Ch. 151 🔒 The Saintess and Her Guardian (29)
by Afuhfuihgs
Chapter 151 – The Saintess and Her Guardian (29)
Could he really save the kid?
Gray clutched the silver cross the witch had given him, his grip tight as he hesitated.
The witch had assured him she’d handle things, but as a Guardian of the Holy Kingdom, trusting the words of either a witch or a demon didn’t come easily.
Even after decades on the battlefield, the fight unfolding before him was something beyond human comprehension.
With every clash between the witch and the demon, the terrain melted, the clouds were shredded, and the very air trembled.
No one from the Holy Kingdom could stand against this, not the witch, and certainly not the demon.
Like shrimp caught in the wake of whales, Gray and the kid were just pawns in a game far beyond them.
The helplessness of being swept along, unable to resist, gnawed at him.
He still didn’t understand why the witch was helping him.
Pure love, she called it.
An embarrassing, cringe-worthy phrase, the kind you’d only hear from noblewomen who read too many romance novels.
For Gray, who’d spent most of his life on battlefields, love was a distant concept.
“Old man” and “kid”.
The distance between them was as wide as those words suggested.
‘Gray? I’ll just call you mister.’
‘Sigh. Whatever, kid.’
The day he first told her his name, she’d acted strangely shy, but to him, she was just a brat who reminded him of his little sister, who’d starved to death long ago.
Not particularly cute, more like a stray kitten struggling to survive.
‘Mister, did you draw on my forehead while I was sleeping?’
‘Do I look that bored to you?’
The day the Holy Mark appeared on her forehead, she’d pouted at him through bleary eyes as he kept watch through the night.
‘If you weren’t my Guardian, I wouldn’t even be a Saintess!’
‘Sigh… Being a Guardian doesn’t suit me. I’d rather be a mercenary out in the wastelands, less hassle.’
‘If you’re a mercenary, I’ll just pay you! I’ll give you enough money to laze around for the rest of your life!’
When he tried to return to mercenary life after her Saintess inauguration, she’d clung to his pants, throwing a tantrum.
‘Mister! Look! My chest got bigger! Do I look more like a woman now?’
‘Kid. Isn’t that uncomfortable?’
‘W-What?! This is the weight of maturity!’
Even as a Saintess, she never acted dignified, just stuffed her robes with wool and pranced around, proud of her ridiculous padding.
To Gray, she was just…
Someone who’d get into trouble if left alone.
Someone who’d cry if things didn’t go her way.
Even as the Saintess chosen by angels, in his eyes, she was just a kid who needed looking after.
This brat…
The Holy Kingdom had plenty of capable, handsome men who could’ve been her Guardian. Yet here she was, chasing after him for three days, desperately trying to perform a miracle.
He’d told her not to follow him.
But she did anyway—and got bitten by a demon.
Thinking about her irrational actions, Gray let out a hollow laugh.
‘What the hell am I to her?’
He’d tried not to think about it, but now he had to face it.
The promise they’d made when she became Saintess.
The weight of her unrequited feelings.
Whether he liked it or not, he had to answer.
Maybe this is what they call “pure love”.
Just as she’d shown him over the past three days, now it was his turn.
Even if she’d failed—
He had to succeed.
Not for the witch’s sake.
Because protecting the Saintess was the Guardian’s duty.
“Hold on, kid. I’m coming.”
Swallowing his helplessness, Gray focused on one thought:
Save the kid from the demon.
“Witch! You dare mock me to the end?!”
“Mock you? That’s harsh. I’m being deadly serious!”
While the demon and witch bickered, Gray ran.
Silver cross in hand, he charged through the life-draining blood mist, shielding himself with divine power.
“Guardian! Saving the Saintess is your role! Show me that oblivious pure love of yours!”
“I don’t know anything about that!”
He barely had time to retort before the distance closed.
Just seconds left.
“You think I’ll play along with your games?!”
A sinister energy erupted from the demon’s fingertips.
Smaller than what she’d used against the witch, but more than enough to kill Gray.
Even with divine protection, the ground beneath him evaporated.
“Ghk—!”
Sent flying, Gray gritted his teeth.
‘Can I even reach her?’
He barely rolled out of the way, a direct hit would’ve vaporized limbs.
He shot the witch a pleading look, but—
“Do it your self.”
She mouthed the words with a wicked grin.
Right.
Without her, he and the kid would’ve been puppets long ago.
This chance was more than he deserved.
“If you want to save the Saintess… do it even if it kills you.”
Even if it kills me?
He thought it was just an expression.
But she meant it literally.
Gray forced himself up, half-buried in dirt.
Even if it cost his life, he had to save her.
“Heh. Fine. I’ll play your game. Kill the Guardian, and your precious ‘love’ dies with him.”
Bony wings spread as the demon gathered energy, dozens of lethal orbs.
One graze, and he’d melt like the earth beneath him.
Gray poured every ounce of divine power into his legs.
“A game? That hurts. I’m being serious!”
He lunged into the deadly barrage.
Unprotected, a single rock could’ve killed him, yet he ran toward the kid, tears streaking her face.
The sanctuary’s walls rained attacks from all sides, but Gray weaved through like an acrobat.
His body felt lighter than it should’ve.
Somehow, he dodged attacks he shouldn’t have seen coming.
“Why?! Why won’t you die?!”
“Hold on, kid! I’m almost there!”
The demon’s face twisted as the distance shrank.
Maybe she felt fear, fear of this weak human who shouldn’t have lasted a second.
“DIE ALREADY!”
“Guh—!”
A full barrage hit.
Gray emerged from the dust, his left arm gone.
‘Doesn’t matter.’
The silver cross still shone in his right hand.
The closer he got, the brighter it glowed.
Five steps.
This was his only chance.
One strike.
He reversed his grip and swung—
But the cross passed through empty air.
“Did you really think it’d be that easy?”
The demon laughed from above, using the kid’s voice.
‘Failed?’
‘No.’
‘One more try.’
As she prepared another attack, Gray crouched low.
Poured every last drop of divine power into his legs.
If he missed now, it was over.
With a sound like tearing sky, he launched upward.
“KID!!!!”
He reached her altitude in one leap.
Last chance.
As he thrust the cross toward her neck, hope blazed in his eyes.
But the demon smiled back.
“Did I say it’d be easy?!”
“Wha—Ghk!”
His body tilted.
Like all things, he began to fall.
Split in half.
The demon’s spear dripped with his blood.
“Damn it…”
‘I failed?’
He had to save the kid.
Had to keep his promise.
What would he even say to the witch?
His vision darkened.
The inverted world blurred.
Then—pink.
A warm glow sharpened his sight.
The witch hovered before him, grinning despite his failure.
“You’re not giving up, are you?”
Giving up?
The cross was still in his hand.
He’d protected it through everything.
The question didn’t deserve an answer.
She nodded, satisfied, then winked and reached out.
“Ah, they say love makes people become alike. Guardian, you’re as much trouble as the Saintess.”
Pink light engulfed him.
His vision flipped.
He was still falling—
But now, above the demon.
Why was the witch helping them?
Aren’t witches supposed to defy the world’s order?
This felt like… a miracle.
Maybe the Holy Kingdom was wrong about them.
But there was no time to dwell.
“RAAAAH—!”
All that mattered was saving the kid.
“Why?! Why go this far?! Even if you save her, it’s pointless!”
The demon noticed and unleashed another attack.
Midair, with only half a body left, Gray couldn’t dodge.
But the pink light around him blocked it.
“Hurry up and save her”, it seemed to say.
He couldn’t fail this gift.
Even if saving her killed him.
Even if surviving this was already a miracle.
‘Mister! Promise me! When I grow up, marry me! Or else I won’t be Saintess!’
‘Sigh… Kid. Fine. Just be the Saintess, okay? What the hell do you even see in me…?’
“Why go this far…? Because I promised.”
“I PROMISED HER! At least until she grows up—I have to protect her!”
Thud.
Accelerating, Gray slammed the cross into the demon’s neck.
“YOU THINK THIS CAN—GYAAAAAH?!”
Light erupted from the cross—
Not Gray’s divine power, nor the kid’s holy power.
Something truly divine.
The demon was swallowed whole.
Gray’s vision whited out.
Then, darkness.
The witch’s power faded.
No excess energy left.
“M-Mister?”
Even in the dark, her voice made him smile.
‘Sorry, kid. Can’t keep my promise.’
Just one regret:
Not seeing her grow up.
She’d have been beautiful.
Maybe even his type, tempting enough to drive him crazy.
“Sigh… What the hell does that brat even see in me…?”
That was his last thought before the darkness took him.
Lucent
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