A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

The tunnel entrance buried by the piled gravel was shaking violently, one after another, the gravels rolled down one by one, and the number of stones blocking the door became less and less, and the wooden door at the tunnel entrance It also vibrated more and more violently.

Finally, with a bang, the gravel splashed away, and a big hole was smashed out of the wooden door.

Two more blows, and the entrance to the secret passage was completely knocked open.

A slender figure jumped out of the dark tunnel, and the knights under his command followed him and filed out.

As soon as he looked up, his golden-red pupils shrank violently at this moment.

The heart deep in his chest beat violently.

In the pitch-black night sky, the burning crimson flame not far away made half of the night sky red, and it also made Heymos's dazed eyes red for a moment.

Dark sky.

The red flame that churned like a fiery snake.

There were bloodstains scattered along the way.

The huge stone palace that was burned by flames.

Also, the figure of the young man engulfed by flames in the depths of the hall...

At this moment, he seemed to have returned to that terrible nightmare.

…………

Uptown.

Keyhos chased all the way with his personal guards, chased out of the secret passage, and blocked the fleeing pirates in the house at the last moment.

After looking around, he recognized it. This was the mansion of the big businessman where he and His Highness once stayed for one night.

Unexpectedly, in order to collude with the consul, this person actually dug a secret passage underground directly to the consul.

When the former Tozes naval commander Taka saw the one-eyed knight for the first time, he asked him for help excitedly, and then he was severely kicked by the sneering one-eyed knight and broke a rib.

So he calmed down.

At this moment, he was slumped on the ground, with a gray face and a embarrassed expression, and he was honestly answering Kyhors' questions on his stomach.

"The pirate leader... Basha took the prince to another route, and he led us away just in case."

He said weakly,

"The other exit is next to the abandoned temple in the lower city..."

Another way, so the one that Prince Heymos chased after?

After thinking for a while, Kaihos turned his head and looked at someone beside him.

He asked, "Where is the abandoned temple in the lower city?"

"It's the former Shamash Temple in Tozes City."

The adult slave who was following him replied.

"A long time ago, there used to be a Shamash Temple in the city of Tozes. When I was very young, I heard from the old man that half of the temple collapsed because of a tsunami. Later, it was abandoned."

"Perhaps everyone thinks the ruins are unlucky, and the ruins of the temple are in the corner of Tozes City, which is relatively remote, so few people go there."

While Keyhos was listening to the mature slave talking, one of his personal guards who were in charge of guarding outside suddenly walked into the house quickly, with a look of anxiety on his face.

"Your Excellency Kaihos, something has happened, please come out and have a look immediately!"

Keyhors walked out of the room immediately.

As soon as he stood in the courtyard, he frowned.

Standing in the courtyard of this high-lying house, he could vaguely see a corner of the downtown area burning with fire.

"grown ups--"

When the middle-aged slave who came out saw the fire in that place, his expression changed suddenly, and his tone of voice became tense.

"That location is the abandoned temple!"

"!!"

Keyhos was taken aback.

He looked up and saw that under the dark night sky, the only place where the fire was burning the sky.

It burned the night sky red and made him extremely uneasy.

…………

........................

The abandoned temple was crackling and burning in the fire, and the rotten wood and tattered cloth that had been piled up for an unknown amount of time burned at a little bit, helping the fire wave to sweep through the entire hall.

Not long after, the abandoned temple became a sea of ​​flames.

Because the oil was only splashed on the edge of the abandoned hall, Basha could only go out to light the fire.

At this moment, in the abandoned temple surrounded by fire, he was walking back slowly.

There were bloodstains on the road he walked, and then the bloodstains he left were swallowed by the flames that followed.

He walked back to where he had left the prince.

Flames ignited from all directions, dancing wildly in the night sky.

The heat wave hit, agitating the broken curtain hanging on the stone pillar to fly violently in the air.

Amidst the fiery heat and the scorching red, only the blond boy lay quietly on the stone ground.

Her golden-like hair shone brighter in the firelight.

The light of the fire reflected on that slightly flushed face, he was sleeping peacefully, his red lips and white teeth, his eyebrows and eyes were as delicate as a work of art created by heaven and earth, making people reluctant to touch it just looking at it.

I am afraid that if I touch it, I will add a stain to it.

Basha, who staggered back, sat down in front of the boy, crossed his legs, and looked at the boy with fixed eyes.

His face was gloomy, and he couldn't tell what he was thinking while staring at Garlan.

"...It's so beautiful."

After looking at it for a while, he said to himself.

His pupils were dilated, which was a sign of imminent death.

At this moment, his consciousness was a little fuzzy, and he couldn't control it anymore, and even the ferocious aura that had been unchanged for thousands of years in his eyes slowly dissipated.

In fact, just kill the little prince directly at the entrance of the secret passage.

It's just that for some reason at that time, he was holding the scimitar but he couldn't do it.

What a pity.

He stared at the boy thinking.

Almost, just a little bit, this beautiful little prince was his.

Basha turned his head and looked at the crimson flames burning in all directions.

He will die in the sea of ​​fire and be burned to ashes by the flames.

pretty good.

he thinks.

As a member of the pirates, he didn't want to be like those dead pirates in the past. After death, his body was tied up by a rope and hung on the city wall. He was exposed to wind and rain until his body rotted into bones.

He has always been a tough guy.

Be cruel to others and be cruel to yourself.

He would rather burn himself to ashes with a fire than let his body fall into the hands of those who hated him to the bone.

Moreover, it would be nice if someone could be burned to ashes with him, wouldn't it?

Thinking of this, Basha turned his attention to Garlan again.

The boy was still in a coma, his breathing was short of breath, and the fine sweat oozing from his thin skin wetted the blond hair on his cheeks.

He looked at the young man, his eyes were a little dazed, and he muttered to himself.

"It's really strange... I can't kill people..."

With such a slender neck and such a fragile throat, even at the moment of dying, he can wring it apart with just a stretch of hand.

But the strange thing is that he just couldn't do it.

Because when looking at this boy, he has a very subtle feeling.

"Is this a martyrdom, Your Highness?"

The blood was still flowing from the corner of his mouth, Basha chuckled, the laughter was weird and revealed deep malice.

He looked at Garlan with cold eyes, stretched out his hand, and squeezed Garlan's hot cheek.

"You must be very unwilling to die with an ugly pirate like me, right?"

Basha's mood at this moment is very unwilling and complicated.

His great cause, his ambition for the future, were all destroyed by this young man single-handedly.

It has to be said that he has a deep hatred for Garlan.

However, that hatred was also mixed with many inexplicable subtle and complicated emotions.

He hated Garlan for ruining his business.

However, Garlan tried his best to turn the tide and forcibly defended the city of Tozes, which was doomed to fall.

While he hated his bad deeds, he couldn't help but feel admiration in his heart.

Basha suddenly remembered that day, the day Garlan first appeared on the city wall.

When he first saw the figure of the blond boy appearing on the city wall, he felt his heart beat violently.

Because at that time, he suddenly felt that something seemed to have been changed abruptly.

He seemed to have lost a lot of things at that moment, even if he didn't know what he had lost.

As a pirate, he never believed in fate.

But at that moment, there was an indescribable throbbing in his heart, which made him flustered.

He couldn't tell why, but he just felt that way, and he felt that it was ridiculous.

The appearance of this young man changed his destiny.

The encounter between the two of them at this moment cut off his future abruptly.

so ridiculous.

And yet so real.

………………

At this moment, Basha was sitting cross-legged in front of Garlan, his pupils were dilated little by little, he bent down, and slowly stroked the boy's hot face.

But he looked at Garlan ferociously, with a sneer on his face.

"However, no matter how unwilling you are, you can only die with me."

"Even if we die, our ashes will be burned together, and no one will be able to separate the ashes."

He stared at Garlan with evil and strange eyes.

"At that time, no matter how much your subordinates hate me, they can't separate me from you."

"Heh, maybe my ashes can enter the royal tomb with you, and enjoy the sacrifices of Aaron Landis's descendant royal family, hehe...uh!!"

The pirate's laughter stopped abruptly in an instant.

He opened his mouth, his bloody lips were trembling, but he couldn't make a sound.

His pupils trembled and enlarged to the limit.

A bright dagger sank into his chest.

The teenager who had been lying quietly on the ground like a coma suddenly turned over and sat up.

At the moment when Basha was defenseless, a sword pierced his heart.

Basha stiffened and fell down.

For the last glance, before he was about to fall into the boundless darkness, he only had time to see the young man's golden eyes that were as sharp as swords looking at him.

...so bright...so dazzling, just like the sun...

The last thought flashed through his mind, Basha fell sideways on the ground, his face was twisted, extremely ferocious, and blood spewed from his open mouth.

He lay on the ground with his eyes wide open, and the firelight reflected his unwilling and hideous face.

This pirate, who was supposed to gallop across the sea in the future, has a great reputation, and his forces are so powerful that he can even confront a country. He took his last breath.

…………

Beside the dead pirate, Garlan was panting violently.

His slightly flushed face reflected the red light of the fire, fine sweat seeped from his thin skin, and the wet blond hair stuck to his cheeks.

He sat there panting for a long time, and the action of stabbing the dagger into the pirate's chest just now had almost exhausted his last strength.

When he was released from the sack by the pirates, he became vaguely conscious, but he was only vaguely aware of what was happening around him.

His fever was too severe, his consciousness was muddled, his limbs were weak, his whole body was weak, and his body was out of his control at all.

He could only let the pirate carry him in and throw him here.

Then, the pirates left, and immediately after, a fire ignited all around.

The heat wave hit, and it rushed him soberly, and his limp body seemed to have regained some strength.

Then, he continued to pretend to be unconscious, and when the pirate came back to approach him, he seized the opportunity to stab the dagger into the opponent's heart.

Garlan gasped for a while, and finally felt a little bit of strength back in his body.

Wave after wave of heat hit, and the surrounding fires burned more and more violently.

The smoke from the fire made him cough violently. He covered his mouth and nose, and the sweat on his forehead became more severe.

Can't wait to die here.

He thought, gritted his teeth, tried his best to prop up his body and stood up unsteadily.

Looking around, there is a sea of ​​fire all around.

He stood and breathed heavily, then staggered towards the direction that hadn't been burned by the fire.

Behind him, the flames spread to the pirate's body little by little, burning it up little by little.

…………

In the sea of ​​fire, it is impossible to tell the difference between the south, the south and the north.

Eyes are red.

Garlan was panting violently, and he felt that his consciousness had become increasingly blurred.

Not only the heat wave outside, he also felt like a fire was burning inside his body, burning his internal organs, burning his flesh and blood, making the blood in his body boil.

It was as if he was going to burn his whole body to ashes.

He staggered all the way, and he didn't know how long and how far he had walked.

There is a sea of ​​fire all around, with no end in sight, no way out.

His little bit of strength was exhausted little by little, and his vision was getting hazy little by little.

In fact, he couldn't bear it anymore.

It was just the breath in his chest, and the thought of wanting to live, which supported him to continue walking forward in the sea of ​​flames.

As he staggered forward, he stumbled and fell to the ground in a half-conscious state.

Garlan lay on the ground panting rapidly, his face was terribly red, whether it was reflected by the flames or burned.

On the contrary, his lips were pale, with several cracks of blood.

Panting for breath, he struggled to hold the ground, trying to stand up.

His arm on the ground trembled, and he managed to hold it up a little before falling down again.

This fall, there was no sound for a long time.

In the crimson sea of ​​flames, the young man lay awkwardly on the stone floor, his long golden hair scattered all over the ground.

He closed his eyes and gasped for a while.

Then, his hands rested on the ground again.

However, this time he didn't try to struggle to stand up, but only propped up his upper body and sat up.

Garlan sat on the stone floor with his head raised.

Firelight reflected in his golden pupils.

There was a sea of ​​fire all around him, and he couldn't see anything except the burning flames and the dark night sky above his head.

...and that's it.

The boy knelt quietly on the ground, in the sea of ​​flames.

Crimson flames danced around him, slowly spreading towards him.

This time, he was about to die in the fire again.

He sat there, a little bit fuzzy.

Everything in front of me is slowly dimming.

This time, to die is to really die.

There is no chance to do it again.

Garlan looked stunned, tilted his head slightly, and the mist covered his eyes little by little.

Water marks slowly seeped from the corners of his eyes.

...he's dying...

He opened his eyes, but couldn't control the tears seeping from the corners of his eyes.

He clenched his hands tightly, but couldn't control the trembling of his fingertips.

His body was shaking with extreme fear, and also, some kind of unspeakable sadness.

Just like coming to this world for the first time.

He will die in the fire.

...no matter how much he wanted to live...

The flames were burning, and there were constant sounds of things falling around, either gravel or burning rotten wood.

The palace that has stood on the earth for too long and decayed for too long is crumbling and collapsing.

A sloping column was surrounded by flames, and the flames surrounded it and burned it. Finally, this slanting column could no longer withstand the burning of the fire.

With a crisp click, a crack opened at its root.

That crack is rapidly bursting and spreading.

In the next second, it shook a few times in the flames and broke completely from the root.

The cracking sound made Garlan raise his eyes subconsciously.

His pupils suddenly dilated at this moment.

The huge column surrounded by crimson flames crashed down towards him.

It was too late for him to escape.

... He no longer had the strength to escape.

The boy sat on the ground with his head raised.

The huge cylinder surrounded by flames is reflected in the golden pupils.

From far to near in his eyes——

In the flames.

in the sea of ​​fire.

Suddenly, a pair of hands suddenly stretched out from the ground.

Those brown hands sank into the crimson flames without the slightest hesitation.

It pressed against the scorching hot cylinder and propped it up in the air.

There was a chirp, inaudible, like the sound of a soldering iron scalding meat.

There was a burning smell in the air instantly.

The corners of the comer's eyes were twitching like spasms, and his thin lips were as tight as a knife's edge, but his hands that were stretched into the flames were still firmly supporting the collapsed pillar of fire.

With a sudden force, he pushed the collapsing pillar of fire aside.

He stood there panting violently, his hands outstretched in front of him trembling.

Not to mention the arms burned by the flames, the burned palms of his hands propped on the red-hot cylinder were almost completely scorched and peeled off, and the injuries looked extremely horrific.

Heymos took a deep breath, controlling the trembling of his hands from the severe pain.

He turned around.

He bent over and half knelt down in front of Garlan.

"Don't be afraid."

He stretched out his hand and wiped away the tear from the corner of Garlan's eye with his burnt fingertips.

Flames blazed all around, reddening his cheeks.

The way he looked at Garlan was more tender than anything else.

He said, "I'm here."

He softly coaxed the crying boy in the sea of ​​fire that he had finally found.

Everything in the world, ruins and flames, excruciating pain.

Nothing could compare to the tear falling from the golden eyes of the young man looking at him at this moment.

…………

Anxiously rushing to the ruins, Kaihos had just stood in front of the burning temple, and when he raised his eyes, he saw a scene that shocked him so much that he stood still.

Under the dark night, the temple engulfed in flames was burning.

The roof of the temple collapsed, the stone walls cracked, and the rubble fell.

In the boiling flames, someone came out of the sea of ​​flames.

The crimson flame reflected the figure of Heymos walking out of the flame from behind.

His hands were covered with shocking burn marks.

But those burnt hands firmly and carefully held the boy in his arms firmly to his chest.

Garlan nestled quietly in Heymos' arms with his eyes closed.

Although his face was still flushed red, but at this moment his brows were relaxed and stretched.

His head leaned obediently on Heymos' chest, and all his long golden hair was scattered in Heymos' arms.

His fingers gently grasped the clothes on Heymos' chest.

His cheek was pressed against Heymos' chest, and the rhythmic heartbeat from there made him more at ease and calm than anything else at this moment.