t let you off!”

She had to save him from the evil spirits, from the devil. Satin ran down the stairs to where Rublier was in one breath.

She took out the holy relic from her bosom and shouted at the devil.

“Over here, devil. The holy relic you’ve been wanting is right here!”

The die was cast.

Everyone here, simultaneously, made their own choices.

Kirion turned towards the approaching Satin, desiring the last piece she possessed.

Vitalis picked up the sword Rublier had thrown to stop Kirion, and thrust it as he jumped down the stairs.

However, being unfamiliar with handling a sword, the blade he clumsily gripped and thrust only shallowly pierced Kirion’s chest as he turned around.

Rublier embraced Satin, who had dangerously run down the slippery stairs, with both arms.

His choice was Satin, from beginning to end.

The same was true for Satin. She deliberately pierced through the center of the darkly stained fog with her own body to prevent the evil spirits from rushing at Rublier.

If they die, they’ll die together, and if they live, they’ll live together.

“Of course, of course… Satin.”

Rublier tightly hugged Satin’s head.

“What were you worried about? Did you think I would die without any plan? I’m not going anywhere, I’ll never leave you. I promise.”

Satin buried her face in Rublier’s chest and burst into tears.

She didn’t want to cry, but her heart was so full that tears flowed naturally. Rublier held the sobbing Satin and patted her back.

“The devil… the devil… what about the devil…?”

With a face soaked in tears, Satin turned to look at the devil. Then her eyes widened in surprise.

Surprisingly, there was a sword stuck in Kirion’s back.

Kirion staggered and tried to lean against the wall with his hand. But his convulsing hand just slipped down the wall.

The blonde archbishop slowly raised his head.

After fumbling to confirm the long sword thrust by Vitalis’s trembling arms and the new sword stuck in his back, he smiled.

It seemed incredulous, bitter, and somehow satisfying all at once.

“…If you had stabbed me with a completed sword, a fully recovered devil would have been reborn here right now…”

Only then did Satin realize the identity of the sword that had pierced Kirion’s back. It was the holy sword restored by connecting the holy relics collected from each family.

Rublier, who had guessed the nature of the sword Kirion carried on his waist but never drew, read the devil’s weak point as soon as Satin took a gamble and threw down the challenge.

He instantly snatched the sword, plunged it into Kirion’s back, and embraced Satin who had run to him.

Although it was an incomplete sword due to the absence of the last piece, Rublier pushed it in with sheer force.

It didn’t matter if he couldn’t inflict a deep wound.

He intended to buy some time with the holy sword to send Satin away, then retrieve the weapon and fight again.

“…Kirion?”

“Now I understand. Why someone was whispering so many stories in my ear…”

“B-Brother…?”

As soon as Vitalis asked blankly, Kirion shouted.

“…Stab, Vitalis! I can’t hold on much longer!”

The situation he hadn’t understood suddenly became clear. But even if his head understood, his heart was a different matter.

Despite Kirion’s urging, Vitalis’s hands trembled uncontrollably. Red droplets of blood dripped along the blade that had shallowly pierced his chest.

Satin, not knowing what to do, looked at Vitalis’s pale face, standing at the crossroads between his brother’s death and the devil’s death.

Why was it?

Satin suddenly recalled the founding legend of Caldeblanca.

The legend of the devil that had rampaged across the world, and Dionysius I, the first Pope, who had stabbed the devil’s heart with the help of his companions. Today too, the devil, the hero, and the companions were all in one place.

“Brother…”

“Quickly, Vitalis!”

The look in his eyes changed moment by moment. The time Kirion could maintain his sanity was running out.

He knew there was no other way to catch the devil when it had already taken over the control of his body. But it wasn’t an easy decision for anyone.

“How could it come to this… Let’s find another way. Anything,”

For Rublier, both Kirion and Vitalis were people he couldn’t bear to lose.

Kirion hastily cut off Rublier’s mediation trying to somehow save them both.

“Rub. Would you believe me if I said… I care about Caldeblanca more than my own well-being…?”

“…Kirion.”

Even while gasping in pain, Kirion declared clearly.

“…This country, now in chaos because of the devil, needs a legend. Satin, forgive me. Rub, I entrust the aftermath to you.”

Vitalis tightly closed his eyes.

Kirion also gripped the blade with both hands and gritted his teeth.

“Congratulations, Vitalis. You are the hero who vanquished the devil.”

Satin didn’t know whether Vitalis finally stabbed his brother’s heart, or if Kirion plunged the sword into his own heart.

Only Vitalis knew this for certain. But at least one of them, or perhaps both, must have shown great courage.

The founding history repeated itself.

After today, someone would sing about Vitalis’s noble choice, or sculpt it, or paint it.

It would be remembered for a long time as it was made into performances by artists and recited in poems.

However, the Vitalis in future legends wouldn’t be remembered as he was now, dropping the sword and prostrating himself at his brother’s feet, clasping his hands in prayer, bowing his head and wailing loudly.

He would be remembered as a valiant figure, bringing the devil to its knees and reigning with sword in hand.

Just as Dionysius I, the first Pope, had been.

That’s how legends are made.

* * *

“Commander!”

After quite some time had passed, the Holy Knights who had evacuated the citizens of the capital poured into the Papal Palace in search of Rublier.

Passing by corpses fallen dead throughout the Papal Palace and the severely injured who had barely survived, through corridors reeking of blood, the knights who finally found Rublier were bewildered by the scene unfolding in the central hall.

Rublier looked around at his subordinate knights, who somehow felt like he hadn’t seen in a long time, and his lieutenant who had gathered the scattered subordinates and driven them to the Papal Palace.

He raised Vitalis, who had become a mess after a long bout of sobbing. Then, with the face of a paladin, he commanded.

“This is His Holiness Pope Vitalis. Everyone, show your respects.”

The bewildered knights soon gathered their confusion and knelt down one by one.

If their Commander said he was the Pope, it must be true.

Finally, Rublier knelt before the new Pope.

The devil was gone.

Peace began anew from this moment.

* * *

“Y-you’re tired, p-please lie down.”

“Yes, lie down a bit. Okay?”

Satin, who was trying to get up to greet Vitalis who had come to visit, lay back down at the firm insistence of the two men.

“I’m fine. The doctor said the baby is so strong there’s no problem at all. If anything, my body feels more stiff because someone keeps not letting me move.”

Besides, where is it proper to greet the Pope lying down?

Satin glared at Rublier. Receiving her glare, Rublier had no choice but to help Satin sit up and prop a cushion behind her back.

Watching Rublier busily attending to Satin and Satin still maintaining her proud and aloof demeanor, Vitalis smiled broadly.

“P-Paladin and Lady Satin. I’m g-glad to see you both doing well.”

Rublier and Satin were colleagues from the guardian families who had helped maintain Vitalis’s authority.

Among the five guardian families, Sel Wio had become virtually defunct with most of its direct family members, including the head of the family, dying in the Papal Palace, and two other families had suffered enormous damage and were in the process of recovery.

However, even if they managed to recover, they would find it difficult to avoid punishment for having supported the manipulated oracle.

So now, only two guardian families, Del Mare and Ka Dillon, were fully supporting Vitalis.

The two families were having busier days than ever, calling back people who had evacuated to the capital and dealing with the casualties.

Vitalis had also apologized to Del Mare and returned the possessions that Kirion had taken while searching their newlywed home.

Thus, Caldeblanca, which had been at a standstill for a while, was now creaking along in its own way.

However, Satin was spending boringly quiet days, having moved back into her renovated newlywed home to prioritize recovering her health.

Rublier had even packed all his belongings from the Ka Dillon mansion and followed Satin. Her daily life soon became his daily life.

Rublier shrugged his shoulders at the title of ‘Paladin’ that Vitalis had chosen.

“That day, I temporarily took charge because there was no one to lead the knights, but in principle, I am no longer a knight now. Because I quit.”

Vitalis showed a somewhat awkward expression at Rublier’s answer.

“I-I thought so too, b-but when I opened the documents my b-brother had processed… it was marked as l-long-term leave.”

Rublier furrowed his brows.

“Did you say it was processed as leave?”

“Yes… P-perhaps he thought you would c-come back.”

Rublier closed his mouth.