Basil urgently turned his head to the direction where he had last felt Iliana's presence, but he couldn't find her, the Paladins, and Eugene there. It was also at that moment he realized how chaotic the entire battlefield had become.

As far as his eyes could see, there were only corpses of Demons and Mages that had belonged to Iliana's Legion littering the ground. The battle had been concluded, and none of the Mages survived it.

"This is ... I've been inside a time dilated space for all this time!" Basil's eyes quickly widened in horror as he turned his gaze to Astaroth. "Bastard! What is your connection with the Church?!"

At the fierce way Basil directed his question at him, Astaroth cackled humorlessly then sat himself up. "Ku-ku-ku ... Judging from your face, you should know about it long ago. Why do you look so distressed?"

Even though he had half of his body destroyed, he still could stare at Basil with his seemingly eternal grin. "Did you not expect that an Obelisk Master could establish a cooperation with those pretentious humans—the Church?"

Instead of responding Astaroth verbally, Basil tightened his grip on his sword then drew the remaining Qi in his Core. Channeling his Qi to his foot, he kicked the ground and dashed towards Astaroth who was still grinning merrily.

"Burn in hell, cursed bastard!"

He reappeared right in front of Astaroth faster than one could blink one's eyes, and he immediately swung his sword at Astaroth's neck.

On the other hand, despite seeing Basil was ready to cut his head off however, Astaroth was still calm as ever. He didn't even use his Demonic Mana to defend himself.

"Are you sure you want to waste your Qi on me?"

Boom!

Basil's sword stopped just hair away from Astaroth's neck, but just the swing of it managed to carve a trench on the ground beside him. Though his neck didn't get cut off, the skin of his neck was opened, allowing some blood to flow out of it.

"You are amazing ... Are you really an Early Stage Violet Core Knight?" Astaroth chuckled emptily. "I am sure you are not, but it doesn't matter. I like you nonetheless."

Astaroth smiled at Basil, who was still glaring fiercely at him, then pointed his finger to the southwest. "There, is your heart. This is the least thing I can do for—"

Slash!

"Too loud."

Basil cut Astaroth's head in the middle of his sentence.

Thud!

Despite so, Astaroth's head still had a smile on its face even after it touched the ground. It still gave Basil a friendly look, and even mouthed 'My friend' before the eyes were shut.

Basil didn't show a particular response to what had just happened, since his eyes were planted on the scene he was seeing two hundreds meters away from him.

Iliana was kneeling on the ground while clutching her stomach painfully, apparent by the look on her face. All of the Paladins were dead, but Eugene was still standing in front of her while looking down at her coldly.

Basil's blood boiled like never before upon seeing the scene. Channeling his Qi to his feet madly, he dashed at Iliana, and appeared in front of her even faster than a lightning.

Boom!

Due to the Curse inflicted upon his Core, Basil wasn't in a really good state to fight. Therefore, missing Eugene, his sword landed on the ground, creating a deep and narrow trench on it instead.

"As I expected, you are not an Early Stage Violet Core Knight, Basil."

Basil raised his sword, then turned his head to Eugene. Pointing his sword at Eugene, he angrily shouted, "Eugene! How dare you show your face in front of us!" Uncaring to the burden he would give to his Core, he then blasted his Qi outward.

Boom!

Eugene merely waved his hand, and a Magic Barrier instantly appeared right in front of him, thus protecting him from the overwhelming pressure of Basil's Qi.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance, before smirking at Basil. "Now, how does it feel to be the loser, Basil? You haven't lost for a quite long time, right, former absolute trash?"

The murderous gaze he received from Basil chilled his spine, but he still maintained his obnoxious smirk. "What's with that look? We're friends, right?"

Basil's rage was unfathomable. He couldn't express his anger with words anymore, so he decided to express it with his action.

[Synchronization]!

Even though he knew his body wouldn't be able to handle the burden the unfinished Technique gave to his body anymore due to his fight with Astaroth, the rage overwhelming him made him ignore such a thing.

"Basil, stop!"

No matter how overwhelmed he was with his rage however, the moment he heard Iliana's voice, his mind cleared once again. He cancelled his Technique, and his Qi immediately calmed down as he turned to Iliana.

"He has completely got us." Iliana gave Basil a small tired smile. "A few legions of Paladins will arrive soon, and you have to leave from here. You are a Peak Stage Violet Core; no matter how tired you are, you should be able to run away from them."

"What are you talking about, Iliana? I'm not going to—"

"I'm going to die, and you will never be able to beat that bastard in your current stage." Iliana gritted her teeth, and cried silently. "So, please... Please, leave this place."historical

Basil couldn't stand the nonsense he was hearing any longer, and immediately turned to Eugene, who was grinning even wider than before. He immediately infused his Qi to his sword, fully intending to cut Eugene's head even though Iliana had told him not to.

"Kuhuk! Ugh... My spleen—it's bleeding so hard."

Of course, the moment he heard that from Iliana, Basil quickly threw his sword to the ground, then turned around to support her. He looked at her in panic as tears profusely flowed down his eyes.

"Iliana, stay with me!" He shook Iliana's body in his embrace, but it was apparent from her eyes that she was barely conscious. "Hey, don't leave me behind. You know how helpless I am without you!"

Eugene, who was seeing the dramatically tears inducing scene in front of him, stared at Basil's back in bewilderment before laughing humorously.

"Hahahaha! So you can also act like that, Basil! Simply amusing!"

"Shut up!"

Eugene's laugh didn't last long; he quickly stopped laughing the moment he heard Basil's exclamation. Basil surprised him with a thousand of Qi powered daggers he had created with his Aura Ability, and Eugene would definitely die if he didn't do anything.

Eugene knew that the highest quality of Relic Basil could forge with his Aura Ability was Upper Middle Grade. However, he also knew that the potency of a Peak Stage Violet Core Knight's Qi powering behind them wasn't something to scoff at.

Boom! Boom!

By dodging the one thousand daggers Basil sent at him instead of blocking them with his Magic Barrier, Eugene made a good choice. All of them were designed to blow up upon contact, and his Magic Barrier wouldn't be able to handle all of them.

"This prick! How dare he!"

Eugene was about to attack Basil with his Spell, but immediately stopped the moment he saw Basil had forged another one thousand daggers. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he moved from his spot to dodge the daggers coming his way.

Iliana, who could somehow grasp what was currently happening, smiled helplessly at Basil. "You are wasting your Qi on him. You better use them to get out of this Barrier." Wiping the tears of Basil's eyes, she continued, "I won't survive even if you take me with you."

"There is still a way. We can find a Healer—"

"Basil... You know how bad my injury is."

Basil's eyes immediately moved to the fist sized hole in Iliana's abdomen, and he couldn't help gritting his teeth in anger. His anger didn't last long however, since the fear of losing her immediately overwhelmed him.

"I don't want to lose you... Please, stay with me."

"What a crybaby." Iliana caressed Basil's head warmly. "You actually know how helpless my state is, don't you? That's why you don't run away with me: you know I will only end up dying in your hands."

Basil didn't say a thing, but his silence was enough of a confirmation. Iliana smiled softly at that, then cupped Basil's cheek. "I want to tell you about something ... About something that someone had told me to tell you. It is about your mother..."

Iliana told Basil that she knew his mother, and that his mother, who had loved him so much but didn't get the chance to meet him, had entrusted her to find him and take care of him in his mother's stead.

Basil listened to her story about his mother, which was not detailed and very brief, earnestly while staring at her with teary eyes.

"Ah, I'm sorry ... I ended up talking too much about myself."

"It's all right." Basil held Iliana's hand that was cupping his cheek. "Your hand is cold. Do you need me to warm you?"

"I am warmed by your presence—it's enough." Iliana smiled, but her eyes weren't focused on Basil anymore. "I still have many things I would like to tell you, but I got no more time. I am sorry I didn't tell you sooner..."

Iliana slightly wiggled in Basil's embrace, and Basil could only smile in sorrow at that. "Ah, I can no longer feel my body ... Am I looking at you now?"

Basil shook his head faintly at Iliana since she was actually gazing at the sky, but he told her what she wanted to hear. "Yes, you are looking at me."

"... You are a bad liar." Iliana chuckled. "Listen, Basil ... I don't want you to be like me—I have many regrets. I only realized it late, but sometimes you only need to move before you think. So, you should loosen up a little bit."

Iliana's breath became rougher, but she tried her best to calmly breathe just so she didn't alert Basil. Of course, Basil, as an academically talented person, had realized her difficulty in breathing long ago, but he didn't call her out on that.

"I can foresee that I will be your biggest regret, so I want you to forget about me—I want you to live without regret."

"I can't do that."

"Promise me, Basil."

"I can't."

"Promise me that you will live, no matter how hard it is..."

Basil didn't say anything for a couple of seconds—he was pondering hard to himself—but in the end, he nodded his head weakly.

"I promise."

"Good." Iliana took her hand off Basil's cheek, then put it on his forehead. "May my blessing accompany you," she muttered inaudibly.

She smiled beautifully, then her eyes slowly lost their glimmer a few seconds after. Her body also got colder in each passing second, and Basil hugged her even tighter than before.

As Basil emptied his tears reservoir, a heart wrenching scream came out of his mouth ... Iliana died in his embrace.