Looking at the aged body that could only lie on the ground and convulse without end, and feeling the black mist around her slowly begin to fade, Sylvia suddenly didn't know what to say.
Once the restraints on her were completely gone, she immediately rushed to Angus's side and tried to treat him.
“No need... to trouble yourself, Archangel. I’m already... beyond saving...”
Seeing the girl’s face full of panic, Angus suddenly smiled.
He was about to die, but at least he had managed to protect the Archangel’s safety. That should be enough to offset part of the sins of his corruption, right?
From the moment he offered his body to the Abyss, he had known there was no turning back.
But the alchemy the Archangel had displayed, something far beyond anything he had ever known, had deeply moved him. It stirred the dream that had lain dormant in him for decades.
It was just a pity that he would never see it with his own eyes again.
“Lord Angus...”
Seeing the old man’s relieved expression, as if he were already prepared to face death calmly, Sylvia let her hands fall in defeat.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to save him. It was that this city lord’s body... was no longer compatible with her Holy Healing Art.
If she forced the treatment, it would only hasten his death.
“Archangel, at this point, I’m sure you already understand who I am now. I don’t dare ask for your forgiveness. I only hope you can calm yourself and listen to my final words.”
Forcibly suppressing the injuries inside his body, Angus’s voice returned to normal. But his ashen face made it obvious at a glance that this old body wouldn’t last much longer.
“Mm. I’ll listen carefully.”
Knowing the old man was giving his last words, Sylvia immediately straightened herself into a respectful listening posture.
“Thank you, Archangel. Perhaps in this world, only a holy angel like you would still be willing to hear the dying words of someone like me, a man guilty of monstrous sins.”
Looking at the girl’s calm and peaceful expression, Angus smiled slightly.
“Please don’t say that, Lord Angus. You haven’t had the chance to commit any unforgivable wrong yet. I naturally won’t allow anyone to slander you, so please don’t worry.”
Sylvia held absolutely no prejudice against someone like Angus, an insider who had turned on his side and even saved her life. If anything, she was deeply grateful.
But most others probably wouldn’t think that way. So Sylvia was already prepared to use the authority of the Archangel of Supremacy to settle the matter herself.
“There’s no need for that much trouble, Archangel. I don’t care what others say about me. And if you do that, you’ll offend those people in The Church...”
Just from the girl’s expression, Angus could tell what the Archangel planned to do afterward, so he quickly shook his head. But halfway through, he suddenly stopped.
“Lord Angus... what kind of hatred is there between you and The Church?”
Even though Angus hadn’t finished his sentence, Sylvia immediately thought of The Church’s council of elders.
In the original story, they really were a pack of utterly vile old monsters. So in the real world, she wouldn’t be surprised if they had made enemies with anyone.
“That matter... Archangel, please forgive me for not wanting to remember it again. If you truly want to know, perhaps you can find some record of it in the Holy City Chronicles of The Church. The time was mid-March, Year 985 of the Celestial Era.”
As if he had thought of something, a look of unbearable pain instantly appeared on Angus’s face.
Seeing that, Sylvia let out a quiet sigh and stopped asking.
“The first thing I want to say to you, Archangel, is about my elder brother, Gene. The poison in his body is indeed severe, but it isn’t fatal. During this time... I not only used his prestige in the Imperial Legion to frame the Hero as a traitor, I also tried to capture you, Archangel, to threaten The Church.”
“I’ve long since committed crimes this grave. How could I still hope for your forgiveness? Right now, I only hope you won’t blame my elder brother. He truly knows nothing.”
Sylvia hadn’t expected the first thing Angus would bring up to be General Gene, and she couldn’t help feeling a little emotional.
If he still cared this much about his family, and even his subordinates, then why had he taken such a huge risk to commit such crimes?
At that thought, she grew even more curious about the incident Angus had mentioned.
“I promise you.”
Sylvia nodded with great solemnity and continued listening.
“Thank you for your mercy, Archangel. As for the next matter, with my status and level of skill, I’m really not qualified to ask anything of you, but... you can think of it as one small final wish of mine. I truly hope you can continue to carry alchemy forward.”
“Of course, you don’t need to take part in it personally. You only need to hand over this alchemy laboratory of mine, along with the research notes on the bookshelf, to someone who truly loves alchemy. With your judgment, Archangel, that person will surely be absolutely trustworthy.”
Carefully speaking the wish he had buried deep in his heart, Angus suddenly looked as though he had returned to the days of his youth, when he had first come into contact with alchemy.
Back then, no one in his family could understand why he had fallen in love with a niche field like alchemy. But now, he truly wanted to go back and stand before the whole family, raising his arm and shouting at the top of his lungs—
“Even the Archangel is a master of alchemy, and she holds it in such high regard. What right did you ever have to look down on what I loved?!”
Thinking that the frustration he had suppressed for decades had finally been completely released in a single day, Angus suddenly laughed happily like a child.
“Lord Angus, I promise you!”
Seeing the old man’s gaze already beginning to lose focus, Sylvia had no idea whether Angus could still hear her answer, but she still shouted it out.
“Haha! So many of them came! Big Brother, you first or me first?”
His whole body suddenly trembled, and the scene before Angus’s eyes instantly changed.
This was the Imperial Royal Arena of the Holy City. He and his elder brother Gio had come as representatives of their family to face the strong challengers who had stepped forward.
This had been the most prosperous era of his family. In the Holy City, naturally, there had been many who refused to accept it.
“Lord Angus? There’s no one else here anymore except me.”
Sylvia jumped in fright when the old man suddenly shouted like that.
“No one? Then Big Brother Gio first!”
To her surprise, Angus had actually understood her reply, and his face instantly seemed to regain a bit of radiance.
At this moment, in Angus’s vision, there truly were no challengers left in the royal arena who dared step onto the stage.
At a time like this, as the second son of the family, he naturally wouldn’t steal the spotlight. So he instinctively looked toward his elder brother Gene at his side.
Those days in the Holy City... really were nostalgic.
“Big Brother Gio first, Big Brother Gio first, Big Brother Gio first...”
He kept repeating those final words, his voice growing softer and softer, until at last it slowly faded into complete silence.
