“Do you regret it?” Evexius asked Conner, who was standing behind him.
The leader of Deus who was assigned to the Southern Continent didn’t give an answer. He merely stood there, and looked at William with a calm expression on his face.
Evexius didn’t pry any longer, because it would be uncouth. Since Conner had already made his decision, he had to accept the results of his actions. Whatever Conner thought of the current situation, none of that mattered anymore.
Right now, he was part of the Kraetor Empire, and Evexious had no intention of letting a capable man like him escape from their grasp.
William gazed at the Kraetor Army that had been watching their battle in the distance. Their flags fluttered in the wind creating an imposing sight. However, right now, they were no longer feeling as composed as they were when the battle had started.
Empress Sidonie met William’s gaze with a smile. She then gave a silent command to the Flying Golden Ant, where her throne was enshrined, to move.
Opening its wings, it flew towards the sky, carrying the Young Empress with it.
The Protectors of the Kraetor Empire, as well as the person wearing a robe followed behind her. Evexius, and Prince Jason remained because they understood what Empress Sidonie wanted to do.
The Kraetor Empire had no desire to expand their conquest of the Southern Continent. Doing so would only cause trouble for them. Empress Sidonie had known this beforehand, so she didn’t give out an order to attack the Zelan Dynasty or the Hellan Kingdom.
Also, after meeting William, her perspective had also changed. She also no longer cared for Dominion. Her pursuit now lied elsewhere. When she reached the Halfway point between The Kraetor Army, and William’s Undead Legion, she ordered the flying ant to land.
William mounted his Bone Dragon and headed to where the Young Empress was. Erchitu, the Diabolical Death Knight, Grim Nightmare Revenant, and the Arcane Spectral Lich accompanied the Half-Elf as well.
The Bone Dragon landed fifty meters away from the Flying Golden Ant. William and Sidonie exchanged glances before simultaneously dismounting their mounts and walked towards each other.
They only stopped when they were only three meters apart. Their escorts stood behind them and waited patiently for the dialogue that was about to start.
“Congratulations, Sir William for winning the war against the Elves,” Empress Sidonie said. “With this, the Southern Continent will experience a brief period of peace, while we wait for the Continental Spell to lose its effects.”
William nodded as he stared at the beautiful lady in front of him. “Does the Kraetor Empire wish for a peaceful co-existence between our Kingdoms?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Empress Sidonie walked forward as she extended her hand for a handshake. William also took a step forward and held Empress Sidonie’s soft, and delicate, hand firmly.
Not far away, the Elves and their Guardians looked at this scene bitterly. Eneru who had returned to his humanoid form had his head lowered.
Jekyll had beaten him black and blue earlier, and only released his hold on the Qilin when the Elves and the other Guardians had finally surrendered to William.
The Taotie stood beside the depressed Qilin with a smug expression on his face. Since Eneru had regressed in his rank, Jekyll didn’t have much trouble in subduing him. However, the Qilin’s lightning bolts still pained him.
Even before William and Sidonie had taken the liberty to formally end the war, Eneru had been subtly congregating all of his magic power inside his body for one last hurrah.
He was only waiting for the perfect opportunity in order to make his move.
The moment William and Empress Sidonie shook hands, the sound of cheering ensued on both sides. Finally, the war had officially ended. The tension that everyone had been holding in, was finally released and their body slackened a bit.
Even Jekyll lowered his guard and allowed a smile to appear on his face.
Then it happened.
Without signs or warnings, Eneru acted.
“Die!” Eneru roared as his hand stabbed forward like a knife. His aim was to stab William’s chest and pierce through his heart. Everything happened so fast that no one was able to react. Eneru could travel as fast as a lightning bolt, so doing a surprise attack was easy for him.
He crossed the distance between William and him in the blink of an eye, and delivered his final blow with all the power he could muster.
His hand met some resistance because the one he hit was wearing armor. This resistance lasted only for a brief moment before the Qilin’s hand stabbed through flesh, and pierced the heart.
“Y-You!” Eneru exclaimed as he hurriedly pulled out his hand, but it was already too late.
Blood flowed from the wound in Empress Sidonie’s chest, because she had used her body to block Eneru’s attack. William hurriedly reached out to catch her body, while the Protectors of the Kraetor Empire angrily lunged at Eneru, who was about to escape.
Black chains materialized out of thin air and wrapped around Eneru’s body, preventing him from turning into a lightning bolt and fleeing.
Nero’s fist collided with the Qilin’s cheeks, sending blood and teeth flying. The Qilin was immediately pinned down and pummeled with punches and kicks from the angry Protectors of the Kraetor Empire.
While this was going on, Empress Sidonie weakly reached out to hold the side of William’s face.
“I-It’s a shame,” Empress Sidonie said as blood seeped out of the corner of her lips. “I still… wanted to… have… your babies.”
After saying those words, the Young Empress breathed her last breath and died with her eyes looking up at William. Those beautiful hazel eyes had completely lost their luster, and looked at the Half-Elf lifelessly.
Evexius and Prince Jason who were standing at the Kraetor Empire cried out and rushed towards their Empress Side.
Prince Jason couldn’t believe what had just transpired. Everything felt surreal, that he thought that he was just seeing an illusion. One moment, the beautiful lady whom he was so strongly attracted to was shaking Williams hand, the next, she was dying.
This sudden transition was hard for him to accept.
He couldn’t accept it.
Afterall, he had already planned to propose to Empress Sidonie once they had returned to the Anaesha Dynasty. He would take her back to the Kraetor Empire where the two of them would be wed.
For him to see his bride candidate die right in front of him was unacceptable!
“Kill!” Prince Jason ordered. “Kill the Elves!”
The Army behind him roared in anger and charged along with their Prince. The Ants that were under Empress Sidonie’s control entered a berserked state as they made their way towards the Elven Women who screamed in fear at the approaching army, who was hell bent to exterminate them all.
“Stop!” Drauum shouted as it stomped his foot on the ground. Thousands of Earth Spikes pointing forward emerged from the ground. It didn’t plan to harm the Kraetor Army, but only to deter them.
Although the Elves had already surrendered, that didn’t mean that the Guardians would just stand by and allow the remaining survivors to be massacred.
They, too, were surprised by Eneru’s selfish action that had brought them unwarranted hate from the Kraetor Empire.
Drauum gritted its teeth in anger. Right now, it wished that it could drag Eneru to its side. That way, it could personally tear the Qilin’s body apart and show the Kraetor Army that they had nothing to do with his individual action.
